Happy Natl Pie Day!

So, I really didn't intend to do another 'holiday' so quickly, but it really gives me an excuse to share some of my fun pie creations with all of you. Yay! And, again, I just found out it was Natl Pie Day this morning (and on my dad's birthday too...Happy Birthday Dad!) but that won't stop me from throwing something together for you all!
I myself am not a big pie eater (was that gasping I heard?) but my brother is a pie fiend. Like, he prefers pie to birthday cake. Crazy, I think, but hey, it's his party. I've been wanting to gift him pie for his birthday for awhile now, but being as his lives in another state and gifts have to be sent, that just didn't seem very practical. Then, last year, I discovered Our Best Bites (truly one of my favorite food sites!) and their amazing pies-in-a-jar. Aha...that was it! I just knew it! So, for his birthday this year, I whipped these bad boys up.


Cute, right?!


These are SO easy, people.
1) Dough up the inside of your jar. Use your favorite pie crust or just be lazy like me and buy the prepared crusts. Pull off chunks of dough and press them on the bottom of the jar and along the sides. If you want a topper, use the seal part of your lid to cut out a circle from the dough.
2) Make your pie filling. Use prepared pie filling or just make your own! Very easy!

Here is a basic pie recipe (about 1/2C per jar):
2 C prepared fruit (pitted, diced, peeled, etc.)
2 T sugar- brown or white (use more or less depending on sweetness of fruit)
2 T flour-(again, more if your fruit is super juicy like cherries, less if it’s pretty dry)
1 T butter (divided between the pies to go on top of the pies)
Seasonings/flavorings- cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and almond extract, citrus zest etc)


3) Fill it up. Add about ½ C filling per jar. Add your topper (cut a couple
vent holes) & crimp it down, or make a basic crumb topping to go on top instead.
Now you can freeze them, bake them or just give them away!
For the pies I sent to my brother, I baked them ahead of time (I didn't want pie
filling sloshing around and didn't want them to partially thaw on the way there).

4)Bake at 375 for about 45 min. From frozen, bake about 50-60 min.

I made blueberry (from our blueberries we picked during Summer!), apple and pumpkin (I just followed basic pumpkin pie recipe and directions, since it's a little different than other pies).
For the blueberry, I made a lattice pie crust, which I think turned out really cute.


The apple pie, I topped with a crumb topping, yum!


The pumpkin, I obviously just left alone (and this one won't need the pat of butter on top, either).


These were so much fun to make and so easy, that I decided they would make fun Christmas gifts for my son's Kindergarten teachers! He helped me make each of them an apple pie (what's more appropriate for a teacher right?) then we added some cute labels and put each one into a little gift bag. They were so impressed (one teacher had to be convinced it wasn't a candle, haha) and excited. Now, for those, I just gave them un-cooked and un-frozen and left it up to them to decide what they wanted to do. I also made a couple up for my grandma for Christmas, but froze those first. She received, blueberry, blackberry and apple.


Another fun pie idea that I did last year on Pi Day (yep, house full of geeks here, hehe) is to make pie pops!



I didn't follow any specific recipe here; just cut the pie crusts with my 3” circle cookie cutter, added about 1T pie filling (careful not to overdo it or these guys will get messy fast!) pressed a lollipop stick into the dough, then put another circle on top and crimped it down. I brushed some melted butter on, then sprinkled some sugar and voila, pie pops! After they cooled down, we added a dollop of whipped cream and they were ready!



These were a big hit with the family!


And, these little cuties came courtesy of a friend's borrowed pie maker (and,
now I have my own...thanks Mom!).



Since my daughter’s birthday party was horse themed, I thought mini pies would go along perfectly with the kind of rustic-ness of it. I decided to just swap out pies for cupcakes and loved the outcome!

And, for a regular ol' pie, this is my absolute most favorite; Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie.



I make this every year for Thanksgiving and try to find any excuse to make other times of the year too. It is so rich and gooey; the perfect pie in my eyes! :)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie
Ingredients

20 milk chocolate candy kisses, unwrapped
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 (5 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 3/4 cups milk
1 (9 inch) pie shell, baked (I use the ready-made chocolate cookie pie crust)

Directions

Melt the chocolate with the whipping cream. Stir until smooth, and spread evenly over the bottom of the pie shell. Refrigerate until ready to fill; chocolate should be firm before filling.
Put the dry pudding mix and peanut butter in a heavy saucepan. Over low heat, gradually stir in the milk using a wire whisk. Stir constantly until mixture thickens and comes to a boil. Cool for 15 minutes, stirring often. Pour peanut butter filling into crust. Chill several hours.
Top with whipped topping and garnish with chopped peanuts, Hershey's Kisses, Peanut Butter Cups or Reeses, if desired.

And, here are a few of my favorite pie recipes I've seen around...


This brownie pie looks so yummy!
Source

And, how about this Grownup Pumpkin Pie Milkshake. Yes, one here, please!
Source

Check out these mini S'mores pies! These would be so much fun for a Summertime treat, or even a fun dessert for indoor camping night (we have these every so often and they are quite popular for the kiddos-not so much the adults with bad backs though, hehe).
Source

And, last but not least; these lattice pie cookies makes my heart go pitter pat! They are incredibly adorable and pretty simple. What a 'wow' factor they would be for a fun girls day!
Source

So, how are you celebrating Pie Day? :)

Happy Natl. Popcorn Day!

Okay, I really just discovered it was Natl Popcorn Day about ten minutes ago on Facebook, haha. But, that doesn’t mean there isn't time to celebrate it still!

And, who doesn't love popcorn?! Popcorn is awesome; it's buttery, salty, fluffy. It's the perfect movie food, of course, but also great for kids snacks, and even parties.

I made these fun cones for my son's 5^th birthday party; it was a monster theme so I used monster scrapbook paper then filled with green-tinted caramel corn. Yum and fun!

My mom made these adorable mini popcorn ball pops for my daughter's last birthday!

Of course, a personal favorite of ours is to grab a bag while we're shopping at Target. No better bribe to get your kiddos to behave than the promise of Target popcorn, hehe!

In honor of Natl Popcorn Day, I thought I'd share some of the amazing popcorn recipes I've seen on Pinterest and my all-time favorite, personal caramel corn recipe.

Check out this amazing white-chocolate popcorn recipe for a baby shower!
Source



And how about this amazing popcorn cake. Yes, I said cake! How great would this be foe that popcorn lover?!
Source

This white chocolate peppermint popcorn from Our Best Bites is amazing! I actually made some myself for Christmas presents, and it was very well received. :0)

Source




Instead of boring ol' cupcakes at your next party, try these adorable popcorn cupcakes!
Source

And, this one is mine. My take on Harry and David's Moose Munch.

I use my basic caramel corn recipe, which produces THE best caramel corn ever, and spruce it up a little.

Caramel Corn

Ingredients

7 quarts plain popped popcorn (about two 3.5oz bags of microwave popcorn)
2 cups dry roasted peanuts (optional)
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup margarine
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1) Place the popped popcorn into two shallow greased baking pans (I use my turkey roaster pan). Add the peanuts to the popped corn if using. Set aside.
2) Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C). Combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, margarine and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring enough to blend. Once the mixture begins to boil, boil for 5 minutes while stirring constantly.
3) Remove from the heat, and stir in the baking soda and vanilla. The mixture will be light and foamy. Immediately pour over the popcorn in the pans, and stir to coat. Don't worry too much at this point about getting all of the corn coated.
4) Bake for 1 hour, removing the pans, and giving them each a good stir every 15 minutes (use a long wooden spoon). Line the counter top with waxed paper. Dump the corn out onto the waxed paper and separate the pieces. Allow to cool completely, then store in airtight containers or resealable bags.

To make it into Moose Munch, just separate out some popcorn (use the big clumps) and dip in melted chocolate. Do the same with peanuts, then mix both in with the caramel corn. Voila...instant Moose Munch! Yum!

I hope you enjoy Natl Popcorn Day!! :o)

Mommy Playdates

I belong to an awesome mom's group that allows for frequent get-together of kiddos to play, craft, run around, etc. My kids really appreciate having other kids their age to play with, and I appreciate a break from hearing “I'm boooored!” and “But, I don't want to play with my sister/brother anymore!”

But, what I also love about my mom's group, are the mom's night out (MNO). We usually get together at least once a month for bingo, bunco and even the occasional fondue night or movie night. I can restore my sanity, if only for a few hours, and be free to eat with both hands. I'd love to say the conversation is more grownup too, but we often fall into the routine of talking about our kids' most of the night anyway. Oh well, just being able to get out more then two words of a sentence before being interrupted to untangle the fork from your daughter's hair, get the shoe out of the toilet or remove the banana peel from the dryer is pretty much heaven.

One of my favorite aspects of our MNO, is the food. Some of the moms really go all out and bring some truly nummy (yea, I said nummy...see I do need to get out more) dishes!

I myself decided I wanted to do something different then the usual cookies or rice krispy treats (though don't get me wrong; I could very well live on chocolate chip cookies and rice krispy treats alone), so came up with a couple fun foods...

This first one is something I've been wanting to do for awhile; brownie balls. My little guy and I fell in love with these after trying them from our local bakery. We'd make up any excuse we could to have occasion to go get them, Unfortunately, the bakery recently went out of business and took our beloved brownie balls with them. After sulking and pouting for a couple weeks, I decided they seemed like something we could make ourselves. As with most new recipes I want to try, I headed for the internet. I found a few recipes for 'brownie balls' but they were mostly disappointing to me. Most recipes called for adding frosting to the cooked brownies. While that's a standard practice for cake balls, it just seemed to me that brownies are already rich enough. So, I decided to just do it myself.

Brownie Balls

Ingredients:
Brownie mix (you can go with homemade brownies here, but the boxed Hershey's never let me down)
Six squares Bakers Chocolate, semi-sweet (these are pretty rich, so if you use another chocolate, still stick with semi-sweet)

Optional:
Sprinkles, cookie crumbs, nonpareils
Sucker sticks

Directions:
Mix brownies according to directions, but cook about five minutes less then recommended time (make sure they are done, but still soft)
Cool completely
Turn out brownies onto surface, and trim edges off (use pizza cutter to speed this up and please, save those scraps...perfect for hot fudge sundaes)



Begin scooping brownies, shaping into about two inch balls (use a cookie scoop for the perfect size) and set on parchment (or Silpat) lined baking tray.
Put finished balls into freezer (if you want pops, insert lollipop sticks now) for about 10 minutes
*And, if you are worried about this task becoming monotonous, make sure you have a five year old who is very eager to discuss with you all aspects of Dinosaur Train.



Taking out a few at a time, dip balls into melted chocolate and put on another baking sheet. If desired, add sprinkles, cookie crumbs etc.
Place back into freezer for 10 more minutes until chocolate has set.



And, that's it! Simple, yummy, and fun enough to take to your next outing!




This next one is just something that seemed fun, and actually, it was one of those situations where I didn't want to drag my crew to the store, so used what I had on hand: marshmallows and chocolate. And, you know you can never go wrong with that combination!

Chocolate Covered Marshmallows



Ingredients:
Marshmallows (I used two different flavors; vanilla and chocolate)
Chocolate (again, I used both milk and white chocolate & added some peppermint extract to some of the white to make it mint flavored)-melted
Pretzel sticks
Sprinkles, cookie crumbs, etc (optional)

Directions:
Melt your chocolate in batches in the microwave (and, yes, you can melt white chocolate in the microwave; just go a minute at a time and be prepared to keep re-heating as it hardens)
Insert pretzel stick into marshmallow and dip into chocolate, making sure to add some melted chocolate to the hole around pretzel stick
Sprinkle with cookie crumbs, sprinkles, etc
Refrigerate or freeze until hard



Simple, inexpensive and fast enough to throw together last minute!



Hopefully, there will be many more mommy playdates in the future, so I can create more fun food! :)

Valentine's Day Countdown: Homemade marshmallows

Even though hubby and I don't usually do much for each other on Valentine's Day, I just knew I had to make these marshmallows. Okay, well actually, the truth is that I had planned on making them for him for Christmas a year ago (so two Christmases ago) then again last Christmas, but it just didn't happen.

But, it seemed like it would make a good Valentine's gift...

Now, my hubby is a marshmallow fiend. I don't think anyone in the world loves marshmallows as much as him. And, I didn't even really think people even liked marshmallows before I met him. I mean, you use them for s'mores, maybe hot chocolate and that's it, right? But, nope, he can polish off an entire bag of Jetpuffs in one sitting.

So, I enlisted the help of my trusty assistants and got to work...

Homemade Marshmallows

Ingredients:
3 packets unflavored gelatin
1 C ice water, divided
1 1/2 C sugar
1 C light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 C corn starch
1/4 C powdered sugar

Optional:
-- Add all flavorings and colorings in the last few minutes of beating.
For Cocoa Marshmallows: add in 3-4 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. If you make cocoa marshmallows, add a spoonful or two of cocoa powder to your cornstarch mixture as well.
For Peppermint Marshmallows: add in 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
For Colored Marshmallows: add food coloring in the last few minutes of beating (think colored fruit flavored marshmallows!)

9 x 13" pan
non stick spray


Directions:
Place the contents of the gelatin packets into the bowl of a stand mixer.
Add 1/2 C of the ice water.



Stir gently to combine and then set that bowl aside.

In a small saucepan combine: remaining 1/2 C water, corn syrup, granulated sugar, and salt. Stir mixture to combine and bring it to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and then clip a candy thermometer onto the pan.
The sugar mixture needs to remain on a simmer and come to a temperature of 245 degrees F.
This was taking a long time for me, so I increased the temperature to more of a slow boil, which got it there much faster. Just keep a close eye on it and the temp and stir occasionally.



While you're waiting for your mixture to reach the correct temp, you'll have some time to, say, put on a fun photo shoot with your pint-sized sous chef.






After the mixture reaches 245 degrees, remove from heat.
While your mixer runs on low speed, you need to slowly pour the sugar mixture into the bowl with the gelatin.
You may want to put the mixture into something with a pour spout, to make it easier to get in your mixer.



After you add the entire sugar mixture to the gelatin turn the beater speed up to med-high. Continue to whip for 12-15 minutes, adding the vanilla in the last few minutes of beating.
*If you plan to add flavoring/color, remember to do it in the last few minutes of beating.



Take this time to prepare your pan.

Combine the cornstarch and powdered sugar in a small bowl. Spray a 9 x 13" pan with non stick spray and coat the bottom and sides with the cornstarch mixture. Tap excess out and save it.

When your marshmallows are done beating the mixture should be thick and white, kind of like jarred marshmallow cream.

Using a spatula, coated in non-stick spray, scrape bowl into your prepared pan. You may have to spread it around a little, which is why you want your spatula sprayed, to make it even.




Let the pan sit at room temp for about an hour (to form a dry layer on the top) and sprinkle a couple spoonfuls of the corn starch mixture over the top. Cover with a sheet of plastic wrap and let it sit overnight.

When they're ready to cut, just pull the marshmallow sheet out of the pan.

Now, it's time to cut (this is a great project for the kiddos!)!
You can use cookie cutters to make fun shapes (we did hearts!) or just use your pizza cutter to cut into bite size squares. Make sure to coat your cutting implement frequently with the cornstarch mixture, because this stuff gets pretty sticky!







And, now for the fun part! You can, of course just start digging in or even prepare a nice mug of hot chocolate to plop them in. If you're giving them for gift you can prepare your packaging. We simply put ours in a cellophane bag tied with a handmade note for the hubby. You could really have fun with it, even coating them in chocolate...or how about putting them with a graham cracker and dipping the whole thing in chocolate! Yumm!

We presented them to my hubby tonight and he loved them! I had saved a few out, and we used those to put in hot chocolate (we added peppermint to ours, so they added a nice extra touch to the hot chocolate) and they were delicious!



So, I know Valentine's Day is officially over, but that shouldn't stop you from making this for the next holiday, birthday or just random Thursday (trust me, that are that good!)

And, if you do make some, link back to me, so we can see what you came up with! :)

Linking up here:
all crafts Handmade Projects & Parties ~ Add Yours!

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving all!
I just wanted to take a moment to mention some of the things I'm thankful for...
My wonderful hubby, who works hard so I can stay home with our kiddos! He is also the most thoughtful, sensitive caring partner I could ask for and the kids could dream of!
My amazing kids! They give me SO much happiness every single day I'm with them, and I feel incredibly blessed to spend my days with the two most awesome people in the world!
My family, especially my parents who have and will do anything for us (to watching the kids at a moments notice to giving me a ride when I lock myself out of the car to cutting a million paper strips for me when I was sick and had a crafty playdate coming!). They really are the best! My siblings for being hip and cool and just fun to talk to and hang out with. And, of course for being awesome Aunts & uncles for my kids!
My friends especially my best friend who I've known since 7th grade! I know not everyone is fortunate enough to live within 15 minutes of their best friend, and I'm incredibly grateful for that; being able to hang out whenever we want and raise our kids together is so special to me!
Being in good health and that my family is in good health.
Having a gorgeous house in the best neighborhood ever with some pretty cool neighbors!
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

~Peggy

What's For Dinner...

So, I don't really have anything else to blog about right now. Well...that's not entirely true, but I'm not really in the mood to be clever or witty (yes, I usually am trying to be clever and witty) right now, so thought I'd stick with something easy. I figured I might as well jump on the ol' recipe sharing bandwagon, since everyone else seems to share recipes on their blogs (and, no, I wouldn't jump off a bridge if they were all doing it too...well, unless I had a bungee cord attached to me, 'cause I think than it would be pretty darn fun).
So, I talked before about the eating habits of my kids, and how they eat pretty well. Oh, and update on that post; Miss Avalee has finally decided to start eating and has been sampling a pretty wide variety of fruits and veggies. Yay! So, I've been really trying to incorporate healthy meals, and in the last year have started doing a lot of Crock Pot cooking to help me out.
Since we've got the kids in swim lessons Tuesdays and Thursdays, we don't get home until after 7PM. Dinner has to be something that's quick to throw together, or even better, already cooked. That's where the Crock Pot comes in. I've been able to get our meals put together and slow cook away, until we get home, and then kit's ready to eat!
Today, I opted for 40 garlic clove chicken meal. Our family loves, like lu.huves, garlic! Zavion has actually been known to eat the pickled garlic from the bottom of our canned pickles (he loves pickles too). So, this recipe was perfect for us!
I got this recipe from, A Year of Slow Cooking, which is one of my favorite resources for Crock Pot recipes. This is the recipe from the site, although I didn't follow it exactly...

Ingredients
3-4 pounds chicken
1 large onion, sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon pepper
20-40 garlic cloves, peeled, but intact

Directions

Using a 6 quart oval slow cooker; Place onion slices on the bottom of the stoneware insert. In a large mixing bowl, toss chicken parts with olive oil, salt, paprika, pepper, and all of the garlic cloves. Pour into slow cooker, on top of the onion.

Do not add water.

Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-6.

So, three to four pounds of chicken is a lot. A lot. Even with my cyclist Hungry-Man hubby, three chicken breasts (usually a couple pounds) is enough for us (I buy packages of chicken on a good sale, then divide it up, usually into three breasts per baggie.) So, I just pulled out the frozen breasts I had and added the ingredients to the baggie, shook it up and plopped it in, on top of the onions.
We thought this was pretty tasty, although could use a bit more flavor. I think in addition to the paprika, I might add in some chili powder or maybe even sub the kosher salt for seasoned salt. I also used my smaller Crock Pot (I have the whole family; the 6quart, 4quart and Little Dipper. My ultimate goal is to one day have them all cooking something simultaneously.) to 'bake' some potatoes & they turned out very yummy (even the hubby ate two, and he's not big on baked potatoes). So, here's that 'recipe.'

Ingredients
3-4 potatoes (I just used regular russet potatoes; if you use the baking potatoes, you could do fewer)
Salt
Butter

Directions
Prick your potatoes all over with a fork (you don't want your lid to come flying off and exploding potatoes to shoot out).
Run generously with butter
Sprinkle with a little salt (probably don't let your four year old 'help' with the salt, otherwise you'll have to add another step of scraping off the excess salt).
In a 4quart slow cooker (yes, only because the big guy was in use...if you want to make baked potatoes for the entire neighborhood, by all means...go for the big Daddy) add your potatoes. I ended up with two layers, and tried to criss cross them; I don't know if that's necessary, but it made me feel like I knew what I was doing.
Cook on high for 4-5 hours.

We also added a yummy fresh-from-our-own-garden salad to the meal, which made it all perfect!

Healthy Eaters

Zavion is such a good eater (Avalee is still getting there) that I often get asked what Colin and I “did.” I've actually been asked a few times recently how we get him to eat so well. So, I thought I might share my 'tips' here for all my readers (did anyone hear crickets?).
Here is my disclaimer: I am, by no means, an expert on healthy eating, or childhood nutrition or well, anything regarding food. I do know what has worked for us and our kids. So, if you think I'm doing something terrible wrong; keep it to yourselves. On the other hand, if you think I'm amazingly-awesome, please don't hesitate to let me know. :o) Also, I'm going to not trying to sound like I'm bragging, but if I do, just deal with it. I mean, it is my blog, and you are reading it.
So, without further ado, here goes...

1)Eat with your kids!
For me, this is so, so important and really sets the foundation for a healthy eating lifestyle. Now, I know a lot of parents prefer feeding their kids and putting them to bed, before they eat, but I would really encourage you to eat as a family. As soon as our kids could sit in the highchair, they were at the table with us. I really think it helps for your kids to see you eating, and sets a great example. I mean, if you're chowing down on carrots, you're kids are more inclined to to as well! And, besides the food part of it, I think it's also helpful for them to see how to eat. If they're with you at the dinner table, they are seeing how to use utensils, napkins, etc. It's also just a great way to connect with each other. How could you not want to hear about the adventures your four year old had that day or see the newest silly faces your one year has mastered!

2)If you want them to eat broccoli, give them broccoli!
Yeah, I know that just sounds too easy, but it really works. And, I'm not talking about being sneaky and hiding the food you want them to eat (unless you're past that 'magic' age of three...if it's not happened yet, by all means, sneak away!); I mean just give it to them. If they ask for a snack, hand them a banana or an apple. At dinner, serve up some green beans or pears. We've always just given the kids a variety of healthy things to eat for meals and snacks. Now, they may not always eat it, but they know it's the norm, and not the exception.

3)Don't force them to eat anything (I'm not sure, if this should be sub-two, but we'll just go with three anyway, 'cause I'm really diggin' the numbers.)!
We just tell the kids that they at least need to try something new. As a reformed picky eater (yea, I still have my moments), I know I hated being forced to eat something I deemed as disgusting, weird or just out of my comfort zone. So, if they don't like something, after one bite (yup, just one bite, but it does have to be what we call a 'real' bite; utensil all the way in the mouth and no food left), we don't push it. And, you know what? Most of the time, after that bite, Zavion (again, Avalee is still a little young) likes it and digs right in.

4)Instead of prohibiting the 'bad stuff' encourage the 'good stuff!'
We have never forbidden junk food, but instead really push the fruits and veggies. We rarely have junk food in the house (the Halloween bucket is usually emptied of last years stash right before trick-or-treating), but we always have apples, bananas, carrots, broccoli, etc. We stash the fruits and veggies in various places, and when it comes time for a snack, the kids usually head to the fruit bowl or the refrigerator crisper. For dessert, we'll often have sliced strawberries, or a slice of watermelon or a fresh peach. That's not to say we don't have ice cream every so often, but when we do, we try not to make a big deal about it.

5)Make it together!
Zavion has been in the kitchen with me, since he was old enough to stand. Avalee has now established her place in the kitchen as well, and I love it. I don't think it's ever “too early” to teach your kids to cook. Z started out helping me with baking stuff (Christmas cookies, cupcakes, etc), but I soon realized how much fun we were both having. He was really interested in how the food was prepared, and I found that if he 'helped' make something, he was usually more willing to eat it. I started having him help me prepare veggies for stir fry, mash up bananas for banana bread, and measure the rice. Now, I can find a job for him for just about everything; whisking, mixing, measuring (don't worry, no knives yet!).

6)Show them where the food comes from!
We've had a vegetable garden since before the kids were born, but it's now something they can help us with. Zavion has been helping in the garden since he was about one and a half, and Avalee is just getting into it (she loves her little watering can!). One of Z's favorite foods are tomatoes, so he has his own cherry tomato plant he tends to. One of my proudest moments was when he was little, and we were in the grocery store. We passed by the tomatoes, and Z asks, all wide-eyed, “Mommy, are those our 'matoes from our own garden”? I knew then that he had a good understanding of where food comes from.
Obviously not everyone can grow their own foods, but you can always take your kids to the farmer's markets, local farm, orchard, etc.

7)Make food fun!
You're not going to win them over if you serve them steamed broccoli at every meal.
I make kebabs (just alternate, cheese, fruit, lunch meat, etc) for lunch, silly faces
out of dinner (chicken eyes, green bean smile, etc), quesadillas cut into dinosaur
shapes. Just be creative, and have fun with it!

So, I know this was pretty different from my usual blog posts, but like I said, maybe it can help someone else. I hope I made some sense, and didn't sound too preachy. :o)

Superbowl

So, our Superbowl celebration turned out great, despite a bumpy start...
Actually, it started on Saturday evening, when Colin came home from watching a UFC fight (really don't understand the appeal of this. But to each his own, I guess...) at a buddy's house. He was complaining of not feeling well, but since he hadn't eaten all night, thought that might be the cause. Well, after a nice salad, he didn't feel any better...than actually started feeling worse. When I went to sleep, he was feeling nauseous and apparently spent the next few hours in and out of the bathroom. Poor guy! The next morning, he wasn't feeling any better...So, this left me to take care of the kiddos, finish cleaning and make all the food by myself. And, I'm still sick myself with, well, whatever the heck it is I have (that makes me cough so hard my face turns purple and I just about pass out), so I'm not going full-speed myself. UGH! And, of course, I decided I was going to make a whole yummy spread of food; artichoke-spinach dip (first time making this too), potato skins, bacon-wrapped Lil' Smokies (a favorite around here!), wings, caramel corn, cookies and PB pie. Yeah, just a little daunting without Colin's help; So I had to cut out the pie and cookies and used pre-made wings, but am proud to say everything got done (luckily, my mom came over early to help out!). And, it all turned out way yummy too! Yay!
And, of course there was a game to watch too...LOL. As you know, from my previous posts, we are a football family, so the Superbowl is a fun event for us. C and I weren't really rooting for either team, since we don't have an affiliation with either. I really like Peyton Manning (who doesn't?!), but also liked the 'Cinderella' story of the Saints. So, we cheered, let out some “ohhs” and grimaced when poor Peyton threw 'the' interception. But, overall, it was some great football and turned out to be a great game. And, I have to say when the Saints won, it was a great moment to see the team, fans and pretty much the entire city of New Orleans celebrate. :0)

Poor Colin is trying to hold it together here! ;0)


Spinach-artichoke dip...mmm!


Yummy potato skins!


Homemade caramel corn...so addictive!


Wings & Lil' Smokies


Halftime fun (yay for a playground acrross the street & grandma to take you over while missing the commercials!)





A's first time in the wagon...she loved it!



And, of course, cap the day off with strawberry margaritas!