I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Cupcakes

Found this recipe on the side of a box of ice cream cones.  The more I read the side of food boxes, the more fun recipes I find! 

These yummy little things are actually cupcake filled ice cream cones with icing! 

* Mix up your favorite cake mix following the cake recipe. 
* Take your ice cream cones and wrap them in aluminum foil so that only the opening is exposed (this prevents the cone from burning just like when you bake a pie and cover the crust). 
* The recipe says to put your cones carefully in a cupcake pan, but I put my cones in a meatloaf pan (you can fit about 7 in each pan) so that they couldn't fall over. 
* Pour your cake mix in the cones.  I filled each cone to about 1 inch below the top.
* Bake at the temperature and time called for in your cake recipe.

If you fill 1 inch below the top of the cone, this is the size cupcake you end up with.

We decorated with icing and sprinkles, but I think it would look cute if you used whip cream from a can!  See the great help I had decorating.

Halloween Worthy Lunch - Hot Dog Spiders

I am really excited that Halloween season is finally upon us.  To kick-off my favorite time of year, we had super spooky (ok, not really) hotdog spiders for lunch.  Umm, can you say, "Cool"??

Cut up some hotdogs, stick some spaghetti noodles thru, boil in a super-big pot for 10 minutes, lunch is served!!  (Thank you whoever originally pinned this.  Ive seen it a few places and always think its soo darn cute.)

I feel I should add:  yes, our hotdogs ARE pink.  They are Valley Dale... mmmmm  the best. 

My picky eaters loved it, although, one ate the noodles while the other ate the hotdogs. 

A Breakfast Craft-to-Go

Wanna let your kids make a fun snack that they can eat on-the-go?? 

  

Welllll.......  get some of their favorite O shaped cereal (yes, we used the most sugar-filled cereal we could find, but you could always choose a much healthier O cereal).  Get a piece of elastic, yarn, or embroidery floss, and tie a button two one end (or anything that will prevent the cereal from falling off).  We use elastic because the thought of possibly chewing on a piece of yarn or embroidery floss makes me cringe. 

Now give your child a plate of the O cereal and let them string their own necklace.  Its another great project for hand-eye coordination and its fun to do during snack time:  one on the string, one in the mouth!  When they are finished, tie the string into a necklace and you have an instant snack-to-go!!

The kids love making necklaces and taking them when we go out.  I saw a few people have these around the way and have also seen these on various blogs.  So easy, so fun, so handy.  We've done this a bunch of times; glad I finally thought to take a picture!! 

Sooo Flubbery

This is a great recipe for the kids to make and play with; its flubber!!  It feels just like the stuff you get in a little jar at the dollar store or wherever that makes fart noises...  hehehehe

Combine 1/3 cup Elmer's glue, 1/3 cup water, and some food coloring.  I decided to put mine in a jar so that I could just shake it all up for the final step, but you can also use a large bowl.  Mix it up with a fork until the glue is all dissolved (takes about 1 or 2 minutes of stirring).

Next, take 1/3 cup water and pour it into a SEPARATE cup or mug.  Add to tablespoons of Borax to this water and let it set for a minute or two without mixing.  You are just waiting for the Borax to settle to the bottom of the cup (the water on the top will be white and cloudy, thats fine).  ***Oh, if you don't know what Borax is, its a laundry additive that you get in the laundry detergent isle at the grocery store.  Its great stuff.  We use it in our washing machine, for removing smells from trashcans and liter boxes, and a bunch of other stuff.***  Once the Borax has settled, pour the water out of the cup, leaving just the wet Borax.  If you still have a little water left in the cup, its fine.

Now, take the cup of wet Borax and pour it into the glue mixture, scraping the remains out of the bottom of the cup.  Now either shake up the mixture or stir it up til it starts to flubberize.

It will be kinda wet still when mixed, so just take the mixture out into your hand over the sink, and squeeze it and work it from hand to hand.  Doing this will cause the extra moisture to fall out and get worked in.  Do this for about a minute and it will be finished!!  Just set it to the side, wash the leftovers off your hands, and DONE!!

This stuff is sooooo funnnnn and easy!!

No Cream Like Snow Cream

With over two feet of snow on the ground and more pouring from the sky, how can you not want to make snow ice cream??  We made some tonight and oh my, it was soo good.  Even my skeptical husband loved it (and had to go back for seconds... and thirds).

So, here is our recipe:  Mix 1 can sweetened condensed milk with about 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Gather a big bowl full of nice fresh snow (about a gallon or so).  Pour the milk mixture into the snow and mix well.  To make the best snow cream ever, you have to mix with a big icicle! 

When its mixed to your desired consistency, scoop, add chocolate syrup if you want, and eat!!

There is no better way to enjoy all this snow!!

And so you know, you can't freeze the ice cream in the bowl.  It just doesn't work very well.  But, you can take it and put it into icecube trays and stick toothpicks in them.  They make great popsicles.

Dough Ornaments AGAIN??

Ok, so I know I've already posted the dough ornaments.  But, I've had to make more initials since then for my children's playgroup, and while making them we created my favorite ornaments yet!  My son was taking the dough and smooshing it down on the baking sheet.  Well, I went to pull his dough up and re-use it and I noticed that his tiny little handprint was on the dough.  That gave me the idea of making larger ""cookie" shaped ornaments and putting the kids handprints into them. 

So, I smashed out the dough into a roundish shape (you can use a rolling pin and round bowl to cut the shapes if you want it to look a little neater).  I then pushed the kids' hands into the dough and baked.  You can find the recipe and baking instructions in my blog titled "Dough Ray me faa so la te Dough".

When they were baked and cooled, I took some paint and painted the inside of the handprints and painted their name and the date on them.  I finished them off by spraying glitter over them and sealed with a spray gloss, then hot glued a ribbon on the back for hanging (because I forgot to poke a hole before baking).

These are a great, easy, cheap idea for a present for grandparents.

Dough ray me faa so la te Dough!

Yay!!  We made more ornaments!  These turned out sooo cute, at least I think so.  They are great fun for all ages;  Russ loved helping with these from start to finish.

So basically, you will make a playdough type dough mixture.  Just mix together 1 heaping cup of flour, 1/2 cup of salt, and 1/2 cup of water.  Mix it up with your hands.  The dough should feel like playdough if the consistency is right.  Just add more water or more flour until you get it right.  If you want colored dough, just add some food coloring.  Once mixed, sit it aside for awhile (trust me, its easier to work with if you let it set for about 30 minutes). 

Now its time to shape your ornaments.  You can do it any way your heart desires.  Of coarse, you can use cookie cutters or a knife to cut out the shapes.

You can roll out little "snakes" with the dough and then shape them.  I did letters for each of my kids' initials.  You can also twist the "snakes" together and form them into a circle for a wreath.  I haven't done this yet, but I want to twist a white one and a red one together and shape it into a candy cane (to make white dough, just add cream of tartar).

This snowman is made by rolling balls and stacking them. 

I also want to try cutting out a simple round shape and then carving an initial into it, or etching a picture into it.

Once your shapes are made, put them on a cookie sheet and bake at about 250ish for 2 hours.  Be sure to flip them every 25 minutes so they don't turn brown.  If you do a standing ornament, don't worry about it.

Take the ornaments out of the oven and let them set until they are completely cool before you paint them.  If you don't, the paint doesn't stick right.  If you have rough edges, just file them off with an emory board or sand paper.  After the paint drys, be sure to spray a clear coat over them for protection and to add a nice shiny finish.

If you do make these, please send me pics to post!!  I have sooo many more fun ideas for these;  I would love to see what every one else comes up with, too.

Do You Know the Gingerbread Man??

I simply LOVE this project.  Its for cute little "gingerbread" ornaments that you can hang on your tree and keep year after year.  The kids will love to help with this one.  Even if they can't help make them, they can definately help decorate them.  These cuties will smell like straight cinnamon, and the smell will last for years to come.

NOTE:  THESE ARE NOT EDIBLE.  You can try, but you will break a tooth as they set-up super hard.  Oh yea, and they contain glue so I doubt that would taste too good even if you could bite them (I know, kinda funny).  

Mix together 1 cup of applesauce, 1 1/2 cups of cinnamon, and 1/3 cup Elmer's Glue.  Yes, I know, thats a LOT of cinnamon!  When its nice and mixed, chill in the refridgerator for 30 mintues.  Have a cup of hot cocoa (or wine) while you wait....

Take the dough out of the refridgerator.  You'll need to sprinkle some cinnamon on your work surface to keep the dough from sticking.  You can do this on a board if you want;  I just use the counter.  Roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick.  It can be a big pain in the butt getting the dough to set-up just right.  If its too cold, it won't roll correctly (trust me, you'll know if its not right).  Don't throw it away; just set it aside and wait until it warms up a little and try it again later.  My friend threw hers in the trash and then came to a playdate and told me what happened.  I had her go home and pull it from the trash, and it then worked just fine. 

Once its finally set right and rolled out to 1/4 inch thick, take your cookie cutters and cut out the shapes.  You can use any size cutters, large or small.  Letter cutters are also really cool to use.  Be sure to poke a hole in the top of each ornament (this is for the ribbon they will hang from later).  If you forget to poke the hole now, you won't be able to do it later as it sets up really hard.  Put the shapes on a cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet on a rack to harden.  It can take a few days  for them to harden all the way.  I set mine in the oven so they wouldn't be in the way.

When they are completely hardened, you can decorate them!!  Use any kind of paint, glitter, sprinkles, beads, or whatever you want. 

Its That Cookie Time of Year

Every year I like to bake lots of candy and cookies for Christmas.  Last year I didn't get to because I was newly pregnant and sooo sick.  Russ and I plan on making up for it this year by making even more than normal.  We started trying out some different recipes this week.  This is one of my favorites, and the kids really seem to like them, so I'm going to share. 

These are called stained glass cookies.  Start out with some sugar cookie dough.  You can either buy the store bought dough or you can make your own.  I use this recipe:

Mix 1 softened cup butter & 1/2 cup sugar until fluffy.  Fold in 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract & 1 egg yolk.  Mix in 2 1/4 cups flour until dough forms a ball.  Refridgerate for 2 or more hours.

Preheat the over to 375.  The store-bought dough directions call for less, but you need to use 375!! 

This is the fun part:  take some Jolly Ranchers in colors of your choice and crush them up in a food processor.  Keep your colors seperate.  If you don't have a food processor, you can put them in a plastic bag and use a hammer.  You can use almost any hard candy.  We used candy canes for some of them.

Now, take your home-made or store-bought dough out of the refridgerator, knead until softened, and roll it out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured counter.  Take a cookie cutter and cut out your shapes.  Place the cut-outs on parchment paper and place it on a cookie sheet.  If you don't use parchment paper, the candy will stick to the cookie sheet & not come off.  Use a smaller cookie cutter (or a knife) and take the center out of the cookie.

Take your crushed up candy, sprinkle it into the holes in the cookies.  Fill the holes completely! 

Bake at 375 for 7 to 10 minutes.

I didnt have cookie cutters, so I had to shape mine by hand.  The shapes turned out kind of funny, but you get the idea.

Potato Candy

A few of you asked me how to make potato candy, so here ya go!!

The only ingredients you need are powdered sugar, peanut butter, and a potato.  Start off by peeling, cutting, and boiling the potato.  After it is cooked and the water is drained, put about 1/3 of the potato in a large mixing bowl.  Add about 1/3 cup powdered sugar.  Mix.  Keep adding powdered sugar and mixing until you end up with a nice doughy consistency.  I can't tell you exactly how much powdered sugar or potato you need; just keep adding small amounts of both until you have a firm dough.  You can mix with a blender if you want, but I find that hand mixing works better.

Put you dough on wax paper thats been sprinkled with a small coating of powdered sugar (to keep it from sticking).  Then, roll the dough out thin with a rolling pen.

When the dough is nice and thin, coat it with peanut butter.

Finally, roll the peanut butter covered dough up into a log, and cut it into pinwheels.

The pinwheels turn out much prettier if you put the log in the refridgerator before cutting and if you don't let your 2 year old cut it for you!!