Preamble:  I am not the most blog savy person.  When Chris put  our computer back together after a crash last December I lost the password and the location for my blog.  After wanting to make many posts, but not having a way to do so I finally asked Chris how to get to it.  Could not be simpler...duh....feel like a bit of a dunce.  

So this is my thinking here.  I still plan to post great recipes, however I am going to add an additional section, news stories that outline some of the reasons why I home school.  This is not a jab at anyone particular person, or county.   Just a continuing irritation I have with the public school system as a whole.  We pay (as a country) a great deal of money for a public education system.  Each of us pay whether or not we use the system or not.  Stupidity and out right lunacy should not be the order of the day.   If  a family has no choice but to use our public schools they deserve better than this. 

I of course have other reasons (scriptural, philosophical, etc) why I home school.  I may put that up too.  What I will link to is the lunacy that is in the papers nearly every day.  As a sort of catalog of the reasons I don't put my children under the authority of the system. So without further Ado let us list two links that are on everyone's radar today. 

Home school Reason #1  Children's dietary needs are individual and specific

The first lady has been on a rant about nutrition around the country.  That is great.  I am all about nutrition.  Through lobby she has gotten schools to change what they serve...fabulous....change was needed.  What they did was they limited calorie content and protein content and made it a cross the board standard that everyone had to adhere to.  (Banging my head on the wall).  What they should have done was offer higher quality choices.  The nutritional needs of a wall flower science kid are very different than the needs of a football player farmer boy.  The needs of a student that had gym class last period are different than the needs of a person who had photography.  If you are interested in the stories....here they are


Complaints Mount Against Michelle Obama’s New Lunch Menu

School lunch calorie limits leave bitter taste with some Kansas students





If they are all about education....how about we educate children and let them make some choices. This is a school isn't it?

As for me I am glad my children had omlets for breakfast.  Will get a filling and healthy lunch (probably tuna sandwiches and carrots), then will have baked ziti with green beans for dinner.  Those will fullfills the needs of their growing bodies.    Moms are better at gauging and fulfilling a children's dietary needs than a system.

Pumpkin Dump Cake

How to make pumpkin dump cake


So today I made a pumpkin roll.  I love pumpkin rolls ever since my very good friend Erin introduced me to them, I crave them.     Sadly unless I make two  it only uses up 1/2 of a can of pumpkin leaving me with a bunch to either throw out (and my frugal nature makes that near impossible) or to stick in the refrigerator where I will find it two weeks from now and then throw it out.  So I decided I would make an additional pumpkin yummy treat.  I looked up cookies, cakes, and then stumbled upon pumpkin dump cakes. 

Dump cakes are one of our families favorite deserts. So I thought I would give this one a try.  I adopted the recipe for what I like and what we had around the house. 

You need:

1/2 can pumpkin puree
1 can evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar---I used 2/3 brown sugar 1/3 honey---was really good!
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Cardamon
(or you could simply put in pumpkin spice for all three)
1 box of yellow cake
2 sticks of butter
Pretzels to crush up
Coconut flakes

So this is how I did it.  Feel free to improvise of course.  The recipe I looked at called for almonds and graham crackers on top.  I did not have those soooo

1. Set oven at 375, grease a rectangular cake pan

2. Beat together sugar, eggs, pumkin, spices, evaporated milk, and then pour into pan

3. Gently sprinkle yellow cake mix on top, the crushed crackers (or in my case crushed pretzels), then the nuts

4. Melt and evenly (or as best as you can) distribute the two sticks of butter

5. Bake for 45 min to 1 hour--it is ready when the knife comes out clean. 


I put whipped cream on it too---oh so yummy.  I bet Ice cream would be amazing.

Kefir Chocolate Ice cream

Everyone knows yogurt is generally good for them, and those familiar with kefir know that it is like yogurt only better on the probiotics.   I got my kefir grains about 2 weeks ago and have been making very nice kefir (about 2 cups a day) for the past week.  I have used it in smoothies and to make various bread items and in oatmeal, but I was looking for a new use for it.   Since obtaining my $5 garage sale ice cream maker I have found a tasty one.  

ICE CREAM!  

Who doesn't like chocolate ice cream?  So now instead of being a completely decadent waste of calories I am now getting something back for my effort.  (Makes 1.5 quarts)

What you need

3/4 cup of kefir
3/4 cup of coconut milk
3 bananas (some people use a avacado, but then you would have to adjust the sugar a bit)
1/2 cup of whole milk
1/2 cup of half and half
1/2 cup of sugar (you could probably use another sweetener like honey but then you would need to adjust the liquid to fit your ice cream container)
1/2 cup of baking cocoa
dash of cinamon (optional)
dash of cardamon (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract.

Put everything in your blender and blend well.
Process for your ice cream maker's requirements.  Mine I just put it in the frozen ice cream bowl and turn it on for 45 min.   (Pay attention to the liquid requirements of your container--mine I can only have 4 cups in at a time--yours may vary)