fun food friday: owl and tree

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Is it Friday already? Joking. This week was terribly long with James out of town again. Luckily he comes home tomorrow and I hope he doesn't leave again for a LONG TIME. I'm exhausted. This weeks's fun food friday took less than 5 minutes to make. You can't complain about that. You'd spend at least that amount of time making any lunch for your kids. And the best part, it's so cute, they eat every bite. Kirsten gets so excited when she gets to the table to see what creation I have made for her. I've already made quite a few fun foods for the kids, and I'm also starting to really enjoy coming up with cute ideas and seeing the delight on their faces when I present it to them. This really is fun.

Here's how I made this week's fun food:

Owl sandwich: 2 slices bread with rotisserie chicken. Cucumber and craisin eyes and carrot nose. Cut the sides of the sandwich and arrange like wings.

Tree: several cucumber slices and pretzel stick trunk.

Could it be any easier? Pin It

my adorable kiddos

Pin It As promised, here are some new pictures of the kids and Cam showing off his new haircut! Wow, why did I wait so long to get him a real haircut? He looks like a little boy now, and not that poor boy whose mom gave him a bowlcut. I love these kids so much.

My handsome little guy:



Blowing raspberries - look at those clenched fists and determination!



Success (and a very wet chin!):



Looking cool in his sister's rain boots (the boy has a shoe fetish):





Sibling love:





Kirsten trying her hardest to NOT look at my camera:







Gotcha!



Lounging on the couch:

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perogie pie

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I made this recipe while James was out of town because he doesn't really like it, but I LOVE it. I mean, what's not to love? Mashed potatoes, cheese, bacon, pie pastry. Yup, I love it. I got this recipe from the hospital cafeteria of all places. I work at the hospital and they usually have 1 lunch special every day. Wednesday was perogie pie day. I have fond memories of getting this often while I was pregnant with both Kirsten and Camden. Sadly, they don't make this anymore. But, lucky me, got the recipe and can now make it myself. It's not gourmet by any means (it uses boxed mashed potatoes), but trust me on this one, it is really good. Here's the recipe:

ingredients:

1 deep dish pie shell
1/2 lb bacon, sliced into small pieces
1 onion, diced
1 package of plain instant mashed potatoes (plus ingredients to make according to package directions)(boxes usually come with 2 packages, just use 1)
5 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
2 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
sour cream for serving

directions:

1. bake pie shell in oven until golden brown according to package directions. Let cool.
2. cook sliced bacon and diced onion in frying pan until nice and crisp. Drain grease.
3. cook the mashed potatoes according to package directions. Add the shredded cheeses to the boiling water just before you put the potatoes in.
4. when potatoes are done, pour mixture into pie shell. Add the bacon and onion on top. Let sit for 15 minutes to allow potatoes to set.
5. serve hot with sour cream on the side. Pin It

it's a summer heat wave

Pin It Here's some pictures I took a couple weeks ago in the backyard. You'll all be pleased to know that Camden got this first REAL big boy haircut yesterday and looks super adorable. It makes me laugh when I look at these pictures and see his poor little bowl cut. I'll post pics soon of the little guy and his new do.



























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melon and prosciutto skewers

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I made this appetizer for my wedding anniversary last week, and it was delicious. I was looking for something to make that didn't use the oven because my house was incredibly hot. This recipe fit the bill. It was quick and easy to prepare and pretty delicious and refreshing to eat. I love the saltiness of the prosciutto mixed with the sweetness of the melon. Another winning taste combination in my book. I do need to work on my melon balling techniques though. Most of mine aren't really balls, but more like semi-circles, lol. Here's the very simple recipe:

What you'll need:

honeydew melon
cantaloupe
prosciutto
melon baller
bamboo skewers

Directions:

1. slice melons in half and scoop out the seeds.
2. take your melon baller and scoop out balls of both melons.
3. take a skewer, and thread on 2 melon balls. Then thread on a folded piece of prosciutto, followed by 2 more melon balls. Pin It

new feature: fun food friday!

Pin It I'm starting something new on my blog called fun food friday. Every Friday I will post a new lunch or snack idea just for kids. The main criteria for fun food friday is that it will be something cute, quick and easy. We've all heard of or seen Japanese bento box lunches for kids, and while simply adorable, I just don't have the time to make lunches like that. I do like making cute lunches for my kids though, and I find that Kirsten usually eats more of her vegetables when I arrange them in a cute format. The key in my life is that it has to be QUICK and that will be the basis of fun food friday. This week's fun food will be FLOWERS.

I used flower silicone muffin liners and filled them with honeydew melon balls, strawberry yogurt, turkey slices and sliced cheese. I used celery stalks for the stems. Really quick and really easy. Kirsten even ate the celery, which she usually doesn't like.



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handprint canvases

Pin It When I saw these square canvases at the dollar store, I knew exactly what I was going to do with them. I thought they would be the perfect size for adorable handprint canvases. I was right, these are super cute. This is yet again a very simple craft and it looks great. Here's the directions:

What you'll need:

square canvas - I found mine in packs of 3 at the dollar store
paint brush
2 shades of paint in same colour family

Directions:

1. paint your canvas with 1 shade of paint. Allow to dry.
2. with your other shade of paint, paint your child's palm and stamp on canvas.

Cam's handprint



Kirsten's handprint

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creamsicle cake

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It was my 5 year anniversary last Thursday (love you James!!) and I made us a special dinner. It was unbearably hot that day that I tried to pick recipes that used as little of the stove/oven as possible. For an appetizer we made melon and prosciutto skewers, for the entree we had shrimp scampi and for dessert we had this. I'll share the other 2 recipes soon. This was refreshing on such a hot day. Unfortunately I couldn't find just plain orange sorbet at the store, so ended up buying rainbow sorbet - that's why mine is multi-coloured. Oh well, it probably tasted better that way. Here's the recipe:

What You Need

2 cups orange sorbet or sherbet, softened
1 pkg. (250 g) Philadelphia Brick Cream Cheese, softened
1 can (300 mL) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup Orange juice
3 cups thawed Cool Whip Whipped Topping

Make It

LINE 9x5-inch loaf pan with foil. Spread sorbet onto bottom of prepared pan to form even layer. Freeze 10 min.

MEANWHILE, beat cream cheese in large bowl with mixer until creamy. Gradually add condensed milk and orange juice, beating until blended. Gently stir in Cool Whip. Spread over sorbet in pan.

FREEZE 3 hours. To unmold, invert pan onto plate; remove foil.

Recipe from Kraft Canada Pin It

pom pom caterpillar on a leaf

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I bought these leaf serving trays from oriental trading for Cam's very hungry caterpillar birthday party last year, and I have quite a few left over. I was thinking of ways that I could use them up, and came up with this adorable craft. Kirsten loved the pom pom caterpillars and wanted to make LOTS of them. This was a really fun craft and it looks super cute. Here's the directions:

What you'll need:

leaf plate - or make a leaf out of construction paper
pom poms, lots of colours
2 googly eyes
pipecleaner
glue
scissors

1. cut rim off green leaf plate so it's relatively flat
2. glue different coloured pom poms on the plate to form a caterpillar
3. get a larger pom pom for the head, and glue on googly eyes and pipecleaner antennae, glue this to the plate for the head
4. cut some bite marks out of the plate to look like the caterpillar is eating!

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fun at the park....or maybe not

Pin It Daddy is home and we couldn't be more happy. One of the first things Kirsten wanted to do was go to the park. It was a gorgeous morning and Kirsten had lots of fun. Now Cam is another story. Somebody needs to tell this little guy that the park is fun. He was in a M.O.O.D. His pictures are almost painful to look at.

Introducing Mr. Cranky McCrankerson:

















And here's Kirsten. Nobody needs to tell this little girl how to have fun.













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3 layer popsicles

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These popsicles not only look great, but they taste great too. Did I mention that they're also good for you? Wow. It has been so HOT here these days that we've been eating quite a few of these babies. I don't feel guilty either because it's just pureed fruit and yogurt. The kids loved these and I'll definitely be making them again. Here's the recipe:

strawberries
yogurt, any flavour
blueberries
popsicle mould

Directions

1. wash and cut stems off strawberries. Puree in blender until smooth.
2. pour strawberries into 1/3 of popsicle mould and place in freezer until frozen.
3. when frozen, remove popsicle mould from freezer.
4. fill next third with yogurt (you don't have to freeze this layer before the next because the yogurt is thick and will hold the blueberries on top without mixing).
5. wash blueberries and puree in blender until smooth.
6. pour blueberries into remaining third of popsicle mould.
7. put lid or stick in popsicle and return to freezer until frozen.
8. eat. Pin It