Week 2 - G

	Day 1	Day 2	Day3	Day 4	Day 5
Letter: G Activity/Craft:	·         G is for Garden: Make thumbprints all over a letter g.  Add a stem and leaves to each “flower” and cut-out the g.  ·         Use a magnifying glass to explore various kinds of seeds.  Place some of the seeds in a jar of water overnight. ·         Wet a paper towel.  Place flower or bean seeds on the paper towel and roll up.  Place in a plastic baggy and put in a warm, dark place. Check the seeds in 3-5 days.	·         G is for Goat ·         Split the seeds that have been in the water and use a magnifying glass to explore them.	·         Sticker letter G ·         Make “Fruity Flowers” for a snack.  You can easily use whatever fruit you have on hand and arrange it as a flower.	·         G is for Goose ·         Pop bottle flowers	·         Practice writing ‘G’ and drawing squares – Add to treasure map ·         Make popsicle stick flowers ·         Sensory box – digging with a shovel and ‘planting’

Week 1 - X

       Here is this week's lesson plan. I don't have pictures of everything, I got too busy to take them. I will try to get more pictures for later weeks.

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5
Letter: X Activity/Craft:	·         X is for X-marks the spot treasure hunt ·         Make an ABC treasure map. Add X to the map ·        Paper towel tube binoculars	·         X is for X-ray ·   hand print x-ray fish	·         Sticker letter X ·         Sensory bin – digging and scooping (we used non-toxic water polymer crystals, they have a neat texture)	·         X is for xylophone ·         Music fun	·         Practice writing ‘X’ ·         Cheese X’s on crackers

       I am focusing on recognizing the letters and letter sounds. Through repetition of the shape of the letter through various activities, the kids can more easily recognize them. My 3 year old can recognize most of the letters so I am focusing more on her ability to write them. The 2 year old I watch has been able to recognize the letter X easily, prior to this week she could not recognize it. The 1 1/2 year old was only here for a partial week but I'm just trying to introduce him to the letters. 

The girls having fun with the sensory bin. It's like huge snow crystals that they can play with indoors where it's warm, since here in Anchorage it was -6°F.

Here's an example of the crystals. You can also color them by adding a small amount of food coloring to the water when expanding the crystals. 

Preschool/Toddler Curriculum

I watch two children, 1 1/2 and 2 years old, in addition to my 3 year old. The ages are very developmentally different and figuring out a curriculum for all the ages has been hard. I recently made one based on a curriculum by Motherhood on a Dime and activities by Totally Tots: Now I Know my ABCs.

I will post the weekly plans soon!

Money Making Ideas

I'm a stay at home mom and student, I don't have an income but I do look for ways to make a little extra money.

Mystery Shopping:
I've signed up for many of these but I live in Alaska and there are not many opportunities here! Additionally I suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder so ones that involve too much social interaction I can't do. Hopefully one day I can and 'Mystery Shopping' is helpful for me to force myself outside my comfort zone!
     Mystery Shoppers Provider Association
     MSIS Shopper
     ICCDS
     Beyond Hello
     KSS International
     Market Foce
     Shop N’ Chek
     National Shopping Service
     Trend Source

Online Surveys:
You won't make much but you could probably turn out $5-10 a week!
     SurveySavvy
     Synovate Global Opinion Panel
     MySurvey
     American Consumer Opinion
     SurveySpot
     SurveyHead
     Toluna (points for polls as well)

Earn Money for Searching the Web and more
Earn points searching and shopping online. With Inbox Dollars and MyPoints you also can also earn points reading emails.

     Inbox Dollars
     MyPoints
     Swagbucks

*More about Swagbucks:
Being a student, I do a lot of research so Swagbucks is just awesome because I make money doing my homework by using Swagbucks as my main search engine. With one research paper, I made enough points for a $5 Amazon gift card!

There are many ways to make Swagbucks: searching, NOSO, daily polls, downloading the toolbar, filling out trusted surveys, watching short videos, playing games, doing tasks, and even printing and using coupons. Every 450 points you can earn a $5 gift card, such as the Amazon gift card, or you can redeem points for other items. You can get bigger gift card amounts but the $5 is a better deal for the points!

You can easily get over 20 Swagbucks a day in about 10 minutes or less. (Which would equal more than enough for a $5 Amazon gift card)
     Search - you can easily get 15+ Swagbucks per day
     NOSO (you can skip all of the offers) — 2 Swagbucks
     Take the Daily Poll — 1 Swagbuck
     Login Via the Toolbar — 1 Swagbuck
     Click on Trusted Surveys — 1 Swagbucks
     Watch 10 videos on Swagbucks TV - 3 Swagbucks

Make Money on your Phone
I've recently discovered there are apps on your phone where you can earn points for prizes, such as gift cards. Additionally some survey sites also have apps to do surveys on the go.
Field Agent (mystery shopping app)
WeReward (Check-ins and product scans)
CheckPoints (Check-ins and product scans)
App Trailers (watch app trailers and download apps for points)
Locately
Thumbspeak
SurveyApp
Toluna
iPoll (SurveyHead)

Bayou Bread Pudding

This pudding reminded me of the bread pudding I used to eat at my uncles cafeteria! Yum! We served our bread pudding with green vanilla pudding (the Jello 'color change' kind). We named our green pudding 'Swamp Pudding.' The kids took to the green pudding better than my husband and I. It was weird eating something that green and oozy! 

Butter, for greasing the pan
9 cups dry bread, in 1-inch cubes (if bread is not dry toast the bread until dry)
1 cup pineapple cubes
1/2 cup raisins
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt
3 cups milk
5 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Caramel sauce or whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8-inch baking pan

Combine bread cubes, pineapple, and raisins in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle on the cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Toss all of the ingredients together.

In a saucepan, combine milk and butter and warm them over medium-low heat. Remove from heat once the butter melts and stir in the brown sugar. Pour the milk mixture over the bread and stir until completely moistened. Let it sit for 5 minutes to absorb all of the liquid.

While waiting, in a small bowl whisk together eggs and vanilla extract. Gently add egg mixture to the bread mixture. Pour the pudding into the greased pan and bake for 45-60 minutes. Serve the pudding warm and cut into squares topped with caramel sauce or whipped cream.


Recipe adapted from the book: Disney's The Princess and the Frog Tiana's Cookbook Recipes for Kids. Copyright © 2009 Disney Enterprises, Inc. Published by Disney Press, an Imprint of Disney Book Group.

Tricolor Vegetable Pasta with Andouille Sausage in Garlic-Oil Sauce

I recently bought Tricolor Rotini and I decided to make Tricolor Vegetable and Sausage Pasta in Garlic-Oil Sauce. I used Andouille sausage because I like the flavor and I had some left over from a previous recipe!

This was very quick to make. Have the pasta cooking while you slice and cook the vegetables and sausage and make the garlic sauce. I think this recipe took me only 15-20 minutes!

1 red bell pepper, sliced

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 onion, sliced

1/2 pound cooked Andouille sausage, or any other sausage, sliced

1 box Tricolor Rotini

1/2 olive oil

1 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt, about a teaspoon but add more according to taste
pepper, to taste


Cook the tricolor rotini according to package instructions.

While rotini is cooking, heat about a tablespoon olive oil in a deep skilled over medium-high heat. Place the bell peppers, onions, and sausage in the skillet and season with garlic, salt and pepper. Cook covered, stirring occasionally, until onions are transparent, peppers are tender, and the sausage is thoroughly heated. Add about 1/2 cup olive oil. Re-season to taste, if necessary.

Drain the pasta and place back in pot. Pour the vegetables, sausage, and garlic-oil sauce over the pasta and mix well. Enjoy!

Turkey Shepherd's Pie

I never had Shepherd's pie before and this recipe was amazing!!! My husband LOVED it! This recipe makes 6 servings, which for my family was enough for dinner with enough left over for lunch the next day for me and my youngest (everyone else is gone).

4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 slices of bacon, chopped

2 pounds ground turkey

pepper

2 onions

2 carrots

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 teaspoons poultry seasoning

2/3 cup milk, cream, or half-and-half

1 egg beaten

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons fresh chives

1 cup frozen peas

1 teaspoon paprika

Place potatoes in a pot, sprinkle with salt, and cover with water. Cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook the potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes.

While the potatoes are cooking, heat olive oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the bacon until crisp, then add the ground turkey. Season the turkey with salt and pepper then break-up and brown for 5 minutes. Add the carrots, onions, Worcestershire sauce, poultry seasoning and salt and pepper, to taste. Turn the heat to medium and partially cover with a lid or use a foil tent, cook for 10-12 minutes.

Preheat the broiler to high. 

Drain the potatoes and place back in the warm pot. Smash the potatoes with a potato masher. Add in 1/3 cup milk, egg, butter, chives, salt and pepper and continue mashing until potatoes are almost smooth. 

Uncover turkey and turn off the heat, stir in the peas and 1/3 cup milk. Scrape the turkey mixture into a casserole dish and top with a thick layer of mashed potatoes. Brown potatoes under the broiler for 5-10 minutes. When done, sprinkle with paprika. Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from the book: Rachael Ray Yum-O The Family Cookbook. Copyright © 2008 by Yum-o! Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

Avgolemono Soup

6 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup orzo (you can substitute rice)
salt and pepper to taste
1 chicken bullion cube
3 eggs
1-2 lemons, juice of

Combine chicken broth, rice, salt, pepper and bullion cube in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer until orzo is tender.

In a bowl, beat eggs until fluffy and pale yellow. Stir in lemon juice. Stir about 2 cups of the hot broth into the egg-lemon mixture, so that the eggs do not curdle. Pour the lemon-egg mixture into the rest of the soup and stir. Enjoy!

Greek Recipes

Thinking about soup has made me think about my favorite soup, Avgolemono Soup, a Greek egg-lemon-chicken-rice soup .

My family is Greek so I make traditional Greek foods at home such as:
Avgolemono Soup (egg-lemon-chicken-rice soup)
Spanakopeta (spinach peta)
Batsaria (layered spinach peta)
Tyropeta (cheese peta)
Psari Plaki (baked fish and vegetables)
Souvlakia (Sish-ke-bob)
Stuffed Tomatoes and Peppers
Beef Stew
Sarmades (stuffed cabbage leaves)
Spinach and Lima Bean Casserole
Green Beans in Tomato Sauce
Tsoureki (Easter Bread)

There are a million more recipes I would like to try to make that I ate growing up but haven't attempted yet for my family.

I also want to try my hand at some at the deserts! I love Bakalava, Galaktobouriko, and Theples but I've never attempted to make my own!

Quick Traditional Chicken Noodle Soup

This is a very quick chicken noodle soup. It took about 1/2 a hour to make. This recipe was very good, and it had a hint of sweetness to it. My own recipe is similar to this except I don't use dill and instead I use oregano, parsley, basil, and garlic.

2 tablespoons olive oil
5-6 Celery ribs from heart to leafy tops, chopped
3-4 medium carrots, thinly slices
1 large onion chopped
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
8-10 cups chicken stock (recipe called for 8 but it was very thick so I added 2 more cups)
1/2 pound egg noodles
1 pound chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup chopped dill

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook until no longer pink. Add the celery, carrots, onions, bay leaf and salt and pepper, to taste. Cook the vegetables until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add in the egg noodles and simmer for 10 minutes, until noodles are tender. Stir in the dill and discard the bay leaf. Enjoy!


Recipe adapted from the book: Rachael Ray Yum-O The Family Cookbook. Copyright © 2008 by Yum-o! Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.