Incredible Edible Playdoh

Riley loves to play with playdoh but I really don't like it. I am anal about the colors mixing and for days afterwards I am picking up pieces of hot pink playdoh off the floor. Then one day I found this recipe for edible playdoh and thought maybe I'd prefer the edible kind to the non. When I told Riley we were going to be making edible playdoh she thought I said incredible and has been calling it that ever since. So I give you the recipe for Incredible Edible Playdoh!

INGREDIENTS:

 

 Container of chocolate icing

1 cup of peanut butter

 

1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar

(note: I halved this recipe because I thought it seemed like too much for one child & I was right)

DIRECTIONS:

 

Stir all three ingredients together until well blended

Playdoh should look like this

Play with & eat playdoh! I put down some wax paper and got out a bunch of cookie cutters and let Riley go to town. The playdoh tasted like chocolate & peanut butter fudge, yum! And it did not make the same mess that regular playdoh does. It stayed together really well and was not sticky. The playdoh that was not eaten I stuck in the fridge to be used the next day.

Cupid's Cups

Here is a simple treat you can whip up in the kitchen with the help of your children. I don't know a better way of showing someone you love them than with a sweet treat!

photo by:

kraft

What You Need

1 square semi-sweet chocolate, melted

2 cups  boiling water, divided

2 pkg. (3 oz. each) Jell-O Strawberry Flavor Gelatin

1-1/2 cups  cold water, divided

Ice cubes

1 cup  thawed Cool Whip

Decorations: assorted Valentine sprinkles and candies

Make It   

DRAW heart design or write Valentine's Day message in each of 8 (6-oz.) clear plastic cups by piping chocolate onto insides of cups. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm.

ADD 1 cup boiling water to 1 pkg. gelatin mix in medium bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in 1 cup cold water; pour into cups. Refrigerate 1 hour or until gelatin is firm.

MEANWHILE, add remaining boiling water to remaining gelatin mix; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Add enough ice to remaining cold water to measure 1 cup. Add to gelatin; stir until thickened. Stir in Cool Whip; spoon over gelatin layer in cups. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm. Decorate as desired.

Recipe courtesy of Kraft Foods

Mitten Sandwich

My daughter, Riley would eat a peanut butter sandwich almost everyday for lunch if I let her. So to change lunch up a bit I made her a mitten sandwich. I just took two pieces of wheat bread and cut them into a mitten shape. (you can cheat and buy a mitten cookie cutter here) Then filled them with peanut butter & honey.  To decorate the mitten I used raisins, cocoa puffs and bananas and stuck them on the bread with peanut butter. You can also use Kix, any dried fruit, and fruit roll-ups. She liked is so much she requested this for lunch again. You could also make this lunch to go along with this post here.

Snowman Marshmallow

     

In a attempt to do a somewhat mess-free kitchen activity with my toddler we made snowman marshmallows. Super easy and you can make them with whatever you have on hand, get creative. I love making things where I don't have to run to the store to buy the ingredients/materials to create them. They do not have to be perfect as you can see with our "snowman" in the picture (he took a tumble before I could snap a picture). The hardest part in making these is keeping your child from eating the snowman before it is created!

Ingredients:

• 1 bag large marshmallows
• A little cake icing
• 2 ounces melted chocolate
• Assorted small candies of your choice- I used Twizlers for the scarf, pretzels for the arms & Reese's Cup for his hat

Preparation:

1. “Glue” two marshmallows together by placing a small blob of icing on top of one of the marshmallows, and placing another marshmallow on top of the icing.
2. Repeat this procedure with a third marshmallow, so that you end up with three stacked marshmallows, stuck together with icing. This is your snowman body.
3. Give the snowman arms by sticking two pretzels in the sides of the middle marshmallow. Chow mein noodles would also work for this purpose.
4. Draw on face & buttons with melted chocolate. You could also use orange tic tacs for the nose & buttons.

5. Finish decorating the face and body with whatever candy or decorations you have. Try adding sprinkles, red hots, or M&Ms.  Hair can be created using shredded wheat cereal, or you can make a hat using wafer candies or Reese's Cup. Let your creativity run wild!

Ages: 1+ year

  ~Ashley

Frozen S'more Pops

I saw this recipe on Kraft Foods and just had to share it! It is a great summer alternative to the traditional s'mores. 

INGREDIENTS:

4 squares BAKER'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate, melted

2/3 cup  canned sweetened condensed milk

1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, softened

1-1/4 cups  cold milk

1 pkg. (3.9 oz.) JELL-O Chocolate Instant Pudding

1-1/2 cups  thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

1 cup JET-PUFFED Miniature Marshmallows

9   NABISCO Grahams, broken in half (18 squares)

DIRECTIONS:

Mix melted chocolate and condensed milk; set aside. Beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Gradually beat in milk. Add dry pudding mix; beat until well blended. Stir in COOL WHIP and marshmallows.

Spread bottoms of graham squares with chocolate mixture. Place 9 squares, chocolate-sides up, in 9-inch square pan. Cover with pudding mixture and remaining graham squares, chocolate-sides down. Freeze 4 hours.

Remove dessert from freezer 5 min. before serving. Let stand at room temperature to soften slightly. Use serrated knife to cut dessert into 18 bars, following lines in top crackers.

Ice Cream in a baggie

I have fond memories of making homemade ice cream at my granny's house during the summer. It didn't feel like summer without it and it tasted such much better than the store bought stuff! Don't have an ice cream machine? No problem here is a recipe for making ice cream in a ziploc bag! So simple.

Materials:

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup half and half

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup rock salt (table salt would work too)

Ice cubes (enough to fill each gallon-size bag about half full)

1 pint-size ziplock bag

1 gallon-size ziplock bag

Instructions:

1. Combine the sugar, half and half, and vanilla extract in the pint-size bag and seal it tightly.

2. Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag, then place the sealed smaller bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). Feel the small bag to determine when it's done.

3. Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add mix-ins, and eat the ice cream right out of the bag. Easy cleanup too! Serves 1.

Cooking with Kids

Last week, I told you reasons you should get your kids in the kitchen to help prepare family meals.  Well, if you need another reason - how about $50.00. 
45pounds.com is looking for videos of children preparing meals.  If they use the video you will be paid $50.00.

Need some inspiration? Check out Two Kids (and a mom) Cooking.  The site has step by step videos of the kids creating yummy dishes.

Let your children "play the chef" with this cute "Kiss the Chef" set from Land of the Nod.  Click on the banner on the right, in the sale section.

10 Reasons to Cook Together

Summer is a great time to get kids involved in menu planning, shopping and preparation. You want to start out when you have plenty of time. When you are under stress is not the time to teach children new skills. . Cooking together is a great way to spend some quality family time. It is also a fun way to sneak in a little education without them knowing.
1. It is a great way to spend some time together. Get the whole family involved in the preparation. Pick "jobs" appropriate for their age, a 3 year old might stir or add ingredients, a 5 year old can write items on the grocery list, a 7 year old may read the recipe aloud , and a 10 year old may chop or dice. It make take more time but the lessons learned are invaluable.

2. It's fun to watch children discover new foods. They may gravitate toward chicken nuggets and french fries right now, but there's a whole world of tastes just waiting for them to discover. Each week while you are grocery shopping encourage the kids to pick out a new food to try. Children are more likely to try new things when they helped prepare it. The choices might not all be winners, but you may discover a new family favorite. 

3.  Learning to cook helps kids to learn about nutrition. Healthy eating begins at home. They are growing up with fast food and junk food at their fingertips. Kids aren't getting much encouragement to eat their veggies. It's up to you to show them how yummy healthy treats can taste.

4.  Kids learn real lessons in science, language, math and social studies. Cooking will help reinforce all these subjects!   Cooking teaches them planning and making choices.

5. Boost their self esteem. They will be thrilled when everyone raves over the new dish on the table and that they helped with the meal. They are accomplishing a task, learning something important and contributing to the family. They may even start experimenting more and start preparing their own food.

6.  Teaching kids to cook will help instill skills that last a lifetime.  One day they're going to grow up and be responsible for themselves. While all the other kids in their dorm are ordering pizza, your kid will be whipping up a healthy meal. Well, we can dream.

7. They can help contribute to the family and they can feel the importance of
helping.  Even if they've just stirred the pot or washed the veggies. They are learning teamwork and to understand the importance of their role as a member of the family.

8. Practice creativity and imagination. Kids cooking activities are a great way to express themselves and enjoy their creations.

9.  It is a great way to create family traditions and pass on family history.   They might even pass it on to their own kids someday.  So much of our family culture and identity is tied to food traditions.  Don't you want your kids to learn how to make Grandma's famous carrot cake?

10.  The memories we create with our children our priceless.


Ideas from Kids Cook

Head of the Class Cupcakes

Have a child graduating from preschool, kindergarten, high school or just want to celebrate graduating to the next grade? Here is an easy way to decorate some cupcakes with your kids to celebrate.
10 vanilla cupcake
1 16-oz can of vanilla frosting
Yellow, red, and blue food coloring
1 cup chocolate frosting
1/4 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
12 miniature Reese’s peanut butter cups, unwrapped
12 chocolate-covered thin mint candies
10 blue miniature M&M’s (or you could use blue frosting)
Variety of candies for hair (Apple Jacks, sprinkles, mini marshmallows, etc.)

1. Separate the vanilla frosting into four different containers.

2. Tint some of the frosting yellow, red and blue.

3. Mix the remaining frosting with the cocoa powder to create tan frosting.

4. Spoon the dyed frosting and chocolate frosting into five different plastic bags for piping
After frosting the cupcake with tan frosting and using candies to create hair and ears, create the graduation cap by doing the following:

5. Press peanut butter cups, large end down, on top of cupcakes, adding a dot of frosting to secure if necessary.

6. Pipe a dot of chocolate frosting on top of each peanut butter cup and add chocolate mint as the mortarboard.

7. For tassel, starting from center of mortarboard, pipe several lines of blue frosting, allowing frosting to overhang edge of chocolate.

8. Press a blue candy on top.

9. And you have your graduates! If making several different graduates is a little overwhelming you could just one or two and make several of the same.

Ages 3 and up

*Idea courtesy of All You Magazine