kids in the kitchen - homemade waffles

You know how some nights you just don't feel like cooking? Oh, wait. That's me every night. Well, anyway...we decided that last night was going to be waffle night! And, of course, Mikayla wanted to help and who am I to say no to such a wonderful request? So, off she ran to get her princess apron and chair to stand on. This was a much needed mother-daughter bonding time after the day we had had the day before!

I have the best Homemade Waffles recipe that I acquired from one of my very best friends (thanks, Natasha!) our senior year in college. If I remember correctly it's a Pampered Chef recipe. We love waffles at our house and this recipe makes us smile even more! Mikayla and I love peanut butter and syrup, Austin likes plain syrup, and if he had his choice, Ryan would definitely pick homemade blueberry syrup to go on top of his waffles.

Homemade Waffles
2 eggs, separated
1 3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

(I have no idea where she is getting this "posing" thing,
but it's happening more and more lately.)

Measure the milk.

Separate the eggs (add egg yolks to milk).

Beat together the eggs and the milk.

Add flour.

Add oil.

Take a break for a cheesy picture of little brother.

Add in the baking powder, sugar, and salt.
And stir.

Beat the egg whites (in a separate bowl)
with an electric beater until stiff.
Fold in egg whites with the above mixture.
(Not pictured because mommy needed to do it.)

Pour batter onto a hot waffle maker.

And enjoy!

I was going to snap a picture of the kids enjoying their meal, but both of them decided that they weren't in the mood, so just picture two hungry kiddos devouring their "breakfast for dinner".

{Head on over to A Little Fun With Me and Lu for Kids in the Kitchen.}


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Don't forget TODAY is the last day to link up for this month's craft challenge. We have 26 participants so far and I love it!! You really must go visit to see the fun crafts that everyone made for Fall. No, really...you need to go check them out!

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cooking with kayla, part two

This weekend I'm heading out of a town with a group of women that are a part of our local MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) leadership team. Each of us will be bringing a snack (in addition to buddying up and bringing a meal) and I thought that the Chex recipe "Muddy Buddies" would be a yummy late night treat!

I was actually in a relaxed mood today despite my always growing "to do list", so I thought I might as well let Mikayla help out in the kitchen. She's a whizz at baking and it's a fun way to spend a little one on one time together, but still get some stuff done in the process.

Together, we read the ingredient list and I had Mikayla search for all of the ingredients with a few helpful hints from her momma, of course. (Ladies, going to the retreat...stop right here if you don't want to know everything that goes into this delightful treat. And, I will say that it is addicting, so don't say I didn't warn you.)

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MUDDY BUDDIES
COOKING WITH KAYLA

your choice of Chex cereal, chocolate chips, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, & powdered sugar

Measure 9 cups of cereal. I let Mikayla tell me when to stop once I reached the line I had pointed out to her. We ended up doing 5 cups Corn Chex and 4 cups Chocolate Chex.

Measure out 1 cup chocolate chips. I filled a small bowl of chocolate chips and let her scoop them into the 1-cup measuring cup.

Add 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1/4 cup butter to the chocolate chips. Even letting kids do simple tasks like peeling the paper from the butter teaches them the art of cooking. We talked about how slimy it felt (and then she proceeded to wipe it off on herself...good thing she was wearing an apron!)

Microwave for 1 minute and then stir until smooth. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Pour Chex cereal into a large bowl.

Pour chocolate mixture over cereal and stir until covered.

Place chocolate covered cereal into gallon-sized Ziploc bag, add 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and shake, shake, shake. She loved this part!

During this cooking adventure, don't forget to give your (almost) 2-year old a little snack...

...and some measuring spoons and cups to keep him distracted, I mean entertained.

Place finished yummy goodness on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet to cool and then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator (the freezer is even better!)

As it was cooling on the counter, Mikayla kept asking me, "Just one more, Mommy. One more." And how many times do you think I heard that?

*FYI: You might notice Mikayla has a black eye in these pictures. She had a little run in with someone else's head last Sunday, so it's her first official black eye. She looks kind of tough, don't you think?



Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

cooking with kayla

Wow! It's been awhile since I've participated in Kid Friendly Friday at I Blame My Mother. Do I seriously not do enough with my kids these days!? Maybe it's because the weather has been so gorgeous that most of the time is spent playing outside enjoying the sun, so there is no real "organized" activity.

However, we did squeeze in a little "cooking up some fun" the other day in the kitchen. Mikayla is at that age of wanting to soak in everything she can! Her new favorite thing to do is help me cook! For our last MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting, we had a speaker come share with us about cooking with our kids and I really enjoyed listening to the tips and suggestions she had to pass along. I was also able to do a little online browsing as I prepared for some cooking links we could post on the MOPS blog, and that got me inspired as well. It was fun to see the different recipes out there or things you could do in the kitchen with your kids to teach them to help and enjoy the process of cooking! (Here is a simple article with tips on teaching kids the cooking basics...there are so many other resources out there, too!)

At the end of last week I thought it was the perfect day to make a sweet treat, so we opted for smoothies. Mikayla loves smoothies and it is the perfect little treat to share...it would be Austin's first try. After realizing we didn't have all the ingredients, we decided to take a quick walk to the grocery store to pick up some groceries. On the way there Mikayla and I had a little conversation about what was on our "list". We talked about what ingredients we needed to make our smoothie and what we had at home and what we needed to buy. I told her that she needed to help me remember. It was so cute for her to say the list back to me. (A random side note: Mikayla has been calling bananas "manna" for the longest time, so we tried pronouncing it for her so she could repeat it back to us. Buh-na-na. Simple, right? She repeats it back to us like this: Buh-duh-na-na. I'm so going to try to get this on video because it is just too cute!)

Time to get a cookin'!

Step 1: Cut up the bananas.

Step 2: Pour in the milk
Step 3: Measure out the yogurt
Step 4: Add in the berries.
Step 5: Turn on the blender.
Step 6: Give mom a cheesy grin.
Step 7: Cheers!

Mikayla decided to take hers "to go"!
And it looks like the smoothie was a hit...

...every last drop!

Another little cooking lesson that I didn't capture on camera was her helping me with dinner the other night. When it's appropriate and I have the time, I plan on giving Mikayla little jobs to do in the kitchen with me. (While Mikayla was helping me, I gave Austin a few {new to him} cooking tools to play with while we worked to distract him.) She put the salad in the bowls (I must admit it was a bagged salad! Gasp!). She was also in charge of buttering the bread and sprinkling the Parmesan cheese on top. Just giving your kids a little job in the kitchen will bring a smile to their face. It might be an extra mess, but I think it's worth it! Just don't choose an evening that's full of stress! One of the tips that I learned was to pick one night a week that was set aside for Mikayla to help me in the kitchen. That meal could be something that would be easy and fun to do together!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

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And, in other blogging news...I'm going to be enjoying an all day scrapbooking getaway on Saturday and heading out of town on Sunday until Monday night to visit friends, so you won't be hearing a lot from me, but most of you probably also have plans with the long weekend coming up. Enjoy Memorial Day weekend and we'll "see" you when we "see" you!

silly snacks

In the middle of my recipe & cookbook organizing for The Organizing Junkie's February Round Up, I came across a kids' cookbook I didn't even know I had! We were enjoying a lazy Friday afternoon of a little organizing and playing, and so I decided we should give one of the recipes a try.

One of the cookbooks I found is called Favorite All Time Recipes - Silly Snacks. The recipe that caught my eye was {not so creatively} named...

Cool Sandwich Snacks.

Ingredients Needed:
*graham crackers, cracked in half
*chocolate fudge sauce
*Cool Whip whipped topping, thawed
*sprinkles

Spread the chocolate fudge sauce on one half of the graham crackers.

Spread whipped topping about 1/4-inch thick on remaining 1/2 of the graham crackers.
Press crackers together lightly, making sandwiches.
Roll or lightly press edges in sprinkles.
Freeze for 4 hours or overnight.
After the wait is over...dig in and enjoy!
Austin was a little surprised to find out how cold his bite was.

Now that I have found some fun cookbooks that need to be tested out, I hope to make some more fun snacks in the future!

For more kid friendly ideas, check out I Blame My Mother (a fun, new blog I found!)

muffin tin monday - the gingerbread baby

For this week's Muffin Tin Monday over at Her Cup Overfloweth, our theme was to do something that goes along with a Christmas story. I chose The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett. This is actually a book we have around all year long, so Mikayla was familiar with its story. My last year of teaching I used this book for a writing lesson at Christmas time, so I was quite familiar with the story as well.

So, despite the busyness of the week in preparing to leave for California, I couldn't resist putting together a muffin tin so we could decorate gingerbread men (or babies). Plus, the kiddos deserved a little time with mommy (although I think Austin got the short end of the stick on this one).

~ our muffin tin ~

Top Row: coconut, red gel, black gel, mini M & M's
Middle Row: raisins, red hots, craisins
Bottom Row: green sugar, chocolate sprinkles, Christmas sprinkles, red sugar


Mikayla loves to bake...
she got a Christmas apron from Aunt Kristen
for an early Christmas present

hard at work...
if you look closely you'll notice some
evidence of missing candy on this little girl's face
death by candy...poor little gingerbread baby

We indulged in our baking after dinner, but with one bite of the head and a mixed reaction on the face of a 2 1/2-year old, I was quickly handed back the cookie and was told, "I don't like it." Nice. Now we have about 14 gingerbread babies that have been rejected by their maker. Hopefully they won't take it personal.

Next week's theme: Christmas shapes. The possibilities are already brewing...

Why do I participate in Muffin Tin Monday? Because it gives me the opportunity to do something fun and different when day to day life can get mundane. Try it! Just for something that will "shake things up" a bit. That's why I love this blogging world...it encourages me to do some different things. To stay creative and continue having fun in a household full of "daily duties".