Eye Preloader

Month: February 2011

Zucchini Pasta with Marinara Sauce

I’ve posted a few Zucchini recipes before but this topic came up recently on the AussieHomeschool forum and so I shared a recipe that I tried and to my surprise most of the family loved it.

Marinara Sauce
Food processor or blender (blender is smoother: food processor is chunkier)

4 slice of Tomato
1/2 cup Tomatoes, Sun-dried
1/2 of Bell Pepper
1 cloves Garlic Clove
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 1/2 tsp Basil, Dried
1/2 tsp Spices, Oregano Leaves
1/2 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
2 medium Zucchini (raw)

Don’t be put off by the sound of cold zucchini strands- this dish really is delicious! However, I do cheat a little. I warm the zucchini pasta and sauce up just a little bit. When the sauce was ready, I just threw the zucchini into the wok, stirred it around for a few seconds, threw in the sauce just to heat it up.

Zucchini Noodles with Parmesan Sauce
from the Reluctant Entertainer

12 small zucchini
2 T. olive oil
salt and pepper

Sauce
10 garlic cloves, pressed
2 T. olive oil
2 cups whipping cream
1 cup fresh, grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

With potato peeler create long, wide zucchini ribbons by starting at the top of each zucchini and peeling down the length of it.

Heat a large skillet and add the olive oil and ribbons. Saute for approx. 2-3 minutes; do not overcook. Salt and pepper to taste.

In a saucepan, saute the pressed garlic in olive oil. Add the whipping cream, turn the heat to high, and sir until it begins to boil. Turn the heat down and simmer for 10 minutes; Add the Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Pour over the noodles and serve.

 

Don’t these dishes just sound divine?

Liver long and prosper

We have a family member who suffers with liver problems… including a fatty liver. There is way too much information available on the Interwebs and some of it is just plain wrong! In a nutshell though, it can be described as NASH, which stands for Non- Alcoholic Steatorrhoeic Hepatosis or Non-Alcoholic-Fatty-Liver-Disease (NAFLD) simply put, the liver is being invaded with fat! Fatty liver or NASH, is very common in overweight persons, over the age of 30.

We have a few books by Sandra Cabot, the Liver Doctor and we use fresh vegetable juicing as part of the cure during a flare up. We always plan to continue with the juicing during maintenance but it gets so expensive and time consuming that sometimes it just falls by the wayside. Here are a few recipes that we use for liver cleansing.

Fatty Liver Juice

½ whole lemon or grapefruit, peeled
2 carrots peeled
1 clove garlic or ¼ red onion (optional or use less if it is too strong)
1cm slice fennel
Half cup chopped parley
1 red radish and tops
1 cm slice of fennel
¼ beetroot peeled
2 dandelion or 2 rocket or 2 cabbage leaves

*I add some celery as John feels its benefits immediately.
**Apples may be added to improve the taste

Liver Cleansing Juice

2 dandelion or 2 rocket or 2 cabbage leaves
½ cup broccoli florets
1 cup cauliflower florets 2 large brussel sprouts
1 clove garlic or 1 small radish
½ cup chopped parsley
1 whole red apple

*Drink 500 ml to 1 litre daily.
**Juice may be sweetened by adding one or two of the following: strawberries, grapes, carrot or beetroot.

Liver Tonic Juice

1 carrot
125 grams asparagus
125 grams cucumber with skin on
1 apple 2 dandelion or cabbage leaves

You can learn heaps more here at Dr. Sandra cabot’s website, the Liver Doctor as well as read through a quick checkup guide.

Homeschooling is…

Homeschooling is…

Monotonous. Complicated. Draining. Being loved. Discipline. Curriculum.  Open. Hard. Honest. Real. Brutal.

But

Homeschooling is also…

Life. Meaningful traditions. Radical. Loving. Relationships. Caring. Simplicity. Books. Teaching. Learning. Nurturing. Friendship. Observing. Mentoring. Freedom. Sharing. Memories. Reading. Fun. Cooking… and Eating. Purpose.  Spontaneous. Grassroots. Community. Delightful. Energising. Interests. Discipleship. Beautiful. Privilege. Legal. Responsibility. Laughing. Love. Family.

Web Wanderings 23-2-11

Calvary Chapel has updated their site and are also in the slow process of updating their free, Bible curriculum. Do zip over and check them out.

MODSQUAD is an encouraging blog for Mothers of Daughters.

It’s a few months old now but I was interested to read this article, which is an interview with Bono about Grace over Karma.

Why Brad Pitt can’t come to grips with God. And I mention this not because I follow Brad Pitt but because there are many friends of mine who grapple with the same thing.

Sally Clarkson wrote a lovely, short post over at I Take Joy.

Saying No. Does it mean you are lazy?

Dominant home cleaning products– I used to use these superb products many years ago but after 9 house moves in 10 years I gave up trying to keep my contacts up to date. But my dear sister-in-law is a supplier and so I have gone back to using them. I almost forgot how fantastic (as in excellent and economical) they are. I love the All Purpose Cleaner.

Ending homeschool stereotypes – American girl wins Miss America pageant.

Bored? Got some time to do some blog reading? (I haven’t but maybe you have) Check out the Top 50 homeschool blogs.

How to address the issue of modesty… in the Church.

Math-Aids is a free resource for teachers, parents, students, and homeschoolers. You can make an unlimited number of printable math worksheets for children.

Scott Foresman Free Grammar and Writing handbooks. I’ve linked to these before but they’re too good to miss.

Just Reading to Them? A, encouraging, informative post from A Thomas Jefferson Education.

I frequently link to Sheila’s blog and this week is no exception. She writes on ‘Do our Kids mature too slowly?‘. Love the quotes excerpt from a book she is reading.

“We place kids in schools together with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of other kids typically from similar economic and cultural backgrounds. We group them all within a year or so of one another in age. We equip them with similar gadgets, expose them to the same TV shows, lessons, and sports. We ask them all to take almost the exact same courses and do the exact same work and be graded relative to one another. We give them only a handful of ways in which they can meaningfully demonstrate their competencies. And then we’re surprised they have some difficulty establishing a sense of their own individuality.” And we wonder why it’s taking so long for them to mature.
~ Joe Allen – Escaping the Endless Adolescence

Over Population? Is it a myth? Check out the website.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUY4ztwIVfA

Where have you been around the web lately? Any interesting sites or articles to share?

Homeschooling grows…

Sibling Love

Homeschooling  grows…

Strong family relationships, highly valued home and family life; happy children who love learning; happy adults who love learning!

Web wanderings 15-2-11

Sunset Beach by Diane Romanello

  • Dr. Albert Mohler wrote The Marks of Manhood, (When does a boy become a man?) which I think is great.
  • Last year we bawled through, er watched the made-for-tv movie, Gifted Hands, the story of Ben Carson. I might be the only adult believer who hasn’t read the book yet… and I am asking myself why this is so. I cannot believe I haven’t read this inspiring biography. If you haven’t watched this movie with your children then please, run out to the video store and hire it. You will not be disappointed. And if you are, well I won’t say anymore.   This movie has affected me so profoundly… but time will tell, won’t it. (Maybe I’ll write how this movie and book has affected our parenting and homeschooling style)
  • And lastly, I’m sure you all know about this movie review site but just in case you don’t I’ll mention it again. Plugged In Online is a fantastic review site. It is a sister site of Focus on the Family and it is my go-to site for reviews of movies. Why? because it doesn’t tell me what I should and shouldn’t watch. Rather it gives me the details of the movie without revealing the spoilers. It details the positive elements, the sexual, violent, drug/alcohol and language content, and lets me decide from there.

Crockpot Lasagne

Fee from On Being Single asked us to share a favourite crockpot (slow cooker) recipe so here’s ours. Being that we are Italian I usually make all our Italian dishes from scratch. I put off making this dish for years because I thought it sounded horrid. But time and necessity got the better of me…and would you believe the whole family loves it! Including full blooded John!

Crockpot Lasagne

(Family size)

  • 500gms minced meat (beef, kangaroo or other… a combination of veal and lamb is also very nice)
  • 1 chopped onion
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 800 mls can tomato sauce (we use home made but store bought does fine…even diced tinned tomatoes)
  • 200 mls can tomato paste
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 375 gm package lasagna sheets
  • 375gm container Ricotta or cottage cheese (I use a Bechamel sauce if need be)
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 Cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Directions:

In a large skillet over medium heat cook the ground beef, onion, and garlic until brown. Add the tomato sauce, tomato paste, salt, and oregano and stir until well incorporated. Cook until heated through.

In a large bowl mix together the Ricotta or cottage cheese, grated Parmesan cheese, and shredded mozzarella cheese.

Spoon a layer of the meat mixture onto the bottom of the crock pot. (I lightly butter bottom of Crockpot and add a spoonful of the meat mix). Add a double layer of the uncooked lasagna sheets. Break to fit sheets into crock pot.

Top sheets with a portion of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layering of sauce, sheets, and cheese until all the ingredients are used.

Cover and cook on low heat in crock pot for 6 to 8 hours.

Serve with a tossed green salad and crusty bread.

I also like to finish the top off with extra Mozzarella & Ricotta (I’m a cheese nut). this is a good recipe for children to make and to experiment with.

I heard of this Crockpot Lasagne and scoffed at it. There is no way I would ever do that, I said. I would sometimes prepare the lasagne ahead of time but even if I pre-baked it I’d still have to put it in the oven for 40 mins once we got home from shopping meaning that our hungry bellies were still a good 45 minutes away from being satiated.

So I tried the Crockpot Lasagne. I told my family what it was. I made no bones about the Australianising of it. I told them it was either this for tea or our all-too-often “CatchWhatYaCan” meal. They didn’t complain. In fact, everyone enjoyed it. It isn’t authentic…but it’s still very filling and very nice and very easy. Anyone can prepare it  in the morning, put it on and as soon as we get home we can eat! This is why it is quicker than a traditional lasagne.

Web wanderings: 12-2-11

Benefits of reading the Bible: Consistently ’grazing on the Bible’ helps give us our sense of identity as Christians. It is an irreplaceable source of nourishment, correction and transformation for every Christian.

How to Study the Bible from Logos.com
All Christians who open God’s Word and read it bring with them the forestructures of their lives formed by their history, their language, and their culture in which they live, therefore it is imperative upon every reader to capture the original intent of the author. Since no one can approach the text without presuppositions, then one must exercise every safeguard to interpret the Word of God correctly.

Going bananas for granola from DeliciousByNature; yummy granola that I’m going to try one day.

Secret Detox Drink from Dr.Axe: [Apparently] Dr. Axe’s secret detox drink recipe not only tastes great, it will help you burn fat, lose weight, balance blood sugar levels, and get your body healthy! (I haven’t tried this yet. Any feedback readers?)

Photography Tips from National Geographic

Fantastic site- An ABC 3D documentary presentation about WW1 ANZAC landing at Gallipoli

What happens when you fall out of love with homeschooling? From Special Needs Homeschooling

Dominating the Homeschool Circuit at the HomeSpun Life
There are Christians, and then there are ‘Christians’. The ‘Christians’ do more harm to one another than anyone else I have ever known. And yet there ARE Christians who are very loving, grace filled people. I like these kind of Christians.

Grammar Mudge: Operated by a retired editor/English professor, the ad-free site focuses on discussions of English grammar, language, and writing but also contains essays on a variety of subjects.

FreeListens: publishes weekly reviews of free human-read audiobooks available on the web. In my reviews, I try to avoid any spoilers beyond what you’d read on the cover of a paperback. Realizing that these books are being given away for free, I try to be not too harsh on the reader but still point out any aspects that may turn off some listeners.

E-learninglinks.com has links to free resources, crossword puzzles, worksheets, and lists of names, dates, and books to read for teaching history!

How to Create a Culture of Accountability in Your Home from Empowering Parents

Gentlemen in a Digital Age from SoloFemininity
The fine folks of Jane Austen’s world might strike us today as being a bit rigid in their manners. But they demanded character and accountability even among the limited relationships of a small town. How much wiser would we be to honor the same practices in a world without boundaries.

That’s where I’ve ended up this week around the ‘net. How about you? Found anything interesting to share?

I Will Never

I will never send my children to a public school.

Our children will not ‘date’… they will ‘court’.

We will never eat… pork.

We will never sing choruses.

I will never have XYZ [insert medical procedure] done.

We will never use workbooks in our homeschool.

No child of ours would ever disobey me. Our girls will never wear shorts, pants, t-shirts, etc.

My child will never do drugs, drink alcohol, smoke, swear … [or XYZ].

Have you ever heard those type of definitive statements before? Maybe you’ve uttered those type of statements before. I have.

But life… the experience of life is teaching me to never say never, especially with things that are not within my own control. Not the easiest when, for many years, I strove to get ‘in control’ of my house, my behavior, my children, etc.  What I failed to understand was that I cannot and should not be controlling my children’s every action, thought or attitude, especially once they get older and into their teen years.

When we first started to home educate I loved the lifestyle. I loved what it did for our family. I searched the Scriptures and could see how the family was the model or institution that God had designed for life long learning. In my haste and naiveté, I remember proclaiming, “Our children will never attend a school!“. Oh dear, if you know God and His nature you can well imagine the lessons He had in store to teach me. Fast forward a few years and one of my children asked to go to school… keep fast forwarding and you’ll see that she started at a private, Christian school and ended up at a public school.

In our homeschool adventure, we had learned the value of living books and the Charlotte Mason method and I recall thinking, “Oh, we will never use workbooks ever again.” Oh dear, you can see here I was headed. Fast forward a few years and the boys learned a lot through their time on ACE Paces.

Then came the upper or teen years. You know the ones where girls start noticing boys and boys start noticing girls. Well, we had read and researched all about ‘courtship’. And being that we ourselves didn’t practice ‘Christian dating’ thought it a wonderful idea. Certainly none of our children would have a ‘boyfriend’ or ‘girlfriend’. Surely not! Surely…. Surely? Oh dear. I think you’re starting to get the picture. 😉

Why am I so slow to understand and apply the lessons the Lord wants to teach me?

Yes, I am Susan and I’m a control freak. Actually I now think of myself as a recovering control freak. I may always have those tendencies but I’m learning to deal with them properly. I liked to think that I could control things… things which, as a Christian, seem okay to control like my children, our homeschooling, etc. But I’ve learned that my control freak tendencies grew like tendrils of a weed … seeking to climb over flowering plants and eventaully drown out the sun (or is that Son?) .

My prayer from 2007… and is still my prayers today.

God, grant me the Serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference.

Latte

December 2010.

I love coffee: latte’s, cappuccino’s, espresso’s, chai latte’s… they’re all for me. And having a daughter who is a competing Latte Artist I have plenty of opportunity to practice taking photo’s.

On a date with my man… and a yummy latte.

Latte: edited

Latte: edited

Wanderings round the web 8-2-11

There are a few reasons that I stopped blogging.

1) Felt the need to protect my children’s privacy and not write about their lives so much
and
2) I’m ashamed to say that I used Facebook instead. It’s just so easy to share links and things on FB.

Now I’m not going to give up on FB but I am going to try and share links and anecdotes again here on the blog. So along those lines, here are some links to things I’ve been reading online lately.

LINKS:

Free Maths – A collection of Math lessons: 76 pages Offering inspiring, practical, classroom-tested ideas for helping students learn mathematics through problem solving.

Slow Down and Really Live on the Down to Earth blog.

Ruby wrote and interesting and honest piece over at Mumma’s Place in Learning About Me.

Jeanne’s peaceful home was water logged and many of their possessions destroyed in the recent Victorian floods. Her daugher is away at the moment, during the crisis, yet she still manages to share a little humour in The (water) Closet Reader.

What’s a Young Woman’s Responsibility in the Dating or Courtship Process? by Voddie Baucham is providing some food for thought.

I love the way Sheila writes about things so close to my heart. Here she shares why their family chooses to watch some movies but not others. She thinks just like we do… only she writes it all better in Profanity vs. Biblical World View in Movies.

How Sin Kept Me From Sinning – the liability of a Christian upbringing: This is an area that I have tried to teach my children… it can be an issue for those who have been raised in a Christian home.

The Beast File: Woolies and Coles a $100 billion a year duopoly with a retail market share unmatched in the developed world. And they have their fingers in a lot of other pies too.

Gardenate is a site that tells you what to plant when in the garden- for Australians!

Photos: In case you haven’t see our photo album, you can grab a quick look here at our life in Jan as seen through my eyes.

MY PROMISE TO MY CHILDREN: I will stalk you, flip out on you, lecture you, drive you insane, be your worst nightmare & hunt you down like a bloodhound when needed…..because I LOVE YOU! When you understand that, I will know you are a responsible adult. You will NEVER find someone who loves you, prays for you, cares about you, & worries about you more than your Mum. Feel free to re-post if you love your children. ♥ ♥

I spent an hour at the online chat room of Rainbow Diva’s and the National Homeschool Network in An Afternoon with Beverley. Beverley Paine is a long term, South Australian homeschooler and homeschool consultant. We had a lovely afternoon and I’d encourage other Aussie homeschoolers to check it out. Hope to see you there next month!

A South Australian local tv channel aired an interview/article on homeschooling. You can see it here on youtube. I enjoyed the article… considering the length and scope of it. With something like that, there is usually limited time to go into detail about the finer points of home education. I see these as more like a quick advert for home education rather than an informative article. The article was a good, positive piece which will hopefully do the rounds of the Internet, and contribute towards the education of the broader community.

Personally, I had heard about home education very briefly but a few times before I started to ponder the idea more carefully. Many people are like that- they simply need to hear it more regularly and more often and if they want to, they will investigate it as an option. If that was the aim of the article then I think they hit the target 🙂

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NuvYow3PXU

“God must begin the work of grace in a person’s heart, or else a person will never be saved. Christ must first choose us and call us by His Spirit, or else we shall never choose Christ. Election to eternal life, is a truth of Scripture which we must receive humbly, and believe implicitly.”
~ J.C. Ryle

Delight directed learning and family update

It’s been awhile since I posted a family update and truthfully, so much has happened that I barely know where to start, which is why I haven’t written. You know what it’s like when you leave a job till later on and then it seems like it becomes bigger than Ben Hur and you don’t know where to start? That’s how I’ve been with blogging. But like my husband is fond of saying, “How does one eat an elephant? One bite at a time”.

We had a wonderful break over the Christmas period. Much to my disappointment, we didn’t have our typical softball holiday and I missed it terribly. We have been doing the softball trip for nearly 10 years now to watch Miss A represent the state in the National Softball Tournament but alas, this year she was too old for the U/19s and whilst she does play in the Open Women’s team they go away every month for an extended weekend and it’s just not the same for John and I. So we stayed home this time. However I noticed some good things from staying home. While we love going away for a week or two, we did notice how we felt much more rested. This isn’t a surprise as I often feel like I need a rest after going away on holiday – they’re such hard work 🙂

We also have developed a few new hobbies in the family. John has always loved watching and studying about the stars. He has always wanted a telescope but it’s just never been a priority. Until now. It all started after we watched the very interesting DVD, The Star of Bethlehem. John started researching telescopes, sold a few things on ebay, and then we bought a second hand telescope. It all sounds so easy and uncomplicated but let me assure you it was anything but! John has a tendency to get slightly obsessive with his interests and passions. This hobby is no different. Except for the fact that Master C also started showing an interest. Oh, I neglected to mention that John’s initial interest is in building his own telescope! Not, one is never content to simply purchase one and use it. One must know how and why it works and endeavour to build one’s own! Of course. However, in order to fan the flames of interest with Master C it was thought that we could purchase a ready made telescope for him to use now whilst together they set about building one. This building of one is a work in progress- starting with researching and collecting information.

We had many family get together’s over the holiday break and some of these included the children’s *friends*. Yes, it’s no longer just John, myself and four or five kids but when we all get together there are now ten of us! And it’s great fun. I love having everyone over for a meal. We also had a day trip to Victor Harbor where I got to practice a little of my new hobby. Photography! I have been so inspired by my dear friend, Urban Daisy and her photo blog that I decided to pick up our family camera and start to learn about it. Whilst I’ve been inspired by Urban Daisy’s blog I am motivated by my family. I want to learn how to take good photo’s of my children and one day, my grandchildren, God willing.

Over the past few months our family dynamics have changed quite dramatically (which naturally happens as the children get older anyway) and this has led me to sit back and re-evaluate some of my activities. We have some ‘okay’ photo’s of our family but we don’t have any real lovely ones. I want to change that. So learning about my camera and how to take photo’s is the first step. John wants to save and buy me a groovy camera but I’m quite content with the little one we have for now. It’s a good starter camera (Fujifilm FinePix S8000fd) and I can always upgrade later on down the track. For now I have no idea what I am doing. I am learning- teaching myself something new! And yes, I am having trouble with the technical side of things. I practice a few times per week, whenever I can really. I don’t have that natural knack of being able to naturally ‘frame’ my shots or get the best angles… I’m hoping that will come with practice. I’m also having difficulty in getting clear pictures… I need to learn more about the manual settings rather than the auto function. And lighting- I know it is so important but I need more practice. I’m really enjoying the Digital Photography School articles and getting a lot out of them. You can see some of my recent efforts in our kerugma photo album (2011) .

Regular readers may remember that we have lived in ten homes in the last 10 years, although living in this current home has put a halt to our record. What began as a one year posting has turned into a three year post. And we will be here at least for the next 3 years. So, for the first time in a long time I am beginning to garden again! I have prepared some of the ground in the backyard and will plant some vegetables and herbs and in the coming months I want to rip out the front garden and start from scratch again. Defence homes are so boring. Practical, but dull. I’ve been busy reading through my old gardening books and magazines, refreshing myself with all things mulchy and earthy 🙂

In January, Master J went on a two week promotion course with the Air Force cadets.  He passed well and has now been promoted! He’s also looking for a part time job so is considering not playing football this year.

Academics? Homeschool matters? Oh yes, that. I almost forgot. We are homeschoolers! 🙂 It seemed a shame to stop the delight directed learning that the boys (and John) were involved in just to get back to starting lessons so we didn’t! Once John went back to work, we slowly started a few lessons, easing back into our ‘working rhythm‘. Master J is enrolling in Open Access College as a home based student and once he settles into that I will post updates of what subjects he is doing. Master C is continuing on with his plan, much the same as last year. I didn’t quite get around to setting his schedule up on paper and he rather likes one so he amended the one from last year and set up his own! I’ll post his schedule in a separate post.

Miss R celebrated her 18th birthday in January. She doesn’t live with us at home but it was lovely to have a small gathering of family and friends over for a BBQ.

Miss A is still as busy as ever. No, even more so! She has decided that she doesn’t want to work as a Personal Trainer at the moment. She simply loves being a Barista and doing her Latte Art work. Between work and softball there is hardly any time left but she is managing to find some to spend with a ‘special someone’ in her life.

Well, that’s about it for now. The post that I just had to get out of the way so that I can start blogging again.

The Shocking Youth Message

I have previously linked and recommended an online sermon by Paul Washer… called the Shocking Youth Message (called such by others, not by Mr. Washer).

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncEhCvrVgQ&feature=video_response

But I think it’s also really good to watch this short video which explains the background setting of that sermon.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrCvO8Elsis

If you enjoy messages such as these, head over to HeartCryMissionary to hear and read more!