New Zealand Unit

We’ve been cooking around the world for quite a while now, and usually, the recipes are okay, but not super popular, OR it’s cookies and not something I’m going to cook all the time. However, our New Zealand recipe of Rosemary pork chops was an amazing recipe for our homeschool geography lesson. Hey! Future Ticia 2023 here, we did a brief review of New Zealand as we studied it again, so I wanted to update this with our completed New Zealand Unit

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New Zealand Unit resources

Here are a few quick New Zealand sites I found (though I have enough resources I don’t need this as much):

• 35 New Zealand facts– sadly no great landscape, but some great animal pictures
• National Geographic Kids
• New Zealand facts from New Zealand
• New Zealand facts for kids

New Zealand unit booklist

I have a small pile of books from New Zealand, and some I really enjoyed

• New Zealand ABCs– I love books like this for a unique overview of the location (there are both state and country series for this)
• The Long, Long, Journey– I think this is also part of the Alaska unit because the godwits go there
• Why Epossumondas has no hair– I love the illustrations in this book, they are adorable and I’m pretty sure I’ve raved about this illustrator before
• Elizabeth, Queen of the seas– this book is adorable, about an elephant seal who lived in Christchurch
• Maui and the sun– there are several versions of this story available, it’s another bit of a trickster story

New Zealand Unit videos

Apparently he has visited New Zealand several times, so there are a bunch of New Zealand videos.

That will of course get you lots and lots of information, but if you want more, you can watch the Flag Friday video:

But there visited there twice.

and then one more:

New Zealand Unit: recipe: Rosemary Pork chops

Okay, so funny thing, in my New Zealand unir folder I have 3 different recipes I made, and maybe more, which I may add into here, but this recipe is the one I’ve been making fairly regularly since we first made it 10 years ago.

Wow, it’s been 10 years since I first wrote this!

(At this point Jeff would add it because here’s how the cooking goes:

1. I print the recipe and start cooking.
2. I realized I”m missing a major key ingredient (usually a spice)
3. I decide to randomly substitute for that spice
4. Chaos ensues and the recipe is forgotten
5. We eat something really strange tasting and I get puppy dog eyes from the rest of the family.

thus ends Jeff’s comment, I would like to point out no one has gotten sick from my cooking)

Ingredients for Rosemary Pork Chops:

• 4-6 pork chops (we chose boneless because I prefer that)
• 2-3 Tablespoons butter
• 1/2 Cup of fresh Rosemary (1/4 Cup dried)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic minced

Directions for cooking Rosemary Pork Chops:

1.  Trim rosemary from stems.  Rosemary is one of the few plants I can grow, though only in my front yard, and it’s growing like crazy and is taking over the front flower area….  I want to attempt to grow it in my backyard.  Listen to your kids complain about the horrible smell as they trim it (while watching My Little Ponies).

2.  Melt some butter, and grill up your pork chops.  Sprinkle some rosemary on top and garlic (I ended up using garlic powder, ummmm, I didn’t have garlic cloves).  Flip it and sprinkle some more on.

3.  We had curly pasta with butter alongside, but I think mashed potatoes would have worked better, but a certain 8 year old had just eaten 4 pounds of mashed potatoes recently, so we were out of them.

Verdict on Rosemary Pork Chops:

Verdict: EVERYONE loved this, we’ve made it twice more since originally making it, and both times there was not a bit left.  It’s our new favorite way to make pork chops.

Next month we’re heading off to Korea, and I’ve got some Beef Bulgogi planned, I can’t wait to try making that.  Incidentally, I’ve already checked and you have to marinate it for a day ahead of time (and then I spiked making that and just went with a random beef stir fry that night, which prompted Jeff to tease me about reading recipes ahead of time, see above commentary).

“Cape Reinga, New Zealand” by sandeepachetan.com is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.