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If you haven’t gotten into the American Girl collection, then you need to.  Even boys will enjoy these books.  I remember when these books came out, and Addy was the first American Girl I read about and fell in love with.  When I saw these books at the library, I snatched them up.  We’ve been reading them a chapter at a time, then discussing it afterwards.  The kids really have a hard time understanding slavery. (Quite frankly, so do I.)  They just cannot imagine why someone would consider another person “less human” or “not human” because of their color.  We’re all the same race…. HUMAN!

Soon, we’ll visit an old plantation that is paused in this time period.  We’ll get to watch the workers do what they do (milk cows, make butter, repair building without power tools), eat authentic food for the period and culture (creole/cajun…mm), and (hey hey!) browse through the gift shop. I hope to do that within the next couple weeks.

Here are some of the cool crafts we saw at the Children’s Museum in Baton Rouge. I was inspired!

Sometimes we aren’t able to get out of the house, so our field trips often take place indoors.  We love playing pretend, and so, on this field trip, we were all professional chefs in the McGoobie Kitchen (that’s the name we decided on for our restaurant). 

The McGoobie chefs voted to make jambalaya (with andouille sausage).  I love it because it doesn’t require too many dishes (less clean up) and makes a great one-pot meal (because it includes meat, vegetables, and grains)!

The Mohawked McGoobie was in charge of placing the andouille in the pan.  Merika McGoobie cut up vegetables (bellpeppers and onions) with my assistance before we dumped in sliced okra and minced garlic along with a can of organic diced tomatoes (optional). Meanwhile, a pot of rice bubbled to tender perfection.

The Head Chef (that’s me) gathered bowls from the cupboard.  Keagan and I set the table while the pot of jambalaya simmered.  (Okay, I set the table. He slobbered on my spoon.)

By the way, a good way to de-slime okra is to cook it (by itself) with a little vinegar, then rinse it after a couple minutes. If you don’t have vinegar, like juice will do just fine.  Rinsing with water, then continuing to cook it for a bit longer, will wash away the tart taste.

The Jambalaya at the McGoobie Kitchen was rated 2 thumbs and 2 big toes up.  It’s a favorite around here!  Just load up your bowl with rice and spoon the jambalaya over it.  We keep the rice and “soup” part of it separate so the rice doesn’t get too mushy if we happen to have leftovers to set aside.  We usually serve it with saltine crackers, which are a staple in our household!

Baby Keagan will likely grow up to be an essential part of the McGoobie kitchen, as he often has front row seating when it comes to our cooking productions.

See…

If you wear your baby while cooking, please be extremely careful.  Make sure you aren’t cooking anything that splatters (like bacon).  Also, pay attention to what your baby is doing.  You don’t want him sticking his hands or feet into any pots or pans or pulling them off of the burners!  You could also wrap your child on your back, which is much safer.