This is for my family

Ah, the sounds of growing up in the Child house.

and another great one.

The Academic Fair

Tonight was the Academic Fair at Jackson's school.  He has been looking forward to this for a long time.  For his project Jackson did "Reptiles and Amphibians."  How many of you are shock to see that he did not do airplanes?  Right now Jackson is just as passionate about reptiles and amphibians as he is about airplanes. 




He did such a great job.  It was also a fun mom and son project.  He sat next to me and told me what to type about each animal, then we searched the Internet for pictures of each critter.  Then we put it all together.   He knew exactly how he watned everything, and think it looked really good.  He likes it so much he put it up in the living room when we got home and told us it was now a house decoration.  I think we will leave it there for awhile, but...
He learned so much, if you want to know what he learned just ask him.  He will tell you.  Just make sure you have enough time to listen to the answer. 

It was fun to see all the projects the other students did. of course someone had to do the baking soda volcano. It was a big hit with our boys.



Each participant had to write a paper on what they learned from their Academic Fair Project.  This is what Jackson wrote:
I learn from the Academic Fair Bull Snakes aren't poisonous.  Frogs breath through their skin.  Frogs and Toads and the same animals.  Pit Vipers have a pit between their eyes above their nose.

(yeah, I fixed some spelling.)

Since you asked

Okay, nobody asked but you should have

Coconut Macaroons

1 16 oz bag of shredded coconut (though I usually have two bags on hand just in case, you will see why.)
3 egg whites
3 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp almond extract
2 tsp vanilla
1 can sweet and condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
In a bowl whip the egg whites until they begin to form soft peaks. Add the sugar and the extracts to the egg white mixture. Continue to beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.

In another large bowl dump the coconut and stir in sweet the sweet and condensed milk. You don't want to dump the whole can at once. You want just enough of the sweet and condensed milk to create a sticky batter. It takes awhile to get the sense for what that is you just don't want the mixture to be runny. If there is too much sweet and condensed milk the macaroons don't cook right. I will sometimes have to add more coconut to get the right texture if I have added too much milk.

Gently fold in the egg mixture into the coconut batter until completely incorporated. Spoon teaspoon sized balls onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. (I use the Silpat, seriously couldn't live without it!)

I use the pampered chief ice cream/cookie scoop it works perfectly. Place the pan in the oven on the center rack and cook for 30 minutes. Here is the important part. When the timer beeps, turn off the oven, crack it open and leave the cookies in the oven until it cools. Then remove the cookies from the oven and place the cookies on a cooling rack. Sometimes I drizzle melted chocolate on top, other times I just leave them.

For the Irish cream version, I omitted the almond extrace and added (maybe) 1/4 cup of Irish Cream syrup in with the Sweet and Condensed Milk.  Making sure to keep the same sicky consistancy that you want with the coconut mixture.  I also added the Irish Cream syrup to the melted chocolate chips.  I also added green food coloring to the egg mixture as well as the coconut mixture.

And Seriously you all should check out the Silpat.  You need one I promise! http://demarleathome.com/

This is how we do St. Patrick's Day

I guess most people got out and get a pint and get drunk. Mitch and I, we down a pint of Ben and Jerry's. Seriously, this is the best ice cream ever! Totally worth the cost and the calories, though we swear we will never buy it again for our own good.

Okay so that was not all we did for St. Patrick's day. I know it's not a huge holiday, but since I was down with the flu for Valentine's Day I decided to make a thing out of this one.

I made Irish Cream Macaroons


For dinner we had Corn Beef and Cabbage, with Potatoes and Carrots. 
Also, to keep in the spirit of things, The Decemberist was teh music of choice while I was cooking.  Sure the guys from Helena, MT but the sound is Irish.


We had Irish Cream Italian Sodas, with a little green food dye just for fun.



and of course I had my little leprechauns

I am so lucky to have them. They have granted all that I could wish for.