Cooking in the West

No one alive now will ever forget the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020 when we all stayed home to fight an invisible enemy. As I write this, we are not sure whether we are effectively flattening the curve, but most people seem to be trying to follow the CDC guidelines. As an educator of 39 years, I find myself struggling with the part of sheltering I am supposedly professionally prepared for, which is homeschooling.

There is a reason for public school, and it is that home schooling is too hard. I am tasked with homeschooling my three grandsons. Fortunately, one of them is in pre-school, so his work is optional. The other two are in seventh and fourth grade, and they have an amazing amount of work to do; although perhaps part of the workload issue is our shortened schedule. I let them sleep in, and then we have a leisurely breakfast usually with three different entrees as specially and politely ordered. Around the stroke of 10:30 we dive in. We work really hard for about an hour, and then we have to break to make and eat lunch. After lunch clean up, I usually give in and let them have recess. The length of recess is directly proportional to the outside temperature. About mid-afternoon, we realize that their mother is going to be home soon, so there is a flurry of focused activity for about three hours prior to her arrival. I am not sure which of the four of us is the most intimidated by the daily assignment checks by mom.

Remote education in most cases relies heavily on technology. We watch Facebook Live sessions, do work in Google classroom, attend Zoom meetings, and use several other on-line platforms each day. Their devices are Chromebooks, which are about the size of a large index card, and the text is so small I have to wear my Dollar Store reading glasses and use a magnifying glass to help them if they get stuck. I spent the first week learning the nuances of Zoom such as to keep your microphone and your camera off so no one else can hear Jasper yelling, "Grandma, come wipe my butt," in the background or find themselves looking up your nose before you realize your camera is on and aimed at a very unflattering angle. To be clear, Jasper can usually wipe his own butt, but upon the occasion of that particular Zoom call, he needed help because as he explained, "Grandma, I have quesadilla." I am sure glad we didn't all get quesadilla in the midst of a nationwide toilet paper shortage!

I am an English teacher, so I took an oath that every assignment has to be properly edited, and that is apparently rather tedious. I think I am in danger of losing my self-proclaimed "cool Grandma" status by insisting on proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation. Prior to homeschooling, Grandma's house was where they came to make and eat cookies, ride horses, fish, and do fun stuff. Now, we have to set timers to stay on task, and I have been forced to resurrect my teacher death ray look and meanest teacher voice during P.E. class when kickball morphed into a boxing/wrestling match between the three brothers.

There are all kinds of ideas for arts and crafts circulating on the internet for a change of pace from academics. In fact, last week I ran one recipe in this column for playdough that our art teacher had posted, but apparently that recipe had not been tested under real life conditions. Jasper's preschool teacher, Miss Jen commented, "If you want to make really soft playdough...DON'T USE THIS RECIPE! It is awful! It won't hold a shape, crumbles everywhere, and the warmer it gets, the gooier it gets! Playing with it was like playing with melted marshmallows!"

So hopefully, you did not try last week's play dough recipe. If you did, I am truly sorry, but perhaps you used it as a teachable moment for A. Not trusting the internet, B. Practice cleaning up messes, C. Learning from failure, D. All of the above. I am so glad we spent our time painting hearts on rocks for the World of Hearts movement so we didn't get around to making Silky Fun Play Dough.

I have to sign off now, because it is 8:30 p.m., which is my necessary new bedtime since we started homeschooling!

Easter will be celebrated differently this year with virtual church services and no large gatherings to cook for and enjoy. I wish you all a blessed Easter and pray for all of you--especially for those of you who will be alone.

This week I would like to share some Easter Sunday sheltering recipes.

Crock Pot Mashed Potatoes:

5 lbs. red potatoes, peeled and chunked

1 T. minced garlic

3 cubes chicken bouillon

8 oz. sour cream

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 C. butter

salt and pepper to taste

Cook potatoes, garlic, and bouillon until potatoes are tender but firm. Drain, reserving water. Mash potatoes with cream cheese and sour cream. Add reserved potato water or milk as needed for desired consistency. Transfer potatoes to a crock pot and turn on low for two hours or until serving. Prior to serving, stir in butter and seasoning to taste. (The beauty of this recipe is that you are not mashing potatoes at the last minute as you are trying to make gravy, carve the meat, and do all of the other last minute preparations, and they are sinfully delicious!)

Raisin Sauce for Ham:

1 1/2 C. water

3/4 C. raisins

1/3 C. brown sugar

1 t. cornstarch

pinch salt

Boil water and stir in raisins. Simmer for 5 minutes. Whisk brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt into mixture and stir until thickened. (Rather than glazing the cooking ham with this, I like it served in a small bowl to pour over plated ham slices.)

Easy Yeast Knots:

2 packages (1/4 ounce each) active dry yeast

2 C. warm water (110° to 115°)

1/2 C. sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1/4 C. canola oil

2 t. salt

6 to 6-1/2 C. all-purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Combine sugar, egg, oil, salt, yeast mixture, and 4 C. flour; beat on medium speed until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a stiff dough.Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; divide into four portions. Divide and shape each portion into 12 balls to make 48 rolls. Roll each ball into an 8-in. rope; tie into a loose knot. Tuck ends under. Place 2 in. apart on a greased sheet. Cover; let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks.