Enjoy Traditions?

Good Morning!

Just grabbing some "scribe" time in before the craziness of the morning carpool drop off starts. I also have Baby Val's 9 month well baby checkup at 9:15am. I need to prepare myself - SHOTS. She'll be very uncomfortable today, poor baby.

A few weeks ago, I blogged about my love for seasonal traditions. I wrote about some new ones I was trying for this Lenten season to make Easter more exciting. Sure, we LOVE the Easter Bunny here, but I love exploring our faith with our family too to embrace the season further. We've been doing the bean jar and toothpick crown, and Lovely has enjoyed these visual behavior aids. My other goal (before I got sick) was to do more baking and cooking projects, both for meatless Fridays, and just throughout the 40 days and into next week as we approach Easter. I didn't get to them, but I'm better now and we will! It isn't too late, and make for great kid conversation as they are made. I thought I'd post them here in case anyone wants to give them a try. I may not make them all, but we'll do our best to do a few! You could simply make the foods or treats and enjoy the outcome, or talk about their symbolism in depth with your kids as their ages and understanding allow. If you do make them, let me know how they turned out!!

Pretzels - I'll quote below:

Traditionally, the pretzel was only eaten during Lent. It is available all year round now, but before it became a popular snack food it was available from Ash Wednesday to Good Friday. There are records of Lenten pretzels in a 5th century manuscript in the Vatican Library. Early Christians ate no dairy products during Lent, so pretzels were made from the simplest of ingredients - flour, salt, and water. It is made in the shape of two arms crossed in prayer. The origin of the name comes from the word "bracellae" (little arms). In German it became "Bretzel" which then changed to "Pretzel".

1 tablespoon
honey or sugar
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1 envelope active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour (Recipe says "I make mine with half white, half whole wheat sometimes")
Coarse or kosher salt
1 egg, beaten

Add the honey to the water; sprinkle in the yeast and stir until dissolved. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Blend in flour, and knead the dough until smooth. Cut the dough into pieces. Roll them into ropes and twist into pretzel shapes. Place pretzels on lightly greased cookie sheet. Brush them with beaten egg. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake at 425 for 12 - 15 minutes - or until the pretzels are golden brown.

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Hot Cross Buns

Click here for the long recipe Remember the old nursery rhyme? Click here for the music and lyrics (though I had trouble hearing the melody lol). This traditional bread/roll goes back a LONG way.


Resurrection Rolls (my FL girlfriend sent these to me, and then they are also listed here)

These are NEAT sweet rolls. When you make them, they are solid. When they are done, they are hollow!! A great visual wonder for little children about how Jesus was there, then was gone and RISEN! I know many of my reader friends may not have children old enough for the lessons written in the recipes, so you can totally lighten it up as you need. The end result (God's love) is the most important anyways!!!

Ingredients:

	1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough
	8 large marshmallows
	Melted butter
	Cinnamon
	Sugar

Directions:

	Give each child one triangle shaped section of crescent roll. This represents the tomb.
	Each child takes one marshmallow which represents the body of Christ.
	Dip the marshmallow in the butter and roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture. This represents the oils and spices the body was anointed with upon burial.
	Lay the marshmallow on the dough and carefully wrap it around the marshmallow.
	Make sure all seams are pinched together well. (Otherwise the marshmallow will "ooze" out of the seams)
	Bake according to package directions.
	Cool.
	Break open the tomb and the body of Christ is no longer there!!
	Celebrate God's love!

Resurrection Cookies

Much like the rolls above and this can be additional fun, as you "seal" your oven, turn it off, and let the cookies sit over night inside and by morning they are "empty" inside and are more of a taste journey and very Lenten. The accompanying step by step could be too much for certain ages of children, but again....you can focus on the details you all can handle best. Again, the end result, the cookie being hollow, shows the excitement and joy of the Easter Season.

1 cup whole pecans
1 tsp vinegar, plus some for your children to taste
3 egg whites
pinch salt, plus some for your children to taste
1 cup sugar, plus some for your children to taste

Tools: rolling pin or wooden spoon, plastic baggie with a zipper-lock, scotch tape, Children's Story Bible (To see the long recipe and teaching points - click here and scroll to read).

I'm sure I'll stumble on more. Google is amazing for searching :) I'll post anything else I find! Again, aside from pretzel making, I have never made anything above, so we'll see what happens at our house. If you see fire or smoke, call 911!!! hehe!!