What's for Dinner? The St. Patrick's Day Edition

Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day. I come from an Irish family (my full maiden name was Mary Kathleen McLaughlin) and we always celebrated this holiday A LOT! This is my dad (we affectionately call him Jimmie Mac) and GMan a couple of years ago - when we all celebrated St. Pat's at my house.

We will be having Corned Beef and Cabbage for dinner and I'd like to share the recipe with you. It's a favorite in my house. (If you care to read about the history of the dish, click here -- I always like to get into the history of things!) Having corned beef and cabbage isn't really what true Irish folks prefer ~ but, I digress. You can read the article if you're interested!

If you are wondering where to get a corned beef briscuit, they are in the meat department... at our grocery store it was actually in a special display at the very front because it's close to St. Pat's day. Most of them come with their own spice packet, too. They are simple to make - and cost around $10.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

• 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into matchstick pieces
• 10 baby red potatoes, quartered
• 1 onion, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 4 cups water
• 1 (4 pound) corned beef brisket with spice packet
• 6 ounces beer
• 1/2 head cabbage, coarsely chopped

1. Place the carrots, potatoes, and onion into the bottom of a slow cooker, pour in the water, and place the brisket on top of the vegetables. Pour the beer over the brisket. Sprinkle on the spices from the packet, cover, and set the cooker on High.
2. Cook the brisket for about 8 hours. An hour before serving, stir in the cabbage and cook for 1 more hour.

What about dessert? Well, you could get fancy and make this Grasshopper Pie from The Pioneer Woman, but alas ~ I probably will run out of time and just serve some Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream instead.

What are you having for dinner this week? Join the linky today and share your recipes with us! All I ask is that you grab my cute What's for Dinner? Button (located on my sidebar) and include it in your post or on your site, or mention you are joining Homegrown Learners for dinner tonight. Please try to keep your posts related to recipes only - thank you!

What's For Dinner? Story of the World Feast

Today's What's For Dinner? post is about a FEAST we had to celebrate a study of Ancient Africa (as done in chapter 11 of The Story of the World). I used two recipes from the activity guide and they were wonderful, so I wanted to share. If you click on the link you'll see a sample of all the activities from a chapter, via The Well Trained Mind website - awesome!) I'll also share a cute and easy craft idea, and a sweet idea my daughter came up with on her own.

As always, if you have a recipe you would like to link up, please share at the end of this post! All I ask is that you link back to my site, either by linking to me in your post, or grabbing my cute What's For Dinner? button and placing it on your blog or in your post. Thanks!

On to the recipe: (this appears in the activity guide for Volume 1 of Story of the World)

Chicken With Figs

3-4 lbs. chicken legs
1 lemon
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup water
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
8-16 oz. dried figs (we used Mission Figlets)
salt to taste
parsley

Preheat the oven to 400.

Peel and slice the lemon. Place lemon slices and figs in the bottom of a 9x13 baking pan. Add the chicken legs.

In mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, vinegar, water, and lemon juice.

Pour mixture over the chicken. Sprinkle chicken with salt and parsley.

Bake, covered with foil, for about 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake for approximately 20-30 minutes. Baste frequently during the last 20-30 minutes. Remove chicken, figs, and lemon slices and place on a serving tray.

Skim off any fat and use the remaining juices as a sauce for the chicken.

* We served the chicken with green beans and rice. The chicken was amazingly juicy and the baked figs are a new found love of mine! For dessert we made fried plantains. We used a recipe from Food Network instead of our activity guide, and it was delicious! My nine year sliced the plantains - I fried them in the oil - then she sugared them and added whipped cream. YUMMM!!!!

For fun decorations we printed and colored African Masks. To print them, go here. I thought they turned out really cute.... we laminated and taped them onto a straw so they can be used in the future. We also read a little about the history of African Masks/art here. My daughter also looked up African proverbs, copied some onto little pieces of paper, and set one at each person's place. (I wish I had gotten a picture of them, but here is a wonderful list of proverbs -- perfect for copywork!)

My daughter's mask - done to perfection, just as she likes it!

Isn't this guy cute? My six year old is an enthusiastic artist

Once again, The Story of The World proves itself to be an invaluable resource in our homeschool. I can't recommend this enough!

Feel free to share a recipe with me via a comment or by joining the linky. I look forward to seeing What's For Dinner in your house!

It Takes a Wonderful Man To Support a Homeschooling Mom

My children and I couldn't lead this life of educational luxury if it weren't for the support of my husband. When we met sixteen years ago we were both fairly career driven and into ourselves. I was pursuing a Masters Degree in Education while teaching elementary school music, and my husband was beginning his career with the company he still works for today .... we talked about having children and thought maybe "one would be plenty". We couldn't see beyond the age of 30 and life seemed so very simple.

A month after I had Miss B the September 11th attacks occurred, and a month later I went back to work (for two whole days); then we had an epiphany of sorts (brought about by the fear that gripped America at that time and the fact that I was just so in love with my daughter and couldn't bear to leave her with anyone) and saw the value in me staying at home with her. I broke my teaching contract and became a stay at home mom, the BEST decision I have ever made. My husband has always worked above and beyond the call of duty to make sure I could stay at home with our children, and when we decided to begin homeschooling he was with me 110%. I am blessed to have him as my partner, and my children are some of the luckiest children in the world.

If you know us personally you would say I am the extrovert and my husband is the introvert. He is quiet and reserved. He is good with numbers and works in technology. He is level-headed, considerate and patient. I, on the other hand, am more gregarious, offer up opinions (when I sometimes should keep them to myself), and can be quiet impatient. I like to think my spur of the moment thinking helps balance us out. Our children are really a mix of both of us, and I love this.

Yesterday evening the children and I planned a little celebration for Dr. Suess' birthday. We made green eggs and ham muffin cups from a recipe I found at Super Healthy Kids. Miss B devoured the spinach egg creations, and GMan tried without complaining, which is pretty good for him!

We added some fresh fruit and Pop-Tarts! (I had to inspire my little guy to try the spinach somehow, didn't I?)

I texted my husband on his way home from work (he'd been up since 4:30 a.m. and it was now 6 p.m.) and told him the menu and that he would need to do a reading of Green Eggs and Ham while wearing a Dr. Seuss hat. He texted back "great!" and the evening was set. I'm sure one of the last things he felt like doing after a long day was a rendition of this book, but he did so cheerfully, and I think by the time he got going he was having a lot of fun.

The looks on the kids' faces were priceless, and the laughter was contagious!

After dinner, they continued reading Dr. Seuss books in the family room and it was so cute to hear both of my children trying to be as dramatic as their dad had been earlier. It was one of those warm and fuzzy homeschooling moments, which make me realize that this choice was SO WORTH IT.

So, all of you moms out there, be sure to thank your husband today and tell him how much he means to your family. Too often our husbands get the last of us - tired and frazzled at the end of the day - and we forget to tell them thank you for working hard all day. I am guilty of this, and I hope to be more appreciative in the future. I'm also guilty of thinking I know the right way of teaching the children and I am the expert. Last night I watched my husband and saw him as the expert, too -- he knows them just as well as I do and teaches them in his own unique way.

I never dreamed sixteen years ago I would be a homeschooling mom and my husband would be dressed like the Cat in the Hat reading to our children. It just goes to show that life can turn out better than you imagined it could.