Baked Kale Chips
his method of cooking kale is my new favorite. Kale chips made by baking the leaves with a little olive oil and salt results in an almost potato-chip like treat that is genuinely good for you. You can season them with whatever spices you like or keep them simple and plain. There is no easier way to eat green leafy vegetables, or at least no way more genuinely enjoyable (and that’s coming from a true salad lover). Make a batch of these today and you’ll probably make three more before the end of the weekend. Even my dog begs for these chips, and I’m pretty sure I could convince my dad to try one too. These more than make up for the minimal effort involved in making them.
Homemade Granola Bars
My kids love granola bars. Some are actually pretty healthy. The problem I have is the healthier ones seem to be more expensive. When I start feeling like that, it’s time for me to make some homemade. These were very easy to make and not very time consuming either. My kids loved them!
Homemade Granola Bars
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Chicken and Cream Cheese Pockets
I like to try new recipes but my family has a few favorites that we make on a regular basis because they are either easy or tasty. These chicken and cream cheese pockets are both. This simple recipe can be adapted to fit your family’s food preferences and changed to add variety to your menu plan.
Blueberry Lemon Frozen Yogurt
Frozen yogurt is an easy way to get another serving of dairy and fruit into your diet in the guise of a treat. Making your own allows you to control everything from the fat and sugar content to the flavorings used. Because of this, you can just about get away with calling it a healthy food and eating it for breakfast–a treat if ever there was one. In this version I use low-fat greek yogurt as a base and flavor it with blueberries, lemon and vanilla.
The Learning Tower by Little Partners (Closed)
Learning TowerKids love to help in the kitchen but that “help” can often be frustrating to a parent who is already busy and trying to put a meal on the table while tripping over a toddler or preschooler. The Learning Tower by Little Partners is an absolute must-have for parents of young children. This product is one of the best that I have seen in a long time because not only does it keep kids safe in the kitchen, but it allows them to participate in endless activities, from cooking to working on an art project, while staying close to mom. I love all of the extra moments I am able to capture now that the Learning Tower provides my kids with a safe place to be in the kitchen, right in the middle of all the action, and I can’t imagine what I ever did without it!
Homemade Caramel Apples: Easy, Inexpensive, and Taste Better!
It’s Halloween time and what’s better than a Caramel Apple oozing with all that wonderful tasting caramel! I have always made caramel apples with the little squares that you just melt in your pan. Well, this year I found a recipe from Crystal that I decided to try. I had everything in my pantry except for the apples which all seemed to be on sale right now at my grocery. I also made my own sweetened condensed milk since I had those ingredients on hand too. So, this recipe was pretty cheap for my. It also taste so much better than the caramel squares! I promise you that you will never go back to those squares again! Hope you enjoy these and have a Happy Halloween!
Edible Play Dough for Toddlers
Sensory experiences are a wonderful way to teach toddlers about the world around them. It gives toddlers the opportunity to use their sense of touch to explore new materials, but if you have ever spent more than five minutes around a toddler you know that it’s only a matter of time before whatever they are playing with ends up in her mouth. Edible play dough is a great way to give toddlers the freedom to enjoy an educational and developmentally stimulating activity, without having to worry about what will happen if they eat the play dough.
Frugal Summer Fun – Ice Cream in a Bag
One of the things on my kid’s list that they wanted to do this summer is make ice cream. Today they got to make some at the summer reading program. This is a really fun activity for kids because basically they put the ingredients in a ziplock bag and then get to shake. If your kids are like mine, they need to get rid of some energy, so this is a perfect activity for them. I think that the ingeredients are pretty reasonablaly price so this is a pretty frugal activity. So, let your kids have an ice cream making party with the following recipe.
Frugal Summer Fun – Pizza and a Movie
My kids love pizza and love to watch movies, so why not do both in one night? This summer my kids made a list of fun things they wanted to do this summer and Pizza and a Movie night was one of those. I really like to do these nights because it’s a time for my family to spend together doing something fun. We usually get our movie from the Redbox, which cost $1.00, but we have also gotten movies from the library for FREE. I don’t cost the count of the pizza because I make it homemade and we would have had dinner anyways. So, I think this is a pretty frugal summer activity.
