Peach Fruit Roll Ups

I was really excited to find a recipe for "homemade fruit leather" that used the oven and not a food dehydrator.

I have an oven.

Not so much on the food dehydrator.

These would be a perfect after school snack. They taste so much like a store bought fruit roll-ups. Really. You know how all the different flavors of fruit roll-ups taste pretty much the same? That's what these taste like. If you didn't know they were made from peaches you would just say they were fruity and delicious.

Peach Fruit Leather
-recipe from Weelicious

4 ripe skin on peaches
1 tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 225. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Purée peaches and honey in blender or food processor.

Pour onto prepared pan and smooth with a spatula into a rectangle. I used a 15x12 pan and smoothed out with an offset spatula into the 15x11 rectangle the recipe recommends.

Place in oven and cook for 3-4 hours. The finished fruit leathers are dry to the touch and no longer sticky. Store bought fruit leathers are tacky, not sticky...these should be too.

Make sure you keep a close eye on these while cooking the last hour or two. Every oven is different and because all peaches will be at different moisture levels, there isn't really any indication of how runny the purée should be.

Some of the edges on mine dried out and hardened to a crisp. Despite trying really hard to make sure I had spread the purée evenly, obviously it wasn't completely consistent.

Remove from the pan and let cool on the parchment paper. I found it was easiest to use my kitchen shears to cut into desired portions.

Bryn

Summer Fun

So far this summer "The Princess" has really enjoyed her themed learning activities. We have done Safari Animals, Egypt, Bugs, and Arctic Animals.

Each day we read several (and by several I mean a ton) of books on the subject and then either do a craft or activity based on the theme.

For example, for Safari week we made binoculars and went on a safari hunt through our house where I had left plastic safari animals hidden. The neatest part of the hunt was that when she found an animal she would tell me a new fact about that it without being asked or prompted. We also made animal masks and an animal cracker safari picture.

For Egypt, we made a pyramid. She loved doing this activity as I knew she would. She loves to build...and she loves sugar cubes. Win, win. We also made a sarcophagus out of a shoe box. She wrapped a little stuffed bunny in toilet paper and placed it inside with a flower and closed the lid. She kept checking to see if the bunny had been mummified.

During our bug week we made lots of different bugs out of egg cartons and spent a LOT of time searching for bugs in the yard.

Arctic week was fun because we were in a triple digit heat wave. She thought it was a good idea to eat Popsicles every day because thy were frozen like the ice in the arctic. I had to agree. She made arctic animals out of construction paper shapes that she cut. We also froze paint and she used the cubes to paint pictures. This was a really fun craft and I was amazed by how long she did it. We went through lots and lots of construction paper. For this craft, pour paint into an ice cube tray, and add water. Freeze overnight and let sit for 5 minutes before painting. I found that the cubes that I didn't mix turned out much better and she was able to hold the ice without the paint dripping all over her. The paint was concentrated in one place and painting was much easier with these cubes.

I've really enjoyed seeing her so interested in each subject. We selected the themes together and for the most part I let her drive that discussion. It was funny to hear her suggestions and I did my best to incorporate them. We'll see what I can do with the candy theme she so desperately wants... Stay tuned!

Bryn

4th of July Sparkler Fruit Wands

I thought I was soooo smart. I wanted to make a fruit wand for 4th of July because they remind me of sparklers. I had first decided to use marshmallows, blueberries, and strawberries. However the strawberries looked kinda sad so I bought a watermelon for the red instead. I had started scooping out little melon balls and then remembered I had a star cookie cutter which would be super cute. And really creative. But not so much, because I have since seen several posts for something very similar if not exactly the same. I really don't remember seeing them before, but then again, I don't remember what I wore yesterday...

Sparkler Wands

Blueberries
Large marshmallows
Watermelon

Slice watermelon and then cut out star shapes from slices.
Thread ingredients onto skewer and enjoy.

Easy peasy and apparently copy catty.

Bryn

FFF: Kids and Fitness

We all know the statistics, right?

Aprox. 17%, or 12.5 MILLION children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 are OBESE.

Since 1980, the obesity rate of children and adolescents has almost TRIPLED.

The consequences of this:

Obese children are more likely to have high blood pressure and high cholestrol which are risk factors for heart disease.

Increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

Increased risk of asthma and sleep apnea

Increased risk of joint problems.

More likely to be obese adults.

Not only are they at risk for more physical problems, but they also run a much higher risk of social/phychological problems -- such as poor self esteem, bullying, and discrimination.

*The above information was taken from the CDC Website.

In my opinion, it is my responsibility as a parent to keep my children healthy.  This is not limited to taking them to the doctor when they are sick or making sure all their vacinnations are up to date.  This includes making sure they are eating healthy foods and getting plenty of exercise.  Making sure they are at a healthy weight. 

Your kids already love playing outside and eating healthy?  Great! 

Are you concerned about your child's weight or activity level and need some help?  Try these tips:

On the eating end, I am just going to go all Jillian Michael's on you ... Throw out the junk.  Don't buy anymore.  You keep healthy foods in the house, your kids will eat them.  If you feel the kids need a treat, really treat them and go out for ice cream or fro yo.  If you don't have junk in the house, they can't eat it.  This has always worked for me when I am trying to drop a few pounds.  If there are no Chips Ahoy in the house, I cannot consume the whole bag in one sitting. 

Make sure you have healthy snacks at the ready.  Keep a container of washed and cut up veggies, so there is no prep necessary when hungry.  Apples are a super easy and nutritious snack.  Pair an apple with some peanut butter and you've got something that will fill your kids up. 

Try smoothies - packed with dairy and fruits, this is a great snack that your kids will think is a treat.

Getting resistance to eating the fruits and veggies - let your kids pick them out at the store.  When kids are involved, they are more likely to be open to try it.

Some of the "junk" the kids want can be homemade and ends up being much healthier.  Try making your own granola bars, fruit leather, popsicles, etc.  Again, let the kids help, they are more likely to try it.

We have been doing a lot of blind taste tests at our house lately.  Sometimes kids just don't like the look of something and will refuse to eat it.  So take that option away from them.  I blindfold the kids and have them try 3 different things.  Then they tell me if they like them or not.  We both are usually shocked at what they will eat this way and think this it is fun.

On the exercise front, there are lots of things you can do to make it fun:

Go for a family bike ride or play a family game of kick ball.

Swimming is a sport everyone loves and can really give a good workout.  Or just running through the sprinklers is fun.

Try hula hooping or hop scotch.

Make it interesting - our theme here this summer is 'It's a marathon summer'.  Since the hubs and I both took up running there has been lots of talk about marathons, so #1 was always asking about them.  So that is why we decided to theme it that way.  She is doing 26 book reports, 13 art projects (half marathon), 13 math assignments, and running/walking 26 miles.  We do it a mile at a time.  Once she completes one of her marathons or half marathons, she earns a reward.  For instance, once she completes the 26 miles of running, she gets to play games at Chuck E Cheese.  I am not above bribery. ;)

Figure out what your kids are interested in and turn it into exercise.  Does your son love pirates?  Have a pirate treasure hunt throughout your neighborhood - create a map, hide things along the way.  Have there be some sort of treasure at the end.

Walk around the zoo, the botanical gardens, a nature trail.

Set a good example.  If you are exercising, they will notice and take interest.  You should see both the kids try to do Yoga with me, hilarious and awesome!

Go to the park.

Buy everyone in the family pedometers and have a competition to see who can get the most steps in a given day, week or month. 

The possibilities are endless.
Get out there and get active, we all need to be making an effort to help our kids acheive all that they can.

Hallie

4th of July Cupcake Liner Wreath

This craft can almost be completed 100% by a 4 year old. This a good thing because it allowed The Princess to have control and she really did feel like she had created something beautiful.

The bad thing?

A 4 year old had complete control.

What started as a plan for a red, white, and blue 4th of July wreath turned into a wreath for her bedroom painted in her favorite colors. It is of course pink, purple, and blue. I have no idea why I even have other paint colors in my house. Unless of course I use them to make pink, purple, and blue in the event that we run out. So, use your imagination and try to picture the wreath in traditional 4th of July colors. Or let your children make it in their favorite colors and call it a firework wreath. Whatever works.

I saw this wreath last year in a parent ing magazine as a spring wreath and knew The Princess would love it. I have no idea what the original directions were so I made them up as we went and tried to create something similar.

You will need:
Cupcake liners
Mini cupcake liners
Paint
Glue
Paper plate

Paint cupcake holders desired color. The end result is better if you don't flatten then completely while painting. Allow to dry.

Cut center out of paper plate, leaving you with a ring (this is the only step I helped with because she couldn't cut the center out without going through the sides). Glue larger cupcake liners around rim of plate. 

Next, glue mini liners inside large.

Voila!
Bryn

Why we love it Wednesday: Totally Me Deluxe Scrapbooking Kit

I am not a scrapbooker. 

I'm just not. 

I think the whole idea is awesome ... and I tried it out when #1 was first born.

But I agonized over which pictures to choose (and you know when you first have a baby, there are hundreds) and how many pages to do per month of age.  And it all had to be perfectly journaled with all my thoughts on what she was doing each month. 

And then she was a year old and I had only completed months one and two to my satisfaction.  Yikes! I was never going to catch up and that was just depressing!

Snapfish photo books work much better for me. 

But we are not talking about me right now, this is about #1.  She received this scrap booking kit as a gift and has been begging to open it up and get started.  She decided to do a scrapbook about our recent trip to California.

I'd been dragging my feet, but today, we got it out. 

And it was PERFECT for her.  Here's why:

It came with everything she needed:  Glue, fancy scissors, pretty paper, stickers, and a very nice album.  All she needed was the pictures.

She has been able to do it entirely on her own. 

It is giving her writing practice as she has added captions to every single picture.

It is good quality stuff.  The album is very nice and it won't be easy to tear up, especially by little sisters.

I highly recommend this - it is a great rainy day project or it's too hot to go outside project. 

She is still working on it right now - 1.5 hours and counting! 

It is available at Toys R Us, probably other places too ... at TRU it runs $21.99.  And totally worth it, especially if you are needing some quite time ;)

Hallie

Imitating the Greats

We kicked off our summer with art appreciation week.  On our first day, we tried our hand at imitating two great artists.  I checked out an art history book from the library so that we could read about the artists we chose and then we got to work.

First up - Piet Mondrain



I used the Making Art Fun website for a little background on the artist.  You can see his biography here.

#1 describes this artist as the guy that likes to paint red, yellow, and blue squares.  And, really she is right!  Though that is not all he did, that is what we focused on.  After thinking about it some, she decided that red, yellow and blue were not her favorites, and she chose red, orange and green. 

You need canvas (or paper, but the kids really feel like real artists when they are painting on canvas!), washable paint and some masking tape.  Tape off your squares, #1 did her own, I helped #2.  Then paint away.  Neither child wanted to go back and paint the white lines black to stay true to form, but that is ok, it is, after all art!

The second artist we imitated was Jackson Pollack. 




This one was really fun.  I used the storyboardtoys.com website for some background information on Jackson Pollack - you can find it here.  Mr. Pollack felt that he needed to be part of the art, he liked to walk around it, be near it.  His style is termed "action painting".  He used all sorts of different devices to paint with - knives, brooms, paint scrapers, etc.  We used brushes, forks, knives, spatulas, really anything I could find in the kitchen.  We also did this one outside!  That way they could be as messy as they wanted - and the grass looked great when we were finished. 

For this one, we just used a very heavy paper.  I think they turned out great!  The kids really had fun with this one and it would be a great party theme I think if you have an aspiring artist.

If you go to jacksonpollack.org you can create a piece of art using your mouse in his style.  Both the kids loved this (we did this first to get an idea of how the artist did it) and you can even print them out when you are done!

Hallie

A week of Arts and Crafts: Homemade Silly Putty

We are going to focus on fun stuff you can do to keep your kids busy and avoid hearing the dreaded, "I'm Bored" this summer!  Towards the end of the week, the crafts will focus on 4th of July!  Bryn kicks it off with Homemade Silly Putty!

**************

Homemade Silly Putty (Flarp)

Last weekend we spent $7 on Gak.

For one container.

The commercial says Gak is back...

I say, "can you go away again?".

It may be cheaper elsewhere, but The Princess had a birthday coupon for Toys R Us, so that's where she found her much anticipated goop. She has asked for it for months, so she was pretty excited. We got home and quickly put newspaper and magazines down so that it wouldn't stick to the table.

So instead it stuck like wet dough to the paper, wasting a whole layer

...probably $1.17 worth.

Also, on the commercial the kids obviously are playing with at least 3 containers at a time. She wasn't impressed with the small amount she purchased. She hasn't played with it since.

I HATE wasting money.

After much glaring at the offensive tub of goo, I remembered a website that had a recipe for silly putty. When I had first visited the site I thought that it was less like silly putty and more like goop. If it was slimey and could also copy newspaper I knew she would love it. Also, she would think I was magical. That may be the best part about being a mom.

The process was very easy. We didn't have the ingredients on hand, but one visit to Walmart and $4.75 later, we were in business.

For the project you will need:

*Elmer's Glue-All
*Stay-Flo liquid starch
*Food coloring

- The website insists that it is muy importante (I'm totally bilingual) to use the Glue-All multi purpose glue and not Elmer's school glue.

- I used plastic disposable cups because I wasn't sure I would ever feel safe using a bowl or cup again that had held starch.

You will use equal parts glue and starch. Measure out your glue and then add food coloring to achieve desired color and stir.

Next add the starch and stir. It gets gooey pretty quickly, so I just stirred until I felt it was combined and then let it sit for several minutes to allow the starch to be absorbed.

All of the liquid will not be incorporated after the five minute wait time, so pour the remaking starch out and then pour out your mixture onto a paper towel.

Allow the mix to sit for another minute or two.

Next, pick up your goo and start rolling it and folding it around in your hands.

It's pretty slimy and quite gross, but also oddly satisfying. The Princess was happy to mix the first color...but "let" me do the second one. It will start to become more of a solid until you are left with a ball that holds its shape.

Now it's time to play.  This stuff was so cool!  It really was goopey but with qualities of silly putty, such as the all important ability to copy newspaper. Score! It does stick to magazines, but was fine on foil, wax paper and paper plates. Also it smells about a trazillion (that's a lot!) times better than the Gak.

Bryn

Popsicle Failure

I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe I wasn't thinking at all. Lately The Princess has taken personal offense to anything I do that does not include or revolve around her.

I get it.

I was the big sister too.

So when I was looking for a Popsicle recipe I wanted one that was super easy and that she could make from start to finish with me. This recipe certainly was easy. What I failed to remember was that The Princess doesn't like jello. It's a texture thing. Why would I think that freezing jello would improve the texture? I guess I was thinking of the jello as more of a flavor enhancing ingredient, like in poke cakes, etc, and not as the final product. Well, let's just say that The Princess was pretty disgusted by the pops and requested a store bought Popsicle to make up for it.

The recipe said that the Popsicles have a "jello/slushy consistency". I don't think that fully explains the weirdness of these things. If you bite into them they are like a spongy slushy. Odd.

If you lick them, they get slimy and then spongy and then gummy.

Not my favorite.

My husband saw my face and decided not to try them...my description of the jello/sponge/bubble gum texture didn't do much to help.

I won't be making these again, but if you don't have texture issues and are looking for a super easy, cheap and flavorful Popsicle, give them a try.

Ingredients

I box Jello - flavor of your choice
Water
Popsicle molds

Prepare Jello as instructed on box. Pour into Popsicle molds and freeze for 8-10 hours or until solid.

Run warm water over molds or sit mold into warm water to loosen. Enjoy (?)!

Bryn

Nutella ... need I say more?

It is no secret that I love Nutella. 

I mean, really really L O V E Nutella. 

I buy the crazy large containers that come in two packs at Costco.

I sneak spoonfuls of it while the kids aren't looking so I don't have to share.

I may have a problem that requires a 12 step program. 

But enough about me, let's talk more about Nutella!

When we decided to do this week of popsicles, I was trying for something out of the ordinary.  I came across this one for Nutella Fudgesicles.  Um, Yum!  Unfortunately, now that I am trying to find the link, I can't.  But when I do find it, I will link back.  Most of the recipes out there for Nutella Fudgesicles have bananas in them.  Which also sounded good, but I was feeling super lazy that day and wanted easy. 

The particular recipe was super simple, equal parts Nutella and Chocolate Milk. 

For my molds, if you use 3/4 cup of each, you will have just a bit left over.

Nutella Fudgesicle Recipe

3/4 Cup Nutella
3/4 Cup Chocolate Milk

Whisk together until smooth.

 Pour into molds.  Freeze for 3 to 4 hours. 

Seriously, seriously delicious!

Remember me saying I was being super lazy that day?  I didn't whisk quite enough so I had a few lumps, but I actually think this made it even more yummy!

Hope you are enjoying your summer so far!

Hallie

Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles

I was inspired by this post at Bakers Royale.  And in all truthfulness, set out to recreate these exact popsicles.

Then Target got in the way.

I went there to get the ingredients.  And really nothing else. 

I mentioned I was going to Target, right?

Yeah, the last time I got out of Target with only what I went in to get was ... well ... Never.

So, I get there, leaving my list at home, bought a whole bunch of stuff that I am sure that I needed .. wink wink nod nod ... (that's for the hubby) and couldn't remember what the heck the white layer was for the popsicles. 

So I decided on vanilla Jell-o. 

Which turns out, isn't actually white, it is sorta, well, the color of vanilla. 

The actual white layer was supposed to be yogurt, which would have made these healthier, but they turned out good nonetheless.

So, let's get to it.  Here is what you need:

A Quart of Strawberries
About 12 Vanilla Oreos
Vanilla Pudding or Yogurt ... I think the yogurt version would be really good too!
Milk to make the pudding
Dixie cups or some sort of popsicle mold

The assembly is pretty easy:

Throw the Oreos into the Ninja.

Pulse.

Alternatively, if you need to get some aggression out, you can put them in a zip lock back and whack the heck out of them with your rolling pin.  Always a fun activity.

Make the pudding as directed on the package.  I took no pictures of this step.  Sorry.  I was too busy whisking my arm off.  Also, why does whisk have an 'H' in it?  I always misspell that word.

Put cookie crumbs in with pudding and stir.

I poured the mixture into this handy dandy measuring cup so that it would pour easier into the popsicle molds.  I highly recommend it.

Now fill your molds aprox. 1/3 of the way full.

Now, let's stop right her a minute.  First, you need to be using a way smaller cup than this.  The popsicles that came out of here were monsters.  Way to big, even for adults.  So make sure you are using smaller molds.  These were 9 oz. cups and I didn't fill them up all the way.  Use at largest the 5 oz ones, or even smaller really would be ok.  Second, to get the pretty layers from the original link, you have to freeze each layer, at least partially, individually.

Patience is not one of the virtues that I have picked up in my 30 plus years on this planet. 

But, I tried it anyway.

Froze the first layer for 30 minutes.  Meanwhile ...

Wash, trim, and pulse your strawberries:

I used very ripe strawberries.  If yours are not so ripe, you might add some sugar.  When your 30 minutes is up, distribute the strawberry layer evenly between your cups.  I used 6 cups and put aprox. 1/4 cup of the strawberries in each cup.

Then freeze and wait another 30 minutes.

Finally, add final layer of pudding.

Unfortunately, what happened was, 30 minutes was not enough.  The pudding sunk into the strawberries.  Ooops.  So, I just swirled.

If you want completely separate layers, I would recommend at least an hour between layers.

And there you have it, Strawberry Shortcake Popsicles!  (Please ignore all the stuffed animals on the floor, I was in a hurry, and apparently, the animals are taking over the house)

I told you they were monsters!

But, as #2 said, "Mmm, Tasty".

Hallie