Bryn’s Raspberry Cheesecake Squares

Hi, I'm Adrielle Pyper. My mother, Laurel and I love sharing "How To" craft and recipe ideas with you. We created this site with our friend Rachelle Christensen to bring a little crafting goodness to your home from Mashed Potatoes and Crafts.
Our mission is to encourage crafting happiness and a love of homegrown cooking!
Let's celebrate with something simple! It's raspberry season and my 3 year old  niece Bryn helped invent this sweet treat. It's featured in Chapter 13. Enjoy!
Bryn’s Raspberry Cheesecake Squares

Spread cream cheese on one graham cracker. Top with raspberries and chocolate chips. Break in half and share with a smile.

So easy, so delicious!

Learn more about Diamond Rings Are Deadly Things and all of the chapter tutorials here

Chapter 13: Bryn’s Raspberry Cheesecake Squares

Spread cream cheese on one graham cracker. Top with raspberries

and chocolate chips.

Courtesy of www.mashedpotatoesandcrafts.com

St. Patrick's Day Breakfast Ideas with Green Breakfast Burritos

St. Patrick's Day is coming up and we want to help you celebrate!
  
Young children love to look forward to each holiday big or small. Here's an easy breakfast idea you can do to put the green into this Irish day.

Green Breakfast Burritos

Crack 4 eggs into a bowl (or more depending on your crowd). Add 3 drops of green food coloring and beat eggs lightly, until blended.
Cook scrambled eggs as usual over medium heat in your saute pan.
Warm up flour tortillas, sprinkle a little cheese, then add green eggs.  My kids like a dab of mayonnaise in their burritos.

You can wrap up the egg burrito before the kids see and let them take a surprising bite or show them the green beforehand.
Serve with kiwis, green grapes, green apples, or your choice of green appetizer.
I purchased some Green Machine Naked Juice on the fly for this celebration, but I'm pretty adept at making my own green smoothies so don't be afraid to add a little spinach to your smoothie and make it your own personal shade of green.

Serve and enjoy! Looks like some of these kids might get a pinch if they don't put on some green!

4th of July Nail Painting- Patriotic Style

We might have had a little fun at our house the other day...

  

Painting lots of little fingernails and toenails in preparation for the 4th of July. I thought I'd share some photos and tips for painting kid's nails so you can enjoy those smiles!

My girls were so excited. I told them we'd better take some pictures to share their creativity spark.

My 10 year old inspired my tiny paintbrush to create flags for our wonderful U S of A. We painted her toes a base of white, then I used an art deco nail paint--the kind that has a really skinny brush--and added the stripes. Finally I used Blue polish for the flag and then dotted white with the tip of the nail polish brush for stars.

My 7 year old was so excited for the "fireworks" on her nails.

A few tips for painting kid's nails

• Paint about thirty minutes before bedtime. This allows the paint to dry and then gives them overnight for it to cure so that it won't smudge so easily.

• Always take the tip of the paintbrush and swipe the very edge of the nail. This seals the coat and prevents chipping.

• Allow time to dry in between coats and use a top coat protector.

• Glitter ALWAYS lasts longer and we like to use a bit of glitter to top off a solid coat of color.

• Use a Q-tip dipped in nail polish remover to clean up edges of nail beds

• Work in the bathroom, so if there are spills they will hopefully be able to clean up!

Hope these tips help and that you have a wonderful Independence Day!

Healthy Snack or Donut?

Here's a trick question for you? Do you think this treat is something you should feed your kids today for a snack before lunch?

Guess what? I do!
It looks like a donut, but look closer . . . it's an apple slice!
My kids were so excited about making this and we found the recipe from our new cookbook, Young Chefs by Christina Dymock. She did a great guest post last week, see it here http://www.mashedpotatoesandcrafts.com/2013/06/guest-post-on-teaching-young-chefs-by.html

How do you make them?
Core your apple, slice it in about 1/4 inch rings. Next spread with Hazelnut chocolate spread (Nuttella) and add a few sprinkles. My kids loved their donuts and I let them each have two! I figured even with two they didn't get a full serving of Nuttella (which still has plenty of sugar, so go easy!)

What other ideas do you have that substitute treats loaded with refined sugars and carbs? I'd love to hear them!

Guest Post on Teaching Young Chefs by Christina Dymock

Teaching Young Chefs by Christina Dymock

Are you one of those moms who prefer to do it herself? Ah, I know you’re out there. You take it all on so you don’t have to redo or clean up someone else’s mess, right? I'm guessing you are also stressed out.

Here’s the thing, you can relieve your work load and have fun with your kids in the kitchen. “How?” you ask with a bemused look.

Take a little time to teach them simple skills.

Think of it this way: Give a kid a meal and you feed him for a day. Teach the kid to cook and you never have to feed them again.

(Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration.)

But think of it, if you taught him/her how to make one dinner you could have one night off a week. Teach each kid in your house how to make one meal and you could have several nights off a week. Hmmm, I hear the wheels turnin’.

It doesn’t have to be a 5-star meal. Simple chicken dishes can be a lifesaver and with all the easy-to-sprinkle flavor packets it’s easy-peasy to throw something together.

 If your kids are too young to handle raw meat on their own or use the stove, have them make side dishes. They can stir things together, rip lettuce for a salad, and even mash potatoes. Just be sure to get them on the right level. Having to reach up and over the counter will make things too difficult for young ones and invite spills.

 One thing I love about cooking with my kids is that they tend to open up while their hands are busy. Because I’m not staring into their beautiful eyes and wishing I had eyelashes as thick as theirs, they relax and share things about their day. (It’s when I learn their secrets.) It’s also when I give them little pointers about holding a cutting knife or the speed of the hand mixer. It’s laid back because they are actually helping. It’s a great time to be together.

*If you'd like more info about Christina and her new cookbook, read on!
http://teachingyoungchefs.blogspot.com/

Here's a little info about Christina's new cookbook Young Chefs: Cooking Skills and Recipes for Kids Young Chefs by Christina Dymock- Hey kids! It’s time to take charge in the kitchen. Become a young chef as you make your favorite foods and explore new recipes with everything from Game Day Hot Dogs to Lemon Shark Bars. Each recipe tells your parents when help is needed and also includes stories, jokes, and history about the recipes. You’ll be whipping up masterpieces in no time. Let’s get cookin’!

SqueeZurts! Save Money and Make Kids Happy

Have you ever given your kids one of those sugary yogurts in a tube? I have many times because they are so convenient for lunches and when we're traveling but I've always wished that there was a healthier alternative since I don't like to give my kids high-sugar foods.
Thank goodness someone came up with a great alternative. They are called SqueeZurts and these are do-it-yourself tubes that you can fill with anything you want!

Save tons of money and cut out the needless sugar by filling your SqueeZurt with smoothies, yogurt, pudding--whatever you'd like! Like I said, I don't like to buy the high-sugar yogurt. In fact, I buy plain yogurt and then a low-sugar fruit yogurt and mix them together. My kids love yogurt and don't miss the sugar!

 I got to try out the starter kit from http://www.squeezurts.com/ and it came with 6 tubes and a handy bottle for filling, plus 2 fabric sleeves you can use to keep the little kids hands from getting too cold.
My kids were so excited to pack a delicious berry smoothie into their lunch bag. My 7yo told me that everyone was asking how she got that rainbow gogurt. :)

I filled some to take on a trip to Idaho and it was so handy. They are easy to fill and all you need is a bread tie to fold them closed with--just make sure you leave a little space if you're freezing the SqueeZurt.
The only trouble I had was when I tried to fill them with our favorite greek yogurt and berries. The mixture was too thick to get through the nozzle. One remedy is to slice off the end (about 1/4") of the nozzle on the fill bottle for a larger opening. In my case, I just added some milk to thin the mixture and froze them and they were perfect.
I am loving these so much, I think I'm going to have to order 6 more. My mom thought it was a great idea to have when the grandkids come visit.
You can buy SqueeZurts directly from the site http://www.squeezurts.com/

 or through this etsy shop
http://www.etsy.com/shop/kitchensinkboutique
Check them out on FB https://www.facebook.com/SqueeZurts
https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kitchen-Sink-Boutique/159449537452486
SqueeZurts are reusable, refillable squeeze snack tubes that can be filled with anything you can come up with.  On top of the versatility and health benefits SqueeZurts allow, also reduce waste by reusing SqueeZurts over and over again.**

Yogurt. Applesauce. Baby Food. Energy Gel. Smoothies. Pudding. Fruit Juice. Veggie and Fruit Puree.  Frozen or not.


You control the ingredients  -  You control your nutrition

Dishwasher Helps

I have some great little helpers at my house. My boys, age 4 and 2 love to work in the kitchen. I've started training them on how to unload the dishwasher. Since I recently posted on how to clean your dishwasher, I thought you might enjoy these pictures--watch the sequence of events.

2yo can't quite reach the silverware in the back, so he climbs right in the dishwasher.

4yo waits for 2yo to hand him the silverware...

                           Oops! Good thing big brother was there to break his fall!
And after all that they still both love to help!

Stay tuned for more tips in our cleaning series: 25 Places You Didn't Know Were Dirty and How to Clean Them!
I'm planning to have several tips posted to kick-off your spring cleaning. I'm already craving deep-clean and warm weather!

How about you? When do you get the itch for spring cleaning?

Happy Thanksgiving

A couple weeks ago, my family was battling the terrible flu bug, so we all stayed home from church. That afternoon, the kids were getting restless so we decided to make some turkeys, using our hands as patterns.

My favorite was my nine-year-old daughter's hilarious perception of Thanksgiving--check it out, from the Turkey's Point of View.

 We hung everyone's pictures up on the wall for some Thanksgiving cheer.
We're so thankful for our family, our friends, a warm home, and plenty of good food.
We hope that you have a super smashing Thanksgiving and that you eat plenty of mashed potatoes!

Upcycling Mom's Shirts to Dresses for Girls

This post is a blast from the past from my Rachelle's Writing Spot. The great thing is that the maroon dress is still in action--passed down from older sister to younger. So this went from Mom's shirt to girl's dress Xs two!

One afternoon I decided I'd better patch some more of my daughter's pants before school resumed. I will post a tutorial about how I do that next.

When I pulled out my fabric scraps to let the girls choose what I should use for the patch, they got really excited about the possibilities. They wanted me to make them new pants from the scraps. I tried to explain that you had to have more fabric to make a whole pair of pants.
Then I remembered all the cute makeover projects I'd seen on Make It And Love It

I ran up to my closet, pulled out two shirts that I hadn't worn in over a year and went to work making two darling dresses for my girls.

This is one of those skin-tight shirts and so it took less than twenty minutes to pull together for my four-year-old.

I tried it on her, pinned it up, sewed, and cut off the excess. I pulled up the tops of the shoulders to decrease the neckline to the right size.

I love these cute stripes on my brown-eyed girl!

Miss G's dress took a few more steps because the shirt was kind of odd to begin with. I purchased it for $1 on clearance at Wal-Mart, yes that's one dollar, people!
I tried it on her several times and she was very worried about getting stuck with pins. I sewed up the sleeves to fit her arms and then I had to work with the neckline which was designed kind of like a cowl-neck top.

I had some beautiful lace in a box of sewing scraps that I used to get this dress to the right length--just at her knee.

La Piece De Resistance was the brooch that came with the shirt. Miss G thought that was fabulous. She said that she looked like a princess!

My girls were all decked out for our holiday party and love their new dresses. So do I, because you can't beat FREE!
I'm excited to try this again. I need to clean out my closet and see what else I can find.
Do you have some sewing projects on your to do list this year? What gets your creative bug going?

Reusable Lunchbox Napkins Tutorial

For readers of RachelleWrites.blogspot.com, I'll be pulling some of my tutorials over here to my new crafting website! I'm excited about having a central place for all my crafting and recipe goodness!

Two of my four children are now in school all day and that means lots of lunches, especially for my one who is a selective eater, to put it nicely.
I thought it would be fun to make some napkins for my girls.
I ran over to JoAnn's fabric and picked up 1/4 yard each of three different cotton fabrics. This was enough fabric to make six napkins and have a little bit of fabric left over.

 
Then I decided on the size of napkin I wanted, about 8 x 8 inches, and began cutting. You can do a larger napkin if you like, but this size is perfect for kids.

I cut each square 8 1/2" x 8 1/2" to allow for seams.

Then I put two squares right sides together.

I picked a plain Jane thread to stitch right sides together and then additional thread for top-stitching that would coordinate, but also stand out as an accent.

Start in the middle of your square and stitch around all sides, stopping about three inches before you meet up with your starting point. This leaves a hole to turn the napkin and it's handy because then the hole isn't on the corner.

 Press the napkins after you turn. I hate to iron, but I'm telling you, you can't skip this step. Iron our the seams flat and tight and then get ready to top-stitch.

No need to hand stitch the hole closed! Just top-stitch around the entire napkin with your cute accent thread and Voila! your napkin is finished and the turning hole is stitched neatly shut.

My girls were excited about their napkins. They were a little concerned about getting them dirty, until I explained to them that these are napkins we'll use again and again. Just throw them in the laundry when you unpack your lunchbox.

I told them, Every time you use your napkin, you can think, "My mom loves me!"