Tag: Recipes

A Day in the Life, Educational, Homeschool

Kitchen Chemistry Unit for November

Keira

This is a rough draft post. I’d love to say I’ll fluff it out but… my track record suggests otherwise. If you’re seeing it in this state and it’s not November, my track record holds. What can I say, I’m consistent! haha.

Below, find a schedule for semi-weekly primary-school science lessons for the month of November. A homeschool unit for November about – you guessed it – food.  Note that this could easily be spread out to 4 or 5 days a week instead of 2! But we only do science twice a week in order to have time for social studies and extra curriculars.

  1. Intro to Chemistry
  2. classifying matter:
  3. states of matter: Solid, liquid, gas
  4. What is a mixture
  5. Suspensions vs Solutions
  6. Colloids
  7. emulsions
  8. Adding heat
  9. Acids vs Bases
Canning/Harvest, Recipes

Bbq barbeque sauce 2022

Keira

***disclaimer before you think this is a real recipe, it is not! It is notes on what *I* did on a scientific basis in order to create my own safe bbq sauce recipe from tomato skins. It has not been tested by any official source and I completely created it myself instead of using my knowledge to safely tweak someone else’s. Use this recipe and this blog post at your own risk.**z

Once again I decided I’d re-try a recipe I had in the past and it’s been so long that I have no idea what that recipe even was or where it came from. I would hide in self-pitty but I’m too stubborn. I’ve been looking for days and I am just going to have to do my own digging on what makes a good and bottle-able sauce! So here goes:

First of all, I struggle with a lot of the recipes on the world wide web because they start with whole tomatoes! Since I use tomato skins to get my tomatoes, this is an impossible measurement. So for my recipe I started with 3 gallons of tomatoes and tomato skins that I have heated, blended, heated some more, and run through the victorio. It’s pretty tedious to run that much tomato through the victorio since it likes to just kinda hover and not run through with the entirety being soft and small, but some tips I re-learn every year should help the process: first, when things stop moving, do a turn or two backwards. It loosens everything back up and gets things flowing again. Also, if things get unproductive, grab a scoop/handful of the already processed skins and push them through. After that process, you’re left with smooth tomato juice, no seeds, no skins (or at least very small shreds of it. Not gonna lie, some seem to always slip in).

Then reduce that down by about half (so 3 gallons becomes 1 1/2). Upon further reading after it was too late, I wish I had added onion before reducing, because even the ball recipe adds diced onion, which is odd to me because I was told to never add vegetables. But I had onions and my guess is that they’d be obsolete as a pH-affecting entity in such a reducing process. I pH tested my tomatoes at this point just for scientific reasons and my particular tomatoes (I used all the interesting colored heirlooms, so a lot of Cherokee green and brandywine yellow and Valencia and German stripe. I also threw in all my unripe ones, about 3 pounds) simmered down this far had a pH of 4.3. just in case you were curious. I don’t know what they started out as before simmering down so this info is pretty worthless. But it gave me a starting off point for how much it’s safe to play with a BBQ recipe.

After it simmered down I added:

  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar (5%)
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 6 tbs molasses
  • 5 tbs prepared mustard
  • 3 tbs lemon juice
  • 5 tbs salt
  • 4 tbs onion powder (I think I was happier at 3)
  • 3 tbs garlic powder
  • 3 tbs chili powder ( I would have been happier at 2.5)
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 4 tsp cinnamon (I wish I had stopped at 3)
  • 4 tsp paprika
  • 3 tsp nutmeg
  • 2 tsp coriander

I let it summer about 30 minutes (I bet 15 minutes would work, I was testing flavors), put it in jars and pressure canned for 15 minutes. Only to discover that there aren’t any pressure canning guidelines! I’m guessing that pressure canning is just overkill? I intend to call the extension office tomorrow to find out if I need to reprocess them, but for now, they’re sealing easily as I type this [I called. Without hesitation they told me I was fine to have pressured it and probably overprocessed but for bbq sauce it wouldn’t matter]. And the pH is 3.97 so they’re acidic enough I easily could have waterbath canned them. It’s just I pressure canned the tomato sauce right before this and the sauce starts out the same way so I didn’t think about it until it was in the canner gaining pressure.

As far as flavor, I wish it were sweeter. My husband wishes it had more heat. But we could mess with it the whole time and end up ruining it in entirety, or bottle a decent sauce that is pretty basic and therefore can be tweaked for what preparation I intend. For instance, I will probably add some liquid smoke and a tablespoon of brown sugar when I use it to make pulled pork. But I will also probably add a dash of ketchup when I give it to my kiddos for dipping fries or chicken strips. And I’ll appease my husband and add some hot sauce and a little clear gelatin when I’m basting some ribs.

Also, I read during my research that you could add applesauce and the more we talked about it, the more Ranger and I agreed that would have helped it. Applesauce should fall safely I’m the pH range, too. We both think we might take one bottle and experiment with it that way.

Recipes

My own sliders recipe

Keira

I have to keep reinventing this recipe because I never write it down so this is me, writing it down…

  • 1/4 c dried onions (more if desired. Dried helps soak up some liquid)
  • A handful of pickles (depends on your pickle preference)
  • 1/4 c mayo
  • 1/3 c ketchup
  • 1 T mustard (optional)
  • 1 lb regular beef hamburger
  • 1 lb buffalo burger (to make it without buffalo, cut back in a little mayo and ketchup)
  • Your favorite steak seasoning
  • Slices of cheese to cover the whole set of patties
  • A set of rolls that are 9×13 (if another size, adjust meat size below)
  • Very softened butter

Mix all but the cheese, rolls and buter together to make a meatloaf. Flatten it out to a giant patty, sprinkle steak seasoning on top, and bake in a 9×13 pan at 350° for 20 minutes.

While the patty is in the oven, slice the rolls in half to make buns. Spread the butter evenly over the buns. Place butter-side-down on a cookie sheet.

When the patty is done, pull it out, place sliced cheese over the top and place it back in the oven just long enough to melt the cheese. Then let it rest until you can remove the patty. Discard the grease. While the patty is resting, toast the buns until buttered side is golden. Let cool long enough to handle safely, and stack the buns and patty to form mini burgers.

May serve with extra pickles, sliced tomatoes (Romas make a good choice based on size), lettuce, grilled or fresh mushrooms and onions, and any other burger toppings your family desires.

A Day in the Life, FHE, Spiritual

Conference Activities

Keira

Dear Reader,

An unspoken thing that I personally think is amazing about conference is that there are so many family traditions involved in how each household watches conference. If you feel like you need a new tradition in your family, here are are some resources I have found from the Church (while planning our FHE lesson for this week) that are totally free to you!

  • Watch videos sharing the personal testimonies of the Apostles.
  • Print off and fill out conference notebooks (for older or for younger kids; or one of these pages one, two for in between)
  • color by topic pages (I personally think this one is worth it! love it). There is this one, as well, but a) it’s outdated, and b) it’s not as pretty. But it is still a good resource!
  • Conference Bingo! This is what our family does! we have pages my aunt made when we were kids, but the topics have shifted slightly and it’s getting harder to get bingos! So I think I’m gonna print these off, instead, this year. Before conference, I go to the dollar store and pick out little toys and party favors. I buy things that are less than a dollar (so multiple things in a pack) for bingos and then 1 dollar prize per session per kid for blackouts (I might have to make the “sustaining leaders” a free space in order to do that on this print-out). I try to pick prizes that are projects or crafts, so that my kids have some form of entertainment during conference, as opposed to a figurine, but even little figurines have value while entertaining kids for so long. Here is another page, but it has President Monson represented for “prophet,” so it’s a little outdated.
  • Here are some awesome coloring pages of the General Authorities! See if your family can recognize them and know their names.
  • There are a lot of picture searches within the church’s website, but these two (one, two) deal particularly with General Conference.
  • Same thing goes for coloring pages. I found 5 in particular that are about conference (but I bet there are more hidden in the “internet cracks.” Some of these have President Monson, but he was still a prophet (one, two, three, four, five). And here is one about King Benjamin teaching his people, in case you’re following along with our FHE lessons.
  • Here’s a poster with kids coloring for conference.
  • This page has a blank bingo sheet, but I like the idea of drawing the ties given on the bottom.
  • Challenge your family to listen for key words and keep a tally of what is said.
  • If you told your family about King Benjamin teaching his people, this activity about his people pitching his tents toward the temple will have deeper meaning.
  • Here is a connect four game based off of listening to key words.
  • This one seems fun, too. Color in a square for each clue you see or hear.
  • assign a small treat to key words and each time that word is heard, the hearer can get a treat.
  • Here is a dot-to-dot of the prophet (and a picture story).
  • There is nothing to print here, but this story talks about watching conference via a tent, like King Benjamin. You could build a fort like they do in the story or a real tent. If it’s stable enough, you could even allow your family to sleep in it one night!
  • This activity involves 1 word for each letter of the alphabet and suggests writing notes about each word.
  • Here is a rope code game that has a hidden answer at the bottom of the page.
  • For kids that can read, they could cover these words as they hear them.
  • The second page of this story from the friend gives a nice way to take notes on a talk. If your note-taker can read but isn’t ready to take that thorough of notes, they might be able to follow this outline.
  • Here is a 2-week countdown of activities to prepare for conference.
  • And this is a crossword search with conference words.
  • If you want to update the pictures, this is a fun mini-conference setup with chairs and a pulpit that you can have the speakers walk to. But it’s from 2012.
  • This coloring page is similar to some others already listed, but a little bit simpler. It would still require reading, though. Or there is this one, tied to the talk before it.
  • Here’s a wiggle break rhyme to get kids up and moving, if needed.
Educational, Kids Need Play

Mini School Day 2 /s/ sound

Keira

Dear Reader;

I am so giddy at how well these little mini lessons are going! I always told myself that “someday,” I’d do fun letter activities but I just never felt good enough or like I had the time to do such fun things. But I made a goal to spend more time with my kids, and then I made the goal to focus on letters. And it’s been so rewarding.

This activity was about the /s/ sound. And squishy slimy rainbow-colored spaghetti was just so fun to make! My kids wished I would have let them help, but I was the mean mom that did not feel like cleaning up food-colored clothes or kids or carpet.

To make rainbow spaghetti, just cook the spaghetti to done, add 20 drops of coloring and 2 tbs of water into a sandwich bag. mix it up and then add some spaghetti into the bag. It was about 2 pinches full of spaghetti, but really it’ll depend on how much spaghetti you cook.

  • For red, I simply did 20 drops of red.
  • For orange, I did 15 drops of yellow and 5 of red (and I could have favored the yellow even more than I did.
  • For yellow, it was easy peasy. 20 drops of yellow.
  • For green, I did 12 drops of neon green, and 3 drops of true green. it was such a pretty color!
  • For blue I did 15 drops of my cyan from the neon set and 5 drops of straight blue.
  • Purple was made by 12 drops of the neon purple, 5 drops blue, and 3 drops red. Honestly it was dark, so maybe it doesn’t need all 20 drops?
  • I had extra spaghetti so I decided to make some teal (12 drops cyan, 2 drops blue, and 5 drops of green) and some magenta (I only did 10 drops on this one because I wanted it to be more of a pink than a red. 7 drops neon purple and 3 drops red). You can look for them in the picture above if you want.

You’re supposed to only leave the spaghetti in for a minute… but I have kids. Yeahhhh, that spaghetti was in there for more like 5. And it didn’t end up all evenly colored, because ideally I would have at least mixed that spaghetti around every so often. But eh, my kids didn’t care and honestly, I didn’t either.

After it’s been in for the “minute,” rinse each color individually. after rinsing, I dumped them all back into the pan, and I’m telling you not to do that. Keep them all in their own bowl until right before serving/giving to your kids, them to keep the blues from dying the yellows.

Now that that is done, time for our little mini-school! We read the second lesson in our Teach your Child book, the letter S from the activity book, and then we made s shapes and traced them with our fingers. then I just let her and her toddler sisters play in the spaghetti (after they washed their hands… because I totally intended to count the munching I knew would happen as lunch)! Sensory play for the win.

I pulled out a few noodle colors and let them dry in S shapes so she can have something to trace throughout the week. I tried to dry them onto the paper so they’d just glue themselves to the paper but the noodles shrink as they dry and the paper got all curly. So before they ruined the paper and their shapes, I pulled them off and flipped them over to dry the rest of the way. As the lessons progress I’ll have her trace them with her fingers to include kinetic input into learning.

Keira at searchforseven.com
Recipes

Creamy Cucumber Salad with Greek Chicken Seasoning

Keira

Cucumber salad:

  • 2 long English cucumbers (I did 1 English and 2 loosely peeled regular cucumbers)
  • 1 medium size purple onion
  • 1/2 c Greek yogurt (can sub sour cream of your family won’t eat plain yogurt)
  • 1T apple cider vinegar (white vinegar is fine)
  • 1 packet fresh Dill
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic powder
  • 1T of Italian dressing
  • 1/2 c chopped tomatoes

Slice/dice all the vegetables. Set aside. Combine remaining ingredients, adjusting to taste (will become stronger as it chills). Pour over vegetables. Stir thoroughly. Chill 2-8 hrs.

Greek seasoning for grilled chicken:

  • 2 tsp onion powder
  • 2 tsp dried minced garlic (or 3 tsp powdered)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp dried basil
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp rosemary (cut up finer)
  • 2 tsp dried Dill weed
  • 1 tsp marjoram
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • Dried Lemon zest from 1 lemon (about 1 tsp)
  • 1/2 tsp Dill seed

Mix together and place in a shaker. Sprinkle liberally onto butterflied chicken breasts. Cook chicken to 165°F internal temp.

Canning/Harvest, Recipes

Berry lemonade

Keira

Our berry choice was huckleberry, raspberry, and nanking cherry juice. They’re all tart berries so I added 1 cup sugar. My mom probably would have added more but she also said that she can always add more sugar when it was made up but I wouldn’t be able to take any out. Also, I modified the recipe to what I wish I had done as I sat waiting for it to process. This time around we divided the juice evenly between the jars and then added water to get a better headspace; but, I really feel like the berry lemonade could have had more lemon, so the recipe reflects an extra cup of lemon juice I wish I had added in processing. It will probably need more sugar that way, though.

  • 10 cups of lightly masserated berries
  • 6 cups of water (you may need more)
  • Peels from 10 lemons (instructions below)
  • 5 cups lemon juice
  • 6 cups of sugar (plus more to taste)

Simmer berries and water 20 minutes.

While the berries are simmering, peel 10 lemons with a peeler so that they are large chunks. You don’t want to zest them, but you’re after the whole yellow part. Set aside.

Transfer 3 cups of liquid (try to get just liquid!) into a separate saucepan. Add 6 cups of sugar. Stir and simmer until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add lemon peels, and cover to steep for 10 minutes. When it has cooled a little bit, return to the heat until it simmers and then let steep 10 more minutes. Re-heating the liquid helps release the rest of the oils and infuses it in the syrup better.

Strain out the peels and turn them into candied lemon.

Put syrup and lemon juice back in the stockpot. Simmer until desired flavor is achieved (can take a few hours). Add sugar to taste. And remember it’s a concentrate, so it should be strong!

Put 2 tablespoons of the reserved mash of berries into 7 warm sterile jars and then spread the rest evenly throughout. Pour warm liquid over the berries (you need about 1/2″ headspace, but it can vary based on how much liquid you have). You may have to add a little water.

Process for 20 minutes, adjusting for altitude (I live at 5000 feet).

To reconstitute, it’s about one part concentrate to one part water or soda, but adjust it to taste. You can also add sugar to taste if you need to.

Recipes

Homemade “Chicken” Bouillon

Keira

I made this recipe because in reducing the amount of corn in our food, it became necessary to eliminate bouillon (that stuff has some scary ingredients). But so many recipes call for Bouillon! Mostly, I use it for my SOS mix.

  • 2 c nutritional yeast flakes
  • 1/3 c salt
  • 1/4 c dried basil
  • 1/4 c garlic powder
  • 2 T rosemary that has been run through my food processor (my family won’t eat it otherwise)
  • 1/4 c onion powder
  • 2 T oregano
  • 1/2 T marjoram
  • 1/4 c parsley
  • 2 T black pepper

I leave mine flakey, but shake the jar I put it in rather vigorously. I know a lot of recipes tell you to blend it, which might be helpful. I still use it as an even trade-off in recipes, even though I know by not blending it I’m getting less flavor in my measurements. Honestly, I don’t notice much difference. It’s a preference thing.

Recipes

Corn “Free” S.O.S mix

Keira

I’m gonna start this post with a disclaimer: anyone that is also allergic to corn will know, anything claiming to be corn-free probably isn’t. My family is only considered “corn-lite.” Some things don’t bother us (mostly corn starch, corn syrup, and sometimes citric acid), and we fall in the “bucket” category (as in, if we don’t overfill our bucket, we don’t have to be too careful).

And a lot of it will come down to your individually sourced ingredients. But, this is a lot better than what you find at the store. It’s based on the S.O.S. mix you see all over the web, except I’ve eliminated the cornstarch and used my own version of “chicken” bouillon.

My chicken bouillon (purple) and my S.O.S sauce (before I added the onions and mushrooms that were still in the dehydrator)

I won’t make some long story, I hate blog posts for recipes that do that. Don’t even read them, usually; but I use this sauce for anything that calls for a can of “cream of…” I also sprinkle some in gravies or sauces I just want a little thicker or creamier.

Without further ado, modified SOS sauce

  • 2 cups powdered milk (non-instant)
  • 1 1/4 cup tapioca flour
  • 1/4 c homemade chicken bouillon substitute
  • 2 T onion flakes
  • 2 T dehydrated mushrooms and/or celery (optional)
  • 1/2 T salt (optional, but the tapioca doesn’t taste as salty as corn starch)

Mix it all together and store in an airtight container. I stick with the same usage as the original instructions and it usually works out okay for me. Start there and you can get a feel for if you feel like anything needs changed.

To use: wisk 1/3 c mix with 1 1/4 c water or chicken stock.

I’m sure this recipe could also use arrowroot starch. It would require about half the starch and then less salt, but tapioca starch is readily available in my small town and arrowroot would require a more intentional purchase. And my bouillon is a little less salty anyway, so the additional salt helps there as well. Anyway, make this recipe your own this is how I make mine.

Recipes

Slow Cooker Gumbo

Keira
  • 1 pound andouille sausage
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil (I use grapeseed because that’s what I have)
  • 1 cup flour (I use wheat)
  • 2 bell peppers, cored and diced
  • 3 celery stalks
  • 1 small onion
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 1 quart jar stewed tomatoes
  • 1 tablespoon Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning (my kids will eat this but I cut it down if my mom’s coming to visit)
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne (I leave it out when serving kids or grandmas)
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1/2 c small-cut cauliflower (leave out if freezing. Not authentic but I like to pack veggies in and it’s not too far-fetched in a gumbo)
  • 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
  • 1 cup okra (if you have it. We don’t, usually)
  • 1 pound peeled and deveined raw shrimp (mine’s frozen)
  • salt and pepper
  • Prepared rice
  • Optional toppings: green onions, fresh parsley, or avocados (Avocados aren’t authentic but they are delicious).

Slice sausages. In a regular-sized frying pan, brown sausage coins (2-ish minutes). Place in crock pot.

While the sausages are browning, I start slicing my trinity of vegetables (peppers, celery, and onion). It carries over into my roux stage, but I’m pretty fast at dicing and my stove is right next to my cutting board. If you don’t have ideal circumstances, definitely do the mis en place version and slice your veggies first! And do it as fast as you can at the beginning of your roux, because toward the end it goes much faster.

Once the pan is available, add the oil and begin slowly adding flour, mixing in as you go. It will be pastey. This is called a roux. It’s a staple in cajun cuisine. Turn the temperature down to medium. If you’re still slicing veggies, stir your roux about every quarter of each of the vegetables, but adjust based on need. Don’t burn your roux! If you do, start over on it!

Once your roux is about the color of chocolate (20-30 mins. It starts slow but gains momentum), add the trinity. Mix it around and it kind of coats the veggies. Then mash and finely dice the garlic. After the veggies have been in the pot around 5-8 minutes, add the garlic to the mixture. Cook it one more minute, stirring constantly. The veggies should just be turning translucent and soft. Add the whole mixture to the crockpot.

Add in the chicken stock and mix it around to encorporate everything. Then add the stewed tomatoes, creole seasoning, paprika, cayenne, and bay leaves. Set crock pot to low. It will need to simmer 4-6 hours.

At any point, depending on preference (I add about halfway through, but have added it at the beginning before), add chicken, okra, and cauliflower.

Half an hour before serving, defrost the shrimp under hot water and add it to the pot. If your shrimp is defrosted, add it at 20 minutes. This is also when I start my rice (unless I’m using day-old rice. I do, regularly).

The gumbo is ready when the shrimp are pinkish and opaque, not clear. They also kind of curl in on themselves.

Adjust salt and pepper, as needed. Remove bay leaves.

To serve, place rice in a bowl, pour gumbo over the top, and add toppings of choice, if desired.

To freeze: don’t freeze it with the rice or if you added the cauliflower! But you can still freeze it with the proteins. Let cool. Scoop desired amounts into ziploc freezer bags. Freezes for approximately 3 months with shrimp, 6 months without it.