Cooking with Kids

Having Fun with Breakfast Pancakes

2012

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

2012

What do you get when you add these 2 together?

One yummy treat!

My son’s kindergarten class made these their last week of school and he loved them! When I mentioned that we may have them for a treat for family night, he declared he would be in charge of making them. They turned out to be a huge hit. They were super simple to make and easy enough for a 6 year old to do it all by himself…with a little mess!

What You Need:

Cookies
Ice cream
Willing hands to help put them together
Ice cream scooper or spoon

Directions:

Step 1: Make your favorite cookies ahead of time. We used chocolate chip cookies, but next time I think we will go for a double chocolate chip cookie recipe or something fun. Also, do not worry about baking huge cookies. The ones we made were probably around 3 inches wide and a little too big. They were very filling!

Step 2: Layout two cookies and add a scoop of ice cream on top of one cookie.

Step 3: Gently press the 2nd cookie on top of the ice cream.

Step 4: Eat and Enjoy!

See I told you…super simple to make. Now go stuff your tummy with some cool ice cream cookie yumminess. It’s summer and we all need a cool treat every now and then!

Filed Under: Adults, All Ages, Cooking with Kids, Preschool, Recipes, Summer Project Tagged With: Recipes

At Home Summer Camp

2012

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The past few summers I always feel a bit antsy when the summer time rolls around. Not having access to a car during the day probably made things a little worse and I just wanted to have a little fun. I am sure my kiddos would love some fun, too! As I thought about options available, I started to feel a bit limited on what we could do. In addition to our transportation and budget issues, I still had two young, napping, very slow walking, non-school aged children. Most classes in the area were for older children, out of my price range or if we walked, it would be a very long walk in the middle of the day…yada, yada, yada…you can see my excuse list piling up! lol Then it dawned on me to have our own Summer Camp. For some reason calling it Summer Camp made my 3 year old (at the time) even more excited to particpate.

Mini-Summer Camp Routine:

So to start, I decided we would only do Summer Camp three mornings a week. For us, Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. That allowed us to join in on a local play group, play with friends, or if we had the car, to go to the library the other two mornings. Then I picked a few categories I wanted to work on each of those mornings each week. Art, Baking and Adventure/Science (Adventure and Science rotated every other week). Usually once a week we would invite a friend or two over to join in on an activity. Pretty simple, right?

Do not think that you have to do 3 new amazing things each week. It was more of the anticipated project.

For instance, we did not always do some new recipe each week for our Baking Day. Sometimes it was brownies and we attempted to make them from scratch… or from a box on a rough day . BUT, it was their project. Since they could not read, I was there to read the instructions and ask them what they needed. They got out the bowls, ingredients and needed instruments. I had them do any stirring by hand as much as possible. We tasted, smelled, touched everything we added. And they helped clean up everything, too. Can’t forget about that! They absolutely loved it!

We have built some great memories over the past few summers. In fact, a lot of the activities we show off on here on Fun On a Dime stem from those fun Summer Camp weeks. Here are a few we have posted past summers:

Art Ideas

Homemade Piggy Banks
Creating Painted Fireworks
Homemade Pinata – Always fun for a summer party
Circle Art – My kids still beg to do this one again!
Homemade Watercolor Paint
Magic Wands
Sand Art with Homemade Colored Sand

Baking Ideas

Watermelon Jello Bowl
Root Beer Float Pudding Popsicles – There is a recipe for Fruit Pudding Pops in the same post, too
Easy Ice Cream Cake – Made from ice cream Sandwiches
Yummy and Easy Banana Bread
Root Beer Float Cake – Can you tell we love Root Beer? This recipe rocks!
Easy Homemade Ice Cream In A Bag
Mint Brownies - Yum!

Adventures/Science Ideas

Take a Hike – We planned these for Dad’s day off
Make a Chia Pet Head at Home
Ice Breaker Experiment
Pick-Up Sticks – Active games are an adventure, too!
Movie Night Adventure s – They love to help plan these
Make a Kite – Easy and homemade – let them run around for hours in the backyard!

Now that my oldest is in school, we were invited to participate in a Summer Camp at his school for $250 for 2 weeks. As fun as that sounded, we passed that opportunity up fast! We like our simple summer fun!

Your Summers are what you make of them. So, have some fun!!!

Linking up to these sites: Tatertots and Jello

Filed Under: Adventures, All Ages, Cooking with Kids, Food Projects, Indoor fun, Kid Friendly Recipes, Older Children, Other Crafts, Outdoor Fun, Paper Crafts

Yummy Saltwater Taffy Recipe

2011

11 Comments

Growing up we always made a plate of goodies for our friends and neighbors. If you are looking for a more personal gift or a fun recipe to try with your kids, this is it! It was a lot of fun to make and I loved learning the science behind it. Last year my mom and I tried out this amazing Saltwater Taffy Recipe, thinking we would add these to her plates. The taffy was a hit and everyone loved it. Although, I would like to warn you that it is a lot of work, so just consider that if you want to hand out a lot of it. But, it is definitely a fun memory maker!

What You Need:

Large Saucepan (3- to 4-quart)
Wooden Spoon
Candy Thermometer
Waxed Paper or Plastic Wrap
Marble/Granite Slab or Cookie Sheet
Greased Scissors or Butter Knife (Keep lots of Crisco like grease handy)

Recipe

2 Cups Sugar
2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1 Cup Light Corn Syrup
2 Teaspoons Glycerin (optional) – (We didn’t use this)
3/4 Cup Water
2 tablespoons butter
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/4 to 1 Teaspoon Flavoring (such as vanilla, lemon, maple, or mint)
3 Drops Food Coloring (optional) (We used peppermint. Yum!)
1/8 Teaspoon Baking Soda

Directions:

This is a rough summary. I would love to write out the directions here, but The Accidental Scientist ~ The Science of Cooking has awesome directions that explains the science behind this Saltwater Taffy Recipe. You will find out cool things like why you want to use cornstarch or corn syrup. And make sure you look at the “What else can I try?” section near the bottom to find out some other cool tips, like what adding baking soda to the the recipe will do. (p.s. I love adding baking soda!)

Step 1: After following instructions on the Recipe and heating/mixing the ingredients together. You need to pour it out on to a very greased slab of granite or a cookie sheet. Use the wooden spoon to stir it until it is cool enough to touch and you can pull it by hand (make sure you grease your hands well before touching). (The first time I did this, we did not start mixing it right away and it hardened way to much for us to mix by hand.)

Step 2: We did not use any food coloring, so this is what it looked like after we pulled it to our desired texture/taffiness. (We like it soft!)

Step 3: Roll taffy into a 1/2 inch rope and cut into 1/2 – 1 inch long pieces with greased scissors. If you are working with two flavors/colors, you can twist them together to get a cool swirl look.

I love the variety of sizes!

Step 4: Wrap all the pieces in wax paper or plastic wrap and twist the ends tight.

Step 5: Share and enjoy! I think these were so yummy and very addicting!

I am linking up to these: Monday – Making the World Cuter, Sew Can Do, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, C.R.A.F.T. Keeping it Simple, Skip to my Lou,Ginger Snap Creations, Loving Life Tuesday – Topsy Turvy Tuesdays, Sugar Bee Craft Edition, Today’s Creative Blog, Naptime Creations Wednesday – Night Owl Crafting, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Blue Cricket Design, Creations by Kara, Sew Much Ado, Beyond the Picket Fence, the Thrifty Home, 733 a Creative Blog, Someday Crafts, Sew Woodsy Thursday – Somewhat Simple, Someday Crafts, Katie’s Nesting Spot,HOH, Seven Thirty Three Friday – Fingerprints On The Fridge, It’s Fun to Craft, It’s a Hodgepodge Life, A Few of My Favorite Things, Tatertots and Jello, TidyMom, Creation Corner Saturday/Sunday The Girl Creative, I Heart Naptime

Filed Under: All Ages, Cooking with Kids, Creative Gifts, Recipes, Traditons Tagged With: Recipes

How To Make Homemade Butter

2011

3 Comments

This is a perfect “project” or job, if you prefer, for your kiddos to do on Thanksgiving Day…or heck, anytime that you need butter and want to keep them busy! It’s great for all ages and fascinating to watch. Plus, there is the added satisfaction of eating something YOU created.

What You Need:

Heavy Whipping Cream – Less than a cup if you want a small amount of butter
Container with a lid – Glass jars or plastic containers with a good lid work well. Again, if you are wanting a small amount, aim for the baby food jars or the small plastic snack containers.
Measuring cup
1-3 marbles – Optional…they make the process go faster, but if you want them to work harder, don’t use them!

Directions:

Step 1: Prepare your small container. Make sure it is clean and will handle liquid being tossed around in it. You DO NOT want to find out that it is not a good container when it is in the middle of a crazy shake fest and the heavy cream starts to fly out. No bueno! I have been saving a small glass baby food jar just for this and not I can not find it, so a small snack container will have to do.

Step 2: Measure Heavy Whipping Cream and pour into bowl. We used a half cup for this container and that should work for baby food jars, too.

Step 3: Optional: Add 1 -3 clean marbles. This will help speed up the process. I used 1 when my daughter was doing it by herself to help her out.

Step 4: Secure lid and shake for 10-15 minutes. Have the kiddos show you their shake dance! lol And make sure to take a peek at the butter creating process once or twice. We had to let some air out every now and then with the plastic container.

She’s in mid Shake Dance…hard to get a clear picture! lol

Step 5: Once it is done, the butter should be a thickness that you like. There will be some fluid in it and you can pour this out.

Step 6: Shake it up a little more to smooth it out.

Step 7: Make some of your favorite rolls and spread it on top…or however else you want to use it! Store the butter in your fridge until it is needed. I love this soft butter!

ENJOY!!!

I am linking up to these: Monday – Making the World Cuter, Sew Can Do, Sumo’s Sweet Stuff, C.R.A.F.T. Keeping it Simple, Skip to my Lou,Ginger Snap Creations, Loving Life Tuesday – Topsy Turvy Tuesdays, Sugar Bee Craft Edition, All Things Related, Today’s Creative Blog, Naptime Creations Wednesday – Night Owl Crafting, Fireflies & Jellybeans, Blue Cricket Design, Creations by Kara, Sew Much Ado, Beyond the Picket Fence, the Thrifty Home, 733 a Creative Blog, Someday Crafts, Sew Woodsy Thursday – Somewhat Simple, Someday Crafts, Katie’s Nesting Spot,HOH, Seven Thirty Three Friday – Fingerprints On The Fridge, It’s Fun to Craft, It’s a Hodgepodge Life, A Few of My Favorite Things, Tatertots and Jello, TidyMom, Creation Corner Sunday The Girl Creative

Filed Under: All Ages, Cooking with Kids, Preschool, Recipes Tagged With: Recipes

Halloween Broom Stick Cookies

2011

3 Comments

The past few weeks my kids have been begging for some Halloween cookies. Here is a fun alternative to the many different types of sugar and frosting cookies I have seen around lately. These don’t exactly look like brooms, but they are our variation. What matters is that we had a blast making them and even had some family over to help out. The more the merrier! What kind of goodies do you like to make for Halloween?

What You Need:

Large pretzel sticks
Chocolate for melting (we used chocolate chips)
Fork
Cookie sheet
Cookie Dough ***

***Check out our Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Recipe at the end of this post.

Directions:

Step 1: Make your favorite sugar or peanut butter cookie recipe. The kiddos chose Peanut Butter Cookies (recipe at the bottom of this post).

Step 2: Roll the dough into small balls. Size is your choice, but around 1 inch was good for us!

Step 3: Break the pretzel stick in half and place on a cookie sheet. Place your cookie dough ball on top of the broken end of the pretzel. Use a fork to press down on the cookie dough and make your brush lines. Don’t worry about going too deep (just not all the way through) because when the cookie bakes it will poof up a bit and the deeper lines stand out more.

Step 4: Bake in the oven for 350° for 6 minutes or until slightly brown. I think my oven was cooking faster than normal, so it may take 8-10 minutes.

Step 5: Let them cool completely.

Step 6: While the cookies are cooling, prep the melted chocolate. Add chocolate to a bowl and melt in the microwave or in a small pot on the stove top (make sure to stir often). If you are using chocolate melting squares, you may need to add a little oil to smooth it out. I used chocolate chips and discovered that they were perfect without an oil. When I used oil with the chocolate chips, it made it so the chocolate had a hard time hardening. It was still yummy, just a bit messier!

Step 7: Once cookies are cooled. Decorate with chocolate and anything else you would like. We decided it was easier to just dip them, but you can use a spoon to drip the chocolate over each cookie.

The kids went to town with the sprinkles. The idea was to cover the ends with the green and orange sprinkles to give it a fire-ish look, but the sugar sprinkles got absorbed and became invisible when first dipped unless you added a ton of them. I forgot about that con of sugar sprinkles!

Step 8: Enjoy! The kids loved these and talked about them all last week.

Although, I will admit…they do look more like candied apple cookies than Witches’ Brooms! lol

We made these Spider Cookies, a Halloween tradition, a couple of weeks ago with the intention of sharing them with the neighbors…they never made it out of the house. Yummy! Check them out if you are looking for some other fun Halloween baking treats!