This would be an easy & fun patriotic art project for preschool and Kindergarten children. You will need a fork, red, white and blue paint and construction paper to make these Fireworks!
How cute and yummy is this Fourth of July toast for breakfast? Give it a try and find out! Patriotic Flag Toast!
For a fun and healthy Fourth of July snack, make fruit kabobs into the shape of the American Flag. Patriotic Fruit Kabobs!
Here in Michigan, we are getting dumped on with snow! Today is a snow day at our house. Usually on snow days, my kids love to go outside to build forts, sled down our side hill in the yard, and make snow art. I fill several plastic spray bottles with water and food coloring. My kids go outside and spray paint designs in the snow. My yard usually fills up with neighbor friends too so it's nice to have a few spray bottles handy. Today (and tomorrow) it's too cold to go outside. When my kids were toddler and preschool age, I used to bring the snow inside. I also used to put snow in the sensory table bins when I taught preschool. At home, I used a big plastic Rubbermaid style bin or filled the bathtub with snow. Just have the kids wear mittens, put towels on the floor and let the fun begin. Snow ice cream is also lots of fun to make and eat. Here is a recipe that I posted awhile back for some yummy snow ice cream. Another fun thing to do is have an easy arts and crafts day. Coffee filter snow flakes are always fun and easy to make. They look pretty hanging in the windows. Homemade play dough is great for keeping those little hands busy on indoor days too. I recently saw a recipe for super soft play dough. The ingredients are 1 part conditioner to 2 parts corn starch. You can also add a couple drops of food coloring if you want to add color. Put the conditioner in a bowl and add the corn starch. Stir together and then add the food coloring and work it through with your hands. I suggest wearing some latex or vinyl gloves so your hands don't get stained. I have not personally tried this version of play dough but it sounds like it would be worth a try. Happy snow day fun!
My kids and I have been busy in the kitchen today. I let them create some fun designs in our cupcakes before baking. They had so much fun with this and the cupcake batter turned out really cute. I almost hate to decorate them and cover up their creativity. I'm sure they will have fun with the frosting part too though.
My sister's birthday is on July 4th and every year we have a family get together for a combined holiday / birthday celebration. My girls and I are making cupcakes. I was thinking of doing either red, white and blue cupcakes or a flag cake. I did some searching and found the best of both worlds, a cupcake flag cake! So easy and cute! Cupcake Flag Cake.
Another cute and easy idea that would be fun for little kitchen helpers is Red, White and Blue Strawberries. Instead of using white chocolate, you could substitute yogurt instead. Of course, the yogurt would not harden and you would need to keep it cold.
When I was growing up, my grandma used to make a fun flag cake each Fourth of July. It was so easy and cute. She made a white cake, frosted it with whipped cream and then used blueberries and strawberries to make it look like the USA flag. I was always so impressed with that cake as a child :) It looked a lot like this flag cake.
My kids and I went sweet cherry picking a couple of days ago and we are also making sweet cherry muffins today. We'll eat them for breakfast Fourth of July morning. I'm going to try this cherry muffin recipe. We're not going to add blueberries this time but I was just thinking you could make them more festive by adding blueberries too.
For those of you celebrating America's birthday, have a fun and safe Independence Day!
I was searching for a cute May Day treat and I came across these adorable Hydrangea Cupcakes! They would be really cute for a Mother's Day dinner / lunch dessert too. I love hydrangeas, especially the light blue and purple color! I have three big hydrangea plants in my garden. They are so pretty. I have several Wilton cake tips and I'm pretty sure I have the one used for these cupcakes. I'm going to give it a try! My kids love decorating cookies and cupcakes. It's fun for them to take part in baking / decorating even if the end result doesn't always look exactly as we've envisioned. Here is another link with a Duncan Hines hydrangea cupcake recipe.
I was looking for an easy Valentine's Day treat for my kids to help make when I found these! So cute and easy! I'm sure they will be a hit. Marshmallow Treat Pops.
My kids really like my homemade potato soup so I thought I would share my recipe here. It's a great way to get them to eat a bunch of vegetables. I've been enjoying the cooler soup weather lately :) I rarely measure anything but I'll do my best to give you a good idea of how to make my soup. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Ingredients:
Two large carrots peeled and chopped
About 12 medium to large potatoes peeled and chopped
1 stalk of celery rinsed and chopped
Dried Parsley
Favorite seasoning if desired (I like Zehnder's chicken seasoning)
Salt and pepper
Cream cheese (I use about 2 Tablespoons of Fat Free)
Milk (I use about 1/2 cup of 2% milk)
Butter (about 2 Tablespoons)
Chicken Broth (32 oz)
One small onion (chopped)
Yellow bell pepper (you could omit this, I normally don't put it in but I had about 1/4 of a pepper that needed to be used and it turned out to be a nice addition)
Shredded cheddar cheese (I used a couple handfuls)
Directions:
Wash, peel & chop all veggies and add to a cooking pot. Pour chicken seasoning and milk over the veggies and add to stove top. Sprinkle seasonings, herbs and add butter if desired. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until tender enough to mash. When mashing veggies, you may want to leave a few chunks. I like ours this way. After mashing, add desired amounts of cream cheese and cheddar cheese (this will help thicken the soup). Enjoy!
The leaves are just starting to have a hint of color and the temps are getting a bit cooler. Fall is in the air! This has me thinking of apples! Today I was looking for some apple themed treat ideas and I found some cute stuff to try. Check these out!
The Apple of our Eye Cupcakes from Family Fun
Krispy Apple Treats from Gourmet Mom on the Go
Caramel Apple Cookies (on a stick with no caramel or apples) from The Decorated Cookie
Mini Oreo Apple Pops from The Crafting Chicks
My daughter has some food allergies so it's always wonderful when we find good frozen treat alternatives for her. I'm going to give this super easy recipe a try. We have SunButter in the pantry and frozen bananas in the freezer. We're going to a birthday party today and since she can't have cake or ice cream, I think I might bring some along. A two ingredient "ice-cream" made with SunButter and frozen bananas. Doesn't get much easier. Enjoy! SunButter ice-cream
One of our all-time favorite winter activities is making snow ice cream. We've not been very fortunate in the snow department of late but when it does come we are sure to make some. Rather than repeat the recipe you can click here to see an older post about this fun and delicious treat.
Do you have any other "cool" ideas for snow food? Leave a comment below!
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| The finished product! |
I've been in the mood for making pumpkin cupcakes with my kids so I went on an online search for some simple cupcakes. I found some super cute and simple pumpkin theme cupcakes at Family Circle. You could even use a boxed mix if you wanted and just decorate with orange frosting but I think the pumpkin flavor would be great! Enjoy!
Pumpkin cupcakes!
I recently brought home a bunch of juicy red strawberries from the strawberry farm. We've been eating them everyday. I've been making jam, freezing strawberries, making smoothies, Popsicles, etc. I was looking for a strawberry muffin recipe and somehow I stumbled upon a really cool recipe for red, white and blue chocolate dipped strawberries. They are so cute and look yummy too. I think I'm going to give these a try for the Fourth of July. I know my girls would love to help me make them and they would for sure help eat them! Red, White and Blue Strawberries. Enjoy!
Tomorrow is St. Patrick's Day and I found a quick and easy recipe for Irish Soda Bread to share with you. Check out this Irish Soda Bread from Family Fun. This would be a good recipe for the kids to help make. You can find more great St. Patrick's Day recipes by visiting this link to Family Fun.
I enjoy cooking and especially making healthy meals that my kids enjoy. Tonight one of my children requested that I make extra baked potatoes because she loves them so much. My other daughter wanted asparagus. I was happy to cater to their dinner desires tonight.
I want to share with you a new food blog that my friend Kendra has started. She also loves to cook healthy meals for her family. She is a home school mom and enjoys including her children in the cooking process. In addition to her healthy meals recipes, I think you will also enjoy her kitchen school posts where her kids get involved. Check out Kendra's yummy blog. The Queen of Brussels Sprouts.
I wanted to share some easy spider treats with you that make a fun Halloween treat.
To make a scrumptious spider snack take two round crackers (such as Ritz) and spread peanut butter on one side of each cracker (don't put them together yet) Place four pretzel sticks (or you can snap two in half for four small legs) on each side of one cracker. Place the other cracker on top. Now you have a spider body and legs. To make eyes on the spider dot peanut butter and place two mini chocolate chips (or raisins..whatever your kids like) on the peanut butter. Enjoy!
Another yummy but not as healthy option would be to use cream sandwich cookies such as Oreos and then use string licorice for the legs.
You could also have fun making spider cupcakes using the same idea. Frost the cupcake and use black string licorice for the legs and M&M's or chocolate chips for the eyes.
I hope you get a chance to enjoy some spider snacks!
St. Patrick's Day is such a fun holiday to celebrate with kids. In addition to wearing green, I want to share a fun and easy project that you can do with your kids at home or school.
I like to cut out a bunch of little green footprints when my kids are asleep. They awaken to a trail of footprints that they instinctively follow. The trail leads to a Ziploc bag of "magic powder" with a note attached describing what to do with the magic powder. The note is also signed by our little green friend ;-) The magic powder is simply instant pistachio pudding mix but my kids have no idea and they are thrilled to whip up the magic treat. I hope that you give this a try with your kids too. Enjoy!
It's that harvest time of year again when I start thinking about using pumpkin more. I love canned pumpkin because it's inexpensive, convenient and 100% natural. I have an easy and delicious pumpkin dessert that I would like to share. I used to make this dessert each year around Thanksgiving with my preschool classes and I continue to make it with my own children at home. It's called Creamy Pumpkin Mousse and I obtained the recipe years ago from a chef "Mr Food" who made it during a segment on one of our local news channels. It's diabetic friendly and figure friendly. It's also easy for kids to help make this recipe.
Creamy Pumpkin Mousse
1 Can (16 ounces) solid pack pure pumpkin
1 package (6 oz) instant sugar-free vanilla pudding
1/4 cup low-fat milk (I use fat-free)
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups frozen light whipped topping, thawed (I use a small tub of fat free, sugar free whipped topping)
1. In a bowl, use an electric mixer on medium speed to beat the pumpkin, pudding mix, milk and cinnamon
2. Fold in whipped topping until thoroughly blended then spoon into serving bowl. I like to sprinkle a bit of cinnamon on top because it looks pretty. Cover loosely and chill until ready to serve.
I know that I haven't offered up a challenge in awhile so I would like to challenge everyone to give this recipe a try. It's a great way to get another vegetable into your kids because it's "disguised" as dessert. Let me know how you and your children like the creamy pumpkin mousse. Maybe it will become a seasonal regular at your home as it is at mine.
Enjoy!
Do you bring your children grocery shopping with you? My children almost always go grocery shopping with me and one of the things they look forward to is choosing a food item. Sometimes I let them look around in the produce section and I encourage them to pick out a new fruit or vegetable because trying new things can be a lot of fun. Letting your children pick out a new food item is a great way to encourage trying new things and healthy eating.
Weekly Challenge: Before you go shopping, have a discussion about new foods that might be fun to try. Look through the grocery store ads and ask your children to name the fruits and vegetables. Take your children grocery shopping with you the next time you go. Let them look around and choose a new fruit or vegetable to try. When you are ready to try the fruit or vegetable at home, let you child help prepare it in some way if at all possible (washing, peeling, cutting, etc).
I would love you to leave a comment and let me know what your kids ended up trying and whether or not they enjoyed the experience. You may want to give it a try every time they go grocery shopping with you.
