Cheese Bread (Pão de Queijo) Recipe!

If you have ever been to a Brazilian Steak House and tried those little "cheese breads" also known as Pão de Queijo and you liked or even loved it, here's a recipe you can easily make!

I simply love these "cheese breads" and I got his recipe from my Mom in Brazil!

Ingredients:

- 2 cups of Tapioca flour

- 1 cup of milk

- 1/2 cup of oil (any type)

- 2 eggs

- 2 slices of mozzarella

- salt to taste 

How to make it:

1. Add all ingredients in a blender, then transfer the mixture to muffin pan, fill each muffin cup about 2/3 full. Bake in a preheated oven (430 F) for 15-20 minutes. Let it cool down and enjoy it!!!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Popsicle Sticks Snowflake!

I would say this is a great and fun activity for those brutal cold days we are having lately. Almost every house that has little ones have popsicle sticks at home, so let's get to it!

We started by painting the sticks, we painted an extra set to have it ready to go for another time. Little V said it had to be white as the snow is white, but I wanted mine blue!

Next, I glued them with hot glue and they were then ready to be decorated!

Some beads, some glitter...

Anything you think would be fun to add it, go on and add it!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Hip Hip Hooray - little V is 100 days smarter today!

This is year we decided to celebrate the 100 Days of School. I've seen so many cool ideas on Pinterest and decided to give some of it a try! After our regular activities we did some fun ones...

She counted the shapes inside the 100 number. I got this activity from fun-in-first.blogspot.com.

Then, we started to decorate the 100 glasses, that I found at livinglaughingandloving.com. I printed the template on white cardboard and let little V decorate it as she fancied it.

Then, to add to the joy of the milestone achieved, she received a certificate and very yummy cupcakes!

Here is my little V 100 days smarter and Mom is happy as she could be!!!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

What's the difference between Sea Lions and Seals?

The difference between Sea Lion and Seals were among many things we learned in our Field Trip to Shedd Aquarium.

When we go in a field trip, if you are not taking notes it can be really hard to remember many of the things we learned, so we did a little research to make sure we really learned the difference between Sea Lions and Seals.

Our online research helped us to learn these basic differences:

- Sea Lions: bark loudly, "walk"on land using their large flippers and have visible ear flaps.

- Seals: have small flippers, wriggle on their bellies on land, and lack visible ear flaps. 

Veja a Ervilhinha trabalhando no relatório:

Would you like now,  to watch a short video of a Sea Lion "walking" on land?

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Beluga Whale - Shedd Aquarium Field Trip

A few weeks ago, little V and I got an opportunity to visit the Shedd Aquarium here in Chicago with two friends, so we took advantage of this and made it a field trip - our big thank you to the friend who made it possible for us to have the whole experience there at no cost whatsoever.

As soon as we arrived we headed to the Aquatic Show, as the next exhibition was about to start. It was exciting, getting to know more facts about the different animals that were part of the exhibit, and today's post I'll focus on the Beluga Whale!

The Beluga Whale, also known as White Whale, is an arctic and sub-arctic cetacean. It does not have a dorsal fin and it has a distinct protuberance at the front of its head. All these facts, little V learned through a little research we made, very simple, just enough information for her age.

Now, a little fun, let's watch a quick video I recorded during the show so you can hear how loud these whales can be! Visit the Shedd Aquarium website, and for those who reside in Illinois, check the dates you can visit it for free and plan your own field or family trip!

* This post is not sponsored by Shedd Aquarium, I just shared what we enjoyed about our trip to this location.

Hope you enjoyed our post today!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Skip Counting by 10's - Flashcards

Hello, today we will check little V working on her skipping counting by 10's flashcards. I do like working with the flashcards whenever it's possible, a great tool for those who are visual learners. These flashcards we are using are from confessionsofahomeschooler, part of her K4 Curriculum. 

First, we go over the flashcards to review how to skip count by 10's and then I place all of them on the table so little V can organize them in order from the least to the greatest.

Job well done, huh?

Want to watch her in action?

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Snowflake Pattern!

We love pattern blocks and how fun to have our little ones making snowflakes with the pattern blocks! I found some snowflake patterns at the Prekinders webpage, and I knew right away little V would have lots of fun using these patterns.

First, little V completes the pattern with the model sheet on the magnetic board.

Once, she completed the figure then I take the model sheet and now she has to re-create the figure straight on the magnetic board. 

I'm so glad we found these patterns, as little V had done all of the patterns that come with the Melissa & Doug Pattern Block case. 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Greatest Composers - George F. Handel Unit

Our World's Greatest Composers Curriculum choice is excellent, we love all activities from it and below you'll be able to see little V working on some of the activities. It was great to learn more about George F. Handel, who is regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Baroque Era. We got to hear some of his greatest compositions such as Israel in Egypt,  Messiah and many others indicated in the curriculum.

In the picture below you can see little V circling the instruments she can recognized that are being played in the music chosen for the lesson.

Here she is writing a few facts about George F. Handel life.

 Little V got to draw a portrait of George F. Handel, doesn't he look charming?

Also, she got to put together a  puzzle of him while listening to one of  his compositions!

Wish I had that much fun learning about music in school!!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Cream of Corn Chicken Recipe!

This recipe is on the top 10 favorites in my house! Easy and super quick to make and goes well with plain white rice!! Let's get to it, shall we?

Ingredients:

- 2 tbsp of olive oil
- 2 large chicken breasts (cut into stripes)
- 1 bag of frozen corn
- 2 tbsp of corn starch
- chicken bullion dissolved into 1 cup of water, or 1 cup of chicken stock
- 2 1/2 cups of milk
- salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Brown the chicken in an appropriate size frying pan.

2. Once the chicken is browned, add the chicken stock and let it cook for about 5 minutes. Then, add the corn, and the milk and let it cook for another 5 minutes (times may vary depending on the size of the chicken, make sure the internal temperature reaches 165 F).

3. Now, dissolve the corn starch in water and add to the frying pan, lower the heat and let it simmer for another 5 minutes. Make sure you stir it constantly as the corn starch will thicken the sauce and it might burn it. Once you see the sauce acquired the desired the creamy consistency it's ready!

I usually serve with plain white rice and a salad!

I'm by no means a professional cook nor a recipe writer, but I do love to share things I learned, so if  you have any questions regarding this recipe either write a comment below or send me your question through the contact form on the right side bar. 

Hope you have  a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

C or K activity!

So, little V was learning how to choose between K and C at the beginning of words with the "K" sound. There's an awesome rule to help to remember:

C followed by e, i and y make the sound "s"

C followed by a, o, u, l, r make the sound "k"

Add a melody to the rule and your child will never forget it!

To add an extra activity and some variety to it, I typed the words she was practicing and she had to stamp which letter was appropriate.

Fun little activity!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Picasso - Mini-book

For each artist there's a mini-book to be filled out, regarding the artist's paintings and what type of mediums used. Here you can see little V working on Picasso mini-book:

Basically, she is matching the name of the painting with the picture of the painting, once she matched she can write about the type of medium used. in the book you can also find information regarding where the actual painting is located today, so in case you ever want to visit and see it in person.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki

Egg Muffin Recipe!

I was in search of something healthy and quick to make, and kind of on the go food for the breakfast as we were having our CO visit. So I found these egg muffins, and decided to give it a try... of course I used what I had at home.

I fried some bacon, then chopped it finely after it was done...

Chopped some spinach and mushrooms too... you can see little V hands fluffing the spinach (she just needed to touch it)...

I used 6 eggs to beat with salt and ground pepper to taste, then added all the ingredients to the muffin pan sprayed with cooking spray.

Topped it all with some grated shredded cheese.

Bake it for 20-25 minutes (depending on what ingredients you have), on a preheated oven at 375 F.

That's it!!! My healthy and quick to make breakfast on the go.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Vanessa Z. Pawlicki