St Patrick's Day Fun

Love this fun Green Day!

It started this morning with the kids running around to see what our naughty little Leprechaun did to the house.  For some reason he likes to snag a shoe from each child in the house and fill it with some treats or gifts. This year they got golden rolos and skittles, plus a fun new pair of glasses. Sammie & Anthony got the cool aviators while Jared's has an orange mustache attached to his green glasses and Morgan got the 80s Shamrock shades.

A few little tricks that silly little guy worked on while we were all soundly sleeping...

• He colored the toilet water green and unrolled the toilet paper a bit. 
• He arranged the kid's alphabet magnets into the word lucky and then sprinkled some rolos around there too.
• The kitchen chairs were left in complete disarray...turned over and on top of each other.
• Some of the family pictures had funny faces and mustache's drawn onto the photo.
• Finally the milk was turned green. 

Silly little mischievous leprechaun. 

After the tricks were found it was time to eat some breakfast. We went simple this year.... LUCKY CHARMS... cuz "They're magically delicious!" Served along with the leprechaun tinted green milk.

Plus to add some fruits and veggies into their breakfast we had some Turtle Juice Smoothies. 

{{Turtle Juice Smoothie}}

(Printer Friendly Version... click here)

2 frozen bananas

1 big handful of fresh spinach

1 yogurt (flavor of your choice)

2 cups fresh or frozen fruit (strawberries, blueberries, one apple, can of pineapple, one orange, raspberries, etc.)

2 cups juice, any kind

1 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

Blend all ingredients in a blender.

Will be different every time depending on the fruit chosen.

Pina Colada = pineapple juice, pineapple, banana, spinach and pina colada yogurt.

Blueberry Monster = blueberries, banana, spinach, vanilla yogurt, any juice.
This recipe was originally created by my friend Gina Smith and we use it all the time. We vary the fruit and juice to alter the flavor a little, but there is always a BIG ole handful of spinach added to the blender. When I first started making this the kids had no idea they were eating so much spinach, then they saw me doing it and at first they wanted to be abhorred... until I mentioned to them that they'd been eating it for quite some time. They paused... and realized it was true and they don't even complain anymore... they even pull out the spinach leaves when we go to make our green smoothies.

While the kids were happily munching on their cereal and smoothies... I was getting their green lunches ready. I made them a PB&J Shamrock sandwich, a green squeezie applesauce, a green Sprite, a green Fruit by the Foot, a green apple, green Sour Cream & Onion chips (the bag was green at least), and for dessert some Thin Mint cookies. They were super excited about the lunch since they got things that they don't normally get to have. FUN! That's what the holidays are all about. I also went here and printed out a lunch box tag to put in their lunch too.

After lunches were packed, and teeth were brushed... we stopped to take some pictures of their green-ness before they left. Sammie had a green strip of hair that we clipped into her hair and a green scarf. Jared brushed his hair up into a faux-hauk and then I sprayed it with temporary green hair color that we picked up on clearance after Halloween.

Then they were off to school!

When school was over and they busted through the door... they were welcomed by this lovely little rainbow snack. I've seen a bunch of variations and basically just pulled together what I thought my kids would enjoy the most.

Red= Strawberries (or could use raspberries, watermelon, cherries)
Orange= Mandarin Orange slices (or fresh clementines/orange slices, cantaloupe, )
Yellow= Pineapple Chunks (almost did bananas but the pineapple was more yellow)
Green= Green Apples (or kiwi, green grapes, honeydew,)
Blue= Blueberries
Purple= Purple Grapes

I gathered up the rolos that had been scattered everywhere by the leprechaun and used those to create my gold at the end of the rainbow. The puffy white cloud at the other end of the rainbow is a creamy fruit dip that growing up we affectionately called Angel Dip. It is a very popular dip and SUPER easy to make. Only 2 ingredients needed. ***If you've never made this before... you really need to. You don't know it, but something has been missing from your life... and it is this dip. You can mix things into the dip to turn it into different fun flavors, etc, but in its original form, it's a CLASSIC!

{{Angel Dip}}

(Printer friendly version... click here)

1 8-oz pkg. cream cheese, softened (nonfat works great)

1 7-oz jar marshmallow crème

Using an electric mixer or food processor, blend ingredients until mixed thoroughly. Refrigerate. Serve with fresh fruit, such as strawberries, cantaloupe, grapes, watermelon, etc.

For dinner we always have a corned beef roast & vegetables. I pick up the corned beef at the grocery store or Cost-co and the directions for cooking them are right on the package. It has a yummy flavor that is different than a typical steak. This year I threw everything into my crock pot.

1. First there is a layer of cut up celery, carrots, onions (and you can add potatoes, but I didn't this year).
2. Then I put wedges of cabbage on top of the veggies. (Best to keep the cabbage out and add it in half way through cooking though so it doesn't get too soft.)
3. Next comes the roast and I sprinkled a few of the celery, onions, & carrots on top of the roast.
4. The corned beef comes with a little package of pickling spices that you will want to save and then sprinkle over the top of the roast and veggies.
5. I made 2 cups of beef broth and poured that into the bottom of the crock pot.
6. Cooked everything on high for 4 hours and then when we pulled everything out it was perfect. We sliced up the meat against the grain, added some of the veggies to the plate with a pile of rice (you can spoon the broth over the rice if you want, or thicken it up for a gravy).

You can't go wrong with a slow cooker meal, especially one that is easy and turns out great. Click here for the full recipe.

Along with dinner we had some green leprechaun juice. My 11 year old daughter Sammie adorned our glasses with a cute little dry erase marker mustache. She loves to set the table for holidays... she pulls out tablecloths and place mats and tries to make things match and look cute. (So proud of my little Sammie!)

For this juice, I just kinda improvised with what I had.

{{Leprechaun Juice}}

1 frozen can of limeade concentrate

1 frozen can of lemonade concentrate 

2 liter of Sprite

Green food coloring

Mix it all together and serve. 

Finally it was time for dessert... It's so hard to pick just one... So I picked two. (Even that was difficult... there are so many fun things to make for each holiday.) Here's what I made... one thing new and the other was tried and true... an oldie but goodie!

The first treat I tried today was the Lucky Charm treats. Basically a rice crispie treat but instead of using rice crispies, I used the lucky charms cereal. I thought they might taste extra sweet since the cereal has a coating of sugar on it, but it tasted like cheerios covered in marshmallows. Fun! My baby couldn't wait to get his little hands on them!

Finally... the oldie but goodie. Mint Brownies. And since there is a certain someone in my house that doesn't like mint in, there was a third of the brownies that didn't include the mint frosting... just the chocolate... And those kind are good too! If you want the recipe for these brownies... click here.

Oh yeah... one more thing. I thought I had mint extract in my pantry and while I was making the frosting I couldn't find any minty extracts anywhere. They were all gone! I was committed to these brownies... the kids were depending on them... I'd already told them that they'd be having them. So in order to prevent a coup I did something I have never done before. I had a small vial of doTERRA Peppermint Essential Oil and I added in 3 drops of the oil to the frosting so they would be mint and it worked! I had heard that people cooked with the oils and so I tried it. I didn't want to run to the store for the extract. I should have started with 2 cause it seemed a little bit strong to me, but the kids didn't complain or even notice a difference. They were asking for more.

Another St. Patrick's day... done and over with. It was a busy but a fun day.  Now we get to start planning Easter! 

Healthy-ish Halloween After School Snacks!

In our house.... We love Halloween! And it is even more fun when you can make fun food to help celebrate. 

These "Apple Smiles" or "Monster Mouths" have been a tradition for our family since I was a kid.  They bring back so many memories and my kids love them as much as I did when I was their age. Delish! That little bit of marshmallow sweetness paired up with an already great duo- apples & peanut butter. Slice up your apples, slather on some peanut butter, line up your mini marshmallow teeth and slap the top lip on top of the teeth and then take a great big bite in. They are yummy!

These next two were new additions this year.... but both of them are definitely keepers! First we have some Witch's Brooms! I took a String Cheese stick and cut it up into thirds. I started to pull apart one end of the cheese stick to make it look like the bristles of a broom. Use a small sharp knife to help separate the ends. Then take a pretzel stick and push it in the other end of the cheese that isn't separated. Sometimes the cheese would split a bit at the top so it helped to take a small piece of chive and tie it in a knot (plus it makes them look more realistic!). Done! You can make a bunch of these in only a few more minutes.

Here's the second keeper! Used Band-Aids! Ahhhhhh! Don't you love them!? I LOOOOOVE them! And they're soooooo very simple. These obviously aren't as healthy as some of previous ones, but who cares when they are this cute. Break apart the graham crackers into four pieces and lay them out on your serving dish. Use some white frosting and spread it onto the middle third section of the cracker. (I used a small ziploc bag, put the frosting in, and cut the snip off the end of the bag so you can start squeezing the frosting out onto the cracker). The add some blood by adding some red frosting. You can dye some of the white frosting red or just buy a pre-made red gel frosting and put that on. (Plus the gel would look a bit more realistic.)

Ta dah! Kids ate these after school and they were so happy! A great and easy after school snack. 

Chewy Granola Bars

These chewy granola bars are very much like a no bake cookie, at least in the process of making them. You heat up some sugar, honey and butter on the stove in a saucepan, add the granola and whatever additions you'd like and it's done. They only take about 30 minutes... and that's factoring in the 15 minutes of cooling time. These are soft and chewy just like a Quaker Chewy Granola Bars. {Adapted this recipe which I found on this website.}

Cooking Tip: Freeze your chocolate chips or peanut butter chips so that when they are added to the hot granola mixture they won't melt, they will soften but still hold their shape. Plus storing your chocolate chips in the fridge or freezer helps them to stay fresh much longer. Press your desired toppings into the top of the granola bar after you have pressed them into the pan.

Make sure to line your pan with foil and lightly spray the foil so that the bars come out easily from the pan and then you can cut them into even shaped bars.
Cut the bars into one inch bars and prepare for them to disappear.
You can also cut them in half and make smaller granola bars.

{{Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars}}

(printer friendly version)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 cups plain granola (such as Back to Nature)
1 cup rice cereal (Rice Krispies, Rice Chex, etc.)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, FROZEN

***(substitute these chocolate chips for ingredients listed below depending on the type of bar you want)

Variations:
{Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chip}
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, frozen
1/4 cup peanut butter chips, frozen

{S’mores}
2 tablespoons graham cracker crumbs (optional)
1 cup mini marshmallows
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, frozen

{Oatmeal Raisin}
1 teaspoon cinnamon (add with the brown sugar)
1/2 cup raisins

Line two 9x5 loaf pans or one 11x7 inch baking pan with foil or parchment. Lightly butter or spray the foil. Set aside.

Combine butter, brown sugar, and honey in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. **Don't overcook at this stage, it will cause them to be very hard when they set up.** Remove the saucepan from the heat.

Add the granola and rice cereal into the saucepan and fold them into the sauce until evenly coated.

Spread the mixture into the prepared pans and press firmly with a spatula to evenly fill. Sprinkle the frozen chocolate chips onto the top of the granola bars and gently press them down with the spatula.

Let sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes or until mostly cooled and set. Can also speed this process up by sticking them in the refrigerator. Picking up the foil by the edges, lift the granola out of the pan and cut into bars. Store in an air tight container.

Here is a S'more version... using large milk chocolate chips and mini marshmallows (the kids gobbled these up!)

Here are some more chocolate chip granola bars using mini-chocolate chips... Possibilities are endless.... just play around with different toppings.