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.

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.

And please stop by tomorrow for Quotable Timeless Tuesdays

Make-A-Meal Mondays: Faith As Small As A Mustard Seed

Posted on February 28, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Image by limaoscarjuliet via Flickr

One of the greatest things about blogging is the opportunity it provides you with to read the blogs of others.

There are some fantastic writers out there!

Of course, there are only 24 hours in each day, so there is a limit to how many other blogs one can read and still have time to write one’s own. 🙂

I follow several bloggers…and there is one that I read faithfully every day. Today’s post from Elizabeth of Mirth and Motivation is about faith in small things.

I began thinking about that and thought about a loving couple who join together and create life. That new life is definitely a VERY small thing and what a great deal of faith parents have in their unborn child!

The tiny collection of cells that becomes a living, breathing baby and then the tiny baby, helpless and vulnerable, unable to do anything for itself except breathe and cry who becomes a toddler, unsteady on his feet.

The toddler who learns to talk and walk and write his or her name…I know it takes a lot of faith to be a parent…a lot of faith in small things…a lot of faith to see the process of raising a child from infancy to adolescence and beyond.

As parents we need to have faith in ourselves and in our ability to be good parents and also faith in our children and in their potential to grow up to be successful and happy people…as the Bible says, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to the mountain – MOVE – and it will move from here to there.”

Since this is Make-A-Meal Mondays, I searched through SHOW ME HOW! BUILD YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH READING, CRAFTING AND COOKING for a recipe that would be appropriate for this post…one that called for mustard in the ingredient list.

CHILD-FRIENDLY FISH CASSEROLE FROM THE SEVEN SEAS

You will need: 10 oz creamy potato leek soup, 1¼ cups milk, 1¼ cups uncooked rice, 1 can tuna drained, 1 box frozen peas, ¼ lb sliced American cheese, ½ tsp mustard, 2 quart casserole dish with cover (or use aluminum foil) and a sauce pan.

1. Mix the soup and milk in the pan and bring to a boil and then remove from heat.

2. Put ½ of the soup mixture into a casserole dish and add the rice, tuna, peas and mustard.

3. Pour in the remaining soup mixture and top with cheese slices.

4. Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender.

5. Serves 4. Add a salad and fresh whole-wheat rolls for a lovely dinner.

Does your preschooler enjoy helping you in the kitchen?

Letting your children help in meal preparation does so much to build their self-esteem. It’s also a great way to encourage fussy eaters to try new things. If you purchase a copy of my new parenting book, now on sale at half-price on my website, you’ll find 100 child-friendly healthful recipes that you and your child can prepare together…most take just 15 minutes to prepare.

Just 15 minutes can build your child’s self-esteem…is there a better way to spend that time?

Please stop by tomorrow for Quotable Timeless Tuesdays for some wonderful quotations about FAITH.