Super Bowl Craft

4 Feb

 

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?  I always love the Super Bowl even if my favorite team is NEVER in it!  It’s a fun chance to get together with friends, eat fatty treats, and see some fun commercials :).  Really, though, I do love football.  My Dad taught me everything I would ever need to know about the sport and I enjoy watching it to this day!

Living in a house full of football fans, we thought we better decorate for the big game!  I went online and printed off some logos for the Giants and the Patriots for this project.  I printed a few extra logos, just to use as decor for our little party.  My hubby researched which team was wearing their “colors” and which team was wearing their “whites” just so we’d be legit!  The boys had a lot of fun making these football guys and I think they turned out rather cute.  We have them hanging by our patio door and of course Sutton is now cheering for the Patriots and Shaeffer for the Giants (don’t tell Aunt Janice or Uncle Petey who live in Boston).

Here’s the scoop:

You’ll need….

Red, White, brown and Blue Construction paper (or the color of your favorite team)

Skin colored paper (we had some fun face cut outs that we used and the boys just picked the face of their choice)

Construction paper crayons or markers

Glue sticks

To Assemble…  I just free handed an oval shape for the helmet and cut out a square for where the face would go.  I also drew a football shape for them to cut out…  I cut out a rectangle for the body and some strips of paper for the arms and legs.  I let my kids assemble them how they wanted and taught them to “fan fold” the arms and legs.  They used the crayons to draw the faces, numbers and the football how they wanted.  We used glue sticks to attach them all together… Pretty quick and easy.

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Penguin Cookies

1 Feb

So… When I look at some of the amazing “cookie artists” out there I am truly amazed.  I mean making cut out cookies is enough work let alone decorating them all fancy!  I am not a cookie artist…  I am an oreo decorator 🙂   I let my oldest son decorate these cookies because he really is obsessed with penguins (I’m sure you’ll be seeing some more penguin posts very shortly).  I think he did a marvelous job!

Here’s the Scoop

You will need some oreos, white melting chocolate, orange tic-tacs, and either mini chocolate chips or brown melting chocolate….

To make the cookies first melt the white chocolate and draw a white heart on each of the cookies.  I melted my chocolate in a squeeze bottle and then just drew them…  You could probably use white frosting as well and just spread it on… what ever is easiest for you!  While the chocolate is still wet you will want to add the tic tac for a beak.  If you are using mini chocolate chips for eyes you will want to add those now too.  I melted some chips and painted the eyes on with a tooth pick, either will work…  That’s it… so easy….  I think that you could also melt some orange melting chocolate and draw little penguin feet or even the beak for that matter, but this worked for us!  Super easy, adorable, cute after dinner treat!

 

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The Love Jar & Love Jobs

30 Jan

This is one of my favorite REPEATING projects… We do this every February for the first 14 days…  It’s easy, fun and helps to teach children about how to love others unconditionally.  For those of you veteran Mommyapolis-ERS you’ve seen the LOVE JAR before, but every year we change our jobs!  The way it works is that we think of 14 LOVE JOBS that we would like to do… They range from homemade gifts for family and friends to treats for neighbors and donations for strangers…  I type them up, cut them out, and place them in the jar.  Each morning we pick out one “job” and try to complete it by the end of the day.  Some times I have to be strategic in the job picking just to make sure we can complete the task by the end of the day :)…  Here is the Scoop for 2012!

2012 LOVE JOBS

*  Call someone you care about and tell them why they are special!

*  Fill a grocery bag with food items from our pantry and deliver it to a food shelf!

*  Make a prayer jar with popsicle sticks and pick a name each night to pray for.

*  Draw a picture for a friend or family member and mail it to them!

*  Find one toy of your own that you would like to give to a child who may not have many of their own.

*  Choose one book from your collection that you would like to give away to a child who may not have many of their own.

*  Bring a treat to your teacher and tell her you appreciate her.

*  Make cookies or cupcakes for a neighbor!

*  Help make, purchase or send a meal to a family that might need it this week!

*  Deliver Homemade Bird Feeders to friends and neighbors

*  Take some money from your piggy bank and give to the children’s offering at church.

*  Plan a menu and make invitations to invite some friends over for a special meal.

*  Make homemade Valentines for children OR the elderly locally

*  Make a blessings book as a family!

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Best Play Dough Recipe… EVER… EVER…

21 Jan

My son, Shaeffer, took a two year old class well when he was 2!  His teacher was Miss Nadi and she was amazing in every way possible.  She was happy and sweet and creative and she sang adorable songs with the kids.  She even recorded herself singing the songs so the kids could listen at home.  This still is one of his favorite CD’s and he’s now 5!  Well every year she would ask a few parents to make a batch of play dough for her classroom.  This play dough would last her all year!  It’s soft and creamy and wonderful!

Well yesterday Sutton’s Kindergarten teacher asked me to make a class batch of play dough for a center next week.  She said I could use any recipe I wanted and I immediately thought of MISS NADI.  I can honestly say that I often make Kool-Aid play dough, which is also awesome, but it doesn’t last nearly as long!  I made a batch of Nadi’s Dough this morning and it brought back all those fond memories of our two year old class.  The smell, the texture, the color all PERFECT…  It makes a big batch so if you don’t need it all give some to a neighbor or friend!  You could make valentine play dough and put it in little bags for your friends…  What ever you decide, it’s great dough and it will go a long way…

Here’s the Scoop:

Stir together in a big bowl, 4 cups of flour, 2 cups of salt, and one container of cream of tarter (I used 2.5 ounces).  In a large pot combine 9 tablespoons vegetable oil, 4.75 cups hot tap water and food coloring.  Add the dry ingredients to this pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes.  It looks like a mess, but it will thicken and get lumpy and eventually form into a ball.  Turn the dough ball out of pan on to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and combine.  Put the dough in a bag while it is still warm and check later for consistency.

***  When you first put the dough in the pan, try to break up the lumps with the spoon.  Later, when it is getting close to being done, lumps will form and all the goo will come together and form into a ball.  When the play dough is done it should be very soft and easily squish through your fingers.  If it’s too dry just add extra hot water (which I did not have to do).

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Zesty Crock Pot Chicken

17 Jan

So what I have learned about “crock-potting” is that certain meats cook fast while others are more pokey.  Chicken breasts that are boneless cook very quickly and if you leave them in the pot too long they will dry out and taste yuck-o.  BUT if you toss them in frozen, then they can spend the day in the slow cooker!  So this recipe will call for the frozen variety of chicken, but if you’d like to use fresh, just cut the time!

We’ve made this recipe before.  It’s great shredded on a bun or whole next to a baked potato!  You decide!  Here’s the scoop:

Zesty Crock Pot Chicken

4-6 Frozen Chicken Breasts

1/2 cup italian dressing (I use the kind in a little packet that you mix up, but a bottle would work too)

One 12 ounce bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce…  I LOVE Famous Dave’s Sweet and Zesty

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 T Worcestershire sauce

Place chicken in a slow cooker. In a bowl, mix the barbecue sauce, Italian salad dressing, brown sugar, and Worcestershire sauce. Pour over the chicken.  Cover, and cook 3 to 4 hours on High or 6 to 8 hours on Low.

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Bird Feeders for Valentine’s Day!

13 Jan

This project is quick, easy and environmentally groovy…  It’s also pretty inexpensive, which is always a plus!  It is a heart shaped bird feeder!  The boys had a lot of fun making these and they took us a total of 20 minutes to toss together…  and they are PEANUT FREE!

Here’s the scoop:

  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 envelope unflavored gelatin (2.5 teaspoons)
  • 3 tbsp corn syrup
  • 4 cups birdseed

You will also need:

  • large mixing bowl
  • heart shaped cookie cutter
  • nonstick spray
  • straw for making a hole in the ornament
  • parchment or wax paper or tin foil
  • cookie sheet
  • ribbon

Mix flour, water, gelatin and corn syrup. Add birdseed and stir until combine!

Spray the inside of a heart cookie cutter with cooking spray. You could use any shape you want really, but for Valentine’s Day a heart is perfect!

Place cookie cutter on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Spoon mixture inside of cookie cutter, pressing mixture firmly.  The birdseed stuck to my fingers a bit, but if you grease them that wouldn’t happen.   The more you press it down, the less shedding of seeds you will have.  We filled our cookie cutters to the brim!  Once they are full, take your straw and poke a hole in the top for the ribbon.  Make sure the straw goes all the way through to the pan.  Carefully lift the cookie cutter up.  It slides right off… Place it next to your heart and make another one!

This recipe made 13 hearts for us, perfect for gifts!  You will want to let them dry 6-8 hours.  We made ours in the afternoon and before bed I flipped them on their side to make sure the back side dried, as well.   We then just let them sit until the morning.  They were very solid by that time and it was simple to thread the ribbon through them at that time.

I think these would be adorable with little “Happy Valentine’s Day” tags… Maybe something like “glad you’re my love bird” or something cheesy like that :).  Have fun with it!  We are planning to pass them out to our neighbors too, you can make tons in a short period of time, so spread the LOVE!

 


Tip Junkie handmade projects

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Crock Pot Thursday: Chicken Teriyaki

5 Jan

Slow Cooker Meal: Teriyaki Chicken -- Courtesy Rachel Ray

Hey Friends…  Today the boys and I are whipping out our crock pot after a long hiatus… The thing is, I am only a slight fan of the creamy goodness that often accompanies a slow cooker.  I know I’m in the minority in saying that… It’s not that I can’t eat those meals, it’s just that I don’t LOVE them…  I decided to find some NEW crock pot recipes to try out this winter.  I’ll post them as we go along and we can decide together what we think…

So this is what I did… I googled “best slow cooker recipes”, I mean why wouldn’t I.  This recipe popped up from the ever popular Rachel Ray.  It was her #1 recipe of 2011 so I figured I’d give it a go.  As with everything else, I had to switch it up a bit.  We are not huge into chicken thighs so I went with boneless chicken breasts. I also left out the cilantro because the boys don’t like it very much.  I don’t know if it will taste as great or if I totally just messed up the recipe.  We’ll find out at 5:30!  I also just tossed the items into the crock pot, I didn’t really measure.  Again, we’ll find out if that was a good idea or not come dinner time!  OK, Here’s the Scoop:

Ingredients

  • 4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 12 oz bottle Teriyaki sauce ( I used organic because it was the only one without high fructose corn syrup)
  • 3 tablespoons grated ginger (I grated mine in my food processor)
  • 3 garlic cloves, grated
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 6 scallions, white and green parts sliced on a bias, but kept separate
  • 2 cups rice
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted
  • 1 red bell pepper, cut into thin matchsticks
  • 1 cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks
  • 1 large carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
  • 3 Tablespoons cilantro (I left this out)

Preparation

In a large bowl, dust the chicken with cornstarch and season with salt and pepper. Heat a medium skillet over medium-high heat with some olive oil and brown the chicken breasts.

In a slow cooker, add browned chicken with teriyaki, ginger, garlic, honey and white parts of the scallions. Put the lid on and cook on low for 5-8 hours or high for 3.  If you use dark meat it will probably take a little longer than if you use the white meat.  Rachel’s recipe says 3-5 hours, We just went for the longer time because we have all day!  This might dry out our chicken, I’ll let you know!

When the chicken is about 20 minutes away from being done, add rice, water, 2 tablespoons olive oil and salt to a medium pot with a lid. Bring the pot of rice up to a boil then drop it down to a simmer. Put the lid on and simmer 10-15 minutes. When the rice is done, fluff with a fork and fold in the green parts of the scallions and sesame seeds.

Just before serving, combine bell pepper, cucumber, carrot, cilantro, lime juice, salt and pepper, and about a tablespoon of olive oil in a bowl.

To serve, scoop a portion of scallion-sesame rice into the bottom of a shallow bowl and top with 2 chicken breasts drizzled with a bit of the teriyaki sauce. Garnish with the fresh and crunchy pepper, cucumber and carrot mixture.

If you’d like to see Rachel make her version, click here:  Rachel Ray’s Chicken Teriyaki

Let me know if you try it and what you think…  I’ll add our thoughts to the comments section as well!

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New Years Eve Ice Cream Sundaes

30 Dec

 

Happy New Years Eve-Eve… It’s been a nice day of nothingness for the fam and I today.  We have a friend visiting us from Denver.  He, Ben, and the big boys took a nice bike ride this morning while baby and I made a mess of the living room.  This afternoon I took the boys to the park and now my house  is full of sleeping men!

Yesterday my oldest had a little girl from his class over for a play date… We made these ice cream cone hats as a little activity while she was here.  Today the boys and I made “men” out of ice cream and put their hats on them so they could ring in the new year with us!  Pretty easy, tasty, and the kids loved it!

Here’s the scoop:

12 sugar cones

1 package semi sweet chocolate chips

candy & frosting for decorating

**  Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler or microwave until smooth.  Roll the ice cream cones in the chocolate until fully coated (I also dipped some of the cones so only the tops of them are covered in chocolate).  Allow to cool and harden.  You can put them outside (cold climate) or in the freezer to speed this process up.  Use the frosting and candies to decorate your hats.  You can use licorice rope as string for the party hats if you like…  We used the frosting as glue, much like decorating a gingerbread house…  Of course the kids hats are FULL of candy and decorations and are also half eaten!

**  Scoop some of your favorite ice cream into a bowl and decorate a face.  We used M&M’s, Mike and Ikes, and Nerds for our guy…

**  We obviously waited a little too long to take this pic because our man is starting to melt.  In real life this is not an issue because your ice cream is not on any sort of a time crunch and will probably be long gone quicker than you can say Happy New Year!

What’s Up with Black Eyed Peas????

29 Dec

Zannie's Black Eyed Pea Dip, courtesy of The Pioneer Woman

Clearly I’ve been living under a rock for the past thirty some years because I did not know that you are supposed to eat black eyed peas on New Years Day for good luck…  I googled it and good old wikipedia says this, “Eating black-eyed peas on New Years Day is thought to bring prosperity.”  It goes on to give the history of why this is so, dating back to the Jewish New Year and even gives some traditional ways of preparing them…  I figured I’d consult an “expert” in preparation, The Pioneer Woman, and by golly she has a recipe…  I’ve never met a PW recipe I didn’t like so here you go:

Zannie’s Black Eyed Pea Dip
Ingredients
1 can (14-ounce) Can Black-eyed Peas
1/4 whole Onion, Chopped Fine
1/4 cup Sour Cream
8 slices Jarred Jalapenos
1 cup Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese
3 Tablespoons Salsa
Hot Sauce, to taste
Salt And Black Pepper To Taste
Preparation Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain black-eyed peas and partially mash, leaving some whole.
Add all other ingredients, stirring to combine.
Spread into a 1 1/2 quart baking dish and bake for 20 to 30 minutes until hot and bubbly.
Serve with tortilla chips!
*Note: if you have them available, you can use the canned black-eyed peas and jalapenos (they’re canned together.) If you do this, you can omit the extra jalapeños.
For step by step instructions with pictures go here!

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Sparkling Jello with a New Years Eve Flare!

29 Dec

We’re going old school at our house with this recipe…  Jello just reminds me of being a kid!  This recipe is super easy and your kids will love it!  It makes a kind of bubbly, fizzy, pop in your mouth sort of jello which is fun for “Noon Years Eve”….  I mentioned it to my friend Ann and she said they used to make this recipe using club soda.  We used sprite, but I think club soda or ginger ale would be equally as successful!  I also read a recipe online where someone used cherry jello and coke for a sort of cherry soda flavor, sounds fun too!

I put this batch in some drinking glasses we have and then about an hour later located our plastic champagne flutes…  I am going to make another batch and place it in the flutes just for the cuteness of the holiday!

Here’s the Scoop:

1 small package of jello any flavor

1 cup boiling water

2 cups sprite, club soda, ginger ale, 7-up, etc.. (I call this fizzy drink in the recipe)

***  Dissolve the jello in 1 cup of boiling water.  Chill it in the fridge for 15 minutes.  Add 2 cups of “fizzy drink” to the jello.  Pour it into your desired serving dish/glass and let it set up over night….

***  OK a couple side notes…  I had a little extra so I just poured that in a juice glass.  I tried “whipping” it with a whisk this morning to see if it would froth up (thinking I could pour it on the top of the jello) but it didn’t froth.  What it did do is make lots of little bubbles inside the jello.  This might be kind of fun for a more “champagne” sort of a feel…  It was more liquid-ish but very bubbly.  I ended up just decorating ours with sprinkles and whip cream.  I would suggest making the whip cream because Reddi-Whip/Cool Whip will melt and not look as pretty…  The silver sprinkles are called “French Dragees”.

***  I guess that Jello USED to make a sparking white grape jello but it’s no longer in circulation… You might be able to find it at the dollar store or something, not sure, but it would be fun this time of year!

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