Turkey Kisses

This was my last week of Thanksgiving-themed preschool lessons, so of course we had to have a Thanksgiving feast!  Each preschooler brought a food to share.  We had olives, popcorn, cheese cubes, banana muffins, and cookies.

To celebrate the letter of the day, "K" I came up with these little gems,

"Turkey Kisses"

I bought some creme filled vanilla cookies, Hershey's kisses, and candy corns.  Then using all the left over frosting that I had from my Halloween bake-off, I attached them thusly.

When I made them again later, I gave them a little red waddle with the frosting to hang off of their kiss face and it looked even cuter.

 Pilgrim boys enjoying the feast

 And my two pilgrim girls

Aprons

It seems like I have sewed more these last two weeks than the last two years of my life combined!  But at least it was making some fun projects.  I don't know if it is because I love cooking so much, or if I just think they are so cute and fun, but I LOVE aprons.

So I sewed...

I sewed this one for myself.  After borrowing my sister's apron repeatedly during my cookie contest, I realized how much I love it and I got the instructions from her and made my own!  I love the fabric and the design.  I have been wearing it non-stop even when I'm not cooking!

 And because I was in such an apron-y mood, I bought some tea towels from the dollar store, sewed the corners down on one side, added some ribbon for the neckstrap and two ribbons for the ties and wrote the following poem:

"Hope these aprons will provide a way,

To keep your "little turkey" in the kitchen on Thanksgiving Day!"

And I gave them to my preschoolers.  Afterall, "K" was the letter of the day and what better Thanksgiving word goes with "K" than "Kitchen"!

And last of all, I spent most of my time on this beauty.  My mom's birthday is next week and she had mentioned that she wished she had a pioneer apron to go over her pioneer dress for a handcart trek that she would be going on in the summer.  She has been going to meetings to plan this event and is expected to dress the part, so I thought I would surprise her by making an apron for her.  I used a cooking apron pattern, but lengthened it.  I certainly had to have a refresher on ruffles, tucks, gathering, and all kinds of different stitches and though it isn't at all perfect, I couldn't help but being proud.

Preschool, Thanksgiving, and The Letter "J"

This was week 2 of being in charge of Buddy's preschool and this week we were in charge of letter J.  What on earth can tie Thanksgiving in with the letter J?  Go ahead think of a word, I dare you, and no, "jam" doesn't count!

There isn't one, so we had to make our own tie in with Gratitude "Jars" filled with "jellybeans"!

Each preschooler glued the felt pieces together to make their turkeys.

This is what they looked like...

The poem attached says, "Here's my jar of gratitude, And with each jellybean I'll say, Something that I'm thankful for, As I countdown to Thanksgiving Day!"

I wrote it myself, did you know I was such an amazing poet?

The pieces are attached to a baby food jar filled with jellybeans.  The kids are supposed to say something that they are thankful for each time they eat a jellybean.

  It was amazing hearing my own kids count their blessings all week as they munched on jellybeans. 

And when we were done with the craft, we played some "Thankful Bingo".  I printed off bingo cards that I made using a 3x3 table and put pictures of items that 3 year olds would be thankful for.  Each card was different and the first child to fill up their card won a prize.  I don't think that any of these 3-year olds had played bingo before, and now that we're all so good at it, I will be taking them all to play Bingo at Fort Hall Casino next week, where we will also continue our study of Indians!

I got the idea for the turkey jar and the pattern for the pieces here.

Corn A'Plenty

It is my turn to teach Buddy's preschool class this month and today we were in charge of the letter "I".  Hmmm... what on earth could we possibly make or do that ties "I" in with Thanksgiving?

INDIAN CORN!

 I knew that those corn on the cob holders that we got for our wedding 10 years ago would some day come in handy.  I think that this may truly be the first itme they were used.

The day before buddy helped me measure all the ingredients to make the snacks.  We used the generic brand of Trix cereal and picked out all the yellow, red, and orange ones and threw in just a few purple and blue ones for a little color variation.

 They're a hit with the 3-year old crowd!

 But even the older kids think they're pretty cool.

 And while we're SNAFTING (snack crafting... that's right I just made up a new word, feel free to use it... just send a trademark payment of $50 post marked to me)... let's throw in a craft.  Gather up these supplies:  multi-colored pony beads (I like the see-through kind), yellow card stock, left over corn stalks, and some raffia.  You will also need some glue.

 Cut a corn cob shape out of the yellow cardstock, leaving a long stem.  Spread glue all over the corn cob.

 Let the kids place beads all over the surface of the corn cob.

 If you are too poor or too lazy to go get pony beads, just use your leftover cereal from the SNAFT.  Punch a hole in the stem of your corn cob and tie a piece of raffia.  Leave enough room that the finished indian corn can be hung from a door knob.

Glue on some leftover cornstock around the stem and hang your beautiful decoration!

And now, the recipe for the Indian corn on the cobbers.

INDIAN CORN SNACKS

4 tablespoons of butter

4 cups of mini marshmallows

5 cups of colored ball shaped cereal (I used a generic trix and sorted out the yellow, red, and orange)

Fruit Leather (we so happened to find green fruit roll-ups, thank you Shrek!)

Popsicle sticks

In a large pot, melt butter and mini marshmallows over low heat (about 5 minutes).

Remove the mixture from the stove and use a wooden spoon to stir in cereal. Allow the mixture to cool for about 10 minutes.

Using buttered hands, shape each treat by pressing 1/3 cup of the mixture around a Popsicle stick. Add fruit leather husks to the bottom of the ear, slightly moistening them to help them stick if needed. Makes 15 treats.

*This recipe was inspired by this post on Disney's Family Fun website, however they made theirs with puffed corn cereal (Kix or Corn Pops) and mixed the cereal with diced dried fruit.  I didn't think my kids would eat the dried fruits that they used, so I made mine this way.  But theirs look totally cute also.  They also had a really cool indian corn cookie that I just noticed today.  You can check it out here!

Gnocchi, It's not Just the Cat on Curious George!

Ever since my kids started watching Curious George on PBS several years ago, I was curious about where the name of the cat, "Gnocchi" came from. (Ha! Curious George made me curious!)

After some research online, I found out that gnocchi are small dumplings that can be made from potatoes, pumpkin, ricotta cheese, or various other mediums.

We found a basic potato gnocchi recipe and tried it out.  It is now one of my favorite Fall comfort foods and a very fun recipe to bake together with the kids!  Best of all you can use your leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving dinner and give them a makeover into something delicious and inexpensive.

Seriously, doesn't this look SO good?

Start by making your dough.  The dough is about 2 cups mashed potatoes.  (If you don't know how to make mashed potatoes.... really you don't?...Well, then peel about 4-5 medium or 2-3 large potatoes, cut into small pieces and boil for 15-20 minutes.  Mash with a masher or in a food processor.  I, personally, dump the boiled potatoes into my Kitchen Aid mixer, whip them on high, and Voila! mashed potatoes.)  When the mashed potatoes have cooled, so that you don't cook the eggs, add 2 beaten egg yolks, 1 1/2 cups flour, and a pinch of salt.  I also like to add a tsp of thyme and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese for flavor.  The dough needs to be stiff enough that you can roll it into a long snake.  If it isn't the right consistency, keep adding flour until it is right.

Next, I let the kids roll the dough into long snakes.

Then cut into 1/2"-1" pieces.

Press each piece in the center with a fork.

Gather gnocchi together until it is ready to boil.

Boil for about 5-10 minutes in a large pot of salted water until all gnocchi are floating at the top.  Drain then toss with your favorite pasta sauce.  Ours is Ragu.  And if you want to be really fancy, sprinkle with cheese and a little bit of parsley flakes.  Parsley always makes our dinners extra fancy!

Gnocchi

Ingredients

2 lbs whole baking potatoes (10lb. bag for $1.99 = about $0.07 per potato) $0.35
2 beaten egg yolks ($1.84 per 18 = about $0.10 per egg) $0.20
1 1/2 cups flour ($1.54 per 5lbs or 19 cups = about $0.08 per cup) $0.20
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese ($4.29 per 8 oz. = about $0.10 per TBSP) $0.40
1 tsp. thyme ($4.29 per 0.37 oz or about 10 tsp= about $0.43 per tsp) $0.43
Pinch of salt (under $0.01) $0.01

Shredded Cheese ($2.99 per 8 oz or about 0.37 an ounce) $0.74
Your favorite pasta sauce $1.29 per jar = $1.29

Serves 5

Total Cost for Meal: approx. $3.62!!! or $0.73 per serving and those aren't even sales prices!