ALICE SPRINGS CHICKEN:

This is a clone of the dish by the same name which is served at the Outback Steakhouse.

4 chicken breasts
4 slices marbled cheddar and swiss cheese
1 cup mushroom
4 slices bacon (I left this out)
honey mustard dressing for dipping

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. On each piece of chicken, carefully layer the mushrooms first and then the bacon (position the bacon on the mushrooms so that it holds them in place).
3. Cover and bake for 30-45 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
4. Remove from oven, add cheese and bake for 15 minutes uncovered.
5. Serve with a side of honey mustard salad dressing for a real treat.

HONEY MUSTARD DRESSING:
1 1/2 cups real mayonaise (veganaise - no cholesterol)
1/4 cup Grey Poupon
1/2 cup honeyCombine and let sit for 2 hours or overnight. Serve with Alice Springs Chicken.

*THIS is my favorite dish at Outback (though our Outback has CUT BACK on their servings and I'm not sure I'll be going there much any longer). When I saw this on Cindy's blog, I knew I would eventually make it. ::snort:: You'll want to go to her blog to see photos...my crew tends to attack the food before I get it photographed!

I LOVE the sauce at Outback and laughed when I saw the recipe. I happened to have made my
Honey Mustard Dressing yesterday and noted that it seemed similar when I made this dressing last night. Sure enough...less mustard, more veganaise....

YUMMMM

School Today

Thursday is really the last "full day" of school for Arielle and Nolan. The older boys try to get some school done on Friday - but because of Produce Co-op we don't get a LOT done.

I can't believe that our math u see arrived yesterday afternoon. Wow. I ordered it on the 17th and it arrived on the 18th! Now THAT is great customer service. Of course, it turns out they ARE a TX company. ::snort:: Jared began Epsilon. He watched the first lesson and said, "Ah - I think I get it". Fractions have been a consistent problem for him. He went on to complete 5 worksheets and ACED them all. I gave him the option of taking the tests and skipping the work, but he wants to do the work. I told him to work 30 minutes a day and do as much as he can in that 30 minutes (Saxon took 1 - 1 1/2 hours a day). Arielle, Nolan and I began learning the skip counting songs. I don't think we'll ever be able to sing some of these hymns in chapel again without laughing. Arielle is on lesson 9 and Nolan is going to begin on lesson 1. He CAN do the work but I have to explain how every time...so he needs to start at the very beginning...a very good place to start. ::snort::

They zipped through their independent work. I can't believe that Nolan has lost his raceway book and reader 17 - again! I have spent the week looking for this. I hate to buy another workbook for this - but I hate to not do it either. We've spent the week reading other books I found at the library and doing Explode the Code. I'm really excited to check out Character Quality Language Arts. Thanks again, Lisa for mailing it to me to check out. I KNOW that we are doing writing, spelling, grammar...but the idea of integrating them and doing it AROUND a character study really appeals to me. I could make up my OWN units on various character traits that are part of our "parenting projects" but I'm wondering......We shall see.

*Praying Mantis* by Rebecca Stefoff - this is a COOL book. I did not plan on using ANY text book for science with my younger ones. I really believe in lots of hands on experiments, activities and nature studies for elementary age. These younger two, however, saw Jared's apologia book and wanted to do it with him....and so we've been using Apologia's elementary books. They are written around Charlotte Mason principles and so they are a great compromise between my idea and their desires. ::snort:: However, sometimes I simply have to go to the library and find tons of real living books on the topics we are doing in Apologia. This is one such book. I would class this as a LIVING BOOK. It's interesting, lots of facts, great photos and the author obviously loves his topic. This was an easy read today and we had lots of fun talking about various mantis', stick bugs etc that we've seen since moving down here. I plan to add some of the lap books that Cyndi Kinney has made that go along with the Apologia Elementary books. I think that will give us the best of both worlds. Hands on and fun for ME and the structured text book that Arielle seems to thrive on. If you are interested in the lapbooks you can either google Cyndi or follow the homeschoolestore link in my side bar....they are the "pick of the week". I know I COULD make up our very own lapbooks, and maybe we will some day, but for now I'm thrilled to find kits. ::snort::

Josiah was supposed to have today off...but called in. He asked me if I had something he had to do....and we couldn't think of a thing...so he went in. Then I thought, "you know he's in high school - he has SCHOOL to do and if he doesn't want to go in when called again THAT is enough reason to tell them to ask one of the older managers to come in." ::snort:: So....he has the van...and I forgot about getting the other boys to their ministry location today...::snort:: Cy REMEMBERED and is running home to drop them off quickly...

The younger ones and I are home bound - think we'll work on some quilt squares. We've finished 3 weeks of TOG this week. We're on a roll. It helps that they are weeks without a lot of resources listed. ::snort::

Homeschooling Cartoon

A funny thing happened while I was searching for graphics for the hand out last night.....at least I thought it was fairly humourous...I found this....

Tis the season for water fights...let the fun begin!

How to Catch a Squirrel?

"I caught a squirrel"....the cry went on and on and so finally I went to see if Zander HAD caught something.....

Alarming site in the bathroom mirror

Wednesday Happenings

Nearly done with my lists....no cute graphics....just lots of tiny books and such. ::snort::

Sometime today, while working at the computer and surfing for URL's, I decided to host a Tapestry Tea. They'll send me a DVD with Scott and Marcia talking, catalogs, brochures and the Egyptian Unit Study (which is 3 or 4 weeks of Year 1) to pass out. I figure there may be some here who are curious and even if they don't plan to change their curriculum they would like to see TOG in person. Who knows? It may be a way to find a few Year 1 families to "co-op" with. I'm not sure how to get the word out - I want to do it early in June. Maybe I'll make a hand out for this weekend's event...we shall see.

Cooked Cindy's Alice Springs Chicken today - without bacon. I barely miss it any longer, though I could have used Turkey Bacon (dog treats as my boys say - best to just skip it). We steamed up more asparagus too.

I got the weekly produce order in. I think we're really nearing a broccoli break...but I had lots of $ this week to spend... a big week. LOL

Well - off to finish co-op newsletters and resource lists.

Unexpected FUN

Yesterday, Tricia called and invited us to the park.

Today, Charly called and asked if she could drop by. We were game. She has a daughter a couple of years older than Arielle, a son Zander's age, and a toddler Stacia's age. We were excited at how well Mick and Zander played. A year ago Charly and I were both searching for answers for our little ones. They are both on the spectrum....our answer has been a lot of diet and behavioral work. Charly and Mike began there and then have had a lot of tests etc....anyway.....all that to say that we had a delightful day visiting...and watching our children PLAY...TOGETHER for the most part. I think you would have had to walk a bit of our path to know how incredibly special that is....and how wonderful to have a friend who understands if your child does something "atypical" or downright off the wall. ::snort:: I'm going to miss Charly and her family when they move this summer. There are times I dislike the military lifestyle very much. This lifestyle has taught me to make the most of potential friendships. We don't have years to let friendships slowly grow.....but it also makes us a bit "off putting" to those who live in an area for a long time. They don't always want to invest in relationships with friends who are sure to move....or understand why we jump so totally and almost aggressively into relationships....

Here's the secret. We have to. If we don't, we won't ever have friends....and if we wait we may move....or if we're all military...they may move. ::snort::

I'm thrilled to have FRIENDS this year....we are establishing some nice roots in our new location. It took longer than it has in past moves, and I thank those of you who prayed and believed that eventually we'd feel at "home" in our new "home".