Mandarin Mondays: Crnand Open (The Chinglish Files)

Family Fridays: The Queen's Doing Dishes and Mr. Lincoln Is Doing Laundry

Mr. Lincoln

Lately Aaron and Andrew have been obsessed with Reader Rabbit 1st grade. When they are not playing the game on the computer, they are often pretending to be Reader Rabbit and Sam the Lion. They even gave the rest of us roles in their fantasy world as well. Daddy is Ivan the Inventor. Alexander is Fluffy, the dog who eats all the time. And because I'm the only girl around here, I get to be Queen Cumulus, queen of the cloud world.

So one night while I'm doing dishes, Andrew (3 years old) comes running up to me asking, "Queen, Queen, what are you doing."

"Um, I'm doing dishes."

"Queen, Queen, why are you doing dishes?'

"Because the dishes are dirty."

"Queen, Queen, why are the dishes dirty," as he runs off.

Um, the King is working and our subjects are too small to wash breakable objects and knives?

Then later after we made our president's masks, the boys started pretending to be Washington and Lincoln all the time. So one day when I told Andrew it was time to help with the laundry he said, "No, I am Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln is going to do the Laundry."

Fine. I guess as long as the laundry gets done it doesn't matter if Mr. Lincoln does it.

And Mr. Lincoln did a good job with the laundry.

DIY St. Patrick's Day Veggies

So last year I totally decided to celebrate St. Patrick's day at the last minute, and that was fine and we had a fun evening. This year since I am currently not pregnant or in the process of moving, I thought I might even try to come up with some fun ideas in advance.

I saw this idea for cutting peppers horizontally to look like clovers and thought it looked really cute. I like three leaf clovers that Patrick may have used as an illustration to explain the three-in-one concept, so I chose peppers with three bumps to cut horizontally.

I also decided to add carrots, broccoli, and ranch dip so my veggie platter so it would have all the colors of the Irish flag and have some variety. Orange peppers, pea-pods, and cucumbers would all be nice additions also.

This veggie tray was a huge hit. I made it early in the day thinking I would then have veggies ready for lunch and dinner (and I cut up twice the broccoli and peppers shown), but almost all of it was consumed at breakfast. I guess I haven't made ranch in a while and need to make full veggie trays more often. :)

President's Day Preschool Craft and Snack: Edible Lincoln Log Cabin

For President's Day we made another fun craft and snack in one. These edible Lincoln Log cabins were a big hit with the boys.

We used homemade pretzels that I made from adapting this recipe. But you could easily use store bought pretzels rods as well to cut out all the prep work and make this really simple. My 4 1/2-year-old was able to build his whole log cabin himself with me just giving directions. My 3-year-old was able to place the pretzels but needed me to spread the peanut butter for him.

Edible Lincoln Log Cabin Preschool Snack

• Pretzel rods homemade or store bought
• Peanut butter (or you could substitute sun butter or even cheese spread)
• Plate and butter knife

Place two pretzels on the plate and spread peanut butter on all four ends. Then place two more pretzels perpendicular to the first ones on top. Continue building levels until desired height for the log cabin is reached. Then spread peanut butter across the entire pretzel rods and add a whole line of pretzels for a roof.

Because we made substantial homemade whole wheat pretzels and quite large log cabins, we actually ended up sharing these with some carrot sticks for a fun lunch.

Linking up with what i am eating at Townsend House.

President's Day Preschool Activity: Pretend You're a President Mask

Happy President's Day! We had quite a bit of fun celebrating President's Day this year and I hope that you will too. One of the highlights were these easy pretend you are a president peek-hole masks. They are a fast and easy presidential craft perfect for preschoolers. We made Lincoln and Washington masks, but of course you could choose any other president(s) you wanted After they are done making their masks they can pretend to be presidents as long as they like.

Pretend You're a President Mask Preschool Craft

• Cardboard or poster board
• Scissors
• Crayons, markers, or something else to decorate with

I simply drew the outlines I wanted for Lincoln and Washington on cardboard as well as the peek hole for the child's face and cut them out. Then I showed my kids pictures of these presidents again and let them color the masks. Then they had fun pretending to be the presidents.

At first Lincoln was the coolest, because he has a top hat (like Sir Topham Hatt from Thomas the Tank Engine). But then we told them about how Washington was a soldier and how he had a sword, and then Washington was the coolest and both boys wanted to be Washington with a sword.

Eventually, everyone ending up sharing nicely even with the baby. :)

Happy Valentine's Day! (Little Boy Love Letters)

I ❤ U.
XOXO

DIY Edible Chocolate Play Dough Gift (Special Preschool Age Activity and Treat in One!)

This year I decided at the last minute on February 2 that we would actually celebrate Groundhog's Day with some activities this year. Yeah, I'm kind of random like that. So (among other things that maybe I'll talk about another time) I mixed up some chocolate edible play dough on a whim, and we made chocolate groundhogs. They were tasty.

The boys loved the play dough so much and they have been asking for it ever since. So I decided one of their Valentine's presents would be edible chocolate play dough and M&M's to decorate their creations with. This activity is great because it is so easily customizable for any holiday. You could also challenge a young child to make certain shapes or an older child to make letters and spell words out of the play dough to make it more educational.

Whether you need a last minute Valentine for your kids, an activity and treat in one for any other holiday, or just something to do on a rainy day, I think this will be a hit.

Homemade Edible Chocolate Play Dough Recipe

• 1 cup peanut butter (you could probably substitute sun butter for those with allergies, but I haven't tried)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 cup powdered milk or oat flour (I used homemade oat flour and it worked great)
• 2 Tbsp cocoa powder (of course you can just leave it out for a non-chocolate version)

In a mixing bowl stir and knead all ingredients until well combined to form a soft dough. If it turns out too dry, you can add more peanut butter or milk (if you are going to use it very soon) one tablespoon at a time.

Store in an airtight container. And since I made it ahead of time,  just to be safe I am keeping it in the refrigerator until I give it to them in two days.

I am packaging it up with some M&M's which are a huge treat at our house. I think any colored candy or even dried fruits and nuts could work well though.

DIY Oat Flour

This is so simple that this may be my shortest post ever. This isn't even really a recipe, but it uses basically the same process as making powdered sugar at home.

Homemade Oat Flour

• Rolled oats or oatmeal

Place rolled oats or oatmeal in the blender and blend until finely ground. This homemade oat flour has worked well for me in pancakes, muffins, cake and bread. I haven't tried it yet in a recipe that uses 100% oat flour, but I don't generally make recipes that call for that. I love adding this whole grain flour into recipes for some variety now.

DIY Chinese Potstickers

Traditionally, Chinese Dumplings (jiao zi) are eaten at Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) time because the shape resembled ancient money and they are thought to bring prosperity to the household. We just think they are tasty. Jiao zi prepared any way (boiled, steamed, fried, and deep fried) are probably one of our most favorite Chinese foods. My boys helped me make these this time and they were super excited to help cook one of their favorite foods.

I have talked about how to make the actual dumplings before and then how to boil them. More recently I learned how to pan fry these same dumplings the traditional way to make what is called here either jiān jiǎo, 煎餃 (meaning oily but dry fried) or guō tiē, 鍋貼 (literally pot-stick) and is known in North America by the name potstickers. This is probably our most favorite way to eat them because the bottom is fried crispy, but there is only a small amount of oil and the top is steamed soft and chewy.

Homemade Potstickers

• Premade dumplings homemade or purchased
• Oil
• Water
• A wok (chǎo guō, 炒锅  which literally means fry pan- so why do we call them woks?) with lid

1. Put a small amount of oil (you can use any amount from 2 Tbsp up to just covering the bottom of the pan that you want, but keep in mind these are called potstickers for a reason).
2. Place on stove and begin to heat.
3. Add dumplings in a single layer and begin to heat.
4. Now very carefully, the oil may spit and splutter and you don't want oil burns,  add water (3/4 cup is enough if your filling meat is precooked use up to 2 cups if the meat is raw) to the pan. and put the lid on.
5. Cook until the water evaporates and then the jiao zi should be done. Eat with vinegar, soy sauce, and/or hot chili sauce for dipping.

 

Make dumplings

Dumplings prepared by my 4 1/2-year-old, pretty good!

Add oil

Place dumplings in single layer

Very carefully add water

Place lid

And they're done!