Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Christmastime is so much fun this year! The girls are getting so big and are able to do so much more. I love the memories we are making and I hope they enjoy them as much as I do.

I found a recipe for cinnamon applesauce ornaments and remembered making them at school when I was younger. They smelled so good--just like Christmas should.

The girls loved choosing their cookie shapes and pressing out the "cookie" on their own. I have a feeling that there will be lots of fun come cookie baking time!

My little helpers loved this activity!

McCormick's Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments
Makes 12-15 ornaments

3/4 cup applesauce
1 bottle (4.12 ounces) McCormick cinnamon or 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons

Mix the cinnamon and applesauce in a small bowl until a smooth ball of dough is formed. You may need to use your hands to incorporate all the cinnamon. Divide the dough into 1/4 sections and roll each section to 1/4 inch - 1/3 inch thickness between two pieces of plastic wrap.

Cut the dough into shapes with cookie cutters. Make a hole at the top of the ornament with a straw. Place the ornaments on a baking sheet.  Bake for 2 1/2 hours at 200 degrees F.

Cool on wire rack. Insert ribbon through the holes and tie to hang.

Taste the Rainbow

Emma is back to school after a week off due to VBS. Her first day back was "Rainbow Day" which gave me the perfect opportunity to make this amazing rainbow bread that I've been dying to make.  Emma loves rainbows and I love making her special rainbow treats, like rainbow waffles.

I found this fabulous tutorial online that walked me through the steps. Be sure to check it out if you want a more detailed tutorial. I cheated and used the ready made dough found in the freezer section of the grocery store instead of making my own. Whatever dough you use, the process is the same.

 Divide the dough into six equal sections. I didn't worry too much about how precise the sections were. I just eyeballed it. Add color to each ball of dough and knead in the color. I used Wilton's gel food coloring. Let each ball of dough rise to double the size.

 Spread out the purple layer, making it about the size of your bread pan. Repeat with all six colors, working up to the top red layer. Brush water on top of each layer to help the layers adhere to one another.

 Place in a greased loaf pan and let rise until it has doubled in size. It was pretty humid when we made this and ours took a few hours to rise.

 Bake the loaf according to your recipe's directions. Ours cooked for about 25 minutes on 350. The bread is done when it makes a hollow sound when you tap the top of the loaf.

 If you want a soft crust on your bread, brush the top with butter. If you like a crustier bread, skip this step.

When the bread is cool, slice it up and watch the amazement in your kiddos' eyes when they see the beautiful colors!

 Emma's rainbow lunch was a peanut butter and jelly on rainbow bread, strawberries with rainbow sprinkles, and rainbow Goldfish.

The end result is one VERY happy rainbow lover!

Mmm, Mmm Monday- PB&J Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies

Another Monday...what happened to the weekend?  Oh well, at least we have cookies.  This recipe is from one of my favorite websites for kid's recipes.  I have made several things from weelicious.com and have loved every single thing. It's not just for kids.

These cookies are great, because I can tell myself that they're healthy.

No sugar! 
They have oatmeal!  
It's like a hearty breakfast! 

Who cares if I lie to myself? Really though, they are healthy, as far as a cookie goes.  They make a great little snack or breakfast if you want to earn "Cool Mom Points."

PB&J Oatmeal Thumbprint Cookies
Recipe from weelicious.com

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup agave nectar or honey
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
jam

Here's the lineup.  Agave is pretty easy to find and it's a great (natural) substitute for sugar. 

Place butter and honey in a bowl and beat for one minute.

Add the egg, vanilla, and peanut butter.  Beat for one more minute on medium.

Combine all the dry ingredients and mix.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.

Drop by 1 tablespoonful onto a Silpat or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  I use my ice cream scoop to get uniform sized cookies.

Use your thumb (or the thumb of your assistant) to make an indentation in the center.

Fill the indentation of each cookie with 1/2 teaspoon of the jam.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Warning!!! Be sure to enjoy these with a glass of milk!

 Reviews from the Peanut Gallery
Me: 5 out of 5 stars. These are not too sweet, but sweet enough (and definitely peanut buttery enough!) to satisfy any sweet tooth.

Andy: 5 out of 5 stars. His favorite thing about them is also his least favorite thing about them.  They're bite-sized so he just pops them right into his mouth.  He definitely eats more than his share. ;)

Emma: It's a cookie.  That's all she needs to hear and she's game.

Mmm, Mmm Monday--Cookies and Creme Pudding Pops

I found this recipe in an old Kraft magazine and was excited to try it.  You can't go wrong with pudding, chocolate, and Oreos.  I lightened it up a bit from the original recipe.  This was super easy and it's a great recipe for kids to help with.

What you'll need: milk, instant pudding, Cool Whip, and Oreos (I only used one package).

Crush your Oreos into small pieces.  They'll soften in the mixture, so a few big pieces is fine.  You don't want dust though.

Whisk 2 cups of milk with the pudding mix for two minutes.

Make a new best friend.

Add the crushed Oreos and 1/2 cup of Cool Whip to the pudding.  Fold until just blended.

Force yourself not to eat this and fight off any "helpers" in the kitchen that claim that freezing the pops isn't necessary.

Fill nine Dixie cups with the pudding mixture.  Put the cups into a baking dish to make it easier to move in and out of the freezer.

Andy has a fear of wooden sticks (It's ok.  He knows it's weird) so I used straws per the instructions.  They seemed a little flimsy to me, so I also tried plastic spoons.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and freeze for 5 hours.

When you're ready to pop them out of the cups, dip them into warm water for a few seconds.  They'll pull right out.

The straws did not work at all.  We improvised by adding a crazy straw for additional stability and the day was saved.

The spoons worked great!

Reviews from the Peanut Gallery:

Me: 5 out of 5 stars.  What's not to love? These were easy to make and they were really good.  I'm thinking about using the mixture as a filling for a frozen pie.

Andy: 4.5 stars out of 5. 

Emma:

Loved the pops.

Hated the brain freeze.

Cookies and Creme Pudding Pops
recipe adapted from Kraft Foods

1 package (3.9 oz) Jello Instant Chocolate Pudding
2 cups milk
1 100 calorie package Oreo crisps (or 6 regular Oreos)
1/2 cup fat free Cool Whip

Pour the Oreos into a ziploc bag and crush them into small pieces.  In a large bowl, mix the pudding mix with 2 cups of cold milk.  Whisk for two minutes.  The set will be soft.  Add the crushed Oreos, and 1/2 cup Cool Whip to the pudding mixture.  Fold until just combined.  Fill 9 paper cups with the pudding mixture.  Insert popsicle sticks or plastic spoons and cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Freeze for at least 5 hours.  Just before eating, dip the cups into warm water for a few seconds to loosen the popsicle. 

Mmm, Mmm Monday- Blueberry Zucchini Bread

During the Week in the Life series, Emma and I made Blueberry Zucchini Bread.  I've had several people ask me for the recipe, so I thought I'd share it for Mmm, Mmm Monday.  I found the recipe in Parents magazine, and since Emma loves both blueberries and zucchini bread, I was excited to try it out. The magazine calls for a few ingredients that I didn't use and they used larger loaf pans.  I used my 8 mini-loaf pans.  If you'd like the original recipe you can find it here.

What you'll need: flour, sugar, canola oil, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, eggs, shredded zucchini, and blueberries.

Combine your dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls (I went ahead and added my shredded zucchini to my wet ingredients).  Add the zucchini mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. 

Grab yourself a munchkin to add in a cup of blueberries.  They might sneak a few for themselves.  You've got to watch those munchkins.

Gently stir in the blueberries.

Pour the batter into your greased pans and bake at 350 for 30 minutes (60 minutes for a 9-inch loaf pan) or until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool slightly in the pan.  Explain the meaning of "patience" to your toddler.  Let me know how that goes.

Remove from pans and eat warm or cool completely.

Reviews from the Peanut Gallery:

Me: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars.  This is a bread geared toward kids so it could have been sweeter in my opinion.  The original recipe calls for raw sugar to be sprinkled on top and I may have to try that next time.  I also think it may add a nice texture on the top crust.

Andy: 4 out of 5 stars.  He loved the sweetness of the blueberries. He would have liked for it to be a little more moist.  He thought the sweetness was fine.

Emma: I'll let you decide...

Here's the recipe if you'd like to try it for yourself!  Let me know how yours turns out!

Blueberry Zucchini Bread

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
* 1/4 cup granulated sugar
* 1 tsp. baking soda
* 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
* 1/2 tsp. baking powder
* 3 eggs
* 3/4 cup canola oil
* 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
* 2 cups shredded zucchini
* 1 cup blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Lightly coat loaf pan(s) with cooking spray; set aside.

2. In a large bowl combine flour, sugars, soda, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder; set aside. In a separate bowl combine eggs, oil, vanilla and zucchini and mix well. Add to flour mixture and stir until combined. Gently stir in the blueberries.

3. Spoon batter into prepared pans.  Bake about 30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of each comes out clean (60 minutes for one 9-inch loaf pan). Allow to cool in pan 10 minutes before removing. Serve warm or cool completely before slicing. 

Making Muffins---Emma Style

Ok, so we all know that toddlers have their own way of doing everything. It may not always be the "right" way, but it's usually entertaining. Sometimes I like to just sit back and watch the magic happen.

Emma loves blueberries, so when Kroger had them on sale, I took advantage and we now have several pints of them in the fridge. Of course, she's decided that she isn't going to eat blueberries this week. This week, she likes strawberries. So I'm "hiding" blueberries in everything I can so that they don't go to waste. Today we made a batch of blueberry muffins and I let Emma help. Watch and learn how to make muffins "Emma Style." Take it away, Emma...


Before you begin, put these paper things into the pan. Each muffin may require the entire pack of liners, so the more you put into one spot, the better. You can also pull them out one by one and crinkle them into a ball. They make really cool noises.

When your mom (or dad) gives you the spoon, do NOT hit your sister with it. You WILL get into trouble and then you won't get to eat a muffin. I'm not sure if this rule applies to brothers. Stir the batter twice. Attempt to lick the spoon. Your mom will tell you no.

Your mom will now do a bunch of stuff that you can't do. It has something to do with something really hot. You won't get to eat your muffins before they go in the oven, because they have to cook first, but go ahead and ask 39 times anyway.

To help pass the time, your mom will read you a book and dance with you, if she's cool like mine. ;)

When your muffins come out of the oven, they will look like this. You will want to eat one right away, but that's a really bad idea. They are still really hot. So you will have to wait. Don't make muffins if you can't be patient or if you are REALLY hungry.

The muffins have to cool, but you can sneak a peek.

Make sure you pick out the exact one you want. You may need to change your mind several times. Don't underestimate the importance of picking out the perfect muffin.

Begin to eat your muffin and thank your mom for helping you make them.

Make sure you pick the blueberries out before you eat them. This step should not be overlooked. Your goal is to make as big of a mess as possible.

Repeat if necessary.