Choo-Choo Cheese Snack Crakers

These Snacks are a delicious treat for train-loving kids and adults, but of course other shapes will do just as well. These are a good substitute for store-bought cheese crackers. The texture of store-bought ones are nearly impossible to replicate at home, but these are just as tasty. Enjoy!

Choo Choo Cheese Snack Crackers

1 cup All-Purpose flour

1 cup Quick Oats
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter
8 oz grated cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, Monterey jack or any combo)
1/2 cup cold water
Train cookie cutter, or similar (optional)

Tips: Have the oven pre-heated and all supplies ready to go before you pull the butter out of the refrigerator. If you work quickly you can then go from 0 to Crackers in 15 minutes.

 

1.      First pre-heat the oven to 350°. In the bowl of your mixer, stir salt into flour and oats.

2.      Cut the butter into 8-10 chunks and mix with flour and oats on medium speed until blended and crumbly. Then add grated cheese a handful at a time.
3.      While mixing, add water 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough can form a ball. You want the dough as dry as possible without being flaky.
4.      Form into a ball and flatten out with your hands. Flour well and roll out to 1/8 inch. Flour both sides when finished.
5.      Cut the crackers into shapes. I use a train but any cookie cutters do fine. Pull out shapes and place on the first tray and get it in the oven. Then cut the remaining into random shapes by criss-crossing with a knife or pizza cutter. Do not re-roll. If you just want squares or rectangles you can skip the cutter all together, even cutting right on the tray.
6.      Place on un-greased cookie sheets (about three) and bake one at a time, putting the other trays in the refrigerator to wait.
Bake at 350° for 9-12 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from trays immediately. Store in an air-tight container, unless all are consumed immediately!

Summer Baking: Summer-Style Banana Oat Bread

Hot

Hot. Hot. Hottie, Hot, Hot.

*!#@ Hot.

I know it is July, so this is to be expected, but it sure puts a crimp in my baking style. A couple of summers ago, it was so hot that I decided to forgo all attempts at baking or any oven usage at all. That method left us desperate for all things baked by the time cooler weather rolled around, however.

Since then I have been more creative at making the most of oven time inspired by a few simple principles: 1. Shortest oven times possible; 2. Shortest time spent near oven; 3. Make the best use of nighttime; 4. Revival of the Summer kitchen - outside.

What follows are a few suggestions based on these principles - and please share your own ideas in the comments!

Summer Baking Tips and Ideas

1. Instead of thick-crust pizza, make multiple pans of thin crust at the same time for shorter baking times.
2. Cookie bars. Have a favorite cookie recipe? Make it as a bar, spreading it into a pan (I always grease pan first. A little shortening will not cause you to have a heart attack.)
3. Spread it out. If you usually make something in one size pan, try a larger, flatter one, or a cookie sheet. This is the trick for Spinach Artichoke dip, plus the cheese gets a little crusty just like I like it!
4. Crock pots and toasters can help you heat up only the space you need.
5. Take it out! Plug that crockpot in outside on the porch and keep the heat all the way out! Or when hot things come out of the oven, leave them to cool in the shade outside (covered with a thin cotton towel to protect from critters). Set up tv trays on the back porch and move your hot dishes (with a lid of course!) outside to serve from.
6. Make it in muffins. This works for the standard items like cakes or even cookie batter, but meatloaf muffins and any casserole you can think of does wonderfully well in muffin format, too.

Summer-Style Banana Oat Bread

So, for your summer pleasure, I would like to share my delicious recipe for Summer-Style Banana Oat Bread. This recipe "Winters" by baking for an hour in two loaf pans. Yes, an hour with the oven on in the middle of July when the temps are 100° ? Yeah, I don't think so. So I spread it out into muffins and a large dish and shazam! 20 minutes.

Something else that gives this recipe a special touch is the orange blossom water. This little ingredient gives just the right hint of exotic to an already yummy treat.

“Where do I get orange blossom water?”

You’ll want to look for this wherever international foods are sold. It is the magic ingredient to real Belgian crêpes and can be used to add a gentle fruity hint to many Mediterranean and North African foods. And once you have a bottle there are many creative uses for it, like crêpes, Victorian martinis (add several drops with gin and vermouth), Ramos gin fiz, Crème brulée, as an herbal fragrance to whipped cream, meringues, buttercream frosting, pie crust, tiramisu, other sweet things, try it in your coffee or espresso or hot tea (Thank-you Tunisia!). The possibilities are vast!

If you really must, substitute each 1/2 tsp orange blossom water with1 to 2 drops orange oil plus water to make 1/2 tsp OR 2 to 3 tsp orange liqueur such as Triple Sec.

In the recipe which follows, you could deprive yourself completely and splash in a little water or skim milk instead. But be prepared for the consequences:

Wha?? No Orange Blossom Water?

How could you do this to me?

No! I can't go on!

Don't make me invoke Clause 374 of the Shadow Proclamation.
 (theft of an artefact of great cultural value
legitimises the use of lethal force to ensure the artefact’s recovery)

SO, Consider yourself warned! Try the Orange Blossom Water!

Happy Hot Baking, Y'all!

Summer-Style Banana Oat Bread

Makes 12 muffins and a 1 1/2 inch x 9x13 loaf.

Easy to halve if you only want one or the other.



Banana Breads are like a Pro-Life movement for bananas,
since only Yellow bananas are permitted to live in this house.



 Ingredients

 1 cup shortening
 2 cup white sugar
 4 eggs
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 2 cup all-purpose flour
 2 cup quick or whole oats
 2 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
 1 teaspoon salt
 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
 1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
 4 cups mashed bananas
 4 teaspoon orange blossom water
 

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper cups and grease and flour one 9x13 inch glass baking dish and set aside.
2. Stir together the dry ingredients and set aside: flour, oatmeal, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and pecans.
3. In a mixer, cream together the shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until fluffy.
4. Add dry ingredients. Layer on the bananas and pour in the orange blossom water. Mix until just blended.
5. Ladle 1/2 cup per muffin tin, then pour the rest into prepared dish. Put both into the oven at the same time. Bake for 15-18 minutes for the muffins (until evenly golden) and another 5 minutes for the dish. Let each set for five minutes in pan and then carefully remove to finish cooling. Sometimes it can be difficult to get the large loaf out of the dish without the bread breaking. Make sure you grease and flour the pan. I also recommend cutting it in half and using a large spatula or two to assist.

Being Hrabana: The scholarly research and writing of an early-medieval historian/historical theologian

Hrabana

Hrabana might seem strange and made-up word to designate research writing, but it's not just a word. Hrabana is my scholar alter-ego. She is Me. My "main guy" - medievally speaking - is Alcuin of York (+804), and Hrabanus was one of his more famous students. I consider myself a student of Alcuin, as well, if considerably less famous than dear Hrabanus. I intend to label my scholar blogs with Hrabana. I have been assuming Hrabana as persona for over five years in my research work. It helps me to get in the mood, as it were, for intimate scholarly pursuits.

Salve, amici.

Now that my Ph.D work and dissertation are behind me, I have returned to the study of Latin alongside my research and translation projects. There was a lot of translating in my dissertation, and I read and translate much better than I did two years ago, but I still have not conquered the task of being able to to JUST READ and JUST WRITE in Latin. This is my goal.

To be truly comfortable.

I have that in German and French, and I speak them well. I am pretty comfortable in texts with Italian and Spanish. Yes, my Latin is fine, but in comparison with comfort, I am just not where I want to be. So I have gone back to the beginning, using Adler's text and the aid of Evan Milner's Latinum materials.

In addition, one technique I have learned as both student and teacher of languages is aimed at the invaluble skill of writing. It is imperative to move the learned language from the left side of the brain to the right, and WRITING in it is the key to doing this. After that, the possibility of becoming a fluent speaker is attainable. I think, in the end, this is what I desire for Latin. To have speaking and thinking and writing and dreaming fluency.

Why? I just want it. I just do. So many of the texts I want to read and work with are in Latin, why not be able to "converse" with the author and with other people who like such texts?

I'd like to be able to breathe in Latin, rest in it.

While the days of my being able to go off to Latin groups or weekends is in the future because of my life and means, now is the time to begin to prepare. And whether or not I find a local Latin circle to connect with, beginning to write is Imperative.

So for a while, this blog will be the recipient of my Latin, such as it is. Just like I did for German and French and Italian and Spanish, both as student and teacher, I assign myself a daily journal requirement. It will no doubt be ridiculous at first, but hopefully after a few weeks will get better.
Valete, y'all!

Something New

It cannot hurt to try something a little different to shake things up! Welcome to my first friday Weekly Wrap-up...

In my life this week…

We are finally getting ready to settle down after weeks and weeks of upheaval. Bill began a new job over a month ago, but we have yet to take advantage of his ability to be home every weekend. This week we did a lot of activities out of the house and just played catch up on some of the household basics after being gone or gearing up for so long.

In our homeschool this week…

I have been doing planning and reading, getting ready to start our first project. I discovered the world of lapbooks, and we are going to do our first one centered around Trains because we are going as a family to the Day Out with Thomas event in August. I am excited about this project.

An idea, resource or activity that was a big hit...

I have been dreaming of having a piano, a recurring dream that grips me like a Ghost.

(Indigo Girls: "And I start to feel the fever of the warm air through the screen; You come regular like seasons shadowing my dreams.")

But I have a lovely guitar that I have twice started learning how to play but never seen it through. Now is the time. I know I still want us to have a piano, but I really love my guitar and it will suit my purposes just fine. All the other instruments that I play cannot be played while also singing! And I want to play and sing for and with my family.

So I got out the guitar today, and Nico was thrilled. Music adds so much to our lives!

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

I am new to lap books, but here are some of the links I looked at:
Lapbooking

Mini-books to get you started!

Lapbooking 101

Trains Lapbook

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

We were so glad to have had a wonderful visit with Uncle Kent and Aunt Linda!!

My favorite thing this week was…

My husband coming home for the weekend. It may be a while before that is Not my favorite thing each week!

Things I’m working on…

Getting a better handle on a planning our time so that I get enough rest and work!

I’m grateful for…

Supportive family and friends

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Cyril and Bill rocking each other to sleep.