Taste Testing Tuesday – #20 – Christmas Cookies!

It’s time to rev up your taste buds! Yep, it’s Taste Testing Tuesday once again. And I’m betting today’s taste test will be your all time favorite! What are we testing? Christmas Cookies!!! A special thank you goes out to my daughter, Megan, for sharing some pictures with me of some of the Christmas cookies they made at their house this week. 🙂 Here are some suggestions for yummy cookies you can make and test out:

#1.) Peanut Butter Blossoms. Oohh these are soooo yummy! A peanut butter cookie with a chocolate kiss added on top. Drooooooling…

#2.) Rice Krispies Treats Christmas Trees. These are made just like the original Rice Krispies Treats recipe on the cereal box plus some green sugar and sprinkles added. Then cut them into triangles and you’re done!

#3.) Molasses Crinkles – This is one of my favorite cookies. I remember making them with my mom when I was a little girl. 🙂

#4.) Sour Cream Cookies – I was looking for the recipe that my Grandma used to make for us and these are similar but not quite the same. The recipe calls for adding a frosting glaze to these while they are still hot but I went with sprinkles instead to cut down on the amount of sugar.

#5.) Cut-Out Butter Cookies – Ok, this has to be my all-time favorite cookie! (Molasses Crinkles are a close 2nd.) This is another recipe I made with my mom when I was little. Well, and even after I got “big”. And then I made them with our kids and now our daughter made this batch with her kids. 🙂

I have to admit that decorated cut-out cookies get my vote for at least LOOKING the best! 😉

#6.) Russian Teacakes – This cookie is one of my hubby’s favorite cookies. They rank pretty high with me too. I make them with finely ground pecans but you can use other nuts instead. They are rolled in powdered sugar which helps to make them especially tasty.

#7.) Peanut Butter Cookies – Another one of our favorites! Ok, yes, there seems to be a pattern developing here, doesn’t there? I have a lot of favorite cookies! Haha! One of my jobs when I was little and helping my mom make these was to make the criss-cross pattern on each cookie. I always thought that was pretty cool. 😉

So what is your favorite Christmas cookie? Do you make Christmas cookies at your house? Maybe you buy some from a store? What is your all-time favorite cookie that you would ask for if you could have any cookie in the world? I hope you have a Christmas cookie Taste Testing Tuesday at your house!

Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt

Don’t you love driving around in your vehicle with your family and looking at all the beautiful Christmas lights on display? And that is one thing you can SAFELY do this holiday season!

Christmas Lights, Tree Lights, Chain, Christmas

So let’s make it even more enjoyable by turning it into a game! Let’s have a Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt!

Download and print this list and take your family for a drive to scout out Christmas lights! Your family can search together or you can make it an individual hunt and see who finds all the items on the scavenger hunt list first. Have fun and enjoy the lights!

Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt pdf Download

Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt

Go for a ride with your family and look for Christmas lights! See if you can spot all these types of lights on this list. Good luck!

Icicle lights
Inflatable decorations
Star
Santa Claus
Frozen movie character
Nativity scene
Snowman
Elf
Colored lights
All white lights
Reindeer
Music playing
Sled or Sleigh
Decorated Tree
Picture projected onto a house
Gingerbread Person
Animated/Flashing lights
Snowflake
Wreath
Candy Cane
Penguin
Toy Soldier
The Grinch
Gingerbread House
Stocking

Taste Testing Tuesday – #19 – Fun With Pancakes!

We’re back! This week’s Taste Testing Tuesday centers on pancakes! There are so many ways to make pancakes. My Betty Crocker cookbook lists 15 different ways to make pancakes with different ingredients mixed into the batter. While I’m sure many of these are great recipes with tasty results, today we are going to concentrate on what you can do with “plain” pancakes. Just use your regular pancake recipe or mix and then let the fun begin!

First, let’s look at ideas for making your pancakes in fun shapes. Of course, there is the usual way of making them in a nice sized round shape. One of my husband’s favorite memories is from times he spent the night at his grandparents and his grandma would make him a plate-sized buckwheat pancake for breakfast. 🙂 (Yes, he ate the whole thing!)

How about making some extra small pancakes? Kids can brag about how many pancakes they ate. 😉

Or you can make them into animal shapes. This could be a bear or Mickey Mouse or a dog…

Probably the most popular way to eat a pancake is with butter and maple syrup. Mmmm!

You can make a funny face by adding some pieces of banana, a few chocolate chips and a piece of bacon.

Now let’s add some toppings to the “bear” pancake. Add a couple of banana slices for his ears and chocolate chips for his eyes, nose and mouth.

Or maybe use a couple of blueberries for his eyes, miniature marshmallows in his ears, a chocolate chip nose and a cheese puff for his mouth.

You can flatten miniature marshmallows with your fingers and then put a chocolate chip in the center of them to make eyes. Apple slices for a mouth finishes him off.

A snowman is our next idea! Blueberry eyes, bacon for arms, mini chocolate chips for his mouth and buttons and then a piece of carrot or cheese for his nose makes a pretty cool pancake snowman.

You can use small pancakes like bread for a sandwich! How about adding a cooked egg, a piece of bacon and a piece of cheese for a tasty breakfast?

Do your kids love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but hate the crust? Use a couple of small pancakes to make an awesome peanut butter and jelly sandwich with no crusts!

Our last suggestion for today uses an ingredient that I say everyone loves! Can you guess what it is? Sprinkles!! Everything is better with sprinkles on it! 😉

I hope these ideas have gotten the wheels in your mind turning and you’ll come up with even more ideas on your own. What is YOUR favorite way to eat a pancake? Have fun and enjoy those pancakes however you make them!

Felt Mitten and Stocking Garland

Are you looking for a craft to occupy your kids? May I suggest this easy and fun garland made from felt mittens and stockings? You’ll need some paper to draw a pattern on, a couple colors of felt, craft glue, scissors, some string or twine and a few small decorative snowflakes, buttons or winter items (optional). Here’s what my finished project looks like:

You can make your garland as long as you like using as many mittens and stockings that you want to make. Let’s get started!

First, draw a pattern for your mitten and stocking. Mine are around 4 1/2″ to 5″ long and around 3 1/2″ wide. I also made a pattern for the top white part for both the mitten and stocking.

Cut the pattern pieces out.

Gather your felt pieces. You can use whatever colors you like. I used only red, white and blue for this example. If you are making a lot of mittens or stockings, you might like to have more colors available.

If your felt is a thick type, you could use just one thickness of felt for each mitten or stocking. The felt I have is the thinner variety and rather see-through so I cut out 2 pieces for each mitten and stocking. Cutting 2 of each also makes the stocking able to have something small and light inserted inside it. (Like maybe a candy cane.) I cut 2 topper pieces for each mitten and stocking too.

I folded my felt over and just held the pattern piece in place while I cut around the outside edge of the pattern. You could trace around the pattern or cut each piece separately, depending on what works best for your kids and for the thickness of the felt you have.

It will be easier to cut the topper pieces if you cut a little section of felt away from the rest of the piece of felt first.

Cut a little strip of felt for the loop to hang your mitten or stocking from. You will fold it in half and glue the end pieces together.

If you are using just one layer of felt for your mitten or stocking, you can skip ahead and just glue the white topper part to the colored part of the stocking or mitten. If you are using 2 pieces, grab your glue and let’s put these together now.

Spread a line of glue along the outside edge of your stocking but not across the top edge. And put a dot of glue on each side in the place where the loop goes.

Add the second piece on top of the glued one and press firmly together, holding for a few seconds while the glue starts to set up.

Spread another line of glue and put the first white piece of topper at the top of the stocking. Turn the stocking over and spread another line of glue for the second piece of topper. Hold for a few seconds again.

Now for the best part, decorate your stocking! Glue on any little snowflakes or stars or buttons you might have. Or spread a little glue and sprinkle on some glitter. Gently shake off any extra glitter.

Follow the same directions for the mitten. Glue around the outside edge but not on the opening side of the mitten. Add your loop in now. (I forgot to add my loop now and I had to add it in later. Oops!)

Add the second layer and press together. Spread a line of glue for the first topper piece and add it on.

Flip the mitten over and spread glue for the second topper piece and add it. Press together for a few seconds.

Decorating time!

Ta dah! My mitten is complete!

Make as many mittens and stockings as you would like to get the length of garland you want to hang up. The last step is to thread your string through the loops of the stockings and mittens…and have an adult help you hang it up for all to enjoy!

I hope you have enjoyed our craft project and you will have lots of fun making stockings and mittens to give your house a warm, holiday feeling! 🙂 Happy holidays!

Taste Testing Tuesday – #18 – Scrambled Egg Toppings

Aaaaaand here we go with Taste Testing Tuesday #18! Let’s take a look at toppings you can put on scrambled eggs to make them more appealing. Plain scrambled eggs can be quite tasty, but you have to admit, to a kid, they look pretty boring. Here are some ideas of ways to snazz them up a bit! (Is ‘snazz’ a word? Another form of snazzy?) I started out making a batch of scrambled eggs and then dividing them into 6 small sections on a big plate.

See what I mean? Boorrrrriiiiiing! Add a few toppings and check out the difference!

NOW we’re talking! Remember to grab a piece of paper and make a fun chart of your preferences on each kind of scrambled egg. Add a smiley if you like it, a straight mouth if its just ok, and a frown if it’s a “no, thanks!”. Let’s take a look at what we have here…

#1.) Ketchup. This was my favorite way to eat scrambled eggs when I was a kid and even for a long time after I became an adult. Now some of our grandkids eat eggs this way.

#2.) A little sour cream and some herbs…I used our own homegrown and dried parsley.

#3.) Pieces of crumbled cooked bacon. Mmmm! Who doesn’t like eggs and bacon together? (Yea, I know there have to be some people that don’t like eggs and bacon, but that’s just…weird. 😉 )

#4.) Avocado. Did you know that avocados are actually fruit? Yep, that’s what Webster says.

#5.) Grated cheese. This is grated mild cheddar but there are lots of other kinds of cheese you could sprinkle on top. A cheese you already know your child likes might be a good place to start.

#6.) Salsa. Are you kids fans of Mexican type foods or do they love tacos? If so, a little salsa on their scrambled eggs might be a great way to go.

As usual with our taste tests, there are LOTS of others ways besides the ones I’ve mentioned. A few more suggestions would be browned onion and garlic pieces, fresh tomatoes, parmesan cheese, cooked up sweet pepper pieces or even adding 2 or more of the ingredients we’ve used here. For example, what if you used avocado, sour cream, cheese and salsa together? We have a grandson who LOVES adding Kansas City Rub spices to his scrambled eggs. (We buy that at a Cabelas store…not an affiliate.)

Are you still striking out getting your kids to eat scrambled eggs? Then it might be time to bring out the big guns…put some cookie/cake sprinkles on them! Haha! Sprinkles make everything taste better! 🙂 I hope these ideas have helped you and I wish you luck on your eating adventures!

Taste Testing Tuesday – #17 – Cottage Cheese

Welcome back to another round of Taste Testing Tuesday! Today we’re testing out ways to eat cottage cheese! There are TONS of ways to enjoy cottage cheese! I didn’t realize how many ways there are until I started doing a little research online. What is your favorite way to eat cottage cheese? If you aren’t sure, here are 5 ways for you to explore today.

Before we get started, remember to make a quick and easy chart to record your taste test findings. Any kind of paper will do and something to write with. I used markers and a pen. Draw some quick lines to make a few boxes and you’re all set.

Let’s dive right in!

#1.) Cottage cheese with a little apple butter on top. This was my favorite way to eat cottage cheese when I was a kid. 🙂

#2.) Cottage cheese with some pineapple. I used some crushed pineapple but you can use any form of pineapple you have on hand. You can actually buy cottage cheese in the store with the pineapple already mixed in. My Grandma used to serve cottage cheese and pineapple when we would visit her and my grandpa. Yum!

#3.) Cottage cheese with apple slices and cinnamon. This one is new to me but it sure sounds yummy!

#4.) Mexican Cottage Cheese Dip. This is also new to me and you can try it in so many ways by adding the ingredients your family likes. I used the cottage cheese, an avocado, onion powder, garlic powder, black beans, whole kernel corn, lime juice and tomatoes. Add whatever spices you like and maybe even a little hot sauce, if you are so inclined. I think some cilantro is needed, but I happen to be out of it at the moment. Eat it with some tortilla chips or crackers.

#5.) Last, but not least, is another new-to-me idea. A piece of toast topped with cottage cheese and strawberry jam.

There you have my 5 suggestions for today! What other ways do you like to eat cottage cheese? Just about any kind of fruit is tasty with it. You can add it to cheesy dishes or mix some into your pancake or muffin batter. Google “ways to eat cottage cheese” and you’ll see that the ways are almost endless! Fill in your taste testing chart with a smiley each time you like your sample of cottage cheese. Add a straight face if it’s just ok and a frowning face if you’re thinking, “umm, no thanks!”

Hope you have fun with your cottage cheese taste test! 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving!

Taste Testing Tuesday – #16 – Pumpkin

Sorry I’m slow in getting today’s taste test posted! It’s been a cooking day here! Are you getting ready for Thanksgiving at your house? We are, but this year I’m sad to say it will just be my hubby and I for Thanksgiving due to Covid restrictions. We will miss our family but we are trying to make the best of it. Back to our taste test – what is one ingredient that is often used around Thanksgiving time and can be eaten many different ways? Pumpkin! (Yes, turkey would have also been a great answer!) Maybe you are having something for Thanksgiving that has pumpkin in it. Today I made 3 different recipes that use pumpkin.

#1.) Pumpkin pie

I actually don’t care for pumpkin pie, but my hubby loves it so I made one for him to enjoy. Some whip cream on top adds the finishing touch.

#2.) Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin bread is something my mom used to make for us when I was a kid. In fact, the recipe I used today came from her. It’s baked in a loaf pan and then sliced to enjoy.

#3.) Pumpkin Bars

Pumpkin Bars are made in a cookie sheet. They can be eaten with or without frosting on top. I frosted half of the pan and then other half I froze for a later time.

What other kinds of dishes can you think of that use pumpkin in them? There’s pumpkin soup, pumpkin rolls, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin butter, pumpkin waffles…and the list goes on! Pumpkin is considered a super food and really healthy so I hope you will try some soon! 🙂

Crazy Letter Writing Fun

Do you write letters to your grandkids? Letter writing seems to be a thing of the past for a lot of people, but who doesn’t love to get mail? A hand written letter does something special to warm the heart and is appreciated by almost everyone. Not long ago, we received a very special letter from our grandson, Hunter. The grandkids had spent a week with us and Hunter wrote us a special thank-you note. Look at what he did:

He wrote it in the shape of a heart! Isn’t that neat? 🙂 What an original idea!

The words he wrote were also very sweet but I did laugh when I saw that he said we are “historic”. LOL (Is that a nice way to say “old”? Haha!) His letter got me to thinking of funny ways to write letters that could cheer someone up. So the letter I wrote back to him looks like this:

Can you see how I wrote it? I started out the usual way of writing in the first space. But when I got to the right side of the page, I turned the page and wrote down the right side.

When I came to the bottom of the page, I turned the paper again and wrote along the bottom.

So I wrote all around the outside edge, around the entire paper. Each time I came back to the beginning, I moved in another space and continued going around and around and the space got smaller and smaller until I ran out of room to write.

When Hunter gets his letter, he will have to turn the paper around and around to read it. 😉

Another way to write a goofy letter is in a circle. I drew a circle with a pencil to start my next letter to Hunter’s brother, Kendan.

As you probably guessed, I wrote this letter in a circle with each line moving a little closer inside.

Can you think of any other fun ways to write a letter? In a triangle shape? Maybe a square or an oval? I’m pretty sure I will think up some other fun ways to write letters, but maybe these 3 ideas will get you started on your own letter writing adventure! Have fun! And you just might get a letter in return! 😉

Taste Testing Tuesday – #15

It’s that day of the week again! Welcome to another round of Taste Testing Tuesday! This week’s tasting is a pretty simple one, but these suggestions are for a little bit older kids, not for the really young. We’re testing out different kinds of nuts, so please be cautious of your children’s ages before you try this one. And, of course, if your kids have a peanut or tree nut allergy, please bypass this week’s test. Today we have 5 nuts on hand to try, but the list of nuts you can experiment with is a long one. Hint: to do the same test we’re doing here, just buy a can of mixed nuts and separate the different kinds of nuts out into cupcake papers or into little sections on a plate.

The nuts we are taste testing this week are…

#1.) Cashews

#2.) Hazelnuts or Filberts

#3.) Peanuts

#4.) Almonds

#5.) Pecans

I hope you grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil and made yourself a quick chart to record your taste preferences for each kind of nut. Did you like all of the nuts you tried? Which one is your favorite? It would be a close call for me to pick a favorite, but I think I would go with cashews. Do certain nuts make you think of certain foods they are made in? For instance, when I think of peanuts, I think of peanut butter…or Mr. Goodbar candy bars. When I think of pecans, I think of eating them on a salad or in a pecan pie or a sweet pecan roll. Mmmm!

If this taste test seems a little too tame for you, you can find lots of variations of nuts in the store. There are spicy nuts and sweet nuts…honey roasted cashews or peanuts…chocolate almonds…spiced pecans…maple walnuts…and this list could be a very long one! Whichever kinds of nuts you decide to try, I hope you find a new nut or flavor that you really like. Happy tasting! 🙂