Archive for the ‘Homemaking Helps’ Category

Donna Venning

 A normal morning in the Venning house looks something like this:  My older children come out of their room (one sleepily, one wide awake) and greet me in their usual way…

“What’s for breakfast, Mommy?”

“And good morning to you, too, children,” I reply dryly. 

“Oh.  Good morning, Mommy (hug, hug)…what’s for breakfast?”

Now, depending on how much sleep the Little Mister (our baby) let me get the night before, I can cheerfully or not-so-cheerfully answer this question.  Lately it feels like I’ve been answering it not-so-cheerfully.

So, working for TEACH and knowing that Lorrie has an eBook on this very topic (Sanity Saving Breakfast Ideas), I decided that it was time to tackle the breakfast dilemma and follow some of her recipes.  Below is an outline of what we did this past week and what the family thought of my attempt at a new routine.

Monday’s Recipe: Oatmeal Pancakes

I decided to do this experiment on Sunday afternoon, so while I was grilling dinner I whipped up the batter for Oatmeal Pancakes and put it in the fridge overnight.  Since there are only five of us in my family, I froze half the batter and used the other half.  It worked out well…it made more than enough pancakes and thanks to the extra batter, I now have breakfast in the freezer for next Monday!

When I put the first plates of pancakes on the table, my five year old looked suspiciously at me and said “These don’t look normal.” 

“They’re yummy,” I replied.

The kids started eating and about four bites into them, my seven year old said “These are GREAT!”  Honestly, you’d have thought I’d coached him to say that, but my family didn’t even know about the little experiment I’d undertaken!

 Before I continue on, let me note here that each of the meals I made were made the night before, much like the Monday meal was made during dinner prep on Sunday.  I choose to make the recipes as I fixed dinner each night. I was already in the kitchen and clean up was a cinch!

Tuesday’s Menu: Fancy French Toast

Per the instructions in the recipe book, you make this French toast at once and then freeze it.  When you’re ready for breakfast, you put it in the toaster and voila, breakfast is served! Since Tuesday mornings are my Weight Watchers meetings, it was great to leave instructions with the kids “Toast your waffles for breakfast” while I took a shower and such.  Five and seven year olds can more than handle the toaster and some syrup on top.  Again, this recipe was a hit.

Wednesday’s Recipe: Simple Quiche (from Healthy Sanity Saving Breakfast Recipes)

I chose to make crustless quiche, even though the recipe includes a no-roll dough.  But, I made the quiche without the crust and instead of cooking it in a pie pan, I cooked them in a muffin tin.  The kids loved having two little yellow and green (they had spinach in them) muffins plopped onto their plates. 

By now, I was loving the convenience of having breakfast taken care of when I awoke in the morning.  I always have a dinner menu…why hadn’t it ever occurred to me before to have a breakfast menu plan?  Our mornings were going so much better after only three days!

Thursday’s Recipe: It and With It

Okay, the only negative thing I could say about this recipe is that Lorrie didn’t include the story behind the name “It and With It” in the book.  With a name like that, there’s got to be a story. I’ll have to ask her about that. I made a half-batch and that filled a 9×9 baking dish.  The kids thought the idea of serving it in a bowl of milk was odd (why I can’t explain), so they ate their oats/granola/corn flake concoction with vanilla yogurt on top. Kevin summed it up best when asked if he liked it and replied “No.  I LOVE it.” Honest…I did not coach him on his responses to these new meals!

Friday’s Recipe:  Breakfast Cookies

I used a recipe I already had for this.  We have co-op on Fridays and getting there on time is always a task, even for a hyper-punctual person like me. So on Thursday, the kids and I learned about fraction and measurements as we made a batch of protein breakfast cookies.  Don’t you love the ability to roll homemaking and homeschooling into one event? 

Note: I used a recipe I was already familiar with, but Healthy Sanity Saving Breakfast Recipes does include a similar recipe called “Breakfast in a Cookie.” 

Saturday’s Recipe:  Captain Crunch

Saturdays are always “Saturday Cereal” days at our house.  The kids get to choose any cereal (for them, the brighter colored it is, the better) from the grocery store and that’s what they have on Saturdays.  Later in the morning, we’ll have an early lunch.

Sunday’s Recipe:  More Fancy French Toast

I love it!  A recipe that I made once and served twice (so far…there are actually enough pieces left for one more day of frozen Fancy French Toast. Cook once, eat three times!  Now that’s a ratio I can enjoy!) 

Now that I’m at the end of my first week, my dilemma is this…do I repeat these same recipes or try new ones?  I’m hooked…I won’t go back to making breakfast in the morning. This is way too simple, way to easy and has changed our mornings.  I’m no longer grumpy when the kids ask “What’s for breakfast, Mommy?” Because now I have an answer! 

Having breakfast made the night before has helped with my exercise.  I was getting up in the morning to walk on my treadmill and after exercising, my kids would want to eat, while I wanted a shower.  Now that breakfast is already made, I no longer have to decide which to do…cook or take a shower.  Now I can do both, at a reasonable time of the day (without having to get up before the sun).  Seriously, this has been the best experiment.  I’m going to keep at it and see what difference it makes after a month. So far, I’m hooked!

Writer’s note: with the exception of the Simple Quiche and the Breakfast Cookie recipe, the other recipes mentioned in this article are all from Sanity Saving Breakfast Ideas by Mrs. Lorrie Flem.

Check out the other articles in this week’s ezine…there is a free recipe and a sale on the books I used for my experiment!

There are a variety of things you can do with pressed leaves. In this article, we give you a couple of ways to press and preserve leaves, as well as a few craft and project ideas to do with them!

Some decorating ideas to do with pressed leaves:

·         Place pressed leaves or flowers into pictures frames and display on the mantle or wall.

·         Make beautiful two-sided/see-through placemats with pressed leaves and clear contact paper.  Note: This sounds like it should be simple, but contact paper can be tricky to work with.  The easiest way to make this work is to cut a piece of contact paper about 2 feet long.  Peel back half the paper, have your kids place the leaves on the paper, staying away from the edges by about an inch.  Then, remove the rest of the protective paper and “fold” half of the contact paper over the other half.  It might be difficult to get the sides to match evenly, but don’t worry…get it as straight as you can and then just cut the contact paper down to the size placemat you want.

·         Glue pressed leaves (the wax-paper leaves work best for this) onto construction paper and make homemade cards to send to friends and family. Or, glue onto smaller pieces of paper and make place-settings for your Thanksgiving dinner table.

·         Make pictures from leaves.  The book Look What I Did with a Leaf by Morteza Sohi has some fantastic ideas and creative inspirations.

·         Make a mobile using clear fishing line or white thread and waxed leaves.

How to Press Leaves:

·         Gather fall leaves while fresh and vibrant.  If you pick them off the ground, make sure there is no mold or dirt on them. Also, brittle leaves do not press well; choose freshly fallen leaves or ones still on the trees.

·         Press between the pages of an old book or between sheets of newspaper with a heavy book on top; press for several hours and preferably overnight.  The purpose of pressing leaves is to dry them completely; the various projects work better with dry leaves (note: you want them dry but not brittle).

Wax Paper Ironing Option

·         Set the iron on medium-high with NO STEAM.

·         Sandwich the leaf between two pieces of waxed paper.**

·         Place an old rag or thin towel on your ironing board so that you don’t get wax on it.

·         Place the “sandwich” on top of the rag.  Then cover it with another thin towel (such as a dish towel).

·         Gently run the iron over the leaf. Don’t press hard at first; give the wax a chance to seal.  Once it has, press firmly on the iron, moving it over the area being pressed for 4-5 seconds.

·         Allow the pressed leaf to cool, then cut around it, leaving a small margin so that the wax stays sealed.

**For extra sparkle (and for those kids who just LOVE to use glitter) sprinkle a little glitter around the leaf at this point. You can also put crayon shavings around the leaf; they melt beautifully when you iron.

Dipping Option:

This method allows a little more flexibility when you decorate, because you’ll be working with the actual leaf (as opposed to a leaf sandwiched inside contact paper).

·         Melt 1 lb beeswax or paraffin in a double boiler. Don’t let the wax get too hot, however.

·         Take the leaf by the stem and dip quickly into the wax. If your kids are going to do the dipping, you might want to have them hold the stem with a pair of pliers (or something similar) so that their hands don’t get so close to the wax.

·         Hang leaf by a clothespin to dry.

There’s so much we can learn from the homemakers of yesteryear.  Some of the most practical tips and advice I’ve ever received are nothing but good, ol’ fashioned advice that’s been around forever!  Here are a few favorites…some serious and some just for fun!

Lightening

I have a collection of antique cookbooks. In addition to unique recipes (fistfuls, pinches, and sprinkles abound) most of them have remedies for various health problems. This is my favorite…

“To Restore From Stroke Of Lightening: Sow with cold water for two hours; If the patient does not show signs of life, put salt in the water, and continue to sow an hour longer. “

The Golden Rule Bazaar Family Cookery Book
Sold by Davis Brothers Department Store in San Francisco in 1905

Trouble Sleeping?

Lettuce was used as a freckle remover in ancient times. This member of the sunflower (Compossitae) family was also used as a sedative for toothaches and for insomnia. Try a salad some night if you can’t fall asleep. And, if you are suffering from hypochondria, you might follow the trend set by the Emperor Augustus. Eat lettuce and get over your silly imaginings of illness.

From: A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition, by LuLu G. Graves and Clarence Wilbur Taber, F. A. David Company, Publishers, Philadelphia, 1942.

Afternoon Duties for the Homekeeper

The afternoon of a homekeeper can be the most profitable time of the day if it is not suandered in frivolous activities.  Many household duties can be seen to during this time, but you must take care not to neglect the children.  Give them the attention they require.

From: Treasury of Vintage Homekeeping Skills: Collections of the Homekeeper  by Mrs. Martha Greene.  Published by Greene Acres Publications, 2005.

Ezine Exclusive alert!  This wonderful reminder about keeping our priorities in line comes from a book chuck-full of great ideas, tips, recipes and instructions for (as the subtitle indicates) the homekeeper. This book practical book, which gives you wisdom from yesteryear on everything from natural home remedies to quilting to canning, lies flat so that you can easily read from it and –a wonderful bonus—allows for plenty of room to record your own recipes, notes and thoughts. It’s a wonderful book that you’ll use and want to turn into an heirloom for your daughter.  This week, you can get this book for ONLY $5.00 when you purchase $50.00* from the TEACH Bookstore.  Simply add the Treasury of Vintage Homekeeping Skills to your order and then enter the coupon code “VINTAGE” at checkout to receive the special price! 

*$50.00 in products cannot include the cost of the Treasury of Vintage Homekeeping Skills book.  Valid October 8th-14th, 2009.

Fragments

“The true economy of housekeeping is simply the art of gathering up all the fragments, so that nothing be lost. I mean fragments of time, as well as materials.”

TEACH Note: She is so right ladies! Time and materials should be savored and used wisely and completely without waste. She goes on to encourage us to realize what “can be done in the odd minutes of time, which would not be otherwise employed.”

Where’s the Beef

“If people wish to be economical, they should take some pains to ascertain what are the cheapest pieces of meat to buy; not merely those which are cheapest in price, but those which go farthest when cooked.”

From: The American Frugal Housewife, by Mrs. Child. Published by Carter, Hendee, and Co. in 1833.

Gather Ferns

“During your walks through the woods when on your vacation, gather all the ferns you can carry. Select perfect ones, lay smoothly between newspapers and put to press under a trunk. These may remain without change of papers until returning to the city. Fill rosebowls half full of sand and stick these preserved ferns in them. Place these about your rooms, and you will have woodsy spots all winter. If the ferns become dusty, wash them gently. The smallest ferns may be used with fresh flowers for decorating the table.”

The front page of the July 1904 issue of The Woman’s Magazine boasted that this popular magazine had “The Largest PAID SUBSCRIPTION of any Publication in the World.”

By Luke and Lorrie Flem

One day when Luke was seven, I told him that I wanted him to clean his room very well. I stressed the “very” because Gampa was coming and would spend the nights sleeping in his room.

Cleaning his room is something I had taught him to do years ago. Yet, this time Luke asked, “Mama, would you make me one of those charts that you check things off when they are done like you do for the big kids for school?”

Of course, I said I would. As we discussed what things to put on his list he was delighted to give his input even down to the choice of words we used. We talked about what a clean room looks like, how you get it clean, and how to keep it clean.

That’s when he came up with the title for his checklist. I asked him if we could share his list with you and the most darling smile spread across his face. So here it is, Luke’s Clean Room List:

Luke decided to color the smiley faces red if he does a very good job and green if he needed to work on it more. That’s it. Nothing too revolutionary but if it helps your child like it does him, then please go ahead and copy ours. We like to share.

Be sure to check out all of Lorrie’s CD’s for some helpful advice!

I love plastic covers for bowls with leftovers but the ones designed for this are pricey. So the Dollar Store to the rescue again. Buy 15 disposable shower caps for a $1.00.

They work fine and you can wash them in the top rack of your dishwasher. Then hang them to dry.