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Home Archives Profile Subscribe Pages About Coaching Education PROJECTS Recipes Recent Posts Macaroni and Cheese Reach For The Stars: Understanding Your Child's Potential 15 Tips for a Happier, More Organized Year Beef Stew with Cabernet November Up North And Hotteok Spinach Omelet With Artichoke Hearts, Onions, And Feta Cheese Lessons I'll Share With You After Years of Homeschooling - #9 Creamy Potato Soup DIY Easy Instructions For A Cape You Can Enjoy Artichokes All Year Blogs I Follow Balance and Blueberries rachel eats The Orange Slate Thyme Ruth Reichl Subscribe to by Email 01/14/2018 Macaroni and Cheese Ingredients: Pasta: 1 lb. of pasta ( elbow or penne) 1 tsp. olive oil Sauce: 1/2 cup butter ( one cube) 1/2 cup flour 1 onion - chopped 3 cups milk 1 cup heavy whipping cream 4 cups grated cheddar cheese 1 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp. paprika season with pepper and salt to taste Topping: 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs 2 tblsp. butter - melted Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Boil water in a 3-5 quart pan. Add oil to the water. Add pasta to boiling water and boil for about 8 minutes. Drain the pasta and set aside. Saute the chopped onion in the butter in a 4 - 5 quart pan. When the onion is soft, add the flour slowly. Use a whisk to incorporate the flour. Your goal is a smooth sauce. Slowly add 1 cup of the milk, whisk continually. Now, add the remaining milk and cream. Once you have a creamy sauce, add the seasoning. Add the grated cheese. Stir in the cheese, but it does not all have to melt. Combine the cheesy mixture and the pasta in a large bowl. Once the pasta is nicely combined with the cheese mixture, pour it into a buttered 9"x 13" casserole. Combine the breadcrumbs and the melted butter. Spread this mixture over the top of the macaroni and cheese. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. "Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese." - G.K. Chesterton Posted at 10:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | Reblog (0) 06/02/2015 Reach For The Stars: Understanding Your Child's Potential You are your children's greatest advocate, cheerleader, fan, and their source of boundless love. As a parent you are also responsible for motivating your children to reach their greatest potential. This involves trying to understand what their potential might be even when they struggle with learning disabilities, handicaps, or developmental delays. It's a long process full of struggles and victories. It will bring tremendous joy as you watch your children grow, mature, meet goals, and gain confidence as they push themselves to new heights. Here are a few points to keep in mind: Their strides may be small, but rejoice. Little steps lead to great victories. It is motivating to rejoice in small successes. Don't compare your child with other children, not even to a sibling. It will be frustrating for you and for your son or daughter. Work with them from the level where they are performing and reach for goals with them from that point. Don't get comfortable. If your child is easily accomplishing an academic task such as: a type of math problem, a math process, a reading level, a writing exercise, etc. move them on to a new challenge. It's beautiful to see your child excel at something, but the point is to move them onward and upward. Have fun. Games and rewards can work wonders to motivate children in academic settings. Celebrate your children's victories. Reward them with treats and stickers when they are younger. You will have to get a little more creative as they mature. Reach for the stars with your children. The atmosphere holds stars at many different levels for children of varying abilities. The point is not that they will all reach the same stars, but that we help them find their own stars. Posted at 01:29 AM in Education , Family and Children , Homeschool | Permalink | Comments (1) | Reblog (0) 01/02/2014 15 Tips for a Happier, More Organized Year Hello, readers of ! For those of you who don't know me, I'm Kathy's oldest daughter, Emily, and the author of another blog The Orange Slate . I write a lot about simplicity and organization, two things that affect everyone, from the busy working young professional to the equally busy stay-at-home-mom. The coming of the New Year gives us all a chance to re-evaluate our time management, to set new goals, and to tackle our beautifying, organizing, and simplifying projects with renewed energy. I have been talking a lot about organizing on my own blog and when Mom asked me if I had some tips to share with her readers, I jumped at the chance! I truly think people who live simpler, more organized lives are happier and more successful and I love encouraging others towards happier, more organized lives. So for this first real back-at-the-grind day of 2014, here are 10 tips to help you begin a more organized year. 1. Use a physical planner or calendar. Digital calendars are great supplements and provide a wonderful way to communicate among family members, but to do the real work of planning, you need physical paper. I promise you. (I'm currently giving away a printable planner over at The Orange Slate , so head over there if you still need the perfect planner!) 2. Spend 20 minutes every Saturday or Sunday planning the coming week. Yes, things will happen that are entirely out of your control or ability to predict. Having some kind of framework and being mentally prepared for the week ahead will still help you be more effective and will help you get back on track more quickly when the plan falls apart. 3. Have a few clear goals for yourself each week . I'm not talking about grocery lists, honey-dos, or the scheduled events. If your goal is to finish reading Jane Eyre , then it has to find a place into your weekly calendar or it will never happen. No matter how busy you are, commit to a few, small, unscheduled personal goals each week and note them down in your weekly plan. The feeling of accomplishment will boost your mood when the soccer schedule comes crashing down. 4. Give your children a few clear goals for each week (or day) . My mom is a huge believer in clear goals and has talked about her book lists at length on this blog. Children (just like adults) are enormously motivated by clear goals and rewards. So help your children set some goals for themselves early in the week (100 pages a day by Friday, 3 math lessons in before the weekly Co-op, etc). You and they will be satisfied and less overwhelmed by the week knowing what is expected by the coming weekend. 5. Plan your meals . This is on my 2014 bucket list. Confession: I've never done this. Mark and I winged our way through the married part of 2013 cooking a lot and eating well. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure an unnecessary amount of food went to waste and there were definitely a couple of those "Um, I didn't thaw anything. Let's go out to dinner!" moments. I think we could have more effectively managed my time and our food budget with just a little bit of planning. So this year, I'm going to put a few minutes each week into planning our meals so that I know exactly what to buy when I'm at the store. 6. Stop being a perfectionist. This is a big one. And it's important. Seriously, just give it up. You're stressing yourself (and probably everyone in your family) out by being a perfectionist. Your house does not have to be perfect before you let anyone in the front door. Your meal does not have to look like it fell out of Bon Appetit. The extra rant you went on right before the Smiths came over did not make the house cleaner and probably made your children a lot less happy. I promise you that no one cares as much as you do. Practice letting one really really important thing not be perfect every week until this becomes a habit. 7. Set semester, monthly, and weekly goals . Spend a couple of hours sometime this week or next laying out a framework for yourself and each child for the spring semester. Having a map will help remind you of the big picture. When the math lessons sli...