because you're only -{ TEN }- once

Big Sister has turned -{TEN}- and that means it is time for a Celebration!  She has looked forward to longed for (dreamed of!) this Day.  In our household we do -one- Birthday Party with friends, at the milestone of ten years.  J & D had their Birthday Party three years ago and Big Sister has been just waiting for her turn.  Invitations were mailed, the Menu planned, Favors wrapped, Games planned, Food prepared, the Table set.  The guests arrived at 11:00 and the Tea Party began!

"...a woman that feareth the Lord,

she shall be praised."

Proverbs 31:30b

  

 One of our Games was "Place the Teacup"

a variation of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey

  Tarragon Chicken Salad on Croissant

Boysenberry Velvet Salad Parfait

Cucumber Tea Sandwich

 

Vanilla Scones

Sweet Lemon Scones 

Almond Scones 

 Vanilla Petits Fours

 Chocolate Petits Fours

 

 Aunt Kristi's Creme Wafers

Mocha Brownie Bites

Lemon Raspberry Streusel Muffins

Lemon Raspberry Streusel Muffins

with Lemon Curd

 --- Kids In The Kitchen ---

Streusel Topping:

1/3  Cup  Sugar

1/4  Cup  Flour

2  Tablespoons  Cold Butter

2  Cups  Flour

1/2  Cup  Sugar

2  teaspoons  Baking Powder

1/2  teaspoon  Baking Soda

1/2  teaspoon  Salt

8 oz.  Lemon Yogurt  -or-  3 Tablespoons Lemon Juice and Plain Yogurt to fill a 1-Cup measure

1/2  Cup  Oil

1  teaspoon Lemon Peel, finely zested (optional)

2  Eggs

1  Cup  Fresh Raspberries -or- frozen, unthawed Raspberries

Butter or Lemon Curd for serving

1.  Wash your hands thoroughly with Soap and Water.  Read this recipe through completely and gather your ingredients.

2.  Ask an Adult to help preheat oven to 400*.
3.  Line a Muffin Tin with baking cups.
4.  In a small bowl, mix together the Streusel Ingredients with a pastry cutter until the Butter is the size of small peas.  Set aside.
5.  In a medium bowl, mix together the five Dry Ingredients; set aside.
6.  In another medium bowl, mix together the four Wet Ingredients, then stir the Wet Ingredients into the Dry Ingredients just until blended.  Then gently stir in the Raspberries.
7.  Using a cookie scoop or soup spoon, fill the Muffin cups 3/4 full.  (This will make about 14 muffins.)
8.   Using a teaspoon, carefully sprinkle the Streusel onto the Muffin tops.
9.  Ask an Adult to help you put the Muffins into the 400* oven; bake for 11-13 minutes.
10.  Ask an Adult to help you remove from Muffins from the oven.
11.  Cool in the Muffin Tin for 5 minutes; carefully remove from the Tin.
12.  Serve Warm, with Butter or Lemon Curd.
13.  Don't forget to clean up your dirty cooking bowls!

"Train up a child in the way he should go:

and when he is old,

he will not depart from it."

Proverbs 22:6 

Teaching children to cook.  This takes fortitude to endure!  I am of the mind that children should must be taught to cook.  I cannot think of anything more disheartening than going off to college or getting married and only knowing how to make toast or top ramen.  

But oh my.
The mess time and patience it takes to teach a child this skill!

I personally believe that the best time to being teaching cooking is when the child can both fluently read AND understand simple fractions.  In other words, she should be able to read the recipe and not get 1/3 and 2/3 mixed up.  Most children have mastered these two skills by the end of Third or Fourth Grade.  Yes, there are kitchen terms like 'dice' and 'cube' which you'll need to teach, but the most important things, in my opinion, are the basic skills of reading and math.  A close second to this come safety.  Never forget safety.

When teaching safety skills, begin with Heat and Sharpness.  Most kiddos have the heat down; that is, they know that the stove and oven are hot.  If you are allowing your child to cook at the stove, my first bit of advice is to never leave the room.  My second piece of advice is to make sure you use an appropriately-sized step stool.  A nine-year-old isn't quite tall enough to safely stir a hot pan, but is much too big to stand on a chair.  Accidents can happen if she isn't the right height.  If you have a double wall oven, use the lower oven.  Teach your child how to properly use hot pads.  I, personally, don't let my kids use oven mitts because I feel the mitts make hands too clumsy to safely grip hot pans.  Also, I like to keep the stove turned down slightly lower than what the recipe calls for; this might make it take a bit longer but it does help reduce the risk of bad burns.

Knives and graters and vegetable peelers and mandolines.
All can be so very sharp.  Unfortunately, the easiest way to demonstrate how sharp a knife is, is to accidentally cut yourself.  Not the best object lesson, but unfortunately it happens.  Please, as a parent, you know your child's hand/eye coordination best of anyone.  Use proper judgement.  Use a knife  properly sized for smaller hands--I like to begin my children with a paring knife.  And always, always, always use a cutting board.

What kind of recipes are the best to start kids out on?  My children seem to have a short-frame attention span: they don't want to wait for bread to rise,  a cake to cool before frosting, or beef to marinate and then roast.  I like to start them out on a one-pan-in/one-pan-out recipe: a recipe that has a single pan and a short bake time, like Muffins or Bar Cookies.  Easy to mix, quick to bake, fast to cool, and even faster to eat!  Yum, Yum, Yum!

Happy Cooking,

and even Happier Eating! 

  Far Above Rubies, page 51.

Mile-High Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

Mile- High Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

For the Glaze:

2  Tablespoons  Cornstarch

3  Tablespoons  Cold Water

1  Cup  Sugar

1  Cup  Water

1  Tablespoon  light Karo Syrup

1/2  teaspoon  Red Food Coloring (I use a tiny dab of gel food coloring--it goes further with less flavor)

3  Tablespoons  Strawberry Jello

For the Filling:

1  8-oz  Cream Cheese, softened

1  Cup  Powdered Sugar

1  teaspoon  Vanilla

1  8-oz  Whipped Topping

1  baked  Pie Crust (try Double-Crust Pie Shells or Big Batch Pie Crust)

2-3  pounds  Fresh Strawberries, gently washed and completely dried

In a small bowl, combine the Cornstarch and Cold Water, stirring to dissolve any lumps.  In a large saucepan, combine the Sugar, Water, Karo Syrup, and Food Coloring; bring to a rapid boil.  Re-stir the Cornstarch mixture; add to the boiling mixture and return to a hard boil.  Remove from heat and stir in Jello.  Cool to room temperature--don't rush it!  This is important!

Combine all Filling ingredients; spoon into baked Pie Crust.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

To Assemble:

Slice Strawberries into the Glaze, stirring well to completely coat the Strawberries with Glaze.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer Strawberries to prepared Pie Crust, heaping as high as possible.  Spoon remaining Glaze over berries as needed, but use caution not to overflow the edge of the pie plate.  You should have some Glaze left over.  Refrigerate until Glaze is set.  Serves 6-8.  Best used within six hours of making, as this can get runny.

"For, lo, the winter is past,

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of the singing of birds has come,

and the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land."

Song of Solomon 2: 11 & 12

Spring is here!  That means it's time for yummy Strawberry Pie!  My husband always requests Strawberry Pizza at least once every springtime; this is my adaption of Strawberry Pizza to a Mile-High Strawberry Pie.  Please ignore the fact that my Pie isn't quite mile-high status--my children ate more berries than I realized before I made this, so it's just a Half-Mile-High Pie.

We've had a Dove nest in both our Lemon Tree and our Flowering Pomegranate Tree.  The children have had a lot of fun watching the Mama nest and the Eggs hatch into Babies.  It was especially exciting just before the Chicks hatched--the children loved to see the baby birds faintly through the shells.  And now the babies are learning to fly around the yard.  The boys have had fun practicing their photography skills on the Doves; I'm not certain what has happened to my photography 'skills,' though!  For the life of me I could not get the finished Pie to photograph right!  I'll just blame it on the cloudy day...

Adapted from Strawberry Pizza in Seasoned With Love, page 285.