Fruit Stamping

September 26, 2012 by

I made some fruit stamping with my 2nd graders back when I taught public school. This is a fun way for them to learn about shapes and use their imagination on creating other shapes.

Today I tried it with my three kiddos since we have lots of fruits from our recent fruit picking outing. First, we just made geometric shapes, and then we used those shapes to make different designs like flowers and trees. It’s a little messy but sooo much fun! Just make sure everyone wears a smock. Here are the results:

The kids use a foam brush to get the paint on the fruits and to get the extra paint off the fruits as well.

These are flower designs made with pears, tomatoes, and mini bell peppers.

Geometric design on a small Gala apple.

Layered designs of pears, apples and peaches.

I drew the branches with black marker before stamping this purple pear tree.

Do you have fun activities or crafts that you have done with fruits? Share them in the comments section.

Filed Under: Crafts, Fall, Indoors Activities Tagged With:

Diary Free Ice Cream Recipe in the VitaMix

September 25, 2012 by

 

 

Today we made some yummy dairy free ice cream in our VitaMix. Here’ what we did:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup frozen bananas (this will make it creamy)

1 cup frozen strawberries (or any other fruit like blueberries, raspberries, etc)

9 ice cubes of frozen homemade almond milk or store-bought

1/3 cup Original coconut milk creamer

Instructions:

Put all the ingredients in the VitaMix. You’ll need the tamper to push everything down while blending. Start with the low setting, and then switch on the high setting. Blend until you have a smooth and creamy textured ice cream. It was so good that we had to make a second batch to satisfy everyone’s ice cream cravings!

Do you have a favorite homemade ice cream in a high-speed blender? Please share!

 

Reference:

Healthy Blender VitaMix Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With:

Fruit Picking

September 25, 2012 by

One of the autumn family activities that we like to do is apple picking. If you live in the Pacific Northwest, now’s the time to enjoy a fun day at a local farm and pick some juicy apples, scrumptious peaches and pears.  Not to mention how much fun it will be for the kids.

We packed up our kids, some snacks, and drove to Mountain View Orchards for our annual fruit picking event.  Our homeschool group introduced us to this Hood River Fruit Loop farm that we have enjoyed visiting. We chose the Hood River area, even though the distance is further, for its breathtaking view of the Columbia Gorge and the spectacular sight of Mt. Hood. It’s just magnificent!

The orchard have some activities for the whole family.  On the weekends, they have free hay rides for the whole family, you can sample fresh squeezed apple juice, and various jams. Your family can also take a tour of the farm on your own and check out the sunflowers, corns, pumpkins (no U-Pick) and some animals.  Our three kiddos had a great time picking the fruits and simply just pulling their wagons around the farm.

 

We ended our day with a picnic right between the isles of apples trees. If you’re interested in the Mt. View Orchards, it runs through October 31 with daily hours from 9-5. Click here for their contact info. Plan ahead: call the farm before you go.

If you’re interested in checking out other farms/orchards. Click here for a map of the Hood River County Fruit Loop.

BTW… we didn’t get any reception for our GPS once we got into the Fruit Loop, so make sure you make a hard copy of your Google map.

Filed Under: Fall, Outdoor Activities Tagged With: , , ,

Fruits I Love

September 19, 2012 by

Fruits I Love by Victoria Boutenko. I was so happy to receive this book from a friend. As a mom who loves nutritious foods for her kids, I’m always interested in children’s books that encourage healthy eating. This book is one that makes eating wholesome fruits fun.  The pictures are creatively drawn, very brightly colored and playful. My kids love this book. Buddy’s able to read it on his own and Mei and Chico were able to follow along with the rhyming. For the healthy message that it paints, it’s a book for any age to read or read to. But reading level wise, it’s great for beginning readers to 2nd grade. Below are two sample pages from the book:

Sample page 1:

Pomegranate—jewelry box
But without any locks!
Full of sweet and juicy seeds,
They look like shiny ruby beads.

Sample page 2:

Berries too are precious!
Brightly colored treasures:
They can make incredible
Bracelets that are edible.

As a home educator mom, I took the excitement for this book by the kids and created a lesson around it.  At the end of the lesson, they had a blast and they had fun learning.  Here’s the lesson in details:

Prior to reading the book,  we did a pre-reading activity. We wrote down what we know about fruits and the results are shown in the picture below. What’s great about this activity is that Buddy can go back and read the print, and he usually does. The other two kids can try to find words and sounds that they know. A great learning tool!

We wrote down what we know about fruits before reading the book.

Chico brought up the juicy factor in fruits so I wrote down which fruits the kids thought were more juicy than others. Here you have a lesson on comparisons.

To close the lesson,  we were all treated to some all-natural, farm-fresh Oregon raspberries and blackberries. Yummy to our tummies!

 Fruits I Love can be purchased at Amazon.com or the Raw Family Website.

What other books about fruits that you have come across?

Look for my future posts on fun fruit ideas.

Filed Under: Books and Activities Tagged With:

Homemade Almond Milk

September 17, 2012 by

 

Although we are not completely diary free, the one milk that we drink at our house is almond milk. Almond has a lot of health benefits. To find out more, read this article. I learned to make almond milk a couple of years ago and I no longer buy from the store.

How to make almond milk:

  1. Soak one cup of raw almonds over night or 6-8 hours (soaking the almonds will make them more digestible). Drain the almonds in a colander and rinse with water.
  2. Remove the brown outer skin by pressing on it with thumb and forefinger.  Discard brown skin.
  3. Put almonds in blender or VitaMix. Add Medjool dates as a sweetener. I usually put about 3 of them. But I’ve read bloggers who add up to 8 dates. Try and see what taste good to you. (Medjool dates from health food stores usually come with a pit so you’d have to remove the pit by splitting it open with your fingers). Then add 3 cups of water to VitaMix and blend until nuts are pulverized (about 10 sec in VitaMix)
  4. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, cheese cloth or nut bag. I’ve tried using a nut bag, but it gets messy as you have to squeeze the milk out. I prefer to use the metal mesh sieve. My kids like to help by using a spoon to scrape the almond pulp around to drain the liquid into a glass container.
  5. Use almond milk as a drink or with your favorite cereal or transfer to a glass bottle, covered and store in refrigerator for up to 4 days. Shake before drinking.

I”ve included some helpful pictures below if you’re interested:

  My three kiddos are removing the brown skin from the soaked almonds.

Almond without the brown skin.

Medjool dates as a sweetener for almond milk.

 Making almond milk in VitaMix.

Blended almond milk in metal mesh sieve to drain liquid.

Natural almond milk without any preservatives for drinking or used with your favorite cereal.

References:

Mercola.com: Take Control of Your Health.

Pamela Salzman: Do-it-yourself Almond Milk

 

Filed Under: Healthy Drinks Tagged With:
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