conference bingo cookies of the vegan variety

This weekend was LDS General Conference... and that means 8 hours of yelling at my kids to be quiet so we can be taught and uplifted!

It such a juxtaposition, and an imposition ::Clears throat:: Sings: Come follow me the  SHUT YOUR MOUTH STOP HITTING YOUR BROTHER his foot steps tread, for thus alone I SAID GIVE IT TO HIM NOOOOOW!!!

Well we have these bingo sheets i printed out and laminated, a few years back so we went that course rather than the aforementioned plan of action. We have before used skittles or m&ms as the bingo chips but today i wanted to do something special! )also i was freash out of skittles or m&ms I had some miniature vegan chocolate chips so we took that and ran with it Vegan Chocolate "Bingo Chip" Cookies!!!

The secret here is in the scoop!! At first i tried to just roll little tiny cookie dough balls, but the cookies turned out like little tiny balls of baked cookie dough. So I rummaged through the old kitchen drawers for another option, after a few contenders(chopstick, no... strawberry gouger, no... potato peeler, nope) i came to a melon baller!!

So the secret here is to first, scoop the dough and press it into the baller on the side of the bowl, then while pressing against the bowl, sorta rock the scoop in a circular motion so as to trim off the remaining dough. Now you tap the scoop on the rim of the bowl and catch the "bingo chip" cookie in your other hand. Voila! perfect size and shape

Delicious mini Vegan chocolate chip cookies

Playing conference bingo... so hard not to eat the pieces BEFORE getting a bingo!!

The perfect size pieces!

RECIPE:

1 3/4 cups white whole wheat unbromated flour (click link if you dont know what this means)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar1 tbsp arrowroot pwder3 tbsp water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini vegan chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cream the butter and sugars together in a stand mixer

Combine the arrowroot powder and water in a small bowl and add to the butter mixture

In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt, and slowly add to the stand mixer.

Scrape the sides and add the mini chips. If making bingo chip pieces, refer to scooping instructions mentioned previously... if simply wanting some yummy vegan cookies, scoop heaping tablespoons onto your cookie sheet and press slightly 

Cook for 7-9 minutes, or until slightly golden on edges, careful not to over cook. allow to cool on wire rack, before playing some bingo!!

First week of almost-school

The first week of school was filled with surprises, disappointment and three very happy children.

My plan last year was to do school in the dining room, and then over the summer prepare a room of learning fun and magic (or just learning) over the summer to accommodate what turns out to be a lot of homeschooling materials.

Well the summer came, and with that an overwhelming amount of work, and responsibilities, and pregnancy sickness. That coupled with exhaustion, put ever bit of my school room plans on the back burner.

Two weeks before the start of school, i am off my day care duties and immediately into travel plans. We go visit family and friends for about 10 days,and come back earlier than originally planned, in the hopes of getting SOMETHING ANYTHING done... well a couple of bald tires and 2,446 miles of gas later, we are broke beyond broke.

So now i have a room to clear out and clean up from step sons mess, then fill up with learning goodies and storage furniture, and paint nice colors... and i have four days and no moneys to work with.

Well, i cleared out the room, found some spare stuff from around the house to use as desks and storage, made a very short trip to ikea, with what little change we could scrape up for a cubby unit, and the room is now "usable"

Not to mention my plans for a first grade curriculum is out of the question...

First day of school, i made some "all about me books" they weren't amazing, but i couldn't find any free printable books with what i wanted, so i drew up about 16 half pages... it doesn't look like to much, but it kept my little ones engaged and busy for almost 2 hours! (of course they are both really anal about using every single color in the color box on every picture possible)

here it is for your FREE downloading pleasure... unless you want to just make your own ;)

All About Me Book

I also put together some review stuff from last years curriculum. For an added project we made salt dough hand prints.  Then i took some school pictures of my little learners

The kids were over joyed, they loved it all... they loved having a work book about them, and having review sheets, they loved the craft project that last about 4 days due to baking and painting and drying. I think they were soaking up the one on one mommy time, that has so been neglected of them all summer long.

Wednesday i gave an art lesson, at the library to the older kids in our home school group, and then while we were there picked up some food chain books to start our science block! They were really into learning about what animals eat and how environments work, we have read two of the books already and have classified animal pictures by food preference (carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore) and next week i think we will make our own food web.

So i am struggling to be happy with what i have, and my children are ecstatic to have what they have. We cant all be rich i suppose, i will just work around the pile of stuff i call a home school room until i can piece together a more suitable learning atmosphere.

I am trying to stay positive. This summer was fun and exciting for my kids as well as the day care kids, and the trip home was necessary we haven't made it back in two years, and celebrating my best friends marriage was so awesome... but all MY plans and hobbies and expectations were pushed aside... for the good of the family, i guess that is another part of being a mommy i just have to accept.