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Changes Are Coming!!! Big Changes!

Well the title speaks for its self, changes will be coming to my blog...but don't worry, they are all for the good! The first thing is, in case you haven't noticed, I have cut back on the cuss words. Yay me.  This is so that I can get more blog sponsors, who may not appreciate the use of my "sentence enhancers."  What this does is gives me more opportunities to host blog giveaways!  Let's face it, I ain't rich and as much as I would love to, I just can't afford to buy things out of my own pocket to giveaway.  That's why I need sponsors.  

The most important change that will be coming, is that I will be changing the name of this blog.  When I first started blogging, I did it for myself. Now that I have gotten a tad more popular, I realized that I needed a name that reflected what I was actually blogging about.  Thanks to some helpful friends I found the perfect name.  Along with this comes a new logo, a new layout and a new look for my blog.  This also means that I will be changing my name on all social media platforms, but don't worry I will be posting all of the links! I am hoping that all of these changes make for a better reading experience for all of you!

Finally, I would like to thank everyone for your readership and your support!

-XOXO,
Ricci

Today's Lesson: Benjamin Franklin

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn."-  Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was a classic renaissance man.  He has worn many hats in his life, most notably as a printer, postmaster, author, diplomat, inventor and philosopher. Use this sheet to write your quote, and draw a picture of Ben Franklin.   Khan Academy has a complete overview of his life. Here's a lapbook from Homeschool Share where you can fill in the details of what you learned.   We will also be watching Animated Hero Classics: Benjamin Franklin.  I found a copy through my local library system.  We will  be using some of the activities from the resource book that I found at the Dripping Springs Community Library website (scroll down and click on 'Ben Franklin').  Ben Franklin was famous for printing his Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard's Almanack, have fun making your own letter press stamps.


Ben Franklin is a main character in Liberty's kids but is featured in episode 10 "Postmaster General Franklin" and episode 30 "In Praise of Ben."

-Have Fun Learning! 

Basic Gluten Free Meatballs, Because Life Without Meatballs, Sucks...

There's nothing like a great meatball, unless you are gluten free and can't eat meatballs because bread crumbs are a common binder used to make them.  So I made up my own recipe that are safe for me to eat, and that don't fall apart.  These are baked in the oven, so you can make a bunch at once.

This recipe makes a double batch of meatballs, you can freeze half for a busy night!

Preheat oven to 375.

Ingredients

• 3 lbs 85/15 Ground Beef
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup minced onion
• 6 cloves garlic minced
• 1 tsp finely ground black pepper
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 cup gluten free quick cooking oats (I use Bob's Red Mill )
• 1/4 cup rice flour (I use Tres Estrellas )

Make quick work of mincing onions and garlic by tossing them in the food processor.

 Put all ingredients into a large bowl. 

 Mix all ingredients well with your hands (this mixture will be wet) and let stand for 5 minutes.  Mix again, and if the mixture is still too wet, let stand another five minutes. (The standing time gives the rice flour time to expand and thicken.) 

 Using your hands, gently form meatballs using about two tablespoons of meat.  Keep in mind that this mixture will not be like making regular meatballs, it will be moist but will not fall apart.

 Place on ungreased cookie sheet or in a baking dish. 

  Bake for 35-45 minutes, the longer you bake them the crispier the outside will be (and the better the meatball will hold up).

   Serve with rice and gravy, mashed potatoes, enjoy some spaghetti and meatballs or just eat a plate of meatballs.

Printable Recipe

Baking With Duck and Goose Eggs

I was recently introduced to duck and goose eggs by another homeschooling mom in our park day group.  She lovingly hoards  raises ducks and geese as pets, and in return was gifted by her loving birds with tons of eggs.  When she offered some to the ladies in our group I jumped at the chance to try them.  However, when I got them home I will admit that I had no idea what to do with them.  First off these things were massive, especially the goose eggs.  The duck eggs, (sorry no pictures) were longer and more oval shaped than the chicken eggs, and some were almost twice the size. Would they taste weird? Would I like them?

A goose egg compared to a large chicken egg.  The goose egg cracked.

 I weighed them, the goose eggs was 3.8 ounces, the chicken egg was 1.2 ounces.  So I figured I had about 3 large eggs to the one goose eggs.  The shells are harder on both duck and goose egg and harder to crack than a chicken egg. After cracking one, I noticed that the shell was much thicker than a chicken egg, and yolks on both duck and goose eggs are huge!  I did some research on the good ole interwebs and decided that baking with these eggs was probably the best way to try them.  So I decided to bake cupcakes as not to waste that gorgeous egg.

Fresh & Easy Gluten free chocolate cake mix,finished cupcakes with goose egg, finished hamburger buns with duck egg.

If you are lucky enough to have a Fresh & Easy store near you, stock up on this mix, it is the best GF cake mix that I have ever had. Following the box instructions it comes out moist, rich, and dense. It isn't gritty like a lot of gluten free cake mixes are and tastes like real cake!  Now the instructions on the box call for 2 eggs, I used the entire goose eggs instead, and added the other ingredients as called for.  My cupcakes too a few minutes longer to bake but came out light, moist and fluffy.  Three words normally not used to describe ANYTHING gluten free.  I topped them with my homemade butter and cream cheese frosting. Excited I decided to make homemade hamburger buns too, they came out lighter than usual, but also browned really nicely!

Teenie's taste test.  I think she likes it!

As for the tasted test, no one could tell the difference that I used duck and goose eggs instead of chicken ones.  Of course I didn't say anything until everything was devoured.  Sonshine for all of the squid, fish eyes and baby octopus he eat, refuses to "eat anything thing that comes from a duck or gooses' butt."  He loved the cupcakes.  

 I'm pretty sure duck and goose eggs make me a better baker.

Why I Still Own A VCR

This is only a very small part of our collection.

I still own a VCR, as a matter of fact I own three. The kids have one in their rooms and I have a spare in the garage just in case one of their machines decides to take a dump.   According to a recent survey 58% of Americans still own them, so I am in good company.  Here is a list of the reasons why we still have and use our VCRs.

1. I have kids.  If you have kids you know how quickly they can take something wonderful and completely destroy it in a matter of seconds.  DVD's are fragile and my enormous collection of Disney DVD's have been scratched and the cases mangled by these little monsters over the years, beyond the point of recognition in some cases.  VHS tapes are practically indestructible unless you open them up and start ripping out the tape inside. Luckily for me the kids are past that stage now.
2. VHS tapes are huge, therefore making them hard to lose.  Some of my DVD's have just magically disappeared off of the face of the earth, so I am left just looking forlorn at an empty case. Although Lindsey Lohan is not my favorite actress, I am still wondering where the hell did my "Herbie Fully Loaded" DVD go?  Eight years after it mysteriously vanished.
3. Speaking of Disney movies, not all of there older ones have been re-release on DVD.  So you can only get them on VHS.
4. VHS tapes are cheap and were massed produced, they are a dime a dozen.  I can go to the thrift store or a yard sale and literally pick up a bunch of VHS for a quarter a piece. In some cases we have had people GIVE them to us because they wanted to get rid of them so bad.
5. The local library rents VHS tapes for free.  As a homeschooler I take full advantage of all of the educational programming that our library offers, as well as classic movies that we rent for free because the kids get a kick out of the old black and white movies.
6. I have been able to find an entire collections of great educational videos like DK Eyewitness videos and Animated Hero Classics for the kids to use for school.  It sure beats having to pay over 10  bucks a piece, plus shipping, for the the same exact thing on DVD, or $375 dollars for the entire collection. As great as these videos are they are very expensive.

The next time you are cleaning out the garage and run across an old VCR or some videotapes, think twice before you donate them they are great and affordable tool for homeschoolers.

-VIVA LA VCR!!

How To: Properly Fold A Burrito

Being that Cinco de Mayo just passed and all, I noticed that there were tons of recipes out there for awesome Mexican food.  As I sat perusing through Pinterest I noticed a disturbing phenomenon, burritos that were not folded properly. Burritos are meant to be portable food, unless they are slathered in sauce, then they are meant to be eaten with a fork.    For some reason this irks me on so many levels the first being this one... How do you eat a burrito that has both ends left open? Really? How in the hell do you eat that? A hot mess, literally, sure a crotch full of hot beans sounds fun and all but I'm not into all that kinky stuff. I get irate even when we go to a fast food joint, a buy the kids a burrito and one end is open and of course it was crammed into to bottom of the bag and all of the insides are getting squeezed out of the top, so by the time you make it home half of the insides are all over the wrapper, like your burrito just had explosive diarrhea.(Yes I KNOW that was a run on sentence, that you very much grammar police!)

So I decided to do you all a favor and show you how to properly fold a burrito.


You are going to need large flour tortillas.

The most important step of all, heat said tortilla, you can do this over an open flame on the stove (not for wusses) or heat them in the microwave for a few seconds, this makes the tortilla softer and easier to fold.

Fill with whatever you like, but don't over do it, and keep filling in the center. This was Teenie's burrito and since she is horribly picky it must me made a certain way (four piece of lettuce, two dollops of sour cream, mostly beans, 1 tablespoon of meat, two pieces of tomato, three leaves of cilantro, and cheese evenly distributed) before she murders the thing by drowning it in approximately half a bottle of ketchup.  Yes, ketchup.

Fold in the ends of the tortilla, this will be the top of your burrito.  The more you fold in the less chance you have of the damn thing exploding when you bite into it.

Turn plate, then fold in one side.

Turn in tucking as you go.

 Continue rolling tight, but not so tight you tear the tortilla.

There you a properly folded burrito.

Hopefully I have provided a valuable service and saved some poor, misguided soul from the agony of a hot bean spill and trip to the ER.
There you go, an entire blog post, from someone that can't even eat a burrito.

Book Review: The Mother of All Meltdowns: Real Stories of Moms' Finest (Worst, Completely Awful) Moments

I was thrilled when I was contacted by Crystal Ponti to do a review of her book, The Mother of All Meltdowns: Real Stories of Moms' Finest (Worst, Completely Awful) Moments.  Wow! Did this book bring back some memories of my mommy tantrums or what?!  We all have them, but no one likes to talk about them. That moment where sometimes it's the littlest thing that sets off a full blown "mommy meltdown."  This book gave me assurance that I am not alone and that I am not crazy, because other moms have had their moments too and that their kids are just as crazy as mine!

Now, no one really knows what causes these said "meltdowns." It could be the sleep deprivation, the hormones, the lack of proper nutrition, the lack of being able to use the bathroom without a little person screaming and crying and banging their head on the door...I'm no expert, just throwing out some theories... Be forewarned though, this book has a lot of epic s*** stories. Who knew motherhood involved so much s***. Not s*** in the figurative since either, I'm talking about poop, doo doo, ca-ca, boo boo and dookie a lot of it.  It reminds me of my own kids and their poop stories (I could write volumes).

The best part of this book is that it is written by 30 different moms, with 30 different stories of epic mommy madness.  The stories are written in short chapters, so even the most frazzled mommy can find five minutes to read a chapter a day. A couple of stories will make you cry but most of them will make you laugh out loud, nod along and say, "yep, been there, done that." It reminds you that you are strong, you survived it and that you are now older and (possibly) wiser. AND THANK THE GODDESS THAT YOU KIDS ARE OLDER AND POTTY TRAINED!

I highly recommend this book to all new moms, and all old moms.  As a matter of fact when a woman gives birth hand this book out and say, "Congrats on the new baby! Read this book, you'll need it and for future reference, you aren't crazy."