What a yummy way to cook with veggies! We made Carrot Cake to correspond with our Veggie Unit this week.
This is an old family recipe and a favorite of mine. Hard to argue with a Cream Cheese frosting. Bug got to help Gammy with the carrot chopping by using the food processor. Pretty cool! And the girls helped me with the mixing while eating their weight in carrots.
Carrot Cake
INGREDIENTS
Cake:
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. mazola oil
4 eggs
2 c. flour
2 t. soda
3 c. grated carrots
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1 t. vanilla
dash salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
Icing:
1 4 oz. package cream cheese, room temp.
2 t. vanilla
1/4 c. butter
powder sugar
DIRECTIONS
Mix all cake ingredients together. Pour into greased and floured 9×13 pan. Bake in 300 oven for 1 hour or until done. Let cool. Blend all icing ingredients together and frost on cooled cake.
In some ways it seems silly to call a frequent activity a field trip, but since we did spend a few minutes more focused on the activity I believe it counts. We marveled at all the colors and smells. The kids were especially drawn to the beautiful, purple eggplant.
It is just a glorious beginning of fall weekend, and we spent the morning in town. The place was a buzz more than normal as Main Street was closed down and many vendors were setting up for a BBQ and Jazz festival going on this evening. The smell was sooo enticing but it was still going to be a few hours before anything was ready. Maybe we will head back later on but for now we came home with warm bread from the bakery and some fresh green beans.
The kids’ favorite part? The park by the pond… and super fast pushes by Daddy on the tire swing.
To correspond with our lesson this week on Veggies, we made Salt Dough Veggies to use on our Nature Table. Once dried, the kids immediately took them to the Farm Mat. They have spent a lot of time bringing in the harvest and feeding the bounty to the family of snails Bug made.
Basic Salt Dough Recipe
1 Cup Salt
2 Cups Flour
3/4 Cup Room Temp Water
1 TBSP Vegtable Oil
Bake at 200 F for several hours until dried through. Paint when dry.
For a realistic touch, we used small twigs for stems. We also used toothpicks for adding details. I was surprised how well the Salt Dough retained its modeled shape.
Note: Both puppies and almost 2 year olds like to eat the finished veggies! Keep a close eye on the little ones if you have ’em.
Ok, just getting organized for our first week. I’m still trying to decide what I am going to do to mark the special ‘first day’ of school.
Week One (Sep 2nd-5th)
Tops and Bottoms
The Veggies We Eat
A is for Apple Blossom
We will be coloring the Apple Blossom page from our Flower Fairies Alphabet Coloring Book and reading the accompanying story in the Flower Fairies Alphabet Book.
Click here to download an Italic Letter A Handwriting Practice Page.
See completed project and directions: Salt Dough Veggies
Carrot Cake
INGREDIENTS
Cake:
1 1/2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. mazola oil
4 eggs
2 c. flour
2 t. soda
3 c. grated carrots
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1 t. vanilla
dash salt
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
Icing:
1 4 oz. package cream cheese, room temp.
2 t. vanilla
1/4 c. butter
powder sugar
DIRECTIONS
Mix all cake ingredients together. Pour into greased and floured 9×13 pan. Bake in 300 oven for 1 hour or until done. Let cool. Blend all icing ingredients together and frost on cooled cake.
Visit a Farmer’s market or grocery store. Spend time in the produce section comparing the types of veggies. Use the 5 senses to make observations on the veggies, try to determine which part of the plant you are eating top, bottom or middle. You might want to make some graphs comparing size, shape, color, taste, etc.
Poem of the Month for September:
Little Boy Blue
Little Boy Blue,
Come blow your horn;
The sheep’s in the meadow, the cow’s in the corn.
Where is the boy who looks after the sheep?
He’s under a haystack, fast asleep.
Will you wake him?
No, not I. For if I do he’s sure to cry.