Fun Food Ideas: Sailboat

This was my last day of school breakfast for the kids...celebrating them "sailing through" yet another year!

Fun Food Ideas: DIY Animal Pop Tarts

Last week, I intended to make a chicken pot pie so I took out a pre-made pie crust from my freezer. It was so warm last week that we ended up grilling the chicken instead, leaving me with a pie crust...




Then I came across some Wilton animal cookie cutters and I thought of the pie crust and decided I could make something fun for the kids for the last week of school. My kids have NO idea what a Pop Tart actually is, but I found a few posts from people who had made them and used some ingredients that were healthier that the boxed version.

So, here we are!!!

The filling

 (Note: Although easy, this part takes some time!! I failed to realize this when I started this food adventure at 9:45pm!!!!)

Growing up, my Mom always made her own strawberry jam and I remember how much sugar she added (which as a kid is awesome....as a parent, not so much!). This recipe only uses honey and I have to tell you (don't tell my Mom!) that I prefer it to my Mom's sugar heavy recipe!

Ingredients:
3 Cups frozen berries
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

• Put all ingredients into a pot
• Simmer on medium heat until it starts to bubble
• Reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes (stir it often)
• The jam is done when it is smooth (although I like to have a few chunks of berries left!)

The Pop Tart

Since I used pre-made crust, I didn't have to roll out the dough until I used the scraps. Just like Noah's Ark, cut the animal shapes out two by two!!








Put a small amount of the berry filling onto the first cut out, spread it around and then place the matching animal cut out on top. With a fork, seal the edges.

I finished off the Pop Tart with an egg wash (one egg and some water whisked together and then painted each animal for a brown finish).

Set the oven to 350, bake the pop tarts on a baking sheet (use parchment paper). Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve them warm or you can heat them in the microwave or toaster oven before serving!!

Since I did the egg wash, I didn't top them with an icing glaze - you can do this if you wish by mixing 1 cup powdered sugar and milk (add milk 1 teaspoon at a time until you get the desired consistency).

Fun Food Ideas: Dump Truck Waffle

Here is a fun one I made for my twin boys (we read Good Night Construction Site at bedtime which inspired me to make this fun breakfast for them!)

What you need: 

2 Frozen Belgian Waffles
2 Frozen Mini Waffles
Blueberries
Whip Cream (or yogurt)

Directions: 

Cut one row off of one of the square waffles to use as the truck bed. Cut the other square waffle at a diagonal to make the truck cab. I used a tip of a strawberry for a headlight, but you can use a blueberry!

I had this great place-mat for the boys which made for the perfect plate and construction background!! This waffle design was big enough for both my boys to share!!  I just had them dip the waffles into a little dish of syrup instead of pouring it right on top. 

Fun Food Ideas: Pig Waffles

This week's waffle creation was inspired by some really cute pig cupcakes that my sister-in-law made. When I saw them, I thought that pigs would make a really great waffle idea too!!

My boys are going on a field trip to the zoo with their class, so I thought an animal themed waffle breakfast was in order, so here is my pig waffle!!!

I really love that the kids like the yogurt on the waffle with the fresh fruit instead of sugary syrup - it is a win-win! 

What you need:

1 regular waffle
1 mini waffle
2 blueberries
1 strawberry
2 chocolate chips or Mini M&M's
strawberry yogurt

Pinterest Review: Lego Cookies

We went to an outdoor movie night this past weekend to see The Lego Movie so I thought I would try out a version of the Lego cookies I've seen all over Pinterest with the goal of making the cookies in the simplest way possible.


Step One:  Ingredients - very simple!

 Step Two: Sort the M&Ms and color the frosting

 Step Three: Roll out the dough on wax paper with a rolling pin and some flour. Then I used a pizza cutter to cut out the different sized lego cookies.

Step Four: Place the lego cookies on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes because they are so small. Let them cool on a cookie rack for about 10 minutes.

Step Five: It's all fun and games until you have to frost them!!! These are tiny cookies and tiny M&M's...it took over an hour to frost and place the M&M's on the cookies. (Make sure you place the M&M pieces with the "M" face down - just an aesthetic thing!).

Step 6: Once frosted, I put the cookies into two Lego bin lids - I thought it was a cute way to present them!

My overall review of Lego Cookies: 

These are really cute and the perfect size for kids because they are small cookies. It was just the frosting process that was the real time consumer (although if you made your dough and your own frosting then you are definitely making a real project for yourself!!!).  My kids like helping me sort the M&M's and they were really excited to bring these to the movie!

Summer Salad on the Go!

This is my new road trip lunch solution!! I am officially in love with these Arnold Whole Wheat Pita Pocket Thins - they are 100 calories per half and I've started putting salads in them for healthier eating options on the go!

I made this one this weekend and it was a such a better option than drive thru or a standard sandwich!

Chicken Mango Salad Pita: 

• 1 cup spinach greens
• 1/2 cup chopped chicken breast
• 1/4 cup mango 
• Golden Raisins
• Fresh chopped cilantro
• Lite Balsamic Vinaigrette** 

Toss all the salad ingredients together in a bowl and then put in the pita pocket!

 **If you are packing this as a meal for later in the day, I would put the vinaigrette in a small separate Tupperware container and add it right before you are ready to eat. Otherwise, your pita might get soggy!

Other Summer Salads to try in a pita pocket:

• Chicken Poppy Salad - Chicken, Strawberries, Blueberries, Greens, Poppy seed Dressing 
• Greek Salad - olives, feta, greens, chicken and a greek dressing
• Cobb Salad - greens, chopped egg, turkey bacon, tomato with Ranch 
• Southwest Salad - chicken, greens, black beans, corn, onions, tomato and salsa ranch dressing
• Steak & Blue Salad - sliced Steak, blue cheese, walnuts, greens with a Balsamic
• Caprese Salad - fresh mozzerella, tomato slices, basil leaves and Balsamic

Fun Food Ideas: Cowboy Pasta Salad

If you read my "Mom Fail" post...this is the pasta salad that I was supposed to bring to a Western Themed luncheon!! It still looked cute and tasted great, even though it never made it to the intended destination!!

Cowboy Pasta Salad

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups uncooked wagon wheel pasta
• 1 can corn (drained)
• 1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
• 1/2 cup Kraft Ranch BBQ dipping sauce
• Monteray Cheese 
• 1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro
• 1/4 Red Onions chopped
• Optional: 1 cup chicken

Directions:

1) Cook the wagon wheel pasta al dente (otherwise it's squishy and falls apart)

2) Drain the pasta and rinse in cold water

3) Toss pasta with corn, black beans, tomatoes, onions and chicken 

4) Stir in BBQ Ranch sauce 

5) Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving

6) Before serving, add cilantro and use a cookie cutter to make some fun cheese stars to put on top 

Fun Food Ideas: Owl Waffles

WHOOOOO wouldn't love this for breakfast?! 

Here is another easy and fun way to start someone's days with frozen waffles and a little creativity!

What you need: 

• 2 Round regular waffles
• 2 Mini Waffles
• Plain Yogurt (or vanilla)
• 2 blueberries
• 1 Strawberry

Directions: 
1) Toast the waffles


2) Take one of the regular round waffles and cut out "wings" from each side.

 

3) Take the middle section from that first waffle and cut in half








4) Place the other round waffle on a plate and put your wings and head/ear in place.










5) Put the mini waffles on the top of the regular round waffle and at the base of the head/ears.









6) Put a teaspoon of the yogurt onto each mini waffle and spread evenly. Add the blueberries for the eyes and the tip of the strawberry for the nose.



7) Serve and enjoy!!

Surviving a Mom Fail

There are two months out of the year that I completely lose my mind - December and May. This May was exceptionally hectic - my daughter's birthday (which for some reason included 3 separate parties), planning and running a Brownie meeting, hauling the kids to their spring sporting events, school projects, field trips, work deadlines...our calendar overflows with everything we have going on. But through all the chaos, I usually get it all done - it might be last minute, it may not be pretty, but it gets done.

Please note that I used the term usually.

One of the many events this month was a Staff Appreciation luncheon at my daughter's elementary school. I sign up every year to bring in a dish because as a working Mom, I can't always volunteer for the classroom events and field trips. But, make something?! Oh yes - I am on that!!!

This year's luncheon was a "Western" theme - the coordinator of the event is no joke and takes it to the highest level. Seriously - there was an actual wagon wheel, stuffed horse, homemade banner crafted from a bandana and fence as part of the decor! It is a Pinterest pinner's dream!! So, she sets a pretty high bar.

I signed up for a Pasta Salad...but, of course, in my mind it couldn't be JUST a plain old pasta salad when there is a theme involved!!! I spent time searching different recipes, brainstorming creative takes on it, etc. I finally had my concept, was all prepared to make the salad on Thursday night and thought I had a fun spin on how to make a pasta salad fit in with the Western theme. I had visions of teachers scooping the salad on their plates asking aloud "What fabulous Mom made this salad??".

As I am jotting down a grocery list in my office Thursday morning, I get a text from another volunteer mom asking if I was going to be bringing in my salad for the luncheon...the luncheon that was Thursday, not Friday.

Oh. My. Gosh.

Panic. Stress. Embarrassment. Near tears. Mom Fail. The visions of teachers singing my praises were quickly replaced with new HORRIFYING visions of mothers and teachers staring at an empty section of the table asking what irresponsible and lazy Mom signed up to bring something and never showed!!!! With my office being 30 minutes from the school, I didn't even have time to run to the store and buy a generic pasta salad and put in a dish that looked like I made it (remember Sara Jessica Parker doing this for her daughter's bake sale in "I Don't Know How She Does it?)- I was literally going to be a no show.

So, I called a co-worker who I had been updating on my latest creative culinary contribution (who thinks that I am a little over the top with most of my activities) and I told her what happened, hoping for a empathetic ear.

Empathy? Far from it it - she laughed. She laughed so hard she couldn't breathe.

Then all the sudden, I started laughing...I couldn't help it. The irony of the situation - all my planning, all my pride in how I balance it all and never miss a beat. Well, I missed it and I missed it big time.

But you know what?? Insert Oprah "Ah-ha Moment"...I lived. As far as I know, I haven't been blacklisted from the volunteer list at the school.  I emailed the coordinator after I got off the phone with my co-worker and she wrote back that they had more than enough food and that she knew it wasn't like me to forget (so they weren't all staring at the empty space on the table cursing my name afterall!!). Everyone was going to be okay - including the over scheduled, can't say no, hates the thought of disappointing anyone, voted "Most Responsible" Mom/Wife/Co-Worker.

Failure is not fatal - Winston Churchill

I don't like to fail - it is a terrible feeling (yes, I am a people pleaser). But it is true that you learn your biggest lessons when you fail and I learned that life rolls on even when I screw up. Forgetting the pasta salad doesn't mean that I love my kids any less or that I am terrible Mom. To survive a Mom Fail (and I am sure this will not be my last) means that I forgive myself and can even laugh about it a little. I am human and I do my best everyday...some days are just better than others!!

For the record, I did end up making my Cowboy Pasta Salad at a later date for my family (as if I would let my planning go to waste!!) and it was very yummy!!

Perfect Summer Salad

What do you do with left over corn on the cob??? Put it in a salad!! 

Summer Salad (single serving)

 

Ingredients:

1 Corn on the cob

6-8 Cherry tomatoes - halved

1 Grilled chicken breast

1/2 Avocado
1/4 Cup fresh cilantro
Newman's Lite Lime Vinaigrette

Directions: 
Cut the corn off the cob, add remaining ingredients, top with Lime Vinaigrette to taste.

This was an easy salad that I threw together for dinner, but would definitely make again in a bigger batch for a group, maybe adding quinoa or spinach greens!