Snacks is one the Girl Scout Legacy badges, and one that my troop was quite excited to work on.
Proving once again that I am not as organized as I would like to be, I sent a note to the troop parents the night before our meeting asking that the girls prepare just a little bit of information to share about either a fruit or vegetable (why it's good for us, how it grows, how to tell if it's ready to eat, etc.), or about a "Health Word" - words like vitamins, fat, fiber, etc.
The girls did a really nice job, teaching each other about foods such as carrots and peppers, and about words such as fiber, organic, and antioxidants.
Plus it was a nice chance for them to work on presentation skills, projecting their voice, listening to their peers.
This met the requirements for Jump into the world of snacks (Is the food good for me? and Is the food good for the earth?).
The bulk of our meeting was spent making snacks! And it really held the girls attention. One thing I must do soon is get out to Wegman's and check into their kid's cooking classes. I am sure the girls would love it!
For this meeting, we focused on three things - an international snack (guacamole), an energy snack (chewy granola bars), and a liquid snack (milkshake). When you have 13 girls at a meeting, it's difficult to get everyone involved in each activity, but I think we pulled it off pretty well. There was scooping, mashing, slicing, chopping, dumping, mixing, measuring, and of course, eating!
For Slurp a snack (make your own milk shake), we followed Paula Deen's recipe for a vanilla shake. With extra sugar and vanilla added, this was delicious... though it certainly lost some 'health' benefits.
We also made a Snack for energy (make no-bake energy bar) - chewy granola bar, courtesy of All Recipes. In place of mixed fruit, we used a some Craisins I had sitting around the house, but they are both sweet and chewy, so I think they fit right into the recipe. Because we were limited in time, we placed it in the freezer to set (rather than the recommended one to two hours in the refrigerator). Either the bars needed more time to set or needed to be thicker because some did fall apart as we cut them. Regardless, most of the girls enjoyed this recipe.
Lastly, we made guacamole for Make a savory snack (make a savory snack from a different country).
The recipe was included in the Snack lesson from Girl Scouts - but here it is if you enjoyed the recipe and wanted to try it at home:
6 - 8 avocados, ripe and soft, but not mushy
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1/2 cup tomato, chopped fine
1/2 cup white onions, chopped fine
1 jalapeno
1 teaspoon cumin powder
salt
5 -6 lines, halved.
Directions:
1. Peel and pit avocados. In large mixing bowl, mash avocados one by one with a large fork until fairly smooth.
2. Add cilantro, tomatoes, white onions, jalapeno, cumin, and a few pinches of salt. Mash and mix all of the ingredients.
3. Squeeze the limes into the guacamole one by one, mixing after each one.
4. Taste, and add salt pinch by pinch until it's as salty as you like it. You will probably need about three teaspoons all together.
In the church kitchen, we forgot to add cumin or salt, though the girls seemed to really enjoy the guacamole, served with a thin, crispy tortilla chip.
Some notes - We tried to chop the tomato with my Pampered Chef chopper. the girls all squeezed the limes at once, and it guacamole did end up a little too heavy with lime juice.
There's just one step left, which I asked the girls to work on at home - Try a sweet snack. Ideas here include creating a holiday dessert, making a snack in disguise (something healthy that doesn't appear all that healthy on the surface), or making your own cookies (starting with a traditional base but adding a twist - for example, making chocolate chip dough, but adding dried fruit, candy, etc. instead of chips).
Happy eating everyone!!!
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Computer Expert
The last thing I will claim to be is a computer expert, but luckily, the required activities for girls to earn their Computer Expert patch are not terribly involved.
This is one of three patches that I felt would be best for the girls to do individually, rather than as a group, as the activities lend themselves nicely to a little one-on-one time with a parent or guardian.
The first step is to paint or draw with an art program. We actually completed two of the three choices here:
Paint or draw with an art program - Paint a picture
http://www.onemotion.com/flash/sketch-paint/
Make a connection - Here is my card
With Grandparents Day just around the corner, we took advantage of the opportunity to create a card for our more tech-savy grandparents.
Sites like American Greetings and Hallmark offered the best selections, however, they did not appeal to my thrifty senses. Instead, we settled on Care2 After you create a card, they offer you the opportunity to make a donation to a variety of causes, however, that's not a requirement.
Find some cool facts - All about animals
This step, Find some cool facts, gave us a chance to teach each other. Cathy showed me the various web sites that she uses through the school library to search for information. In turn, I showed her my favorite internet search engine, Google.
After our recent trip to the National Zoo, we chose to learn All about animals, choosing the Giant Panda. The National Zoo is one of just four zoos in the United States to have Giant Pandas and currently features two adults and a one-year old cub, Bao Bao.
This steps requires that you learn five facts about animals that we could share with our friends. Other choices included Hometown history and Online art walk (this would have fit in nicely with the Painter patch the girls earned last year).
Take a trip online - Road trip
Since my brother and I had just been talking about a summer trip to Isle Royale National Park, it seemed like a good time to introduce my daughter to Mapquest. We plotted the drive to and from Houghton, MI - one of a handful of locations where you can catch the ferry from the mainland out to what I affectionately refer to as 'Isolation Island'. Driving distance... roughly 930 miles. More than 15 hours. $150 in gas. I am horrified just thinking about it.
After that, we downloaded Google Earth and explored our neighborhood and elementary school before moving on to recent vacation destinations, favorite amusement parks, and other more prominent locations.
Have more computer fun - Game on!
The final requirement for this patch was actually the easiest one to complete, especially since it's a just about every-day activity here at our house... visit child-friendly game sites and play three games. My little girls spends more time on the Disney Jr. web site, playing with Mickey & friends, Handy Manny, etc.
This is one of three patches that I felt would be best for the girls to do individually, rather than as a group, as the activities lend themselves nicely to a little one-on-one time with a parent or guardian.
The first step is to paint or draw with an art program. We actually completed two of the three choices here:
Paint or draw with an art program - Paint a picture
http://www.onemotion.com/flash/sketch-paint/
Make a connection - Here is my card
With Grandparents Day just around the corner, we took advantage of the opportunity to create a card for our more tech-savy grandparents.
Sites like American Greetings and Hallmark offered the best selections, however, they did not appeal to my thrifty senses. Instead, we settled on Care2 After you create a card, they offer you the opportunity to make a donation to a variety of causes, however, that's not a requirement.
Find some cool facts - All about animals
This step, Find some cool facts, gave us a chance to teach each other. Cathy showed me the various web sites that she uses through the school library to search for information. In turn, I showed her my favorite internet search engine, Google.
After our recent trip to the National Zoo, we chose to learn All about animals, choosing the Giant Panda. The National Zoo is one of just four zoos in the United States to have Giant Pandas and currently features two adults and a one-year old cub, Bao Bao.
This steps requires that you learn five facts about animals that we could share with our friends. Other choices included Hometown history and Online art walk (this would have fit in nicely with the Painter patch the girls earned last year).
Take a trip online - Road trip
Since my brother and I had just been talking about a summer trip to Isle Royale National Park, it seemed like a good time to introduce my daughter to Mapquest. We plotted the drive to and from Houghton, MI - one of a handful of locations where you can catch the ferry from the mainland out to what I affectionately refer to as 'Isolation Island'. Driving distance... roughly 930 miles. More than 15 hours. $150 in gas. I am horrified just thinking about it.
After that, we downloaded Google Earth and explored our neighborhood and elementary school before moving on to recent vacation destinations, favorite amusement parks, and other more prominent locations.
Have more computer fun - Game on!
The final requirement for this patch was actually the easiest one to complete, especially since it's a just about every-day activity here at our house... visit child-friendly game sites and play three games. My little girls spends more time on the Disney Jr. web site, playing with Mickey & friends, Handy Manny, etc.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Brownie Bytes
I love the title Brownie Bytes for this blog... a nice little play on words.
The "Brownie" because this is my second year as a Brownie troop leader, and my fourth year overall with Girl Scouts as an adult leader (I co-lead a third grade troop with a fantastic partner).
"Bytes" I tend to think of as little bits of information. Mostly in a technical sense, but I like the meaning.
Over the year, I'll be posting about our troop's activities and adventures, in part so that the girls in my troop that are unable to attend our meetings have a guide to follow in order to complete their patch activities at home, and in part so that other Brownie troop leaders can find ideas as they plan their own meetings.
Brownie bytes.
The new year officially starts on October 1st, though I do hope to get the girls started a little earlier. Stay tuned, and thanks for checking it out!
The "Brownie" because this is my second year as a Brownie troop leader, and my fourth year overall with Girl Scouts as an adult leader (I co-lead a third grade troop with a fantastic partner).
"Bytes" I tend to think of as little bits of information. Mostly in a technical sense, but I like the meaning.
Over the year, I'll be posting about our troop's activities and adventures, in part so that the girls in my troop that are unable to attend our meetings have a guide to follow in order to complete their patch activities at home, and in part so that other Brownie troop leaders can find ideas as they plan their own meetings.
Brownie bytes.
The new year officially starts on October 1st, though I do hope to get the girls started a little earlier. Stay tuned, and thanks for checking it out!
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