Recipes from Around the World (Blogging Through The Alphabet)

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After so many years of homeschooling, I've had plenty of opportunities to try curriculum and explore all kinds of resources, so during this Blogging Through the Alphabet tour, I'm highlighting some of the many homeschooling resources that have been stand-outs. Sometimes it will be a walk down memory lane as I share something we enjoyed many years ago, and sometimes it will be something we're using currently. Sometimes I'll focus on a specific curriculum, and sometimes on a subject area. And I imagine I'll have to be a bit creative with a couple letters of the alphabet! This week I'm sharing how we've added some fun and creativity to our studies by using Recipes from Around the World.

Way back when my kids were little, we did things like having a medieval feast during our study of the Middle Ages, or trying pemmican and hardtack biscuits when we studied the journey of Lewis and Clark. More recently, we tried to include foods from around the world as we studied geography and history. We spent one year focusing on the history and geography of the Americas and although we fell short of the lofty goal I'd set, we still had a lot of fun with our Eating the Americas project. Then when Kennady started her Cultural Geography study we spent a year focused on Europe, which prompted A Taste of Europe and European Bread Basket as we tried a whole new set of recipes. Here are some of the highlights and links to my original posts where you'll find those recipes. And of course, the resources we found most helpful.


(Find all the Eating the Americas posts!)

Recipes we tried from South America that stood out were things like Coca-Cola rice from Colombia, Ecuadorian potato cakes, Alfajores, Trini Stew Chicken and Orange Rice, and Pasta Frola. We enjoyed hot dogs Uruguayan style with salsa golf, and our culinary visit to Argentina and Bolivia introduced us to the wonders of Fried Cheese.

Eating the Americas - Alfajores

Eating the Americas - Trinidad and Tobago (Trini Stew Chicken and Orange Rice)

Eating the Americas - Pasta Frola

North and Central America gave us winners like Guatemalan Hot Cocoa, Cuban sandwiches, and Caribbean Tres Leches Cake. We revisited favorites from Canada like Poutine, Nanaimo Bars, and French-Canadian Tourtiere.

Eating the Americas - Guatemalan Hot Cocoa

Eating the Americas - Poutine

Eating the Americas - Nanaimo Bars

So what IS a Nanaimo Bar? It's a three-layer dessert bar, believed to have originated in the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia.

French-Canadian Tourtiere

Tourtiere is a French-Canadian meat pie that originated in Quebec. Variations of the dish are also common in other French-Canadian areas, such as St Boniface in Manitoba, as well as in many parts of New England.

 (Find all the A Taste of Europe and European Bread Basket posts!)

We enjoyed so many amazing foods from Europe! Shortbread, scones, Chelsea buns, Barm Brack, and Irish soda bread from the United Kingdom and Ireland; Chicken and Feta Pie from Greece; Chicken Cordon Bleu, baguettes, Croque Monsieur, and Bifteck Hache from France; Tomato Parmesan bread and delicious past dishes from Italy; Macedonian pizza; Chicken Paprika from Hungary; Slovakian-style Garlic Bread; Chicken Kiev from Ukraine; Tapas from Spain; and so much more!

A Taste of Europe - Greece

Middle School Monday - France

A Taste of Europe - Adding Some French Flair to American Fare (our recipes for Croque Monsieur and Bifteck Hache)

Now you tell me which sounds classier - "Hot Hamburg Sammich" or "Bifteck Hache". Yeah, even if you mess up the pronunciation of the French one, it's still FRENCH. And that somehow makes it better. And less subject to criticism from the monsieur. Like this:
Monsieur: What's for dinner, and how soon will it be ready?
Madame: Bifteck Hache - dinner is at 6.
Monsieur: says nothing, because he is anticipating a fancy French dinner.

A Taste of Europe - Chicken Kiev

And in From the High School Lesson Book - Rosh Hashanah I added some traditional Challah to our European Bread Basket too.

Challah isn't hard to bake from scratch, especially if you use the techniques and recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

Our post about Hamentaschen was well before either of these ongoing projects, but I included it here because it's one of the recipes suggested by the middle school textbook America the Beautiful because the baking and sharing of these cookies has been an important part of Purim celebrations by Jewish immigrants to America.

And I promised to share some of our favorite resources for the recipes too! Here they are - starting with the wonderful website  Global Table Adventure. I found a lot of our recipes there, as well as fascinating background information and just entertaining writing! The cookbooks I turned to over and over were:

Eat Your Way Around the World by Jamie Aramini

Emeril's There's a Chef in My World! by Emeril Lagasse

The 2nd International Cookbook for Kids by Matthew Locricchio

Passport on a Plate: A Round-the-World Cookbook for Children by Diane Simone Vezza
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois
Holidays of the World Cookbook for Students (Cookbooks for Students) by Lois Sinaiko Webb

    

    

Blogging Through the Alphabet again? Yes, I'm taking the challenge, along with several other Crew members, including our three co-hosts for this round - Amanda at Hopkins Homeschool, DaLynn at Biblical Womanhood, and Kirsten at DoodleMom's Homeschooling Life. The link is open from Thursday to Wednesday each week, so join in if you'd like!

This post is linked at Blogging Through the Alphabet for Week 18, Letter R.

This post is part of a #breakthrulinkup  at Breakthrough Homeschooling - Join us! It's also linked at a weekly recipe link-up hosted by A Net In Time; at the Encouraging Hearts & Home Blog Hop hosted by Apron Strings & Other Things, and at the Homeschool Linky Party on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.

  

  

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