Make-A-Meal Mondays: Child-Friendly Sweet Raisin Irish Soda Bread

Posted on March 14, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Some of the bakers with some newly baked bread

Image by National Library of Scotland via Flickr

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day…here’s a simple Irish Soda Bread recipe that your child can help prepare.

You will need:

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
4 Tb margarine
1 beaten egg (reserve 1 Tb)
¾ cup buttermilk or sour milk
¼ cup raisins
2 Tb honey
Large bowl
Medium bowl
Greased baking sheet

The bread is supposed to serve 16, but it will probably be less, because everyone will want seconds and thirds. 🙂

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2. Cut in margarine until mixture looks like coarse crumbs.

3. Combine raisins, beaten egg (minus the 1 Tb) and buttermilk.

4. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until moistened.

5. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough gently for 1 minute.

6. On a greased baking sheet, shape dough into a 6-inch round loaf.

7. Cut a 4-inch cross, ¼ inch deep, on the top.

8. Brush with reserved tablespoon of egg.

9. Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes until golden and cool on rack.

Important tip: When I made bread with my own children and the children in my daycare group, we always made enough dough so that EACH child could make his or her OWN small bread. The families of the daycare children definitely looked forward to our bread-making day each week…and how proud each child was, clutching his wrapped bread loaf as he made his way home!

Why do I always encourage parents to invite their young children into the kitchen to help cook and bake?

When your children help measure and mix the ingredients, they are gaining a sense of competence and confidence, two of the building blocks of high self-esteem.

When you spend time with your children, participating joyfully in an activity, your children understand that they are worthy of your precious time and they are people of value…these are also important factors in acquiring a positive self-image.

Would you like 99 other simple child-friendly cooking activities?

Just visit my website and buy a copy of SHOW ME HOW! BUILD YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH READING, CRAFTING AND COOKING…still on sale for 50% off the cover price! This is a unique resource for parents, daycare providers and preschool teachers. It also provides 100 easy eco-friendly craft projects and 100 summaries of picture books your young child needs to hear.

Oh, and don’t forget…we are awarding a CRAFTY EASTER BASKET, filled with craft supplies for your preschooler, to ONE LUCKY WINNER! If you purchase a copy of the book, you will be automatically entered to win…otherwise, you can fill out the contact form on my website for a free entry.

Please stop by tomorrow for Quotable Timeless Tuesdays.

Cinema Sundays: My Picks of Great Flicks: VIVA CUBA

Posted on March 13, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Mass-produced colour photolithography on paper...

Image via Wikipedia

Most countries and communities have emergency plans in place, but the earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan and their far-reaching effects on the rest of the world are natural disasters on such a large scale that they were impossible to plan for. Japan, and the other areas affected, will have to accept help from many different countries and organizations in order to provide what is needed for the survivors and to make the cities habitable again.

Perhaps that is the silver lining in this cloud of disaster…perhaps, as Dr. Robert Schuller used to say, this is an opportunity for heroes to step up to turn “scars into stars”…a chance for neighbor to help neighbor and people who don’t know each other to become friends.

Friendship is my theme for this coming week…and my movie pick today is “VIVA CUBA”…a past winner of the Cannes Film Festival.

In VIVA CUBA, we have a modern-day Romeo and Juliet. Filmed in Cuba, the 2005 movie is in Spanish, with English subtitles. It tells the story of Malu, a young girl from an upper-class family and Jorgito, a boy whose parents are poor socialists, but proud of their family’s social standing.

When her mother decides to leave Cuba, Malu and Jorgita run away, trying to reach the other side of the island where Malu’s father lives. They hope that he will refuse to grant permission for Malu and her mother to leave Cuba, therefore enabling Malu and Jorgito to remain friends. When the children and all the parents are finally together however, the parents use the opportunity to continue arguing and fighting, ignoring the children and their concerns.

The film won 34 national and international awards and explores the question of emigration and the effects on children who have to leave friends and extended family behind. I don’t think this is a “family” movie…but it is definitely a movie for parents. In my opinion, this was the ultimate movie about friendship…but I think it is also a film with a wake-up call to parents who are separated, divorced or just not getting along. When children are involved, we need to make them aware of what is going on (they already know much more than you think) and give them the opportunity to voice their questions and concerns.

We need to encourage our children are to offer their opinions and voice their questions and concerns without the fear of being judged or yelled at. This builds their self-esteem and enables them to feel comfortable coming to us with their problems. For 99 other gentle parenting tips like this one, please check out my new book, now on sale for HALF-PRICE on my website. When you purchase a copy of the book, you are automatically entered in the drawing for a CRAFTY EASTER BASKET filled with craft supplies for your preschooler. If you’d like to enter to win with purchasing, just fill out the contact form on my website.

Please stop by tomorrow for MAKE-A-MEAL MONDAYS.

Make-A-Meal Mondays: Homemade Butter

Posted on March 7, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Image via Wikipedia

Although it happened over fifty years ago, I still remember licking the cream off the cardboard caps that sealed the bottles of milk that the milkman had delivered to my grandmother’s house.

These days, most of us buy all of our groceries at the store, including milk and butter. And, because of the push many years ago to replace butter with “margarine” or other butter-like spreads…which more recent health studies show are probably worse for us than the natural product…many children these days have no idea what real butter tastes like.

Take this opportunity to make some real butter at home with your child!

HOMEMADE BUTTER

You will need: 1 cup heavy whipping cream, electric mixer and a large bowl.

1. Pour the cream into the bowl and beat on medium till stiff peaks form…about 1-2 minutes. This is REAL WHIPPED CREAM! Taste some for an out-of-this-world treat!

2. Continue beating…about 4-8 minutes…and soon the curds will separate from the whey. You could sing “Little Miss Muffet” with your child while you are doing this.

3. Pour off the whey and you will be left with a lump of pure butter.

4. Enjoy with crackers, bread or toast.

5. Put in a covered container and store in the fridge.

6. Instead of using an electric mixer, you could put the cream in a glass jar with a lid and shake…but this will take between 5-30 minutes and little hands might get tired.

Cooking with young children is only one of the many activities that builds self-esteem, develops pre-literacy skills and creates a life-long parent-child bond. If you are looking for more child-friendly healthful recipes or other educational fun-filled activities, grab a copy of my new book for parents and teachers of preschoolers, now on half-price sale with FREE shipping till March 9^th, at my website.