Most kids love to spend time in the kitchen. Why not foster their love of cooking and baking with a few treats for Valentine’s Day! Here are a few ideas that are easy and simple enough for kids to make with proper supervision.

• My kids learned to cook by making breakfast. Surprise the family with a breakfast created by the younger members of the family. Heart-shaped pancakes can be made with a mold in the frying pan or on the griddle. Omelets in the shape of love can be created using the same mold. If Valentine’s Day falls on a weekday, kids can plan their Valentine’s Day breakfast for the Sunday before the day so that everyone can relax and enjoy the breakfast. 

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Most kids love to make stuff and they love to give gifts – why not combine these two interests and let them make Christmas gifts? Think of the advantages of making Christmas gifts with your kids this year:

• It will probably take less time than a shopping trip to the crowded mall.
• It will save on your budget.
• It will give you fun bonding time with your children and good holiday memories.
• People love to receive items kids have made.

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by Stacey Schifferdecker

Ask most people to name the main focus of their Thanksgiving celebration, and chances are you will hear about time spent with family and friends at a Thanksgiving feast. From turkey and dressing to pumpkin pie, Thanksgiving is all about the food and the chance to share a special meal with friends and family. But have you ever noticed how much time is spent preparing the Thanksgiving meal compared to the time that is spent sitting down at the table together eating it? Many Thanksgiving meals take hours to prepare, but the eating is over within minutes. If the dinner table is the site of your fellowship time with friends and family, this doesn’t give you much time to connect and share together.

To extend your time together, make cooking the meal as much a “togetherness” time as eating it is. And especially invite the children into the kitchen to help with meal preparations. Kids love to help in the kitchen and will feel proud and happy to be included.

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Halloween is just a little over a month away Are you planning a Halloween party? Or are you just looking at cooking up something fun for your kids? Here are some of my favorite halloween recipes that are sure to delight and taste great too. How about some Pumpkin Muffins, or Spooky Honey Popcorn Balls? And to wet the kids whistles, why not try some Ghoulish Punch? Here are the recipes:

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Do your children love Peanut Butter? I remember as a kid that I sure did. It was my favorite for snacks and lunch. Well, all that love must have rubbed off on my kids. Here are some snack ideas you can whip up with Peanut Butter to make that old snack just a little more interesting:

• Peanut butter toast (still a classic)
• Peanut butter crackers
• Ritz crackers peanut butter sandwiches
• Apple slices with peanut butter (I loved this one as a kid)
• Peanut Butter Frosting (spread on cupcakes, graham crackers, anything that needs frosted)
• Peanut Butter and Banana sandwiches
• Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches (another oldie but goodie)
• Peanut Butter and Banana bread/muffins
• Peanut Butter Pancakes
• Chocolate Peanut Butter Ball candy
• Peanut Butter Fudge
• Peanut Butter Cookies
• Peanut Butter Milkshakes
• Ritz crackers peanut butter sandwiches dipped in dipping chocolate
• Peanut Butter Muffins
• Celery sticks with peanut butter (and raisins)

Dessert time is a fun time to involve the children. How about trying this recipe we recently found for this Fourth of July? Our family plans to. Invite them to make this wonderful red, white, and blue trifle. The great thing about this dish is that it’s virtually foolproof and it will look amazing no matter who handles the job, your two year old or your twenty year old.

Here is what you need to do for your Red White and Blue Trifle.

• 1 box white cake mix
• 2 packets of vanilla pudding
• 1 pound of strawberries, fresh or frozen
• 1 pound of blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 1 ½ cup of heavy cream, whipped. 
• Make cake and pudding by directions on the box.
• Thaw fruit if frozen. If fruit isn’t frozen, slice into bite sized pieces and add a tsp of sugar to make juices flow.
• Cut white cake into large chunks.
• Using a large clear dish, place a layer of cake chunks onto the bottom of the container.
• Top with a layer of strawberries
• Top with a layer of pudding
• Top with a layer of cake chunks
• Top with a layer of blueberries
• Top with a layer of pudding
• Continue layering until you reach the top of your container then top with whipped cream.

I love this one for kids, and adults too: Popsicle Rockets

Here’s what you need to get started:  red juice, blue juice and white juice.
Red is easy, blue can be blue Gatorade or Kool aid, and white juice can be lemonade.

You’ll also need two dozen 3oz paper cups and two dozen Popsicle sticks.

• Begin by having your children mix up the juice if need be.
• Pour two tablespoons of the red juice into the bottom of each cup and place in the freezer for 2-3 hours.
• Remove from freezer add two tablespoons of the white juice and place Popsicle sticks into the center of each cup.  Take care when pushing the sticks into the mostly frozen red juice.  Children can get enthusiastic and push the sticks all the way through the cup. 
• Place back into the freezer for another 2-3 hours.  Pull out and top with white juice. 
• Refreeze until hard.  Peel off paper cups and serve when ready! 

Family time, where has it gone to? With everyone on the go these days, it seems as if the family dinner has taken a back seat to after-school activities, and overtime. Even rarer is having the entire family sit at the dining room table for dinner on any given night. While there are ten-minute meals, and the popular 30-minute meals on TV; would you be interested to know there are actually 5 minute meals your family will love? Yes, indeed! With Mothers Day almost here Dad and kids could give mom an easy treat and make dinner for her. Here are a few recipes you can whip up in no time.

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Just for Mom Fruit Salad - here is a recipe that Dad and kids can easily make for Mom and have fun doing it together.  

Ingredients:
1 can prepared lemon pie filling
12 oz. frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 - 15 oz. can tropical fruit salad, drained
1 - 15 oz. can pineapple tidbits, drained
2 - 11 oz. cans mandarin oranges, drained
2 cups fresh strawberries

Instructions:

Mix lemon pie filling and whipped topping together in a large bowl. Add fruit to mixture and chill in refrigerator from 4 hours to overnight. When ready to serve, top with fresh strawberries or fruit of your choice and whipped topping. Servings: 8

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This Easter here are a couple of recipes sure to delight the kids and whole family. Easter ice cream nests are a delicious combination of chocolate easter mini-eggs, marshmellows and ice cream. Super easy browie cupcakes are everyones favorites and very easy to make. Enjoy, I know we will!

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Saint Patricks Day is almost here. Here are some fun recipes that are sure to delight the whole family: Shamrock Cookes, Green Magical Cookies and a Shamrock Shake. Shamrock Cookies.

Use your heart-shaped cookie cutter to make Shamrock Cookies for St. Patrick’s Day.

Here’s how:

Time needed from start to finish, including time to put icing on the cookies, 2 to 2.5 hours.

Yield: 2 dozen large shamrock cookies

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With Valentines day just around the corner, I wanted to share some of my favorite recipe ideas that are sure to delight your family and that special someone in your life.

Heart Cookies - fun to make for the kids!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Instructions:

In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg and vanilla and mix well. Mix in the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Mix until smooth. Divide dough into three equal pieces.

Work with one dough piece at a time. Roll out on a lightly floured surface. Using cookie cutters cut out two equal sized heart shapes for each cookie. Then using a smaller heart shaped cookie cutter cut out another heart in the center of one of the heart shaped cookies. Spread the solid heart cookie with a little strawberry jam/jelly and place on cookie sheet, top with the second cookie (the one with the heart-shaped center cut out). The center of each cookie will reveal a red jelly heart.

Repeat process until all dough is used. Bake cookies at 350F for approximately 8 minutes or until golden and baked through.

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The idea of having their kids cooking in the kitchen may prove to be a scary thought for some parents that might be imagining scenarios involving a lot of blood and wailing. However, for kids, cooking is an activity that many of them find interesting and fun. Having a young chef or two in the family can even work out to a harried parent’s advantage when vacation time rolls around. Let’s say that you’re a Disney fan (or that your kids are at least) and have decided to take a trip to Orlando. Read More

I ran across this recipe that is sure to delight with the kids this holiday season. Chocolate covered spoons!

Plastic spoons get dressed up just by adding a little chocolate! Take a bag of chocolate chips and melt it in the microwave cooking at half power in 30 second increments. Add a little bit of shortening (1 teaspoon to each cup of chips) if you want the chocolate to work better.

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