Keep The Love Kindled

 At our Church sometimes people donate stuff to pass out among the members. In February a lady brought whole boxes of brand new, never used Valentine cards. I had this idea come into my mind, "What if I get a bunch of these Valentine cards and put one into Mr. In The Mid-west's lunch box every day?" He was about to start a new job and I was so excited for him! I wanted to show my support and do as much as I could to boost his confidence.

As wives we all have to know our own man. It takes some time and studying. But, year after year you learn and get to know him better and better. 

I am married to a sensitive soul and I knew he would feel so special to get a card in his lunch box every day. I had almost enough cards to send him one everyday for his first 3 weeks on the new job. I had to make a couple hand made cards to finish out the week.

Here is the art I made for one of his cards.

Speaking of art, this is a cartoon I drew for one of my boys birthday card this month. This idea is not original to me. I was inspired by a cartoon I saw on Pinterest. 

My 7 year old drew a version, too:

His dragon is so darling! I think his drawing is adorable! These are the kinds of things that make mothering fun.

Easy Simple Experiment

 My son enjoyed this experiment today. 

You take a penny and coat it in ketchup. Let it sit for a few minutes (maybe 15 minutes).

Before:

After:

Isn't that fun!

He a did an experiment of soaking the pennies in vinegar, but the ketchup did a better job of cleaning the pennies.

Ding Dong Cake Recipe!

We had a birthday in the family this week! My four year old has requested this Ding Dong Cake for his birthday two years in a row. He has never had a Ding Dong snack cake (and I don't think I have, for that matter, either). He first saw this cake on a popular YouTube channel: EmmyMade. We tried it for his birthday last year and it was so good that he wanted it again this year!

Here is a link to where I got the recipe: https://www.emmymade.com/ding-dong-cake/#recipe

This is a link to where she got the recipe: https://iambaker.net/ding-dong-cake/

The chocolate cake portion of this cake is very moist. It is not dry, not crumbly. Very spongy, I want to say, tacky, with an open crumb structure.

The filling is rich with butter, fluffy and smooth. The technique used to make the filling is very unique. I have never seen this type of filling in any other recipe. It is not made with powdered sugar. It is not as sweet as an icing, which I think is good. We served this cake without ice cream and I think the filling played the role that ice cream usually does at a birthday party. It is kind of refreshing and palette cleansing.

Ding Dong Cake

1 3/4 cups Flour

2 cups Sugar

3/4 cups Cocoa Powder

2 tsp. Baking Soda

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Salt

1 cup Buttermilk (at room temperature)

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

2 Eggs + 1 Egg White

2 tsp. Vanilla Flavoring

1 cup Strong Hot Coffee

Filling Ingredients:

1 cup Milk

5 TBS. Flour

1 tsp. Vanilla Flavoring

1 cup Butter (room temperature)

1 cup Sugar

Glaze Ingredients:

2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream

Cake

• In the bowl of your stand mixer whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
• In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, and vanilla.
• On low speed, add the wet ingredients to the dry. Slowly add the coffee and mix until just incorporated, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.
• Prepare two, 8 inch by 2 inch round cake pans by greasing and lining the bottoms with wax or parchment paper. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans. Bake at 350˚F for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 30 minutes before turning out.

Filling

• In a small saucepan combine the milk and flour. Whisk well to ensure there are no lumps of flour. On medium-low heat whisk the mixture until it thickens to a pudding-like consistency.
• Remove from heat and add vanilla. Press a plastic wrap to the surface and allow to cool completely.
• Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed, until light and fluffy, about 8 minutes.
• Add the cooled milk mixture and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

Ganache

• In a large bowl, add the chocolate chips.
• In a medium saucepan, heat the heavy cream to a low simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate chips and let it rest for 3 minutes.
• Gently stir the chocolate and hot cream together until completely incorporated. The ganache should be glossy and smooth. If any lumps of chocolate remain, microwave for 30 seconds and stir well.
• Allow the ganache to cool for 30 minutes or until ganache has the consistency of pea soup.

Cake Assembly

• Place a completely cooled cake layer on a plate or cake stand.
• Apply all of the frosting to the cake layer and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly. Add a second layer of cake, gently pressing it into the frosting. Smooth the sides of the cake, filing any gaps with frosting.
• Tuck pieces of parchment paper around the base of the cake.
• Slowly pour the ganache on the top of the cake and use an offset spatula to evenly coat the sides.
• After icing the cake remove the parchment paper to reveal a clean plate.

Cook With Me!

 

This is a random day in my life post. Here is how it went:

I heated up leftover oatmeal for breakfast at 9am. This morning I served it with diced bananas, cinnamon and a hunk of butter.

I start our school day with "Church Practice" at 10am. The baby usually falls asleep for his morning nap sometime within the hour.

Baby's morning nap gives me an opportunity to work in the kitchen, usually. 

This morning's To Do List:

Make Muffins

Start Pizza Dough

Shred Mozzarella

Make Pizza Sauce

Can you guess my dinner plan? :)

I made the muffins. Someone had given me this baby food puree. I have used it to make muffins and they turn out fine. I just replace the bananas in my Extra Banana, Banana Bread with the puree. (Recipe)

I started the pizza dough. (Recipe)

The baby woke up.

Well, looks like my To Do List 

was a little ambitious. :)

I fried some eggs.

Eggs and muffins for lunch.

I taught the first grader and the kindergartener their school. Or, finished them up, rather.

Quiet time from 2-4pm.

I let the house go and did some reading.

The baby didn't fall asleep again until 4pm.

Back to the To Do List!

The boys wanted to help shred the cheese. I did the bulk of the shredding and then cut two chunks for each of them to have a piece to shred.

You can see some school leftovers still on the table and an onion I am about to dice up for pizza sauce.

I let the children each make their own individual pizzas after I finished the sauce. It was pretty easy this night because our only topping was cheese.

The oven was preheating and caused the smoke detector to go off.......waking the baby. I still had yet to prepare a pizza for Mr. In the Mid-west.

Ggggggrrr! I hate smoke detectors. :/

I said a prayer for patience. 

I had been up tight and pretty edgy most of the day. I had tried adjusting my attitude, but it wasn't until I prayed out loud for patience that it came. 

You know, there really is power in the blood. Funny, that is one of our "Church Practice" songs for this week. 

"Would you be free from your passion and pride?
 There's power in the blood! Power in the blood!
 Come for a cleansing to Calvary's tide; 
There's wonderful power in the blood."

The pizzas turned out great!

We finished dinner and got ourselves ready to go to mid-week service at Church.

That was my day.

Maybe tomorrow I can catch up on the house work 

that I have been letting pile up. :)

Hebrews 6:12 
That ye be not slothful, but followers of them 

who through faith and patience 

inherit the promises.

Pyramid Solitaire: Math Teaching Tool

 Pyramid Solitaire is a game, but it is, also, a great way to teach children how to make combination that equal 10.

I remember my Mom teaching me this game when I was young. She told me that it was supposed to help me learn addition. I already knew my combinations-to-equal 10 by heart. I thought it was a fun game, and really liked the fact that it counted for school. Wink. 

Fast forward 20 years, now I have a 5 year old son that I want to teach math. I could not remember how to play Pyramid Solitaire. I looked up "playing card math games" online the other night and found some really good instructions at multiplication.com. They have really quick and easy how to play instructions there. I don't feel like I would do as fine a job explaining the rules as they have. You should go check it out! One thing that I think improves the game is using the "draw" pile like you would in regular Solitaire: turning over the top three cards until you find a card that works, so forth. Using the draw pile in this manner helps the game last a lot longer.

I highly recommend this game as a teaching tool. I am using it with my son, not only to teach him addition, but also recognizing the number symbols. I think playing cards are working really well because they have the heart, diamond, spades, or clubs icons that can be counted to come up with the correct number.

Another counting device I have been using with my son is an egg carton filled with rocks. We count them and then take away 1 rock and count what is left, then we take away 2 rocks and count what is left, etc., etc....

I was interested in buying an abacus to help teach the early maths. Maybe I will end up buying one, but I am finding that the free "manipulatives" are working fine, so far. 

Do any of you have suggestions when it comes to teaching young children counting and math?

Boys At Our Place (Poem)

Boys At Our Place

When you hear a fearful racket

Like a miniature cyclone

With some sounds so strange that surely

Their like was never known

While a mother listens calmly

Even with a smiling face

You may know it's nothing serious

There are boys about our place.

When there's famine in the cupboard

And the milk pail soon runs dry

And we can't keep bread or cookies

No matter how we try

When we vainly seek for apples

That have gone and left no trace

Hard times is not the trouble -

There are boys about the place.

When there's sawdust on the carpet

And some shaving on the beds

When the rugs are tossed in corners

And some chairs stand on their heads.

While, if a tool you're needing, we

All around the house must race,

We can know they're making something

Those boys about the place.

When the house is full of Sunshine

On the darkest kind of day,

And we have to smile at seeing

Some creative, boyish play,

And when eyes so bright and loving

Oft are raised to meet my face,

My heart pleads softly, "O, God bless him

Bless those boys about the place."

- author unknown

This poem is taken from the Keepers At Home magazine, Spring 2009 edition.

I think this poem would make such a good picture book! 

Here is a picture from my house:

Mr. In The Mid-west found these stove knob protectors at a garage sale. It only took my boys (5 and 2) a few hours to figure out how to get them off! Thankfully, they know better than to turn the gas on, so we don't need the protectors to deter the boys. 

Boys are a blessing! They are noisy, and cleaver, and they like to take things apart and make messes. But, I sure do love them, those boys at our place! :)