Living and Loving the Prairies!

Our Prairie Life tour is almost wrapping up and we have been having an amazing time on the prairies. Every Gym has a basketball net to make sure we stay in shape.

Avery got to try Fried Bannock in Onion Lake. Shout out to Brenda for making it special for our visit!

The Grade 8’s in Provost, AB gave Ed, Coire and Taliesin a run for the money in a spirited game of dodgeball. And we stopped for a quick picture in front of Biggar’s famous  sign, “New York is Big, But This is Biggar". A real quick picture, we were coming home in –41 windchill that afternoon!!!

 

Next week we were at Coleville, SK and we were interviewed by some of the older kids for their school newspaper! Afterwards, we drove to Drumheller, “land of the dinosaurs” and stopped to visit Rex.  Can you see Ed and I on his toes???

We went for a beautiful walk across the Frozen Jumbo Lake in Loon Lake, Sk, and met the Lumberjack in Goodsoil, SK,

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Then we headed far up north to Ile-a-La-Crosse and used a real ice road to get back to Beauval!

And while enjoying a few days off in Saskatoon, Coire and Taliesin and I got a chance to learn how to curl, being taught by the fabulous Annie McQueen!

Prairie winter is letting up and we hope to wrap up this tour in t-shirts! But we made sure to keep our winter coats in the trunk of the car. After all, “if you don’t like the weather, just wait ten minutes and it will change!!!”

Flapper Pie

This is one of my favorite recipes of all time and as it turns out has a bit of a prairie historical context as well! This pie doesn't require a lot of fancy ingredients and it always seems magical to me how so much YUM! value can be found in such simplicity.

Some of my other favorite prairie recipes include cattails, butter tarts and Saskatoon berry cereal. What? You've never heard of Saskatoon berry cereal? It's Saskatoon berries in a bowl with milk and sugar ;)
Do you have a favorite prairie recipe?

Classroom activities:
Share your favorite prairie recipe. Copy it out at home and share it with the class. Draw a picture of your dish and compile them into a classroom cookbook.
Look up any unfamiliar words and terms (flapper, reserved...) and use them in your weekly spelling bee!
Make a recipe as a class - try home made ice cream (put ice cream mix into a ziplock bag, inside another bag of ice cubes and shake, shake shake!). use the same method to make butter like a pioneer! What were common ingredients on the prairies in the 20's? What did they consider a decident treat? (you would be surprised to know how long KD has been around).

Flapper Pie

Ingredients

(1 servings)

1 1/4 c Graham wafer crumbs
1/4 c Sugar, granulated
1/2 ts Cinnamon
1/4 c Butter;melted

FILLING:
1/4 c Sugar, granulated
3 tb Cornstarch
2 c Milk
2 Egg yolks;lightly beaten
1 ts Vanilla

MERINGUE:
2 Egg whites
1/4 ts Cream of tartar
2 tb Sugar, granulated

Instructions

"In eastern Canada, this recipe was called Graham Wafer Cream Pie, but westerners knew it as Flapper Pie. ... Cream pies like butterscotch, banana, cream and coconut cream were favorites of this decade and restaurants (called cafes in the West) always had cream pies on their menus."

Combine crumbs, sugar and cinnaomn; blend in butter. Set 1/4 c aside. Press remainder onto bottom and sides of 9 inch pie plate. Bake in 375F oven for 8 minutes; cool. Filling: In saucepan, mix sugar with cornstarch; blend in milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until boiling; stir a little into yolks, then retUrn to the saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring, for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat; add vanilla and cool slightly. Pour into pie crust. Meringue: Beat egg whites with cream of tartar till soft peaks form; gradually beat in sugar until stiff peaks form. Spread over filling, sealing to crust. Top with reserved crumbs. Bake in 400F oven for 5 minutes or till lightly browned. Cool to room temperature, about 4 hours.