Dirt Cake—Ultimate Chocolate Edition

In our family, birthdays means choosing your birthday dessert a birthday dinner. Tomorrow, my older boy turns ten, so this is the perfect opportunity to share his chosen dessert, two years running. Enjoy!

Dirt Cake—Ultimate Chocolate Edition

From the kitchen of Lisa-Marie Duffield

Make a wish!

Ingredients

Layer 1

5 boxes chocolate pudding mix

10 cups whole milk

Layer 2

2 boxes cream cheese (8oz)

2 sticks salted butter

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

Splash Whole milk

2 tubs whipped topping (8oz)

Layer 3

2 boxes cream cheese (8oz)

2 sticks salted butter

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups powdered sugar

Splash Whole milk

Layer 4

4 packages original Oreo Cookies

Instructions

A.    Prepare each layer:

1.     Make pudding per package directions and refrigerate to firm while preparing the other layers.

2.     Make the ganache layer (frosting + whipped cream).

                                         a.     Cream the room-temperature butter and cream cheese. Whip in the cocoa powder, vanilla, and powdered sugar, adding just enough milk to make a creamy frosting. Then whip for another 3-4 minutes.

                                        b.     Fold in the whipped topping, blending thoroughly. Set aside.

3.     Make the frosting layer.

                                         a.     Prepare as above. Set aside.

4.     Make the Dirt. Using a food processor (best), mixer, or hammer 😊, crush and completely demolish the cookes, in batches, until it is just crumbs that look like potting soil.

B.    Assemble:

1.     Decide how many rounds you want to do, based on your container. For the full recipe, using a large rectangular basin, I recommend just two rounds. But if you divide up into smaller pots, you could layer differently.

2.     For each layer, first spread out Pudding, then Ganache, then Frosting, then finally a generous layer of Dirt.

3.     Place the container(s) in the refrigerator to set firm and let the flavors blend, preferable overnight.

4.     Serve the next day. It is fun to decorate with gummy worms or plants (real or artificial but clean and not poisonous!).

On Fire

On fire is an apt description of my physical well-being over the last several days. It is no fun to have a fever.

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right? Or instead make my favorite, sour mix for an amaretto sour!

So while my fever was going I used the time to work on two projects that required me to sit and do nothing, which is all I was up for anyway. And there was a bonus VICTORIA!

Commentarii Latinii, Idibus Martiis

Ave, amici! Nomen mihi Gaëlla erat. Gaëlla nomen est quod in cursum linguae gallae do. Sed nunc nomen Latinum reperire necesse est. Nomen de sanctorum volo..........Optavi.

Ave, amici. Quid est nomen tibi? Nomen mihi est Isidora, de Sancto Isidoro de Hispalis.
Quid agis hodie? Bene? Ut valeo? Male mihi valeo quia aegra sum. Caput mihi dolet. Nunc dormitum eo.

Vale, amici!

[Traupman, John C. Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency. Chapter I, Greetings]

In ephippio refero. Back in the Saddle Again.

It would seem, looking at my last post in the Latin category, that I did already write about beginning a Latin Journal. My primary memories of this exercise when I took German are a dazzling display of the confidence that I felt at the end of the first semester when I held my journal in my hand after having successfully written it for seven times a week. The experience had worked wonders, and I could then compose actual German drawn from what I knew and could read and speak. I had moved the studied words into active usage.

Lovely, ne? But the truth of experience is more than the end result.

Victoria dulcior

Victoria dulcior quam omne solacium est.

On our way to Victory. This way to the Arc de triomphe!

Victory is sweeter than any comfort.

Victoria dulcior est: this is the motto for the mission.

I am on a mission to recover, uncover, discover the person that God made me to be. If I am to be an effective witness, I must begin with establishing a firm foundation. How can the dove fly away with no home to rely on. How can the Spirit find a new home within me if I am but a shell of the glory within.

God is no further away than your own heart in which he dwells.

Quid ad cenam paro : Trinidad Chicken Curry

What am I preparing for dinner?
A lovely new recipe for Trinidad Chicken Curry adapted from The Pioneer Woman.

In the beginning

I came upon this recipe because I was looking for things that one does with turmeric. Turmeric has many health benefits and is great from a food-as-healer perspective. It has long been known as an anti-inflammatory and is useful in helping to relieve a number of chronic conditions. And it doesn't turn your teeth yellow, which is always good.

There are many possibilities. You can sprinkle and cook it with all manner of dishes: smoothies, steaks, chicken, rice, pasta, eggs, potatoes, et al. I learned that it is one of the ingredients in mustard. Besides mustard seed, of course. But Hot Dog with Mustard wasn't doing it for me. So I came upon a recipe for Trinidad Chicken Curry, and it looked like just the type of thing to start from.

The Recipe

Trinidad Chicken Curry

"Native Turmeric Cooktown.jpg"
By John Hill (Own work)
via Wikimedia Commons

Ingredients

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut to 1-inch pieces

2 teaspoons salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon yellow mustard

1 whole onion

1 green pepper

2 Roma tomatoes

4 teaspoons (8 cloves) minced garlic

1 handful cilantro

1 Tablespoon lime juice (or key lime juice)

1/2 to 1jalapeño, chopped (optional)

2 Tablespoons (well-rounded) curry powder

2 Tablespoons turmeric

4 Tablespoons peanut oil

2 teaspoons coriander

Instructions

1. Start the rice. Nice sticky rice is best, so if you start it first in a rice cooker or nice and low on the stove, it has all the time it needs.
2. Place chicken in a bowl. Sprinkle with salt and add mustard.
3. Chop and then add half the onion, tomatoes, cilantro, garlic, green pepper, and black pepper (plus jalapeño). Add the lime juice.
4. Stir the whole mixture together so that the chicken is totally coated in the seasoning ingredients. Allow chicken to marinate while you prepare the rest, or this part can be prepared in advance.
5. Add curry powder and turmeric to a bowl. Pour in 3/4 cup water and stir until dissolved. 
6. In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium-low heat. Toss in the coriander and seeds and allow to sizzle momentarily. Pour in the curry mix cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly. The color will darken. Add a little more water if needed.
7. When the curry has become a thick paste, add the other half of the chopped onion. Then add in the chicken. Stir to coat the chicken, then cook, half covered, for five minutes.
8. Add in 1 to 2 cups of water. Stirring occasionally, cook for another 20 minutes.
9. If you like a more structured sauce, add the corn starch at the 15-minute mark by scooping out a tiny bit of sauce and mixing it with the cornstarch until smooth, then add that mixture back into the whole.
10. Add salt and pepper and fresh cilantro to taste.
11. At the end, be sure to taste and adjust salt and pepper. Serve with chopsticks (because fun!) over sticky rice; spoon sauce over the top. If you want more vegetables, steam some in your rice cooker and serve on the side. I recommend asparagus. It tastes great with the sauce!
12. Bless us O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive from thy bounty, through Christ, our Lord. AMEN!!

The Verdict

Who can go wrong with chicken curry? I didn't burn the curry paste, or the rice (thanks rice cooker!), so the dish came out great. Flavor-wise, this recipe is a keeper for me. This version has more vegetables per serving that most curries, and double that of the Pioneer Woman's version. If you are into fresh kale or spinach, this recipe would work well. Maybe I will try that with the leftovers. The intersection of the hint of lime and the sweetness of the coriander were an excellent backdrop for the spicy mixture of curry, turmeric, black pepper, and jalapeño. Bonus: the sweetness lingers on so the house smells great!

Attack of the Bubble Wands

This post is part of a series about ONE THING that we did in our homeschool this week that I loved.

See Listening Map, K. Edwards

Our Second Week of School is in the books! This week, my One Thing is the music appreciation activity we did on the Finale of the William Tell Overture, by Gioachino Rossetti.

Using the materials found at ClassicsForKids as a guide, first I told the story of the life of Rossini, then of Guillaume Tell. I had pictures of a flute and an English horn, and we did some eyes-closed imagining of pastoral countrysides in the mountains. Then I introduced the listening map.

Cue the music! We pretended to be the breeze, birds, and butterflies in the first section, dancing with abandon. At the call-to-arms of the trumpet fanfare, we grabbed our swords (bubble wands) and prepared to fight occupying soldiers. Needless to say, we were victorious, on the floor, and laughing when it was all over.

They asked to do it again. So we did.

And it is on the list of things to show Daddy this weekend!


Lesson: Music Appreciation
Age/Grade: K-2
Time: 20 Minutes
Materials: Guide from Classic for Kids has all the links and printables + tons of ideas.
http://www.classicsforkids.com/teachers/lessonplans/#rossini