Acorn Pancakes

The kids and I are on a great adventure this year- we are having a go at homeschooling. So far, it's been a lot of work! but very fun and a great challenge. We are currently studying life in Colonial America. They have never learned much of basic American history so I thought it would be a great place to start. We are also doing a basic study in plants (classification, identification). So, we those topics in mind, I thought it might be fun to go out in the woods and harvest acorns to make into colonial-style pancakes. My main objectives were to get them to be able to identify the kind of acorns we wanted and then to get a good understanding of how hard people used to have to work to get their food.
I think I we managed the last objective.
Here is the process for eating acorns- it took all evening yesterday to prepare them, the roasted over night and then we made the pancakes this morning for breakfast.
We gathered about half of a plastic grocery sack full. I didn't want to empty out the park but I wanted to make sure we had enough. It ended up making just a cup of acorn meal. About 1/3 of the acorns were bad- full of worms or rotten.









It works best to boil them in the shell for a few minutes so the knife can go in easier.

I have a great knife for this task- the end broke off so there is a blunt end that I used to dig into the shell. This took a long time but was the kind of repetative kitchen task that soothes me.
So then you have a pot of acorn meat. This needs to be boiled to remove the tannins. It smells SO good while you are doing this! Kind of like carmel and wine and brown sugar. Yum.






So I let it boil for 10 minutes and then I strained it out through a cloth in a strainer. Then you have to repeat this process over and over until the water starts to run clearer. I tasted it after a few times and it was still pretty bitter (like crazy strong walnuts) so I kept going. I'm not sure how many times I did this, maybe 10.
Then I ran the acorn meat through the food processer to make it more like a meal. If I were going to do this ever again, I would get some kind of flour mill. The food processer just didn't really work for this task.
Then the roasting. I spread it thin on cookie sheets and put it in the oven set on a real low temp (260). I roasted it like this for about 2 hours before bed (stirring ever once in awhile). Then at bed time I turned off the oven but the pilot light kept it hot enough to continue roasting over night.




In the morning, it was much darker and the taste was real mellow. I ran it through the food processer again to try and get it more like a meal, but like I said, it just isn't meant for that. So it was the best it was going to get.



This is the recipe I used:
1 cup flour
1 cup acorn meal
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 1/4 cup milk
3 Tbs vegetable oil

We ate them with raspberry syrup we made this summer after we picked raspberries on Solstice's b-day. We also boiled up the apples we found in the woods yesterday. Yumm.

So, what did the kids think?
The pictures speak loud and clear:



Was it worth the effort? Yes.
Will we do it again anytime soon? No.

weight loss

One of my New Years resolutions was to eat better and hopefully lose some weight. I refuse to diet ever again. Life is too short to not eat chocolate. I've been trying to eat as Vegan as possible. And I've been doing pretty well with that. I'm certainly not 100%.
For breakfast I've been eating oatmeal everyday. I make it on the stove with just some salt. Sometimes I put raisins or apples in it. I mix it with some soymilk after its cooked. I'm really loving it. And it keeps me feeling full for hours and hours.

For lunch lately I've been eating hommus with crackers. The crackers are extra high fiber crackers. I don't have any info to back this up, but my theory is that lots of fiber has to be good for a diet and must balance the higher carb rate. I don't eat a lot because I'm usually still pretty full from the oatmeal.
I eat whatever everyone else is having for dinner. This is where I have a harder time staying vegan. I use a lot of milk in baking and in the winter soups I make. But whenever I can leave out the cheese for my own dinner I do. And I've tried to make sure that half of my dinner is made of vegetables. If I want more I make myself have more vegetables too. It seems to fill me up just as well and gets me to eat more raw vegetables (which I love but have a harder time eating in the winter).
And then the biggest change for me is NO snacking after dinner. I'm a huge snacker. I love popcorn or ice cream in the evening. But no more. Lately Andre and I have been making a pot of tea in the evening and I just sip on that. Its been a good routine.
I've not been strict and there are cookies and bites of chocolate mixed in there for balance. Like I said, I don't want to feel like I'm dieting.
And its working. Since december I've lost over 20 pounds. I don't weigh myself often. I think it's just evil to have those numbers in my head all the time. But I weighed myself at my sisters this week and was so surprised by what I saw! I knew I was doing good because my clothes fit so different but still I was shocked!
Guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.
And of course, I'll keep my biggest diet tip- Breastfeeding burns about 500 calories a day!

i want

*a spurtle

*a woven basket to carry to the farmers market this summer

*this book about knitting socks

*a SIGG

knitting ideas for the year-

I've been sick and while laying around I've been thinking about what I want to knit this year.
I've accomplished one of my knitting goals this week, I learned to cable knit. I was trying to find a pattern for a cable knit oven mitt but I haven't had any luck yet. I was thinking it would be a good holiday gift idea. (I know its early to be thinking of these things, but with a baby this year, its gonna take a long time if I want to make gifts this year). I can find plenty of cable knit mittens but kitchen mitts could need to be thicker and I'm not sure how to do that with cables.
Anyway- I did find this non-cabled, felted pattern I might do:

For Easter I think these would be fun:

I want to make this crown for Isaiah's first birthday:

I also found an apron pattern but I'm not sure about it. I love the idea. I might just figure one out on my own.

peek a boo

I know the picture is terrible- it was kinda dark in the living room last night while we were hanging out on the couch. Andre and I were playing peek-a-boo with Isaiah and he was laughing and playing along. Then he took the blanket and started playing too! He's never done that before. It seems so early for him to be able to play games and know he's being funny! I was laughing so hard I was crying! It was great! Andre and I had him playing again today too.

another milestone

or two I guess.
Isaiah now has two teeth. He's doing a great job learning not to bite me and I'm very grateful for that.
Today he was sitting in his car/walker thingy and I fed him half of a cheerio and put the other half on his tray. He promptly picked it up, between thumb and finger, and ate it. It doesn't sound like much, but it's a huge milestone for babies.
It means that he understands eating and will soon be feeding himself. Of course it also means we have to watch him non-stop because everything will now be making its way into his mouth. Before, he could only really grab bigger objects, things I didn't have to worry about him eating, but now everything (fuzzies, dirt, etc) is fair game.
Also, he's going to be crawling any day now.
These seven months have gone by so fast!