Yesterday the long awaited celebration occurred for Unit 1 of year 3. We’ve had some sickness in the family and the kids were preparing the meal so we wanted to make sure that we weren’t spreading any more germs.
We started with the girl’s speeches.
Flora and Fauna of South American regions by Virginia.
Napoleonic Figures by Rebekah Gallew
Our Menu:
Empanadas
Tamales
Green Salad
Cahetas – cookies
While the menu was simple it was completed by the children. None of us have ever made Empanadas, Tamales or the cookies that Virginia selected. For that reason, it became the focus of our celebration.
Tamales
Rebekah was in charge of our Tamales. Since we haven’t made them previously it started with a google search. She found her recipe at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/beef-tamales-recipe/index.html
All went well until we realized no steamer so improvisation. We baked them in the oven. While they were good that way afterwards we had the bright idea to take my cookie cooling rack and put them in a 9×13 pan. Put a little water it the bottom of the pan and use that to provide the steamed affect. Either way, it worked quite nicely baking them at 400 degrees F.
We’ve also never seen the tamales made before so we used this video to help out
Here’s another one that is good as well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He90Am8jbeg
We all got in on making the tamales. The girls made the filling and the rest of us helped to assemble them when we were finished. The turned out great and the best part is there are enough left over for us to have some today for lunch. YUM!
Empanadas
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1826,157183-254195,00.html
Virginia found our recipe for the empanadas. This was a great recipe although we made our own modifications. We made our dough from scratch – can’t get the pre-made pie crusts here – using whole wheat flour which made the crust a little heavier. I would add a little brown rice flour to lighten the dough next time perhaps as little as 1/2 cup which should change the texture to a lighter flakier dough.
Another modification: We used a calzone maker that came in 3 or 4 different sizes – small enough to make pierogies and large enough to make Calzones. The medium size was great for our purposes. Because of this we were able to get 12 pies out of 2-9 inch pie crusts. We did have a time if the dough was rolled too thin as the meat filling burst through the crust when it was folded over.
Virginia was in charge of our treat. She made a few alterations such as whole wheat flour and Agave nectar instead of sugar. These were made so that mom could have some too. They are still a sweet tasting cookie. Check out the recipe we used at about.com http://southamericanfood.about.com/od/desserts/r/limealfajores.htm
Lemon-Lime Alfajores
A minor word about Unit Celebrations we had planned something vastly different then life happened. I’m realizing that flexibility is often the key in making these a reality. We thought about canceling this one but realized that it gives closure to our units and helps us to feel a sense of accomplishment. We weren’t able to display our books like our previous celebration but we did invite a dear friend to share our evening with us. She joined right in there helping us to assemble the tamales and oohed and ahhed over the kids Biology and Botany notebooks. It was the motivation we needed to celebrate.
Our next unit celebration will likely be changed as well. It would be great to go to a Western show that includes an opportunity to pan for gold. Nothing like a little hands on experience.
