Filled With Love

This weekend is Valentine's Day!

 

Maybe you are scrambling for some special treats to give to your little ones.  I always like to make a big deal about this day of love. I decorate the table in hearts, balloons and glitter and get the girls little prizes.

 

Filled with the spirit of St. Valentine I made these nutella and marshmallow hand pies this week (I also made heart shaped jello, heart shaped rice krispie treats, heart shaped pancakes, even heart shaped meat loaf.) You can say that my heart shaped cookie cutter has gotten a lot of use!

 

These little pies are very yummy and super easy to make with the store bought pie crusts. If you want something savory instead add some marinara sauce, cheese and a little meatball.

 

The filling ideas are endless!

 

 

What You Need:

• Store Bought Pie Crust
• Nutella
• Mini Marshmallows
• Sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Unroll the pie crust and cut into heart shapes. Line them on a baking sheet.

 



 

Add about a tablespoon of Nutella and a few marshmallows.

 

 

Then seal the sides of the heart so nothing oozes out. Sprinkle the top with a little bit of sugar.

 

Pop them into the oven for about 10 minutes. 

 



 

So easy and full of love!

Football Fiesta

Come Sundays (and Monday night and Thursday night for that matter) in the Fall you will always find a football game on in our house. Most likely it is the Patriots, my hubby's favorite. I don't complain because Tom Brady is pretty dreamy (Deflate-gate or not!) Now that the Patriots have ended up in the Super Bowl we are all excited here. To celebrate the big game I have decided to post this tasty concoction. Perfect for the kids and football lover in your life.

 

I found a version of this recipe a few years back. This meal has been a family favorite. The kiddos always clean their plates when I serve it up to them and that makes it a winner! To celebrate my baby daddy's team making it to the playoffs I made this tasty meal for him, but added a little something special to it. Go Patriots! (Or if you prefer Go Sea Chickens!)

(I never thought that guacamole could be used as a canvas with sour cream as my paint. There are many possibilities for this artistic combo. You could make this in a spring form pan and build it up, frost it with some guac and write Happy B-Day or something on the top: Fiesta Cake.)





WHAT YOU NEED:

1 Medium Onion, Chopped
1Medium Green Pepper, Chopped
1 Teaspoon ground Cumin
1/4 Teaspoon Pepper
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 Pound Ground Beef
1 Can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
14 OZ Vegetable Broth (about 2 cups)
1 cup Frozen Corn, thawed

4-5 Flour Tortillas
1 cup Shredded Cheese

1 cup Guacamole (I could give you a recipe but, honestly, I don't have one yet. its so easy to buy it at the market now. I'm going to work on this though...stay posted.)
1/4 cup of Sour Cream

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Dice the onion and green pepper. Mince your garlic.

In a large skillet sauté the onion, green pepper, cumin, and pepper in oil until the veggies are tender. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Drain the fat from the pan.

Next add beans and broth. Cook the mixture until the liquid is reduced to about 1/3 cup. Stir in corn and remove from heat.















Place a tortilla on the bottom of your baking dish (you may need to cut it to fit the bottom of the pan.) Layer on about 1 1/2 cups of the meat mixture with 1/4 cup of cheese. Repeat layers until you get to the top of your dish. Sprinkle the top layer with some cheese and pop it into the preheated oven. Bake for 15-20 minutes.














Remove dish from oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes. Spread the top with the guacamole. 

 

Now comes the artistic portion of the program...

Scoop sour cream into a baggie and cut a very small sliver from one of the corners. Now carefully pipe lines onto the top of the guacamole to resemble a football field (please note that I said "resemble.") Adding a few decorations helps to overcome the possible lack of Martha Stewart perfection. I used small skewers and pipe cleaners to create the goal posts. And I randomly had a football sticker from some past crafting project.

I used my computer to add on the Patriots flair but in past versions I simply printed out the team names and places right on top of the guac. It worked great but maybe you have another idea...

 

Enjoy the game!!

 

Elf Food

Christmas is my most favorite time of year! The good cheer, lights, presents, candy canes, hot cocoa, and music make it a true winter wonderland. But for me, the most exciting part about it all is experiencing Christmas with my children.  They believe so completely in Christmas magic that, for a moment, I believe in it again too.

I have very vivid childhood memories about Christmas. I remember how deeply I believed and how excited I was in the days leading up to Christmas. I can close my eyes right now and see the colored lights lining our house, smell the candles that were always lit on Christmas Eve, hear Nat King Cole Christmas carols playing on some cassette tape, and feel the increasing anticipation as we waited for Santa to arrive at our house. We always stayed up late on Christmas Eve celebrating our childhood while making the best family memories possible. I love my parents so much for giving this to me. It was a full sensory experience that is so ingrained into me that I have no choice but to recreate it for my children. I want to see them jump for joy when they spy Rudolph's nose in the distance,  burst with excitement when they hear the ringing bells of Santa's sleigh and squeal with delight at the sight of all their presents piled around the tree.

One thing that did not exist when I was young was the Elf of the Shelf. It is such a simple idea that it is brilliant (another million dollar mommy idea that I missed out on!) I have really run away with this idea trying to make it bigger and better (and sometimes totally inappropriate.) Here are some of the fun antics:

Contrary to popular opinion Elves are not limited to the 4 main food groups of candy, candy corn, candy canes and maple syrup. They love smores but hate the idea of getting close to an open flame (elves are fearful of fire so never but your elf near the flames!) Luckily I have a solution that is so easy even an elf can do it! And really whats not to love about this...marshmallows, chocolate, cereal... oh my goodness!

What You Need:

• 2 Cups Golden Grahams
• 1/4 Cup Marshmallow Bits
• 1/4 Cup Milk Chocolate Morsels
• Handful of Red M&Ms (picked and sorted out of a bag of Christmas M&Ms)

Directions: 

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and serve. Seriously, how easy is that!! 

My little elves absolutely love this! Though this elf picks out and eats all the chocolate pieces (she`s smarter than I thought!)

Food Play: Peppermint Play Dough 

It is a rainy day here and we wanted to do a Christmas craft. I scrolled through Pinterest with my 4 year old and she rejected every art activity that had paint (thank goodness! that is always a mess!) and zoned in on the play dough idea. I had never made scented play dough and was up for giving it a try. We were all out of red play dough so we couldn`t make a full on candy cane theme. Green was just as lovely though. Pop the Elf even got involved!

What You Need for Play Dough:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• food coloring
• drops of peppermint oil
• GLITTER!!

I added the first 4 ingredients to my mixer and began mixing. I than added the hot water followed by the food coloring until the desired color was achieved. Put in some peppermint oil to give it a nice elvish smell. Top it all off with a lot of glitter. The more the better!! If it feels a little tacky add some more flour.

Add in some cookie cutters and candy canes and you have yourself a play date.

Hoot! Hoot! Cupcakes

I love owls! It might not be apparent to people who know me, but I do. My affinity for these creatures can be traced back to one place: Chi Omega. This is the sorority that I joined way back in college at the University of Oregon. Our main symbol is the owl. For those of you that joined a sorority maybe the thing that you love is an anchor, key, dolphin, lyre, crescent moon, or arrow. If you did not join a sorority you may have no idea what I am talking about, but stay with me. My sorority meant a lot to me back then.  It gave me a sense of belonging at a large university but more importantly it was a place to call home. I got to share my college experience with some truly amazing women.  Oh the stories they could tell about me... Oh the stories I could tell about them! But, behind every chapter house is a national organization that works to ensure that the women who join their ranks are provided a fulfilling experience filled with ideals to which to aspire and purposes by which to live their life (it isn't all social!) Chi Omega still means a lot to me.

One of the few roles I hold outside of 'Mommy' is as an adviser at the University of Arizona's chapter of Chi Omega. It has been a way to connect to the community, to meet new friends and to remain an active part of an organization that I love. Moreover, it has helped me remember that I am more than just a mother (something that is easy to forget during the formidable toddler years.) So, last weekend I hosted about 20 of the active members from the U of A chapter at my house for an overnight retreat. They are some of the brightest, most hard working, and determined young women you could ever meet... they give me hope for the future! To honor them I made some Owl cupcakes. They weren't super fancy as I used whatever I already had in my pantry. I literally just winged it. (ha! ha!)

What You Need:

box of cake mix

jar of frosting

food coloring

assortment of toppings

• Fruit loops
• M and Ms
• Shredded Coconut
• Slivered Almonds
• Cherrrios
• White Chocolate discs (these are the kind you get for melting)
• Marshmallows

Directions:

Preheat oven as directed on the box. 

Mix cake mix. I mixed half the cake mix with lots of red food coloring. Then, I filled each cup cake with a scoop of each color to create a marbled effect. (Chi Omegas colors are cardinal and straw hence the 2 colors. But you can do this for any color combo you desire, or not at all.)

Once the cupcakes are out of the oven allow them to cool completely before frosting.

Once frosted begin to decorate your cupcake. I used a dab of frosting to stick the M&M to the white chocolate disc (or marshmallow.) I also used a Fruit Loop for the nose and eyebrows.

I think they turned out pretty cute considering I had a very unhelpful helper at my side trying to stick her finger in EVERYTHING and eat what she could. 

Ghostly Meringues

Happy Halloween!! 

I love this holiday! Everyone acts a little sillier and a but more strange.... kinda like me. Our house is decorated with tombstones on the grass, scarecrows in the planters, pumpkins everywhere, spiders all over the fireplace, and ravens lining the front gate. With toddlers I found I cannot make it too scary. I took Caroline into one of those Halloween stores and I am pretty sure it provided her with enough terror to last her a few years. She was screaming. I lost a mommy point that day. But, my youngest absolutely loved it! She wanted to be scared over and over and would just laugh. She particularly liked the zombie children pop up toys... freaky!!!!

Anyways, Halloween is here. Last night we carved pumpkins and made special ghostly treats. 

The most favorite dessert I make is a pavlova. It is perfectly sweet and has just about all the main food groups: eggs, cream and fruit. It is a meal in itself. I have had this recipe for years now. It had taken me many tries to perfect it. So rather than make you go through all the agony, I have condensed the recipe to give you a simple meringue (though the only difference between this and my pavlova is the cream and berries that would go on top.) 

What you need:
3 egg whites, room temperature
1 cup superfine sugar (if you do not have superfine sugar don't worry, use regular sugar)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar (not the egg dying kinda vinegar... pay attention!)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the egg whites until satiny peaks form.

Then beat in the sugar a tablespoon at a time until the meringue is stiff and shiny. 

My "professional" advice here is to pay very close attention to your egg whites. If they are over beaten they will be stiff and yucky. Get your kiddos set up with a snack and a favorite show at this point so you can have 10 minutes to yourself for this!

Turn off the mixer and add the vanilla and white wine vinegar. Use a spatula to fold it all in (folding in is almost the same as mixing but you do it slowly and more carefully.)

Prepare a pastry bag with a big open tip (or just cut a hole in the corner of a plastic bag.) Fill it with the meringue (I find that if you put the bag into a tall cup and fold over the sides you can easily fill up your bag without making a horrible mess.)

To make the ghostly meringues just pipe out the meringue in circles one on top of the other; getting smaller as you build up. I used a smaller tip and created something more like mummy ghosts but, no worries, the kids get the idea and I look even more creative!! The point is just use your own creative discretion and I know they will be great. I even made a few that were flat.

Place them into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 300 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes. Then turn off the heat and leave them in the oven for another 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before adding faces to your ghosts.

I then adorned my ghosts with some candy eyes and raisins for a mouth. I used store bought frosting to stick them on.

Its a ghostly parade!!

Ahhhhhhh!!!!

Ear Wax

Halloween is a perfect time to create food that makes you gag a little bit. This idea fits the bill! Next time your kiddo needs a snack just grab a Q-Tip and some ear wax and you are good to go. Note my child's reaction when I offered her some ear wax. Priceless! And the 2 year old completely hesitated before I encouraged her to eat it. The best thing about this snack is how utterly, completely easy it is. It would make a great treat for a Halloween party or playdate! Don't miss the fun Food Play craft included below!

What you Need:

Q Tips
Handful of mini marshmallows
1 TBS Nut Butter (we used peanut butter)

Directions:

Cut off one of the cotton ends of the Q Tip. Push the cut end into a mini marshmallow.

Dip the top of the marshmallow into the nut butter. I swirled it to get a nice effect!

Arrange the ear wax on a tray and serve.

Food Play Craft:  

X-Ray Hand

Put those Q Tips to work again and make a fun X Ray of your kiddos hand (of foot!) All you need is black paint, paper, Q Tips, and glue.

Swab some black paint all over your kiddos hand and make a handprint.

Dab some glue onto the cotton ends of the Qtip and fix to your dry handprint. 

Look how proud she is of her X ray!