A Family Date: Cooking Together

Okay, so you may not consider this a date, but cooking together is a great activity to do as a family. Cooking time is bonding time and really does bring families together! It's also a great way to teach early math, reading, and chemistry to youngsters. Not only do kids who cook tend to eat more fruits and vegetables, but cooking gives kids a basic and important life skill. We let Emma crack eggs (with supervision) and she is great at mixing and helping measure ingredients!

We love apple picking each year, and this year was no exception! We ended up with bags of apples, and after making applesauce, apple pie, and apple crisp, I was looking for a few new recipes to try.

The two recipes below were delicious and fairly simple to make.

Applesauce Cake with Caramel Glaze

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1-1.2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, finely ground
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground allspice
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1-1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce (I used homemade)
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

Caramel Glaze
4 Tbsp butter, cut into chunks
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup icing sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan. Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, pepper and spices. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs with both sugars until light. Mix in applesauce, oil and vanilla until smooth.
3. Fold in dry ingredients, do not over-mix. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake about 45 minutes. 
4. Cook cake for 10 minutes and turn out on to plate to let cool completely.
5. For glaze, put butter, brown sugar, cream and salt in a saucepan. Bring to full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil for 1 minute and then remove from heat. Let cool for 2 minutes.
6. Gradually whisk in the icing sugar until you have a thick, pourable consistency. Pour over cake, and let set before serving cake – if you have the willpower!

 

Iced Oatmeal Banana Applesauce Cookies

Ingredients
2 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (I used homemade)
1 1/2  cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp allspice

1/2 cup raisins

Glaze

1 3/4 cup powdered sugar
4-5 tablespoons pure maple syrup
3 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine mashed bananas and sugars. Mix on low speed until combined.  Add applesauce, and mix until well blended, 2-3 minutes. Mix in oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.  Mix in raisins. 
2. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto prepared baking sheets, 2 inches apart.  I lined my baking sheets with parchment paper. Place baking sheet in freezer for 5 minutes. 
3. Bake cookies until golden and set, 13-15 minutes. Let cool on sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool completely.
4. Whisk powdered sugar, syrup, and three tablespoons milk until smooth. Drizzle over cookies, let set.

 

My 3 good things for today are:

1. Apples!
2. Apple cookies!
3. Apple cake!

What is your favorite apple recipe?

Sweet & Simple Valentine's Day

It boggles my mind to think that the cost of a dozen high-quality roses can skyrocket to more than $100 in the few days leading up to Valentine's Day. As commercial (not to mention expensive) as Valentine's Day has become, I am still a fan of the day. Even though I tell my family that I love them each day, it is still fun to have one special day filled with hearts and confessions of love and lots of pink. There are a lot of simple ways you can make your family's Valentine's Day sweet on a small budget.

Lunchtime Treats  

On the workdays leading up to Valentine's Day, I slipped little treats into my husband, Derek's, lunchbox. There are ideas and printables all over Pinterest, but I downloaded these printable tags from Six Sisters' Stuff, and printed them on some pretty card stock I had on hand.

One day I sent You are the apple of my eye! with a bag of apple slices, and the next he got I'm nuts about you! on a package of mixed nuts.

Some other treats were:

• You are one hot tamale! ...with a spicy hot meat stick
• I wouldn't chews anyone but you!  ...with a sour fruit chew
• I think you are sodamazing! ...with a can of pop
• We were mint to be together! ...on a tin of mints
• I'm bananas for you! ...on a banana 
• I would be so mixed up without you! ...with a bag of spicy trail mix
  
•  Life would be unbearable without you! ...with a bag of gummy bears

He saved the tags from all his treats, and stuck them up all around his desk at work, so he is constantly reminded that he is loved!

Valentine's Day Cards

I stumbled across this idea on Pinterest and loved it so much, I used the concept to make our Valentine's Day cards for Emma's grandparents. Derek helped to distract Emma while I traced her hands on some pretty pink paper.

I cut out her hand-prints and wrote "I LOVE YOU..." on one and "THIS MUCH!" on the other. I wrote on the cards freehand, but you could use transfer letters if you'd prefer. I made an accordion fold with the remaining paper, and connected the two hands together.

Valentine's Day Breakfast

For breakfast on Valentine's Day, I made heart shaped cinnamon rolls. I found the idea over at Craft and Creativity and, although her recipe sounded amazing and I am a big proponent of cooking from scratch, mornings can be a little hectic around here. So I cheated and used refrigerated cinnamon rolls.

I simply unrolled the dough halfway, rolled up the other side, and pitched the middle to arrange them into a heart shape. They turned out fantastic!

I also made Derek a Valentine's Day Coupon Book. I downloaded the printable coupons from Elegance & Enchantment. It was really easy to make - not to mention, FREE!

I printed the coupons on the white back of some cardstock, and tied them all together with a pretty ribbon. I had a hard time coming up with my first few coupon ideas, but once I got started, the ideas came fairly easily. 

You control the remote: watch the TV show or game of your choice - no complaints!

One free car wash: I'll wash your car by hand or run it through the car wash for you!

Free ice cream run any time: I'll run out for a treat and bring it back to you!

Get out of trouble free: present this when you want to skip the fighting and get right to making up!

Hit the links or the slopes: an afternoon of snowboarding or a round of golf even though there are chores to do!

A few of your favorite things: I'll cook a meal of your choice in any outfit you choose!

One massage: any area of your body of your choosing!

The last few are a little too intimate to share publicly. I'll let you use your imagination.

Emma (with a little help from Mommy) made Daddy an adorable card inspired by In Lieu of Preschool. Emma colored on a piece of plain white paper, then I folded the paper in half like a card.

I traced a heart shaped cookie cutter on the front - because I am terrible at freehand drawing - and cut out the heart. Then I wrote "My" above the heart cutout, and "belongs to You!" under the heart. This is a wonderful way for a toddler to "make their own" valentines!

Valentine's Day Surprise!

Being a stay at home mom means that I may not always be able to buy everything I want. But, while I may not be able to afford to have a Valentine's Day gift delivered to my husband's work, my time is my own! Thankfully Derek's office is not far from our home. So after a morning play date, Emma and I swung by to deliver a Valentine's Day surprise!

Apart from fresh chocolate chip cookies, Girl Scout samoas cookies are probably Derek's favorite treat. So when I saw these knock-off cookies (let's be honest now, Keebler) on sale at Cub, I snagged a box. The pretty little potted plant was on sale for $1.99 at Aldi this week, and will brighten Derek's desk at work for months to come. The card was the real steal though. I got a coupon code for a free card from PhotoCardsDirect.com where we had ordered our Christmas cards. They were also running an offer for free shipping at the time, so the beautiful personalized card cost a grand total of zero dollars and zero cents!

Valentine's Day Dinner

Homemade pizza is in our regular dinner rotation, so it was no chore to prepare. I simply cut the pepperoni slices into heart shapes using a small cookie cutter before topping the pizza.

I also added little hearts to our breadsticks instead of plain sticks.

How did you make your family's Valentine's Day special this year?

My 3 good things for today are:

1. I love God and am loved by God.
2. I love Derek and am loved by Derek.
3. I love Emma and our new baby boy, and am loved by them as well. The last one is still a little iffy as I have not officially met the little man yet, but I have high hopes :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Family Date: Snow Day

With snow falling all over the Twin Cities, people of all ages ventured out this weekend to go sledding, make snow angels, and have some winter weather fun. My family had a snowball fight with the fresh snow (Emma refereed), built a pair of snowmen in our front yard, and enjoyed some hot cocoa in front of the fireplace.
 

We had a special, relaxing day together and I wanted to share my Top 10 Ideas for Turning a Snow Day into a Family Date:

1. Make a family of snow angels, or build a snowman for each family member, and decorate them. 

2. Take a nature walk, in a nearby park or even your backyard. Look for tracks and try to identify what left them. Think of what each animal might be looking for in the snow.

3. SNOWBALL FIGHT!! Split into teams: adults vs. kids, boys vs. girls, or whatever works for your family. Then stock on up "ammo" and let the battle begin!


4. Decorate a tree with yummy treats for the neighborhood wildlife. One simple idea is to smear peanut butter over a pine cone, and roll it in bird seed. Hang it in a tree with a bit of yarn.

5. After sledding, come inside to warm up with some hot soup or warm cocoa!

6. Break out an old board game. Candyland or Chutes and Ladders can be fun whether you're 3 or 30.

7. Make music! Using an instrument or only voices, make up a song and let each child add a bit to it.

8. Get out the Legos or blocks and create something together. Depending on how many you have, this can be one structure or a whole "city" of creations.

9. Turn down the thermostat a couple degrees, crowd onto the couch under some cozy blankets, and watch a family movie together. Snuggle time!

10. Make a real SNOW cone. All you need is a bowl, spoon, a patch of fresh snow, and some flavoring. We used to simply top fresh snow with a drizzle of maple syrup when we were kids, but you could also use vanilla or root beer extract. Kool-Aid is also a fun choice. To use Kool-Aid flavoring, combine one Kool-Aid packet, 1 cup of water, and 1 1/2 cups of sugar and stir until the sugar is as dissolved as you can get it. Find some clean, white snow, and scoop some snow into your bowl. Spoon the flavoring of your choice over your snow cone and begin eating!

Snow days are the stuff of lasting childhood memories. Intentionally or not, families often develop snow day traditions, like sledding or playing board games or making hot chocolate.

What are your family's snow day traditions? 

A Family Date: Winter Festival

This past weekend we attended in the 22nd Annual Fire & Ice Festival in Plymouth, MN. It took us all a little while to get bundled up for the 10 degree weather, but Emma looked pretty cute in her cozy knitted hat. (Thanks Granna!) Thankfully the sun was shining, and the air felt more crisp than biting.

The annual festival includes hayrides, horse rides and sled dog rides, recycle bin races, miniature golf on the ice, snow bowling, youth ice fishing contest, recreational skating, a goofy hat contest, and even fireworks after dark. We raced around on a sled, enjoyed some hot chocolate and s'mores around a bonfire, and reveled in a tractor ride.

Emma enjoyed watching the older children play hockey and skate on the ice. She laughed and said they were, "Swimming!" (I don't think she has quite figured out the frozen lakes yet!)

We did have some tears when Emma's nose and fingers got too cold, but we all recovered in the warming house.

My 3 good things for today are:

1. We had a fun-filled afternoon together as a family, for free!
2. I got my exercise for the day by jogging next to Emma's sled.
3. We got some great family photos to remember the day!

What winter activities do you like to do as a family? 

Decorating Pumpkins... Toddler Style!

Decorating pumpkins is one of my favorite things about Halloween - probably a close second to getting candy! For Derek and me, it's really a family affair. Family or friends come over and we spread a huge drop-cloth or piles of newspaper in the living room and all carve away. So it was really important to us to be able to get Emma involved. I saw this idea on Young House Love last year, and have been looking forward to trying it ever since!

We got two small pumpkins for Emma. (And at a dollar apiece, I can't complain!)

I smoothed on a layer of painters tape, then traced out two jack-o-lantern faces.

With a sharp knife, I cut around my pattern, and peeled away the excess tape.

After spreading an old plastic table cloth over the highchair and table - to help with clean up - we let Emma go to town with finger paint!

She had fun getting messy, smearing paint, and splashing in the tub afterwards! The finished product turned out great, but I would suggest peeling off the tape when the paint is still wet. I waited until the next morning, when the pumpkins were dry, and there were a few sections that had thicker paint that tried to come off in big chunks. With a little finesse, the edges turned out fairly clean, but I think it would have been easier if the paint was wet.

All in all, it was a blast to watch Emma decorate her pumpkins, and she looked like she had a blast well. We'll certainly do this with youngsters for Halloween again! 


What did you do with pumpkins this year? How did you include younger kids and toddlers in the activity? 

A Family Date: Corn Maze

A great family activity for the fall is to visit a Corn Maze! I feel very fortunate to live in the Midwest, where we're able to visit a local farm to pick our own pumpkins, or drive a few miles to to the largest corn maze in the state.

If your home is located where this type of outing is possible, I would highly recommend it. Derek and I reallly enjoyed it, and Emma had a blast, as you can see from the pictures!

We went to the Twin Cities Harvest Festival and Maze in Brooklyn Park, MN. Near the Twin Cities, there are at least half a dozen corn mazes including Sever's Corn Maze and Fall Festival which is celebrating its 16th year of fun and games. Many have other activities, such as hayrides, pumpkin slinging, and even haunted houses!

We chose the Twin Cities Harvest Festival this year because it fit our budget and had activities that we thought Emma would enjoy. I'm sure we'll visit other venues in future years as Emma gets bigger and is able to appreciate some of the other activities they offer.

The attractions we enjoyed most were the corn maze (of course!), as well as the giant corn pit, and petting zoo!

My 3 good things for today are:

1. We had a great, fun-filled day together as a family, for about the same price we would pay for movie tickets.
2. Something we really appreciated about the Twin Cities Harvest Festival is that they donate a portion of every ticket sold to the Minnesota Military Family Foundation. So we helped support a good cause in addition to having fun!
3. We got some great family photos to remember the day!

What fall activities do you like to do as a family?

A Family Date: Apple Picking

Apple picking at a local orchard is not only a wonderful way to support local farmers, and a great opportunity to get your hands on some fresh produce, but it really is family fun for all ages! In fact, it was one of our first big outings after Emma was born.

Last October, when Emma was about two months old, we took a family trip to Apple Holler, a sixty acre orchard in Sturtevant, Wisconsin. Emma enjoyed the sights and sounds, but wasn't able to take pleasure in any of the apples personally.


Due to some unusual weather patterns this year, the apple season is early, so we are heading out to our local orchard in September. This year, Emma was a lot more hands-on... from helping us pick the apples, to taking samples of the produce. We all appreciated the fresh, crisp air and exercise - which including carrying a few dozen apples back to the car. 

You may be thinking, "My family would never eat that many! What would I do with all those apples?" I'm so glad you asked! We split ours into three piles and made applesauce, apple butter, and apple pie! Now you may be thinking, "I have a family! When would I have time to make all that?" I'm so glad you asked! 

I'll let you in on my secret weapon: my crockpot! Without it, I would probably never make applesauce or apple butter, and would just have dozens of apples slowly rotting on my counter. Below is my applesauce and apple butter recipe. Don't let the laid-back nature of this recipe fool you - it's fantastic - it just also happens to be really, really easy.

Lazy Lady/Toddler Mom Applesauce & Apple Butter

 

Ingredients:

12 medium apples (I always say about a dozen, but it's really however many it takes to fill your crockpot) 

1-2 cups granulated sugar (to taste)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

enough water to cover the bottom of your crockpot

 

Directions:

1. Turn your crockpot on high and add just enough water to completely cover the bottom.
2. Chop and core your apples. I like big chunks. No need to peel them.
3. Dump your apples in the crockpot and cover. Let them simmer for about 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally. I've never had a problem with them burning, but the stirring helps to break up the apples more quickly. 
4. When the apples reach a consistency that you're pleased with, (generally the mixture is thickened and light brown) add one cup of sugar and the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves to the crockpot and stir thoroughly. 
5. Taste the applesauce. If you'd like it a little sweeter, add more sugar. Using a sweet variety of apple, such as Gala, results in a naturally sweet applesauce, so you'll probably add less sugar.
6. And...you're done. I like slightly chunky applesauce, so I end right there. If you'd like it to be a smoother consistency, you can run the mixture through a food mill or blender.
7.  Applesauce is great served warm! It can also be canned, or spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate for up to two weeks or freeze.

To make Lazy Lady/Toddler Mom Apple Butter I use the same method, but instead of being done at Step 6, I use an immersion blender (or pour into a regular blender) to puree the apple mixture until perfectly smooth. Apple butter can be served immediately on breads or muffins, and can also be canned, or spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate for up to two weeks or freeze. 

 

I'm afraid I don't have a secret weapon for homemade apple pie. Although if I did, it would probably store bought refrigerated pie dough. (Who has to know?) Unfortunately that kind of deliciousness requires actual effort, albeit very little.  

For my homemade apple pie, I thinly slice 6 medium apples. In a large bowl, add 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp nutmeg. Add your apple slices and mix gently. Pour your apples into a prepared (or store bought) pie crust and top with a second crust. Press your crust edges together to seal. You can do a pretty fluted pattern if you want to. Cut slits in several places in top crust to let steam escape. Bake the pie in a preheated 425°F oven for 40 to 45 minutes until apples are tender and crust is golden brown.

My 3 good things for today are:

1. Applesauce!
2. Apple butter!
3. Apple pie!

What is your favorite apple recipe?