Recipes Archives - JDaniel4s Mom

Dragons Love Tacos Playdough Recipe and Activity

February 25, 2018 By Deirdre

This taco playdough recipe is super easy! After reading the book Dragons Love Tacos, your children will have fun making it and then building make-believe tacos. I need to warn you when we made this playdough recipe my husband wandered into the kitchen wondering if we were going to have tacos for lunch. The seasoning really makes the playdough smell like a taco.

Taco Playdough Recipe

Ingredients

2 cups of all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1/2 cup of salt

2 tablespoons of cream of tartar

1 1/2 cups of boiling water

3 teaspoons of taco seasoning

Directions for Making this Playdough Recipe

In a large bowl mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar, oil and taco seasoning. You will want to mix it until it is fully blended.

Next, slowly add the boiling water to the mixture a little at a time.

Finally, you will want to stir it continuously with a fork until it becomes a sticky dough. (A little more flour can be added if you think it is too sticky.)

Making the Taco Building Accessories

You will need yellow, red, and green plastic file folders to make the taco building accessories. Let me walk you through how we made ours.

Tomatoes

You will need to trace small circles onto the red file folder. Then you will need to cut them out. Finally, you will fold them in half and cut two triangles along the fold.

Lettuce

You will need to cut cloud shaped pieces out of the green folder. If you cut them along the edge of the closed folder, you will cut out two lettuce leaves at a time.

Shredded Cheese

You will cut several wavy lines about 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart along the edge of the yellow folder. Each line will need to be about three inches long. Then you will cut a straight line across the inside end of the lines. The shredded cheese pieces will all fall from the folder at the same time.

Pretend Play Activity with the Taco Playdough

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Before your children build tacos with the playdough and taco accessories, you will want to read them the book Dragons Love Tacos.

Then your children will have fun rolling or patting the playdough into tortillas for the tacos. They can make standing tacos or tacos that lay flat on the tables. I made a laying down taco and JDaniel decided to make a standing one.

Finally, they will need to fill the tacos. We placed button olives and the plastic food accessories. We didn’t add meat to ours.

Dragons Love Tacos in the Virtual Book Club book of the week. Here are some more activities based on the book:

No Bake Cookies – Gruffalo Paws

February 22, 2017 By Deirdre

Kids love to bake! There are times when that baking urge hits them and there isn’t a lot of time to put together the recipe and then wait for something to bake. These no bake cookies take no time at all to bake. Kids will love that they are based on the Gruffalo!

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If your children haven’t had the book The Gruffalo read to them, they so need to hear it. My almost nine-year-old son read it over again when I had it sitting out on the kitchen table. He commented that he still loves how sneaky and creative the mouse in the book is. After he finished read it, we made these delicious
After he finished read it, we made these delicious no bake cookies. We made a version of the cookies that does not have peanut butter in it. JDaniel doesn’t like peanut butter. He will occasionally eat peanuts although he really prefers cashews. We happened to have peanuts on hand at home so, that is the nut we used to make the Gruffalo claws on the no bake cookies. You will find a list of claw alternatives in the recipe below. Several of them are not nuts.

Recipe for No Bake Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

1 cup of butter

1/2 cup milk

4 tablespoons of cocoa

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3 cups of quick oats

3/4 cups of chocolate chips

Peanuts

Claw Alternatives: cashews, white jelly beans, white raisins or dried pineapple pieces

Directions

Place the sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa in a pot.
Bring the mixture to a boil.
Cook for 1 extra minute.
Add the vanilla, oats and chocolate chips to the mixture.
Mix thoroughly.
Scoop up spoonfuls and drop it onto wax or parchment paper.
Add claw to the top of the cookies before they cool.

Marshmallow Recipe – Fruity Marshmallow Cloud Fluff

February 14, 2017 By Deirdre

When I was a little girl, my grandmother used to make this marshmallow recipe. She called it ambrosia. I think other grandmothers called it marshmallow fluff. It has been renamed by my family. We call it Fruity Marshmallow Cloud Fluff. We follow her marshmallow recipe with one exception. My grandmother loved coconut. She made lots of desserts that featured it. If your children don’t like coconut, you will want to omit it too.

Marshmallow Recipe for Fruity Marshmallow Cloud Fluff

Ingredients

1 25 ounce can of crushed pineapple with juice*

2 15 ounce cans of mandarin oranges with juice*

1 3.9 oz. box of instant French vanilla pudding

8-ounce container of Cool Whip

Half a bag of mini marshmallows

* You can use a fruit cocktail or any other canned fruit instead of the pineapple and mandarin oranges if you like.

Directions

You will need to drain all the juice from the cans of fruit into a measuring cup.

Next, you will mix the pudding and the juice together in a bowl until it is thickened.

Then you will stir the fruit into the mixture.

The Cool Whip and marshmallows will be stirred into the mixture last. A flat spatula would be the best tool for stirring or folding them in.

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Finally, after you have chilled the mixture in a covered bowl for about 2 hours. Place in fluff in a fun tulip sundae cup or dessert bowl to serve. This recipe will make enough to serve 6 to 8 people.

If you like this recipe, here are some more wonderful recipes we have created.

Bear Snack Recipe

Chicken Parmesan Recipe

Muffin Recipes Featuring Fruit and Yogurt

Tropical Rice Treat for Breakfast

Teepee Snack

You will also find wonderful recipes on my Great Recipes and Food Creations boards on Pinterest. I hope you will take a moment to check them out.

Bear Snack Recipe for Kids to Make

November 10, 2016 By Deirdre

Before or after reading a wonderful bear themed book like Bear Gives Thanks you will want have your kids make this yummy bear snack. This bear snack features food bears love to eat and food that resemble objects from bear books.

Bear Snack

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Ingredients

1 cup dried berries (Bears like the one in Blueberries for Sal love berries.)
This berry mixture contains blueberries and cherries.
1 cup granola (Porridge like the Goldilocks and the Three Bears enjoy at is made with grain.)
We used store bought, but homemade granola would be great to use.
1 cup goldfish (Bears like in The Berenstain Bears: Gone Fishin’ love fish)
We used Cheddar fish shaped crackers. You could use any flavor you like.
1 cup of Chex™ cereal (Bears like the bear in Sleep, Big Bear, Sleep! need to find pillow and place to sleep.)
You can use any flavor of cereal you like. We used the corn flavored cereal in ours.

Directions for Mixing the Snack

You will want to explain to your children why each of the ingredients in included in the mix. Then you will want to add one ingredient at a time to a mixing bowl. After adding all the ingredients, you can have your children mix the ingredients together. Your children can each take a turn at stirring t or a small group of children to stir the bear snack mix together.

If you think they will have trouble blending all the ingredients, you can have them used salad tongs to toss and mix them together.

When you have the ingredients thoroughly mix, you can serve the mix on a napkin or in a cup wrapped in a bear snack cup wrapper.

If you like this bear snack idea, here are some other ways to explore bear books.

Counting on Bear Claws Math Activity

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Algorithm Activity

Brown Bear, Brown Bear Paper Plate Mask

Paddington Bear Paper Plate Craft

Potato Pancake Recipe for Holiday or Everyday Meals

October 8, 2016 By Deirdre

My family loves loaded baked potatoes. Recently I came across an instant potato mix from Idaho Spuds called Supreme Baked that has the flavors found in loaded baked potatoes. JDaniel and I used it to make potato pancakes.

You could try one of the other Idaho Spuds flavors in the potato pancake recipe. They come in five really delicious flavors that would be great for a holiday meal. They would also make an everyday meal down right delicious.

Kid Friendly Potato Pancake Recipe

Ingredients

3/4 cup of Supreme Baked Idaho Spuds
1/4 cup of sauteed onions
1/4 cup of cooked grated zucchini
1/4 cup corn bread muffin mix
olive oil
1/2 of milk
1 egg
dash of salt, pepper and garlic powder

Potato Pancake Recipe Directions

Grate enough onion and zucchini to make 1/4 of each.

Saute the grated onion and zucchini with olive oil for 8-10 minutes on medium heat.

Mix the Supreme Bakes Idaho Spuds in a medium sized bowl with the sauteed vegetables, milk, and an egg.

Add a dash of salt, pepper, and garlic powder to the mix.

Heat an electric griddle to 375°*

Spoon the mixture into small piles on the griddle to cook.

Flip the pancakes over after about 8 minutes to cook the other side. You will notice a slightly brown edge forming just before you flip them.

Serve the pancakes on a platter with other holiday vegetables or with every day main dish like hamburgers.

*If you do not have an electric griddle, you can cook the potato pancakes in a frying pan on a medium-high heat.”

More Information on Idaho Spuds

Idaho Spuds is offering an amazing luxury holiday giveaway that includes travel to the Shore Lodge on beautiful Payette Lake in McCall, Idaho for a three nights stay. You will want to check it out.

I have explored the Idaho Spuds website and have found a number of great recipes I plan on trying like the Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes. It is so worth you taking the time checking it out.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Homemade Salsa Your Kids Will Love to Make and Eat

May 1, 2016 By Deirdre

Homemade Salsa is such fun to make with your kids. Some kids like spicy salsa and others like them to have a little bit of a sweet side. When they help you make homemade salsa, they can do taste tests as it is created. They can try adding a little bit of some of the ingredients and if they like it they can add a little more of them.

This homemade salsa is not spicy at all. It can be made spicier with a dash or two of additional ingredients that are shared at the end of the ingredients list. Just because it isn’t spicy doesn’t mean that it isn’t yummy. We have all enjoyed having it with slightly salty chips. I have had to fill the salsa bowl more than once some days.

Homemade Salsa Recipe

Ingredients

2 cans of stewed tomatoes with spices added

1 small can of tomato paste

1 medium red onion chopped finely

1/3 of each of these colored peppers (red, yellow, and orange)

Tabasco sauce, if you want it spicy

salt and pepper, to taste

sugar, to taste

olive oil

Directions

You will need to decide which of these steps your children are old enough to do on their own. Some of them can be done with your children. Some can be done ahead of time so you children can help put the salsa together.

Cut the peppers and onion into small pieces with a knife. (My son is 8 and he can do this!) Younger children could use a food chopper to create tiny pieces of peppers and onions once you have slice them.
Saute the peppers and onion in sauce pan with a tiny bit of olive oil. (You can decide if you feel comfortable with your children using the stove supervised or not.)
Add stewed tomatoes and the tomato paste to the pan. Stir until the tomato paste has melted into the mixture.
Add salt, pepper, Tabasco sauce, and sugar just a little at a time. (You will need to taste test it to see if it is tastes they way you like it.)
If the mixture looks thick,you can add a can of water.
Let it simmer for 20 minutes in the sauce pan.
Serve warm with chips or refrigerate for 30 minutes and serve it cold.

If you really wanted it spicy, you can look for cans of tomatoes that have spices and other ingredients in them that will give your salsa some zing.

Here are some more wonderful recipes to try with your kids:

Brown Cow Floats

Muffin Recipes with Yogurt and Fruit

Healthy Recipes and Frozen Pops

Make Pi Day Brownie Brickle Pie Day

February 27, 2016 By Deirdre

On March 14th pi or 3.14 gets its own special day. It is a day to explore Pi and learn about why it is important. I have searched high and low to find some wonderful number activities for you to do with your kids that look at pi. You will find them at the end of the this post. Many of us have cake on our special days. I decided that on Pi Day pie should be served. JDaniel and I recently created an amazing brownie brickle pie that would be great for Pi Day. I guess that would make Pi Day brownie brickle pie day too!

The recipe we used for our Pie Day pie is based on an Easter Brownie Pie recipe found in the Clearbook Fire and Rescue Community Cookbook. My mom gave me years ago. We made few tweaks to the recipe to make it our own.

Brownie Brickle Pi Day Pie

Ingredients

1 small box of chocolate pudding (4 serving)

1/3 cup of sugar

1/4 cup of flour

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

1/4 cup chocolate covered butter brickle pieces

1/3 cup of softened butter

Almond Slivers

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Cream the softened butter and sugar together in a bowl until fluffy.

Add the flour, pudding, and egg to the mixture. Then blend them thoroughly.

Finally stir in the vanilla and butter brickle pieces.

Spoon the mixture into one full size pie pan or two small ungreased pie pans (The kind you would use to make pot pies.)

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. If it doesn’t appear fully cooked, you can bake it for 5 more minutes. (We test whether baked goods are fully baked by inserting the tip of a knife in them. If they come out clean, the baked good is done.)

Decorate the top of your pie with slivered almond pieces in a Pi shape while the pie is cooling.

We inhaled our Pi Day pie without ice cream or whipped cream. (Seriously my guys didn’t leave even a crumb behind.) I bet it would be great with a small dab or scoop of either of them if the pie stay around long enough to scoop them. This pie day pie will have to be made again on Pi Day.

Here are some wonderful Pi Day activities:

Pi Day Activity- Drawing a City Skyline – The final product is totally amazing!

Pi Day Grid Art – Very clever! The end product looks like a quilt.

Learn about Pi with LEGO – LEGO are such a fun way to explore Pi!

Pi Day Poems– They are great way to explore what the meaning of Pi is!

Pi Day Bracelets– This is great wearable Pi Day art!

Race Around the Circle Game- This would be a great activity for kids under 7! Older kids might like it too.

You will find more Pi activities along with an array of amazing math activities on my Early Learning Math board on Pinterest.

Chicken Parmesan Recipe and Tyson Project A+™

August 26, 2015 By Deirdre

Chicken Parmesan Recipe and Tyson Project A+™

My son goes to one school and I teach at another. I am always looking for ways to help his school that don’t involve being at school during the day. The Tyson Project A+™ gives me two avenues of helping out JDaniel’s school. I am also always looking for fun and fast dinner ideas! Let me tell you a little about Tyson Project A+™ and share a simple Chicken Parmesan recipe for kids.

Chicken Parmesan Recipe and Tyson Project A+™

Let me tell you about the Tyson Project A+™

Chicken Parmesan Recipe and TysonProject A+™

The first way to help your children’s school is to send in Tyson® Project A+™ labels from Tyson® products. As I shared with you last week, Tyson® chicken nuggets, Tyson® Fun Nuggets, and Tyson® Crispy Chicken Strips are ingredients that are great for creating fun and fast family meals. Knowing you can use them to create a variety of dinner ideas will make gathering labels for this program easy!

Chicken Parmesan Recipe and TysonProject A+™

A second way that you can help your children’s school is give them a head start on collecting labels by sharing what you might be able to buy with the money raised and encouraging others to nominate your school for a special gift. You can do that right on the Tyson Project A+™ site.

Here is how:

When you have given the reason why you think people should send in the labels to your school, you will be given the opportunity to share it with others. There are easy to use social media feed options that you can use right on the site. Letting people know about the program will only take a click. The school with the most nominations will get a $1,000 worth of labels. (That would be a great way to kick off your school’s Tyson Project A+™ project.)

In this day and age when schools are having to cut their budgets this is simple way to help out. I love that I can offer help outside of school time. I love that in addition to helping my son’s school I get to have a super easy to prepare meal ingredient to serve my family. In my book that is a win-win!

Below you will find a fun way to meal idea for kids featuring Tyson® Fun Nuggets!

Chicken Parmesan Recipe

chicken parma

Ingredients

4 Tyson® Fun Nuggets or Chicken nuggets per serving

1 cup whole grain thin spaghetti per serving

1/2 cup of tomato sauce per serving

1 slice of your favorite cheese per serving (We used American cheese.)

Chicken Parmesan Recipe and TysonProject A+™

Directions

Boil spaghetti noodles until done.
Warm up the tomato sauce in a small saucepan.
Cook the Tyson® Fun Nuggets using the directions on the package.
Cut the cheese into narrow strips.
Start building your meal by placing spaghetti into a small serving dish or on a plate.
Place a thick line of sauce onto the spaghetti.
Arrange the chicken nuggets on top of the sauce.
Scatter the cheese strips on top of the chicken nuggets.
Serve.

Your kids will love this fun Chicken Parmesan recipe! Your school will love your donation of Tyson® Project A+™ labels and your project nominations! As I mentioned above it is a win-win!

What would be on your school’s wish list?

signature

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Tyson. The opinions and text are all mine.

Watermelon Recipes to Try This Summer

July 24, 2015 By Deirdre

There are times during the summer when my family plows through a watermelon in just few days. There are also times when it seems to sit in the refrigerator. It is during those times that I try to come with new ways to present watermelon. Recently I search for watermelon recipes to add to the ways I have already tried. Wow! I found a wide variety of cool recipes. Today I am going to share with you the recipes I have selected to try this summer.

I have selected some drinks, a few snacks, and a fun salad. Yes, I am including a salad. If your children say that they don’t like salads, you could call it a fruit bowl instead. (Sometimes calling a dish by a kid friendly name makes it more appealing.)

Most of the recipes can be prepared with your children. If you have your children help, watch out! You may find that some of your main ingredient is disappearing. I have had that happen when I cook with my son. Having a small bowl set aside for snacking has helped. He gets to nibble and we have enough to cook with.

Watermelon Fruit Leather from Domestically Blissful

Watermelon Sorbet from Cincy Shopper

Watermelon, Blackberry and Mint Salad from Two Peas and Their Pod

Simple Strawberry and Watermelon Smoothie by Eat Thrive Glow

Healthy Sour Watermelon Gummies from Meatified

Mouth Watering Watermelon Bars by Right at Home

Water Melon Dessert Pie by Mama Papa Bubba

Flavored Fruit Water with Frozen Watermelon Cubes by Little Bins for Little Hands

Here a few of my watermelon recipes:

Watermelon Puzzle Pieces

Fruit Flavored Watermelon

Please leave me comment sharing the recipes you try. You can leave a comment below or leave a comment on my Facebook page. If you have a great recipe you think my family should try, please tell me about it.

How to Make the Ultimate Tropical Minion Banana Smoothie

July 20, 2015 By Deirdre

I glanced over to the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter and noticed some aging bananas. They so needed to be used to make something yummy. We loved smoothies at my house so I decided that we should try use the bananas in a smoothie. We also happen to love Minions at my house! I decided my Minion loving boy would love banana Minion tropical smoothies! The aging bananas would be the star of the smoothie!

Tropical Minion Banana Smoothie

Ingredients:

2 Aging bananas

1 container of pineapple yogurt

1 1/2 cup of vanilla Greek yogurt

1 cup of milk

Directions:

Place the yogurt into the sections of an ice cube tray. We ended up with six sections of pineapple yogurt and six sections of the vanilla Greek yogurt.
Let the yogurt harden in the freezer for a few hours.
Mash the again bananas with a potato masher or a fork. (Kids seem to like to smash food with a masher so that is the utensil most used often at my house.)
Place the mashed bananas, the frozen yogurt cubes, and the milk in a blender.
Pulse using the smoothie speed if it has one. If it doesn’t uses a medium speed.
When it looks like the yogurt cubes have been broken into small bits, you can turn the blender off.
Pour into cups or sundae glasses.

If you want to have tropical Minion banana smoothies with Minion glass wraps ,you can download a copy of the Minion Glass Wrap Eyes we used. You will just need to cut them out and wrap them around the glass.

Here are some other wonderful Minion themed ideas you will find on this blog:

Minion Craft Stick Puzzle