Home Sweet Home and Apple Cake!

Well here is a dose of this and that from our home this week. 

The kids have been busy with homeschool.

Anna worked more on her timeline.

We just happened to find this book at the used bookstore a few months ago called the 

 Sonlight Timeline Book  We really like it. 

We have used some of these add ons for it off of CurrClick it goes really well with The Story Of The World Volume 2

The Vikings 

The Middle Ages 

It's a great way to keep track of History and to understand how it all fits together. 

Liam worked on a Model of the Brain which was an activity from his new 7Sisters Psychology course.

Intro to Psychology from a Christian Perspective. 

Noah worked on Science Experiments from his Apologia Chemistry

We are reading from a new devotional book called Jesus Calling. It's a great book for morning devotions together. 

Noah made himself a very nice leather knife holder to clip onto his belt. 

I think I need to put in a request for a cell phone holder. I wonder if he is taking special orders?

Anna made some nice art projects this week. She made a German Scherenschnitte or a German Paper Cutting. This is a type of ancient art that dates back to the 11th century. 

She also painted a new rock for our garden a very cute green turtle. 

 I have been encouraging the kids this week to put down the electronics and to pick up a book. I am happy to see them doing this. Even though he is still wearing his big electronic ears hehehe ;) Sometimes you have to compromise with teenagers. 

Well the weeks not over yet but I love being able to blog about what we are doing and then look back and feel like we made some accomplishments. 

I will leave you today with a yummy recipe. Every so often I like to dig into my Nonno Leo's cookbook. My father gave it to me when my Grandfather passed away. Being an Italian man he certainly knew how to cook. He made the best pizza ughh it makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Not NY style with the thin crust but a real thick puffy crust like a focaccia bread 

with lots of herbs on it. 

I learned some things about my Nonno from his cookbook. It is a real old lined account journal with yellow pages and all sorts of stuff spattered on the recipes. My Grandfather liked all sorts of European and Eastern European food. I think this is true with all my Italian Grandparents and older relatives. When they immigrated to Canada and America they lived in a community that had a lot of Italians in it, but also a lot of other Europeans as well. I wish I had asked my Grandparents more about this. But I think they all kind of bonded together regardless of the country they came from.  They were all immigrants,  and making a new home in a new country,  that is a big thing to have in common.  As a child it was not unheard of for me to answer the door at my house and find a women standing there in a babushka and apron handing me a large steaming plate of cabbage rolls. Oh and don't get me started on homemade perogies!! I may be Italian but trust me I love all food. And I love to cook it for others. I think food is a language we all speak. There is something so magical about being handed a plate of food cooked by someone for you. It is an action that speaks more than words. And amongst the immigrants and different languages I bet it was a language they all understood. It meant neighbor and friend. 

I stumbled on this recipe in the cookbook this week and it sounded like a nice snack to make for the kids to have with tea. I adjusted the recipe to make it Gluten Free and cut down on the sugar. I also cooked it in an Iron Skillet. You will find the recipe below and while I can't hand you a plate of food through my blog. I still hope you enjoy it!  ~My neighbor and friend. 

Gluten Free Scandinavian Apple Cake 

4 large apples peeled cored and chopped

1/2 cup organic sugar

2/3 cup of melted butter 

2 eggs beaten

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 cups of Pamela's Gluten Free Baking Mix

2 teaspoons of baking soda

2 teaspoons of cinnamon

2 teaspoons of allspice

2 teaspoons of cardamon

1/2 teaspoon of salt

( I used a pumpkin pie mix spice which is what I had on hand and this spice was good in the cake also you can just use as much as you like to taste. I used about 2 tablespoons)

Mix sugar, melted butter,  eggs, vanilla, spice then add flour, baking soda and salt, lastly fold in apples.

I baked this in a large cast iron skillet at 350degrees. Until cake tester came out clean approx 40 minutes. 

Dust with powder sugar when cool if you like. 

“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” 

~C.S. Lewis