Marshmallow Bunnies

A quick, fun Marshmallow Bunny treat...

and all you need is marshmallows, scissors, food pen!

(inspiration from Family Fun)

1. Marshmallow

2.  Cut with scissors just less than half way through marshmallow.

(horizontal cut as shown)

3. Make another cut to form ears.

(vertical cut as shown)

4. Gently push the body part of the marshmallow towards the ears to cover the gap made by the cut.

5. Add tail by cutting a new marshmallow into little squares and rolling into a ball shape.

(Attach to marshmallow bunny by the sticky part of the tail, or with a small amount of icing.)

(scuz terrible photography...kinda cracks me up...the more I looked at these photos, 
the more I started laughing hysterically (a trait I have inherited from my mother)
at the fact that I am actually posting these awful photographs...
but I have 4 kids and little time, and the kids have already eaten these treats! so NoCanDo on the re-photographing option...
but note to self...horizon lines!!!...and Take Photography Lessons ASAP!!! ;)

xox 

Mel

Bunny Crackers

A fun snack for kids using cheese sliced and cut out with a cookie cutter; 

ritz crackers and some lettuce and carrots.  

Mayo eyes and lettuce-piece smiles!

xox

Mel

Cake-Mix Cookies

Here's a super quick and easy treat to make this weekend with the kids...cookies made from cake mix.  These did not last long in our house ;)

{recipe from parents.com.}

ps.  I know I am a not the world's greatest photographer, but I just could not stop photographing these things ;)

Happy Weekend!

xox

Mel

Chick Nuggets

To make little Chick Nuggets you will need:

* Chicken nuggets

* Carrot

* Cheese

* Fruit Leather

* Pasta

* And probably more patience than me ;)

 

Peel carrot and cut a little bit off the top.  

Cut a v-shaped groove into one end. 

Cut a hole into nugget to hold carrot in place. (I used the end of an apple peeler)

Using kitchen scissors, cut a small slice of cheese into a heart shape with a "stem"

Cut a round hole into the top of the nugget and insert stem of cheese.

Using kitchen scissors, cut out eye shapes from fruit leather.

 

 

Or you can use corn instead of cheese...

xox

Mel

No Bake Marshmallow Lamb Cookies

While flipping through a magazine a while back, I saw some really cute lamb cookies made with meringue.  I am quite aware of my shortcomings in the kitchen, and so I know that meringue is something that I should never even think about baking...so I felt a little sad that the cute little cookies were not in my future until last weekend, when I was looking through the pantry and spotted some graham crackers and mini marshmallows.
Hello, lamb cookies....
No bake "anything" is the perfect match for me!

All the ingredients were already in my kitchen:

*Graham Crackers
*Mini Marshmallows
*1 T Confectioners Sugar (and a drop of milk to make icing)
*Blueberry Craisins (although raisins should work fine)
*Black edible pen

To get the shape below, cut the graham cracker gently in a sawing motion with a serrated knife

The icing acts like glue so that the marshmallows stick to the graham cracker

Fill the graham cracker with the marshmallows...in terms of number or order...whatever works is my style, I just made sure the marshmallows slightly overlapped the edge.

Microwave for approximately 10 seconds on high...the marshmallows should be just slightly puffed up and look like this...

Gently push the marshmallows together and flatten slightly...

Becareful because they could be very hot.

Add your blueberry craisin and draw in an eye and maybe a smile :)

The kids absolutely loved these and thought that the blueberry craisin was a perfect complement to the overall taste.  However, after eating about three of them, one of my children remarked:  "Mom, these are SO GOOD...what are they?  Little Fishies?

So much for my little spring lambs...but I guess at least they tasted good ;)


update:  linking here

Easter chick cookies

Inspired by the very talented Maki Ogawa's cute little chick cookies, I decided to make my own version, and we all know how that goes....

While searching for a ball shaped cookie recipe, I found a recipe for Snowball Cookies at The Baker Who Cooks and thought the kids would love the surprise of the chocolate inside.  However, I wanted to make mini-cookies, so I exchanged the Hershey Kiss for butterscotch chips.
(I also made some non-chick cookies with white and milk chocolate chips inside).
 
Some notes on the process:
* As I was rolling the dough into balls, I realized that I could use the pointed end of the butterscotch chip as the chicks beak.

* For the eyes, I melted some semi-sweet chocolate chips in a bowl, and used a ziplock bag as a pastry bag to dot on the eyes...not the greatest method, but it worked okay.

* To make the nest, I just used the left over melted chocolate to scribble onto the plate in a nest shape.  I then put it in the freezer for a half hour or so to harden.  Very easy!

* Maki used chocolate pens to decorate the eyes and beaks...but I had never heard of such a thing...so I looked on Amazon and found this cool product - Cuisipro Food Decorating Pen,  which looked like it could be very useful.

*  The cookie recipe calls for nuts, which I didn't have, so I just omitted them. (I don't get too hung up on the details when baking, but luckily it worked out this time.) 

* The recipe also does not use eggs, which makes it a good one to remember late at night when you have a sudden craving for something sweet but don't have any eggs...and let's be honest, how often does a lack of eggs in the house thwart all plans of making a decadent midnight treat.

The kids loved the little chicks, and devoured the entire batch in about an hour.  I think it was partly because I obviously wasn't monitoring them too closely and partly because the cookies were so small it made them very more-ish and hard to keep track of how many you had actually eaten.  
Oh well, that just means no cookies for me for breakfast tomorrow ;)

Below is the step-by-step process:

1. Divide up the cookie dough

2. Roll into ball shape

3. Push butterscotch chip into the center

4. Roll the dough around the chip

5. Make sure the top end of the chip sticks out slightly to form the beak

I made some plain ones, too, with chocolate chips and white chocolate chips

update: linking here

April Fool's Day Fun for kids

I know April Fool's Day has been and gone, and I am just getting around to downloading my photos...

We had a fun day, and at dinner time, my husband commented on the fact that April Fool's Day seems to be my favorite holiday! It made me chuckle, because I have never really thought much about how into it I get each year. April Fool's Day is the perfect day for spur of the moment tricks and general silliness and it doesn't require too much foresight and planning.  And because "on the fly" is how I roll, this is a match made in heaven for me.

Also, I think I enjoy it because right now, I am the one in charge of all the tricks...but soon it will be the other way around and I will be subjected to goodness knows what, with three cunning and creative little boys in the house.

They started off with JUMBO bowls of Cocoa Crispies...

...only to discover that when they dug their spoons in, there was a huge chunk of ice in the bowl and in fact, they were only getting their usual serving size of cereal. But they were so happy to be allowed to eat cereal on a weekday, that they weren't too bothered about the reduced portion.

For lunch, I just mixed up all the packaging

(fruit cocktail trick inspired by Come Together Kids)

At snack time, I told them I was making fried eggs, and they actually got really excited about it.  I think the yogurt and half a canned peach (inspired by the very clever Meet the Dubiens) was a bit of a let down!  

But I let them have two gummy worms, and they were happy :)

For dinner I made the usual meatloaf and potato frosting cake...which didn't fool the older boys, but the youngest one was super excited to get "cake" for dinner.  

They all loved the jello "juice" trick (from ivillage)- especially since they were actually allowed to eat the jello before the meal!

The Chicken Pot Pie dessert idea was from Family Fun and I must say, I didn't think it was going to come out as well as it did..but it really did look like Chicken Pot Pie and the kids loved it!

And to top it all off...a little bit of "raisin in the toothpaste" trickery. 
After they went into the bathroom to brush their teeth, I hovered outside and overheared the older boys in a heated discussion about it...
"I think there's a booger in the toothpaste....wait, its a....a....a RAISIN!!!"
And then they proceeded to put the toothpaste on their toothbrushes and brushed away happily as if it was the most usual thing in the world for a raisin to pop out of their toothpaste!
BOYS!!!

It was pretty hilarious!

April Fool's Day Fun from the past

With April Fool's Day coming up tomorrow, I am starting to wonder what little tricks to put up my sleeve...

Here are some ideas we have done in past years...all inspired by Family Fun...

I always start by sneaking into their rooms while they are still asleep and drawing on eyeliner moustaches...this is becoming trickier as they get older, though.

For Breakfast:

We have frozen water in cereal bowls (about half full) overnight and then placed a thin layer of cereal on top.  The kids were so excited to get sugar cereal for breakfast (sugared cereal is  a HUGE treat around here ;) )...only to discover that in fact, they were only getting a very thin "layer" of cereal.

Another year, we tried the "turn the milk blue" trick, which involves putting a few drops of blue food coloring in the bottom of the cereal bowl and covering it with cereal.  When the kids pour the milk, it magically turns blue!  They loved this one.

For Lunch:

I always put a gummy worm in their apples.
Last year, I saved a MacDonald's wrapper from lunch a few days before.  MacDonald's is also a huge treat in our family because we are more health food inclined, but my oldest had somehow convinced me to buy them a burger and since I had this trick in the back of my mind, I consented.  They were so excited when I told them they were having MacDonald's again for lunch....bet that PB&J sandwich that was hiding inside the wrapper was a huge let-down.  All this trickery can be quite disappointing sometimes ;)

For Dinner:

We have made meat loaf cupcakes (dyeing the potato pink with beet juice) and served grilled cheese sandwiches for dessert (yellow cake with yellow frosting).

We have also made meat loaf cupcakes with mashed potato and chocolate sprinkles to make it look sweet instead of savory.  For dessert, we did the "spagetti and meatballs" - with spagetti frosting, strawberry sauce pasta sauce and maltball meatballs.  I think this has been the biggest hit so far.

...what have been your best kiddy April Fool's Day tricks?

{update:  linking here }

Easy Homemade Granola Bars

Last week I made granola bars for the first time.  I didn't realize how easy they are to make and they were a huge hit with the whole family.  

I used this recipe from Eat Me Delicious. 

{But since we are a chocolate loving family, I added white and milk chocolate chips.}

***The key to this recipe is in making sure the mixture is very tightly packed before baking.  

Next time I am going to add a layer of melted chocolate to the top instead of the chocolate chips inside...mmmm, yum.

...my little side kick was waiting on the sidelines, hoping to score some crumbs...

as was my other little sidekick, who it appears had built himself the world's smallest train track

Hearty snacks for kids

With boys in the house,  the most often used phrase I hear on any given day is:

"I'm hungry."

So the other day, when I noticed the organic mac and cheese on sale at the grocery store, I started loading up my grocery cart, thinking that it would be a healthy and filling snack alternative.  But by the time I reached the checkout, I realized that it would be just as easy for me to boil pasta from the cupboard and just add butter and parmesan cheese.  DUH?!  Why have I never thought of this before?  Seriously?!

I use the organic pasta from Costco, which is really tasty and comes in a pack of 6.  I think each bag costs just over a dollar.  I have been making a full bag's worth of pasta on Mondays.  I cook the pasta, add a few tablespoons of butter and freshly grated parmesan cheese and a little salt.  It keeps well in the fridge for a few days and I change it up, adding hotdogs  or microwave bacon occassionally.  I keep the servings smallish, so that it is more of a snack than a meal.  It's also great if we are having a super busy day and I don't feel like cooking at the end of the day... then I just use the pasta base and add to it for a quick dinner.  In our family, the one bag I make on Monday, usually gets around three days worth of snacks, so I usually offer it every second day and when the batch is finished, I wait at least a week or two, to make more, so the kids don't get sick of it.

Also, I buy a big block of parmigiano-Reggiano at Costco, and cut it into smallish blocks.  I cover them with cling wrap, ziplock them and freeze them until I need to use them.  Freezing cheese is great, especially if its a type of cheese that you buy specifically for a recipe, but then don't  want to use the rest of it right away.  Although I have only tried freezing hard cheeses, not sure about the soft ones.

Spring!

With the first week of spring upon us, we decided to get into a flower theme around here...

First up, a flower inspired lunch (although the older boys did NOT want to eat flower shaped food...apparently it is way to girly!), but the youngest boy demolished his, so at least my efforts weren't all in vain.

Tomorrow I am going to attempt to make flower headbands for my little live doll daughter ;)

St. Paddy's Day fun

I know St. Patrick's Day has come and gone...but here are some photos of the carrying ons that occured at our house, as we celebrated all things green...

Firstly, the kids set out an elaborate trap to try and catch a Leprechaun...it involved a shoe box balancing precariously on the laundry basket, some green beads, and some gold coins strategically placed at the bottom of a black pot that was covered in shrink wrap, except for a tiny hole in the middle. The idea was for the Leprechaun to jump into the pot to retrieve the gold coins and then be trapped by the shrink wrap and fallen shoe box...
Unfortunately, the Leprechaun who visited our house during the stealth of night, was able to retrieve the gold, and escape, but he did leave some green gum and candy behind, which pleased the kids immensely, and the kids were delighted to discover that he left behind a green felt boot at the bottom of the pot!  This led to much discussion about the mystery life of the Leprechauns!

The Leprechaun also left behind a little coloring-in book which had interesting facts about St. Patrick's Day, a map of Ireland, Leprechaun jokes, mazes, word search puzzles etc.  I figured that this would be a good way for the kids to learn a bit about Ireland. 
(To make this, I printed off some free printables I found online at dtlk.com and familyfun and kaboose, and made a little booklet by stapling the pages together and then "binding" the book by gluing on a strip of green card stock.)

We made rainbow cupcakes...

For lunch we had Leprechaun sandwiches (inspired by familyfun magazine) accompanied by green jello, green grapes, green fruit roll and tic tacs...

For dinner, I wanted to make a traditional Irish meal to make the day more meaningful and somewhat educational. I was going to make a lamb stew, but wasn't sure where I would find lamb, and I didn't think that corned beef and cabbage would be a hit...so we ended up going with Shepherd's pie, which I think is more English than Irish... but the kids loved it because I made individual pots and the kids will eat pretty much anything if it is served in an individual serving sized pot.  I tried to cut a spinach leaf into a shamrock shape for a garnish, but my shamrock shape cutting skills clearly leave a lot to be desired. 

I also made Irish Soda bread, which was a huge hit.  I probably shouldn't have added the raisins, since the bread was being served with dinner, but the raisins actually went surprisingly well with the meal. 

For dessert, we had Irish Apple Cake, which was also a hit, although when I told an Irish friend that I had made an Irish Apple Cake for dessert, she said she had never heard of it...so not too sure how authentic the dessert was, but it was well received and we served it with mint chocolate chip ice-cream (because its green!).

The kids got to drink green cool-aid (lemonade cool-aid with green coloring)...the Leprechauns had cheekily turned our water jug in the fridge into green cool-aid.

We also wore green hats and the boys wore orange beards (found here) and we made some orange pigtails for our little lass.

All in all we had a fun day filled with all things green and I must say, for someone who is very challenged in the cooking department, I did have fun researching and making some traditional Irish fare.  Hope you had a wonderful St. Paddy's Day and may the luck of the Irish stay with you all year long :)