Amy Houts Blog

Bacon for a Crowd

6/27/2014

Remove from pan immediately so it doesn't stick.

Visiting our daughter, Emily, and her family for the weekend, we planned to cook a big breakfast Saturday morning. Emily suggested we try baking bacon (instead of frying it). Using her largest cookie sheet, we were able to fit 10 slices in one layer. Baking was easier and less messy than frying. While the bacon was cooking we started the hash browns and omelets, and toasted the bagels. Eating a hearty breakfast while the twins took their morning nap helped us prepare for another busy day.

Secrets for Success: You can see from the photo that the bacon needs to be drained thoroughly. Use a cookie sheet with a lip to contain bacon drippings and carefully remove the pan from the oven keeping it level to prevent spills. For best results, the thickness of each slice of bacon should be uniform. (Notice the one thinner slice is overcooked.) Do not preheat the oven.

Baked Bacon

Arrange bacon in one layer on a large cookie sheet, preferably nonstick. Place in a cold oven. Turn heat to 350 degrees. Bake about 20 minutes (more or less depending on how many slices you are cooking) until starting to crisp. Immediately remove from pan (or bacon will stick) onto a paper towel lined plate. Enjoy!

Cleanup: When cookie sheet is cool, discard bacon grease by scraping into garbage can using a metal or rubber spatula to remove as much grease as possible. Then wash cookie sheet in hot, soapy water.

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What If Your Kids Hate to Read

6/17/2014

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What if your kid hates to read?

By Stephanie Patterson
Director, Maryville Public Library

Summer Reading has begun and the library is busier than ever. Kids who love books are streaming in, making beelines to their favorite authors, sometimes dragging an exhausted parent from one shelf to the next. We love to see them in the library. But this column isn’t about them. It’s about the kids who hate books!

Here are four tips to get a nonreader reading:

1. Let them read what they want. That could mean comic book-style books (a.k.a. graphic fiction), books about talentless pop stars, books with humor derived chiefly from bodily functions, and nonfiction books about weapons, video games or weird and gruesome subjects that make you wince. Kids will respond to books that address their own culture, and by second grade their interests are as personal and varied as any adult’s.

Don’t fret too much about them picking books that are “too easy”. Adults enjoy books below their own reading level all of the time!

2. Show them how to browse for books.
The only intervention I recommend is that you show your child how to browse for books by reading the back covers and a couple of pages inside. Inexperienced readers may choose books beyond their own reading level because of the cover art or the fact that they see their better-read peers choosing the same series. Consistent exposure to books beyond their reading level will frustrate them and reinforce their perception of themselves as a nonreader. Kids who don’t like to read will benefit from reading books they can fly through! This builds their confidence and can help them perceive themselves as a reader.

3. Remember that everyone has the right to dislike a book.

For kids who are not avid readers, now’s not the time to push your own childhood favorites on them. Nor is it the time to teach perseverance by forcing them to finish a book that they don’t like. (Save housework and farm chores for that lesson.) Such an approach is the opposite of reading for pleasure and a surefire way to turn them off reading for good. One reader’s favorite book may be another reader’s dud. Life’s too short to read books that don’t keep your attention. Casting off lesser books in the hunt for one that you can’t put down is a huge part of the fun of reading!
4. Let them see you read for your own enjoyment. Why would they perceive reading as worthwhile if they never see you do it? Make family reading time a ritual, discuss books you are reading, and model reading for your kids.

By middle school or earlier, many kids have defined themselves as readers or nonreaders. The freedom to choose, along with access to a wide variety of reading materials and some quiet time are the most important factors in turning a nonreader into a reader.

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How To Wash Homegrown Lettuce

6/11/2014

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Use a salad spinner.

My husband, Steve, loves to garden. One of the earliest garden vegetables we pick is lettuce, which likes the cool weather of our Missouri spring and early summer. So each spring we enjoy the tender, homegrown taste of leaf lettuce, "food of the gods." This year Steve grew a mixture of green and red leaf, plus kale for a variety of colors and textures.

While I love eating home grown lettuce, washing it can be time consuming. Rain splashes mud and grit onto lettuce leaves, so I have to wash it thoroughly. The best way is to soak the lettuce for a few minutes in enough water to cover sprinkled with a little salt. The dirt will fall to the bottom. I lift out and inspect each lettuce leaf before placing it in a salad spinner basket. I check every leaf for bugs. I dip leaves in water to rinse off critters, if needed. I tear off chewed or dark areas and pinch off tough stems.

Then I am finally ready to spin the lettuce as dry as I can. That way the salad dressing sticks to the leaves giving more flavor. Our leaves were small and tender enough that I don't need to tear the leaves. Following is a recipe for mixed green salad. You can substitute homegrown lettuce for the iceberg and Romaine. Notice that the directions for washing iceberg and Romaine is different from homegrown and from each other. Enjoy!

Mixed Green Salad

1 head iceberg lettuce
1 head Romaine lettuce
2 carrots
1 cucumber
1 red onion
3 tomatoes
1 bottle favorite salad dressing
Croutons
Sunflower kernels

If possible, wash iceberg lettuce earlier in the day to let water drain. Cut out core or rap core on counter hard enough to break it loose. Discard core. Turn lettuce head upside down and run under cold water, allowing the water to push apart leaves and flow into the lettuce head. Turn core upside down and place in a colander to drain. Tear into pieces and place in a salad bowl.

Using a large serrated knife, cut Romaine lettuce into approximately 1-inch widths on a cutting board. Place lettuce in a large bowl and cover with cold water. Use your hand to stir the lettuce so dirt and sand can fall to the bottom. Gather the lettuce, carrying it up out of the water and into a salad spinner basket. Rotate to dry (or pat dry with towels). Add to salad bowl.

Pare, rinse, and trim ends of carrots; grate. Pare, rinse, and slice cucumber. Use a paring knife to trim ends of onion; peel skin. Use a chef’s knife to slice thinly in rings, discarding root end. Trim ends and core of tomatoes. Cut into wedges. Add all to salad bowl. Toss with salad dressing and spoon into salad bowls. Top with croutons and sunflower kernels. Yield: 8 servings

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My First Book for Babies

6/3/2014

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Jake looks at his book.

Our daughter, Emily, and twin grandsons stayed with us on and off for 8 weeks during their transition, moving from California to Iowa. Now they are only a 2 ½-hour drive away instead of a 3-day drive! We are thrilled! It was so wonderfully busy here. (That’s why I haven't written a blog post since March 3rd.) While she was here, Emily and I created a book for each boy. Toby and Jake were 7-months old when they arrived (on my birthday!).

Jake’s book was all about Jake. Toby’s book was all about Toby. We started by looking through the many photos Emily had taken of the boys, finding ones when they were alone (mostly) and performing a specific action such as, playing, sitting, standing, eating, etc. We printed them out in color on regular paper as I thought photo paper would be too heavy.

We used 18 photos of each boy.

Emily wrote a sentence or two on each page, for example, “Toby is crawling.” Then we put the pictures in a logical order ending with each boy sleeping. We placed the pictures in plastic sleeves and then in 3-ring binders, one for each boy. Emily made a special cover with another photo and a title that included the name of each boy. The books were so much fun to create! You can make books for your babies. (I’m sure toddlers and preschoolers would love them, too.) It’s like a mini-scrapbook. Our grandsons are still learning how to turn the pages without destroying them, but I believe these homemade treasures will be looked at and read again and again.

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Bacon for a Crowd

What If Your Kids Hate to Read

How To Wash Homegrown Lettuce

My First Book for Babies

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