Florida Fun!

John has been such a fabulous partner in homeschooling.  Our Florida study would not be nearly as fun and interesting without him and all his hard work this week.  He chose the recipes for this meal and made them, except the Key Lime Pie, the recipe for which I received from a lady in Florida.  I think the next time I make the Key Lime Pie, I'll make it a little bit healthier with just homemade whipped cream, which would make it a tad healthier and more dense.  But this light, fluffy version was really nice too!  The Key Lime pies I tried in Key West were a lot thinner and more dense, but I liked this quite a bit more.

 

Squeezing the limes was quite a chore.  We finally got 1/4 cup of juice and Josiah spilled the whole thing!

 John got home from work and started cooking the shrimp.  Ooooh it was so good!

 We also made sautéed corn, spinach bacon and scallions, a recipe from a book my Aunt Vicky got me for Christmas, The Mom 100 Cookbook by Katie Workman.

 The kids all loved the shrimp and Key Lime Pie.  Owen was not a fan of the corn side dish.  He is just not a veggie eater yet.  :( 

Today, we had a picnic on the "beach."  Then the kids changed into their swimsuits and "went swimming."  We listened to ocean sounds on our Sonos system.  It was a lot of fun pretending with the kids!  They left all their food downstairs on the floor while they went up to change and I told them the sea gulls were eating their food.  Josiah came down screaming at the "sea gulls."  Ha!  They were totally into it.  Our meal last night was "on the Gulf" (it was Gulf Coast Shrimp), but our picnic today was near Miami (the waves we listened to were bigger and noisier).

We also decorated our dining area with palm trees, mockingbirds, orange blossoms, FL maps, and the Florida flag.  We watched a couple Florida/Gulf Coast cooking shows and learned a bit about Haiti and Cuba as well.  We read books about Florida sea creatures (shrimp, manatees, jellyfish, sharks), Florida in general, Haitian culture, beaches, and coastal wildlife. 

Next up, we will start learning about the Seminoles, pioneers and farming in Florida.  We will be making Indian Fry Bread and Indian Tacos, and soaking some cornmeal a little similar to the way Seminoles would have done hundreds of years ago. 

Maybe next week we will move on to Louisiana and try out some Gumbo or Jambalaya.  But you know, I'm kind of wanting to take a break from the States and spend some time learning about Cuba (because I need a Cuban sandwich ASAP!).