Renaissance Baking!

    In September 2021, Lucas joined a LARPing group for homeschoolers.  The overarching theme for the year was the Renaissance.   He has been loving the group & creating his own little immersive world for live-action-role-playing.  

His character's name is Toka and he has an entire, elaborate back story.  He is a rags to riches half-elf knight hero.  His origin country is known for the green hair all their native people have.  So, Lucas has had green hair for months now!  

As an end of semester celebration, there was to be a Christmas Feast!  Unfortunately, because of the windstorm that knocked out power across much of southern Colorado Springs for a week (5 days for our house!) it was postponed until January 8, 2022.  The meal was designed to be a potluck with each family providing a "renaissance style" dish.  We chose to bring dessert, so that it would be safe for Vinnie.  Ultimately, the fearless leader "Queen Amaterien" asked everyone to make sure their dishes were dairy, egg, and peanut free, so EVERYTHING at the feast was safe for Vinnie! 

Initially, I had volunteered to bring cupcakes, but then realized that the dishes were supposed to stay "on theme" and cupcakes wouldn't have existed during the Renaissance.  So, I set about doing some internet research.  

I came across Layers of Learning's post about Renaissance Small Cakes and knew that would be a good fit for our dessert!  I read through the entire post several times and the recipe quite a few more, then began preparing to bake the small cakes.  I had to adapt the recipe to fit our dietary needs and available ingredients but the cakes turned out DELICIOUS!  We called them "Currant Small Cakes" for the party.  

This is the recipe I used:

3 cups flour
¾ cups sugar
about 1.5 cups of raisins
¾ cups olive oil based margarine, room temperature
2 ½ Tbsp. Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk
1 Bob's Red Mill egg replacer egg

3/4 of an applesauce cup (each cup is 1/4 of a cup of applesauce & I just added some until the mixture had enough liquid)
¼ tsp. nutmeg
4 Tbsp. water

I did have to kind of "eyeball" how things were going as it was VERY dry to start with. I added the applesauce a little at a time as extra egg substitute.  I also added a tablespoon or so of water.  

When the dough was able to bind together I added in the raisins.  I added them 1/2 a cup at a time until the dough seemed like it had WAY too many raisins in it!  It turned out to be just enough but I don't think it would have hurt to have added the full 2.5 cups called for in the original recipe.  

Steps:

1. Mix flour, sugar and nutmeg in a bowl with a fork.  

2. Add in softened or room temperature margarine & stir with a fork.  It will be quite dry & lumpy.  

3. Prepare the Bob's Red Mill egg replacer egg and sit aside to rest.

4. Stir condensed coconut milk in a bowl to incorporate ingredients.  Then measure required amount into another bowl.  

5.  Add the water to the condensed coconut milk.  Start with what the recipe calls for, you can add more later. 

6.  Add in the egg replacer and blend the wet ingredients.  

7.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry & mix with blender.  In our case, it was still VERY dry and wouldn't fully incorporate.  

Optional:  Add applesauce in small amounts and even a small amount of water, until the dough comes together and is no longer dry.  

8.  Add in raisins a little at a time and stir with mixer.  

9. Shape dough into about 1" balls and place on baking tray.  I used ungreased/lined non-stick pans.  Gently flatten each ball with 3 fingers or a fork to make them slightly flatter than round.  (This will help them bake more evenly, quickly.)

10.  Preheat oven to 375*.  We are at 6500 ft. above sea level, so we ended up needing to bake them for 16 minutes per batch.  You may need to adjust the timing.  What I did was start with a small tray and after they looked done (lightly golden brown on the bottom & fully baked on top) I pulled them out & opened one with 2 forks.  The dough was slightly undone when I tried to make them as "balls" the way the original recipe states.  

11.  Optional-- glaze with frosting or royal icing.  I use this royal icing recipe from Lauren Kossack!  

Makes:  Slightly more than 3 dozen cookies, after some tester cookies were gobbled up!  These formed a dense cookie with a nice sweet taste.  The raisin flavor was not overpowering.  The spices were evident and delicious!  The finished cookies were about 3/4" tall and 1.5" wide.  

Since I knew raisins weren't going to go over well, I kept looking and found another recipe for regular sugar style cookies.  I also learned that during the Medieval/Renaissance time, cookies (as we know them) would have possibly been called jumbals.  

I found this recipe from Anachronists Cookbook on Instructables Cooking for sugar cookies!  

With our dietary adaptations, this is the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

1/2 lb of flour (yes I used a kitchen scale for all measurements)

1/2 tsp. of ground cloves (and man are they expensive!!)

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. marjoram (I wasn't splurging on saffron & this is a spice I bought at thanksgiving time that was suggested as a replacement in a recipe that also called for saffron)

1/4 lb of sugar

6 oz of olive oil based margarine

1 Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer egg

1 TBSP apple cider vinegar mixed with white sugar--I added sugar so that it dissolved into a thick liquid but didn't smell as vinegary anymore (as replacement for sweet sherry)

1 TBSP sweetened condensed coconut milk

Sugar in the Raw (for dusting the cookie dough balls)

Steps:

1. Combine flour, sugar, nutmeg, marjoram, and cloves and stir with a fork. 

2. Stir in softened margarine.  

3. Prepare the Bob's Red Mill egg replacer egg and sit aside to rest.

4. Prepare apple cider vinegar with sugar OR use sweet sherry.  

5. Stir condensed coconut milk in a bowl to incorporate ingredients.  Then measure required amount into another bowl.  (Because I made both recipes this was already done, also I had a TON left over, so maybe find another recipe to use this ingredient in so it doesn't go to waste!). 

6.  Combine "egg", "sherry" and "cream" in a bowl and blend. 

7.  Combine wet and dry ingredients and blend.  I added a little extra applesauce (the last 1/4 of a the cup from the earlier recipe so 1/16 of a cup) but it made the end result a little more wet than it probably should have been.  

8.  Preheat oven to 350*.  

9.  Roll dough into small balls about 3/4" and then roll in a bowl of raw sugar.  Then place on tray.  Then gently press down on each one so it is flatter than it is round.  

10.  Bake for 8 minutes.  Again, we are at 6500 ft above sea level and I used a trial and error process to determine my baking time.  

Makes:  About 4 dozen small cookies, the end cookies were about 1.5" wide. These cookies turned out soft and moist. They were chewy.  They were the clear favorite and are all gone the next day.  When I make them again I will definitely double the recipe!  

Many thanks to the original authors of the recipes for their research & sharing their recipes!  Let me know if you try either of these or my adaptations!  

Homeschool Second Grade

Lucas is wrapping up his second grade year of homeschooling.  He is 8 and a half years old and has never been to public school.  The past 14 months have been full of new adventures for him & lots of new skills as well!

About a year ago (March 2017) Lucas learned how to ride his bicycle.  He was apprehensive at first, but I firmly encourage him and he eventually took off like a pro!  Within a day or two of learning to ride his 2 wheeler he began to make new friends in the neighborhood.  He also broke his finger that first week of knowing how to ride his bike.  (He took a hard fall while turning on gravel.)  Making neighborhood friends has been amazing.  Our house is the "cool" house and all the kids tend to gravitate here.  We had to set down some rules and that weeded out the kids who were here just for our trampoline. (We had 12 year olds coming to play with our 5 & 7 year olds...)   Now, we are down to a core group of 4 extra kids who like to hang here.  They are all closer in age to Lucas than Vinnie, but they include him just as well.  Lucas has learned some amazing things from having friends from the neighborhood.  He's learned that he can't always be the boss, sharing, problem solving, and we're still working on not bullying in defense of his kid brother.

Around that same time, Lucas also started expressing interest in learning to read.  We worked through about 70 of the "100 Easy Lessons" and he began to read cautiously.  He has since become much more confident and can read quite a bit.  He still struggles with sounding out some words on his own, but if you tell him to find a word in a page, he is able to do it.  We aren't pushing it and it is amazing to watch his confidence grow as he realizes that he is capable!

In the Spring the boys were taking a Mystery Science based co-op class and for the past 2 semesters they have been taking Math Games.  Lucas really enjoys the math games class and getting to play lots of fun games that teach math skills. They have also taken arts & crafts with Grandma & a movement/dance/p.e. class.  Lucas is actually getting into the dance class now too. 

Lucas is an amazing big brother and has been extremely helpful with taking care of baby Sulley.  He enjoys playing with him and taking care of him (most of the time).  Its quite tender to watch the two of them together, as Sulley truly looks up to his brother. 

We haven't done any "school" school work.  Lucas has asked about different topics and we've taught him what he wants to know.  He's very adept at math.  He is starting to get multiplication quite well and is able to do most math in his head. 

One area that Lucas has always excelled is in his Awana memorizations!  He is finishing up the third year of Sparks and will receive the Sparky Award (plaque) for completing all three handbooks. 

He will also get a Sparky review pin for completing the "Return Flight" handbook for the level 1 book.  He has worked *VERY* hard to complete all the activities and memorize the verses for his accomplishments.  We are so proud of him! 

This year the boys also participated in the Sparks A Rama and Awana Grand Prix.  Lucas chose to create a car that could compete to win for speed.  Vinnie wanted to design a car that would win the design competition. 

We learned a lot about the painting techniques this year and both boys accomplished their goals and came home with a trophy.  Lucas had the fastest car out of all the children, and only one of the 4 adult cars beat him!  Everybody loved Vinnie's car that made noise and had a Yoda on top!

Awards night for Sparks is just a couple weeks away and then we will have a break with Lucas until Truth & Training begins in September.  Vinnie will work on learning his review lessons over the summer break. 

Lucas has already completed his end of the year testing for 2nd grade.  He took the California Achievement Test (CAT) and did amazingly well!  We had to do some quick grammar lessons before he took it because I wasn't sure he'd had any grammar training at all (he did though, from coop) so I didn't want him going into it completely blind.  He rocked the math section and only missed ONE question!  Overall he scored in the third grade range for everything, so I'm satisfied that he's ready to move on! 

We are looking forward to a summer of more reading improvement, plenty of beach days, and preparing for fall co-op classes.  Lucas will be "moving up" to the new "Upper Elementary" class, which will be for our third through fifth graders.  They will do more in depth art projects, have a history class that requires reading/writing/and projects, and will do more of the advanced math games. 

Trying to Resurrect the Blog

So, I clearly lost my blogging mojo a while back and kind of just let the blog drift into oblivion.  I don't even know if anybody still stumbles across it.  But, I did always enjoy using it as a journaling space and somewhere to keep a record of the fun stuff the kids and I did.  So, now that we are getting the house in order and I have a space where I can sit and type again, I figured I'd give a go at bringing it back to life!   

There's no way to quickly recap the last couple years, so I'll just have to let that be.  Obviously our family has expanded since the last time I posted.  Sulley is the sweetest baby & such a blessing.  I can't imagine our lives without him.  He's our fun and sensitive little red head, so easy going and gentle.  His big brothers adore him. 

Tim is still working as a computer geek and supporting my desire to stay home and homeschool the kids.  I wouldn't change it for the world.  We may not have the biggest house, newest car, or fanciest gadgets but we've got each other and the freedom to enjoy ourselves. 

Lucas is technically in 2nd grade according to the state, but we haven't done any formal "curriculum" with him beyond the "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" book, which we didn't even finish.  We got through about 70 lessons.  He is amazing at scripture memorization and is finishing up his third year of Awana Sparks.  He will have earned all 3 years worth of books & the full review for the first year book.  We couldn't be more proud of him!  He is reading a little and LOVES math. 

Vinnie is officially a first grader this year, but we technically "held him back" by opting out of kindergarten and starting him in Awanas late.  He is not yet reading.  He recognizes most letters and can count almost to 20.  He's not interested in "school" work yet and we are trying to give him space and not push him.  He's funny & entertaining.  He recently dyed his hair turquoise!  He kept his long locks until Nov. 2016 when I finally relented and let him chop them off.  He's finishing up the first year of Awana Sparks. 

His health is AMAZING.  We've got his allergies mostly under control.  Seasonal stuff is still giving us a fit but he is down to being anaphylactic to ONLY: milk, eggs, peanuts, and bananas!  He has outgrown SO MANY of his allergens.  We took a 2nd trip to National Jewish Health in February of this year.  They were amazing, just like last time!  When I have more time I'll try to write up the details of those trips!

Its been 2 years and 7 months since Dad passed.  Its definitely easier now.  We miss him.  I have a good cry every now and then.  Lucas is in counselling and we will probably put him in a group grief therapy soon.  He and Dad were close and he has some unresolved issues with the end of Dad's life.  No thanks to Vibra, who denied the kids a chance to say goodbye.  It makes me sad when I think that Sulley will never know his Pap. 

That's all I have time for now. Hopefully, I'll be back soon! I've missed my dear old blog!

Baseball 2016

Lucas is playing t-ball/coach pitch baseball with Greenbrier Athletic Association this season.

Playground Fun