Exploring with Apples

We are so lucky to live in an area with such amazing resources.  The fact that my son, at almost 2, understands that apples come from trees, not grocery stores, seems simple, but is so exciting to me because it is due to our local environment, and the oppotunities it provides for us.  JJ loves apples, so I decided to do a mini- apple unit this September.

First, we went to the library and borrowed books with an apple theme.  We chose Apple by Gail Gibbons, Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Seuss, Curious George Apple Harvest, and Ten Red Apples by Pat Hutchins.  Ten Red Apples was the hit, and we read it over and over:)

Second, we used apples to make apple prints.  This is very easy we just had to cut an apple in half, stamp half in red, half in green, and JJ stamped them on paper.  He named his artwork "It's Green, It's Red, It's Apple."

JJ was also lucky enough to do apple stamping with his babysitter and best friend.  They do so many fun activities and I enjoy seeing his masterpieces.

Now that JJ was an expert with apples, LOL, I wanted him to see how and where apples grow.  My parents were in town, and we decided to take him apple picking at Seven Ponds Orchard.  He loved it! He was pulling them from the trees, they have dwarf trees there, bagging them, and tasting his crop.  Lots of fun!

Th next day, while I was at work, JJ made both apple sauce and apple pie with my parents.  It was fun for him to see how the apples come from trees, and can be made into new things.

Finally, we wrapped with a fun activity we saw on Pinterest.  I taped some contact paper on our glass door, sticky side up.  This wasn't as easy as Pinterest made it seem.  We drew a tree on it, and JJ used red pom poms to put "apples" on his tree.  I plan on doing the same with vines and orange pompoms for pumpkins.  Lots of fun and pretty easy.

JJ and I had fun working with apples this month.  As a working mother, I love finding these little simple ways for us to learn together.  Looking forward to a pumpkin study in October.  

Happy Fall!

I love this time of year!  Country festivals, apple and pumpkin picking, high school homecoming games, it is all so much fun!  October is my son's birthday too, so with that and Halloween there is so much celebrating to do.  For those of you planning your weekend, please be sure to check out our events calendar.  Here are some top picks.

Friday, September 27

5:30 pm-6:30 pm- Southampton Mariner's Homecoming Parade-Starts at Southampton Elementary on Hampton Road and travels down Main Street and Jobs Lane.

Saturday, September 28

9:00 am-10:00 am- Sag Harbor Whaler's Homecoming Parade- Parade is down Main Street followed by   a float competition at Mash Park

9:00 am- 3:00 pm- Presbyterian Church of the Moriches Country Fair- Corner of Montauk Highway and Railroad Road, Center Moriches

11:00 am- 3:00 pm- Annual Fun Family Day-Sag Harbor Elementary Field

11:00 am -6:00 pm- Southampton Septemberfest- Live music, kid events, food, pumpkin carving, historical reenactments. Here is the link to the schedule .

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm- Flanders Fire Department 65th Anniversary Parade

Sunday, September 29

10:30 am -3:00 pm- Long Island Steamers Public Run Day- If you haven't already, go to this event soon before the season ends.

11:00 am -6:00 pm- Southampton Septemberfest continues

12:00 pm - 4:00 pm- Country Fair- Brendan House, 4079 Sound Avenue, Riverhead

It should also be a great weekend to visit our local farms and wineries, and enjoy the fall festivities.  If you are planning ahead:
10/5- 10/6- San Gennaro Fest of the Hamptons, Hampton Bays
10/5- 10/6- Pumpkinfest 2013, Suffolk County Farm, Yaphank
10/5- Jungle Bob, Quogue Wildlife Refuge, Quogue

Happy Fall!!!!!!

Cartwheel by Target

I wanted to share with you a fairly new program called Cartwheel by Target offering even more opportunities to save. I've been using this program for a few months and i love it!! You can combine cartwheel offers with your coupons!! You are allowed one cartwheel offer with one manufactures coupon and one target coupon on the same item!!! Triple the savings!!!

You will need a Facebook account to earn savings and a smartphone to redeem the savings in the store...for those of you who do not have smartphones, like my mom you can still earn the savings. My mom prints her cartwheel offer barcode out and they scan it at the register just like they would your smartphone...the only difference is that when offers expire or if you want to add more offers you will need to keep printing out a new barcode to shop with.

To access cartwheel you will need to go to cartwheel.target.com on your computer or Mobil device. You can download the cartwheel app for Andriod devices HERE or download it for you iPhone iPad and other apple devices HERE.

Next, you will need to log into your Facebook account, then click on Collections to start browsing thru the offers. You can also use the browse button and sort by category. To select an offer, just tap on the card and it flips over showing a red “add button”. As you select offers, you will fill spots in your Cartwheel. You are automatically given 10 spots to start with and then after that, you can earn more by unlocking Cartwheel badges. These will begin to unlock as you select and redeem offers. If at any time you wish to return to the main menu, just click on the icon in the top left corner. You can remove offers if you change your mind.

When you’re ready to purchase your items and your offers are in your cartwheel, you can either print your Cartwheel barcode from your desktop at home and bring it with you to the store, or you can use the Cartwheel App on your mobile device. To print your barcode, just go to www.cartwheel.target.com and login, then click on your shopping cart and your barcode will come up. If you’re using the Cartwheel app, then just open it to your barcode for the cashier to scan and the savings will be applied directly on all of the Cartwheel offers on your list. If you are bringing a printed barcode from home, be sure to add all your offers to your Cartwheel before you leave or you won’t get the discount.

Cartwheel Policy:

• The Cartwheel discount is taken AFTER Target Coupons and BEFORE manufacturer coupons.

  An IDENTICAL Offer can be applied a maximum of FOUR times in a single Transaction.

  You can redeem all the Cartwheel offers on your Cartwheel list at the time of your transaction, whether its 10 or more (depending if you have unlocked additional spots).

  You can save on your entire Cartwheel list up to 6 times per day.

 

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What's for Dinner

Weekly Recipes 

Presto Pesto!

This week I made pesto with fresh basil from my garden.  Basil is an herb that grows abundantly on the east end this time of year, and pesto is a perfect recipe to use it for.  There are so many things you can use pesto sauce for, some of which I'll include here, and the best thing is pesto can also be frozen in small zip-lock bags to be enjoyed throughout the year, long after summer has ended and your basil has died.  I followed this basic pesto recipe:
http://afewshortcuts.com/2012/07/homemade-pesto/

The first night I added the pesto sauce to thin spaghetti, added 4 cut up grilled sweet Italian sausages, and 1 grilled red pepper.

A few nights later I made a White Pesto Pizza!

Ingredients:

1 tube of Pillsbury thin pizza crust

1/2 cup of ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of pesto sauce

1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese

4-6 slices of thinly sliced prosciutto

2-3 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Grease a cookie sheet and unroll the pizza dough onto it. 

Cook the crust for 5 minutes, the take it out to add other ingredients.

2.  While crust is initially baking, mix ricotta cheese, olive oil, and pesto in a bowl.  When the 5 minutes are up, take the crust out, spread the ricotta mixture on.  /Next sprinkle mozzarella and Parmesan. then tops with torn pieces of prosciutto.  

3.  Bake in the oven for 12-14 minutes, until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly.  The pizza doesn't always look that pretty, but it's so good!

Finally another recipe which I'll be trying for the first time next week, comes from a good friend of the East End Mommies, Michelle Kelly.

Oven Roasted Pesto Potatoes

Michelle adds about 1/4 cup of pesto sauce to 4 cut up potatoes.  After she thoroughly mixes this, she spreads the potatoes in a baking dish, drizzles with some olive oil, then roasts the potatoes for 35-40 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees. 

Any other ideas what to do with pesto?  Please let us know and we'll include your recipe on the blog!

Weekend Picks for July 27-28

While I'm not enjoying the rain, the cool weather was appreciated yesterday.  It was nice to be able to turn off the a/c and open the windows:)  Regardless of the weather, there are lots of fun things to do on the east end this weekend.

Saturday:

• 10:00am-4:00pm- Ladies Village Improvement Society Fair- Beautiful fair in East Hampton marking its 117th year.  Featuring flowers, local fare, vintage clothing, arts and crafts, petting zoo, giant slide, climbing wall, face painting, games, balloons, and a carousel.  There is also a Nerf Ball shoot out for the kids, and a silent auction for the parents.  Located on the lawn of the Gardiner Brown House at 95 Main Street in East Hampton.  Click here for more information.                    

• 11:00am-7:00pm- Country Fest Long Island- This is a two day event (Saturday and Sunday) taking place at the 4H Camp at 3186 Sound Avenue in Riverhead.  Tickets are $10 for adults, and kids under 10 are free.  Tickets are cash only at the door.  There will be live country music, local vendors, crafts, BBQ, games, pony rides, face painting, kids rides, monster trucks, and dace instruction.  You can check out the music schedule here.

• 1:00pm -8:00pm- Quidditch Cup- Bring your Harry Potter fans out to Quogue on Saturday to see the 2nd annual Champagne Cup!  It is free for spectators and the only Muggle Quidditch tournament on Long Island this summer.  Check it out at the VFW field at 125 Montauk Highway in Quogue.

• 4:00 pm-5:00pm- Read aloud with Alec Baldwin- If your Potter fans can't make it to Quogue, Alec Baldwin will be hosting a read aloud at Bookhampton in East Hampton that will be right up their alley.  He will be reading from Harry Potter at 4:00 (get their early, it fills up fast!)  Bookhampton is located at 41 Main Street in East Hampton.

• 6:00pm- Sea Turtle Release- The Riverhead Foundation will be releasing four Atlantic green sea turtles and one Kemp's ridley sea turtle at Ponquogue Beach in Hampton Bays.  Click here for directions.

Sunday:

• 10:30am-3:00pm- Long Island Live Steamers Public Run Day- It's a public run day.  Make sure to catch at least one of these days this summer!   Public Run Days

• 6:00pm-11:00pm- Southampton Kiwanis Bridgehampton Carnival- The Kiwanis Carnival is occurring Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at Sayre Park, 154 Snake Hollow Road in Bridgehampton.  Enjoy food, rides, and games sponsored by the Southampton Kiwanis Club.

Upcoming Week:

There are some great upcoming concerts this week.  Make sure to check out our events calendar on the blog for information about Brady Rymer in Greenport, Darlene Graham in Westhampton Beach, Project Vibe in Southampton, and CMEE's Tuesday Twirligig Performances.  Also, be sure to check out the Hampton Bays Fire Department Carnival happening Tuesday through Sunday this upcoming week!

20% Off Your Entire Purchase at Michaels

This Sunday head over to Michaels for 4 hours only you will receive 20% off your entire purchase including sale items. Offer is valid Sunday 7/21, 3 pm - 7pm.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Weekend Top Picks

A little late today, sorry!  We are still on vacation and I've been very lazy this week. Staying at my parents for two week has made me regress to being a teenager, LOL.  The heat has not helping.  It's been too hot to even go to the beach till late, so we've been doing lots of pool days.  I'm hoping the weather improves this weekend so you can all get out and enjoy some of these events.

Saturday 7/20-

• 10:30am-1:30pm- Children's Museum of the East End's 5th Annual Summer Family Fair-Arts and crafts, water rides, performances, games, music, and food.  $150 per adult, $100 per child.  
• 5:00pm-8:00pm- Harbes Western Farm's Family BBQ- Chuck Wagon style family BBQ dinner featuring pulled pork, ribs, hot dogs, roasted corn, grilled veggies, salads, and dessert.  There will also be hayrides, pony rides, games, a bounce house, and roping lessons.  Tickets are $19.95 for under 12 and $24.95 for adults.
• 9:20pm- The Great Bonac Firework Show.  It's still July and the East End still has fireworks!  Check out East Hampton's 33rd Annual Firework show over Three Mile Harbor.  Best viewing spots are Sammy's Beach, Maidstone Beach, Gann Road, any of the beaches off Hands Creek Road or Springy Banks Road, and at the head of Three Mile Harbor.  Fireworks provided by Grucci.

Sunday 7/21-

• 5:00pm-5:45pm- WonderSpark Puppets- Southampton Center, 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton-Come check out a free puppet show in Southampton for ages 10 and under.  The puppet show is "The Case of the Missing Kitten."
• 6:00pm-8:00pm- Much Ado About Nothing- Shakespeare at Sylvester Manor, 80 North Ferry Road, Shelter Island.  This is my absolute favorite Shakespeare play.  I love the comedic elements and the wedding preparations.  Don't miss a chance to see it performed at this beautiful location.  Shows are both Saturday and Sunday. Doors open at 6:00pm and the show begins at 6:30pm.  Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the gate.  Students are $5 and children under 7 are free. Bring blankets, beach chairs, and a picnic supper.  
• 7:00pm -8:00pm- Project Vibe- Saint Rosalie's Church, 31 E.Montauk Highway, Hampton Bays.  I know we have plenty of Project Vibe fans that read this blog, so I wanted to mention that they will be performing Sunday as part of St. Rosalie's Sundays at 7:00 in the back yard of the Parish Center.  Bring chairs and refreshments.

Upcoming Week:

I wanted to draw attention to all the cool events going on BookHampton this summer.  Every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the various BookHampton locations are inviting children and thier grown-ups to wear the PJs, bring a lovey, and listen to story book classics.  Readings are held at the East Hampton location on Mondays at 7:00pm, Southampton on Tuesdays at 7:00pm, and Mattituck on Wednesdays at 7:00pm.  Here are the upcoming scheduled readings:

7/22-7/24- 500 Hats of Bartholemew Cubbins by Dr. Seuss

7/29-7/31- Cinderella by Charles Perrault and Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole

8/5-8/7- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst and Eloise by Kay Thompson

8/12-8/14- The Story of Mrs. Lovewright and Her Purrless Cat by Lore Segal and Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss

8/19-8/21- Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans and Puss in Boots by Charles Perrault

8/26-8/28- Rumplestiltskin by Charles Perrault and Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perrault

Check out bookhampton.com for these and other events.