More Autumn

The view from my back door is telling me that autumn is well and truly here.  What a glorious riot of colour greets me as I work in my kitchen each morning!

 

 

If you read my last post you'll know that I've been trying to loosely implement some Waldorf ideas into our unschooling life.  One of the ways I do this is to seek activities from the brilliant Hawthorn Press series of Waldorf through the year books.  Today I sought inspiration from 'All Year Round' and decided to spend some one to one time with my second son making a Harvest loaf.  It is an activity that should really be done at Michaelmas so we were a little late but we still thoroughly enjoyed it.  The whole recipe is based around an embellished tale of St Michael from the Bible.  It was great fun and provided a much needed meaningful time together.

 

 

The bread turned out really well.

 

It was especially tasty with butter. 

 

Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

 

 

Jo was particularly chilled out whilst eating his.

 

So much so that he fell asleep on a kitchen chair.  Too cute

 

I also tried playing some simple harvest tunes from the book and getting the children to join in but ,alas, it seems that my boys are not for singing.  Oh well I'll sing anyway.

 

You can find out what else we've been doing today at

 

http://learningwithusborne.blogspot.co.uk/

 

Enjoy this beautiful season. x

 

Jo

 

Domesticity

In our current financial crisis (note - current - they happen fairly frequently) I am trying to save money by being savvy with my meal planning. I am planning a weekly menu and only buying the ingredients and items needed for that week. I have to say I feel so much peace about it, having previously been a wait 'til 4pm and then start raiding cupboards and praying for inspiration. Also, we spent about £20 less on groceries this week, which is an added bonus. The children are not so enthused about my plan since to be honest I had become rather lazy and was beginning to rely rather on convenience foods, so now they have to eat real honest tucker. Not popular, I can tell you. I am trying to include a few favourites of theirs in the mix too, so they don't feel so badly done to. Anyway, I thought I'd share my meal plan for next week and see what you think.

Monday

Penne rigate with sundried tomatoes and artichoke hearts

French bread

Salad

(from Vegan Feasts by Rose Elliot)

Tuesday

Spiced potato turnovers

Couscous

Colourful bean salad

(Vegan Feasts)

Wednesday

Barley and lentil savoury

Fresh bread

Salad

(from Easy Vegan Cooking by Leah Leneman)

Thursday

Chilli bean roast with tomato sauce

Jacket spuds

Salad

(Easy Vegan Cooking)

Friday

Homemade Pizza

(from Jo's imagination)

Saturday

Mixed veg dahl

Rice

(Vegan Feasts)

Sunday

Vegan toad in the hole

Roast veggies and spuds

(Easy Vegan Cooking)

I'm going to make some puddings as well, which will be interspersed with fruit and yogurt for the sake of all our figures. I'll be making

Bread and butter pudding

Strawberry shortcake

Date and pecan cake

Scones

Flapjacks

Lunches will be a mixture of

Jacket spuds with beans/cheese for the non-vegans/hummous + salad

Sandwiches

Filled pitta

Homemade soup

I am also trying hard to bake more of my own bread but this is something I need to work very hard at as I find it hard to fit into the day.

I guess you might say I'm nesting BUT I still can't get my butt into gear and wash any baby clothes or think about what I might need for this littlie. Help, only 10 and a bit weeks to go.