Birthday Snacks

KK turns 10 next week (it's seems like just yesterday my tiny little baby was born).

However, that means snack for the class. Her class alone only has 16 kids but they are often with the other 4th grade class which has another 15, and she wanted snacks for both classes (which she always does but doesn't always get). My only preference is to not be completely full of sugar- if you remember KL's last birthday was fruit, granola, and yogurt parfaits, which you would remember from the yogurt pops we made out of the extras. 

So we went online and looked for a few ideas but ultimately chose something of a mix of others- matter of fact, it's trail mix.

I came up with 4 "flavor" categories (sweet, salty, fruity, and grains) and then came up with 4-5 ideas to fit these categories, and avoid class allergens. From that list, I let KK choose 2 options from each category. When we took them in today, each kid will get to create their own trail mix choosing one item from each flavor selection. 

Here's the ingredients she chose:

For sweet- candy corn and candy pumpkins (I informed her they taste the same but she insisted)

For salty- cheddar crackers and Bugles chips

For grains- Multi-Grain Cheerios (or the store brand version of) and Honey Granola

For fruit- Raisins and Banana Chips

We served them in paper lunch sacks we always have on hand (for crafts most often) that we cut down a little so they're easier to reach into. And we scooped with  3 oz. paper cups. 

Here's a few shots: (only of my kids and the one's I know their parents won't mind, of course)

I was only able to get pictures of KM and KN, because KK finished passing out the snacks and left to hand out the extra to EVERY. TEACHER. IN. THE. SCHOOL. (Seriously- I didn't see her again until I went looking for her because the class was getting ready to leave.)

If you're looking to repeat here's a few other options:

Sweets - M & Ms, mini marshmallows, chocolate covered sunflower kernels

Salty - pretzels, sunflower kernels, peanuts (if allowed), almond slices, popcorn

Grains - Chex cereal, Teddy grahams, Life cereal, Kix cereal (and any of the cereals could be of the frosted variety if you want to add a little more sweetness)

Fruit - really any dried fruit will work: craisins, dried apple chips, dried blueberries, white raisins, coconut flakes

That's all for now, 

Jo!

Apple Pull Apart Bread

Fall is upon us, well almost, and that means all the wonderful flavors of fall are returning.

My parents have several apple trees that were thriving at the beginning of the growing season and then it dried out for a long period and the skins of the apples grew with a bit of fungus on them. However, it's all on the outside of the skin and most of it washes off- not that we would eat the skin, though- so they're perfect for peeling and baking.

Then I found this recipe for a caramel apple pull-apart bread. It is amazing you guys.

The recipes is there for you so I just have a few picture to show you.

This dough was so soft and easy to work with, the only problem was that it stretched a little because of just how soft it is.

Here's a quick look at how I stacked the layers, I found it easier to add the filling in the stack instead of covering the dough and then stacking.

(See, there's the stretching issue, but it really isn't a big deal.) 

Look how cute that little stack of apple, cinnamon, yeasty goodness is

Here's after they came out of the oven. I had a little bit of a hard time telling when they were done because of the moisture from the filling but I actually seemed pretty perfect (although a few extra minutes than given in the recipe) after cutting into it.

 And of course, here it is iced (and there may already have been a taste test off the top too).

This was amazingly delicious!! (I may have ate half a loaf the first day.) The recipe yields 2 loaves so I froze one for my parents (before icing- but it tells you that in the recipe) and it was still soft and delicious after thawing it out. (And since I knew it would be less than a week when I saw them to deliver, I just refrigerated the leftover glaze. It had to be reheated to pour easily but it kept just fine and saved me from having to waste some and then make more.)

That's all for now,
Jo!

Fruit Week, Day 3

Today we made Banana Split Kabobs. I'd seen these on Pinterest a few times and figured we'd give them a try.

They're super simple. First we put the fruit on the kabob sticks.

Then we let them sit in the freezer for about 10 minutes, just enough to give them a bit of a chill.
Take them out and dip them partially in chocolate and then dip in nuts, if desired.

Then we laid them on a wax paper cover pan to dry. Since the fruit was chilled they dried pretty quickly.

And then enjoy. They were good but really wasn't anything too special.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Fruit Week, Day 1-2

Yesterday started the last week of our summer break adventure as school starts on Thursday, until then we have a half week of cooking with fresh ingredients.

Yesterday we made stove top applesauce, and while it cooked we made homemade cherry limeades.
The girls diced and peeled 4 large Granny Smith Apples.

Then we added 1/4 c. of water and 3 Tbsp. of maple syrup to the pot and let it cook until the apples were tender.

Once they cooled just a bit (but not all the way, about 10 minutes) we mashed them.

Then we let it finish cooling in the fridge and devoured it. (Seriously between all the Ks, they each had two bowls and I had none.)

While that was cooking we used fresh limes for cherry limeades.
A bottles of Sprite (12 oz, and not something they get very often so they were ecstatic)...

Squeeze in the juice of a few lime wedges (2 should be plenty) and 1/4 c. of Grenadine or Cherry Juice.

Finish by throwing in the squeezed lime wedges and a few maraschino cherries and enjoy!

Today we made a mango strawberry salsa and served it with cinnamon sugar pita chips.
We started with 2 c. strawberries, 2 c. mango, and 1 c. pineapple chunks and pulse them until chunky and mixed well. Then add lime juice from half a lime, 2 Tbsp. OJ, and 2 Tbsp. honey.

Stir well.

And eat!

That's all for now,
(For real this time, my camera card is finally caught up)
Jo! 

Picnic Week, Days 6-7

To finish up picnic week we learned about area and measurements.

On Friday we used picnic blankets to talk about area (since squares are built in to the cliche checked picnic blanket).

You can't really see in the picture but I did them all on a Word table made with equal widths and height. KL was counting all of them since area is new to her; KK was counting sides and multiplying to figure it out.

The last day we made lemonade shake ups, practicing with measurements.

They squeezed the lemons and measured the ingredients and shook until it was mixed good.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Forth of July Week, Day 3

Today we made a fruit salad for our lunch.
I found the recipe in my Woman's Day Cookbook, in the 4th of July Picnic menu, and although it's the only recipe not red, white, and blue this week, it sounded really good. (And it was!!)

Today we made: Watermelon and Nectarines in a Lime Syrup.

It was really easy. Dice the watermelon (about 6 cups) and refrigerate.
Boil 4 Tbsp. water with 1/3 cup sugar until the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat and add 2 Tbsp. of lime juice. Let cool. When ready to serve, cut tangerines and add to watermelon. Add 2 tsp. lime zest to the lime syrup and pour over the fruit. Shake/toss and enjoy!

Here's the eating pictures:

(KN) 

(KM) 

(She said, "Mom I wasn't eating it yet, take a picture now... Hold on, let me get some on my spoon.)

My favorite part was the syrup, combined with the watermelon juice. I actually strained some out and added a little pineapple juice and had a nice little fruity drink.

That's all for now,
Jo!

Yogurt Pops

KL had a birthday last week and her chosen snack for school was fruit and yogurt parfaits. (I must say all the teachers love when the snacks aren't packed with sugar!!)
However, her class of 22 has had a bit of a virus lately and there were only 14 kids! So that meant plenty of leftovers. Fruit usually goes pretty fast at our house (as a matter of fact, the blueberries never made it out of the school because the twins were snacking on them while waiting) but I'd cut the strawberries into slices so they started to go bad quickly so here was my idea to prevent them from being wasted:

Looks yummy right!! And it was super simple! I took my Popsicle mold and started with a spoonful of granola. Then I added 2 Tablespoons of vanilla yogurt and shook/knocked it down to make sure the granola froze into it. Then I threw in a few strawberry slices and covered with more yogurt until the mold was just about full, packed it down a little and then added another spoonful of granola until completely full. Then all that's left is to freeze it!

Healthy and yummy, and especially great for quick after school snacks on warm days (or even breakfast on warm mornings!).

That's all for now,
Jo!