We’ve used dry ice before and we figured that this experiment would be perfect, because, as Luke said “it combines two of my favorite things, science and food.”

It was surprisingly easy to make this ice cream, and it tasted very good (although it had a slightly carbonated taste from the Dry Ice). The ice cream was extremely creamy, since no ice crystals had time to form in the 2-3 minutes it took for our ice cream to completely set up.

Everyone in our family was very impressed with the dry ice cream, and wanted more. Maybe we could do liquid nitrogen ice cream next time…..

We were on a vacation to Florida when we filmed it, which explains the dramatic change in scenery from our house. (There aren’t very many palm trees where we live!) We shot it in the rental house we were staying in, and  this is our first movie to be  shot “on location”!

I didn’t bring a tripod on our vacation, so all of the shots where the camera was still were shot by propping my camera on stools, tables, books, and other such things. Even the moving camera shots turned out pretty good, since my D3100 is so much bigger than the cameras we’ve used to film most of our previous videos. Its weight and size make it much less likely to jolt all over the place when its being moved. Several of the static shots were also shot without support, such as the three outdoor shots, but they turned out very smooth since the camera is much easier to hold still. My 18-55 mm VR lens (the one I used to shoot this video) has vibration reduction, which really helps as well.

I hope you enjoy our latest video!

I have made numerous special dinners with my siblings, and yesterday Luke and I made one.
It was Italian themed, and we decided that pasta and meatballs would be a good idea to make. The only hitch was that our family is on the Daniel Fast right now, which means that meat is off limits. We decided to be resourceful and made “meatballs” out of spinach, lentils and portabella mushrooms. I got the recipe from Mrs. Kristen Feola’s book, The Ultimate Daniel Fast. We all had a great time, both preparing and eating the meal!

As all of you who have been diligently following this blog for a while know, I read “Redwall” a few months ago, and really enjoyed it, so much in fact, that I am now reading it aloud to my siblings. The reason that I read “Redwall” in the first place was because it was one of the books I was required to read for an online grammar class that I’m taking through The Potter’s School, and one of the assignments we needed to do for the class was make a “Redwall” themed sword,tapestry or meal. I, never one to turn down a chance for a good meal, decided to go in that direction, and made “Hunter’s Hot-Pot”, which is basically a stew of carrots, potatoes, onions, peppers, spices and water with a fancy, “Redwally” name.

I had a lot of fun making it, although it was pretty easy, as all I had to do was chop up some vegetables and toss them in a pot of boiling water with some spices until they were soft, and I then got to do the part that was the most fun of all: eating it!

My mom thought it would be nice to have something to go with the Hot-Pot, so we not only had it, but we were also able to have  some biscuits (or, as my sister called them because they were made with flax seed and needed a “Redwally” name, ”Fall Flax Favorites”) that my mom had made earlier in the day. Everyone said that the food was delicious, although my dad pointed out that whoever the hunter was that invented this recipe wasn’t a very good one, as he hadn’t been able to catch anything to put in it!

If you’d like the recipe you can go to http://www.redwall.net/kitchen/main.html. The recipe I used is fifth from the top.

As you who have been reading our blog for a while may know, back in July I made everyone a dinner at “Adam’s Diner”. Well, I’ve done three more since then, each time with a different theme, and I thought I’d share some pictures with you from one that I did several Saturdays ago with my dear sister Rachel.

We did a sub sandwich shop theme, complete with homemade sub rolls.

Rachel whipped up a batch of chocolate milk, which was a big hit with everyone.


Rachel and I greatly enjoyed preparing the food, almost as much as everyone enjoyed eating it, which, in our family, is saying a lot!

But that’s not the funny part.

Not wanting to be outdone, Paul and Isaac also decided to make “pudding”- in a much less contained, clean (and boring) way!

Oh the joy of being 3 or 6!

Sunday night, Mommy,John and I made frittata.

I am whisking together the eggs and pepper, while Daddy stirs the onions.

John’s stirring the onions.

John gives us a ‘teary eyed’ smile.

Mommy and John shredding up spinach.

The finished product.

Mommy serving up the frittada.          Yum……..

Isaac put the dough evenly into the 5 pans (with some help from me)

After it was done cooking, I took it out of the roaster (which we used instead if the oven to avoid heating up the house)

Unfortunately, while it cooked, the bread has rose a lot more than I had expected it too, resulting in this sorry looking mess!
(They still tasted good,though!)