A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

Cooking

Favourite Christmas Cookies

By 10 Comments

The crew challenge for this week is Peppermint.  I don’t do peppermint well so this was a difficult one for me.  I finally decided to simply talk about my favourite Christmas cookies.   (and how I avoid too much mint!)  Who doesn’t like a good Christmas cookie?  I think almost every household has them.  I for instance LOVE a good lemon cinnamon cookie, but this time of year I tend to make Hershey cookies, sugar cookies, and papernauten. 

Oh… why do I tend to avoid peppermint?   Well, combine it with chocolate and you’ll find me very energetic and talking a mile a minute and then having a bad crash.  It’s fun, but yet very NOT fun. 

favourite Christmas cookies

So just why do I like baking for Christmas?  Like seriously.. with all the chocolate, candy canes, and goodies offered up… do we REALLY need all those extra calories?  We don’t!

But you know … I grew up with making cookies with my mom.  Now I get to make cookies with my lad.  In many ways, it’s a family tradition, and it’s GOOD to have those.  They bring normalcy to a season, and frankly this year, with all the precautions being taken, I feel really MEH about Christmas.  But these Christmas traditions.. baking cookies, spending time with my lad, talking together, figuring out who will do what, it makes it better.  Much less MEH!  Good tasting cookies help too!

Favourite Christmas Cookies

Over the years we’ve had students from other lands come live with us.  One year we had a very sweet Brazillian lad living with us.  He made us Brigadeiros.  These are Brazilian chocolate fudge balls.  They are extremely easy to make and VERY tasty.   They bring us such happy memories. 

You can roll them in whatever topping you like.  We tend to do chocolate and candy sprinkles, but I’ve seen them with icing sugar, cane sugar and just plain.  Apparently others do them with cut up fruit or crushed nuts, candy cane etc.   It’s up to you and your taste buds!  

Brigadeiros

We started to make Peanut butter blossom cookies… I think two years ago?  HUGE hit.  OH MY WORD… I was so surprised at how well they went over.  They are fun to make so it’s a great cookie to make with children and teens.  We have played around with different types of hershey kisses on top, and mostly prefer the plain chocolate.  This year we got gifted white chocolate spiral cookies… so we used those instead.  The pepperminty tasting ones my son stole quietly to his room.  🙂   YEAH!!   I don’t have to be tempted by something NOT good for me.  🙂 

peanut butter blossoms

We’ve made gingerbread cookies and sugar cookies.   It’s fun don’t you think to make fun shapes with cookies, to surprise a boy with a cat, or to indulge your fancy with bunnies, reindeer or snowmen. 

gingerbread and sugar cookies

Haystacks and chocolate chip cookies just for fun.  You know what I love about haystacks?   They are SO versatile.  We made our using coconut and rice krispies.  My boarder makes hers using chinese noodles, My mom using large flake oatmeal and a friend does her using oatmeal crisp cereal.    So very versatile and no need to bake them.  Just melted chocolate goodness mixed with toppings of choice.  🙂 

Yet to come

Yet to be made yet are my papernauten, homemade turtles, mini rolo cookies and dipped pretzels.  You’ll find recipes for most of these in the collection of posts below.  You won’t find much in the way of peppermint in them though!  🙂 

So what are you baking this year?  Do you have favourite Christmas cookies that are part of your family traditions?  Share the recipe in the comments if you’d like, perhaps they will become favourites in our household too!

Recipe: Lemon Loaf

By 4 Comments

A couple weeks back I had a yard sale, and as always, I cooked a few things just to see if I could sell them.  Some years this goes well and others years just kinda so-so, therefore I always make food that we like in our household.

I made Rhubarb pudding cake (which I love), Rhubarb Cake, and Lemon Loaf.  

I have to admit, I am not very familiar with lemon loaf.. I made it once before YEARS ago for work luncheon I think.   I used this this recipe and modified slightly based on comments.  

Ingredients:

  • 1⁄2 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1⁄2 cup milk
  • 1/2 tsp lemon extract 
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 lemon, rind of

Glaze

  • 1 lemon, juice of
  • 1⁄4 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp lemon extract

Directions:

  1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar.
  2. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until creamy.
  3. Blend in milk and 1/2 tsp lemon extract
  4. In another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and lemon rind.
  5. Pour into batter.
  6. Stir to moisten.
  7. Scrape into greased 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.   DO NOT FORGET THIS STEP.  Just saying.
  8. Bake in 350f degree oven for 55 to 60 minutes.
  9. Cool in pan for 5 minutes.
  10. Remove to rack and while still hot, with a toothpick poke holes all over the top of the loaf, and spoon glaze evenly over.
  11. Cool.

What did we think?
Oops… forgot to grease the bottom on the one I held back.  Should have. 🙂  BUT the recipe tastes good, the lads had fun helping me to finish it off. 

——
This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time .

Recipe: Braided Easter Bread!!!

By Leave a Comment

CHECK IT OUT!!!   Man, this was HARD to do.  I’ve never braided bread before so this was totally a new thing to try.  I figured since I was getting confident making bread that bumping my skills up a level might not be a bad thing to try and braided breads always look rather cool.

You can find the original recipe here: Braided Easter Bread.

Ingredients:

6 cup all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 Tbsp sugar

½ cup warm water

2 Tbsp yeast

1 cup milk

¾ cup honey

1 Tbsp salt

2 Tbsp butter

zest of 1 orange

5 eggs

2 egg yolks

2 Tbsp water

1 Tbsp honey


Directions
1. Mix 1 tbs sugar with ½ cup warm
water and sprinkle in the yeast. Let sit until frothy, about 10 minutes.
Combine the 1 cup milk, ¾ cup honey, 2 tbs butter, 1 tbs salt &
orange zest in a sauce pot, bring to a simmer and them remove from heat.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the 5 eggs
and then add the yeast mixture followed by the milk mixture. In a
separate bowl, mix the baking powder into the flour. Incorporate the
flour into the wet ingredients one cup at a time until the mix forms a
large wet dough. Place the dough in a large bowl that has been greased
with vegetable oil, cover with plastic wrap and leave to prove in a warm
place for 2 hours.

3. After the dough has proved, turn it out
on a floured work surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes, until the
dough is elastic. If the dough is too sticky, fold in a little more
flour.

4. Divide the dough into three equal pieces
and roll each piece into a long thread. Lay the three threads out about 2
inches apart on a greased baking tray. Pinch the three threads together
on one end and then braid them together, folding each thread over the
other, alternating as you go. When you reach the end, pinch the three
threads together. Brush the dough with vegetable oil, cover with plastic
wrap and let rest for 15 minutes. Set the oven to 375F.

5. Combine 2 egg yolks with 2 tbs water and 1
tbs honey and brush the bread with the egg wash. Let sit for 5 minutes
and then brush a second time.

6. Bake the bread in the oven at 375F until golden brown, for about 30 minutes.

My Struggles:

I couldn’t figure out how to roll the dough.  I think I had too much flour on it. But I couldn’t get it roll worth a diddle, as I ended up squeezing the dough into a long tube mostly.  There must be some trick to rolling dough… thoughts???
It also turned out way too long for the pan I have which is why I turned it into a circle. 
 
What did we think?
Well.. I’ll have to update this recipe later. We haven’t tried it yet as I made it for Good Friday.  🙂 
Though hubby’s response when he saw it was “wow…. looks good hun, smells good too!”, then “did you hide anything in it?” Silly fellow. 🙂

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time/

Mmmm.. is for … Maple Syrup

By 10 Comments

Maple syrup, oh I love maple syrup.  🙂  Don’t you… slathered over pancakes, drizzled into scrambled eggs, and baked into muffins.. mmm mmm good.. good good good.  Won’t you join Amanda and I in blogging through the alphabet the letter M?

Did you know that Canada produces 71-80% of the world’s maple syrup?   Most of that coming from Quebec. Isn’t that an wonderful part of Canada?   We export to over 50 countries around the world, with the USA being one of the biggest importers.

My son use to watch Daniel Cook, so seeing this video brought back smiles:

Daniel Cook is actually learning the old way to tap trees (also the method used by home producers).  Commercial producers have moved to the using lines and gravity to move the syrup from the trees to the cookhouse.  

I learned when I went on a maple syrup tour a couple years ago that the lines come with their own problems.  Apparently a large number of wild critters..in particular squirrels.. have learned the lines contain sweet water and therefore will chew on them to lick up the sap as it comes down the line.   So the lines need to be checked regularly to make sure they aren’t damaged.
 
So why is maple syrup important?
1. It tastes great.  If you’ve only had the fake syrup you really don’t know what you are missing.
2. You can cook with it.  To substitute maple syrup for granulated sweeteners such as white sugar,
use 2/3 cup of maple syrup for every 1 cup of granulated sugar, reduce
the quantity of liquid ingredients in the recipe (water, milk, juice) by
1/4 cup and lower the baking temperature by 25° F. Maple syrup also
serves as a one-to-one substitution for other liquid sweeteners, such as
honey, molasses and corn syrup. (source).  
3. Harvesting the sap (about 7% of the tree produces) doesn’t hurt the tree and there are regulations in place to protect the trees.
4. Maple sugar candies…enough said.  🙂
5. Maple Syrup is good for you, “A 60 ml portion of maple syrup contains 100 percent of your recommended
daily allowance of manganese, as well at 37 percent of riboflavin, 18
percent of zinc, 7 percent of magnesium, and 5 percent of calcium and
potassium. Plus, the antioxidant levels are comparable to a banana or a
serving of broccoli.” (source)
6. Top three world-wide producers are:  (source)
  • Province of Quebec, Canada:  7, 989,000 gallons harvested.
  • State of Vermont, USA:  890,000 gallons harvested.
  • Province of Ontario, Canada:  400,000 gallons harvested.

7. Maple syrup was first discovered by North America’s indigenous peoples.  The Ojibwa talked of the “maple moon”.   (source)
8. Maple syrup is graded according to colour, flavour and density.
9. “Canada’s maple syrup producing regions are located in the provinces of
Quebec (primary producer), Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island
and Nova Scotia. There are more than 8,600 maple syrup businesses in
Canada.” (source) 
10. Did you know that the Homeschool Review Crew reviewed Tap My Trees?   Tap my Trees is a company that helps you successfully make your own syrup.  

I hope you will come join us:

A Net In Time Schooling

A Net In Time Schooling

Spring Break – Cooking Fun!

By Leave a Comment

This week my son has been in cooking class all week.
He’s been bringing home cookies and pie and just having a good deal of fun.

He’s made cookies with brown beans in it (what a delight surprising mom and dad with the knowledge).

Chicken dinner with potatoes and veggies.
A variety of dips and learning to spiralize veggies.
Desserts.
Maple bacon and pancakes.

He’s been simple delighted with everything that they have made and was so pleased they sent him home with a cookbook.

Now he has more ideas of things to cook!

Friday we started our six week co-op session for HOPE.
Hubby is teaching a gym class.   We had the children play Hotdog, Around the World, and Everybody’s It.  Hard to get pics of fast moving children.

 I am teaching a “Making Zentangles class”.   I will be using this book as a base of reference.  You can find my review of it here.

Homeschooling, faith and more.
Draw & Discover – art book series – teaching vocabulary through creative expression
Be mindful Gog of Magog, God is going to use you – devotional on Genesis 38
Weather Assignments – a word prompt post
Recipe for Fish Chowder – good tasting soup
One People, One Shepherd, One God – devotional on Genesis 37
Igloos and Inukshuks – blogging the alphabet post
God’s Holiness Made manifest – devotional on Genesis 38:1-24
The Unstoppable Power of a United Praying Family.  learning more about prayer
Friend…when and where.   A Five minute Friday word prompt post.
St. Patrick’s Day Meal.   In Honour of St. Patrick.

Reviews
Draw & Discover. Art books for young children
Let’s Explore mountains.  A great book to learn about mountains
Walking with the Waodani.   Unit study on the Waodani
Found: Psalm 23 – a board book for young children

Linking up at the following blogs this week: 

Amazon.ca: Zentangle: The inspiring and mindful drawing workbook with over 70 practice tiles

Amazon.com: Zentangle: The inspiring and mindful drawing workbook with over 70 practice tiles

This post may contain affiliate links – using affiliate links from A Net in Time helps fuel this blog and our homeschool – thank you!

©2006-2017 A Net In Time. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. A Net In Time

The Highlights of This Week

By 8 Comments

This week has gone by much too fast so this week I’m only going to talk about my highlights of the week .

1. My son cooking another meal.. a good one.    Then Hubby made Spaghetti and meatballs last night.   It’s so nice not having to think of what to make a couple of nights a week.
     Poutine and ribs.

2. Learning that I and the lad may be accompanying hubby to the states in May. We do some sightseeing, he does some pastoral learning.   So plans are in the works.  Biggest thing will be to find affordable place to stay (most likely Pinchot State Park) and then affordable things to do driving around the area.    Will be looking at the Hershey Chocolate factory and apparently there’s a driving tour of Gettysburg and such like.

3. Building Lego together because the Lego Fair is coming up (tonight in fact!)  and I can’t show you pictures until AFTER the fact… oh and making cookies!   Always good to make cookies you know?  🙂

4. Two litters of bunnies born.  Not as big of litters as I hoped, but alive so all is good.  One litter had two broken orange (though one might be a really like tort.   And the other had two torts.   Both were litters of holland lops.

I have a litter old enough to go to new homes, spunky kits these three.   The broken chestnut already has someone interested in her.

 Let’s see.. other highlights of the week… My sweetheart brought home a few more things from the church this week.  Slowly he’s getting his stuff out of the church.  It’s a hard process so this is a step forward.. 18 years of his life was invested in this church.

Homeschooling and life:
Abandon – a word prompt post 
From Singleton to Many – finding ways to teach many when having a singleton
A wife’s understanding of sin – continuing to learn from “the Excellent Wife”
Middle – a poem on Middle
Five Advantages in Learning how to Cook.
Profile: Henry Hudson. Learning about the man behind the name
Multi-grain, whole wheat bread. 
A God who Hears and Acts.  Devotion on Ezekiel 37:1-14

Reviews: 
 A Kid from Diamond Street – women in baseball – Edith Houghton
 Fantastic Planets.  adult colouring book
 A Dog in A Cave.  Humans and Dogs, influencing each others development
Really Woolly Easter Blessings.  Board book  
 Three Great Middle School Reads.   Good books
 

And it was good! Our week Feb 19-25

By 4 Comments

We planned a bit of a short week this week.   Plans to go away this weekend, a vehicle in need of repair, and knowing the learning takes place in many different ways.  🙂  School happened!   Life happened.  And it was good!  🙂

Monday 
Today was family day, so the lad did his minimal schooling that he does on days off, and off we went to first take part in a demonstration Karate Class and then to go for a walk at the Pinery.   We did some pokemon going while we are there, toured through Grand Bend and just hung out together.

Tuesday 
Ice experiment…ooh.. fun with matches!

The lad made cake!
It was his turn to cook, he saw the cake in the cupboard and his eyes…. oh my, they just lit up!   “It’s my turn to cook!    Let’s have cake!”

He was a bit downcast when I mentioned that just cake for supper was not acceptable… which led him to ask for helped in making perogies.

Dad, not being a lover of perogies opted to make himself some other dish instead.

Wednesday 
Food bank.   Regular schooling.  The lad pushed hard and was done by 1230.  🙂  
Had a lovely walk together in the afternoon the lad and I did.   New Pokemon out and running around, so we had to chase them down.  🙂

Thursday 
School, the lad’s report this week on the Caribou.
Garbage day, lovely weather, car work to do… we called it done as early as we could. 🙂

The lad helped clean the cars out and helped dad work on the rear brakes.   They also fixed the side mirror that I accidentally broke off after over correcting from someone taking a corner really wide.   (I avoided being hit but the car mirror…not so much).

Rabbit picture taking day.

Friday 
Gramma coming over since hubby and I are heading out for the weekend.   
The lad did practical schooling today making cheese buns.  🙂  He’ll also be doing animal husbandry and housework with gramma this weekend.   

Saturday-Sunday
Hubby and I just schleped around together.    We had a wonderfully relaxing weekend doing absolutely nothing but wandering around together, looking and talking and just being alone without distraction.

Faith and Word Prompts
Set your face against Mount Seir.   Devotion on Ezekiel 35
Sunday sermon.  Can you build the church for others?
A Wife‘s Understanding of God.  chapter two of excellent wife book
You Will know that I am the Lord.   Devotion on Ezekiel 36:1-15
Forgetting the Holiness of God. Devotion on Ezekiel 36:16-24
For His Name’s Sake.  Devotion on Ezekiel 36:22-37
Pajamas are Optional.   word prompt post on pajamas
Oh to be Slow.  World Prompt on the word Slow.
  
Reviews
Earth-Space Colouring Book.
Conspiracy of Silence.

Jack London and the Klondike Gold Rush. 

A Dog’s Purpose.

Homeschooling and Life
ABC Blogging.  F is for frogs.  Frogs with tails.. think on it.   🙂
Art Series: Earth-Space Colouring book. Cool resource for astronomy lessons.
Hymn Study: Have thine Own Way Lord.  
Chicken Heart Casserole. 
Books for Canada, the Canadian North (Jack London).
STEM: Building a Robotic Hand.
The Lad’s Research: The Caribou.

Linking up at the following Places:
 
Homeschool Highlights.
Family Friday Link Ups:
Weird Unsocialized homeschoolers: Weekly Wraps Up.
Homeschool blog and tell.