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JDaniel4s Mom

growing & learning with him

Halloween Traditions Link Up

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Welcome to the  Halloween Traditions Link Up! I look forward to visiting your posts and taking in your Halloween costumes, Halloween foods, Halloween crafts and traditions or memories.

There are  link ups below for your posts . Each family friendly or child related post linked up will need to have a Halloween Traditions badge or a link at the bottom of it pointing back to the Halloween Traditions  Link Up.  Please don’t link up more than two posts for each area.

Here is the badge:

This link up will be open from Oct. 24th and ends Nov. 2nd

Halloween Costumes

Halloween Recipes

Halloween Crafts

Halloween Traditions and Memories

Please take a moment to visit some of the other links after adding yours!

 

Muffin Tin Monday- Easy Apple Crisp

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We decided to celebrate the beginning of fall with some of JDaniel’s favorite comfort foods and a super easy and wonderful apple crisp.

What are some of his favorites?
 He loves carrots and cauliflower (aka while broccoli), sweet potato french fries, and grilled ham and cheese.
The apple crisp recipe is based on one I found in the Clearbrook Fire and Rescue Community Cookbook. It takes seconds to make and really is delicious!
Easy Apple Crisp Recipe
Ingredients
4 cups of sliced apples
1 ( 4 serving) package of butterscotch pudding ( I used pumpkin spice I found in my pantry.)
1/4 butter
1/2 tsp. of cinnamon
1-1 1/2 cups fo Raisin Bran
Directions:
1. Combine apple slices with half the pudding and place them in a greased shallow baking dish.

2. Cream butter with remaining pudding mix and cinnamon.

3. Add cereal.

4. Sprinkle over the apple mixture.

5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

6. Eat!

This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday!

Reminder: The Wilton Muffin Tin Starter Kit Giveaway ends tomorow night. There will be three winners.

 
 
 

Read.Explore.Learn.-How Did That Get in My Lunchbox?

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Welcome to Read.Explore.Learn.! This meme was designed to be a place for you to share the learning opportunities, crafts, field trips, and other activities you have done this week that tie-in to children’s books. I look forward to seeing ways you have learned with and explored books.
Steps:

  • Link your activity below.
  • Please place the Read.Explore.Learn. badge on your post or create a link back to this meme.
  • Please try to visit at  least three of the other people that have placed links below and leave a comment. I will visit each of you and leave a kind comment.
  • If you are not linking up an activity and are just visiting, please try to stop by a few of the links below.
My Book Tie-Ins of the Week:
If you have children that want to know where food comes from, How Did That Get in My Lunchbox? The Story of Food by Chris Butterworth is the book for you.
It highlights were all the food comes from in a child’s lunch. Foods like apple juice, chocolate chip cookies, bread, and tomotoes are covered.
JDaniel is very big into asking why and where right now. He loves to know all the steps it takes to make something and where exactly it comes from.
What did we do?
Field Trip to an Apple Orchard
We drove out to Nivens Farm about twenty minutes from our house. It was a cloudy day and the weather was cool and comfortable.
The trees were bursting with apples that hung low enough for JDaniel to pick them.
He loved twisting the apples off and putting them in his bucket.
My husband would be so proud of us. We washed of the apple JDaniel sampled from the bucket before he ate it. This handwashing station was the perfect height for him.
While JDaniel snacked, we wandered through the pumpkins.
When he finished his apple, we wandered around in the corn maze. We both loved the purple flowers that were growing right beside the corn.
After the maze walk, JDaniel needed to rest for a moment. This tube was the perfect spot to sit down and hang out for awhile.

Muffin Tin Monday- Summer Storm

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We seem to be having major rainstorms every other day here in South Carolina. We’ve see wind and we’ve seen rain. We’ve heard thunder and seen lightning . There have also been rainbows.


Some storms have been strong enough to break limbs off the birch trees in the backyard. This limb cracked in an earlier storm and then fell down completely in one two weeks ago.

I decided to create muffin tin in memorial the summer storms.

The tin contains a rice cake cloud with Alouette’s new Light Spinach Artichoke Soft Cheese ( I will be reviewing it later this week.), chicken nugget lightning bolts, blueberry balls of hail, catsup to dip, broken trees tops of broccoli and cauliflower, and playdough looking rainbow cookies.

The rainbow cookies are loosely based on Red Ted’s Rainbow Cookie recipe. I tried to take a short cut by using cookie dough from a mix. It was way too sticky and looked like playdough when I added flour to the dough. I really should have used her recipe and made them from scratch. JDaniel loved them, but they would have been better without the short cut. If you want to see them as they should have looked, please check out her link above.

I am still looking for recipe ideas to feature on Muffin Tin Monday. I am calling this series Serving Lunch with JDaniel4’s Mom. Just leave me a comment on this post or an upcoming Muffin Tin Monday post with a link to a recipe you think I should get JDaniel to try a muffin tin. If I use your recipe, I will mention your blog in the post it appears in along with a link back to it

What has the weather been like where you live?

 
 
 

Serving Lunch with JDaniel Recipe Search

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Last  week I started the Serving Lunch with JDaniel4’s Mom series on my Muffin Tin Monday posts. It will run through July and August.

JDaniel is cutting out stars for potato salad.

How does the Serving Lunch with JDaniel4’s Mom work?

You just leave me a comment on this post or an upcoming  Muffin Tin Monday post  with a link to a recipe you think I should get JDaniel to try a muffin tin. If I use your recipe, I will mention your blog in the post it appears in along with a link back to it.

I have received two recipes so far. Two Bears Farm’s Corn and Bean Salad recipe was featured last week and Red Ted’s Rainbow Cookies will be featured this week.

Muffin Tin Monday on Sunday- Happy Fourth of July

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I am participating in the Displaying Independence sponsored by Mom Loop tomorrow so, I decided to post this yummy tin a day early.

JDaniel had a burger with a cheese and bread star, Two Bears Farm’s Corn and Black Bean Salad, potato salad made with red potato stars, strawberries, red grapes and peanut butter fudge brought for me to the Type A Conference by Lisa of Two Bears Farm.

JDaniel loved everything. He is still into eating with his hands rather than a fork. He was able to pick up the stars, burger and fruit with his finds. A fork was used for the corn and black bean salad.

The corn and bean salad is the first recipe to be featured in my summer series. Serving Lunch with JDaniel4’s Mom series. It runs through July and August.

How does the Serving Lunch with JDaniel4’s Mom work?

You just leave me a comment on a Muffin Tin Monday post with a link to a recipe you think I should get JDaniel to try a muffin tin. If I use your recipe, I will mention your blog in the post it appears in along with a link back to it.

The salad was a huge success. If you would like to try it, please visit the link I have included above.

This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday.

I am participating in Jeanna Journey’s 2nd Annual Comment Challenge. It should be fun!

 
 

Muffin Tin Monday-Memorial Day Picnic

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Memorial Day Muffin Tin Lunch

Memorial Day always makes me think of picnics though I am not sure I remember the last picnic I went on Memorial Day. JDaniel’s muffin tin today has some picnic foods along with attempts to get more veggies in his diet.
Hot dogs are a staple of summer cookouts and picnics so, JDaniel has a low sodium hot dog and a bun. He loves pickles right now and pickles are another picnic staple. (Pickles count as a vegetable at our house.) I found an amazing easy to make frozen yogurt recipe on No Time for Flashcards and used my star shaped muffin tin as a mold to make frozen strawberry yogurt stars. Baby tomatoes and wrinkled baby lima beans round out the tin.
The wrinkled limas were not touched and I don’t blame JDaniel they look pretty bad. The star went first.
Recipe for Frozen Yogurt
Ingredients
1 cup of fresh or frozen fruit sliced into small pieces
1 1/2 cups of vanilla yogurt
Directions:
1. Place all the ingredients into a blender.
2. Use the puree or a similar blender speed to mix the ingredients.
3. Pour the mixture into a silicone mold.
4. Place in the freezer until solid.
5. Enjoy!
My Muffin Tin Themes for June
  • Exploring foods from a Chinese market
  • Exploring foods from a Hispanic market
  • Exploring foods from the farmer’s market
  • Yankee Doodle loves noodles

What is you favorite picnic food?

 This post is linked to Muffin Tin Monday.

Valentine’s Day Empanadas

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These empanadas are so easy to make. They have only four ingredients and are wonderful on cold winter days.

Ingredients:

1 can of biscuits (A ten count can)
1/2 a jar of tomato sauce ( We love Ragu Garden Style!)
1/2 pound of ground turkey
1/2 a package of taco seasoning

Directions:

  • Separate the can of biscuits into individual biscuits.
  • Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut a heart out of each of the biscuits.
  • In a saucepan brown ground turkey.
  • Add tomato sauce and taco seasoning to the drained meat mixture.
  • Place a spoonful of the mixture on half of the heart shaped biscuits.
  • Place one of the empty biscuits on top of each of the filled ones.
  • Press down the edges using a fork to seal the hearts.
  • Cook according the directions on the biscuit package.

What did I do with the scraps?

I wrapped the scraps from each biscuit into a twist and cooked them with the empanadas. They aren’t pretty, but they tasted great!

 
 

 
 

What else could I fill these with?

Muffin Tin Monday- Valentine’s Day Party Treats

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Before I share my Muffin Tin Monday Meal, I want to let you know I have a guest review up at The Book Chook today. I reviewed the book the Alaska’s Three Pigs. If you get a chance, please stop by and check it out.

 

To celebrate the second day of the Virtual Valentine’s Day Party I am sharing a muffin tin of yummy lunch treats.  We both enjoyed the foods in this tin.

This week JDaniel had a heart-shaped empanada ( I will share the recipe for them tomorrow.), homemade tomato soup, grape tomatoes, a heart-shaped crouton to dip in the soup, red grapes, and strawberry heart-shaped marshmallows.

Here is the recipe for the tomato soup:

Tomato Soup

 

3 large cans of stewed tomatoes

3 large garlic cloves

2 cups of chopped onion

1/4 cup of minced basil

1 can of chicken broth

1/2 cup of half and half cream

Salt and pepper to taste

2 slices of whole-grain bread

Directions:

  • In a large saucepan, sauté onion, garlic, and olive oil. Add tomatoes and basil; cook for 5 minutes.
  • Add broth; bring to a boil.
  •  Puree in a blender until large chunks are removed and return the mixture to the saucepan.
  •  Warm half and a half in a small saucepan over medium heat.
  •  Stir half and half, salt and pepper into the soup.
  •  Enjoy with croutons cut out of bread with a cookie cutter and sautéed in a pan with olive oil.

 

This post is linked to the Muffin Tin Mom’s Muffin Tin Monday meme.

What is your favorite Valentine’s Day treat? 

Do you have a post on Valentine’s Day treat you would like to link up to the Virtual Valentine’s Day Party?

 

If Mrs. Matlock Offers You Lemons, Take Them and Make a Pie

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Every week for about nine months I have written a post for Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday. There are about seventy bloggers a week that join Jenny Matlock in sharing ideas, thoughts, reflection and more that begin with a particular letter of the alphabet.

Reading each of the posts along with the comments Mrs. Matlock leaves for all of her students or meme followers is a highlight of my week. (Yes, she visits every person every week and leaves amazing comments. She sends e-mails to her students if she has a chance too.)

During L week Mrs. Matlock’s post was called L is for Lemon. In her post, she mentioned she was going to give away boxes of lemons and peppermints. It sounded like she had a multitude of lemons growing in her yard. We love fresh fruit and peppermints at your house so; I left a comment stating that we would love to win a box.

Much to my surprise, we were picked by Mrs. Matlock to receive one of her special boxes. The box arrived two days before Christmas. We loved the luscious lemon scent of the box. I wonder if the mail carrier kept it in the front of her truck just to smell the lemon scent as she made her deliveries.

We had guests over for dinner that night and I cut lemon slices for us to have in our sodas and iced teas. They were as impressed as we were that this wonderful box filled with candies and lemons with leaves still attached had been sent across the country to us.

I loved having the Larsons for dinner, but I could hardly wait to begin looking through my cookbooks for a recipe for a lemon pie to make for the holidays. The first book I pulled out was The Taste of Home Cookbook my husband had given me several years ago. It was within its pages that I found a two page spread dedicated to lemon pies.

I settled on one that was label light and easy. With all the sweets we have during and before the holidays light was definitely needed. I am all for easy recipes that are guaranteed to come together.

The pie turned out so well. JDaniel and I were able to work together to squeeze the lemons and mix the ingredients. He did have to be distracted to keep him from drinking the lemon juice right from the measuring cup right after squeezing it. Mrs. Matlock’s peppermints were the perfect answer.

I could tell by the way JDaniel enthusiastically licked the bowl clean that it was going to taste good. Actually I knew it was going to taste good too. My fingers were dipping into the remnants left in the bowl as fast as his were.
>

So, if Mrs. Matlock offers you lemons I hope you will accept some and use them to make this lemon pie.

Here is the recipe:

Lemon Cream Pie
1 envelope of unflavored gelatin
1/4 cup of cold water
1/3 cup of lemon juice
1/3 cup of Splenda
2  6 ounce cartons of whipped fat-free yogurt
1 tsp. of lemon peel
1 carton of frozen reduced-fat whipped topping
1 graham cracker crust ( 8 inches)
Directions:
  1. Sprinkle gelatin over cold water and let it sit for 1 minute.
  2. Microwave this mixture for twenty seconds uncovered.
  3. Stir in Splenda and lemon juice.
  4. Add yogurt and lemon peel.
  5. Mix well and then fold in whipped topping.
  6. Spoon into crust.
  7. Refrigerate for 8 hours.
  8. Sit in front of a computer with a slice of pie and read the other wonderful posts from Mrs. Matlock’s Alphabe Thursday.

 
 
 

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