Pizza!

Do you have a pizza night? Ours is almost always Friday. It started as an easy way to have a meatless meal, and has developed into a favorite. The ingredients are always on hand, it requires minimal prep work from Mama, and the kids can help with spreading sauce, sprinkling cheese, and shaking on herbs. We always make homemade dough, and while I started with a Pioneer Woman recipe, I've changed it enough that I think I can call it my own, and I'm happy to share it with you!

Honey Wheat Pizza Dough
Makes 1 large pizza, enough to feed 4 healthy appetites

3/4 cup warm water
1 scant teaspoon dry active yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons honey

Mix those ingredients together well, and set aside for 10 minutes

In mixer, place the following:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Turn mixer on low, and add 3 tablespoons olive oil to flour mixture. Then add the yeast mixture, and blend briefly until a soft dough forms. Cover bowl with a tea towel and set aside for an hour or so. Then flatten it out to the shape and size you want, cover with your toppings, and bake at 500 for about 10 minutes. We use a pizza stone for this, but a baking sheet is fine too.

Enjoy!

Rain, Tea, Scones...School!

Yesterday brought sporadic rain all morning and into the afternoon. I had planned a simple snack for my little ones at tea time, but when we all emerged from rest, I had a sudden urge to make scones! I looked up my favorite Smitten Kitchen recipe and set to work. They are so simple to pull together, and while they baked, we gathered our books, lit all our candles, and set water to boil for tea. The kids had Trader Joe's Candy Cane tea, which is just wonderful, and I had Irish breakfast. I'm so pleased I had remembered Lemon Curd at the market earlier in the week...scones just beg for it, don't you think? With our table set, we read a funny, fun chapter in Mary Poppins, and read through a bit of If You Sailed on the Mayflower. We also finished reading about the Seven Sacraments.

This is our version of school this week: books, tea, and then outside to puddle stomp:) Happy Thanksgiving!

Martinmas

Today is the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, and last night, we did a little family celebration to honor this wonderful saint. We worked all week on memorizing our lantern song, studying the El Greco painting, and reading the *great* story from Family in Feast and Feria. We also made some simple lanterns. I bought a small, see-through paint can at Michael's, printed out a coloring page of St. Martin cutting his cloak in two which each of the kids colored, and we taped it inside the can. When we put battery-powered candles inside...voila! Lovely colored picture shining through!
Here are some other ways we celebrated:
*Took a load of donations to Goodwill, including blankets for this cold time of year
*Made a warm supper to enjoy. Tuscan bean soup, arancini, and an almond cake for dessert.
*Sang our song nice and loud while parading on our back lawn:)

I have never celebrated this day before, and I'm so glad we did. It is especially popular in Germany and Switzerland, so it was a perfect tie in to our first week of German lessons. The idea of the warmth and light of Christ shining in the darkness, and tangible, do-able acts of charity are very appealing for this Mama.  And since today is Veterans' Day, let us ask St. Martin to pray for us, that we will be charitable, and for our soldiers, protecting our freedom.

Dear well-beloved Saint, you were first a soldier like your father.

Converted to the Church, you became a soldier of Christ, a priest and then a Bishop of Tours. Lover of the poor, and model for pagans and Christians alike, protect our soldiers at all times. Make them strong, just, and charitable, always aiming at establishing peace on earth. Amen.

Home Education: Out of Door Life for the Children. And Muffins!

The second part of "Home Education" is all about being outside with children, and what we can observe, study, and gain from our time there. I found so much to love in my ponderings with Miss Mason in this chapter, and I've already been able to see the out of door time I spend with my children bearing fruit. They really do PREFER to be outside rather than in!

The first principle to mention here is to never be indoors when one can rightly be without, and my how lovely this is at this time of year. I have a very hard time with heat myself (I burn very easily, and even get nauseous if I'm in the sun too long), so in the hotter months, we tend to play outside in the mornings and stay in the rest of the day. But in the fall, winter, and spring, I shoo the littles outside right after breakfast, and only call them in for food or if we need to go somewhere. Of course, Miss Mason suggests taking the children on outings to lakes, rivers, the mountains, etc., and spending time helping the children to observe and enjoy their surroundings, and I'm simply referring to time in our backyard:) We do purposeful nature study time, and try to get to a more remote area as often as possible, but even in our yard, we've done a "Signs of Fall" observation time, and I was quite pleased with how observant Cate in particular has been! She mentioned how the clouds in the sky are different now because of the wind, more streaky and skinny. She remembered that the mornings have been cooler and she needs a sweater to go out to play. She noticed the leaves on our plum tree are turning red, but only up at the top. And we've seen our veggie garden change as the tomatoes and beans finished up.

I find one sure fire way to get the kids outside is to give them food to take:) They love to get an outdoor blanket, books, and a snack, and to spend a good chunk of the afternoon eating, making up games, and seeing what the birds are up to. I love fall foods, and especially things with pumpkin, and these muffins are one of my favorite quick treats to whip up with my girl for backyard picnic time! They are pretty low in sugar, and have some good, healthy ingredients. I hope you get a chance to make them too:)

Mama's Fall Muffins: Makes 1.5 dozen

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup coconut oil (this is my favorite baking fat, but you can sub the same amount of canola oil or butter...but try the coconut! It adds such a depth of flavor, and it's super healthy.)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin
1/2 cup water
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
A big handful or two of chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

In a big bowl, mix the wet ingredients. Combine the dry in a separate bowl. Slowly add the dry to the wet, and fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Spoon into greased muffin tins, and bake at 400 for 15 minutes. They stay fresh in a Ziploc bag for several days, and freeze/defrost very nicely as well!

Happy Fall!