The week before Thanksgiving, we rowed Cranberry Thanksgiving. It is one of my favorite books! When Logan was in Kindergarten we read this book and it has made me want to add visiting a cranberry bog to my bucket list. I want to put on waders and go out in the middle of a cranberry bog.
This is a wonderful book that tells the story of Maggie and her grandmother who live on the edge of a cranberry bog. Maggie's grandmother is hosting her Thanksgiving dinner and she tells Maggie to select one guest to come to dinner. Maggie's grandmother invites a spiffy man had a gold cane and smells of lavender. Maggie, however, invites their scruffy looking neighbor, Mr. Whiskers. Grandmother was appalled that he would be eating dinner with them. When Maggie's grandmother's secret recipe for her famous cranberry bread gets stolen during dinner, she immediately thinks the culprit is Mr. Whiskers. Fortunately grandmother is wrong and learns a valuable lesson in the process -- looks can be deceiving! It is an excellent book to teach that not everyone is as they appear on the outside. Grandmother had a famous recipe that everyone all around wanted to get their hands on. We made the bread and it will definitely be a repeat.
Lucas helped me make the bread. He loves to help☺
This was his favorite part...chopping the cranberries.
Grandmother's Famous Cranberry Bread
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
3/4 cup orange juice
1 1/2 cup light raisins
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add egg, orange peel, and orange juice all at once; stir just until mixture is evenly moist. Fold in raisins and cranberries.
Spoon into a greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan; cool on a wire rack.
If you choose, you may substitute cranberries for the raisins to have an all cranberry bread. We didn't use raisins in our bread. Gag.
We also made Cranberry-Apple Crumble Pie. It was delish!!! Here's the recipe:
For crumble topping:
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
For fruit filling:
- 2 pounds Gala apples (about 5), peeled, cored, and thinly sliced
- 8 ounces fresh or frozen (not thawed) cranberries
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
Make crumble topping:
Stir together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Blend in butter with your fingertips until large clumps form, then stir in pecans. Chill until ready to use.
Stir together flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl. Blend in butter with your fingertips until large clumps form, then stir in pecans. Chill until ready to use.
Make fruit filling:
Stir together apples, cranberries, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and lemon juice in a large bowl.
Stir together apples, cranberries, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, and lemon juice in a large bowl.
Assemble pie:
Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in lower third.
Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in lower third.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round, then fit into pie plate. Trim edge, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang under and crimp decoratively. Transfer fruit filling to pie shell and dot with butter. Loosely cover with foil and bake until apples droop slightly, about 30 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Sprinkle crumble topping over filling and bake, uncovered, until crumble is browned, filling is bubbling, and apples are tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour more. Cool completely, 2 to 3 hours.
I was in a cranberry mood this week. I also made a Cranberry Potpourri for the stove top. It smelled sooooo good!!
To make your own, slice an orange in quarters, add 1/2 cup cranberries, 1 tbs whole cloves, 3 sticks cinnamon, and a bit of nutmeg. Add water and turn eye on low. You can use for several days, but make sure to add water.
On one of pages in the book the pictures are in silhouettes.
Our Five in a Row manual had for an art lesson idea to make silhouettes. I remember in Kindergarten making these for gifts for our moms. The teachers got a projector and they traced out the outline of our heads as we had to sit SO still. Instead of doing it the old way, we did them digitally. I took a photo of them against a blank wall. I bumped up the contrast and erased the background. Then made the face a solid black color. You may have to erase and clean up a little around some of the hair if you try it for yourself. Lane had wispy hair and I had to tweak his a little.
I got these frames from Hobby Lobby and painted them black. I love this display! It makes me smile.
We went to Bellbuckle, TN for an Indian Day Celebration. A family puts this together on their farm and the boys had a great day. I was so glad that Landon got to go with us too. Here's the link to the event: Kingdom Academy of the Arts Indian Day
Scavenger Hunt
They got to make bow and arrows.
They also made slingshots.
They made drums. I just love what he drew on his☺
Leatherworking
Silver Mining
Our next study: Italy
