Kiss Me Cups (Guest Post by Ellie)

We are now on our fifth day of winter break, with eight days to go. So far, we’ve managed stay busy, but I’m getting a little nervous that we have already crossed so much off of our to-do list! Will we be able to hold off the cabin fever? Will we wind up booking a last minute (and way out of this year’s budget) trip to Disney World? Tempting. We’re taking it a day at a time.

Today was tough. It’s Christmas and we are Jewish. Usually Hanukkah falls around the same time so we have SOMETHING to do on the 25th when everything is closed, but Hanukkah was sooooo early this year that we are really just sitting around the house today. We took a break from movie watching and Magna-tile playing to throw together a little treat. It’s made using left over Christmas kisses, but it would also be perfect for (should I even say it?) Valentines Day (too early, sorry). Anyway. It’s easy to make with the kids if you need a diversion. I’ll pass the computer over to Ellie now!

Me,Mom and Ben came up with the name Kiss me cups because every time Mommy was ready for Ben to put on a heresy kiss on it,Mommy said “Kiss me!”The way to make our DELICIOUS kiss me cups you need:1 bag of good quality chocolate chips.(We used Ghirardelli milk chocolate)24 candy cane hershey kisses-unwraped.12 oreos cut into quarters.

Thats all we need.Now this is how you make it:

.Line the cups of a mini cupcake pan with liners.

.Melt the chocolate chips.(Half power for one minute.Then half power for 30 second intervals,stirring between intervals.)

.Scoop a little bit of chocolate into the cups.(or use a squeeze bottle.)

.Press in two quarters of an oreo,press  the cookies into the chocolate.

.Scoop a little more chocolate on top of the cookies.

.Press a hershey kiss on top.

.Chill in the refrigerator  for at least 20 minutes.

.Enjoy:)(After lunch or dinner!)

And thats how you make our DELICIOUS kiss me cups.

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME AND MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS!

Me and my family and friends went to the christmas light show last night.I liked the guy shooting presents from a cannon into a present bag!They even told us to put on a certain channel on the radio so we could hear Christmas music while we drove through !The snowmen kept waving their hand telling us which way to go!It was a drive through!

P.S.Merry christmas to who celebrates Christmas!

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Hanukkah Oreos

I know that Thanksgivikkah was a once in a lifetime (several lifetimes, actually) phenomenon, but it’s been really weird this year. I started shopping for my kid’s eight gifts in early October. I was more concerned with wrapping Hanukkah gifts than making Thanksgiving treats. Neither holiday got the attention it deserved.

I made two sets of Thanksgiving cookies:

and this one for my dad:

I made one set of Thanksgivikkah cookies to bring to our Thanksgiving dinner/ Hanukkah celebration:

But I didn’t make anything specifically for Hanukkah.

I remedied that situation this morning.

I raided the kids’ Halloween candy and found a pack of Oreos and some MnMs. In the pantry, I found some chocolate chips, white sixlets,  and some Hanukkah cookies left over from the platter above that I never decorated . When the kids weren’t looking, I took their gelt.

 

First, unwrap the gelt. Do this in a different room than the one your kids are in, because they’ll hear the crinkle of the foil, and they’ll smell the chocolate. Then it’s all over.

Dip the Oreos in melted chocolate and place a chocolate coin on top. Easy. Let the chocolate set up. If you need to, put them in the fridge or freezer to speed up the setting up process.

If you have some cutout cookies available, dip the tops in the chocolate too. (Or use graham crackers or any plain cookie.)

Sprinkle with crushed blue MnMs and crushed sixlets. Place a piece of gelt on top and drizzle with more melted chocolate. Allow this to set in the same way as the Oreos.

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

Passover Matzo Bark (Special Guest Post)

HI,I’m back!It’s Ellie!Here is my next YUMMY recipe!

Ingredients

4 sheets of matzo.

1 stick of salted butter.

1/2 cup sugar.

1 bag of chocolate chips. (kosher for passover.)

1/2 cup chopped almonds.

Directions(**means that a grownup should do this part)

1- Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.

2- Preheat the oven to 350 (**)

3- Line the baking sheet with matzo, do not overlap, break them into pieces if you need to.

4- In a small saucepan, combine the butter and sugar and bring to a boil, pour mixture over the matzo. Place in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes until the matzo is lightly browned. (**)

5- Remove pan from the oven (**)

6- Being careful not to touch the baking sheet or the hot butter, sprinkle the matzo with the chocolate Let it melt slightly then use an offset spatula to spread the chocolate over the matzo.

7- Sprinkle with the chopped almonds.

8- Let it cool completely in the refrigerator for a few hours.

9- Break into pieces before serving.

So that is my yummy recipe!

ANNNNNNDDDDD- we lost Ellie to Hannah Montana. Lol.

Anyway, make this because the only acceptable way to eat matzo is covered in chocolate.

So if you want to leave a comment, be nice 🙂 Six and a half year olds are still easily distracted, lol.

(Quick note- I’m not sure exactly where this recipe came from, I copied it onto an index card several years ago. I did modify it a bit from the original.)

Fruit Salad (To Go)

Remember, in science class, learning about saturation? I remember hanging a piece of string in a glass of sugar water, adding more sugar, and watching as, over the course of a few days, the sugar left the sugar/water mixture and clung to the string. What I’m trying to say is that I feel like that sugar/water mixture, and if you hang a string near me, in a few days you’ll have rock candy.

I guess that’s what happens when you have Halloween, followed by Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas/Hanukkah, followed by New Years, followed by Valentines Day, followed by your son’s third birthday! That’s why when Ellie was “star student” the week following her brother’s birthday, I decided to NOT make cookies or cupcakes to send in. (Sorry first graders!)

These treats were a big hit with the class, despite the lack of added sugar. Just a warning, though. You’ll want to prepare them as close to snack time as possible. The shelf life for these is pretty much non existent.

Ingredients:

(Makes about 12 bags)

• 12 strawberries
• 6 easy peel clementines
• 3-4 bananas (depending on size)
• 1 1/2 pears
• about 96 blueberries
• about 72 grapes
• 12 cellophane dipped pretzel bags
• ribbon

1. Cut your fruit- you should get about 4 chunks of banana per fruit (depending on size) and about 9 slices per pear (note- if your child’s class is allergy  sensitive, lay wax or parchment paper on your counter and use a plastic knife. The pears can be difficult to cut, so I cut a few slices with plastic, and packaged them with a different color ribbon so I knew which bags they were in. Then I switched to a regular knife. If you need to make sure all fruit is safely cut, you could always substitute green grapes for the pear.)
2. Place fruit in bag according to the rules of ROY-G-BV: about 6 grapes, 8 blueberries, 1 pear slice, 1 banana chunk, 1/2 clementine, 1 strawberry (halved when needed- there were some mutant huge strawberries in that container!)
3. Tie with a ribbon.
4. Serve immediately.

Just a little note. I tend to try to buy organic where I can. In this case, the grapes and bananas are non organic. I know it tends to be more expensive, and in some cases harder to find. Just do what you can, where you can.

And I am definitely not off sugar for good! I just needed to take a little break from it, you know?

I’m linking this up to Simply Sweet Saturdays at Simply Sweets by Honeybee.

 

This post is also linked up to Party In Your Pjs at The Cookie Puzzle and Simply Sweets by Honeybee

Fluffernutter Bars

It must be so easy to be a dad.

I mean, I know it’s not easy to be a parent in general. Just yesterday, I took the kids to the mall (which I almost never do because if I have a few hours to kill and I want to window shop, I wan’t to be able to go at my pace and enjoy myself). Ellie had the day off and they both needed new shoes. If they were *relatively* well behaved (meaning I left the store with no bald patches on my own scalp), I would take them to the Disney store for a little present, then to lunch at Nordstrom (our favorite mall restaurant since Ellie was three and called it “Mushroom”).

They were both actually really well behaved, so I thought I could run into Urban Outfitters which is between Disney and Nordstrom. Not a full minute goes by before she decides she’s done and leaves the store- her intention was to go to “Mushroom” order for us, and get a table: when I was finished shopping, I would meet her there and be very happy with her. Fortunately, I was watching her, she never dissapeared from view, and was never lost. Not even for a second.

I spent the rest of the day alternately furious and depressed. Depressed because I had to have the “there are bad people in this world who would hurt you just because they can” talk with her, thereby altering her “sunshine and rainbow” six year old view of the world. I guess that moment has to come at some point, and now I know she wouldn’t even think to do it again. If not due to a fear of strangers, maybe as a result of the other new concept she was introduced to yesterday: grounded for a month.

Anyway- that was some tangent, huh?

What I was saying is that moms are all about grounding and cleaning your room and eating your vegetables. While mom is trying to come up with new and innovative ways to serve kale and hide fish in macaroni and cheese, dad is spreading peanut butter and fluff on *gasp* WHITE bread and calling it lunch.

Well, this mom decided she was going to be cool last week, even if it was just for one after school snack.

Fluffernutter bars follow the same formula as Rice Crispy bars. These are the ingredients you’ll need:

• Puffed Peanut Butter Cereal (3 cups)
• 1/2 bag marshmallows
• 1.5 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons peanutbutter
• Fluff (optional)

(I make mine in an 8×8 inch pan. If you want more, double the recipe and use a 9×13 inch pan)

1. Melt the butter in a large sauce pan over medium-low heat.
2. When the butter is melted, add the marshmallows and stir until just barely melted.
3. Stir in the peanut butter.
4. Turn off the heat and add the puff cereal. Stir until the cereal is coated with the marshmallow mixture.
5. Turn the mixture into an 8×8 inch pan lightly sprayed with cooking spray.
6. Let cool, then cut into squares.
7. (optional) spread a light layer of marshmallow fluff over the top of the bars. I tried to melt and drizzle the fluff, but fluff does’t drizzle well.

Be a cool mom today. Let dad worry about antioxidants.

I’m linking this to Simply Sweet Saturdays at Simply Sweets by Honeybee

Apple Pie (A Special Guest Post)

I have a very special guest poster today! My Ellie has been asking me if she can write a blog, so we decided before she can start her own, she would get to write on mine a few times. While reading one of her books, she discovered a recipe in the back and asked if we could start with it.

 

Ellie picked out the recipe, and short of slicing the apples, handling the oven, and some odd help here and there, she pretty much made it herself.

 

Then she took some pictures.

 

Then she wrote a post!

Hi evreyone,My name is Ellie.Me and my Mom made a apple pie.

I had fun making the apple pie!I thoght of it first.I saw a book that is called Amelia Bedelia’s first apple pie.The book is really,really,really funny.Because the birds ate the pie and the Grandma thinks the birds are swollows and Amelia Bedelia says this ”Thay sure were.Thay swollowed the wole thing!”

The pie was fun to make!My little brother wanted to help!He scattered flour evreywhare.I even got it on my hands!

It’s me, Stephanie again!

Leave a comment for Ellie (and remember to be nice! I’m trying to teach her that if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.) Hopefully , I can talk her into guest posting again. She has a bunch of fun cookbooks and magazines geared towards kids so we have plenty of recipes to choose from.

You can find the book we used here.