Holiday Countdown: Sweet Potato Latkes a la dilly-do!

I grew up on my mom's potato pancakes. We never ever ate them at the table as they never made it that far. From frying pan to the plate on the burner they would be snatched up and devoured all while they were too properly hot to eat. The kids in the neighborhood would smell them and come knocking on our door to see if I or my brother was home. They would lift their faces and sniff the air and ask if they smelled potato pancakes as they slowly eased themselves over the threshold and into the kitchen where yet another quick hand stole a pancake.

I would make these with my mom when I was still in grade school and while they are far from traditional they are ridiculously tasty. Your kidlets can do a fair amount of the work here. Just make sure they are not to use those sharp knives! Here's my grown-up spin to them.

{i really wanted to get you folks some pictures but we've got such grey skies, nothing is coming out...drats!)

What you need:
*1 sweet potato
*2 smallish taters or one large Russet
*1 onion
*1 egg
*2 Tablespoons of flour
*salt & pepper to taste
*skillet
*butter
*spatula
*1/4 cup measure
*blender
*knife
*peeler

Wash and clean your taters before peeling the skins off of them. Your child may do the peeling if they already know how. they can definitely clean the taters, just pop them into a bowl of sudsy water and give your kidlet a brush or sponge to clean them with. Rinse thoroughly and then peel.

Once peeled you will need to cut them into smallish chunks about the size of a quarter. Your child may be able to cut the Russet with a plastic or child friendly knife. The sweet potatoes are a bit more difficult to cut. I would recommend you do it.

Toss a handful or two of the pieces into the blender, yes, the blender! My mom gave up on grating them when I was a wee one. I suppose you could use a food processor for this as well but I have never done it that way. Adventure!

Chop up your onion as well. I would cut it into eights. Add half the onion to the blender along with the taters.

Add the egg, cap it off and blend a little. Keep adding onion and taters until you have a goopy mess. Pulse in your flour as well. If the goop is too sticky, at a little olive oil to the mix.

Melt your butter (or drizzle some olive oil) onto your skillet and get it hot. Transfer your batter to a bowl and allow your child to use the measuring cup to pour the cakes. This goes without saying but if yer tot is too small to be near the hot stove, give them some paper and art supplies and let them create while you cook. (Perhaps they can make potato stamped gift wrap?)

Cook your latkes until golden and crispy. Serve them up with your favorite side. Enjoy!

now you see it now you don't, now you see it again...

Need a quick project to amuse the wee ones? Put together a (tiny) batch of magical disappearing "ink" and let the fun begin.

What you need:
*baking soda
*water
*shallow dish or jar lid
*white paper
*paint brush
*grape juice

scrumdilly-do it!

This recipe is not as full proof as as a good batch of traditional invisible ink but it also doesn't require any flames or heat. It has a bit of wow power and you can whip it up in a moments notice. Just know that some kids won't be dazzled...you know the type, the ones who can perform their own magic tricks and the ones who know exactly why the sky is blue? For those kidlets, let them do their own experimentation. Science is always a cool thing.Gather your supplies and set up as you would for any painting project.

Add a tablespoon or so if baking soda to your lid or dish and cap off with water. A little goes a long way.Have your wee one paint up their paper however they choose. They can practice their letters, draw a picture or decorate their paper with shapes and such. The heavier the paper you use, the more "sticking" power your ink will have. Explain that they are painting with magic ink or invisible paint. Ask them if they can see the paint as they work with it. Engage in the process and follow their cues.Once they are finished, set aide the paper to dry. Set up a kitchen timer and ask them to guess how long it will take for their pictures to "disappear".Once dry, set up a new dish with a small amount of purple grape juice. Talk about their invisible drawings and ask them if they can guess what will happen when you add the grape juice to the mix. Have your kidlet paint over their pictures with the grape juice. The baking soda paint will turn green when it reacts to the grape juice (It's because of the acidity in the two).Make sure your kidlets use their grape juice lightly. The more they paint with the grape juice, the quicker the baking soda will dissolve and the paper will become a green mess. You can help curb any disappointment by telling them the ink will disappear, reappear and disappear all over again.

Check out more recipes here.

monster mush

I was one of those odd kids who ADORED oatmeal. ADORED it. But, then again, it often came in a tan and green pouch chock full of dehydrated apples and brown sugar. Still, Cap n' Crunch had nothin' on me, it was the oatmeal that did me on. Here's a kooky yummy recipe to kick off October. It being the month of tricks and treats, this bowl full of goodness is surprisingly good.**

What you need:
*1 cup rolled oats (not the quick or instant kind)
*1 cup water
*3/4 cup of green juice
*dash o salt
*a gummy worm or 2
*dried fruit & nuts
*milkish drink of choice

scrumdilly-do it:
Pour your liquids into a small saucepan and bring to a low boil. I used the green machine as it was pretty much the only green juice I could find, plus you get all sorts of vitamins in it's tasty!Once your liquids come to a boil, add your oats and a dash o salt, give it a stir and turn down the heat. Allow your oats to simmer until the liquid is absorbed, about ten minutes.

Remove from heat, dollop some of the cereal into a bowl and dress with your goodies. You can let the kids do this part or nit, it's up to you. Add nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc. You will not need or want to add any sweetener as the juice will have already flavored the whole shebang. Add you milk or soy if you will, top it off with a gummy worm and dig in!The heat from the cereal will melt the gummy worm in a matter of moments. The residual flavor and ooze from the candy will add an additional bite to the cereal. This is the part that I'm not the biggest fan of as I don't like cherry flavoring but kids? Kids LOVE faux flavors!

So there ya go, a hot bowl of monster mush, Happy October!

**What? Gummy worms in my breakfast cereal? Are you crazy? Here's the deal. If yer tot is an oatmeal lover then omit the worms. If you need to figure out ways to get yer kidlet to try the stuff, add the worm. One worm isn't too far off from those juicy fruity bites that kids often have in their lunches. Get the kind by Black Forest and you've got a smidge (a teeny tiny smidge) of Vitamin C in the bowl. Got a kidlet with an awesome imagination? Skip the candy and add dried cranberries, cherries and raisins and call 'em bugs. This is just a guideline to get you to think outside the box. I am not encouraging you to serve up a bowl of corn syrup for breakfast. But I am encouraging you to try this...it really is yummy, except I'm really not a fan of the worms...they're ooey.

marshmallow puffs a la dilly-do!

When I was seventeen years old, my sister taught me how to make those famous marshmallow puffs that most Girl Scouts learn to make. Years later, I wanted to make them again and picked myself up the ingredients. Who knew my young memory was so faulty. I ended up getting the order of the dipping and rolling all mixed up and instead of marshmallow puffs, I ended up with something quite different and even tastier than the original. At least, I think so. So, grab your tots, wash everyone's hands and roll those sleeves up for some sticky-sweet, fun cooking that really, you should only have once in a lifetime because I am quite certain none of this is good for you and you just may push your kidlet into sugar addiction territory. I'm just saying.

What you need:
*large marshmallows, at least 10
*2 tablespoons melted butter
*3 tablespoons granulated sugar
*2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
*1 container of pre-cut biscuits
*sprinkles, jimmies, etc.
*muffin pan, greased

scrumdilly-do it!

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Wipe a small bit of butter onto a piece of wax paper and have your wee one grease up the muffin pan. My mom always had me use the wax paper wrapper from the butter itself to do this. Set up your ingredients in an easy to reach formation and sit your tots down. This could get messy.Hand your kidlet a biscuit round from the container. If you are using a super sort of biscuits with layers, you can pull apart one biscuit to make two. The biscuits I used contained 10 so I pulled apart two of them to round 'em out to 12 to fit my muffin pan. Once they have their round of dough in hand, have them squash it flat. Squashing sound effects are optional.Next up, flip that flattened round into the melted butter. I kept my butter on a semi-deep plate so that I could butter up each side of the biscuit without drenching it.Once the round is all gooey with butter, toss it into the sugar mixture and smoosh it into the muffin pan. Instead of sugar, you can also use any happy cake decorating bit of sweetness. I had some sprinkles on hand so once my cinnamon was used up, I tossed the remainder of rounds into the sprinkles.Grab a large marshmallow and center it on your smooshed dough pushing it down just a bit. Repeat until you pan is full. Add more sprinkles if you feel your pan is lacking and pop it into the preheated oven. Bake for 10 minutes and remove.
The marshmallows will have puffed up a bit along with the biscuits. Some may have even slid around and moved in with their neighbor. Use a wide spoon to guide the marshmallow back to it's own home and scoop the whole thing out onto a happy serving plate. You may want to keep them all to yourself once you try them but make sure your kidlet gets at least one on his or her very own plate. Allow to cool for about five minutes before diving in. And remember, I warned ya!

**these are best eaten fresh from the oven. if you find yourself with leftover, keep then in an airtight container and reheat in the microwave (on a plate) for smidge when yer ready, otherwise the marshmallow may pull out teeth!

gluten--free clay beads over at Craft Magazine

Greetings! So sorry for the pause in posting here at the 'do. School finally swallowed me up and spit me out so I am an official College Grad! Whoo-hoo! Wanna know the cool part? I specialized in play. As in children's play and why it is important. How cool is that? So now I am working on oodles and oodles of posts for you this summer but for now you can catch my gluten-free clay recipe over at Craftzine. Craft has a summer camp thing going on so keep your eye posted for more nifty projects for you and your kidlets over there as well. And for those of you moving into cooler temps, I'll make sure we don't forget you. Happy May!

**just a reminder, if you are a caregiver of a gluten-free child, please make sure the cornstarch you use is processed by a factory that is gluten free. Argo's & Kingsford's are reliable brands for this project.

Rainbow Rice Salad

More holiday fun inspired by that green day, this one is super easy and just might get some veggies into your wee ones. It's white rice based salad cooked in veggie broth and a wee bit o' turmeric. The broth adds some good old fashioned vitamins (use a low sodium if you can) and the turmeric gets the heart pumping and turns that bit of rice into gold!All you need to do is whip up a batch of rice, white rice makes for a more vibrant gold color but brown rice will fine. While the rice is cooking, grab you favorite muffin tin or a series of small bowls, a handful of vibrant veggies and get chopping.This is a rice salad that tastes just dandy all warm and toasty but is meant to be devoured chilled or at room temperature. Some of my veggies are raw and some are steamed, it just depends on the veggie.

Here's what I chopped up:
*red-radishes & dried cranberries
*orange-steamed carrots
*yellow-steamed squash
*green-steamed broccoflower
*purple-raw cabbage and red onionChop your goodies up to appropriate bight sized pieces and place each kind in one section of the muffin tin. Fluff up the rice and let your wee ones do the topping. Season the whole shabang with a pinch of salt and/or pepper along with a squeeze of an orange and you are good to go. I also added a bit of green onion to mine and some nuts, cause I like nuts.
If your tot isn't a fan of rice, cut your veggies into larger pieces and add some turmeric to a yogurt dip for the pot o' gold. You can do this with fruit too of course, turmeric is very subtle in flavor and al ittle adds a lot of color. Enjoy!

Spoil Them Rotten!

For fun or for no reason at all! I did this with the traditional sugar overload of ice-cream and candy, but you can do this with yogurt, graham crackers & cool whip, bread & butter, cupcakes or giant cookies.

 

 You do not by any means have to use all the sugar I did, use happy cereal, nuts, dried fruit and fresh fruit instead. Always, always, always remember the age of your kidlets and what they can and can not eat. I know YOU know this but just in case your wee ones have a friend who is younger make sure to think age appropriate sweets. it's a no brainer I know but we all forget sometimes.

 I had wanted to do this in pretty, happy bowls or cups but forgot to bring my own and was at the work house so I decided to use a happy fun plastic tray and cupcake liners. Oh how I love me a cupcake liner! So have fun, get creative and as always, take pictures!

Frugal Easter Fun Part Three

Here's a "kidlet can do" cooking project to make use of all those blown eggs! Make puff pancakes!What you need:
*2 eggs
*1/2 cup flour
*1/2 cup of milk (I haven't tried this with soy but it may work)
*dash o salt
*cinnamon
*a lemon
*powdered sugar or sugar of your choice
*jam, fresh fruit or what have you
*muffin tins (this will make 12)
*kitchen timer
*measuring cups
*mixing bowl
*fork

First up, add a small pat of butter into each muffin cup and stick in the oven at 400F to preheat.

Let your wee ones take the fork to the eggs and have them mix them up all crazy like. The goal is to break the yolks and get your eggs mixed so they look light yellow. Add a pinch of salt and mix some more.

Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, have your wee ones measure out and level 1/4 cup of flour. Add this to the eggs and mix well using the fork. Add another 1/4 cup and mix some more until most all of the lumps are gone. While your kidlets are doing this, pull out the muffin pan from the oven. The butter should be melted and the pan will cool so your wee ones will be able to be near it. Or, you can melt the butter ahead of time and add a little to each cup so that the pan is certainly cool and won't burn your tots.Next, have your wee ones measure out 1/2 cup of milk and let them pour it into the bowl with the eggs and flour. Have them pour just a little at a time to best incorporate the mixture. Having your wee ones do all the measuring is an nifty way to introduce math and science to them. Use a one cup measure to help alleviate any anxiety. If using cinnamon, let your kidlet add couple of shakes to each cup in the muffin pan over the melted butter. Next, hand your wee one an 1/8 cup measure and let them add a scoop of batter to each cup in the pan. Use up all the batter you can and pop the pan into the oven. Set your timer for 15 minutes and gather up your lemon, sugar, jam or what have you.
When the timer goes off, use an oven mitt to remove the pan and set onto a heat friendly surface. Ooh and aah over how tall the cakes got and take some pictures for the scrapbook. Make sure you tell your kidlets how awesome it is that they baked these! The cakes will be warm to the touch so while they are in the pan you may want to sprinkle with sugar and lemon juice. Wait a few moments before adding the lemon as the lemon makes the cakes collapse a bit.Pop a popover onto a plate for your wee one, add some fresh fruit and jam and enjoy! Make a pot of tea and have a tea party! If you're not sure your kidlet will want to eat these tell them they're gonna make magic cakes and if they're still not buying it, don't worry. They got to practice their science skills and there will be more cakes for you!

This recipe can easily be halved to make just six "cakes". Or, you can make six egg-dense cakes with the original recipe. They won't puff up as much and will be more eggy. It's up to you, experiment!

Happy Bunny day!