FCH for April

Hee, hee. They let me have a kitchen tool!

My cute little ladybug apple

Chopping is hard work.

Is this where it should come to?

Future Christian Homemakers Is Winding Down

Our year of Future Christian Homemakers is almost over. These are pictures from our last month's class. We only have a class in April and one in May left. And then our Graduation Banquet at the end of May.

This has been a lot more fun than I had thought it would be. And the girls truly seem to enjoy it as well.

It can be a lot of work but I think they might be a step up on several of their peers now especially once they have families of their own.

I went into marriage knowing how to sew and able to follow a recipe. Now I feel like I have so much more knowledge than I even realized was available.

The girls in our class are at the same level I was at when I married. They still have a decade or so to learn even more and advance beyond that.

I feel good knowing we helped them with that. And that there's a possibility that their families will someday benefit from it as well.

I find myself really looking forward to the Graduation banquet. I'm excited to show off what they can do and to honor them for coming and working each month to learn these skills. You can be sure that I'll have plenty of pictures that night.

Another FCH Class

Saturday was another Future Christian Homemaker's class. This time I was on my own as the teacher. My partner in crime had been called into duty as a babysitter and the other adult who has been helping was not available. I usually have a couple of students and their moms too but both those students were absent.

So it was me and the Chick plus five students (we were missing several). Never mind though. We still had fun and I have to say that I really did.

We made butter cakes from scratch and then decorated them. The curriculum writer had noted that this class was usually the girl's favorite and I don't doubt that, if not our own girls' favorite so far, it had to rank right up there. I used to do cakes for two separate Baskin-Robbins locations and I loved it. So this was one class that was right up my alley.

And, if I don't say so myself, the lesson about decorating the world God's way was pretty good too.

"Why do you keep taking pictures?"

Filling our pans with batter

"What in the world is this thing for?"

Looks yummy, doesn't it!

Working on our practice cake

Frosting is an important part of the process.

And decorating...well, not to be punny, but it's the 'icing on the cake' and that's no lie.

See why we had such a good time.

Monday's Menu

This is not so much a recipe as a.... hmm.... technique maybe. Saturday was our third FCH class and the last thing we made was a lot of fun for the girls. In fact, it provided another of those 'wow' moments.

We made shortcut doughnuts. The ones that are literally done in five minutes or so. With no mixing. Or yeast. The only special item you need is what I called "a highly technical kitchen tool." All of the girls got a giggle over that when they saw what it was. A Dasani water bottle (although you can use any brand you want -- or even something similar you have on hand).

The 'wow' moment came when I turned over my example one in the oil and suddenly it looked like a doughnut rather than a doughy biscuit. They were all amazed and let out a collective "ohhh" that made me giggle a little.

How do you do it? Well you open a can of biscuits and pull out one. Then you use the opening of the bottle (or your own highly technical kitchen tool) and press in the center of the biscuit. If the hole gets stuck in your bottle, you simply squeeze the bottle quickly and the air pressure will pop it right out.

Then you heat some oil to 375 degrees and drop your 'doughnut' in (don't forget the holes), turning it over when it browns, and taking it out when it is brown all over. Very quick. Very easy.

And very yummy -- especially with some cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar sprinkled on. Of course, you can put a glaze on them too if you like or frosting or whatever.

I am so enjoying the FCH class. I only wish that I had a large enough house to do it at home so I wouldn't have to carry every single thing to the church building. But then we wouldn't have all the nice big tables either. So I guess there's always pros and cons either way.

These would be a fun thing to do with your kids although you would need to be VERY careful around the hot oil. Even letting them stand back and watch while you do the cooking part is really only for school aged children. But any child can do the hole cutting, especially if you use a bottle without sharp edges. And then everyone can enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Quick and Easy Doughnuts

Canned biscuits
Oil
Topping if desired such as powdered sugar, cinnamon, frosting, or glaze

Preheat oil to 375 degrees. Cut holes in biscuits using a round cutter or bottle top. Cook doughnuts in oil until brown on both sides (turning as necessary). Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Dust with sugar or frost as desired. Enjoy while warm.

FCH

A friend of mine and I decided to conduct an FCH class. FCH stands for Future Christian Homemakers. The curriculum was designed by a woman who saw a need for the classes in her own congregation and she offers it free online here.

We had our second class this past Saturday. At our first class, I managed to take four (yes, count them, four) pictures before I got involved in instructing and didn't think about it again. I enlisted the Chick to take pictures this time so I could get pictures but concentrate on instructing.

Well. When you give the Chick a job to do, SHE DOES IT! She took nearly 250 pictures. All I can say is it's a good thing we have a large memory card.

Here are some of us doing our stuff:

Discussing why we need a "sunny side up" attitude

Did you know that an egg separator is a rare and precious thing? I couldn't find the blasted things anywhere. I finally decided they would have to share the one Tupperware one I had if I couldn't find any at our kitchen store in the outlet mall.

It was seriously ridiculous. Target and Wal-Mart apparently believe that avocado slicers and mango splitters are much more important kitchen gadgets than egg separators. And the other stores I tried locally were just as clueless. I had told Hubby that maybe we could put off this class and get my Tupperware lady to get me some. But thankfully, the kitchen store had some.

Some of the girls had helped cook eggs but I don't think they had ever gotten to crack them. I'm glad Ms. Shelly's chickens worked so hard for us or we would have been in trouble.

This picture above marks one of the best moments in the class. They had seen my mixer swirling all of the whites around but they didn't realize it was becoming meringue. When I stopped it and lifted the beaters, a collective "oooh" went around the room followed by several comments about how yummy that looked. Probably because it looks a lot like frosting. But oh well.

Everyone got a chance to create a meringue cookie.

Can you guess what we made next?

Scrambled eggs and french toast!

Enjoying the fruits of our labor!