Learning in the Sunshine State

Dennis can’t get enough of smoothies lately. I used to make them every now and then, but suddenly he wants them all the time. I don’t mind, and they’re certainly a healthy treat, so I shouldn’t complain. But the thought of cleaning the blender makes me groan when he asks, “Mom, can we make smoothies for snack this afternoon?”.

We just made some strawberry-banana smoothies, and they were delicious. You can play with different amounts of juice and fruit, knowing that it’s hard to ruin a smoothie. If it’s too thick, add more juice; too thin, add a few ice cubes or some frozen fruit.

Dennis loves to make them for all of us. Smoothies are easy for kids to make, and the supervision level depends on the age of the child. They make a good quick breakfast drink too.

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie: (our favorite)
1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup frozen strawberries**
1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt (we usually use vanilla)
1 large banana

Place all ingredients in a blender and pulse until desired consistency.
**Using frozen strawberries eliminates the need for ice. I toss some in the freezer each night before going to bed. I suppose you could buy frozen strawberries and use them if you want.

Basic Smoothie Recipe

1/2 cup diced fruit, fresh or canned
1/2 cup juice
1/2 cup ice cubes
1 cup vanilla or plain yogurt

Some Juice Possibilities
orange, cranberry, grapefruit, pineapple

Some Fruit Possibilities
bananas, peaches, strawberries, blueberries

Place all ingredients in a blender and pulse until desired consistency.

If I had a nickel for every time someone said:

“It just doesn’t feel like Christmas when it’s so warm.”
“I can’t get into the spirit with this weather.”
“The holidays don’t feel right unless it’s cold/snowy.”

or any similar statement, I’d be a rich woman. But I feel sad for people who can’t change their view of what Christmas/December/Winter is “supposed” to be like. Supposed to according to whom? Who decided that northern climates have a lock on the right kind of weather for this month? What if warm weather is “right” and cold weather doesn’t “feel like Christmas”?

Here is how some of us view December, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day. This is our normal. It feels just right. We sing songs about the cold and snow. We send cards with snowmen on them. But when we send Warm Wishes, we’re probably wearing shorts and tee shirts.

Decorating the outside of your house includes running lights around your palm trees.

Evenings are for opening the windows and letting the beautiful night air run through your house.

Children can often been seen outside on Christmas Day, riding their new Christmas bikes.

Evergreens? They’re a dime a dozen. The deciduous tree is the odd man out.

Mild is how the weather is usually described. I call it perfect, but there’s no P in December.

Breakfast often includes fresh squeezed orange juice, using oranges picked moments ago, from the backyard tree.

Every Florida child knows Santa doesn’t need a chimney in order to get in.

Release your narrow view of what Christmas weather should be like. The Holiday Spirit is in your heart, not in the outside temperature.

lunch. That’s right, lunch. Dennis’ 4H club is beginning a project on solar power. At one of the club meetings, the leader brought a solar oven that one of her teens had made. The kids all made s’mores, put them in the oven, and we set the oven outside while they held the rest of the meeting. Eventually the kids will make solar cars and race them, but solar ovens are a good introduction to solar power. After the meeting, each club member was then supposed to make his or her own solar oven at home. Dennis made a pizza box oven. Part of the fun of a pizza box oven is that you have to have a pizza night in order to get the box.

We started out with the basic plan, using plexiglass instead of plastic laminate. Yes, that’s a piece of Hot Wheels track holding it open.

We checked the temperature with an oven thermometer and noted that it reached a respectable 150 degrees.

Now we can’t just use the basic model — we have to kick it up a notch. Actually, we read in a library book that adding an extra panel is a good idea if you want to make more than s’mores.

Dennis made us each an English muffin pizza. We “preheated” the oven, then put our pizzas in. Now it’s time for the sun to work its magic.

After about 20 minutes, we enjoyed our solar cooked lunch.