Chocolate-dipped Bananas

We made Chocolate- dipped Bananas yesterday afternoon.  You can find the recipe here. It was real easy for the boys to help me make them and to read the instructions too.  The recipe calls for bananas, chocolate chips, and vegetable oil.

Here they are enjoying their frozen treat and a great way to encourage them to eat a banana too.

Today we attempted to make windmills.  I thought it was an activity they would be able to do, unfortunately I was wrong.  It was too challenging for them to do and in the end we couldn't make the windmills turn so it turned out to be a very frustrating thing. :(  Sadly, not everything is a winner.

Halloween Treat

There are tons of different Halloween recipes out there, but I wanted to do something simple enough that my children could help me so I decided to go with Dirt and Worms!  Easy, classic, simple, and tasty!

Today we have been doing some activities that we've been doing throughout the month!  Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Seeds

One fun thing to do this time of the year is to cook pumpkin seeds and eat them.  It's easy and fun for the kids too.  I don't know if this is the best way to do it, but it's how I do it.

1. Remove seeds from pumpkin and wash.
2. Spread seeds across cookie sheet and season (I like to use All-Season Salt)
3.  Cook for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees

This gives them a nice crunchy texture and with a little seasoning they taste good too.

Kids in the Kitchen- Friday's Fun Lunches (late)

I didn't get this posted on Friday!  Mario really wanted to make a fun lunch on Friday and I didn't have anything planned (slacking).  What I did though was make him a pbj, cut it diagonally and made it look like a butterfly, using carrots for the middle.  He thought it was great and it was as easy as can be!

Wednesday's Wonderful Dinners

Monster Pizzas

What You Need:

Biscuits (or another kind of pizza dough)

Pizza Sauce

Mozzarella Cheese

Pepperoni (any other desired toppings)

Roll out dough or flatten each biscuit.  Put pizza sauce on half.  Top with cheese and other toppings.  Fold in half to make a pocket.  Use extra dough (or another biscuit) to make circular eyes.  Cook at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

My boys thought these were hilarious!

Kids in the Kitchen- Tuesday's Time for a Snack

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Chip Trail Mix

What You Need:

6 cups Chex

3 Cups Cheerios

3 cups pretzels

1 cup raisins

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter chips

Mix altogether.  Store in an air tight bag.

Kids in the Kitchen- Friday's Fun Lunches

Piggy Wraps

What You Need:

1 can of refrigerated crescent rolls

Lil' Smokies

Preheat oven at 400 degrees.  Wrap Lil' Smokies in crescent rolls and bake 5-8 minutes.

Tuesday's Time for a Snack

Tangled Twisters

What You'll Need:

refrigerated bread sticks

1 TBSP margarine

2 TBSP sugar

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Twist bread sticks into pretzel shape.  Follow the bread stick's baking directions.  When they are finished baking spread melted margarine onto each pretzel.  Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on top.

Kids in the Kitchen-Fridays Fun Lunches

Turkey Bacon Wafflewiches

What you Need:

1 tsp. mustard

1 tsp. honey

2 slices of turkey (deli meat)

bacon (crumbled) or bacon bites

2 waffles

2 TBSP of cheddar and/or mozerella cheese

Mix mustard and honey together and spread on one side of a waffle.  Slice turkey into thin strips.  Place all ingredients onto waffle.  Cook on med-high for 3-4 minutes.

Kids in the Kitchen- Thirsty Thursday

Gelatin Fruit Smoothie

What You Need:

2 cups of milk

2 cups of strawberries

1 pck. strawberry gelatin

Blend together for 1-2 minutes.

*use fat free milk and sugar free gelatin for an even healthier option 

If you like this flavor try using raspberries with raspberry flavored gelatin or some other kinds of fruit with it's corresponding flavor.

Kids in the Kitchen- Wednesday's Wonderful Dinner

Crispy Chicken Bites

What You Need:

Chicken cut into cubes

1 cup of bread crumbs

1/2 cup of  milk

2 TBSP of butter

salt and pepper to taste

Put milk in a bowl and bread crumbs in a second bowl.  Place cubed chicken into bowl with milk, then in bowl with bread crumbs and cover it.  Then place the cube on a greased cookie sheet.  Drizzle butter over cubes.  Add salt and sugar to taste.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Both of my kids ate these!  Yay!  I was worried my two year old wouldn't.  He loves chicken nuggets, but he is particular about which kind.  He didn't eat all the I gave him, but he ate some.  :)

Kids in the Kitchen- Tuesday's Time for a Snack

Trail Mix

What you need:

5 cups Corn or Rice square cereal

 1 1/2 cups Raisins

1 cup nuts (I used cashews)

1 cup pretzels (sticks or regular)

1 cup chocolate coated candy

(I found some almond m&ms on sale so that's what I used)

Mix all the ingredients together

This makes a lot so I put the remainder in a ziploc bag for to enjoy another day!

Kids in the Kitchen- Friday's Fun Lunches

Bacon Melt

Basically to make a Bacon Melt you just add bacon to a grilled cheese sandwich.  :)  Actually, it was suppose to have a slice of tomato on it too, but I didn't want to press my luck.  Today was somewhat of a flop.  No one wanted to help me make anything and my two year old didn't want anything to do with it.

Kids in the Kitchen- Thirsty Thursday

Berry Smoothie

What you need:

1 1/2 c milk

1 c frozen berry mix

(mine was a mix I bought at Wal-Mart)

1/2 c vanilla yogurt

1 c spinach

1-2 tsp. sugar

Blend all of your ingredients in the blender.  Pour into glasses and serve. *I add spinach to get some greens in my kiddos diet. 

Today my 2 year old was all about his smoothie (he generally is), my four year old wouldn't drink his though.  I just can't win.  :)

Kids in the Kitchen- Wednesday's Wonderful Dinners

Today we made corndogs.  

What you need:

hot dogs
popsicle sticks
grand refrigerated biscuits
sliced cheese
mustard


Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Flatten biscuits into oval shape.  Spread 1-2 tsp. of mustard on biscuit.  Place half slice of cheese on biscuit.  Put popsicle stick through hot dog.  Fold biscuit over hot dog.  Cook for 18-20 minutes.

Kids in the Kitchen- Tuesday's Time for a snack

Today we made my favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies! 

What you need:

5 eggs

4 1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 c shortening

1 1/4 brown sugar

2 1/4 tsp. salt

2 1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 stp. baking powder

6 c flour

2 1/4 c white sugar

12 oz pck. chocolate chips

Cream together vanilla, shortening, eggs, and sugars.  Sift together remaining ingrediants.  Add the floud mixture to the shortening mixture.  Stir in the chocolate chips.  Refrigerate for 1 hr.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  *Note I usually half the recipe. 

ENJOY!

I like to freeze some of my cookie dough in balls so that it is available for another time.  I don't know about anyone else, but I sure don't need 4 dozens cookies hanging around my house!

For the record, my two year old did eat these.  :)

Kids in the Kitchen- Monday Morning Breakfast

This morning we made Ham 'n Egg Wafflewiches.  My two year old wanted nothing to do with it, but my four year old ate most of his and had fun helping make it. 

To make it you need:

mini waffles (I couldn't find any, so I used regular sized)

1 eggs

2 slices of ham

cheese (as much as desired)

1 tsp. butter

Scramble your egg, add your cheese to it then set that aside. 

Butter one side of each waffle and cook with ham.

Add egg.

Turn over and cook other side of the waffle.

Kids in the Kitchen- Friday's Fun Lunches

My 4 year old loves to help out in the kitchen.  My 2 year old won't eat anything but chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, and cereal.  (I'm only slightly exaggerating.) In attempt to have some fun with them and hopefully get my 2 year old to broaden his food horizons I decided that it's time to make an effort to have more fun in the kitchen so I'm starting "Kids in the Kitchen".  Basically I have a day diagnosed for a different meal, snack, or drink where we will make something fun and/or tasty together.  I may do something every single day or decide to do a couple a week, or one once a week- playing that part by ear.  Here is my plan:

Monday Morning Breakfast

Tuesday's Time for Snakc

Wednesday's Wonderful Dinners

Thirsty Thursday

Friday's Fun Lunches

Today is Friday and we made Waffle Grilled Cheese Sandwiches for lunch.  I couldn't get my 2 year old to eat more than a tiny bite (darn), but we had fun making them.

Here is what you need:

Waffle Iron

Butter

Bread

Miracle Whip (or Mustard)

Sliced Ham

Sliced Cheese

Then you make it just like you would a regular grilled cheese sandwich, but use a waffle iron instead or a frying pan or sandwich maker.

Here is our end result!

Preschool Activities October 12-16

October 12- Letter "M"

Language Arts	Read "Ten Hungry Monsters"
Math	Count the monsters in the book (see L.A.)
Science/Cooking	Make Crescent Mummy Dogs
Music/Gross Motor	Dance to "The Monster Mash"
Art/Fine Motor	Mummy toilet paper roll craft

Oct. 14- Black

Language Arts	Black Cat Poem
Math	Count black dots, I will make on paper
Science/Cooking	How do we get black?
Music/Gross Motor	Black movement fun
Art/Fine Motor	Pipe cleaner spider- use black pipe cleaner

Oct. 15- Rectangle

Language Arts	Talk about rectangles and what makes a rectangle
Math	Rectangle Puzzle
Science/Cooking	Rectangle Walk
Music/Gross Motor	"Do you know the Rectangle?"
Art/Fine Motor	Rectangle Mural

Oct. 16- Bats

Language Arts	Read "Stellaluna"
Math	Bat Opposites
Science/Cooking	Bat Life Cycle book
Music/Gross Motor	Bat Moves
Art/Fine Motor	Bat Handprint

Snacktime

I'm always on the lookout for some good snack ideas. They can be quick, easy things or something that takes a little preparation on my part depending on the day. I am going to try something new with my son probably started next week. We have an am snack and a pm snack. I'm going to buy everything I need for all the snacks all week and take pictures of them and put them together on one page and then he can pick out what he wants each time and we will check it off the list. I will post what I've done sometime soon. In the meantime, here are some simple snack ideas:

celery sticks with peanut butter and raisins (Ants on a Log)
cheese quesadilla
fruit cups
homemade smoothie
carrot sticks, other veggies with ranch for dip
plain popcorn
pudding
string cheese and crackers
applesauce
cheese and crackers
graham crackers and milk
mini muffins
minig bagels
english muffins
dried fruit
homemade popsicles-so easy just make some of your child's favorite juice pour into popsicle molds and freeze