Being a dad who is not a very good cook, I wanted to find something fun and nice I can do for the kids. This is what I found:

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

If you have a family and you want to celebrate this Valentine's Day together, you may want to plan a very special menu for this day. Sure, Valentine's Day is for lovers, but you love your kids too and you want to make this day a special one for the entire family. Well, one way to make the day special for everyone is to make some great Valentine's Day dishes. No idea where to begin? Well, here are some great recipes for family dishes that you can serve on Valentine's Day this year.

Heart Shaped Pancakes

One great family dish (even dad can make) for breakfast on Valentine's Day is heart shaped pancakes. If your kids love having pancakes for breakfast, they are sure to love this great breakfast dish. You will need to have a heart shaped cookie cutter to make them, or if you are artistic you may be able to shape them yourself. Here's the recipe and instructions.

What You'll Need:
- 2.5 cups of flour
- A table spoon of baking powder
- 1 and ¾ cups of milk
- Half a teaspoon of salt
- 1/3 cups of brown sugar
- 1/3 cups of vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- ¼ to ½ cup of powdered sugar

Combine together the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Then mix up the wet ingredients in another bowl, then add to the dry ingredients. Stir up the ingredients until everything is well moistened, but the batter may be a bit on the lumpy side, which is totally fine.

Heat up a griddle on medium and brush a bit of oil on it or use some cooking spray. You can use cookie cutters to shape your batter or you may want to just use ¼ cup of batter and then shape it into a heart yourself. Cook the pancakes until you start seeing bubbles on top and they start to break. Then turn them and cook for another minute or two on the other side. Take the pancakes out and sprinkle them with powdered sugar while they are warm. You may want to add some chocolate chips or some blueberries to the batter for a tasty twist on the heart shaped pancakes.

Pizza Hearts

If you are looking for a great family dish to serve for dinner on Valentine's Day, pizza hearts are a tasty dish that you can easily serve up. They look great and they don't really take that long to make either. Your kids will be thrilled with this tasty dish on Valentine's Day.

What You'll Need:
- pizza dough that is pre made
- a couple jars of pizza sauce
- some type of pizza cheese (8 ounces)
- slices of pepperoni
- a large and small heart cookie cutter

The preparation of the pizzas should only take about 15-20 minutes. It sounds harder than it really is. If you want some help, get the kids working too. The pizza dough should be cut with the larger heart shaped cookie cutter. Place the cut out dough on a greased baking sheet. You'll need to use the smaller cookie cutter to cut out hearts from the pepperoni. This is a great job for the kids to do while you are dealing with the dough.

Then you are ready to take the sauce and spread it evenly on the heart dough pieces. Top the sauce with a sprinkle of pizza cheese. Then top them off with the pepperoni. Bake them on 400 until the cheese melts. Once the cheese has melted, then they are probably done.

Special Rice Crispy Treats for Valentine's Day

Most kids, and even most parents, really love rice crispy treats. Well, you can make them up special for Valentine's Day and they make a great dessert or snack on this special day. With a few decorations, they look festive for the day, and you can even have the kids help you make them for some great family fun as well.

What You'll Need
- 10 cups of rice crispies ( get 2 boxes just in case)
- Half a cup of real butter ( don't substitute)
- 9 cups of the mini marshmallows
- ¾ cups of mini chocolate chips
- A few drops of red food coloring
- Valentine's Day candy hearts (that have the messages on them)
- Red spice mini hearts

Start out by melting the marshmallows and the butter in a pan, but melt on low to medium so you don't burn it. Keep stirring until your mixture is totally smooth. In a big bowl, mix together the rice crispies, the mini red hearts, and the chocolate chips. Add about 2 drops of the red food coloring into your marshmallow mixture. You can add a bit more if you want a darker shade of red. Then mix the marshmallow mixture into the cereal. Quickly stir it all up to make sure you get it combined before it begins to harden up. Spread out the mixture in a pan that has been buttered. Butter your hands and press in the mixture. Then press the hearts with messages onto the top of the mixture while it is still warm.

Refrigerate the rice crispy treats for a couple hours. Then cut them up into squares. They will look great and taste great. They're definitely a nice twist on regular rice crispy treats.

Christmas is just about here and you are probably frantically trying to figure out what you are going to make for exciting Christmas desserts. No doubt you want to pick out something that is going to be tasty, but finding something that can be fun for everyone in the family is definitely a great idea. So, when you are choosing your desserts, make sure that you consider the taste, the way the desserts look, and of course make sure that they are family oriented.

In fact, as you are choosing and making holiday desserts this holiday season, you may want to go with choices that will allow everyone in the family to get involved. Kids often enjoy getting involved with the Christmas baking, and if you can find some recipes that they can help out with, no doubt you'll all have a great time together preparing tasty treats for the holiday season. If you are not sure where to begin or what to prepare, here are several great holiday dessert ideas that you may want to give a try.

Fun Christmas Wreaths

If you want a simple recipe that everyone can help with, these fun Christmas wreath cookies are easy to make and fun for the kids to decorate. Of course they are tasty and enjoyable for eating as well.

All you'll need is a cup of butter, making sure it is softened, two egg yolks, 2/3 cups of sugar, ½ tsp of almond extract, and then 2.25 cups of flour. Mix all the ingredients together except the flour until well mixed. Then add in the flour slowly.

Put the dough that you make into a cookie press or a pastry bag. You'll squeeze out the dough into the shapes of wreaths on a cookie sheet. After you have the wreaths on the cookie sheet, then let your kids decorate them. Have them sprinkle the wreaths with plenty of green sprinkles, and then add little red hots to them at the bottom to look like b berries.

They are to be baked at 375 for between 7-9 minutes. Then allow them to cool f or 5 minutes before putting them on wire racks for cooling.

Cool Christmas Cutouts

Cutout cookies are traditionally known as Christmas cookies, and they are favorites with kids and adults alike. The whole family can have a great time mixing up and making the cutout cookies.

To make these cookies, you'll need two cups of softened butter, an 8oz pack of cream cheese that is softened, two cups of sugar, two egg yolks, one tsp of vanilla, and 4.5 cups of flour. You'll cream the cream cheese and butter together and then add the egg yolks, the vanilla, and the sugar and mix it all together well. Then begin adding in the flour. Before you can go any further, you'll need to chill the dough for a couple hours.

After the dough has chilled, begin rolling out the dough. Roll it out to between ¼ and ½ inch thickness. Use various cookie cutters to cut out shapes and then place them on a baking sheet. They should bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, or until they are set. Just make sure that you don't choose shapes that are easily breakable.

After you bake the cookies, allow them to totally cool. Then mix up a nice butter cream icing, and add colorings so you can decorate the cookies. For stars, blue is a great choice, red is great for stockings, and of course green for Christmas trees. The whole family can help out, and once they are done, you are sure to enjoy eating these tasty holiday treats together.

Fun and Simple Baklava

Does your family love the taste of baklava? If so, you may want to consider making it. However, it can be time consuming to make this treat. However, here is a very simple and quick way to get the baklava taste without all the trouble.

Purchase some miniature phyllo tart shells, which you'll find in the frozen food section. Get 3 packs of the 1.9 oz size ones. You'll also need to have two cups of walnuts, half a cup of butter, ¾ cup of honey, a tsp of lemon juice, a teaspoon of cinnamon that is ground, and then a quarter teaspoon of ground cloves.

Make sure that the nuts are finely chopped. You can let kids do this with a nut grinder or you can put them in a chopper to chop them up fine enough for this dessert. Then mix all of the ingredients, except the tart shells, together. Then take the mixture and fill each of the shells with them. Have the kids help you fill the tart shells to get them involved. Then put them in the fridge for about an hour. Take them out and you'll have a tasty treat that was simple to make but that has amazing taste.

Cool Gingerbread House

Finally, have you ever seen one of those cool gingerbread houses and thought they were just too difficult to make? Well, we found this great video that shows how simple they really are. Enjoy and happy baking: 

If you have a family, no doubt eating healthy is one of your big concerns. However, with the falling economy, your grocery budget is probably getting tighter and tighter. So, the challenge is to come up with frugal and healthy family dinner recipes that you can feed the entire family. Many people seem to have the idea that eating healthy is more expensive, but it doesn't have to be. You can easily feed a family of four for a couple dollars per plate – even cheaper than you could feed the family at McDonalds.

Feeding your family on a budget is really not as hard as it may seem, especially if you are willing to do a bit of cooking. You don't have to be a great chef to be able to turn out great meals everyone will love without breaking the bank. While you can't expect to have filet mignon each night on a budget, healthy and tasty meals are possible if you are willing to take the time.

Tips for Grocery Shopping on a Budget

In order to be able to create healthy family dishes that don't cost a lot, you are going to have to become a frugal grocery shopper. Eating on a budget all starts out with the way that you shop. So, here are some great tips that will help you grocery shop on a budget.

Tip #1 – Look for the Deals – The first thing you need to do when trying to save money on your grocery shopping is to look for deals. You want to get the best deals possible on the items that you buy, and there are a couple ways that you can accomplish this. Saving coupons, cutting them from papers or printing them from online, can help you save big time. Also, taking the time to research current fliers from grocery stores can help you find the best deals as well.

Tip #2 – Plan Menus – Plan your menus ahead of time. Waiting until the last minute to figure out what to make for dinner is going to hurt your grocery budget. You'll end up spending more money when you don't plan. So, sit down and plan out your menus so you know exactly what you need for each meal.

Tip #3 – Make a List – Once you have made out your menu for the week, then you are ready to make a list. Write down what you need for each meal. Going to the store without a list can get expensive. Those who don't have a list tend to spend more money in the store. So, make sure you make out a list so you know what you need and don't spend a lot of money on things you really don't need to purchase.

Tip #4 – Go with Label Free Foods – If you're trying to shop on a budget, trying going with label free foods. Foods that have fancy boxes and labels probably aren't so great for you and you'll pay more, just because of the fancy label. Purchasing fresh foods, such as lettuce, apples, and other fresh items is cheaper and will save you money.

Tip #5 – Avoid Foods with "Special" Health Claims – It's easy to be drawn into purchasing foods that have "special" health claims. Perhaps they are supposed to help you lose weight, cure a health problem, or they cut out trans fats. Usually this is just a marketing tactic to make you purchase the product and the prices on these products are usually quite steep. Real healthy foods, such as fresh fruits and veggies, don't need to have special health claims on their labels – you already know that they are good for you.

Great Frugal Recipes to Try

Now that you understand a bit more about grocery shopping on a budget, you're probably wondering if there are some great recipes you can try to feed your family a healthy meal that won't cost a lot of money. So, the following are some simple and healthy recipes that are cost effective so you can easily feed your family great tasting food, even on a tight budget.

Recipe #1 – Simple Spaghetti Dinner

Approximate Total Cost: About $10

# of Servings: 8 +

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium green pepper
1 medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp sage
1 can diced Italian tomatoes
2 – 24oz cans tomato sauce
1 lb spaghetti noodles

Brown the ground beef in a skillet then drain well. Meanwhile, finely chop peppers, onion, and garlic. Begin to sauté peppers, onion, and garlic in olive oil until tender. Add can of diced tomatoes and bring to a simmer. Add ground beef, tomato sauce, basil, oregano, and sage. Mix together well. Simmer on low heat for about an hour. Bring a pot of water to a boil. When boiling, add spaghetti noodles. Cook until tender and then drain. Serve sauce of noodles.

Consider adding a tossed salad for a well rounded meal.

Leftovers: With the leftovers you have from the spaghetti, you'll probably have enough left to bake with some shredded cheese for a whole new meal during the week, making it even more cost effective.

Recipe #2 – Home Made Sloppy Joes and Home Fries

Approximate Total Cost: $6-8 (depending on whether you already have the condiments)

# of Servings: 10+ sandwiches

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion
1 small pepper
½ cup ketchup
¼ cup mustard
¼ cup barbeque sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
½ tsp chili powder
1-2 packs of hamburger buns

4 large potatoes
Cooking spray
Seasoning of choice

Brown ground beef, pepper, and onion. Drain off any grease. Place back in pan. Add ketchup, mustard, barbeque, brown sugar, and chili powder. Stir together. Simmer for about 30 minutes.

For the potatoes, preheat oven to 425. Slice potatoes into wedges and put on a cookie sheet. Spray lightly with cooking spray for crispness. Sprinkle with seasoning, such as Mrs. Dash or Garlic and Herb seasoning. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until potatoes are crispy.

Any leftovers of sloppy joes can be made into sandwiches and used for lunches.

With proper planning, family dinners can taste great without having to cost a lot.

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any form without the express permission of More4Kids Inc © 2008 All Rights Reserved

Pineapple Pumpkin Drink

Ingredients:

1 cup pineapple juice
1 1/2 cups apple juice
1 cup fresh pumpkin, peel and cut into small chunks
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

How to Make

Place the apple juice and pineapple juice into the blender.  Add the pumpkin chunks to the juice.  Blend until beginning to smooth.  Pour the honey into the blended mixture.  Sprinkle in the cinnamon and nutmeg on top.  Blend until all the ingredients are mixed together.  Pour into a pitcher and refrigerate until ready to serve.  Best when served chilled.   

Halloween Ham Slices

Ingredients:

4 ham steaks
8 baby carrots
2 pickles, cut into 4 long strips
4 black olives, cut into 3 slices each
2 tablespoons of canola oil
4 hard cooked eggs, cut in half
Red pimento
4 pieces of string cheese

How to Make:

Place the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat.  Place the ham steaks into the skillet.  Fry 4 minutes or until slightly browned. Turn and continue browning 3 minutes or until cooked through.  Remove from the skillet and drain on a piece of paper towel.  Place a ham steak on a plate.  Place one slice towards the bottom of the ham steak for a mouth.  Place 3 slices of olive on the pickle for teeth.  Cut the rounded back off of each egg half.  Place the eggs on the ham slice for eyes.  Place a piece of pimento on each egg white to make them look bloodshot.  Place a carrot on each side of the ham slice for ears.  Use the string cheese on the top of the ham slice for hair.  Serve to your children for a treat on Halloween.  

Cinnamon Pumpkin Waffles

Ingredients:

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin
1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
4 large eggs, beaten

1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup butter, melted

1/4 teaspoon salt

How to Make:

Sift together the flour and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir to combine all the ingredients together.  In a separate bowl add the milk to the beaten eggs and mix slightly.  Pour in the buttermilk and melted butter.  Mix to incorporate.  Fold in the pumpkin and mix until all the ingredients are incorporated together and mixture is smooth.  Add the dry ingredients to the smooth mixture.  Blend together making sure all the dry ingredients are moistened well.  Heat the waffle iron.  Pour a scant amount of the batter onto the waffle iron and cook according to the waffle iron directions.  Set the oven temperature to 200 degrees.  When the waffle is done place it on the preheated oven rack to keep hot.  Continue cooking the waffles until all the batter has been used.  Serve with warm Apple Cinnamon Breakfast Syrup.

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. 
• Baking is the easiest part of cooking for kids to learn. Make scrumptious cookies for the family or the school class for Valentine’s Day. The cookies can be simple sugar cookies. Use cookie cutters to cut them in the shape of hearts. Round cookies can be decorated with hearts using a pastry bag and a small tip for writing. Add a bit of red food coloring to white icing to create pink for the cookies.
• What about chocolate desserts? Kids can make chocolate truffles. The chocolate candies can be rolled in powdered sugar, cocoa, nuts, or chocolate sprinkles to complete the tasty treats. The finished candies can be packed in a heart-shaped candy tin on top of waxed paper. School teachers would love this treat from one of their students.
• Melted chocolate can also be used to make chocolate lollipops. Using a mold and lollipop sticks, the chocolate can be melted into heart shapes. Once the candy is cool and firm, the lollipops can be wrapped with clear wrap and a ribbon tied to the stick. Kids can put these lollipops into gift baskets for their siblings on Valentine’s Day.
• A Valentine’s Day cake would make a sweet treat for after dinner. Kids can create a series of small cakes using individual mold pans or one cake. A round cake can be used and a stencil cut to shape the cake into a heart after it is baked. Let the kids mix the ingredients together and spread icing on the cooled cakes. As an extra touch, they can write the name of each family member including themselves on the cakes.

Why not invite other family members over for the treats that the kids create! Kids love having an audience of taste testers for their work. They will likely want to spend more holidays creating good food in the kitchen if they receive positive reinforcement.

All sorts of treats can be made by kids. Give them a sampling of recipes and let them choose the ones they want to make. Plan your strategy at least a week in advance so that there is time to gather all of the ingredients.

Valentine’s Day treats are a way for kids to share in the giving of the day. They may not have money to buy gifts for others but they can use their hands to mold candies and other foods for the family members to enjoy. Try these ideas for Valentine’s Day treats, or try some of your own.

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any form without the express permission of More4Kids Inc © 2009 All Rights Reserved

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.

Know anyone who loves hot chocolate or mocha coffee? Chocolate spoons make a great, useful gift. All you do is melt chocolate and dip the spoons into the chocolate. When your chocolate-loving friends use the spoon to stir a hot drink, they get an extra dose of chocolate as a special treat.

Specialty stores sell pretty cookie, soup, and other mixes layered in glass jars for $10 and more. You and your children can easily make your own gift jars for far less. All you need is

• Large canning jars
• The ingredients for whatever recipe you choose
• A recipe card so the gift recipient knows how to prepare the item
• Ribbon or fabric to decorate the jars

• Cut fun foam into various shapes and give as a bath toy to young children. The foam will stick to the tub walls when it is wet. You can also include a plastic colander to store the shapes in between baths.
• Glue or sew giant pom-poms together to make a pom-pom scarf.
• Glue old scrabble letter tiles to magnetic sheeting. You can cut out words or individual letters.
• Mix clear aloe vera gel and glitter to make body glitter.

• Decoupage pictures of superheroes to a magazine stand for a comic book lover to keep his reading material in.
• Decoupage pictures of cookies to a clear glass plate to make a unique cookie platter.
• Decoupage colorful candy wrappers to a clear glass bowl to make a candy bowl.
• Decoupage family photos around a picture or mirror frame to make a personalized wall hanging.
• Decoupage a pretty picture or dried flower onto a bar of soap to make a decorative but useful gift.

Fleece is a great material for working with children because it is soft, comes in many designs, and doesn’t ravel. You can use fleece to make blankets, hats, scarves, pillows, and more. You don’t even need a sewing machine for many projects: you can cut the fleece into fringes and then knot them together. (photo from www.makingfriends.com)

• www.makingfriends.com
• www.orientaltrading.com
• www.familyfun.go.com
• www.dltk-holidays.com/xmas/index.html
• www.make-stuff.com/
• www.kidscraftweekly.com

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.

Think your kids can’t handle any Thanksgiving cooking chores? The trick is to pick tasks appropriate to your child’s age and attention span. Your kids love you, but they don’t want to spend all day in the kitchen with you! Give them jobs that last for a little while or that only require sporadic attention so your children can also watch the Thanksgiving parade or run around with their cousins.

Good jobs for even young children include stirring jello, filling deviled eggs, putting together an appetizer tray of pickles and olives, and mashing potatoes. Older children can peel potatoes, make the devilled egg filling, make a pie filling, and even mix up the dressing or stuffing.

A fun activity for a group of children is to make their own butter. All you do is fill a small, lidded container with some whole cream and a dash of salt and then shake it. It takes about 15 minutes of shaking, so the children can pass the container around and take turns. When they are done, you will have a lump of delicious homemade butter to put on your Thanksgiving rolls.

If your children have an artistic bent, you can put them in charge of setting the table, including making place cards and other decorations. Sugar cones filled with fruit candies make miniature horns of plenty that look pretty on the dining table. Or find a book or website with napkin folding instructions and let your children have fun folding the napkins in different ways.

As you cook with your children, you can also teach them cleanup skills. How much easier is the Thanksgiving cleanup when you wash dishes as you go along rather than piling everything up as you go along! Teach your children to clean up after themselves as they cook (who knows, maybe the skills will spill over into everyday life – then we would definitely have something to be thankful for!)

Of course, some things will take longer if you cook with your children than if you do it yourself. The mashed potatoes might have a few lumps and the deviled eggs might not be picture perfect. But you will be teaching your children valuable life skills and creating wonderful holiday memories at the same time. What could be better than that?

Remember, have fun but stay safe. Adults should always supervise children, and keep them away from sharp or hot objects.

Biography
Stacey Schifferdecker is the happy but harried mother of three school-aged children—two boys and a girl. She is also a freelance writer, a Children’s Minister, a PTA volunteer, and a Scout leader. Stacey has a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and French and a Master’s degree in English. She has written extensively about parenting and education as well as business, technology, travel, and hobbies.

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any form without the express permission of More4Kids Inc © 2007 All Rights Reserved

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:

Pumpkin Muffins

• 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup buckwheat flour 
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup canned unseasoned pumpkin
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup fat-free milk
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon orange peel
• 1/4 cup orange juice

1. In a medium bowl combine the all-purpose flour, buckwheat flour, sugar, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and baking soda.
2. In another bowl combine the eggs, pumpkin, milk, oil, orange peel, and orange juice.
3. Add the egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir just until moistened (batter will be lumpy). 
4. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the muffins are light brown. Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm. Makes 12 muffins. 

Ghoulish Punch

Ingredients and Directions

• 3 pints of grape juice 
• 1 ½ pints of club soda 
• Mix together the grape juice and club soda and pour into a large bowl or cauldron.

For that little bit of extra ghoulish quality, simply add:

• Grapes that will look like eyes floating in the punch.
• Apples diced in small chunks will float and resemble teeth.
• Rubber gloves filled with water tied off and frozen. Iced hands will keep punch cold and add a creepy touch to the punch.

Spooky Honey Popcorn Balls

• ½ cup honey
• ¼ cup sugar 
• 1 Tbs butter
• 5 cups popped popcorn
• ½ tsp cinnamon 

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.

Angel Hair Pasta: This is, by far, the easiest pasta to prepare. Plus it makes a great family meal. It takes less than five minutes to cook because of its thinness. Available in your local supermarket, just boil a pot of water; add salt; throw in the entire box of angel hair, and cover. Literally, within minutes, you have a most delicious meal. Note: Prepare a large pot of the sauce on the weekend; use several containers to store and freeze; and take the container out of the freezer and place in the fridge until you are ready to cook. You can always use a freezer bag to store excess pasta. When you wish to have the pasta again, just use the microwave to thaw it out.

Chicken: Cook a whole chicken or chicken breasts on the weekend; and freeze. Remember, the thinner the breasts, the faster they will cook – so pound them out until they are quite thin. This is another 2-3 minute meal you can prepare any night of the week. You can also cut up the chicken breast to make a delicious salad.

Pork Chops: These can be cooked for two minutes per side. Boil a bag of rice; add a quick and easy salad, and another fast meal has been prepared.

The secret to preparing 5 minute meals is preparation. When you buy salads and other vegetables on your next shopping trip; wash them and put them into a plastic zip lock bag. This will cut down the time needed to slice and dice. Cook your sauces on the weekends, as well as other meat and poultry dinners you may wish to have during the week. Freezer bags are wonderful for preserving any kind of food you prepare.

There are also side dishes available at your local supermarket, such as Mac and Cheese. Four minutes in the microwave and you have a delicious side dish for the entire family.
Get ready; get set; cook!

So, what are your favorite family meals? Let us know, enter your comments here.

All the ingredients of these cookies symbolize part of the Easter story. As you make the cookies, you will read portions of the Bible to your children.

• 1 cup whole pecans
• 1 tsp. vinegar
• 3 egg whites
• pinch salt
• 1 cup sugar

Directions

• Packaged crescent rolls
• Regular-size marshmallows
• Melted butter
• Cinnamon sugar

• 1 can refrigerated breadsticks
• 1 egg white, beaten until foamy
• Toppings of your choice – course salt, cinnamon sugar, Parmesan cheese, etc.

• loaf of frozen bread rolls
• 1 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 tbsp. melted butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp. milk

Biography
Stacey Schifferdecker is the happy but harried mother of three school-aged children—two boys and a girl. She is also a freelance writer, a Children’s Minister, a PTA volunteer, and a Scout leader. Stacey has a Bachelor’s degree in Communications and French and a Master’s degree in English. She has written extensively about parenting and education as well as business, technology, travel, and hobbies.

No part of this article may be copied or reproduced in any form without the express permission of More4Kids Inc © 2007

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!

Easter Ice Cream Nests
This is the perfect kid-friendly dessert. Guaranteed to be a hit!

20 milk chocolate mini-eggs unwrapped
½ cup miniature marshmallows
1 tablespoon
Light corn syrup
1 tablespoon butter
1 ½ cups corn flakes (crushed)
Vanilla ice cream
Chocolate syrup for topping

Lightly grease 6 muffin cups and set aside. Microwave 12 of the 18 chocolate eggs (make sure they’re uncovered) in a microwave-safe bowl for about 1 minute (or a little less) and stir. If not fully melted microwave another 10 seconds.

Combine the butter, corn syrup and marshmallows in another bowl and microwave for about 15 seconds, stir until melted and add the melted chocolate and cereal to it. Mix the mixture well.

Press mixture into the bottom and sides of the muffin cups to form a “nest” shape. Refrigerate for approximately 1 hour. Remove the nests from the muffin cups very carefully and let stand at room temperate for approximately 15 minutes.

Place a small scoop of vanilla ice cream inside each nest, top with another unwrapped chocolate egg and drizzle with chocolate syrup.

Super Easy Easter Brownie Cupcakes

1 (19.5oz) package chocolate brownie mix
36 milk-chocolate mini eggs
12 ounces cream cheese, softened
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups flaked coconut
2 drops green food coloring

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners. Prepare brownie mix according to package instructions. Stir in 9 unwrapped mini chocolate eggs and stir well. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Place in the preheated oven and bake for approximately 15 to 17 minutes or until the edges start to firm but the center is still slightly soft. Remove from oven and cool in pan for approximately 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

In a separate bowl beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla using an electric mixer until smooth. Set aside.

Combine the shredded coconut and food coloring in a small bowl and mix well. Now top each cupcake with a tablespoon full of the cream cheese mixture and smooth the mixture flat. Then sprinkle the “green grass” shredded coconut over the cupcakes. Top each cupcake with one unwrapped chocolate egg.