A Meaningful Question

Here's something I wondered about...how do they make those waffle fries at Chik-Fil-A?  And where do the "potato holes" go that are now missing from the slice of potato?

I suppose that's two questions, hmmm?

Trial by Pumpkin

A friend of ours sent in a pumpkin recipe, so I thought I would try it this morning.  It was a recipe for Pumpkin Scones.  Mmmm...sounds so good.  I set Eliana up in her high chair with a bowl of cereal, got Michaela going on some math review, and started dumping in my ingredients.

All was going well.  I added the pumpkin mixture (the puree, an egg, and 3 tablespoons whole milk) to my dry ingredients and gently folded that in with a spatula.  I put that mixture onto a floured surface and tried to get it into a ball, as the directions said.  It was obvious from the start of this part of the procedure that the dough was too moist.  I added a little flour and it didn't help a bit.  I added a little more, and a little more, and then I was afraid I was going to ruin the dough.  If you could have seen it you would say right now,"Going to ruin the dough?"  I was hoping that I hadn't already!  I decided the culprit of my sticky situation was...(dun, dun, dun)

I had to add quite a bit of water in order to blend the pumpkin chunks into the puree, so the extra water ended up in my scone dough.  And the dough didn't like it.  There was no way I was going to be able to make a rectangle and cut it and put the pieces onto a baking sheet.  It looked like I had on chenille gloves!  This stuff was so sticky.

I decided to try to make a sort of muffin instead.  What would we call them?  Scuffins?  Scofins?  Muffones?  I'm kind of partial to scuffins myself.  Michaela likes scofins.  While pondering these deeply philosophical questions and their existential effects,both good and bad, I dropped/oozed the dough (batter?) into my muffin tin.

It seemed like it might work, but I didn't know about timing it in the oven.  I set the timer according to the scone recipe and thought if I needed to add a minute or so, I could.  They came out like this:

Oh!  Where did that muffin go?!  

Alright, I confess.  I ate it.  I had to make sure it was done...

I put them back in for two minutes.  Then they were cooked all the way through.  They turned out very dense, but still fairly moist.

Must've been that extra water, no doubt.  I planned it that way.  Yeah, I meant to do that.

I wondered what would happen if I put maple syrup on it...

I got some interesting results...

I finished them up by adding the spice glaze that the original recipe calls for, which is how Michaela wanted to eat hers.  They were pretty good, too.

I have to say, it didn't go quite like I thought it would.  But we all thought they tasted yummy.  And I am in the process of draining some of the liquid out of the pumpkin puree before trying any other recipes.  Water is such a trouble-maker.  Seems so unassuming, but watch out!  You never know just when it's going to cause some confusion.  Of course, it doesn't take much to confuse me...

All Guts and No Gory

We bought pumpkins and made homemade pumpkin puree.  I'm not sure why Michaela had the idea, but she got it in her head that she wanted to "do something" with the pumpkins we purchased at the store the other day.  I'm looking for some good pumpkin recipes, so if there are any suggestions I'll be happy to take them!

Christian and Michaela thought it was kind of cool and kind of gross to scrape the guts out of the pumpkins.

They did a pretty good job, and I helped a little by loosening some of the really stringy, pulpy part.

These two tend to take things very seriously...

Michaela's was the smaller of the two, and Christian's was a little bigger.  And tougher!

We had to put a little more effort into this one! 

Christian was trying to scoop the goop out of the pumpkin without touching it...

We got most of the pieces arranged on our baking stone...

And the baked pumpkin looked just a little more goldeny brown...

She loves this stuff!

I pureed the pumpkin and now we'll see what good things come from all our hard work! 

Season Finale

Michaela's team finished up their soccer season this week.  It is bittersweet at the end, because they really start to play well together as a team just as the playing season comes to a close.  But it's wonderful to see them interact as teammates and friends.  They end up with cupcakes and trophies, but the rewards are far greater than those.

Before this final game, they had team and individual pictures taken, and then a little time to warm-up. 

Once they had the starting players chosen, the game began!  Our team did very well, keeping the other team in defense mode.  They were not afraid to go after the ball, or to try to get it back if the other team had it.  They played aggressively, and had a lot of fun.

The second set went in after the first quarter; they played hard, and were able to score.  It's so exciting to see their enthusiasm and joy when they accomplish a "goal."

Just before the game ended, the ref let ALL the girls from both teams play.  It was a little crazy and a lot funny.  I think they all loved that part.  And the cupcake part...

This was a great season for Michaela.  She learned a lot, gained some confidence and had so much fun with her friends.  Delightful!

Stack Attack, a Different Version

Breakfast for dinner, anyone?  We love breakfast at night around here.  For one thing, it's not rushed and there's nowhere to be in 10 minutes, so we can enjoy the delicious, hot breakfast food without scarfing it down in two minutes and then flying out the door.  Tonight we had bacon, eggs, and pancakes.  Plain and chocolate chip.  Yes, that is what I said.  I took a perfectly nutritious breakfast food and made it into dessert.  I think it's efficient though.  And I did use whole wheat flour.

  Hot off the griddle-and she got plain; I'm not that crazy.

I really like making pancakes, and Michaela does too.  She helped me tonight by flipping some of them, and then adding them to my stack.   

Christian and I had chocolate chip pancakes with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, and Michaela had a plain one with maple syrup.  She said,"I don't like the chocolate chip pancakes.  I know that sounds weird, but I don't."  Is she really my daughter?  Well, she did want some chips by themselves...

  

Simple and yummy...sounds good to me.