Pina Colada Pops

Last week when we were having our 80 degree weather I wanted to make something that would make it feel even more like summer so I decided to make these Pina Colada Pops. I love coconut (and I plan on making some coconut eggs for Easter today!) so I thought these pops would be delicious. And they are. Alexandra loves them too! I got this recipe from All Recipes.

They are super easy to make too, even for my 3 year old helper who loves being in the kitchen.

Ingredients/Supplies:

Blender

Popcicle molds and sticks.  I have two sets of plastic popcicle molds and some push pop ice cream molds as well but you can do the same thing by making your own molds with Dixie cups and popcicle sticks. 

1 can of crused pineapple, with juice

1 banana

1 can of Coconut milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: 

Open, Dump, and Pour the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Dump into molds and freeze until firm. And there you have it, 5 hours later or so you have a yummy pop for dessert! 

Muffin Tin Monday in March at My Mom's

How's that for some alliteration? This weekend I traveled with the kids up to my mom's house and since we are leaving on Monday and won't be around for lunch I did a muffin tin breakfast (but I actually did it on Sunday morning). I was trying to decide whether to do an early Easter tin or a Spring tin and my sister said I should do a lion and a lamb...and it was a great idea! March normally comes in like a lion and out like a lamb but here in PA this year it seemed to come in like a lamb and out like a lion! We had warmer temps throughout March (or above normal for this time of year - just this past week we were in shorts because it was 80 degrees!) but not it's back to it's normal self and ending with 40's, 50's and some low 60's. 

So for the Muffin Tin Meal I made a lion made out of a pancake with a strawberry mane. I added 2 chocolate M&M's for eyes and a strawberry nose and mouth. I know it doesn't look too ferocious but it was yummy! Then I made the lamb out of a pancake, whipped cream for the wool, and blueberry eyes and a banana nose and mouth. On the side she has a cup of syrup, pineapple, and blueberries. Can you take one guess at what she ate first????? If you guessed whipped cream you were right! I mean, what kid wouldn't dive into that first??? I sure would! 

To find other muffin tin meals go to Muffin Tin Mom

Play Turns Into Practice

Alexandra already knows her colors and shapes but one day I had a few posters from my classroom out and she took them and started playing with them. Apparently she was making a bridge for her animals to crawl across so they didn't fall into the river (the tile floor). As she was making them go across the "bridge" I would say "Make the lion jump on the heart. Now the square. Make him jump onto white. And finally, Red. " We did this several times and I would change up the combinations. I even threw in some Spanish when we got to the colors because Amy always practices Spanish with her and she was able to understand that as well. When Camden is just learning his colors and shapes I think I'll break out those posters again and do the same thing!

We're in the Kitchen Wednesday: Popcorn in a Brown Paper Bag

Alexandra and I love popcorn! The girl and I ate almost an entire box at a Phillies game before and so I usually always have some of those 100 calorie mini bags around the house. But then I saw that you could pop corn kernels in a brown paper bag and in the microwave which is an added bonus. I like that I can put on just a pinch of salt and maybe a dash of olive oil and you have a healthy snack in just about 2 minutes! 

I found the idea on The Frugal Girls website and decided to give it a try. It is definitely cheaper to make than the bags you buy at the store. 

All you need is:

1/4 cup popcorn kernels

A brown paper lunch bag

any seasonings you want to put on the popcorn (I have tried salt and ranch seasoning so far!)

All we did was measure out the kernels, put them in a paper bag, fold it down, and then place it in the microwave for about 2 minutes (I listened for the pops to be a couple seconds apart so the time could vary on microwaves)

 My Little Helper 

 She measured 1/4 cup of the kernels (and thankfully none fell on the floor because Camden would be all over it!)

 Alexandra was checking out the kernels in the bag

I sprinkled her popcorn with a dash of salt and then for mine I sprinkled some Hidden Valley Ranch Seasoning because I have been on a ranch kick lately

I can't wait to try some other flavor combos! 

Muffin Tin Monday: Spring is in the Air!

 

Today is Muffin Tin Monday and my original plan was to do a lunch for St. Patty's Day since it was Saturday but instead I decided to do a Spring lunch! For the past week here in PA it's been in the 60's and 70's and this is the first year in a few years that the weather has actually been Spring-like during the first day of Spring.  Right now it's only 11:30 and it's already 66 degrees! And on the first day of Spring the weather is supposed to be 76 degrees!!! I LOVE this weather! Now I'm just hoping we don't get some kind of freak snow storm in April (it has happened before!)

The Flower is made of grapes, cheddar cheese, veggie sticks, and the flower pot is a toasted cinnamon and sugar tortilla. The small flowers at the bottom are strawberries and blueberries and the one in the center is lebanon bologna and american cheese. I used a flower muffin tin cup as the sun and in the center is our homemade strawberry sorbet (post coming soon on how we made it!)

For more inspiration go to Muffin Tin Mom to see some wonderful ideas! 

Fruit Loop Fun

Today we had some fun with Fruit Loops to celebrate St. Patrick's Day and rainbows! We made a rainbow out of Fruit Loops, made "sand" art, graphed Fruit Loops and made patterns. And we ate a few...well maybe more than a few.   

 Fruit Loop patterns 

 Crushing up the Fruit Loops with her cup to make "sand"

 Then I painted glue onto a cake board...

 and then sprinkle the crushed fruit loops onto the glued board to make a pretty picture!

Homemade Frosty and Tortillas

I know it's a weird combination...Frosty's and tortillas. I had all intentions of going to Wendy's to get a Frosty after preschool pickup with Alexandra but she fell asleep on the way home and Camden got a little cranky so I decided it was best to just go home. When I got home and woke Alex up I knew she was going to ask if we were going to Wendy's. I had a plan in mind. I knew I had a recipe pinned on Pinterest that I wanted to try so I told her we were going to make HOMEMADE Frosty's...and stressed HOMEMADE as if that would make it way more exciting. Well she was happy with that (and I was too!) so we made them. And boy did they turn out good!!!!! I should have doubled the batch!

Check out the recipe for the Frosty I used here. There are a few different recipes out there but I used this one because I had all of the ingredients on hand. I'm glad I chose this one because it was a good one!

Next up, I made tortillas because I wanted to make cheeseburger wraps, another recipe I found on Pinterest and for those you needed tortillas. I usually always have them on hand but this day I only had 2 so I decided to make some of my own!

It was actually pretty easy. I mixed up some dough in my mixer, rolled it out, and fried it. It was that easy.

Ingredients:

2.5 cups of flour

1 cup very hot water

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 cup shortening

Mix the flour and salt together and then add to the mixer. Then add in the shortening. The dough will be crumby but when you add the water it should pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and should form a ball. (I added even a little more water than the recipe called for until it DID pull away)

 Once it's mixed up divide the dough into balls. I wanted to make 5 fajita sized tortillas so I made them a little bigger. 

 Heat up your skillet on medium low heat. I used my cast iron skillet with a little bit of oil on the bottom. The dough seemed to not stick anyways because of the shortening in it but I wanted to be safe. 

 Take the dough balls and flatten them out with your hand and then use a rolling pin to roll out the dough as thin as you like. I probably could have rolled my dough even thinner. My dough wasn't really that perfect of a circle. I used a glass bowl turned upside down and a pizza cutter to  make them circles so that they would fit in the skillet.

Fry the dough in the skillet and look for bubbles to form...

 Here's a closer look at the bubbles

 Flip the dough over and then fry for another minute or so

Then they are ready to eat! It took a few tortillas before I got the timing down on how brown I wanted them to get. I was wondering if my husband would like them. I didn't tell him I made them homemade. Instead I just made the cheeseburger wraps and then afterwards he told me the wraps were really good. I had to then show him the recipe and the extra tortillas so he would believe me. His next comment was that we didn't have to buy store bought tortillas anymore. Well, I don't think I want to make them homemade every time we need them but at least if we are out of them I have a go to recipe!

Camden's First Birthday Shirt

For Camden's birthday I knew I wanted to try to make him a shirt. My sewing skills are still not the best so I made one out of a plain white T, some fabric, and an old t-shirt. The cost of the shirt was maybe $6 (at most) because the white T was $5 at Target, the tie was made out of fabric I already had, and the best part is that the "one" at the bottom is made out of an old T-shirt of my  husband's that he was about to donate to Goodwill. The iron on adhesive backing that I  used to iron on the pieces cost $3 but I barely used any and have a lot left for future projects so I'd say I didn't even use $1 worth. Beats the $20 you would normally pay for a first birthday shirt!

My next birthday project is to make a "Happy Birthday Camden" bunting using some scrapbook paper I just purchased. I found a blue/brown pack at Walmart today and that made me change the color scheme of his party. I went from green/brown to blue/brown. I'll also be making  his cake and cupcakes for his playgroup. I'm so glad that I can add my personal touches to his birthday! 

Muffin Tin Monday: A Dr. Seuss Belated Birthday Lunch

It's Muffin Tin Monday! 

I know that Friday, March 2 was Dr. Seuss's birthday but we decided to still celebrate by having a Muffin Tin Lunch dedicated to his birthday. I think now I am just a little "Seussed" out! I'm ready to move onto St. Patty's Day, Spring, and Easter!

So here is our lunch that I made for Alexandra  - and she ate every single bite!

This lunch consists of:

(Top row) 

A Pink, Yink, Drink from One Fish, Two Fish, Red, Fish, Blue Fish (milk with red food coloring)

A Dr. Seuss hat from The Cat in the Hat  (strawberries and bananas)

Goldfish to represent the Fish in the Pot from One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

(Bottom Row)

 Green eggs and Ham from the book with the same title! (the egg is a cinnamon sugar crispy tortilla with a grape and the ham is...well...ham

A Dr. Seuss Hat tortilla representing The Cat in the Hat Comes Back

If you want inspiration for more Muffin Tin Lunches go to Muffin Tin Mom!