I Can't Believe It's Not Butter

 I'm writing yesterday's post today over a massive oversized mug of coffee because Mondays are hard, you guys. 

We started our second week in our homeschool adventure today. It's going well, though I'm missing my quiet mornings wrapped up in a blanket drinking coffee while I unceremoniously kick the boys out on the street to catch the school bus. Now I'm sitting on my dining chair drinking coffee while I unceremoniously kick the boys out on the street to run a mile before class starts, because exercise is good for the brain and all that, and also just get out of my face for ten minutes so that the coffee can kick in. 

The entire school year is based around the early Settlers and I like it. It's got all sorts of interesting little tidbits, like reading off and copying a few of George Washington's "rules" of his youth that are dumbfoundedly relevant to present day and especially my kids in the present day, like "pay attention when people speak" (*ahem* Camden) and "wait for the right time to add your comments (*ahem* CALEN!). 

I wonder if good ol' George will have a rule coming up that says "Limit your word count for each day", that Calen can take a hint on. Also maybe one about "Stop talking about Legend of Zelda 24 hours a day because I literally can't even, Camden". 

Anyways.

We were reading some book about a settler and during his travel he was eating something called "Johnnybread". I had never heard of this before so of course I run to Google to try and explain it better. And wouldn't you know that there was a Pinterest recipe for Johnnybread, that required only like 4 ingredients and no yeast? Also it was recommended to be accompanied by another traditional New England pioneer treat and fall favorite, apple butter?!

I'm in. Class is cancelled on pause. Let's bake something. 

The biscuits were so simple, I thought they might not taste good. Flour, sugar, water, baking powder, (or coconut milk, as these are now a popular Caribbean snack). You add it all together and knead dough into balls, and slap them on a cookie sheet and bake. They don't really rise, or change in color, or anything. In the book we had read, the boy wasn't really excited about Johnnycakes either. We'll see.

Meanwhile, we cut up some apples and cooked them on the stovetop, in which I died a little inside because apples are so expensive here that cooking any of them down is almost a cardinal sin. But we did it anyways, because screw it, it's fall. Then we blended the cooked apples up and poured them back into the saucepan, added a crapload of brown sugar, and stirred. And stirred, and stirred, and stirred, until it's a little thicker than applesauce.

RIP stupid expensive apples

Really, apple butter isn't butter at all! This surprised me, but I didn't know what I was expecting, like to churn the applesauce into butter or something.

The Johnnybread actually is kind of delicious, in an overcooked biscuit sort of way. But I love bread the way Oprah loves bread, so it wouldn't take much for me to declare it delicious. And then slap a glob of freshly made, warm apple butter on top, and holey moley, it's a fall delicacy. And it counts for science class for the day thrown in with some history. Triple win here!

The boys declared it two thumbs up. The apple butter is extremely sweet so they preferred less of it with their bread, I on the other hand drowned my biscuit in it. 

Now they expect us to cook every day, which is totally not happening, except I found cranberry orange muffin mix at Walmart this evening, so maybe it is. 

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