Around the Web — Homemade Frozen Treats

Frozen homemade treats are fun to make, plus a super-tasty way to cool off during the last few weeks of Summer! You can save lots of money by making your own ice pops, most recipes only call for a few ingredients (making them easy for kids to actively participate in the making process), and they […]

Favorite Cook Books for Kids

Does your kid love to cook and help out in the kitchen?? Emily sure does, and she’s been known to create her own recipes, carry cookbooks around the house with her, and check out several kid cookbooks from the library! Here are her top 5 favorite “must own” cookbooks designed for kids. 5. Magic Kitchen […]

Reason #1,438 Why Mark is Awesome

We were blessed with our first RED tomato… and there was much rejoicing!!! This was quickly followed by many, many, many, MANY more tomatoes — hundreds of them! Know why my hubby’s awesome?? He totally made several jars of homemade sauce! Also?? He canned them, so we can save them to enjoy well into Winter!! […]

Homemade Sourdough English Muffins

Mark has been spoiling our family with his delicious homemade sourdough English muffins!! Yay for awesome hubbies!!! Want to make some of your own? See his guest post below! English muffins from the store can be kind of expensive, but they’re really not all that hard to make yourself (and they taste a whole lot […]

Giveaway — Stonyfield Prize Pack

WE BAKED!! (…sort of.) Baking is not my thing. At all. Sewing? Yes. Cooking? You bet! Basket-weaving? Why not?? But baking?? That’s where I draw the line. Whenever I bake anything, it’s more of a threat than a blessing. Just ask Mark about Pumpkin Pie Failure 2004. It. Was. Awful. When Stonyfield asked me to […]

Solar-Powered Lunch!

We had a scorcher of an afternoon today — prime conditions to make our own solar oven! We recycled a pizza box and a clear plastic lid from a disposable cake pan. Add a little aluminum foil, and voilá… a super eco-friendly and frugal solar oven!! We even made our own sun tea, just to […]

World Cup Soccer Snack

In honor of World Cup 2010, we made soccer ball tortilla snacks! Emily LOVED making them, and especially eating them!! Start by adding some ranch dressing to a whole wheat tortilla. Spread out the dressing evenly with the back of a spoon. Add some sliced black olives to make a soccer ball design! Eat and […]

Cute Marshmallow Snowman

I have been wanting to make marshmallow snowmen with Emily for some time now, and when I mentioned it to her, she instantly adored the idea of making a snowman out of marshmallows! We used jumbo marshmallows and pretzel rods. Push three marshmallows through one end of the pretzel rod, and stack them together to […]

Gifts Kids Can Make — Chocolate Nut Bark

I found this recipe for Chocolate Nut Bark in an issue of Real Simple magazine, and it’s so simple and easy — a five year old can do it (with a bit of supervision). That’s my kind of “baking”! To make your own, you will need: one 12 oz bag of semi sweet chocolate chips […]

Adventures in Baking — Cornbread

Emily and I made cornbread to go with chili for dinner, and it was delicious, fun, and frugal! We followed the recipe on the back of the bag of Bob’s Red Mill Corn Meal found here. It was so simple, even I couldn’t screw it up. Emily had so much fun with this…. …and was […]

Gifts Kids Can Make — Chocolate Covered Pretzels

The girls and I did some holiday “baking” this afternoon. These chocolate covered pretzels were so much fun to make! We made several bags of them for neighbors, friends, and family. To make your own, you will need: One 12oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips 2 Tbsp. shortening Pretzel Rods Melt shortening and some of […]

Handmade Holidays — Peppermint Hot Cocoa Mix

Hot cocoa is a real treat in our household, and I’ve found that it is so simple and easy to make your own mix! Plus, Emily thinks this is a super-fun activity! We went the all organic route, but you certainly don’t have to. To make your own peppermint hot cocoa mix, you will need: […]

Super Easy Marshmallow Pumpkins

Emily and I did some Halloween “baking” this afternoon. She thought these marshmallow pumpkins were the coolest thing, and they were super-easy to make. Each marshmallow makes two pumpkins. Very frugal! She made these with very little help from me whatsoever. For a slightly healthier option, try slices of banana instead of marshmallows. I say, […]

Care Packages for Friends with Swine Flu

Swine flu appears to be making its way through our area, as it has throughout much of the U.S. Fortunately, we’ve managed to avoid it in our household so far, but some friends of ours were not so lucky. We delivered some meals to them, and I thought I would share this recipe with you […]

Bacon Bowls — Hey, there is something green in my bacon!

If there is one thing our entire family can agree on, it’s our love of BACON! In fact, bacon played a crucial role during the courting phase of my relationship with Mark. At the time, I was a strict vegetarian, but I kept packages of bacon in the fridge of my dorm room as “Mark […]

Favorite Summer Recipe — Peach Ice Cream

Purchasing an ice cream maker…. is it worth it? I say “YES!” Here’s why: Save Money — Have you seen the price of ice cream lately? Making your own ice cream can be significantly less expensive than the comparable store-bought ice cream. Size Matters — Like many grocery products, ice cream containers are shrinking. A […]

Mint-TEA Fresh

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you probably know about my profound love for tea. (I’ve mentioned it here, here, and oh yes, here…) Today, Emily and I made our own organic mint tea! It was so easy and lots of fun to make! First, we gathered lots and lots of mint from […]

Kids in the Kitchen — Poor Man’s Turtles

This week, I thought it would be fun to participate in A Little Fun with Me and Lu’s Kids in the Kitchen Thursday. Emily and I had such a great time this afternoon making these tasty Poor Man’s Turtles. She even decorated some boxes to keep them in, but I don’t think they will last […]