happy birdycake: homemade butter and orecchiette

Honeypie and I have been reading "My first little house books" by Laura Ingalls Wilder, which are smaller versions, more picture based stories taken from the "Little house on the prairie" books and we love them!

They are a great introduction for little ones into the life during the prairie/ pioneer times in the woods of Wisconsin and I can't wait until Honeypie is ready for the chapter books.

Today I am mary (not Ma) and she is Laura. Baby Carrie is sleeping in a crib in the other room and we can't wake her! Ma has told us our job is to make the butter, so off we go to do some kind-of butter churning...

(These are the ingredients plus a marble you toss in for easier shakin'!)

Shake ...shake...shake... (for a looooong time) maybe 15 minutes...

Its getting there...

All Done!

Delicious!

And now for some Homemade pasta dough... nothing to do with pioneer times but we want that butter with a little parmesan cheese on top of Orecchiette!

(By the way a great pasta to make with little hands! Honeypie had alot of fun making them all by herself!!!)

Add 2 cups of flour

(i used half white and half whole wheat which makes for a slightly denser pasta which will need to cook a bit longer)

Blend both flours

Add 3 eggs

A nice pinch of salt

a tablespoon of olive oil

Begin mixing the dough. (Add a little bit of water if the dough is not soft enough)

When the dough forms nicely into a ball... have your little one pinch a bit off the size of a marble. Roll it into a tiny ball and then press it between thumb and finger to form a dent like an ear... thus the name orecchiette...italian for ear, which is a fun little fact for little ones.