puffy fishies

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These little puff pastry fish are to die for. They may look like they're for the kids, but trust me, I thoroughly enjoyed mine as well. The puff pastry is so light and flaky and the fish filling really is delicious. They really don't take all that long to make either. I'll definitely be making these again. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
4 x 6oz/175g fillets of white fish, such as cod or haddock, skinned and cubed
2 tbsp sour cream
2 sheets/500g all-butter ready-rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
4 raisins
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet, add the shallots, and gently saute for 5-8 minutes, or until soft. Add the fish and cook for 2 minutes, then add the sour cream and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook for an additional 2 minutes, then remove the skillet from the heat.

2. Make a fish-shaped template from cardboard measuring about 6 inches long and use to cut out 8 fish shapes from the puff pastry. Place 4 fish-shaped pastries on a nonstick baking sheet.

3. Use a fork to break up the fish in the skillet and mix until combined. Spoon the fish onto the pastry, leaving a 1 inch margin around the edge. Brush the edges with a little beaten egg and carefully top with the remaining 4 fish pastries, pressing down well at the edges. Brush all over with the rest of the beaten egg. Use the raisins for "eyes". Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp. Serve hot.

Source: Healthy and Fun Snacks and Treats, Igloo books Pin It

beautiful backyard bokeh

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I brought out my camera in the backyard the other day and took some pictures of some of the beautiful flowers. I just love the fabulous circular bokeh I got on these shots. Bokeh is a photographic term that means "the pleasing quality of the out of focus areas of an image produced by a lens. Derived from the Japanese word boke, "blurred," this term is sometimes used to describe the deliberate blurring of areas of a photo to create a sense of depth." Beautiful! Pin It

faux watermelons

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I actually came up with this idea all on my own, and it was a huge hit. Kirsten's exact words were "these are super awesome." It was so hot the day I made these that they were melting as I was taking the pictures, but you get the point. Super easy and super cute and makes a great summer snack. These are my faux watermelon limes:

Ingredients:

1 lime, sliced in half
raspberry sorbet
mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1. scoop the inside of the lime out of the shell. This can be tough and I found using a serrated grapefruit spoon helped a lot.
2. put some raspberry sorbet in the lime shell and smooth until flat
3. add a few mini chocolate chips on top to look like seeds Pin It

handprint strawberry

Pin It We've been doing a lot of summer crafts around here lately and this is just the beginning. These handprint strawberries are very easy to make and really cute. Cam is really starting to enjoy doing crafts and he cries when it's time to clean up. If only he knew how many crafts will be in his future. Here's the instructions:

What you'll need

red paint
green paint
black paint
brush
paper

Instructions

1. paint your child's palm red
2. have them hold their fingers together (sometimes difficult with a toddler) and stamp their palm on the paper
3. with the handprint upside down, paint on a green stem, and dab small black spots all over for seeds

Kirsten's handprint strawberry



Camden's handprint strawberry



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fun in the sun: Kirsten

Pin It And here's the pictures of Kirsten from camp. She had so much fun blowing bubbles.















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fun in the sun: Camden

Pin It Here's some pics of Cam from camp this past weekend. The kids always have lots of fun playing out there. As you can see from the pictures, he was pretty cranky when we first got there, but he had a great time once we went outside. Silly little guy! I'll post pictures of Kirsten tomorrow.













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s'mores cookies

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These are my famous cookies. Any time I bring them to a function, someone always asks for the recipe. These are sooooo good. You must try these cookies. Now these cookies are nowhere near low fat, so if you do make them you'll want to be sure to share them! Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract
10 graham cracker squares, crushed into crumbs leaving some small pieces
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup mini marshmallows
2 milk chocolate bars, broken up

Directions:

1. preheat oven to 375 F
2. cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar. Beat until fluffy.
3. add egg and vanilla and beat together.
4. in a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and graham cracker crumbs.
5. gradually add dry mixture to butter mixture, beating until combined.
6. stir in chocolate chips.
7. drop dough by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheet.
8. bake for 7 minutes and quickly remove from oven.
9. quickly press 3 marshmallows and 1 chocolate bar piece into each cookie.
10. return cookies to oven and bake for 4 additional minutes, or until done.
11. remove from oven and cool completely before removing from pan.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies Pin It

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY JAMES!!

Pin It Happy Father's Day James! The kids and I miss you and wish we could be celebrating with you. 3 1/2 more weeks to go. We wanted to do a little craft for you, so we decorated some ties for you. Here's pics of Kirsten and Camden modelling their ties for you. You'll have to wear them when you get home!! The pictures aren't the best because the lighting was bad and Kirsten didn't want to look at the camera, but you get the point. We love you. Thanks for being the best daddy ever!













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ring pop rings

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These are just the cutest thing ever. I knew Kirsten would love these rings as soon as I saw them. She's such a girly girl and loves jewellery. I did most of the making of these rings, but she just adores playing with them and wearing them around. Funny story about these rings. She's always very interested in my wedding rings and asks me about them all the time. I tell her I have rings because mommy and daddy are married, and she'll get rings one day when she gets married. So when I gave her these rings to play with she asked me "mommy, are we married now?" I died laughing! Here's the instructions:

What you'll need:

ring pop rings (minus the candy)
felt flowers
decorative buttons
glue

Directions:

1. eat candy off of ring pop ring - easy and done!
2. snip little nubbin? (the thing that attaches the candy to the ring) off
3. glue felt flower to ring
4. glue decorative button to felt flower

Idea from 4 Crazy Kings

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alphabet craft: J is for Jaguar

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J is for Jaguar

What You'll Need:

orange foam sheet
black foam sheet
scissors
glue
black sharpie
googly eyes

How to make the 'J' Jaguar:

1.Trace and cut an uppercase 'J' out of the orange foam sheet.
2.Using the excess orange foam, cut out small ears, four legs/feet and a face for your jaguar.
3.Draw spots all over the letter J to give your jaguar some spots.
4.Glue on the legs, ears and face. Add the eyes too!
6.Draw claws on your jaguars feet as well as a mouth on his face, colour in the ears.
7.Use the black foam sheet to cut out a tail and nose - glue on jaguar.

Idea from totallytots Pin It

rainbow pancakes

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I've seen these pancakes on quite a few blogs lately and I just knew I wanted to make them. My kids aren't huge pancake eaters, but I thought these pancakes just might convert them. I was wrong. After dirtying nearly every bowl and spoon in my house to make these pancakes, they still didn't eat them. Oh well, they sure are pretty.

Ingredients

pancake mix with ingredients to make - or make your own!
food colouring

Directions

1. make pancake batter according to box directions
2. divide pancake batter evenly into 6 bowls
3. add a few drops of food colouring to each bowl to reach desired colour and stir well
4. heat a skillet on medium-high heat
5. lightly grease pan
6. pour batter into pan (one colour at a time) and cook until bubbles start to form on the pancake - flip pancake over and continue cooking until done
7. repeat process for each colour

Idea from I am mommy Pin It

peanut butter and banana coins

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This recipe is for the kids. My kids love this snack and eat up every bite. It is so easy to make and healthy too, so I can't complain.

what you need

2 Tbsp. Kraft Peanut Butter
1 whole wheat tortilla - I used regular tortillas because that's what I had
1 banana

make it

SPREAD one side of a whole wheat tortilla with 2 Tbsp. Kraft Peanut Butter.

PEEL and place 1 banana on edge of tortilla and roll up tortilla around the banana to form a log.

CUT into half inch slices to form coins.

Recipe from kraftcanada.com Pin It

paper plate fish

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Here's another great craft that you can make with a simple paper plate. I got this idea from totallytots and these fish are simply adorable. You can decorate them with anything you have on hand (buttons, glitter, sequins, beads, etc.) to make them really sparkly and pretty. Here's the instructions:

What you'll need:

paper plate
glue or mod podge
scissors
tissue paper squares, various colours
googly eye
decorations (buttons, glitter, sequins, beads, whatever)

Instructions:

1. paint a thin layer of glue or mod podge on 1 side or your paper plate
2. place tissue paper squares over the glue to cover the paper plate
3. spread on another thin layer of glue or mod podge over top to seal it
4. decorate with buttons, glitter, sequins, beads, whatever you have on hand
5. once dry, cut a triangle out where the mouth will be
6. glue this triangle onto the back of the paper plate to make a tail
7. glue on a googly eye


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chicken ranch pizza

Pin It I wanted something different this week, so I decided on this pizza and I loved it. My kids weren't huge fans of it, but that just meant more for me. Kirsten was convinced that the ranch dressing on the pizza was glue and was questioning me on why I would put glue on her pizza. Silly kid. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:
frozen pizza dough for 1 pizza crust, thawed - or make your own
¼ cup Ranch dressing
¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
½-1 grilled chicken breast, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 tomato, seeded and diced
2-3 green onions, chopped
¾ cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Preheat the oven according to pizza dough instructions. Gently roll out the pizza dough into a large circle, leaving a thicker ring around the edge for the crust. Place on pizza pan. Spread the Ranch dressing in a thin layer evenly over the unbaked crust. Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella. Top with grilled chicken, tomato and green onions. Sprinkle with shredded cheddar. Bake according to pizza crust instructions (mine was 25 minutes), or until the cheese is melted and browned. Slice, serve, and enjoy!



Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com Pin It

apple stamping

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This was really fun and easy and Kirsten had a great time stamping the apples. So simple, yet looks so beautiful.

What you'll need:

paper (or use canvas like me)
paint - red, green, yellow
apples
brown and green sharpies

Instructions

1. carefully slice your apples in half down the middle
2. dip your apple slice in your paint
3. stamp apple on canvas
4. draw on stems and leaves

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