Bread and Butter

 (Links are in yellow)
This past week, the kids and I tried our hand at making butter. I had seen several recipes on Pinterest lately, but with their recent interest in homesteading {thanks to our newest read, Little House in the Big Woods}, I thought we'd give it a go. Turns out it was super easy and came together in about twenty minutes. Since the kitchen was already messy, we whipped up some homemade biscuits too, tossed together a quick salad, and made lunch out of it. Reading, science, math, nutrition, lunch, and homemaking in an hour=THIS is homeschool!

While things were mixing, I had prepared to discuss why and how the cream would change by mixing it buuuuuuut they seemed more interested in watching and tasting along the way. So we went with it.

About minute ten, our mixture went from questionable to exclamations of, "BUTTER!!"

Our finished butter ball and buttermilk. And Judah's trademark pondering lip pulling, of course. I imagine he was thinking that this in no way looked like lunch.

All things considered, it was a fun project AND we got to use up the end result. Here's the butter recipe we used in case you want to give it a try! And in case you're in need of a good biscuit recipe, here's our favorite: 

Cornmeal Biscuits

2 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup cornmeal

4 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp shortening

3/4 cup cream, milk (or buttermilk from your butter)

1 egg

Sift together dry ingredients, cut in butter and shortening. In separate bowl, combine milk and egg. Add to dry ingredients. With floured hands and surface, shape dough into a ball and flatten into a disk shape. Use biscuit cutter or I like to cut mine into 8 wedges so as not to waste any dough. Bake at 375 for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown on bottom.

:2 cups flour4 tsp baking powder¼ tsp salt1/3 cup sugar4 T butter2 T shortening¾ cup heavy cream1 eggHandful of cinnamon chips.  Sift together dry ingredients.  Cut in the butter and shortening.  In a separate bowl, beat cream and egg.  Add to the dry ingredients.  Stir in cinnamon chips.  With floured hands, shape dough into a ball and lay out onto a floured surface. Flatten into a disk.  Cut into 8 even wedges using a pizza cutter. Place individual scones onto a baking sheet covered in foil {for easy cleanup}.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. - See more at: http://www.itakejoy.com/scones-to-die-for/#sthash.V7RNtkSM.dpuf

:2 cups flour4 tsp baking powder¼ tsp salt1/3 cup sugar4 T butter2 T shortening¾ cup heavy cream1 eggHandful of cinnamon chips.  Sift together dry ingredients.  Cut in the butter and shortening.  In a separate bowl, beat cream and egg.  Add to the dry ingredients.  Stir in cinnamon chips.  With floured hands, shape dough into a ball and lay out onto a floured surface. Flatten into a disk.  Cut into 8 even wedges using a pizza cutter. Place individual scones onto a baking sheet covered in foil {for easy cleanup}.  Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown. - See more at: http://www.itakejoy.com/scones-to-die-for/#sthash.V7RNtkSM.dpuf