I found these really cute heart shaped lollipops, so when I got home my son and I made these pink cupcakes with the red heart lollipops stuck in the top. I cut the sticks two different lengths so one could stick out from behind the other.

My son wasn’t wild about the pink, so we made a few with chocolate icing for him. If you’re trying to figure out how to decorate your Valentine’s Day cupcakes, just visit your local grocery and browse the candy aisle for fun candy toppers, or browse the baking aisle for some pink or red heart shaped sprinkles.

Easy and fun, what’s better than that? Believe me your kids will have a blast helping you decorate.

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My goal this Thanksgiving was to have my kids help. I had 3 pies to make (chocolate, pecan and pumpkin) and a batch of turkey cookies. That was one pie for each of my kids and then they could all help with the cookies. Overall it went really well. They had a blast and they felt very good about the pie they helped make. The pies turned out incredible and I am sure it’s because it had their special touch to it.

The turkey cookies were very good also. I got the idea from Pillsbury. We made homemade chocolate icing and then I let them decorate them. Here’s a couple of pictures for you.

My daughter also helped with the Thanksgiving meal a little bit. We were trying to get her comfortable with the oven but she was very timid with it and a little scared by the intense heat. I’ll keep working with her and she’ll get there eventually.

I think getting the kids to help you in the kitchen is such a great idea. I want all 3 of my kids to have a solid foundation in cooking when they leave like I did. Having some cooking skills helped me to not live off of fast food when I was living on my own. Unlike most of my friends. Guess where they came to eat when they started feeling sick from all the junk? Yep you got it – my place.

For Christmas we’ll be with lots of family and in a hotel room. I wonder if they have a kitchen. Maybe my sister-in-law will let us borrow hers. I have some traditional chocolate peanut butter balls to make!

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We started off with the Creamy Berry Cups. The recipe called for mini-phyllo cups. I didn’t see those at the grocery, and so thought I could just whip a few up from frozen phyllo dough (which I had never used before and next time I should ask one of you for your opinion and you can tell me how incredibly silly that idea is!). Once the cups were made, the kids had a good time scooping the cream cheese fruit dip into the cups, topping it with fruit, and sprinkling over the powdered sugar. Very yummy, though next time I might search a bit harder for the pre-made cups!

The other recipe we’ve tried so far are the Rainin’ Berries Turnovers.

This time, I remembered the pre-made pie crust shortcut! The kids enjoy any project
that allows them to use mommy’s kitchen scoop, so this one was bound to be a winner, as well. The recipe was essentially some fruit pie filling with a few pieces of chopped apple scooped into a quarter of the pie crust. The pastry brush is another favored kitchen utensil, and so the kids used that to brush water on the edges of the crust, pressed the edges together, and crimped the edges a bit with the fork (and moms helped with that a little). Bake and -voilà!- a yummy treat to share with friends.

Though I’m not a very structured person, and I believe in letting kids use their imaginations and have free play time, I also like an occasional planned activity when buddies are coming over. I enjoy sharing cooking time with my kids and their friends, and my friend, too, if a mom is over! It’s an opportunity to teach lessons of sharing, patience, nutrition (sweets are a sometimes food ), kitchen safety, and more.

What about you? Are their activities that you like to have planned for your kids and their friends that share a bit of your personality and/or hobbies?

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It’s popsicle season! I picked up these popsicle molds a few weeks ago, and we filled them with a little grape kool-aid, froze them, invited a few friends over and shared a treat! What I like about the homemade popsicles is that you can determine how much sugar is actually in them. If you make the Kool-Aid yourself, you can put less sugar in the mix than is recommended, it’s still plenty sweet and a fun treat for the kids! They also have a great time helping to make them, though then all you hear for the next few hours is, “Are the popsicles ready, yet?!?”

This particular mold shapes the popsicles into a fun star shape! What’re your favorite cool summer treats?

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So, it was exciting to see that this book was definitely designed for kids in all of the cartoon-type illustrations for equipment and just for fun, but there are also actual photos of each item. Other features include a safety page, a page on how to measure, glossary (called “Know the Lingo”), how to set the table, how to read nutritional information, table manners, how to plan a meal, and more. And it was a nice bonus that it happened to be 20% off.
I can’t wait to get into this book with the kids! What are your favorite meals to cook with your kids?

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An early Happy Mother’s Day to all of you mommies out there! I know that for me, the ideal way to honor me for Mother’s Day would be allowing me to sleep in as late as humanly possible, followed maybe by a pedicure, and dinner by myself with a book (only time for dinner when you sleep until about 4 in the afternoon ).

However, I thought it would also be fun to throw out some ideas of events to do with those little people who make it possible for us to bear the illustrious title of “Mom”, our kids.

Here are my ideas:

• Plant some flowers or a garden together.
• Movie night with popcorn and treats.
• Have a picnic at the park or in the backyard.
• Bake something special together.
• Visit a homebound neighbor and surprise them with flowers and treats.
• Have a photo taken with just mom and the kid(s).

Do you have any special Mother’s Day plans or traditions?

Photo credit: me

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Randa of Free Stuff 4 Kids asked about the recipe that I used for the alphabet/shapes/blob pretzels, so I thought I’d share a couple of them out here for all of you. (Thanks for your patience, Randa!)

First off, though, I forgot to mention the first time that the idea for the alphabet pretzels came from a Zoom booklet that my daughter received months ago in her Chick-fil-a Kid’s Meal. As is often the case in our home, it’s just a short time after the cooking day, and I no longer have a clue as to what happened to that booklet! I did, however, find a recipe that seems pretty close to the original recipe. You can find it here at Cooks.com. That recipe is definitely a simpler recipe than the one we used, and I might give it a go next time we try this. Follow the jump to see the recipe that we used.

The recipe that I used was from the recipe booklet that came with my bread maker. Here it is:

Dough:
Water* 1 1/4 cups
Oil 1/4 cup
Sugar 2 Tablespoons
Salt 1 teaspoon
Bread Flour 4 cups
Active Dry Yeast 2 1/4 teaspoons

Topping:
1 egg white
coarse salt

*I’m guessing on the water, I think that was close. The recipe said 1/4 cup, which was obviously a typo!

Instead of using the bread maker, I just threw all of the ingredients into my mixer with a dough hook attachment. I let it go on low just until the ingredients were mixed, and then let the dough hook knead the dough for about 10 minutes. If you don’t use a mixer, I think you could just combine ingredients and knead as you would for bread.

When dough is complete, turn the dough onto a floured surface. Divide into 4 parts. Divide each fourth into 6 pieces. On lightly floured surface, roll each piece to an 18-inch rope. (The recipe said to make them into 18-inch ropes. I found that difficult, but the 12-inch ropes worked just as well). Make letters with rope pieces. Place on greased cookie sheet. Let rise uncovered until puffy, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a 3 quart stainless or enamel saucepan, bring 2 quarts water and 1/3 cup baking soda to boil. Lower 1 or 2 pretzels into saucepan; simmer for 10 seconds on each side. Life from water with a slotted spoon or spatula; drain. Place on well-greased cookie sheet. Let dry briefly. Brush with egg white; sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake at 425 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes until browned. Remove from cookie sheet.

Enjoy!

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Well, we didn’t quite get the whole alphabet, but we did get a few letters in there, as well as some squares, hearts, and other shapes. The main goal, though, of having a bit of fun and learning away from our regular curriculum was accomplished.

The kids love to help mommy in the kitchen, so I try to remember to plan regular recipes and activities that involve lots of flour, rolling pins, and substances that are fun to squish between fingers. And even better if that substance can be boiled, baked, lightly salted and cheerfully consumed.

What are your favorite things to cook with your kids? Are my kids the only ones who beg to taste the flour?

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We started out by writing the alphabet, and then drawing pictures of all of the fruits and veggies we could think of with those letters. We never did come up with anything for Q or X, but I was impressed by how good the pictures of the watermelon and kiwi turned out. I won’t bore you with all of the common foods we ate (a=apple, b=banana, etc.), but we did try a few things that we wouldn’t have normally. For “d” and “f” we hit the dried fruit section. The kids actually made it through the figs, remarking on how it was kinda like the cookies. I think they still would have preferred the Fig Newtons to the dried figs. The dates were not appreciated, but I think that’s because we had the whole dates and the texture was weird. May have to chop those up and bake them into something. Anyone have a good recipe for those?

We cheated for “m” and “j.” There were no mangoes at our grocery, and though the jicamas were listed on the produce board, I had no idea which vegetable they actually were (should have looked at the photo before we left the house!), so we went with Jumex brand mango juice. The kids would only take a sip until I mixed it with orange juice, then they thought it rocked. Our favorite new food, by far, was the pickled okra that a friend introduced us to. She didn’t even know that we were doing the challenge, but brought them over to share a bit of her family tradition with us, and they were so good! Even the kids ate them. Is there a better endorsement than that?

What about you? Did any of you take the challenge? What new foods did you discover?

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What does this have to do with our usual toys, games, books and fun stuff to do theme here? Well, we all know that food is fun, right? Even kids know to ask what we’re eating everytime there’s a party or get together. The alphabet aspect obviously brings in the opportunity to review/introduce letters to our kids as they pertain to fruits and vegetables. And there’s the book Eating the Alphabet by Lois Ehlert as well. Do any of you own it? It appears to be very vibrant book, reminding me of Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

So, here’s my plan. Sit down with the kiddos and the alphabet. See how many fruits and veggies that we can think of to fill in beside the letters, and anything goes! Yes, whatever produce they can think of that starts with those letters is fair game, even if it’s something I don’t like. We can even color pictures of the produce, or play word games with names of the fruits and veggies. Kate is doing something similar with her son, as well. See? It can all be healthy, educational, and FUN!! (Can you tell I need inside play inspiration, and that the winter is already dragging a bit?!?)

I think kids will also get a kick of playing a seeking game in our fridge and cupboards today, and with our grocery list tomorrow at the store. Because, don’t forget, the challenge is to actually EAT one letter inspired fruit or veggie from the whole alphabet within the week. Are you up for the challenge? Do you think this would be a fun family activity?

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