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A Week Of Fun

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The Best Lemonade Ever

By Gib | April 30, 2009

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 8 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups lemon juice

Directions

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until chilled.

Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups water.

Topics: Recipes, Thirsty Thursday | No Comments »

Peanut!

By Gib | April 30, 2009

Are you an animal lover? In this family we are! Well, not the PETA type, but the chance to see and interact with nature is something we all love. Back in the fall of 2004 I was 9 months pregnant and honestly pretty foolish. The area we were living in at the time had a TON of squirrels. But there was one that was just mine. He was the sweetest most adorable little thing, and what made him even cuter…he knew he was mine! He lived in the tree across the street and every time I came out onto my porch I would make a clicking sound for him and he would come running. He knew I had the good stuff (Costco’s trail mix) and the almonds were his. He and I got to be such good friends that he would literally come and sit a few inches away from me while he ate. If I made any quick movements he would dash away a couple of feet, but for the most part we were buddies. This is where my foolishness crept in.

This is me feeding Peanut. He would actually put one little hand on mine as he took whatever nut I was offering. Awwww isn’t that so sweet? Did I mention I was pregnant…..and had no way of knowing if this little rodent was rabid? It could have been pretty awful, but I was lucky and I just have sweet memories of my little guy.

Now we live in the suburbs of Chicago, and you know, there are even more squirrels here. How that is possible, I’m unsure. I still love these little fellas but have never even had an interest in finding another Peanut. In fact, I’m kind of on the opposite side of the fence with these ones. I can’t keep them out of anything! Especially the garden. Hello, not planted for you buddy!! I’ve gone so far as to look up squirrel repellent. My house is surrounded by beautiful hundred year old trees, and we get Cardinals with these trees. I’d never seen a Cardinal before we lived here and so I put a couple of bird feeders out to try and catch them…but the squirrels keep beating them to the food. It’s aggravating! We found a dead squirrel in the wood pile last fall, and there was no way I was bringing any of that wood in to burn. Not after squirrel carcass had been touching it!

Where did this come from? How do you go from loving one of them so much…..to wanting to keep them 100 feet away from my property line? I don’t know how it happened, but if it keeps up much longer, I’ll definitely be buying the spray!

***Side note….there is also deer repellent on the same page as the squirrel spray and I actually told my husband that I would rather have deer hanging around the backyard than any of the vegetation they may eat. He just smiled and shook his head. How fun would that be to have a friendly little deer friend????

Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »

Wednesday Wisdom –Measuring Ingredients

By Gib | April 29, 2009

For measuring dry materials, it is best to have individual measures for 1/4, 1/3, 1/2, and 1 cup. Flour packs down in the bag, so keep it in a canister and fluff it up before scooping.

When measuring, let your child scrape off the excess flour with a spatula. Liquids are easiest to measure in glass cups. After pouring liquid in, your child can get eye-level with the surface of the liquid to read the increments on the glass.

Topics: Teaching Kids, Wednesday Wisdom | No Comments »

Seven Layer Cookie Bars

By Gib | April 28, 2009

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/3 cups shredded coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

Place butter in 13 x 9 inch pan and melt in oven. Swirl to coat bottom and sides with butter.
Spread crumbs evenly over bottom of pan. Layer chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and nuts over crumbs. Pour condensed milk over nuts. Sprinkle coconut over condensed milk.

Bake until edges are golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let cool.

Topics: Dessert, Recipes, Tempting Tuesday | No Comments »

Veggie Mac!!

By Gib | April 27, 2009

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups dried tubular pasta, such as elbow macaroni
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut diagonally into 1/4-inch slices
• 10 oz. of frozen or fresh broccoli, stems sliced, florets separated
• 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1 cup low-fat plain cottage cheese
• 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard (country style)
• 1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 4 to 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, coarsely shredded
• 4 oz. part-skim mozzarella cheese, coarsely shredded
• 1 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 2-quart baking dish with cooking spray or margarine.

2. Cook the pasta in a large saucepan of boiling salted water for 4 minutes. Stir in the carrots and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the broccoli and cook for 2 minutes more. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the cooking liquid, and return the pasta and vegetables to the saucepan. Stir in the peas.

3. In a food processor, combine the cottage cheese with the reserved liquid from the cooked pasta. Add the mustard, Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper and blend until smooth. Stir into the pasta and vegetables. Mix in the cheddar and mozzarella and pour into the baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

4. Bake uncovered until the top is golden brown (about 20 to 25 minutes), then let it set for 10 minutes to firm up. Serves 4. Note: This dish can be prepared a day before it is baked.

Topics: Dinner, Munchkin Monday, Recipes | No Comments »

Berry Banana Smoothie

By Gib | April 23, 2009

Ingredients

• 1 banana, frozen and chunked
• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup vanilla yogurt

Directions

1. In a blender, combine banana, raspberries, orange juice and yogurt. Blend until smooth. Pour into glasses and serve.

Topics: Recipes, Thirsty Thursday | No Comments »

Wednesday Wisdom–Washing Fresh Produce

By Gib | April 22, 2009

This activity is good fun for little water sprites and helps them remember to wash fruits before snacking. Fill the sink (not too full!) with cool water. Show how the lettuce holds tiny bits of dirt. Drop the leaves into the sink.

After your child has sloshed away, he should shake out the clean leaves and drop them into a salad spinner.

Help him spin the lettuce dry, wrap it in a dish towel, and store it in your refrigerator’s crisper. At dinnertime, he can retrieve the lettuce, put it in a salad bowl, and add a measured amount of dressing.

Topics: Teaching Kids, Wednesday Wisdom | No Comments »

Kid Creations!!

By Gib | April 21, 2009

My kids are not easy to get into the shower! They get there–but it takes a lot of effort. So tonight we got a late start for dinner, which threw shower time into a race. I told the older boys that whomever finished their dinner first and got into and out of the shower first would get to make their own dessert first. We had Mud Pie, and I had two little boys racing for the shower. Sound like a plan for your kids? Well, here’s what you’ll need:

Ingredients

• 2 Oreo Cookies in a ziplock bag
• 1 Single serving cup of chocolate pudding
• Whipping Cream

Directions

The kids get to crush their Oreos and pour 3/4’s of the bag into the bottom of a bowl. Cover the crushed Oreo’s with the chocolate pudding. Cover pudding with whipped cream and add the remaining cookie crumbs to the top.

Easy, Kid friendly Mud Pie! So easy-so quick–and it got them in and out of the shower in record time!!

Topics: Dessert, Recipes, Tempting Tuesday | No Comments »

Baked Potato Boats!!

By Gib | April 20, 2009

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium baked potato
• 1/8 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 2 tbsp. milk
• 1/2 tbsp. butter or margarine
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Extra grated cheddar cheese, carrot sticks, red or yellow pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut the cooked potato in half lengthwise and scoop the insides into a bowl. Mash in the cheese, milk, butter, salt, and pepper, then spoon the mixture back into the potato skin.

2. Warm for 2 minutes on high in the microwave. Decorate the halves with an extra sprinkle of cheese, then add carrot-stick masts and red- or yellow-pepper sails.

Topics: Dinner, Munchkin Monday, Recipes | No Comments »

Ants On A Log

By Gib | April 18, 2009

Ingredients

• 8 celery stalks, each cut into 3 pieces (3 to 4 inches each)
• 1 container (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cheesecake Flavor Cream Cheese Spread
• 1/2 cup raisins

Directions

FILL celery “logs” evenly with cream cheese spread.

TOP with raisins for the “ants.”

Topics: Recipes, Snackin' Saturday, Snacks | No Comments »

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