African Stew

The 6th graders at our school do a "country" research report each year.... they are each assigned a country by drawing from a hat.   Two years ago Collin drew Sierra Leone, a country we knew nothing about except that our neighbors had just returned from serving there as missionaries!  Collin was able to pick their brains to add color to his report, as well as borrow some fun items to use during his presentation to the class.  As part of the project the 6th grade classes have an "International Food Fair" where each student brings a dish representing their country and everyone tastes lots of new and interesting foods.  Since "Groundnut (Peanut) Stew" is considered the national dish of Sierra Leone, that was no-brainer for Collin's food.  We found a recipe online that was pretty basic.  It was just "OK"... not great, but edible.  There were lots of leftovers. 

Fast forward to this year.  Mary was also assigned Sierra Leone!  What are the odds?!  She wrote a great report and borrowed the same items from our neighbors for her presentation.  But this time I searched longer for a recipe and found one that sounded good.  I sampled it before sending it to the school and thought it was rather tasty, but I still doubted the kids would eat it, since it was kind of unusual, and kids tend to be picky.  I thought, "I actually hope she brings home lots.... I like it and I will just serve it to my family for dinner." 

When I picked up Mary from school I was surprised to find the crock pot empty but for a few mouthfuls at the bottom!  She said the kids all liked it, including her, and Jack and Collin gobbled up the few remaining bites and declared that I should make it again for our family.  So, it's a keeper. 

Groundnut Stew (African Chicken Peanut Stew)
adapted from Simply Recipes

3 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs
4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 T. ginger paste*
2 T. minced garlic

4 c. chicken broth
1 c. all natural peanut butter
1 T. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (or more if you want it spicy)
salt & pepper to taste
fresh cilantro (optional) for serving

I did not follow the directions on the recipe (and I adapted some of the ingredients); in fact, I didn't even read them until just now.  Way too complicated.  I just did it my own way and it turned out great. 

If I weren't so lazy (and short on time) I would have cut up the chicken and sauteed it with the onion, garlic and ginger, but because I AM lazy (and I hate handling raw meat), I just threw the chicken in a crock pot and then shredded/diced it up after it cooked.  Then, in a large pot I whisked together the broth, onion, garlic, ginger, peanut butter, coriander, cayenne pepper and salt & pepper and brought it to a boil.  I added the sweet potatoes and tomatoes and cooked until the potatoes were soft and then added the cooked chicken.  I thought it was very tasty as is, but it would be great served over rice with some fresh cilantro. 

(You could probably throw the whole thing in the crock pot, but I think the potatoes might get too mushy, and it would be harder to shred the chicken, so if you do the crock pot thing it would probably be best to cut the chicken up first.  Also, you wouldn't add as much broth.... maybe half?) 

*I used this as a time saver, but you can use fresh grated ginger or even ground ginger, but less.... about 2 tsp.?

Student Council

Mary decided to run for student council (better known as STUCO at our school) this semester..... vice president.  She lost to a sixth grader but I'm so proud of her for working hard and being brave.  I'm sure she will try again next year.

For her speech she bravely SANG, unaccompanied, in front of the entire school... and it was amazing!  We wrote words to the song "When Will My Life Begin" from Tangled.  (See lyrics below.)  It turned out really cute.  People were very impressed.  She has a really lovely singing voice and did a fantastic job.

Though she didn't win she was selected as a student council representative for her classroom, so she still gets to be part of the action. 

Mary's Student Council Speech 

(sung to the tune of "When Will My Life Begin" from Tangled)

Seven a.m., the usual morning lineup:

Do my chores and pack my lunch for school

Practice the piano, eat breakfast, get my backpack

Grab my coat, head to flag ceremony, it's cool!

And then I do seat work

And math and science too

Diagram sentences, write spellings words, a few

I'll read my his'try book

And recite phonograms

And I get A's on report cards too

Then one day I decided to run for STUCO

I would really like to help our school

I will do my part to help us all grow.

I will lead, I will help, I will serve, I'll be cool!

So if you vote for me

Your choice will be the best

You won't regret it ever

Put me to the test

Because I'm Mary and I'm perfect for the job

The best vice president I will be

A perfect job, very,

For me cuz I'm Mary

Our school will be the best!

Mary's Friends

A few days before school started, Mary had all of her friends from school over for the day.  It was kind of crazy (nine 10-year-old girls!) but fun.

They brought their American Girl dolls and had a tea party.  I was very pleased that Mary graciously offered her AG dolls to those who didn't have one, and used one of her old baby dolls instead.  She is a good girl.

They also made pizzas and crafts, and just enjoyed being together.  They are a nice group of girls.  I'm glad Mary has such good friends.

Jack Turns 8

My baby turned 8 years old... yikes!  Jack is such a sweet boy and we love him a lot!

He had a fun party with some of his friends on Saturday.  I threw it together in the few days before, but it turned out really fun, and it was pretty easy.

Jack's past party themes have been Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Carnival, and Army.  For a theme this year we decided on "Every Holiday of the Year."  I don't know if this has been done before, but it was really fun.

As the boys were arriving they sat down and made Valentine's for each of their family members.... they fought over the "Star Wars" themed ones.

Then I dressed up in my leprechaun hat, put green shamrocks on each of the boys (so they wouldn't get pinched), and we played "Lucky Leprechaun Says" (Simon Says), and then ate green jello.  Meanwhile, Jay was hiding Easter eggs in the backyard.

So, of course, the Easter Egg Hunt was next (are you following this?) which the boys loved, of course.  They were quite please with the hilarious marshmallow chicks (not Peeps, but cute dressed-up chicks with faces from Dollar Tree) they found inside some of them (the rest had boring jelly beans).

After that they each got a patriotic boat hat and an American Flag and I made them sing "God Bless America" for me.  Then they got to "explode" a bunch of party poppers, which was a huge hit with this group of 8-year-old boys, naturally. 

Then I pulled out our "dress up box" and they dressed up for Halloween.  We had six stations around the backyard where they could go trick-or-treating, but we made them do "tricks" at each one before they got candy.  Most of the tricks were pretty silly (karate chops, kicks, cape twirls, head banging), but I saw several impressive cartwheels.

For Thanksgiving we had a "Turkey Hunt".... they shot paper turkeys with the Nerf guns.  I couldn't think of anything else (eat a lot?  watch a football game?), but the boys thought it was great. 

Naturally, Christmas meant it was time for Jack to open the gifts from his friends, but I also had a bunch of wrapped dollar store gifts so each of the boys go to unwrap one too.

Finally, we brought out the party hats, blowers, noisemakers, tinsel confetti, and (birthday) cake & ice cream to celebrate New Year's Eve.  (Jack could NOT decide on chocolate or vanilla cake/frosting, so I ended up making half-and-half.  It turned out pretty good.... all from scratch.) 

For "loot bags" I was really cheap and pulled out my stash of Godiva Chocolates gift bags (from the many times Jay has purchased them for me over the years) that I have been saving for some strange reason (now I know why) and it was perfect.  :)

Anyway, it was a really fun party and it was pretty easy.  Fortunately, the timing was great because my local Dollar Tree has stuff for Valentine's, St. Patrick's Day AND Easter right now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JACK!  It's a big year for him... he gets to join Cub Scouts and will be baptized as a member of our church.  We are very proud of him.

Follow the Steeple

My book club is doing something different this month... writing! Actually, we are reading too... books about writing... and then writing stories from our own life.   Here is one from my childhood.


Follow the Steeple

"Just follow the steeple." said Aaron.  "It will lead us home."

I believed him.  He said it with complete confidence, and I had known him my entire life... all five long years at the time... so I had no reason to doubt him.  Besides, he was a boy, and since I had an older brother and was used to letting him tell me what to do, it seemed that Aaron was the obvious leader over me and my best friend, Liselle, who was also Aaron's cousin.  Liselle and I simply trusted Aaron in our 5-year-old way.

The three of us lived on the same street in Mesa, within a few houses of each other, and attended morning kindergarten at a nearby elementary school.  Our mothers were friends, so carpooling was natural.  On this particular day, someone was late picking us up after school (we didn't keep track, so I have no idea whose turn it was... we simply trusted them too).  We were tired of waiting what seemed like an eternity, though it was likely only a few minutes longer than our normal wait.

I don't remember who had the brilliant idea of walking home, but it seemed like a good plan to our grumbling tummies.  It wasn't far; certainly it was within walking distance.  And the weather was nice (always an important consideration in the Arizona desert), but it would require crossing a busy major street in mid-day traffic, though that didn't seem to concern any of us much.

What did concern us was that we didn't know the way home.  Since we were used to traveling to and from school in a car, and our young minds had not yet developed much sense of direction, we were rather stumped at first.  We seemed to know the general direction, but not how to navigate the streets around the buildings between the school and our homes.

At this point, Liselle and I gave up.  Waiting seemed preferable to getting lost.  But Aaron was undaunted.  "Just follow the steeple," he said.  That perked us up.  Liselle and I didn't even question this; we knew he was right.  The church, whose tall steeple towered above the houses and trees, stood at the end of our quiet suburban street, and we walked there to attend services every Sunday.  We knew exactly where it was!  We could see it from the school!  And because we trusted Aaron, we knew the steeple would lead us home.

And somehow it did.  I guess Aaron deserves some credit too, for he was able to keep two gasping 5-year-old girls pressing forward on what turned out to be a much longer walk than any of us anticipated.  Taking a route that I now know to be very much "the long way home," we arrived at the church, exhausted and hungry (it was now well past lunch time), and found our jilted chauffeur driving around frantically to find us.  Down came the car window and we heard an anxious voice exclaim, "You walked home?!  How did you know the way?"

We three triumphant hikers simply smiled and replied in unison, "We just followed the steeple."

Collin's 12th Birthday

Collin had some friends over to celebrate his 12th birthday.  (I can't believe he is so "old."  It's scary.)  I made pizza and they ate a bunch of other junk too, and, of course, cake and ice cream.  They also played basketball and tag, watched a movie outside in the backyard, and played frisbee with a pizza that I accidentally forgot about on the grill.  It was black, and they thought it was hilarious.  That's 12-year-old boys for you.  This was a few days before his birthday.

On his actual birthday, both sets of grandparents dropped by with money (the most exciting gift at this age), and my parents also brought a candy gram.

 

But the following Sunday was the best of all.... Jay ordained Collin a deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood.  Both his grandfathers also participated.  He is named after both of these great men.  Collin is such a good boy and we are very proud of him.