Cinco de Mayo Cupcakes!

Back in the preschool days, some friends and I got together to throw a last minute Cinco de Mayo party for our kiddos - complete with coloring sheets, a cut and paste flag, and cupcakes!

Any excuse to have cupcakes, right?


It was actually my neighbor's three-year-old son who came up with the idea to have "a cake for Mexico's birthday." So we frosted them with white icing and let the kids go to town with the red and green sprinkles to create the stripes.

They LOVED it.

I also added some bean and cheese burrito bites and diced avocado to the mix so they could sample some Mexican food too, but the cupcakes were still their favorite.

Can't say I blame them.



Then it was time for to teach them the Mexican Hat Dance and the Macarena. The dance teacher in me couldn't resist. I pulled my sombreros out of my classroom stash so we could dance around them. Another mom brought some instruments for the kids to play too - including maracas! The kids were really into it. Of course, we had to get a picture of each kiddo in the sombrero - too stinkin' cute!



I wonder if I'd be able to talk Noah into wearing this hat tomorrow for another photo opp - haha! Yeah, I seriously doubt it, but I am sure he'll be all for the cupcakes!

An Easter First - Peeps S'mores!

I had heard rumors about these and knew we had to try them out...

Oh my GOODNESS! YUM! Just place a peep on a graham cracker and pop them in the oven at 300 degrees for 2-3 minutes - until they puff. Take them out, place a piece of chocolate on top and another graham cracker and SQUISH!

Definitely our new favorite Easter treat. Like my friend Jenny texted after I sent her a pic, "Every s'more needs a bit more sugar."

We'll eat to that! :)

Easy-Bake Afternoons and Tiny Treats

As cute as those pink-and-purple-packaged Easy Bake Oven mixes are, the price ($6-$8 for a teensy bit of batter) makes this mama cringe! Honestly, we had only used the Easy Bake oven a handful of times since Christmas because of that reason, but since discovering the snack size cookie mixes from Betty Crocker (for only $1), my daughter has been baking her little heart out!

Just add butter/oil or water - no eggs required. Super easy! To make our Easy-Bake afternoons even more fun, we've been using ideas from this adorable Tiny Treats recipe book from American Girl that we picked up at a doll shop during our "Girls Day Out" last Saturday.

Yep! Those are mini peanut butter blossoms - tiny bit of cookie dough and a chocolate chip. Too stinkin' cute and yummy too! There are lots of no-bake treat ideas as well -

That first evening after buying the book, we made mini donuts (multi-grain cheerios), s'mores (golden grahams, chocolate chip, mini marshmallow), and tiny cakes (two Oreos with frosting).

For such tiny treats, we really had a TON of fun! 

Peanut Butter, Crackers, and Chocolate - oh my!

Who would have thought that peanut butter crackers coated in chocolate almond bark would be SO GOOD?
I am forever in debt to my sweet cousin, Courtney, for making these for us while we visiting down in Arkansas last summer. The kids and I have made them a few times since, and, now, I make sure to keep the ingredients on hand. (I admit, before that visit, I didn't even know what Almond Bark was, but I found it in the baking section at Wal-Mart.)

All you have to do is spread a thick layer of peanut butter on 12-15 Ritz crackers (or the store brand), put another cracker on top, and then start melting your almond bark in the microwave.

Melt four big squares (half the package) for 30 seconds at a time on high, stir, and then repeat until it's completely smooth. Then dip the peanut butter crackers in the almond bark - coat them really well. Then put them on wax paper to set. 

Depending on how well you coat them, you may have some chocolate left so you can make more crackers and dip some more.  Seriously good stuff! Store them in an air tight container (if you your kids don't eat them all in one sitting - haha!).


And while we're at it - Here's a variation using graham crackers, peanut butter, and chocolate chips I came up with that's even easier to whip up and is a fun after school snack - my daughter's favorite!



My kids love making those smiley faces!

If peanut butter and chocolate are near and dear to your heart (like they are to mine!), these treats will be too. Yum!

Reese's PB Temptations - A Cookie AND a Craft!

 The toughest part about making these cookies, besides not popping peanut butter cups into your mouth while unwrapping them...

is waiting for them to cool...

So to curb my five-year-old's incessant "can I have one yet, Mom?"s,  I quickly came up with this simple idea to distract him for a few minutes...and reuse those scattered wrappers.

By the time he finished crumpling the wrappers and gluing them on his tree, the peanut butter treats were cool enough to eat.

They were definitely worth the wait!

Halloween Tradition: Nutter Butter Ghosts!

When it comes to cute and clever holiday treats, my bff (of 20+ years) Diana knows her stuff. She told me about these Nutter Butter Ghosts (yum!) awhile back so I asked if she would share the recipe. Thanks, Diana!

I am not sure exactly when my mom started making her Nutter Butter Ghosts but I always remember them being a part of Halloween at our house. When I had my own family I knew it would be part of our Halloween traditions too!

These are EXTREMELY easy to make. All you need is:

• Nutter Butter cookies
• Chocolate chips (about 1 cup)
• White baking chocolate or vanilla candy coating.
• Wax paper

1. Set out 2 cookie sheets with wax paper covering them. (I like to tape the wax paper so it does not slide around.)
2. Melt the one package of white baking chocolate in a med size pan on the stove top. I suppose you could microwave it, but it does need reheating occasionally, and I find it easier and faster to do this on the stove. Use low heat and stir constantly. It usually makes enough for one package of Nutter Butter cookies with some left over.
3. Once the chocolate is melted, simply dip half of the Nutter Butter cookie in chocolate, and place it on the cookie sheet. Immediately, place two chocolate chips on it for the eyes. Repeat until you run out of cookies (or chocolate). Reheat the chocolate if it begins to harden.
4. Once you have all of your cookies dipped, place them in the refrigerator to set. 

5. After the chocolate has set, you can take them off the wax paper. I still store them in the refrigerator to keep the chocolate firm.

My oldest son is not able to have wheat, dairy or eggs, and I could not let him feel left out so I made him a fun Halloween treat too.

I made Rice Krispie Treats as directed from the Rice Krispies box. I made them in a 9x13 pan, but when I do it again I will use a cookie sheet so they are a little less thick. Then I used a ghost cookie cutter and cut out the treats in that shape.

I found a new item in the baking aisle that got me all excited. I knew that I could make frosting for the

treats, but when I found this gem, I knew it would save me a lot of time - Betty Crocker Brownie Toppers– Marshmallow Icing. I spread this on the tops of the Rice Krispie treats, and then we used chocolate chips for the eyes.

Treats for the whole family! I hope you enjoy these as much as we do! Happy Halloween!

Halloween Flashback: "Crabby Apples"

Instead of bobbing for apples at this year's fall festivities, transform them into these crabby-lookin' creatures - 

The kids decorated these at our friends' house last Halloween and had a finger-licking good time! They loved squirting the icing on the apples to make the jelly bean eyes, gummy worm hair, and candy corn teeth stick...oh, and eyebrows - that was Abby's idea. Too funny...er...I mean, scary.

We may do this activity after Halloween this year - have to do something with all that candy!