crock pot cooking in the car

We are on the road almost every weekend, but  regardless where we are, one of my top mom jobs is feeding my family!  Sometimes it takes a little creativity.  Here is one of my favorite Road Trip Tips.  Crock Pot cooking in the car! 

I love my Hamilton Beach Stay R Go Crock Pot.  The lid "locks" in place, making transportation mess free!  I fill up my crock pot and plug it into an electrical adapter in our car, and by the time we reach our destination, lunch or dinner is ready.  For shorter trip, or longer cooking meals, I will sometimes start the crockpot before we leave, then just transfer it into the car!  We save money and time, and I know the food is healthier than fast food.  And while I love to pack a picnic, it's a nice alternative to sandwiches, too! 

Although there is no end to the number of things you can put in your crock pot, some of our favorite meals to eat at the end of the road are pulled pork sandwiches (pictured), baked potatoes, chili (to make Frito Pie), barbecue chicken, and stuffed peppers!  I love the crock pot bags, which make rest area clean up a breeze!  Remember to check the wattage on your crockpot and your adapter, to be sure that they are compatible.  Bon Appetit'!

Summer Bucket List

Each year, my kids and I create a Summer Bucket List.  Similar to a traditional "bucket list", except instead of filling it with things we want to do before we "kick the bucket", we fill it full with ideas for summer. We have so much fun thinking up fun things we want to do, and places we want to go!  Then, when summer arrives, we enjoy taking them out as we complete them, and hopefully emptying our bucket before the school bell rings!

We love the fun and whimsical look of a beach bucket, but you can simply just write out a list.  Post it somewhere everyone can see it, and cross off each item once it's been done.  I let my kids fill it with whatever comes to mind, without any limits, explaining that the goal is to do as much as we can before summer ends.  However, if we don't get around to buying a horse, which was one of my daughter's ideas, that's okay.  It's a good lesson in  setting realistic goals.  I just keep it to myself that I was pricing local stall rentals only this afternoon.  You never know what the summer may bring!

11/22/63

I have always enjoyed reading all the works of an author, back to back.  I enjoy seeing similarities in their stories, or concepts repeated.  No author better delivers on this than Stephen King, with several of his storylines intersecting with previous books he has written.  I went through my Stephen King phase years ago, before I had children.  As I usually do, I began with his first books, and worked my way down to his later stories.  Unfortunantly, I lost interest after reading "The Langoliers", I never could get over the image of giant PacMan eating the world.  I hadn't picked up anything of his after that.  However, when 11/22/63 came out, I was intriqued with the plot, (a man goes back in time and stops the Kennedy assassination) and the fact that the story takes place in Texas, even though King's account of Dallas is not very positive.  I began reading the book, and like the King stories of old, I became lost in his rich, well defined characters and sucked into his storyline the way few other authors can do.  It was one of the books that, with each page you turn, a sadness begins mounting because you know that you will reach the last page, and there will be no more.

It's not a book for kids, but I discussed it with my children as I read it.  I showed them the historical pictures in the book, and together we looked up important places and people.  I told them about it as much as I felt was appropriate.  When I finished, we began planning a visit to the Sixth Floor Museum at the School Book Depository in downtown Dallas.  The museum was holding a one day, kid's CSI event during the week of Spring Break, which seemed a perfect time to visit.  The seventh floor of the museum was converted to a crime scene, (a circus with a missing gorilla), complete with clues, witnesses to interview and forensics teams there to answer these junior detectivies questions.  They quickly learned that the key to solving a crime is learning to ask the correct questions.  We then went to the 6th floor, and took the museum audio tour.   It was extremely busy, but it is such an amazing collection.  I had to struggle with a knot in my throat during the video of the motorcade, which ends just before the shooting.  They have reconstructed area where Oswald hid while taking his shots, retaining even the wood flooring, sealed off by plexiglass walls.  Just to the right you can look out the windows onto the road, large white X's marking the spots where Kennedy was hit.    After a trip to the gift shop, we went outside to the grassy knoll, where several men were selling magazines, etc, most of which are supporting the conspiracy theories.  We then left, and we drove down to Jefferson St., showing the kids the Texas Theatre, where Oswald was arrested, which is still open.  We spent a nice dinner at La Calle Doce, discussing what they learned and trying to answer some of their questions.  The questions we couldn't answer, which were plenty, we made notes to look up when we got back home.  Because as they learned during the CSI event, you have to ask the questions before you can find the answers.

For more information on the places we visited;
The Sixth Floor Museum http://www.jfk.org/
The Texas Theatre on Jefferson http://thetexastheatre.com/

Granbury City Beach Park

We visited Granbury City Beach Park one day in the fall, a day too chilly for us to play in the water, but we still had a wonderful time feeding the ducks and playing in the sand! 

We also came across this wonderful sand sculpture someone had built.  The detail is just amazing, as is the arch in the cat, and the way the tip of it's tail just stands in the air, defying gravity.  Cole, my 11 year old, commented that he thought it was a shame something so wonderful was made out of sand and would quickly fall apart.  I think that it's "temporariness"  (a real word, I looked it up) is what makes it so amazing.

cooking our way through the alphabet

I was aware for some time that we would visit the grocery store each week, buy the same vegetables as I had the week before, and bypass those that I either had decided I didn't like, or those that seemed too intimidating.  I was happy to live in ignorance of Endive, Jerusalem Artichokes and Hubbard Squash.  But then, as often happens to me, the light turned on in my head - and I couldn't extinguish it.  It grew brighter and brighter until I felt ashamed to enter the produce aisle.  I was certain the bok choy was laughing at me!  I was being taunted by the wakame!

As my children balked and groaned, I told them of my plan.   We would cook and eat our way through the alphabet!  Oh, how they cried, and their tears only fueled my intent that this was something we needed, we must do!  They can't live on potatoes alone!

So we invite you to follow along with us as we prepare each week a new to us veggie.  We may love some, we will probably hate a few, but be certain we will have fun doing it!  Unlike most blogs, I am going to update this entry each week, so that our entire project stays together, and you don't get lost, wandering around aimlessly between the Ahipa and the Escarole. 

February 6th     Artichokes

We have eaten artichokes, but I have never cooked globe artichokes.  They look so complicated!  I choose to make an artichoke dip from a recipe I found the recipe at the foodie blog, Cooking With My Kid.  It's the first time I had visited this blog, and I really enjoyed it!  I'm not going to reprint their recipe, so go check it out at   http://www.cookingwithmykid.com/appetizers/savory-sitter-super-bowl-healthy-artichoke-dip/

The recipe calls for canned artichoke, and while one of my "guidelines" is to use only fresh vegetables, I thought that since I have never used canned, I could get away with it this once!  We didn't make the pita chips, substituting store bought pita chips instead.  I followed the recipe to the letter, and I think it's really good!  The kids ate it, but didn't love it.  That's okay, at least they ate it!

Tomato seeds

I am at heart a gardening traditionalist.  I believe that the harder you work your soil, the better tasting the results.  But I also can't resist some of the gardening gimmicks that come along, especially the ones that look fun for the kiddos.  So I have owned numerous Topsy Turveys over the years, for tomatoes and peppers and strawberries.  Mostly I found that they put the fruit at the exact right height for our dog to walk up and take a bite.  When I tried raising them, they became a salad bar for our neighborhood squirrels, who were safely out of the dog's reach! 

We found this Jiffy Professional Greenhouse at our local megastore.  I turned my kids loose with it, a couple of packets of tomato seeds, and my camera.  The instructions are easy, add 5 and 1/4 cups of warm water, to loosen the peat pellets.

 Then just pull back the netting and place 2-3 seeds in each expanded pellet, and cover with the peat.  We planted tomatoes, which will be replanted in our home and community garden, and maybe a couple of our topsy turveys - the squirrels have gotta eat, too.   

Once they are all covered, cover with the clear dome and place in a warm location away from direct sunlight.  When seeds sprout, remove the cover and relocate to a sunny spot!  Does it work?  I'll update with pictures as they grow, but I believe that anything that gets my kids excited about getting their hands dirty has already worked!

The Snow Goose and Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge

It is so thrilling for me when my children and I read books together that I loved as a child.  It's even more exciting when I see that the story has captured them in the same magic weave that I felt at their age.  One such story is The Snow Goose by Paul Gallico, written in 1940.  It is the story of a deformed artist living alone in England, a young girl and a lost and injured snow goose that brings them together.  The sad ending of the story impacted me so that I can still remember my mother reading it to me, late one night on a family camping trip in Freeport, while my father was out fishing for flounder.

I had been wanting to visit Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge in Sherman, and this was an excellent opportunity, since about 30,000 wild snow geese make it their winter home each year, from November to the end of February.  The massive waters of Lake Texoma attract the birds, and the refuge annually plants agricultural crops, such as wheat, as a food source for the birds.  As we arrived, we immediately saw a small flock flying low above us! I frantically took pictures as quickly as I could, fearing that this would be our only opportunity.  We drove on to the visitor center, and just this side of the iron gate sat about seven wild geese, posing for pictures!  We then looked in front of us, and saw thousands of white geese fillng the skies and pastures down toward the shores of the lake!  We were able to pull along side the road, amidst other cars and watch the birds from a very short distance.  They are simply amazing!   We did make time to drive around the numerous roads around the refuge, tour the visitor center and hike along the trails, but my heart was back watching the geese! 

Visit the Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge website for more information on this fascinating place, and to see all that they offer, including interactive children's classes each month.  http://www.fws.gov/southwest/refuges/texas/hagerman/index.html

Paul Gallico is the author of The Snow Goose, and other books, including The Poseidon Adventure.  For more information on his books; http://www.paulgallico.info/notitle.html

A Texas Connection - The Snow Goose won the O. Henry award in 1941.  This short story award is named for the American writer, William Sydney Porter, who wrote under the pen name, O. Henry.  Early in his career, Porter worked in Austin for the Texas General Land Office, and maps he drew, bearing his signature, are on display at the state capital.  Hmmm.... an idea for another road trip?