Seeking Imperfection

A couple of weeks ago, my students got some fliers to bring home about a local summer program. One of the classes the kids could sign up for was called, "Crafty Readers." This piqued my interest. I love crafts and to read. What exactly is a crafty reader? Well, it was basically reading books and making doing crafts and activities associated with the book. Even though I am supposedly an adult, this sounded like fun to me. Of course, this is something I do with my students all the time. I started thinking that it might be a fun little section on my blog - the Crafty Reader group. I'm a little scared of Mr. Linky - or I could make it a little carnival thing. I think I might just start posting some of my ideas and challenge my loyal reader to do a crafty reader project of her own. How's that sound?

This past week we finished our month of reading books by Patricia Polocco. The last book we read was "Thundercake."

From her website:
Thunder Cake The Story
(From Leah Polacco)

"Grandma looked at the horizon, drew a deep breath and said, ‘This is Thunder Cake weather, all right. Looks like a storm is coming.’"
Thunder Cake is the story of how Patricia Polacco conquered her childhood fear of Michigan thunderstorms with the assistance her grandmother. By encouraging the young Patricia to ignore the approaching storm, the two wander outside to gather the ingredients for Thunder Cake, the perfect recipe for a rainy day. After the cake is in the oven, Grandma recounts the day’s events, convincing Patricia that only a "brave" girl would climb out from her hiding spot to collect eggs and tomatoes, milk the cow, and venture through Tangleweed Woods to the dry shed. Realizing that her grandma is right, Patricia welcomes the storm and a warm slice of Thunder Cake, never again to fear the "voice of thunder."

This was a really cute story. I was really excited to find that the book had the recipe in the back. However, the recipe was a little involved for my students - it involved separating eggs and needed cake flour. (I'm on a tight budget.) So, I decided to come up with another version. Since the secret ingredient in the book is tomatoes, I came across a recipe for "Chocolate Tomato Soup Cake" and knew we had to give it a shot.

Everyone at work thought I was a little crazy, but we followed the directions and baked it in my toaster oven. The only pan we could find was a muffin tin, so we made Thundercake Muffins. I also didn't make the frosting the recipe calls for, but instead used some store bought frosting.

The funniest part is that we had a couple of fifth grade girls visiting at lunch and they helped my students frost the cupcakes. When I came back from getting my lunch, they were both enjoying one. When they finished, I said, "Did anyone tell them what the secret ingredient is?" No one had. I told them that there was tomato soup in the cupcakes and they flipped out! The reactions have been hysterical. However, if you are wondering, most everyone agreed that the cake ended up tasting like gingerbread.

Now I know that not everyone will be interested in making this silly recipe, but how about this for a challenge? Here's your mission if you choose to accept it: make a recipe related to a book. Or, make a recipe with strange ingredients and surprise someone with it. If you do, please post about it on your blog or write about it in the comments. I'd love to know what other Crafty Readers come up with!