This bread looks quite similar to the San Marino recipe, but it's different, made with maize flour and filled with meat and cheese. They were really yummy, especially with the cabbage and carrots (we didn't pickle them :) )

Every now and again, we have quite a few recipes, and sometimes, we forget one! We just realised that we never made Mónica's great recipe! Today, we did - and we are so glad we did! These are delicious! We only made about half the recipe, because we couldn't imagine we'd eat 30 fritters between the three of us. They were delicious!

This recipe came from Nancy in Pennsylvania - we had lots of fun chopping up all the vegetables. It tasted yummy, and very healthy, too!

We found out about bannock while we researched the Northwest Territories for Toby's letter to Kaylie-Ann. It's a kind of bread, and although we didn't cook ours over the open fire, it was still very yummy. Apparently, you can take the dry ingredients with you, all mixed up, when you go camping, and then you just add water until you have a stiff bread dough, wrap it round a stick and cook it over the open fire.......we are *so* going to try that. Here's the recipe we used:

1 cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt

Mix dry ingredients and add enough water to make a stiff dough, then shape into thick scone-style pancakes and fry in a little oil until they are done. Ours took about 8 minutes or so......but the stick method sounds way more exciting!!!

Jenn suggested we have a go at making Buckeyes, and several other people said that they make them, too. Here's the recipe we used:

3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups confectioners' sugar
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips


Mix all ingredients apart from the chocolate, and roll into bite-sized balls (it feels a bit like playing with wet sand!) Pop a cocktail stick (we actually used half a cocktail stick) into each ball, this will be your "handle" later. Pop into the fridge for half an hour (if you want, use that half hour to write a letter, like we did!) Melt the chocolate chips, then take out the dough balls, swirl them in the chocolate and put onto wax paper to set. Once you've done them all, put them in the fridge to set properly.

Lee from Pennsylvania shared this recipe with us - we are always a bit scared making "old family recipes", just in case they don't end up looking anything like how they should. All we can say is that these are very yummy! We filled a jar to give away, and have another one left over to eat ourselves. Thanks so much, Lee! Here's the recipe, in Lee's own words:

This is one that I do every year, it can't be Christmas with out them. This recipe has been made in my family for as long as anyone can remember. and of course they are my fav! They are also super easy. We never knew the real name so they are called Tiger's cookies (that was my nick name as a child) 3 cups oatmeal, 3 Tablespoons baking Cocoa powder, mix them in a large bowl and set aside. now boil 1/2 cup milk, 2 cups sugar,1/4 cup butter once it has come to a rolling boil add 1/2 cup peanut butter. take off heat add the dry ingredients. Have a baking sheet covered in wax paper, drop teaspoons of the dough onto it, let cool and enjoy once they have cooled. To store keep in a tin. Hope you like them as much as I do and still enjoy making them with my family.

Toby says: 
This is my best book ever...this one and Ronia. I loved it! It was an early birthday present. I liked that Paddle-to-the-Sea made it to the sea, and that the boy who made him found out about it. I really liked all the paintings and finding Paddle-to-the-Sea in the pictures. I really want to see the Niagara Falls now!

Mummy says:
This book was very evocative, and it touched on lots of things, some we talked about (Toby wondered why Paddle-to-the-Sea was called an "Indian", when we had been looking at "Native American" or "First People" for his letters, and we realised that our home - Sheffield - is not the only place in the world linked to steel). Because Toby is currently "writing his way" through the US and Canada, we got lots of "I wrote to X", and it was great seeing them all tied together in Paddle's journey.