Pudding Paint for the kids and those rainy-indoor days!

This was a perfect afternoon activity for my kids. They loved it. I made my pudding paint with Vanilla Instant Jell-O Pudding. I split it into 4 dishes and added different food colors to each. I gave my kids each a cookie sheet for their pudding art. We used some giant paint brushes to color with. We threw in some graham crackers and marshmallows for decorating and snacking.

They loved painting pictures. The fun ended... or should I say began... when one little boy accidentally painted on his older brothers' hand. It was so much fun, he just kept on going and going. They were laughing so hard. That was their favorite part. The little boy who started it started painting on himself. When they were finished, or I was finished with it all over the floor, it was bathtime! (It's best to just do this in the diapers and underwear.)

They had a great time with the pudding paint, and I had a great time watching them and taking pictures. So if you need a fun activity for the kiddos, and you are patient enough to clean up a little mess, you won't regret it. We love making memories, and my boys will always remember this one!

Happy Spring!!!

What are you going to do with all those hard boiled eggs?

Introducing... Eggs Golden Rod!!!

This is a post from last year, but is worthy for reposting, and I figured that we all are overloaded with dyed Easter eggs and don't know what to do with them. This recipe comes from my Dad's side. It is delicious! My husband doesn't dare try it, but I love it, and I will raise my family on it. Cut up egg white's in a creamy white sauce over toast, and topped with grated egg yolk and fresh ground pepper! Sounds, and maybe even looks a little weird, but until you have tried it, you can't say whether you like it or not. I think we will serve it for dinner this week so that my husband has to try it. Oh...it's so evil! Go here for the recipe!

Happy Spring weather to you all!

Irish Dinner & St. Patrick's Day Ideas

We really enjoy celebrating the holiday's at our house and try to make them special for our kids. For me holiday's are exciting, mostly because I enjoy planning and preparing food. Last year for St. Patrick's day my sister and her kids joined us for our St. Patrick's day dinner, and this is what we came up with. We made Corned Beef Grilled Cheese on Rye, Curried Split Pea Soup, and Pistachio pudding served in lime bowls. It was a delicious St. Patty's day feast, and we ate it right up. I got the idea at Prudence Pennywise. Click here for the recipe. I did Pastrami instead of the Corned Beef, which was delicious. It was a little more peppy, and we loved it. This year I am going to make my own Irish Soda Bread, also found at Prudence Pennywise. Go here for the recipe. The bread looks delicious, and I want to make my meal as Irish as possible! The Curried Split Pea Soup isn't so much Irish, but it is green!!! This recipe was found at the Food Network from Alton Brown. Get the recipe here. This soup was delicious. I had never had Split Peas before, and had a great experience with this soup. We added carrots just to throw in more veggies. It was perfect, and the curry is so perfect in this soup. This was a perfect meal, and definitely filled us up.


Next, we made a Pistachio Pudding Salad. I love this salad. The pistachio taste is so perfect, and I love the crunch. It's all in a pudding box, and fantastic. This is one of those "throw-it-together" salads, that never dissapoints. If you have never had Pistachio Pudding Salad, and you are thinking "Yuck", just try it. Those thoughts will change! We served it in a hollowed Lime. More green!

Pistachio Pudding Salad

1 small box Pistachio Instant Pudding
1 small can mandarin oranges drained
1 can fruit cocktail drained
1 8 oz. Cool Whip

Combine all ingredients and stir to combine. Allow a few hours to sit and set up in the fridge before serving. Yumm!

More green!!! Break out the food coloring!

What would St. Patrick's Day be without a green breakfast!?! We made our favorite Wheat blender pancakes and threw in drops of food coloring to get a good St. Patty's Day green. Because I am not talented in making Shamrock shaped pancakes, we made our own shamrocks with the round pancakes put together, and added a piece for the stem. We added food coloring to the eggs too. I know that you may not think this looks very appetizing, but do it for the kids!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Peanut Butter Mousse

I'm so excited that it's March! Spring is on its way! I have some tullips that are pushing their way up through the cold ground. I'm so excited to see what flowers are going to pop up here at our new house. I have to tell my sister thank you for taking over and posting some wonderful recipes over the last few months. I am finally getting back into the swing of things after having my #4 baby. Babies are so wonderful. I have been enjoying every minute of it. Having 4 boys (not including Dad) in the house can get pretty crazy at times, but I wouldn't change it for anything. I love my boys and feel so LUCKY to have them. This recipe was a HUGE hit with them.

Monday was National Peanutbutter Lover's Day and on Studio 5 (www.studio5.ksl.com )they shared this recipe! I have several, including me, in my house that LOVE peanut butter. I happened to have all the ingredients on hand and decided to make this for our FHE treat! It was AMAZING. Our hands and faces were covered with the mousse. We loved it! My sister will be making these for our get together on Sunday after blessing my new baby. She's going to make them mini. We did have a hard time eating them the regular size cupcakes. I think they'll be the perfect bite size dessert for Sunday.

Stephanie Younger's Peanut Butter Mousse

3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups heavy cream (cold)

1 Tbsp. vanilla

With a mixer, mix cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Put in fridge. Cream together cream cheese, milk, & peanut butter. Fold in the whipped cream. Stir until it is smooth. Refrigerate before eating.

Cupcakes

I used a Triple Chocolate box cake mix for my cupcakes. Follow directions for cupcake. Cool completely. Cut in half. Place mousse in a ziplock bag and cut corner, squeeze mousse onto cup cake. Put top of cupcake on top of mousse & top it with another dollop of peanut butter mousse. To top the dessert off, you can chop up Reese's Peanut Butter Cups or use peanut butter & chocolate chips! ENJOY!

Olympic Pizza & my new FAVORITE Pizza Crust

I love a good pizza. Friday nights are usually Pizza night at our house. It is a meal that the whole family enjoys, and I don't have to force it down! We designed our Pepperoni's to make the Olympic Rings on our pizza. We ate pizza and watched the Olympics. It was a lot of fun, and something we never do. We always eat dinner at the dinner table, and never sit in front of the TV while we eat. Our kids just ate it right up, and tried to immitate the ice skaters and their jumps. This would be a great way to close out the Olympics. Enough about the Pizza decorating, and Olympics... The crust is what I am talking about today. This crust is delicious! Chewy, crispy, crusty, and quick!!! I was most pleased with the quick part about it. You bake this pizza at 500 degrees. That scared me, but it was perfect. I can't wait to make it again tonight for another Olympic night. We are going to do some junior olympics with our kids. We are going to play games like "carry the cotton balls on a spoon", throw the ball into a jar", "balance a pose on one foot", "kitchen hockey with wooden spoons", etc... I've got young kids, so it won't be complicated at all. I am going to make medals for everyone out of canning jar lids, tied with ribbon. Then we will watch the Olympics. We'll see how it goes. Because my kids are young I try not to get my hopes up, and I don't put too much time and effort into it, in case it totally blows! So, if you want to do an Olympic party this weekend to close out the 2010 Winter Olympics, whip up this awesome pizza crust and make it festive for the closing ceremonies.

I found this recipe through The Sisters' dish at www.thesistersdish.blogspot.com , who found it at Little Birdie Secrets at www.littlebirdiesecrets.blogspot.com . Thanks for sharing this yummy crust! Check out their blogs. They are great!

15-Minute Pizza Dough

2 1/2 cup flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup hot water (120-130 degrees, use a candy thermometer for accuracy)
1 Tbsp Rapid Ris or Bread Machine yeast (I used SAF Instant yeast with great results)
2 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Mix dry ingredients together. Add hot water and olive oil. Mix for five minutes (I used my mixer with dough hook, but you could do it by hand too). Let rest 10 minutes. Press dough on pizza pan, pizza stone, or jelly roll pan. Bake at 500 degrees for 3 minutes. Take out of the oven and cover with toppings. Return to the oven and bake 8-10 minutes more. Makes on large pizza (16-18 inches).

***I rolled mine out to fit my cookie sheet and it was perfect for an Olympic flag.

Caramel & Chocolate Dipped Pretzels for your Valentine!

My very favorite sweet is caramel and chocolate dipped pretzels. Years ago I had a friend who was a pro at making them. I have lost touch with her, and I have tried to make my own. I have been working on them for a few years now, and I almost have them perfect. This year the perfect thing that worked was using my mom's caramel recipe, which is actually my grandma's recipe. It is delicious! We have used it as caramel dip, caramel popcorn, it really can be used for caramel in any recipe. In my case, I used the caramel for the first layer on my yummy dipped pretzels. The recipe is really easy, soft, chewy and of course, sweet goodness. I love licking the spatula! Dipping pretzels for Valentine's Day has become a tradition for me. I would like to do them for Christmas, but I can't make all the best sweets for Christmas, so I save these little treasures for Valentine's day. I love the crunch from the pretzel, the chewy caramel, and heavenly milk chocolate topped with festive sprinkles. To top them off, I wrap them in a simple clear treat bag and dress it up with a cute ribbon. It is perfect for all the love's in your life. I like to use the Honey Wheat Pretzel Twists that are found at Wal-Mart. (They are Wal-Mart brand, and so tasty.) I used to be able to get them at Sam's Club in a big tub, but they stopped selling them, so when I found them at Wal-Mart, I had to buy several bags. My kids love to snack on them, and I get my fair share too. These are so much better than the standard bland pretzel's that our out there. I just used Guittard Milk Chocolate Chips for dipping, which worked out great, but next time I am going to get dipping chocolate. I also want to get pink and red dipping chocolate for drizzling next time. I'm not crazy about the crunch from the sprinkles. So, I'm still perfecting them, but I do know one thing, that I will always use my mom's caramel recipe, so here it is...

Mom's Caramel for Dipped Pretzels

2 cups Brown Sugar
1 cup Light Corn Syrup
1 cube Butter (has to be butter)
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk

Dissolve brown sugar in corn syrup in large pan over medium-high heat. When dissolved, add butter and melt. When butter is melted, add sweetened condensed milk. Stir and scrape the bottom constantly as to not let caramel burn on the bottom. Attatch candy thermometer to the side of your pot and watch closely. When it gets to Soft Ball Stage, keep stirring vigorously and time for 2-3 more minutes. Remove your pan from heat and continue stirring to cool down quickly. Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes stirring occassionally before dipping pretzels. Prepare cookie sheets lined with wax paper. You are ready to dip when the caramel stays on the pretzel and doesn't just melt right off. If it slides right off and pools, wait a bit longer. Dip your pretzels and twist with your finger to drain extra caramel off and place on parchment paper to set. Continue until caramel is gone. Any extra caramel can be stored in the fridge and reheated for caramel apple dipping, ice cream drizzling, or other caramel yummies.

When caramel is set, melt chocolate in double broiler pan. If you don't have a double broiler, you can use a glass bowl that will fit inside a saucepan with about one inch of space between the glass bowl and saucepan. Fill saucepan with about 1/4 in of water and boil. Put chocolate chips or dipping chocolate in glass bowl and melt. Dip caramel covered pretzels into chocolate and place back on parchment lined cookie sheet to set up. If you want sprinkles, do it now before the chocolate dries. If you want to drizzle with colored chocolate, wait until chocolate sets up.

When pretzels are set up, assemble in cute bags with bow. There are lots of creative ways to pretty them up. I love tying them with big cute bows. It's simple, and really cute. So if you have some special people in your life that you love, surprise them with these delicious treats!

Happy Valentine's Day from My Sisters' Cucina!

Lemony "LOVE" Potion

We had a fun Valentine's party for all the cousins last week, and this was the drink we served. I found the recipe on Family Fun's website. That is one of my "go-to" sites when I am looking for something kid-friendly. I did modify the recipe a bit, and I do have ideas to make it even better! I found these cute valentine kiddie cups at Wal-Mart, and my mom got the straws from none other than... 7-eleven. They were kind to give us 15 long slurpee straws for free! Thanks 7-eleven! The kids just guzzled these right up, and we were right there taking pictures of it all. I wish I had it on video. They were slurping, and blowing bubbles...all the things we tell them not to do at the dinner table. They would say, "On your mark, get set, go"... and they would all blow bubbles at the same time. It was a hoot. They loved it, and so did we, because they were sitting still and being quiet...other than the slurping and bubble blowing! They were having fun spending time with their cousins, and that is why we plan these parties. It is very easy to assemble, and takes little prep time. So, if you have a Valentine's party to plan, throw this onto the menu. You'll be glad you did!

Lemony Love Potion
Family Fun

12-ounce can frozen Raspberry Lemonade concentrate
1/2 gallon Raspberry Sherbet
1 liter Lemon-Lime soda (I used 1-up)

In a pitcher prepare frozen lemonade with recommended water. (Decide how much drink you want, and you will put half lemonade and half 7-up.) Pour lemonade in cup. Drop one large scoop of sherbet into lemonade and top with 7-up to fill cup and make good bubbles. Stick one red soda straw in each cup, and serve!

***I think this would be great with a pineapple sherbet, or rainbow sherbet. I liked the tarty taste that the lemonade gave it, but I probably will leave it out next time. I love the sherbet and 7-up combo. It's just like a Root Beer Float, but it's fruity. Love it! I think next time I will top them each with a nice red cherry. They would look beautiful in Sundae mugs.