April 16, 2013 by Jenny

It’s that time of year again where we are ready for a good Cleaning House Spring Cleaning – deep clean the house, reorganize the drawers, rotate the closets……everything must be cleaned and organized or donated – this will be our mind-set for the next couple weeks!!

The typical Spring Cleaning House used to be a pretty painless Saturday chore. However, now with 3 Little Chefs running around wanting to help out or making messes faster than I can keep things clean, I had to rethink the way to Cleaning House…..If I can’t beat’em to the cleaning – I want them to join ME! Here are some of our tips we have come up with to help involve our Little Chefs in keeping our home clean and help with the Spring Cleaning!

                   

  • The first thing I learned early on was to start them when they were young. I had to show and teach them, which meant that I had to stop cleaning when my kids where sleeping…..Yes, a very hard thing to do. But, my Little Chefs have known from an early age that they have an expectation to do their part around the house. To manage a home we all need to work together. And I noticed that it really made them feel important that they were contributing in some way, even if it was just doing chores and cleaning the house!
  • I also had to have realistic expectations and be very specific with chores. I found that instead of telling my Little Chefs to clean the toy room (which would always look like a tornado went through), I would ask them to clean a specific item – for example,  all the cars, dolls, or even pick up all the red color toys.  I also learned that I could not expect my Little Chefs to clean perfectly. I would just need to be proud of them for what they did and continue to work together and learn.
  • Make it fun – We love to listen to our favorite music while we clean – so, Blast the Music!!! Often times, we clean to one song, and dance to another!!
  • My Little Chefs also like to see their accomplishments.  So I realized that I needed to make some type of Chore Chart.

We have created some (okay, I went a bit crazy, there are a lot) of chore cards here that we use for our daily chores, and Spring Cleaning House Chores. I just printed them out on card stock, cut out  the ones out I wanted to use and laminated them. I initially stuck magnets on the back and put them on the fridge. But now, I punched a hole in the top of each card and have a chore board with hooks on them –  a “To Do” hook and “Done” hook for each of the Little Chefs. I hang their chore cards each day on their “To Do” side, and they just move the card over to the “Done” side.

Chore Cards 1

Chore Cards 2

Chore Cards 3

Chore Cards 4

 And last but not least, when the house is all sparkly clean………LEAVE!!!! That way no one can mess it up.  Okay, kidding aside, we really leave and take the Little Chefs out for a reward – a fun movie, ice cream, any thing they enjoy to tell them a BIG thank you and good job!

To help with the cooking clean up, don’t forget to enter our Chinet Bakeware giveaway!!!  So now tell us….What things to you do to get your Kiddos involved in helping out around the House??

April 12, 2013 by Jenny

No more flimsy aluminum pans will be used at my house!!  These are amazing – they are disposable baking dishes that lets you take your food from oven to table to freezer to microwave, all in a non-stick pan. So, I don’t need to worry about taking a meal or treat to a potluck or neighbor and worrying about loosing my favorite permanent pan (which seems to have happened quite a few times!).  And these pans look great, and pretty sturdy and they are just awesome!

We made a recipe of Caramel Cinnamon Rolls  to try out these new pans. This recipe was perfect, because it makes 2 pans of Cinnamon Rolls. I wanted to see if there was a difference – using my favorite pan and using the disposable Chinet Bakeware pan.

We always love the convenience of disposable bakeware – because who likes to scrub and clean pans after cooking all day. This Chinet Bakeware set is the best that we have seen! They cooked up my rolls perfectly!!

They are made of 90% recycled material, you can not bake them in an oven more than 400 degrees, and you can not broil them. But, these pans will be perfect for my next back of Caramel Cinnamon Rolls that I make, because I usually freeze half the batch. I would be able to just stick the pan right into the freezer, then when ready to cook – stick them right into the oven!

What we LOVE about these pans –

  • You can go from the oven, to the table, to the freezer, to the microwave. 
  • They are disposable (can’t get better than that!)
  • They are sturdy and non-stick
  • Come in a variety of sizes
  • They look nice enough to send to a neighbor for dinner or to take a pot luck dish to a party!

Goodbye Aluminum flimsy pans and Hello to Chinet Bakeware!! We will always have a few of these pans on hand in our Kitchen from now on!

Would you also like a set on your own disposable Chinet Bakeware pans? Now is your chance – Chinet Bakeware will be sending one of our lucky readers a Bakeware Set! Good Luck!!

**And Good News – – We are extending the Deadline for this Giveaway till Next Tuesday, April 23rd!**

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April 10, 2013 by Jenny

Welcome to Fantastic Thursday!

Mother Nature is playing tricks on us…..because it has been freezing the last few days. The weather WAS so warm and our tulips were blooming – but now, Little Chef K is so sad because they look like they are dying! We even planted some of our vegetable garden last weekend – broccoli, onions, spinach, kale, and cauliflower.  Most of those vegetables like the cooler weather….but not FREEZING weather! The Little Chefs have been so worried about our garden so we did put a “warm blanket” (aka a tarp) over them – so I am sure they will be fine.

We need to announce the Winner of the AquaChef………..

Congrats to Marissa Maestas

We are so excited – We are featured on Time Out for Women!! Head on over and check us out!!!

We will now be featuring TWO of our favorites – a recipe, and a craft or project! Our Favorites from last week’s party  – is the DIY Spring Wreath Tutoriall from Ashley’s Dandelion Wishes! And Easy Slow Cooker Sweet Pork from Butter, with a side of Bread! What a cute wreath, I really need something like this for my front door! And does that pork not look amazing!!!

Congrats and be sure to grab a Featured button!

Remember our party is now more inclusive, not just recipes! Let’s see those fun craft and DIY projects! Easter is just around the corner, and the weather is getting warm – so I can’t wait to see what you all have been up to lately! Come back next week to see who will be featured.

We will post our favorites to our Featured and Favorites Pinterest board.

Let’s get this party started……….Link up and have fun!!!

April 9, 2013 by Jenny

National Space Day is coming up in the beginning of May! My Little Chefs love everything and anything to do with space. So, to celebrate – we wanted to make our own Space Ships!! What a fun space craft. We thought of a clever way to not only recycle some of our old CD’s, but to also use some of the plastic Easter eggs that were still lying around the house!

The Little Chefs LOVE these type of crafts – because there are no rules! They can use and make what ever type of Space Ship they want with the craft supplies provided. It is such a great way to get their creativity juices flowing!! So, they cut, glued, and had so much fun! They used old CD’s and Easter eggs for one type of space ship. And for the other they covered 2 paper bowls with tin foil and glued them together.

     

It is so much fun to see what my Little Chefs come up with. Little Chef K – she just had to have the pink pipe cleaners with the purple egg, of course! Little Chef E wanted to make sure he had an area his aliens could see out of the space ship to drive around. And Little Chef B wanted rocket boosters on the bottom of his ship. I love their creativity!!!!

  

Have a Fun Space Adventure with your new Space Ship Craft!!! If you are looking for other fun ideas, check out our Wocket in our Pocket craft idea, and our Butterfly Melted Crayon Art!

April 9, 2013 by Jenny

In addition to the Space Ship Craft – I thought it would be fun to teach my Little Chefs the different Phases of the Moon.  Each night, especially in the Summer time, they love to find the Moon – to see what “shape” it is.

I have said before, that my Little Chefs and I LOVE Oreos! And while eating them one day, Little Chef E realized that the creme looked like a Moon. So I thought – what a fun way to teach them the different Phases of the Moon…..with Oreos!

MoonPhases

 

 

We created a printable Phases of the Moon for you to use. And all we did is separate our Oreos – tried to get all the creme onto one side, and being careful not to break them. Then with a spoon –  shape the creme to the different Phases of the Moon. The Little Chefs had a great time making their Moon Phases….. and of course then Eating them! I then realized that there were 8 moon phases, which meant I just let my Little Chefs eat 8 Oreo Cookies!!!

    

Just another simple and fun activity to teach them a little bit about the Moon to go along with our Celebrating National Space Day! Hope you enjoy your Oreos and learning about the Moon!!

Ingredients –

  • Printable Phases of the Moon Sheet
  • 8 Oreo Cookies
  • Spoon to shape the creme

 

If you are looking for a recipe to use some of those broken Oreos, try our Oreo White Chocolate Cookies or Mom’s Banana Dessert!!

April 3, 2013 by Jenny

Welcome to Fantastic Thursday!

What a beautiful day it was today….. my Little Chefs are out of school on Spring Break. And we have been having so much fun enjoying every bit of this warm weather.And who thought your could get a sunburn in 60 degree weather? Lesson learned!

Have you checked out our GIVEAWAY that is going on right now? Enter here to win a AquaChef!!!

Our Favorite from last week’s party is the Yarn Pom-Pom Streamer/Garland from Simplistically Sassy! This is such a cute idea for birthday parties…..and the Little Chefs could help make them. What a fun idea! We are for sure going to make some of these for Little Chef K’s next birthday party!

Congrats and be sure to grab a Featured button!

Remember our party is now more inclusive, not just recipes! Let’s see those fun craft and DIY projects! Easter is just around the corner, and the weather is getting warm – so I can’t wait to see what you all have been up to lately! Come back next week to see who will be featured.

We will post our favorites to our Featured and Favorites Pinterest board.

Let’s get this party started……….Link up and have fun!!!

March 27, 2013 by Jenny

Welcome to Fantastic Thursday!

March, March, March….Where did you go? This month was full of fun and birthdays! Speaking of birthdays, I want to give a big birthday shout out to my Little Chef B – Today is his birthday!! Happy Birthday Little Chef!

We want to mix things up a bit….Does anyone want to Co-Host a Linky party?! It would be so much fun! Just contact us and we can set things up!

Oh, I almost forgot – we need to announce the WINNER of the Ubooly iPhone/iPod Pet!

Congrats to……Robyn Bradsby Roberts!!!!

Friday will we have another fun GIVEAWAY, if you love to try new products and gadgets to cook your food, you will not want to miss this one!!!

Our Favorite from last week’s party is the Grilled Corn Guacamole from Cents Less Deals! Does this recipe not get you so excited for summer outside BBQ’s, we can not wait for warm weather!!

Congrats and be sure to grab a Featured button!

Remember our party is now more inclusive, not just recipes! Let’s see those fun craft and DIY projects! Easter is just around the corner, and the weather is getting warm – so I can’t wait to see what you all have been up to lately! Come back next week to see who will be featured.

We will post our favorites to our Featured and Favorites Pinterest board.

Let’s get this party started……….Link up and have fun!!!

March 20, 2013 by Jenny

Welcome to Fantastic Thursday!

Today is the first day of SPRING!! So happy Spring Time everyone! We are so ready for the warmer weather and being able to wear flip-flops. My Little Chefs love their flip-flops! Too bad here in our neck of the woods it’s going to be SNOWING the next couple days….and yes it was 50 degrees today – and now snow tomorrow, crazy weather!

Let’s get down to business and find out who the lucky winner is for the $50 BoschMixers.com Gift Certificate –

And the winner is……………Jessica Poston!! CONGRATS!

Friday will we have another fun GIVEAWAY, so be sure to check back!

If you could also give us a thumbs up and vote for us to become one of the top food blogs at Voiceboks we’d appreciate it! The last day to vote is SUNDAY, so please show us some LOVE!!! Click here to vote.

Our Favorite from last week’s party is the Mini Almond Tarts from SteakNPotatoesKindaGurl! Don’t they look so yummy, and almost too cute to eat….well maybe not, they look REALLY delicious!

Congrats and be sure to grab a Featured button!

Remember our party is now more inclusive, not just recipes! Let’s see those fun craft and DIY projects! Easter is just around the corner, so I can’t wait to see what you all have been up to lately! Come back next week to see who will be featured.

We will post our favorites to our Featured and Favorites Pinterest board.

Let’s get our PARTY on…….Link up and have FUN!!

March 20, 2013 by Jenny

 

Did your mom always tell you to not play with your food?! Well, for this Easter Breakfast, we wanted to get the kids involved. What better way to have our Easter breakfast than with pancakes. And to make it even better,  let the Little Chefs make them into Easter Bunnies!

My Little Chefs LOVE pancakes. We eat pancakes not just for breakfast, but for lunch and dinner as well. This is why I needed to make a homemade pancake recipe that we loved. For this recipe I like to add and change some ingredients to give our pancakes a new little twist. Because believe me, when you eat pancakes as much as we do, a little bit of change is a good thing! Some mornings we will add a banana, or add a little cinnamon. My Little Chefs favorite is when I cook them to the shape of a silver dollar and add a couple of chocolate chips before flipping them. They think they are eating chocolate chip cookies for breakfast!

To make the pancakes we first needed to make the batter. Little Chef B is now a pro at cracking and adding the eggs, so obviously that is ALWAYS his job. Even if I am cooking on my own, he will ALWAYS be right there to add the eggs! We then added the remaining ingredients for the pancakes. We sometimes add oats to our pancakes. But, first we blend them up in our Handy Chopper. If you prefer not to add the oats, just reduce the amount of milk to 1 cup.

  

We wanted some bacon for the whiskers on the Easter Bunnies, so Little Chef B used our Kitchen Shears to cut the bacon into smaller strips. Then into the pan they went to get nice and crispy! And just to show you we are not all about cooking, we are also all about having fun….so, here is Little Chef K, using the empty paper towel holder we just used up, singing to her favorite song. We ALWAYS have the music going when we cook!! Maybe that’s why it always takes us even LONGER to make these recipes? Oh well….we are having fun!!

  

We then cooked up the pancakes on a hot Griddle. We just cut out the ears from a basic round pancake – no need to make things difficult in trying to actually cook a pancake in the shape of a bunny ear!! Then the Little Chefs set out their favorite toppings….blueberries, cut up strawberries, blackberries, bacon, and don’t forget the Whipping Cream!!!

  

Then the Little Chefs used their own creativity and made their Easter Bunny Pancakes! They love that they were able to “play” with the food and make a creation they were in the end going to EAT!

   

  

And here is how the Little Chefs Easter Bunny Pancakes turned out! I barely got a picture in before they were devouring the poor Easter Bunny. This is one way to get your kids to eat all their breakfast! It was  a really fun and definitely a new Easter family tradition!

    

If you are looking for more fun things to do for Easter – check out our Easter Printable Countdown, it will give you lots of fun ideas to do with your kids. Or make an Easter decoration by trying out the Stitched Easter Eggs. And if you need ideas for your Easter dinner menu our Mandarin Orange Jello with Lemon Pudding would be a great side dish!

Easter Bunny Pancakes

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 c milk
  • 2/3 c sour cream
  • 1/4 c butter, melted
  • 1 c oats, finely blended
  • 1 1/2 c flour
  • 1 T sugar
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

  1. With a whisk or an electric mixer, whisk the eggs till light and fluffy.
  2. Mix in the milk, sour cream and vanilla.
  3. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and baking powder and add to the egg mixture just till combined.
  4. Blend in the melted butter.
  5. Add more milk if batter is too thick.Be careful to not over mix.
  6. Cook on a hot, greased griddle.
  7. Flip pancake when the edges appear cooked and the batter bubbles on top.
  8. Serve nice and hot with your favorite toppings.

2.2

Easter Bunny Pancakes

March 18, 2013 by Jenny

This family recipe comes from my mom! Growning up Mandarin Orange Jello with Lemon Pudding was a frequent side dish for our holiday and birthday dinners. Still to this day, I request my mom to make it for family dinner on my birthday. This recipe has now become one of my Little Chefs favorites.

Along with the colored eggs and baskets filled with candy, Easter also means a Honey Baked Ham for dinner.  As we thought about what to go along with our ham, this childhood recipe popped into my mind and onto our menu. It is a quick, make-ahead side dish is delicious and will be a perfect addition to our Easter Celebration dinner.

First we started off with making the Mandarin Orange Jello. Little Chef K made sure all the orange jello powder was completely dissolved in the hot water before we added the orange juice concentrate.  Little Chef E mixed in the mandarin oranges and the crushed pineapple, after they had drained. Then this is where a lot of patience comes in for the Little Chefs, allowing the Jello to set in the fridge before we can top with the pudding and eat it!

 

 

To keep their minds off of the yummy Orange Jello that is setting up in the fridge, in the meantime, we make the Lemon Pudding. The Little Chefs just follow the directions for the pudding to make as a pie filling. Little Chef E wanted to make the pudding all by himself, he did great until he quickly realized that you need to stir the dry pudding mix with the milk SLOWLY at first or else you get splashed with the milk! Once combined he stirred in the cool whip. Then into the fridge to also set up.

  

Once both the Jello and the Pudding were all the way set,  Little Chef B layered the pudding on top of the jello. Now we were ready to eat! You can at that point either stick it back into the fridge or serve immediately!

This is such a simple jello recipe that will sure be a crowd pleaser and a perfect side dish to your Easter Celebration dinner. For a fun activity to do while waiting for the jello to set, you can have you kids participate in one of the activities on the Easter Countdown! And if you need an idea other than ham for your main dish, check out our Honey-Balsamic Lamb Chops.