Just a little peek at some of the simple things from our day today…
Read-alouds and coloring pages (we’re studying Paul Revere in history and The Nutcracker Ballet in music this week)
Making Hasty Pudding for breakfast since we’re learning the words and story behind Yankee Doodle this week. (We all thought it tasted terrible, by the way!)
My yummy salad for lunch (I’ve been making an effort to eat at least one big salad every day since I feel so much better when I do!)
A fun Busy Bag (details and more pictures on this Busy Bag coming tomorrow!)
A bowl of cereal, thanks to some samples we got in the mail from FiberPlus–a big treat around here as I rarely buy cereal anymore.
Linda says
I’d never heard of hasty pudding before so I looked up some recipes. From what I read, the original version from England used flour and cooked up quickly…that’s where it got the name hasty. In America, cornmeal was more readily available and the recipe was changed, but must be cooked much longer over lower temps to get a smooth pudding.
Katie Hostetter says
Crystal, Can you tell me anything about the blue Paul Revere book in the picture? I read that series of books when I was growing up and absolutely loved it. Would love to find it again now that I have a little one. Any info. is appreciated!
Crystal says
It’s available through the Childhood of Famous Americans series by Augusta Stevenson. It may be at your local library.
Heather C says
Definitely try hasty pudding again. We love it but call it polenta, cook it with water and salt (no milk) and eat it with cheese and/or butter. Or at supper with pasta sauce, chili, probably other things. I like Arrowhead Mills brand yellow cornmeal or grits (grits are my favorite and I use them the same way). Our kids have never cared for their cornmeal mush, polenta, grits, whatever, to be sweet, though they like lots of sweetener on their oatmeal! 🙂 I figure it evens out. 😉
Dineen says
I think the key to good cornmeal mush (hasty pudding) is the cornmeal. The typical cornmeal sold in grocery stores as an older gentleman once explained to me tastes burnt because it’s ground by high speed metal grinders, so to always by stone ground that doesn’t overheat the grain. Switching from the canister of cornmeal to a lesser-known brand of a stone-ground (even coarser grind) of corn suddenly tasted better. Of course a fun thing about the “pudding” is being able to add all sorts of things to it to make it taste good like maple syrup and butter. Not to mention the next day’s fried mush.
*chuckle* Can you tell that I am someone who likes mush? and grits?
Sally says
May I ask what salad dressings you eat? Do you make your own dressings? If so, which recipes are favorites?
Crystal says
I usually either eat it plain or use whatever dressings I’ve gotten almost free. However, one of the things I want to experiment with soon is making my own salad dressings. I’ll share if I find a good recipe!
Busy Mom in AL says
This is my all-time favorite dressing. My favorite store-bought dressing is Newman’s Own Italian and this is just like it! We call it Momma’s Own! Easy to make ahead and mix up on the spot! Found it online and make it weekly for my salads. Try it with Raspberry Vinegar, yum!
Italian Dressing Mix
• 1/2 TB garlic powder
• 1/2 TB sea salt
• 1 TB onion powder
• 1 TB sugar
• 2 TB dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1TB dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp celery salt
1. In a small jar or bowl, mix together all ingredients and store tightly sealed.
2. To prepare dressing, whisk together 2 TB of the dry mix with 1/4 cup white vinegar and 1/2 cup oil . Shake or stir to combine.
* Almost any vinegar could be used here and canola or vegetable oil in place of the olive oil if desired.
Erica says
Equal parts :
canola oil
red wine vinegar
sugar
SOO Easy you will never buy salad dressing again. It’s delish!
anna says
Just wondering- with eating a salad every day – how do you keep it from getting boring? What kind of things do you put on your salads? I love salads but find myself getting bored with the same old thing 😉
Crystal says
I change up what lettuce I buy/use and add different veggies. And sometimes croutons. But honestly, I’m okay with having similar salads everyday. I guess I don’t mind “boring” –especially because I feel so much better when I eat lots of salads!
anna says
I hope you know I wasn’t implying that your salads are boring 🙂 Mine are. lol
Thanks for the ideas 🙂
Crystal says
No, not at all. 🙂
Lana says
I completely agree with you about the salads. I feel much better if I have a salad everyday and if I miss my salads I start to crave them. I have ben seeing a Christian kinesiologist for my allergies and she says that eating raw fruits and veggies helps to rid the body of toxins so I try to eat something raw at everymeal and have learned to really like it.
Wendy says
Your munchkins are adorable!
Tina C says
just curious what grade/age are your children?
Crystal says
They are 6, 4, and 2.
Carolynn @ mylittlebitoflife.com says
I have to confess, that I am actually the one who likes cereal. There are many times that I will eat a very small dinner so that I can have a bowl of cereal after the kids go to bed! If I was single, I’d probably have it a lot more! However, the cereal deals have not been good lately. I have just come to the conclusion that if I can get it for under $2 then I think about it, lately it’s been around $1.50 a box!
Guest says
I ate cereal for dinner all the time before I got married. I’ll still have it for dinner if I have eaten a heavy breakfast or lunch (or both!). We are GF so my options are limited but it’s light and filling!
Susan E. says
I had a whole set of those books like the one in your photo!!! I’m not sure if my mom kept them or passed them on, but we had some given to us by a friend who found them in an abandoned schoolhouse in Maryland many years ago. I loved reading those biographies. Thanks for the enjoyable flashback!
ZombiemommySaves says
I mixed several granola recipes together myself and came up with the one I think is best.
I love that my kids get healthy breakfasts everyday, now if I could just get better about lunches…:)I am tired of sandwiches.
alissa says
Looks like you are using the same curriculum as we are using. We made hasty pudding last year and my kids loved it! In fact, if given a choice that’s almost always what they ask for. My husband does not love it so much, so we don’t have it as much as they would like. But that’s okay, it is a treat this way.
Crystal says
We’re doing MFW Adventures and loving it!
Christine says
What kind of dressing do you put on your salad? It looks good !
Kassi says
Salad with chicken, cranberries, walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette dressing is my ALL time favorite dinner.
Chelsea says
I second that being a delicious salad. I also like to add some diced apples to mine.
Mary Jo says
I see y’all are using non-dairy milk. I remember you mentioned a while ago you were going to try that and see if it helped Silas’ asthma. Have you found it’s improved since he’s gotten off cow’s milk?
Crystal says
Yes, it’s made a big difference so we’re keeping him on rice milk for the time being. Anytime we’ve slipped, he’s digressed quite a bit. It’s weird, but I’m thankful that it’s helping a lot.
Corrie says
I have asthma, as well, but don’t drink a whole lot of milk. I wonder if swapping the milk I do drink with non-dairy and see if that helps. The things you learn everyday! 😀
Jennifer says
Wait a minute, we made hasty pudding when we studied yankee doodle and loved it. In fact we have made it several more times. Try adding butter and maple syrup. In fact, you have made me want to make it again!
Wendy says
I agree it’s not too bad. I make this all the time for me for breakfast. I just call it corn meal mush. I add butter & sugar and think it’s yummy. Didn’t know it was hasty pudding—learned something new.
Tammy L says
Mmmm, I agree! Butter and maple syrup on top, for sure! 😀
Erika says
Cornmeal Mush was a big staple in my household as a kid. I still love it to this day, but you’re right. Maple syrup (real if 100% possible) and butter NEED to be on it or it doesn’t taste like much at all. I used to have a pretty flippy stomach as a teenager and my mom would make me cornmeal mush in the morning. It really did make a very light breakfast and didn’t make my stomach hurt.
Now a days I can’t really make it because it makes the house smell like grilling cornmeal and my husband is very “scent” conscious and gets all whiny about the smell in the house being terrible ;). Ah one of these days I’ll make it again *laugh*.
Shannon Runnels says
Love that you mentioned learning the words to Yankee Doodle. We did something similar recently… to figure out why he’d stick a feather in his had and call it macaroni! What fun to figure that out and then use “macaroni” as a way to describe modern fashion 🙂
Sara L says
I just have to say I’m always so impressed with the variety of breakfasts you have planned. For me, it’s enough to just plan dinners. Do you stay away from cereals because of preservatives?
Crystal says
A variety of reasons, but mostly because my children really like oatmeal, pancakes, etc. and there aren’t always a lot of great cereal deals available for the more healthful kinds of cereal that we like to try and stick with when we buy cereal. So it’s usually just simpler and less expensive to stick with homemade breakfasts for most days.
Rachael says
I’m trying to wean my family off so much cereal, but it’s hard! My son (and husband!!) prefer cereal to anything, even yummy homemade treats. One thing I’ve been doing is a special Sunday breakfast, though.
Allison Matkin says
We made hasty pudding this week too….and we agree that it tasted terrible! My kids are very thankful that we live in more modern times with more food options!
Crystal says
We agree. It sparked some great discussions on how thankful we can be for the variety of foods we have to eat!
Jessica-MomForHim says
We made it last year (we are a year ahead of you in MFW) and we didn’t like it either! So when I saw it planned as your breakfast, I wondered if your kids would actually eat it… 😉
Crystal says
😉