Damsels in distress

Looking for something fun to try this summer?  Look no further!  Our Super Hero fun day was a huge hit, and can be in your home as well.  Here's one of the activities we used that was easy to assemble and lots of fun:



Freeze plastic toys in bowls of ice.  We used Polly Pockets so they could be completely covered in the ice, and rescued later by our Heroes. 

Fill several squirt guns with water, and let your kids race to break these little ladies out of their icy shell.  This would be a great birthday party activity, especially if you place their refill station in a different part of the yard.  Wears them out, and cools them off at the same time!

 Making progress! 

Save me!

This activity went great with our Super Hero lunch, and made for a really fun afternoon!

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A lunch of SUPER proportions

I wanted to tackle a party that was easy to assemble, and required no extra supplies.  This Super Hero party achieved this, and with the exception of the candy, managed to do it without any food coloring!  Colorful plates and bowls and small signs printed on Word, with a fun font and creative wording, tied my foods into the theme.  What a great party idea for boys ages 4-12!  There were SO many heroes to choose from!

My first time experimenting with Knox gelatin and fruit juice, instead of packaged Jell-O, which is LOADED with food dyes.  The kids LOVED the flavor that the Welch's grape juice gave these villainous squares.  No extra steps at ALL in preparation, just hot juice/cold juice in place of the water. 

Our nod to Spider man.  These can be filled with cream cheese spread or peanut butter.

My sons are OBSESSED with chicken wings, so I had to do this play on Batman's wings.  I don't make wings from scratch much, but it was easier than I thought!

Veggies and dip.  Building super powers...for real!

Captain America popcorn.  This is Pop Secret's new magic popcorn.  The blue color is soy based, so I didn't feel too bad serving it to the kids.  They were mesmerized by the cool color!

Superman's berries.  Summery and delicious, a true super food! 

The kids and I pumped some iron.  Lots of giggling as we pretended these weights were too heavy to lift.  :-)

Evil Kryptonite.  Superman...beware!

We have found the source of The Green Lantern's power...and it tastes good!

Before we ate, the kids had fun rescuing some damsels in distress.  After naps, we'll be decorating some fun masks that were free to print online.  I guess today SuperMom rescued 3 kids from the evil BooHoo Bordom.  Do-do-dahhhhhh!  *insert SuperMom theme song here*  :-)




Meredith

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Holy Granola, batman!

Have you ever seen a prettier breakfast?!?  I have to tell you, before I came up with this recipe, I was a skeptic.  To me, granola was for hippies and older people.  I've always seen it as something boring and uniformly brown, overly crunchy, and gross.  Our journey on the road of dye-free living spurred me on to create a breakfast cereal (and midnight snack) that was filling AND healthy, beautiful AND delicious.  I think this recipe hits a home run!



Not your average Granola
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Mix in a large bowl, and set aside:
4-5 cups oats (not quick cook)
2 cups sliced almonds
2 cups shredded coconut
2 Tablespoons flax seed, whole or ground


In a saucepan on low, stir together:
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

After 2 minutes, pour honey mixture over oats, stir with a spatula, and pour into a 9x13 baking pan.  Bake for 25 minutes, stirring at the 15 and 20 minute intervals.  Do NOT overcook your granola.  There's nothing worse than scalded cereal!  Remove from the oven, give it one last stir and set it aside.  Resist the urge to mess with it for the next hour.

Cinnamon candied seeds and nuts:
In a saucepan, combine:
1/4 cup water
1/2 sugar (I used turbinado)
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt


4 cups of any seeds and nuts. (I used pecans, almonds, peanuts, cashews, sunflower,and pumpkin seeds)

Bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly.  Add nuts and seeds, remove from heat, and stir for one minute to fully coat nuts.  Remove to an oiled pan with a slotted spoon.  Nuts may not look coated, but TRUST me, they are, so don't pour extra sauce over them!  Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.  Remove from pan to a piece of parchment paper, and let cool.  Don't let them cool on your baking sheet, because they will be stuck, and that's NO fun! 

Once both granola and nuts have cooled, toss together with a package of dried fruit.  I used pomegranate craisins, and the flavors go together SO well!  Store in an airtight container to retain freshness.  That is, if you can bare to put a lid on this beautiful snack at all!  :-)








 










Meredith

Make sure you visit my facebook and Pinterest pages for more meal ideas!

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Meredith

Make sure you visit my facebook and Pinterest pages for more meal ideas!

April showers bring May flowers

May.  How in the world can it be May, already???  I'm not sure where the last 4 months have gone, but suddenly, we find ourselves nearly in the middle of the year, and FINALLY at the end of our school year!  We kicked off the month with a tribute to the adage, "April showers bring May flowers".  Now, it doesn't actually rain that much in a Central Florida April, but our flowers have been showered with water, and bloom they have!  We turned our outdoor experiences into a fabulous meal to hail May's arrival.



Simple and easy pudding flowerpots:
-small plastic cups
-1 package of Jello chocolate pudding per 5 children
-3 or 4 graham crackers, crushed
-1 cup coconut, colored with 2 drops of green food coloring
-sugar cookies, any shape
-brightly colored frosting
-popsicle or sucker sticks


This is SUCH a cute hands-on idea for kids.  Even the smallest hands can spoon and sprinkle the "dirt","mulch", and "grass", turning snack or dessert into a colorful flowerpot!

I'm pretty proud of my frosting.  I made this raspberry butter cream with NO food coloring.  Just real berries!  Bright and colorful without any dyes at ALL !  It also tastes amazing, so that's a huge plus.

These flowerpots went so well with our May flowers lunch!  Turkey sunflower sandwiches, tomatoes and cucumber daisies, green grapes in a daisy cup, and pretzel crisps.

We're painting sun catchers, planting mixed flower seeds, and pulling out the glitter, stickers, glue, and anything else we can find to brighten up some card stock flowers that we'll use these to decorate our school room.

Happy May, everyone!

Make sure you visit my facebook and Pinterest pages for more meal ideas! Meredith

Make sure you visit my facebook and Pinterest pages for more meal ideas!

Our playful puppy lunch

So many of our favorite storybook characters are dogs, and they served us well as our inspiration for this puppy lunch.  Biscuit, Clifford, Howie, Wishbone, Mudge....all these fun and furry characters  be wonderful friends to read about along with this "paws on" meal.   

Our "puppy food", which was a batch of microwave party mix.  Anything goes when I make a batch of mix.  Today I included dried edamame, Chex, mixed nuts, and sunflower seeds.  These adorable puppy picks added some fun!

I whipped up a batch of chocolate scones with Nutella and cut them out with the medium doggie bone cookie cutter, and added a little white chocolate paw print.

Our entire plate: hot dogs, "puppy food" party mix, "sticks and bouncy ball" tomatoes and carrot sticks, a dog house made of buttered bread, and our paw and bone dessert.  Now that's something to howl about!

This would be a very easy meal to reproduce on a large scale for either a preschool class or birthday party.  You could play "Doggie, Doggie, where's your bone?", have a relay race, or have children color a puppy mask to go along with this meal.  Or, simply enjoy this pup-tastic lunch with your little ones at home. No matter who you enjoy it with, get reading and HAPPY EATING! :-)

Meredith

Make sure you visit my facebook and Pinterest pages for more meal ideas!