Valley Mama

Valentine's Beet Cake

Love, love, love to you all today on Valentine's Day (and every other day as well)!  I meant to post this yesterday, but, well...sometimes life has other plans.  So, here you go, a little Valentine's love from us to you.

I love cake made with beets.  I'm pretty sure anyone who knows me well, knows this.  Mason's birthday cake the last three years has been my favorite chocolate beet cake.  

With all of these beet heart stamps everywhere, it just makes sense to make a pink (ish) beet cake for Valentine's day.  

It just so happens that my favorite Valentine's story to tell, The Valentine Baker of Pink, involves baking heart-shaped cakes, so this week as a part of our homeschool co-op gathering, I told the story and we baked a cake together.  

Using my made-up recipe, flour flying all over the dining room, we managed to get two beautiful cakes in the oven for a heart-shaped beet cake.  Sometimes baking with kids is all sunshine and smiles. Sometimes.  Sometimes it is...well, more.  Since our story was about baking, and involved using very special ingredients, I really wanted to involve the little ones in every step of the process.  It mostly went great considering we had five eager and enthusiastic children, a big bowl of flour, and a bowl of pink beets.

I didn't manage to get any photos of the process this time...and I'm sure my camera is thankful that I did not try.  I thought, oh well, I'll just take a quick photo of the cake when it's done.  This is what I managed...

 

There was nothing to be done but bake another cake.  

So this is what we did today.  I adjusted the recipe a little, and actually let the cake cool before taking it out of the pans, which resulted in a cake that held together quite nicely.  It was a hit with our group on Tuesday, and we had a repeat performance today.  

Some of you may be wondering, "Yes, but does it taste like beets?"  The answer is no...and yes.  I think that if this cake was served to an unsuspecting person (who clearly does not know me that well), they would never know that it was made with beets.  And, if you know, and know beets, you will recognize that distinctive earthy quality of the beet, and love the cake anyway.

Also, the cake itself is not as pink as it probably could be.  I don't used bleached white anything, so many of my ingredients have a little color to them (flour, sugar, honey, etc.) The batter is quite pink, as you can see below, but it loses some color in the baking.  I find this quite easy to make up for with the frosting. Also, I did add a little cocoa powder

So here you go, our Valentine's beet cake.  Enjoy!

 

Valentine's Beet Cake with Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 3/4 cup flour (I used a combo of whole wheat pastry flour and unbleached white)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 t vanilla
3 eggs, divided
1 large red beet
1/2 cup milk

Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
around 5 ounces cream cheese 
2 - 5 tablespoons of honey (really, to taste)
about 1 cup of strawberries (thawed if frozen)

Before you can really start baking this cake you'll need to roast your beet.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, rub the beet with oil, and wrap in aluminum foil.  Roast the beet until it is fork tender.

While the beet is cooking, prep your heart shaped pans.  Both of mine are thrift store finds, and one is a little bigger than the other, but it still works.  I like to butter the pans, line with parchment, and the butter and flour the parchment.

Preheat your oven to 350.

When your beet is tender, let it cool a little, then trim the stems and root and peel.  The peel should slide right off under some cold running water.  Place the beet and 1/2 cup milk in a food processor or blender and process until fairly smooth.  Super-simple.  Even a wee babe can do it.  :)

 

This is what it will look like:

Next, sift your dry ingredients together, and feel free to use a bowl a little less huge.

Cream the butter and sweeteners together, then add 1 whole egg and two egg yolks.  Mix in the vanilla.

Now, add the dry ingredients and the milk/beet mixture to the creamed mixture.  The best way to do this is to alternate adding the wet and the dry ingredients to your main bowl, incorporating each addition before adding the next.  Does that make sense?  Look at that pink batter!

Next, take the two egg whites that you separated out earlier and beat them until you have soft peaks.

 

Gently fold the egg whites into the batter, taking care not to over mix.

 Pour your batter into prepared pans and bake in a 350 degree oven until a toothpick comes out clean (about 30 minutes).

 

When your cakes are done, take them out and leave them to cool a little in the pans before carefully removing them.

 

While the cakes are cooling, make your frosting!  Cream your butter and cream cheese, add in the honey, then mix in the strawberries...so simple, so delicious.  

 

Cakes cool and frosting made, it's time to assemble!  I think there is charm in an imperfectly frosted cake, don't you?  I also sprinkled some India Tree decorating sugar on it, and then instantly regretted it, so, do what you like with that.

And then, of course, time for the taste test.  One judge said "It's delicious!", the other said "cake, yummy!" So there you have it. 

 

I say, "Yay for beets...and hearts...and cake!"

Co-op Day: Winter Birds and Trees

We've been slowly getting back into our home school co-op rhythm this month.  Two weeks ago only a few people were able to come, and we mostly just built castles and drew pictures.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, of course.  Last week I was inspired to tell one of my favorite winter stories, and our other activities fell into place around the story.

The story that our day was based on is a folk story about why evergreen trees keep their leaves.  I use this version, with a few changes of my own.  The biggest change I make is to use trees from the valley, like aspen, cottonwood, willow, spruce, pine and juniper.  I just love this story, with it's theme of kindness and helping, and it sets the stage nicely for learning about how we can help take care of birds in the winter time.

Here is what we did last week:

As usual, more information on our Waldorf-inspired home-school co-op can be found here.

Arrival

As the children arrived we began to prepare our snack.  This week, since we were talking about birds in the winter, we made seeded foccacia bread.  Foccacia bread is so easy to make, and always a hit with the littles.  I just use my basic pizza dough recipe, and when the time comes the kids help spread the dough in the pans, "paint" it with olive oil and add seasonings, seeds, and any other toppings we're using that day.

As you can see, even our youngest littles can participate in this process!  Speaking of the youngest, River and Cohen (exactly one month apart) are so completely adorable together lately.  Here they are "helping" in the learning tower:

Seriously.  So.  Much.  Cuteness.

Circle Time

Once our bread was finished, when headed to the rug for circle time.  I could not find my circle time cards (I'm still not sure where they are), so we just did some of our usual circle time verses and sat down for a song and a story.

Last year I made some little finger puppets for The North Wind Doth Blow song, so I brought those out again.  There are several different verses added on to the original nursery rhyme, here are the ones we usually sing, adapted for our area (since robins fly away South where we live):

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the sparrow do then,
Poor thing?

He’ll sit in the barn
And keep himself warm,
And hide his head under his wing,
Poor thing.

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what shall the robin do then,
Poor thing?

Oh do you not know?
He left long ago,
For a country much warmer than ours,
Poor thing.

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow.
And what will the door mouse do then,
Poor thing

Rolled up like a ball
In his nest snug and small,
He’ll sleep till the weather turns warm.
Poor thing.

The north wind doth blow,
And we shall have snow,
And what will the children do then,
Poor things? 

When lessons are done,
They’ll jump, skip and run,
And that’s how they’ll keep themselves warm,
Poor things.  Poor things.  Poor things. 

After the song, I told the story of the little bird and the evergreen trees, using the robin bird puppet, an evergreen bough, and a stick from our backyard as props.  We also talked about the differences between winter trees and summer trees.  Here is a photo of our little story teller with the puppets (of course).  Please ignore the dog hairs clinging to the felt...

Art Time

After the story the children found a place at the table to color/draw a picture of the story.  Their pages were filled with trees and birds...

Snack and Play time

The foccacia bread was a big hit.  I served it with little bowls of olive oil and spices and the littles ate it up. This is all that was left of two pans of foccacia bread:

Activity

While the children played after snack, we set up the day's activity - cardboard tube bird feeders!  

The children took a place at the table and each one got a couple of carboard toilet paper tubes.  We demonstrated how to spread peanut butter all over the tube and roll it around the birdseed, and then they got to it.  Both butter knives and hands were used to spread the peanut butter, and much licking of fingers ensued...

This craft is so easy and so fun!  You don't even need to attach a way to hang them, since you can simply slip them on a branch.  

Here is one of Mason's finished feeders on a branch on our tree...

We had a lovely morning talking about winter birds and winter trees!

 

Co-op Day: Gratitude...A Thanksgiving Story and Craft

Since this week is Thanksgiving, our co-op day was centered around gratitude.  It was nice to get our little ones thinking about all they are thankful for in their lives. 

This is what we did...

As usual, more information on our Waldorf-inspired home-school co-op can be found here.

Our bread today was our basic Valley Mama Bread, made in 100% whole wheat.  Today, we talked about the gifts of the harvest, and made "harvest bread".  With the help of the children we shaped a braid and decorated it with wheat and a couple of little mice.  The children also made some of their own shapes with the leftover dough.  As we kneaded and shaped we talked about some things we're thankful for, and tried to shape them out of our dough. 

Dough ready to rise, we headed to the big rug for circle time!  The hit of circle time today was Oats and Beans.  To do this we stood in a circle holding hands and sang the lyrics to the traditional children's song.  During the first verse we walked in a circle, and during the second verse, someone (or several someones) jumped into the middle to be the farmer and act out the lyrics:

"Oats and beans and barley grow, oats and beans and barley grow.  Do you or I or anyone know how oats and beans and barley grow?"

"First the farmer sows his (her) seed, then he stands to take his ease, stamps his feet and claps his hands and turns around to view the lands."

We continued until everyone who wanted to be the farmer got a chance.

We ended circle time with a story about a little gnome who learns the change in perspective gratitude can bring. I wanted a story that would introduce our craft (making colorful corn necklaces), with a focus on gratitude.  I call it, The Gratitude Necklace, and it's sort of a Waldorf-style Thanksgiving Tale.  Click on the link to read the story.  

Our story led right into our craft, making gratitude necklaces.  Here's how we did it:

Gratitude Necklaces

The day before our group met I soaked some dried corn kernels so they would be soft enough to put a needle through.  I used dried blue and yellow (posole) corn from the bulk bins at the co-op, and an ear of red Indian corn I already had.

The morning of our group day I drained the corn and put it in the warming oven of our wood stove to dry out a bit.  If the kernels are too wet they are a little tricky to handle.

After our story, all the children found a place around the table and we handed out supplies.  Each child choose a color of embroidery floss and some kernels of corn.  The parents helped with cutting the floss the right length, tying a knot at one end and threading a needle on.  We demonstrated how to poke the needle through the kernel of corn and slide in down the thread.  They were encouraged to think of something they were grateful for with each kernel they added to their thread, just like in the story.  

 

When the children were done threading their corn, we helped them tie the ends to make a necklace. 

Necklace made, everyone put on snow-gear and went outside to enjoy this amazing amount of snow we have right now!  The little ones had a blast, including some fun times on the swing and experiments with shoveling snow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we came in for our snack of apples, pears and harvest bread, clean-up time, and closing circle...

 

...And one more story time with Jen!

Making Stone Soup

This week we celebrated our annual Stone Soup Day with our home school co-op.  This is becoming a much-loved tradition with our group of little ones and parents.  We always do Stone Soup in November, shortly before Thanksgiving.  It is such a wonderful story to hear as we contemplate gratitude for the gifts of our food and generosity in sharing with others.  There are many different versions of the story, and probably as many ways to "do" Stone Soup with a group.  I have a very simple version that I tell from memory, and as I tell the story the children tell it with me and we act it out together.  This is how our Stone Soup Day went this year...

Thanks to Mandy for some of the photos!

Everyone was asked in advance to bring something to contribute to the soup...veggies (washed, but not prepped), grains and beans (cooked), pasta, etc.   

As usual, I had bread dough ready for little hands to knead and shape as everyone arrived.  It's a wonderful, calming way to enter into the social situation for the little ones, and bread goes great with soup!  More on the bread in my next post, when I share my go-to bread recipe.  

Once our bread was shaped and placed on pans to rise, we began circle time.  Besides our usual verses, the candle verse/finger play we did this week was a huge hit...

Ten tall candles stand in a row (hold up ten fingers), burn so bright till the wind starts to blow, then (blow) goes the wind, and out one will go!  (Ask the children how many are left now.)  Nine tall candles stand in a row, burn so bright till Jonah starts to blow, then (Jonah blows) Jonah goes, and out one will go!  Repeat in this fashion, using a different child's name each time until there are no more candles.

At the end of circle time I explained that they were going to help tell the story today, and that it was Stone Soup Day.  They were asked to get the items they brought to contribute to the soup and have a seat around the circle table. 

 Then we began the story.  It went something like this (though I never tell it exactly the same)...

"Once upon a time there was a traveler journeying across the countryside.  His clothes were worn, he carried a heavy pack, and as he had been traveling for a long time, he was very tired and very hungry.  He was also rather upbeat and optimistic by nature, and he believed he would find a place to get some nourishment soon.  At last he came upon a little village on the edge of a wood, where he hoped he might find a bite to eat and a place to rest a while.  (I walk around while telling this part, acting the part of a tired and hungry traveler.)

The traveler walked up to the first house he saw, and knocked on the door.  (I choose a child and walk up to them, pretending to knock on their door.)  The door opened a little, and a woman looked out, a little warily.  "Good day Ma'm, would you happen to have a little food to spare for a tired traveler such as myself?"  (The child usually giggles and says "no".)  "No, I hardly have anything to feed myself, and nothing to spare," says the woman.  The traveler was disappointed, but was not about to give up, so he decided to try the next house.  (I choose another child to walk up to.)  He went up to the house, knocked on the door and a little old man peeked out.  "Kind Sir, I am a traveler on a long journey, and I am quite hungry and in need of some food.  Do you have anything to spare?"  (This child also says "no", and smiles because he's in on the secret.)  You see, the villagers were rather poor themselves, and felt like they had nothing to share, and besides, they were not very trusting of strangers.

The traveler, however, had an idea for how to get a meal for himself and the whole village.  He walked out into the center of the village and said, "This sure is a fine day for a nice hot pot of stone soup.  Yes indeed, some stone soup would hit the spot today.  Luckily I have my trusty soup kettle with me!  Yes sir, I'll just build a little fire right here, get some water from the well, and with my trusty soup kettle we'll be eating delicious stone soup in no time!"  (As I'm talking I'm acting it out.  I pretend to make a fire with some branch blocks and an orange play silk, and set my pot, already filled with water, on top.)  Now, the villagers were very interested in this stone soup...whoever heard of such a thing, soup from a stone!  They did not yet come out of there houses, but they stood at their doors and peeked out of their windows, waiting to see what would happen next.

"Now", says the traveler, "I just need to find the perfect soup stone..."  (I walk around pretending to look for the perfect stone.  I hold and taste a few, before deciding on one, which happens to be the one I've already cleaned for use.)  "Ah, here we have it, the perfect soup stone!"  "Now, I'll just put this stone in the pot and we'll have stone soup in to time."  (I put the stone in the big pot of water and begin stirring.  After a while I pretend to taste the soup from the big wooden spoon.)  "Ah yes, this is already wonderful!  Just the thing for a day like this!  It is great, but it sure would be better with some carrots.  Yes sir, I wish I had a couple of carrots."  (The children are usually on the edge of their seats, ready to bring what they have to add to the soup, and the ones with carrots come forward right away).  Then, curiosity overcame one of the villagers who was listening at his door, and, he opened his door and said, "Why, I have a couple of carrots, I'll bring them!"  (The children with the carrots happily add them to the big soup pot.  It is OK if they are not cut up, we'll get to that later.  Then I pretend to taste the soup again.)  "Mmm, that is even better!  The only thing that would make this soup better is just a little potatoes.  Yes, potatoes sure would be fine in a soup like this!"  (The children with potatoes come and add them to the pot.  We continue in this fashion until everyone's item has been included.)

This year we had: carrots, parsnips, turnips, kale, pasta, quinoa, seasonings, zucchini, pumpkin, local beef, lentils, and probably something else I'm leaving out.  The children all gather around as the ingredients are placed in the pot.

Time to conclude the story:

At this point, a delicious aroma was coming from the soup pot, and the villagers were amazed that such a soup could have come from a stone.  They ate, and ate, and ate until they were full, and they even had some to take home besides.  The traveler gave the villagers the perfect soup stone, to use in their next batch of stone soup, and he went on his way, good  food in his belly and a happy smile on his face.  The end.

Next, we gather around the table to prep anything that needs it.  This year we took out the carrots, parsnips and turnips for peeling and slicing.  They loved using the peelers and the chopper to get the veggies ready to cook!  They also took the kale leaves off the stems and tore them into pieces.  Then everything went back in the pot and I took it into the kitchen to cook.  I added a little more seasoning, some onion and garlic powder and a few veggies bouillon cubes as well.  The bread went into the oven to bake at the same time.

    

 Then it was playtime for the little ones while the soup cooked.  Most played outside, some played inside.  As soon as the meal was ready, we called everyone in for a delicious lunch of stone soup and bread.

After our meal it was time for closing circle and saying goodbye.  Another super fun Stone Soup celebration!