Cook up a goodly amount of delightful and intriguing Jamacian Meat Pies.
Take them into the work place or to neighbors and share them with all people.
Invite and encourage discussion of family and community with all. Savor the good food and friendship available between all men.
Kingston Meat Patties, Eric V. Copage
Spicy meat-stuffed pastries with a distinctive yellow crust are sold by street vendors all over jamaica. You can make them with any ground meat you fancy--Lamb, pork, or even turkey.
Pastry:
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 t. curry powder
1/2 t. salt
1/8 t. cayanne pepper
3/4 C. vegetable shortening, chilled
1/3 C. ice water
Filling:
2 T. butter
1 Lb. ground meat
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 fresh hot chili pepper, preferably scotch bonnet, seeded and minced.
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T. all purpose flour
2 t. curry powder
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. dried tyme
1/4 t. ground allspice
2 T. tomato paste
2T. water
1 large egg beaten
1. Make the pastry dough: in a medium bowl, stir together the flour,curry powder and salt and cayenne. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the shortening until it resembles coarse meal. Tossing with a fork, gradually sprinkle in the ice water, mixing just until the mixture is moist enough to hold together when pinched between your thumb and fore finger. Gather the dough and form it into a flat disk, wrap it in waxed paper and refrigerate at least one hour or overnight.
2. Make the filling: Heat the butter in a large skillet. Add the ground beef and onion and chili pepper and garlic. Cook over medium high heat, stirring often, until the meat is no longer pink, about 5 minits.
Then add the flour, curry powder, salt, thyme, and allspice, and stir for 1 min. Stir in the tomato paste and water and cook until thickened, about one min. Remove the skillet from the heat and allow the filling to cool completely.
3. Position a rack in the top third of the oven, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. lightly grease a baking sheet.
4. On a floured work surface, roll out the dough to form a 12 by 14 inch rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Cut into eight 6 by 3 inch triangles.Place about 1/4 cup of the filling in the center of each rectangle, fold it over to enclose the filling, and press the edges with a fork to seal them. transfer the patties to the prepared baking sheet, and brush them with lightly beaten egg.
5. bake until a golden brown, 25 to 30 minits. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.
games to play...
songs to sing...
Balloon Battle
balloons
string
inflated balloons
Designate a certain color for each team. If you have a LOT of children you can have more teams or you don't have to have teams at all. Tie a balloon to each players ankle. Each team tries to burst the other's balloon first. The team with the last balloons wins. As your balloon is burst, you withdraw from the game.
waxed paper
styrofoam ball
glue
yellow tissue paper
pipe cleaners
beads
glitter
Place a piece of waxed paper down to protect your surface. Mix 2 parts glue to 1 part water. Tear tissue paper into small 1 - 2 inch pieces. Coat a section of foam ball with glue mixture, cover with pieces of torn tissue paper. Coat over the tissue with glue to smooth down. Repeat this until ball is completely covered. While ball is still wet, give it a sprinkle of glitter. Let ball dry completely. Cut the pipe cleaners in half and stick them into the foam ball in a row. Continue this till a row of rays are around the ball. Now you can either leave the pipe cleaners straight or you can get creative and make them bent or spiraled. Add a pony bead to the end of each pipe cleaner and twist to secure. Attach string and hang.
A fun small plastic dish or bowl
1 Whole Graham Cracker
1 tablespoon cream cheese
1 tablespoon strawberry preserves
This is a dump recipe. Get a large bowl and dump all ingredients into it. Mix well with clean hands. Store in individual sized snack bags that kids can grab and take along.
This month we are giving away some wonderful prizes geared toward kids! Three baseball themed coloring books and a fun exploration book for kids/ 