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! :)

Day-Cation:Wildlife Safari

We are a family that likes to do, go, experience. We don't buy a lot of fancy things (not that the kids aren't spoiled...thanks Grandparents!), have only one car (hubby commutes to work by bicycle) and try to eat-in as much as possible. We save our money for little trips here and there. Living in the Great Northwest means ample places to visit, many of which can be done in one day. As a family of four, this suits us just fine.

One of our absolute favorite places to visit, is Wildlife Safari in Winston, OR. It's about an hour and a half to two hours (depending on potty breaks, traffic, etc) so pretty reasonable for a five and two year old. This was our second year in a row visiting this magnificent place, so we were all pretty excited!

As weekends there can be pretty crazy, we decided to go on a Monday (Colin had just returned from a four day trip to St Louis for work too, so this was just the family time we all needed). We happened to pick the perfect day too! The sun was shining the whole time we were there and it only rained just as we were leaving.

We started our first drive-thru (you get to go through twice) and almost immediately, Avalee started “oohing” and “aahing” and practically jumping out of her seat! Apparently, she saw a giraffe just ahead and then an elephant. She was about as excited as I've ever seen her! We eventually let both kiddos out of their car seats (you drive through at about 5mph, tops) so they could get the best views.

Grandma was in the backseat with them, and unfortunately I think she got quite a few flying elbows, knees and blocked views from a couple very excited kids...hahaha!

Zavion even brought along his constant companion and best friend, Leopard (his stuffed cheetah), who got to sit on then window for some pretty cool views of bears, lions and bison.

After we drove through, we stopped for lunch at the restaurant there and were treated to a fun show by the monkeys outside. We had a perfect view of their crazy antics, including climbing to the tip-top of a tall (telephone-like) pole and screeching very loudly. The kids loved it, and had to be reminded several times to finish their lunch so we could go see them in person.

After lunch, we headed straight for the monkeys who were still screeching and now swinging wildly from tree to tree. Avalee, however, couldn't care less about the monkeys; she was enthralled with the giant Koo fish that were in the moat around the monkey area. She would pint out fish after fish and squeal with delight when they started swimming around! After visiting with some flamingos, cheetahs and taking a little break on the playground, we were ready for a second drive through.

This time we were treated to feeding-time with the bears and even got stalled when some mountain goats decided to get into a tussle a few cars ahead of us, locking horns and pushing each other around for almost 15 minutes! We also got to see some baby cheetahs (and their very nervous mama, who was pacing back and forth behind them) and the lions giving each other a bath.

It was a fun, fun day and one that I know my whole family enjoyed! This was just one of our many day-cations I'm sure we'll go on this year, but this was definitely a great start!

The kiddos checking out the animals from the best view in the house.



During the walk-through; the kids check out the (very smelly!) flamingos



This little guy tried stealing Avalee's hotdog!



My little guy discovering the moonroof as a great vantage point

Back to blogging...after these messages

Wow, has it really been that long since I last blogged?? Nothing in April? Shame on me!

Well, it's not that I don't things to say, pictures to share news to report...I just haven't had the time to sit down and write anything up!

Between my grandma going into the hospital for open heart surgery the beginning of April to Zavion starting t-ball to all the holidays and birthdays; I'm all tapped out!

So, having said that, I do have some fabulous new posts to share with all of you soon, and I promise to have something new this week. Really.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this ridiculously adorable photo of my ridiculously adorable children.

Happy Pi Day!

Did you know there was a celebration of Pi??

For those who don't know Pi is is a mathematical constant approximately equal to 3.14159265.

So, March 14th (314) is the official Pi Day holiday.

And, of course, as with any holiday, it deserves celebration...don't you think??

Oh, by the way, hubby is a huge computer/math/science geek, and is slowly turning the five year old into another science geek (on the list for birthday #6; a mad scientist party). So, celebrating Pi Day makes sense for us. ;o)

Plus, it's a nice excuse to make (and therefor consume) fun, yummy stuff.

Like these Pie Pops.

I've seen these floating around the internet for years, and have been wanting to make them for sometime. I always thought I'd make them for Thanksgiving, but then they always get moved to the bottom of the list, after all the regular foods getting planned out.

These are really easy to make, super-duper cute and yummmmy!

The world's cutest two year old showing off how good these are to eat!



Ingredients:

Pastry dough (I just use the refrigerated stuff)
Pie Filling
Melted butter
Sanding sugar
6” Lollipop sticks
Cookie cutter
Water

Apple Pie Filling: (combine all ingredients below):
1 medium tart green apple, peeled and grated
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cold butter, grated


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat if desired.


Directions:

Cut out your shapes of choice (try to keep it 2” or under; too big and they'll slide off your stick, too small and you won't be able to put much filling in)-I used circles so they looked like little pies.

Spoon about 1-2 tsp filling to middle of shape (leave about 1/4” around edge to prevent seepage)

Add lollipop stick to middle of shape, place near top of 'pie.'

Dip your finger in water and run around edge of shape. Do the same for another shape, then place on top. Gently press around edges to seal.

Using a fork, crimp around edges, making sure to seal around lollipop stick.

Brush with butter and sprinkle with sanding sugar.

Bake pies for 15-20 minutes until barely golden brown. Cool for a few minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.

We sprayed on some whipped cream too, and these were soo yummy!

We also had pizza pie-BBQ chicken.

Here is a super-yummy and easy recipe for BBQ chicken using your slow cooker!

Ingredients:
6 frozen skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
¾ to 1 full (12 ounce) bottle barbecue sauce
1/2 cup Italian salad dressing
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
¼ red onion, sliced
¼ C cilantro, torn into pieces

Directions:
Place chicken in a slow cooker. In a bowl, mix the barbecue sauce, Italian salad dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the chicken.
Add sliced onions and cilantro to top.
Cover, and cook 3 to 4 hours on High or 6 to 7 hours on Low.
Pull out chicken breasts, shred and return to slow cooker.
Continue cooking for another hour.

After it's cooked, you have so many options!

We like to make BBQ Chicken sandwiches with some ciabiatta bread and a smokey cheddar.

Or, we make BBQ Chicken quesadillas with lots of colby jack cheese.

But for Pi Day, we had to make a BBQ Chicken pizza pie.

So, this is my 'recipe' for the pizza. Ready? It's really hard. Here we go...

Ingredients:
Pizza dough (our local grocery store sells pizza dough for cheap-o, but you can make your own, of course)
BBQ Sauce (if you only used ¾ bottle of sauce for your chicken, the rest will be the perfect amount)
BBQ Chicken
Colby Jack cheese
Cilantro (optional)
Spread a think layer of sauce to crust than layer the rest of your ingredients.

Cook.
Eat.
Yum!

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

“Today you are you! That is truer than true!
There is no one alive who is you-er than you!”


We love, love, love reading around here and Dr. Seuss is a favorite of all.

In fact, I read to both my kids in the womb often, and the first book I read both of them was 'Dr. Seuss' ABC.'

Both my kids have tons of Dr. Seuss books and I would say that between both kids, we read at least one Dr. Seuss book a day.

Last year, I kind of threw a quick celebration together, since finding out it was Dr. Seuss' birthday just a day earlier.
This year, I was pretty excited to be hosting a Dr Seuss playdate for my mom's group! Since, I knew I'd be planning some stuff anyway, it made it just a little less crazy that I was doing it in the name of a playdate this time. Haha!

So, I obsessed a little about activities for the kids and, of course, a fun Seuss-worthy food I could share.

I decided on having the kids make their own Cat In the Hat 'hats.'
I cut pieces of white construction paper, about two inches wide. Then I used a piece of red construction paper, and taped (double-sticky tape is THE best when doing kids crafts...no glue to deal with!) five strips per hat. The sixth strip was used as a headband, secured around the kids' heads with staples.
They turned out pretty cute, and were easy enough for the kids to make.








I also had some blank bookmarks, stickers and crayons so the kids could make their own bookmarks.
I bought a package of 12 bookmarks at Michaels for $.99, but you could easily make some yourself by cutting up some strips of cardstock. I also grabbed some adorable Dr. Seuss stickers at Michaels and put those with the stickers my mom got at Target (in the clearanced dollar section for only $.25!).





And, for the youngest of our guests, I just printed out some coloring sheets from Seussville.
I had these on a couple tables along with some crayons, so they could color away. :)

For my food contribution, I came up with the idea of 'Red Fish, Blue Fish' Jello jigglers. I was happy to find the perfect fish cookie cutter among my 'collection' (I have somewhere in the range of about 250 cookie cutters).
To make the jigglers, you have to use four boxes of each Jello (found this out the hard way when I only bought one each, and had to send my hubby back to the store...oops!) and only hot water.
Then after it sets (about four hours) you can cut it into fun shapes.
They turned out really cute, and all the kids seemed to love eating them!



We also had some other fun contributions to the snacks...

How cute are these??


And, I forgot to get a picture, but one of the moms made some yummy fruit salad with the most adorable hand-drawn picture of Truffula trees and a quote from 'Th Lorax.' So clever!


We also had lots and lots of Seuss books to read the kids. Of course, with everything else, we only got through a couple of them.



But it turned out to be a fun day, and I think we had some happy (and tired!) kiddos when it was all over!

“Today is gone, today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”

Valentine's Day Fun!

Yea, I know, it's like two weeks past Valentine's Day, but my computer decided to quit on me, and all my photos were on it... Anyway, it's back, so I decided to finally get on my Valentine's post! Haha!

So, for breakfast on Valentine's Day, I presented the kiddos with their homemade pop-tarts (on new Valentine's themed plates bought especially for the day!)! They were a little confused at first (well, really just Z, since A has never had a pop-tart)...”huh, this doesn't look like a pop-tart...” But, after they tasted them, they were pretty happy (it also helped that we watched the Valentine's episode of Backyardigans while eating breakfast! I know...fancy, right??)!

After breakfast, the kids got to open their mailboxes and found a couple goodies (heart shaped Pez dispensers and heart shaped Etch A Sketches) plus Valentine's from Mom. :o)

At lunch, we cut out heart shapes from pizza dough and made our own heart shaped pizzas. I was so proud when the kids both asked if they could have 'leaves' on their pizzas (from the basil we have planted in a pot on the windowsill) too!

And, we had a surprise visit from not one, but both grandmas during lunch! The kiddos were so excited to have them here, and to give them the Valentine's they made them.

Dinner was a real treat for everyone, because I decided on brinner (breakfast for dinner), which is a favorite around here!

We had purchased a fun heart shaped pancake mold at Crate & Barrel a few days earlier, so put that to use (ooh, here's a tip on keeping your pancakes warm, if you're making a bunch; put your Crockpot on 'warm' and put your finished pancakes in there. They'll stay nice and toasty and be ready to melt your butter for as long as you need!) to make a big pile of pancakes for all.



I also made up some heart shaped individual hashbrowns (I just used a cookie cutter to kind of mold them, then slid them into my skillet from a cutting board) for everyone.




And, to drink, the kids got strawberry flavored milk!
To top it all off, we lit the "fancy" candle (as Z refers to it) to make it feel even more special.


And, of course, after dinner, the kids and I presented Colin with the homemade marshmallows. I'm not sure who was more excited about them; the kids or Dad! Haha!



So, all-in-all, it was a fun day full of lots of love (and super-duper cuteness)!

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! :)

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