Rainbow Cake

When we go to visit my family for an extended period of time, one of the girls' favorite things to do is bake with their Aunt Candace.  This time, they worked together to make a rainbow cake.  Yum!

L is for Lemons

Arin loves lemonade and has been asking to make some.  We bought a bag of lemons.  Arin (with my help) cut the lemons. 

We needed one cup of lemon juice for the recipe, so I asked her how many lemons she thought it'd take to make one cup of lemon juice.  She guessed two and Ella guessed four.  Arin squeezed two lemons and found that she was about half a cup short.  She juiced the other two lemons. Perfect!

She poured the cup of lemon juice into a juice pitcher.

Then, she added one cup of sugar.

She stirred them together.

Then, it was time to pour in five cups of cold water.

Stir again.

Then add some ice to make it extra cold.

Time for a taste test.

The results??  It was fantastic!

Next, we did a science experiment.  I asked Arin how to clean a dirty penny. 

She said, "Soap and water, of course!".  I gave her a bowl of soapy water and a wash cloth.  She scrubbed and scrubbed.  It never got sparkly clean. 

We squeezed more lemons and put the juice in a bowl.  Arin dropped the copper penny into the bowl of lemon juice.  We set the timer for five minutes. 

What were the results?  A nice, shiny copper penny!  She was amazed!

The reason for this?
"Oxygen in the air combined with the copper to form the dull copper oxide coating. The acid of the lemon acts chemically to remove the oxide - and the result? A bright coppy penny." - from 365 Simple Science Experiments with everyday materials

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

We worked on the letter Jj a few weeks ago, but at the time, we did not do our "More Blessed to Give Than Receive" Lesson.  We have family members whose names start with the letter J and we wanted to make them a special treat, but at the time, I could not think of something to make for them.  Yesterday, I saw this post for Jam Thumbprint Cookies.  The recipe looked simple, which I knew would be perfect to use when working with the kids in the kitchen.

While Ella napped, Arin and I made these cookies for Aunt Jessica.  They were so good that we also made a second batch to have here!

Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies with Jam


1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg yolk
1 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup quick oats
jam (we used strawberry All Fruit)

Preheat the oven to 350°. In the bowl of a food processor (we don't have a large food processor, so we used a mixer and it worked just fine), combine butter and brown sugar. Pulse until blended. Add vanilla and egg yolk. Blend until smooth. Add flour, salt, and quick oats. Pulse until blended.

Roll dough into walnut-sized balls. Arrange on a baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Press your thumb into the center of each cookie, making a depression.

Bake for 10 minutes. Fill depressions with small spoonful of the jam. Bake for another 10 minutes or until golden. Cool the cookies on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container, separating the layers with waxed or parchment paper. Can be frozen.

 

I think this was the first time she's turned on the mixer.



We've had our grain mill for three years.  It claims to be "The Quietest Mill" on the market, but it is still pretty loud.  This is the first time that Arin was brave enough to pour the wheat into the mill.  She normally has to have both hands free to cover her ears!



 



Arin was so happy about her accomplishment that she insisted that I take a picture of the flour!



Rolling the dough into balls was a lot of fun!

  

Making thumbprint indentions was also fun. 


 

Eclair Cake

During Ee week, we had two choices for our Better to Give than to Receive lesson:  Ella or Ellen.  We just don't know a lot of people whose first or last name begin with the letter E.  I thought about having a special day for Ella, but we didn't do something out of the ordinary for Arin for Aa week (it was her birthday week, so we did celebrate her, but not specifically for a school project).  I thought about having Arin make something for Ella because I want my girls to be kind and generous to one another as well, but that would have left Ella out of the project and I didn't want that. 

So, we ended up making something for Ellen.  I thought this would be a bit confusing to the girls since they only know her as Grandma, but we told the girls that her real name is Ellen which starts with an E, so they seemed fine with it.  (Grandma said she was so happy that we didn't wait until Gg week!)

I found this recipe for an Eclair Cake.  This cake is so simple to make with the kids and it is so yummy (just not so healthy!). 
Eclair Cake
2 - 3.5oz boxes of vanilla pudding (we made our's with french vanilla and "Ellen's" with regular vanilla)
3 cups of milk
8oz Cool Whip, thawed
graham crackers (we used honey flavored ones)
1 can of chocolate frosting

Mix together pudding and milk.  Fold in Cool Whip.  Layer bottom of 9x13 baking dish with graham crackers.  Spread half of the pudding mixture over graham crackers.  Add another layer of graham crackers.  Top with the remaining pudding mixture.  Add another layer of graham crackers.  Microwave the frosting for 30 seconds.  Stir.  Pour over the top layer of graham crackers.  Spread with a spatula or knife to evenly coat the top of the graham crackers.  (Andy said the chocolate was a bit much for him, so you could just drizzle it over top if you are not a big chocolate fan).  Refrigerate for at least four hours before serving.

Dark-Colored Dessert & Dd Cookies

It wasn't as easy to come up with something for the girls to make for Dd week's Better to Give Than to Receive lesson.  Yes, there's donuts, but I didn't want the girls around hot grease.  Yes, there's danishes, but I have never made one and didn't want to make something that might or might not be good.  Yes, there's deviled eggs, but the food had to travel a couple of hours to its recipient, so that was out.

In the end, we ended up making a dark-colored dessert for Uncle Don.  These were devil's food cake cupcakes, with dark frosting (fudge flavor) and dark decorations (semi-sweet chocolate chips).

I love how Arin helps her sister without anyone telling her to.

We also made a dozen D and d cookies for David.  We took a big shortcut and bought the cookies from the bakery.  Then, the girls frosted them and Arin (with my help) wrote the D or d on each cookie.

Yes, we were reaching a little this week!  As we were packing the cookies up for David, Arin looked at me and said, "cuh, cuh, cookies.  Mom, we should have made these for c week!"

(we also used this week to donate some of our unwanted items!)

Cupcakes and Crazy-Colored Crayons

During Cc week for our Better to Give Than to Receive lesson, the girls made confetti cupcakes for Aunt Candace and for Cameron.

They also made crazy-colored circle crayons for the children of three families whose last names begin with the letter C.  We had to mail the crayons, so we are hoping they arrived in tact and not as a melted crazy-colored mess!