Cheese Sticks and Math

While cheese sticks and math really have nothing to do with each other, they are what is on my mind today. Cheese sticks because they are very tasty and I have a recipe for homemade cheese sticks to share today and math because we have seen tears and cheers this week over it already.

Yesterday Keelin had the light bulb come on in math, she finally, without a doubt, gets how to share when adding large numbers. She really gets it and can occasionally add the numbers up in her head. I always tell her, "this is what your brain was made for, I know you can understand this". Now all I have to do is have her keep practicing adding those big numbers so she doesn't lose her new found knowledge and then move her on to borrowing (subtracting).

We are doing Singapore Math this year, which really emphasizes "whole math" understanding and being able to apply what you are learning. Not just knowing how to do the steps, but WHY it works the way it does. When you put the little "1" above the next column when adding, why do you do it? Singapore Math makes sure they understand that. And Keelin understands that now and I am so thankful.

So that is where our cheers came from in math, tears continue to come when facing math with Katina. Sometimes the tears are literal, but most of the time they are just figurative and I am sure we both wish we could just sit there and cry every day over math.

Now that we are past basic math and moving on to pre-algebra, I am finding it even more difficult to help Katina understand WHY she has to learn math. Beyond basic math is there really any use for math in every day life? When and why do you need to find the LCM (least common multiple) for anything in life? At this point I myself could use a book to help her understand WHY it is important, beyond the fact that it is required by the state to graduate.

I did try to explain to her that learning higher level math actually helps expand the rest of her brain. I tried to explain that because she is so talented in art and music learning math will actually improve those skills even more, based purely on the fact it helps strengthen her brain.

She did not go for any of it. In fact, I think it made her more upset.

I for one do not think she is bad at math. She just hates doing it. She has struggled for the past 4 years to enjoy anything about math. I have done everything I can think of to make it seem "fun", but maybe I fail because I am not really sure myself what is fun about math. My own journey with math has been a love hate relationship.

There was a time when I just did math, because I had to, then I got to a point where I really understood and excelled at math and all I wanted to do was show people I was actually good at it! Then I got to college and I really struggled with math again. After the second try with a college math class I passed with a B. Fast forward 10 years I found myself needing to take Statistics and I pulled out another B. Of course with Statistics it was just being able to use the right formula at the right time.

So I am really at a loss on how to help her like math. In the mean time we will just keep trudging through each day of math and hopefully some day it will click in her brain, like it did mine, and she will at least be able to tolerate it more then she does now. Of course if anyone has any other ideas for me, I would LOVE to hear them.

Now on to the cheese sticks.

I found the recipe a couple months ago while looking for a way to do homemade cheese sticks for Elise's 6th birthday party. Costco sells a giant box of yummy cheese sticks, but only 2-3 months out of the year. For my family, that isn't nearly often enough. During the rest of the year you have to pay an arm and a leg for cheese sticks, not something I want to do.

So I came across this recipe and sadly I can't give credit where credit is do because all I did was scribble down the recipe without noting where I found it.

It is simple, and because of that, I am going to make some for lunch today!

Start off with string cheese sticks (I just buy the bulk string cheese from Costco).

Chop each cheese stick in half.
Lightly coat in flour.
In another dish mix a splash of milk into a couple of eggs.
Dip the flour coated cheese stick into the egg/milk mixture and coat completely.
Next coat each stick in Planko crumb mix
Place the sticks on a cookies sheet and place in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.
When you are ready just pull the sticks out and fry them in oil.

It is that simple.

A few notes:
The reason you freeze them is to help them not ooze so much while cooking, it is truly the secret ingredient in the whole recipe, freezing air. I tried using italian bread crumbs in place of the planko crumbs and it worked just fine. I imagine you can go crazy and try all sorts of different coatings. So far I have fried them in my deep fryer in corn oil, but today I will be frying them on the stove in olive oil instead (my oil of choice). I am also wondering how they would hold up if I bake them, like you can do with normal store bought cheese sticks. I may try that as well today, but if you decide to try it before me, let me know how they turn out in the oven.

Split Pea and Wild Rice Soup

Here is the recipe I promised yesterday.

The recipe title is a bit deceptive because it only says "wild" rice. I actually used a rice mixture I purchased from Costco earlier in the year, but they aren't currently carrying. It has red rice and brown rice in it, in addition to the wild rice.

When I want to make the recipe again I will most likely either use just wild rice or wild rice and brown rice, unless Costco is carrying the rice mix again.

Here is what I used:

9 cups chicken broth
1 lb dry green split peas
1 cup rice mix
1 Tablespoon onion powder (could use one onion chopped)
1 teaspoon garlic granules (could use 1 minced garlic clove)


I then cooked it on high pressure for 20 minutes in my pressure cooker. I really think this could be done on low in a slow cooker as well.

One note, the day after when we reheated it, it was VERY thick. I could have thinned it back down with some more chicken broth, but I didn't. I ate it like it was a casserole instead. Next time I might try to either reduce the amount of peas and rice or increase the amount of broth. Let me know if you try it with more broth and get leftovers that are more soup like.

A Start

So I have decided to start blogging again. When I told Katina, she asked me what I would be blogging about. So I will share that with you as well. What am I going to blog about? Well, everything.

What better to write about than everything that goes on in our lives?

OK, so no, not really everything, just the more interesting things that happen. Like today, I created a math "thing" to help Keelin understand how to borrow and regroup in Singapore Math (our math of choice this year and hopefully all the home school years to come).

I also created a very yummy Split Pea and Costco Harvest Rice mix soup in my pressure cooker. It was simple and very delicious and I will share that with everyone tomorrow, when I have another bowl of it for lunch.

Here are some pictures of the Place Value mat that I created for Keelin using a piece of paper and a marker, some transparent colored math markers and a dry erase marker.








Hopefully my posts will get better (and more exciting) as I blog more and learn how to use this blogger.com software....or find something better to use instead.