Baklava, Greek Style

We are learning about Greece ( Daddy says why didn’t we work on the car?).  We made Greek soup.  It is on Andrea’s blog.

We made Baklava because it is a Greek desert and Momma (and Andrea and I and…) like it.

Baklava

  • (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
  • 1 pound chopped nuts, we used walnuts.
  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup honey
  1. It seemed like a LOT for 7 people, so half way through we decided to half this recipe. We still made a 9 x 13 inch pan, but made it thinner. We used most of the nuts though 🙂 Next time we will use a square pan. ( Or I would invite some friends over.)
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of a 9×13 inch pan.
  3. Chop walnuts and stir in cinnamon. Set aside.
  4. To keep phyllo dough from drying out, keep it wrapped once you take it out of the package. Cut to fit pan if needed. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter lightly, you don’t want to soak it, but just cover it. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered.  Don’t bother making the sheets smooth, the more crinkles the better.
  5. Sprinkle 2 – 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Add two sheets of dough, butter them, add more nuts, and continue until  phyllo dough is almost gone. Make top layer about 6 – 8 sheets deep.
  6. Cut into diamond or square shapes most of the way to the bottom of the pan. Bake for 50 minutes until lightly brown and crisp.
  7. Start boiling sugar and water  20 minutes after Baklava is in oven. Boil until sugar is melted, then stir in vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
  8. Remove Baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool before devouring.  Do NOT cover until completely cool or it might get soggy. Yuck! OR don’t bother saving any, just EAT IT ALL!!!!!!!!

Australian Bacon & Egg Pie

We made Australian Bacon and Egg pie yesterday. It is good! They eat it for lunch or dinner.

We made it because we are learning about Australia in geography this month. If you make it, it is more like a sandwich then a pie, because it is not sweet. You can eat it with forks, but we used our fingers to finish it for lunch today.

I think it would have tasted better with some more spices.

If any one knows any good Australian recipes please let me know! Andrea made some cookies, and will have it on her blog soon! Check it out 🙂 Megan said they were YUMMY!

Serves our whole family plus extra for lunch (Serves 8-10)
  • 2 sheets puff pastry (one package)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1/2 pound bacon, cooked and drained
  • ¾ cup cheddar cheese
  • 1 tomato cubed
  • 6 – 8 eggs
  • Pepper to taste
  • Optional: Add favorite “omelet” ingredients if desired, delete others you don’t like.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a pie pan and line with one sheet of puff pastry. Don’t forget like we did, it might stick 🙂

Place onion and bacon over pastry, add tomatoes and cheese. Crack whole eggs over, keeping yolk intact if possible. Season with pepper (already salty enough with bacon and cheese!)

Cover with remaining sheet of pastry, trim edges. Cook in pre-heated oven for 40 – 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Cut the trimmings into strips and bake till golden brown. They would be good with cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top.

Serve with a large salad.

It’s a girl!!!!!

The first baby alpaca was born at the farm across the street today! 

It is a girl!

The baby’s mom is Ebony.  She does not have a name yet.  She is so cute; almost all legs and neck! All of these pictures are of her at about an hour old!

She was walking when we saw her first. We did not see her being born :(.  I went to work today and the baby alpaca most have been born a few minutes earlier, because the rest of the alpacas had gone inside. When they came out, they were acting like they did not know there was a baby out there. We had gone over to see it and the other alpacas were eating. I fed the goats and then ran home to tell Momma. When we came back, all the rest of the alpacas had gone outside to say hello to the baby. Momma alpaca would not let them get to close!

When we put Ebony and her baby in a stall so they could have mommy and baby time, Ebony started humming and baby alpaca started to  hum. Then Black Beauty, Ebony’s other daughter, started humming. The Ebony started humming again.

I hope to get to see the next one born. I hope to have my camera too! The baby is going to be an aunt sometime this month.

A baby alpaca is called a cria. They weigh about 20 pounds at birth (about what Megan weighs now).  It takes them about 15 minutes to learn to walk. The baby alpaca walks better than Megan does now.

Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday dear ___________, Happy birthday to you!!!!!  🙂

Happy Birthday Samuel Morse!

This is the translation of the Morse Code from earlier. 🙂

TODAY IS MORSE CODE DAY! IT IS MORSE CODE DAY BECAUSE IT IS SAMUEL MORSE’S BIRTHDAY. HE WAS BORN IN 1791 AND INVENTED MORSE CODE I AM GLAD I DID NOT HAVE TO LEARN IT TO PASS MY TEST.

By the way I got my license in the mail today

Here are some links to translating and fun MORSE CODE sites.

English to Code and Code to English

Morse Code Music, Lots of fun!

 

…. .- .–. .–. -.– -… .. .-. – …. -.. .- -.– … .- — ..- . .-.. — — .-. … .

– — -.. .- -.– / .. … / — — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. . / -.. .- -.– ? / .. – / .. … / — — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. . / -.. .- -.– / -… . -.-. .- ..- … . / .. – / .. … / … .- — ..- . .-.. / — — .-. … . .—-. … / -… .. .-. – …. -.. .- -.– .-.-.- / …. . / .– .- … / -… — .-. -. / .. -. / .—- –… —-. .—- / .- -. -.. / .. -. …- . -. – . -.. / — — .-. … . / -.-. — -.. . / .. / .- — / –. .-.. .- -.. / .. / -.. .. -.. / -. — – / …. .- …- . / – — / .-.. . .- .-. -. / .. – / – — / .–. .- … … / — -.– / – . … – ?

-… -.–   – …. .   .– .- -.–   ..   –. — -   — -.–   .-.. .. -.-. . -. … .   .. -.   – …. .   — .- .. .-..   – — -.. .- -.–

🙂

Working on a Merit badge

Bluebird babies +3

I am working on a merit badge called Tracking!

I have to take some pictures of tracks and animals, here are some of them.

I need 30 points and have 16 points. The points each picture is worth is under the picture.

Baby Robins +3