Thank You!

A HUGE thank you to our friends and neighbors for their generous support of our Harvey Relief Lemonade Stand!!  In just two hours, the kids raised $155 from lemonade, blueberry bars (with fresh blueberries mixed into the jam), and chocolate chip bars--our lemonade-stand staples.  So many people made donations above and beyond our prices!  It really was very touching.  The money will go to the Houston Food Bank and Houston SPCA.  (They started with just the pets, but we decided we needed to help people, too!  As a family, we've also given to Global Giving, the Texas SPCA, and the #underpantsfairies.)

It was a lovely day.  Bright with a cool breeze, our Texas flag flapping to attract attention.  So many friends came by, and not just neighbors on the street.  Though, pretty much all of them stopped by, too.  Even the kids' 1st/2nd-grade looping teacher came!  It was like a party.  (Only much easier to host!)

And it was a bit bittersweet--not because of Texas, though that is heartbreaking--but because the kiddos outgrew their wooden lemonade stand from our neighbor.  They're just too tall.  I realized that we probably don't have too many lemonade stands left in our future--I'm not sure I see 13-year-olds hosting them next summer.  So this might have been our last.

But it was the best one ever.

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(My tips for hosting a lemonade stand.)

Summer Fun 2016: If Life Gives You Lemons . . .

In truth, we used a mix to make the lemonade for our lemonade stand.  But we did put slices of lemon in each glass we sold.  And Bud offered a special sugar rim, which only the under-10 set wanted!

Yes, we had our annual summer lemonade stand.  Bud wanted to raise money for causes that support people with Autism, and so we raised funds for a local parent group that aids teachers, parents, and children.

It was the hottest day so far, about 90F at 4 pm.  And the kids sold $76 worth of lemonade, chocolate chunk bars, and cherry jam oatmeal bars.  Many of our neighbors came out and several friends from around town.  Even some strangers--one remarked that, at a dollar a cup, prices had gone up!  Well, it was a fundraiser.

And fun.  It was lots of fun.

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Chocolate Chunk Oat Bars

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups uncooked old-fashioned oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks or chips, divided

Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly grease a 9” square baking pan.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat the sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the egg, water, and vanilla; beat until well blended.

Stir in the flour mixture and oats; mix well. Stir in ½ cup chocolate chunks. Spread the dough in the pan with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle wit the remaining ½ cup chocolate chunks.

Bake for about 30 minutes or just until the center feels firm. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Sesame Street Yummy Cookies: Baking with Kids


Oatmeal Jam Bars

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup butter
1-10 oz. jar of preserve

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and baking soda.  Cut in butter til mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Reserve ½ cup of the flour mixture.  Press remaining flour mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 9 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan.  Spread with desired filling.  Sprinkle with reserved flour mixture.

Bake in 350°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or til the top is golden.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack.  Cut into bars.

Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

Summer Fun: Making Lemonade

We always have lemonade stand on our summer to-do list and usually we get to it.  This year, we arranged to host the stand with our friends Miss B and her daughter J.  Daughter J volunteers for the local cat rescue and so we decided to donate all proceeds to that charity.  We chose a date, made brownies and rice krispie treats, secured supplies (including a new jug with an infuser, which handle broke within the hour, but the store took it back for a full refund), and announced in on FB, only to wake up that morning to one of the rainiest days forecasted.

Still we watched and waited and the sun cleared late afternoon.  We rushed to set up the official stand (a gift from our neighbor Miss K, when her kids outgrew it), mixed up the lemonade--a pitcher of regular and a pitcher infused with defrosting raspberries--and, for two hours, we sold lemonade and treats.  Lots of our friends came by, alerted via FB, and supported the cat cause.  The kids had a great time . . . and raised $100!

We've hosted several lemonade stands now and will probably have another one this summer.  So I don't forget, here are some tips:


Beforehand

• lemonade supplies--we used powdered mix with added fresh lemon slices and, this time, raspberries.  One year, we sold Zinger Punch--Sprite and a few Red Zinger teabags.   The grown-ups liked it.
• pitchers--glass is risky. 
• treats, if selling--brownies, cookies, rice krispie treats--in closed containers, because there will be flies
• cups, napkins, paper towels
• garbage bags
• ice (morning of)
• donation jar
• singles or change, depending on your price points (we usually do $1 for everything--it is charity after all--and then we don't need coins or a price list.  Most people give more anyway.)
• posters, esp if you are donating the proceeds (otherwise, passersby seem to recognize a lemonade stand without much of a sign.)
• folding chairs for the grown ups (set way back--though, I'm usually talking to the parents of our customers)

For the sale:

• Bud really likes our special lemonade-stand gimmick:  a sugar rim!  We dip the lips of the cup in a little bit of lemonade and then into sugar.  Extra-good!  It's something special we can offer our customers.  (You'll need a dish of lemonade and a dish of sugar.)  He happily told everyone about it--and enjoyed making them.
• The trick is that kids either overwhelm a customer or get distracted doing something else.  Remind them beforehand to greet each person and take his or her order with all their good manners.  And then I just sit back and let them handle it. (Well, I don't know how far back I get.  I usually chat with anybody.)
• This year, in addition to posting it on FB, we tagged a number of friends in the area by name as soon as we opened--and all of the available ones stopped by, going out of their ways to come see us!  This was a special treat for us.  In fact, the majority of our customers were friends, not random strangers or even neighbors (boo on our two immediate neighbors who didn't come over, though they saw us clearly.)

Afterwards:

• Clean up (wipe down that lemonade stand!)
• Disperse the leftovers.
• Take out garbage and recycling.
• Count the money and make the donation.
• Post photos of the fun we had!

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Our Standard Lemonade Stand Recipes

Chocolate Chunk Oat Bars

1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups uncooked old-fashioned oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks or chips, divided

Preheat the oven to 375F. Lightly grease a 9” square baking pan.

Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat the sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until creamy. Add the egg, water, and vanilla; beat until well blended.

Stir in the flour mixture and oats; mix well. Stir in ½ cup chocolate chunks. Spread the dough in the pan with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle wit the remaining ½ cup chocolate chunks.

Bake for about 30 minutes or just until the center feels firm. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Sesame Street Yummy Cookies: Baking with Kids


Oatmeal Jam Bars

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup quick-cooking oats
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup butter
1-10 oz. jar of preserve

In a mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, and baking soda.  Cut in butter til mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Reserve ½ cup of the flour mixture.  Press remaining flour mixture into the bottom of an ungreased 9 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan.  Spread with desired filling.  Sprinkle with reserved flour mixture.

Bake in 350°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or til the top is golden.  Cool in the pan on a wire rack.  Cut into bars.

Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

Summer Fun: Twofer

Yesterday was a two-for-one activity-from-our-list day:  the kids hosted a lemonade stand which money they donated to charity.  We spent all day preparing:   a trip to the grocery; long baking session--both Dark Chocolate Brownies and Chocolate Chip Bar cookies; poster-making session; lemonade prep; and, finally, stand set up.  Beloved Babysitter came over to help out, everything from hauling the Lucy van Pelt-like lemonade stand to the curb to drawing great 3D lemons on the sign.   I advertised on FB and we had lots of visitors, both neighbors (those we knew and those we didn't) and those who drove over special (thanks, Mama Teacher, for being our first customer!)  Sis made a fancy lemonade, dressing up store-bought drinks with a lemon juice-sugar rim and a lemon slice!  Yes, my idea, but she carefully dipped and swirled for each customer.  We went through more than 3 gallons of lemonade and a neighbor was nice enough to finally fetch some Country Time powder when we were out of the three bottles I had prepared.

For more than two hours, they sold lemonade while I chatted with neighbors, raising $43!!  Best of all, Sis called Pop and he contributed matching funds.  I added the remainder so that we could donate an even $100 to the local cat rescue group from which we got our two cats.  The kids were pleased to help me make the donation online and think of the kitties they had helped.

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Dark Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Dark Chocolate Morsels, divided
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, cut into pieces
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 325º F. Grease 8-inch-square baking pan. Set aside 1/3 cup morsels.

HEAT 1 1/3 cups morsels, sugar, butter and water in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate and butter are melted. Pour into medium bowl. Stir in eggs, one at a time, with wire whisk until blended. Stir in vanilla extract. Add flour and salt; stir well. Stir in remaining 1/3 cup morsels and nuts. Pour into prepared baking pan.

BAKE for 38 to 40 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. 

Nestle chocolate chip bag

Summer Fun: Soda Spree

We got an early start on celebrating Mama's birthday today, when we bought the SodaStream that Sis decided Mama should have.  With Goo here for the birthday party weekend, we thought making sodas would be great fun.  So, after a delicious brunch and some exploring of a small stream, and after a swimathon at the Y where we played water basketball, we picked up some ice cream and other supplies and headed home.

We made glass-sized tastings of several flavors, using SodaStream concentrate, including half and half Lemonade and Ice Tea, cream soda, orange soda, and grape soda (all of which were brightly colored and overly sweet).  Then we raided our fridge and combined several of our syrups--strawberry shrub, blackberry syrup, and Ribena black currant syrup (alas our elderflower had turned)--to carbonated water.  In all cases, we probably under-measured the syrup and made rather weak drinks.  But when we added vanilla ice cream to the grape soda ("a purple cow") and to the orange soda ("creamsicle"), we were quite pleased.  Mama even likes it straight, as seltzer (which is how Sis's teacher, from whom Sis got the idea, uses her machine), while I find it "salty."

Later, as we watched The Lego Movie (one of their birthday presents--it's visually amazing and quite humorous), I made a soda I came across when researching SodaStreams:  Vanilla Earl Grey, or what I should call, London Fog on Ice.  It reminds me of the hot London Fog I make in the winter.  It also reminded me of the wonderful sodas we had in Philly at Franklin Fountain and the ones in the cookbook Soda Fountain, from the Brooklyn Farmacy, that was recommended by NPR.

Clearly, homemade syrups are the way to go.  They would make for once fancy lemonade stand.


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London Fog on Ice

Makes 1 1/2 cups of syrup

1 vanilla bean, halved and split

1 cup sugar

3-4 bags of Earl Grey tea

1 cup water

Soda water

Half-and-half or whole milk

To make the simple syrup, combine the vanilla bean and sugar in a small saucepan. Rub the vanilla bean into the sugar with the back of a spoon until the mixture is fragrant. Add the tea bags and water. Cook over medium-low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Turn up the heat to medium and bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Turn off the heat, and use tongs to remove the tea bags right away to avoid bitterness. Allow syrup to cool before using.
To make the soda, fill an 8-ounce glass with ice. Fill three-quarters full with soda water. Add 1/8 to 1/4 cup syrup, depending on desired sweetness. Top with half-and-half and more soda, if desired.

from NPR piece

Punch and Cookies

The planning started last night during our picnic:  Sis wanted a lemonade stand (our first, well, after the maracas).

Except she doesn't like lemonade.  And so she decided on Zinger Punch.

And oatmeal cookies.

$4 each.

I agreed to all but the latter, talking her down to 50 cents each.

Before school they made the signs; during school, I made the oatmeal cookies from the recipe on the Quaker Oats box.  When they got home, they rushed to set up, hauling the table, cookies, punch, signs and  other items I'd gathered (coin jar, napkins, cups, little trash can, tape) to the corner.  Sis said she was so excited that she almost burst at school and almost ran to the bus before class was dismissed.

They had their first customer in under a minute.  And continued to have customers, about one every ten minutes, for the next two hours, netting close to $15 (which, as you can imagine, didn't begin to cover it; but that's not nearly the point).  Sis and Bud were very  polite, carefully explaining the offerings and the prices, even going so far as to explain how to make Zinger Punch (that's a liter of Sprite and 3 Red Zinger/Celestial Seasonings tea bags in the fridge for 8 hours or so; we went through 2 plus almost 4 dozen cookies--the kids got a lot of both);  when they weren't serving, they were waving to whomever drove or walked by--who could resist that?  Some did, of course, but I pointed out that money wasn't the object, the fun was (except the one time I reiterated that in front of Mama Teacher and got it all messed up, "It's not about the customers, kids, it's about the money!").

There were some very special customers indeed:  Mama Teacher and CJ, birthday girl/babysitter M (who got a freebie), older babysitter M (no, not collegiate M, high school M), and perhaps most surprising of all, their first-grade teacher!  Yep, she came by with her daughter and dog and bought punch and cookies, chatted with the clearly overwhelmed and elated kids, and watched them play a little basketball.  Bud had apparently told her we were having the stand and she said she might stop by.  So wonderful that she actually did.  We're grateful to all of our customers.

The only thing we didn't do--which was my oversight, because I didn't think they'd actually do much business--was to determine a charity for the money.  So we're choosing between autism awareness (for CJ) or cancer (particularly an upcoming fundraiser to help cover the medical bills not covered by insurance of our dear friend Miss M).

I have a feeling we'll be doing many more of these, though!