Cooking for Kids: Banana Peanut Butter Popovers

I make pancakes or waffles for the kids at least once a week. But I'm getting a little tired of the same old thing. I found this recipe for Peanut Butter and Banana Popovers (shockingly not on Pinterest) and decided to try them out.

I've made popovers before (if you're British like my husband and have no idea what I'm talking about, they're very similar to Yorkshire Pudding). They were good, but didn't have a whole lot of flavor. I love these ones because of the extra flavor from the peanut butter and the banana. And what kid is going to say no to peanut butter and bananas?

Banana Peanut Butter Popovers (adapted from DoughMessTic)

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup milk
• a pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• spray oil
• 2 small or medium bananas sliced

Preheat the oven to 375. Spray a popover pan with oil. Ummmm... do you have a popover pan? Or even know what one is? Yeah, me neither. Use a cupcake tin and you'll do just fine.

Whisk the eggs, vanilla, sugar, milk, salt and peanut butter together. Add the flour and mix it all together.

Evenly distribute the mix between the cups. Add a few slices of banana to each cup. I only added two slices to each one. Next time I'll add a few more. You can never have too many bananas.

Put the pan in the 375 degree oven. Bake for 5 minutes at 375 then turn it down to 350 and bake for 20 more minutes.

Gently pull them out of the pan and dress them up with whatever sounds good. I was up extra early this morning so I drizzled mine with some maple syrup. And I knew it was going to be an extra long day with two sick kids so I added some chopped walnuts. And just because I'm the mom and I can do what I want, I added some powdered sugar, too.

I'm going to try these again with some different mix-ins. I'd like to try some sort of savory combination next. Maybe some bacon and cheese? Yes, please!

Want some more ideas for Cooking for Kids? Check out these other ideas.

Fun with Flubber

We've been stuck at home with colds for the past few days which means we've been watching way too much TV. I decided to give Mr. Netflix a break and find something easy and entertaining for the kids to do. And Flubber did the trick. This stuff is great. It's easy to mix up, keeps the kids happy for a while and there's really no clean up!

Supplies:

• 1/4 teaspoon Borax
• 4 ounce bottle of glue
• Food coloring
• Warm water
• Mixing bowl

A quick note: Borax is not dangerous (as some husbands might have you believe, namely mine!). Yes, it can kill ants but it also works well as a cleaner. Treat it like any other cleaning product you have in your house - put it on a high shelf or in a locked cabinet out of the reach of kids.

Pour a 4 oz. bottle of glue into a mixing bowl or dish. Fill the glue bottle with warm water, add some food coloring and shake shake shake! We made ours pink in honor of Valentine's Day. Pour the colored water into the glue and mix it together.

I don't have any pictures of the next step because your hands will get all goopy and you want to work kind of fast. Mix 1/4 teaspoon of borax with 1/4 cup water. Add to the glue and water mixture and mix it up quickly and then knead it until you get a big old blob.

Then start rolling it and flinging it and bouncing it and hiding things in it and stamping objects into it. Pretty much whatever you want.

Grady wasn't so sure about it at first. I don't think he liked the slimy feel of it. But he got over it and had fun in the end. And Finley stood at the counter for 30 minutes playing with it. Hooray for another "go to" toddler activity!

Oobleck is another fun activity for toddlers (and adults). But that stuff takes quite a bit of supervision and a lot of cleanup if you look away for even a few seconds. If you want easy and clean - go for the Flubber!

Finger Painting Bags

I knew these two little kids were not going to wait patiently while I got dinner ready tonight so I pulled another trick out of my Pinterest bag - Finger Painting Bags. This is genius. I mean completely and totally genius. Finger painting without the mess of finger painting. How cool is that?

Supplies:

• Paint
• Ziploc bags
• Tape (Painters tape works well)
• Sheet of white paper

Put a big squirt of paint into a ziploc bag. You can use one color or use a couple colors and teach your kids all about mixing colors. Push out the air bubbles and zip up the bag.

Tape the bag to the table over a sheet of paper. You don't need the paper but it will help your kids see the colors better. Then let them "paint" away.

Finley had fun showing her little brother the "right" way to paint. He doesn't look pleased, does he?

These bags can be used again and again. After the kids did their painting at the table, we moved them to the fridge. And after they get bored with that I'm going to peel them off and save them for another "I'm bored, Mommy!" kind of day.

Check out the Crafts and Activities page or my post on 10 activities to help avoid a toddler meltdown for more ideas on keeping your kids entertained.

Valentine's Day Paper Heart Wreath

I'm very excited to have my very first guest post -- you can also see this craft over at Sounds Fun Mom. If you live South of Seattle and you're looking for some fun, check out Maegen's page!

I recently started crafting with my kids. I used to be afraid of messes and clean up. And to be completely honest, the effort involved! But once I got over my fears, I discovered that crafting with kids can be a lot of fun. In just a few months my daughter has turned into a crafting monster. Now almost every day she says, "What are we going to craft today, Mommy?"

Since Valentine's Day is nearing, we've been doing a lot of Valentine's crafts. I found this cute paper heart wreath on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to make. I love crafts that are simple and use supplies you already have in your house - especially the crafts that use only paper and staples like this one.

Supplies:

• Paper (thick card stock paper is best)
• Paper cutter or scissors
• Stapler
• Ribbon

The first step is to cut the strips of paper. I made my strips 2" x 11". To make a circular wreath you'll need 11 strips, if you want an oval shape just cut a few more strips.

Fold each strip in half, loop it around and staple. You can use double-sided tape or mini-glue dots, but I love my good old stapler!

Continue folding and looping and stapling until you complete all the hearts. Then lay them on a flat surface in the shape you want. (This photo shows more hearts than I used in the end. I did a little investigative work during this craft and found out that heavier paper works the best and using fewer hearts will help the wreath to hold it's shape.)

Staple the hearts together.

Cut a piece of ribbon and staple it to the sides of two of the hearts.

Then hang it on the wall and admire your craftiness!

My 3-year-old is a little too young to do this craft on her own, but she had fun folding the paper and making shapes out of the hearts before I stapled them all together.

If you're looking for more Valentine's crafts for kids of all ages, check out the Crafts and Activities page. I'm always trying out new crafts with my kids. I hope decide to try a few with your kids, too!

Paper Plate Heart

Here's another no-mess (ok, maybe a little) and high fun Valentine's craft for your kids. You probably already have everything in your craft drawer and pantry for it.

Supplies:

• Paper plate
• Construction paper
• Glue
• Scissors

Cut the paper plate into a heart shape.

The next part is supposed to be fun for your kids. That is, if you have normal kids. My kids cried when I told them they could rip up the paper into tiny pieces. What's up with that?

Once the tears have dried, spread glue all over the heart plate and let your kids glue the paper on it until the heart is covered. Finley had a great time making this heart and had an even better time delivering a special Valentine to her Gramps over the weekend.

Fun with Froot Loops

I got the idea of doing some crafts with Froot Loops from a friend of mine. Finley was so excited when I pulled out a box of yummy looking cereal. She looked a little upset when she realized they were for a craft, but she quickly got on board when I told her she could eat the leftovers that we didn't use for the rainbow.

Supplies:

• Froot Loops
• One sheet of paper
• Glue
• Cotton balls or marshmallows

If you have an older child you can take the opportunity to teach them about rainbows. If you have a toddler, just ask them to sort the Froot Loops by color.

Put a half-circle of glue on the paper for each color and Froot Loop up the page until you have a beautiful rainbow.

We added cotton balls for the clouds. I thought about doing mini-marshmallows but I knew they'd be in Finley's mouth before we could get them on the page.

Sometimes I'm kinda "meh" about doing crafts. I'm happy to do them with Finley because it makes her happy and keeps her occupied. But I actually thought this one was a lot fun. I don't know why. Maybe because rainbows are cheery and happy or maybe because there was food involved. Either way it was a lot of fun for us to do together.

Check out the Crafts & Activities page for more fun ideas to keep your toddlers busy.

Valentine's Lovebird

I found this lovebird Valentine's craft on Meet the Dubiens while pinning away on Pinterest the other day. It's really easy, you probably have all the supplies already (if you don't just make do with what you have) and there's no mess! That's my kind of craft.

Supplies:

• Large sheet of paper
• Colored foam or paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Googly eye
• Marker

Cut out a large heart for the body and smaller hearts for the wings, tail, feet, lips and head feathers. If you have a youngish kid, you'll have to do the cutting. If you're kid is approved to use scissors, let 'em at it.

Glue the hearts onto a large sheet of paper to make the bird. Add a googly eye. Then draw the legs with the marker and glue the feet onto the bottom. Easy-peasy!

We're still working on my daughter's writing skills. That's supposed to say "TWEET" but she kept running out of room so the letters just went where there was space. I still think it's pretty cute!

Looking for more Valentine's crafts? Check out the Crafts and Activities page.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Snow Ice Cream!

There is no shortage of snow in the Pacific Northwest right now. If you're tired of building snowmen, making snow angels, and sledding, here's another fun way to use it - snow ice cream! Some of you might question the cleanliness of making ice cream out of snow. If so, this isn't for you. My kids have eaten worse things, so I'm ok with it.

Ingredients:

• A bowl full of snow
• Sugar
• Milk
• Vanilla

Find some clean snow and fill the bowl.

Mix it all up until you get the an ice cream-like consistency. I used about 3 tablespoons of sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla and about a cup of milk.

My husband suggested putting in a bit of food coloring to make pink ice cream. We were out of red so I used yellow instead. Everyone loves yellow snow!

I thought my kids would love this, but Finley wasn't too happy about the ice cream being cold. "I want warm ice cream, Mommy!" And Grady wasn't sure what to think. I thought it was pretty tasty. I hope your kids are a little more appreciative!

If you're looking for more activities to keep your kids busy during our Winter Snow Blast, here's my list of activities to avoid the dreaded meltdown. Or check out the Crafts and Activities page.

Cooking for Kids: Sausage Noodle Octopus

I decided to get the kids involved with dinner prep last night. I usually shoo them out of the kitchen (over and over and over again) while I'm scurrying around trying to get dinner on the table. It's such a battle. I'm going to try to get them involved a bit more so maybe there's less of a struggle every night at 5 o'clock.

Last night we made these octopus sausage noodle things. I don't know what else to call them. Maybe Sausage Spaghetti Spiders. That's a bit more catchy. But we went with the octopus thing. Which actually turned into a nightmare (literally).

Ingredients:

• Hot dogs or pre-cooked sausage
• Noodles - spaghetti or linguini (thin spaghetti will break too easily)

Slice up the sausage into little rounds.

Let your kids help by pushing the noodles through the slices of sausage. If they've been playing the Pipe Cleaner + Colander game they should be pros at this.

Grady kept trying to eat the sausage. That's why I highly recommend pre-cooked sausage. That kid will put anything in his mouth.

Boil them in a pot or a pan, using the directions for the noodles you chose.

Say cheese!

Do a quick photo shoot of your adorable little boy while the octopus are cooking.

Then enjoy the slithery, slimy little suckers!

About that nightmare... Apparently I talked a bit too much about octopuses (or is it octopi?) at dinner last night. Around midnight Finley woke up crying so I went to her room to calm her down. She was talking about a scary octopus but then she calmed down and said, "The octopus was nice though. It had toys!"

If you're looking for other recipes for kids, check out this recipe for one pot mac and cheese. It's super duper yummy!

10 Toddler Activities To Avoid the Dreaded Meltdown

I do my best to avoid meltdowns like this.

And this.

I'd much rather see happy and smiling faces like these. So I've put together my own list of "Keep 'Em Happy" Activities. Food and recipe websites suggest making a list of your go-to meals that you can easily assemble with ingredients you have on hand. Well, I think we need the same for our kids. There are so many times I ask myself, "What am I going to do with the kids today?" and "How can I keep them happy for another 30 minutes before dinner is ready?" Here's my top 10 activities to avoid meltdowns.

1. Photograph the House

Over the summer we let Finley try out her photography skills on one of our old cameras. Playing with that camera can keep her busy for a good chunk of time. Her favorite activity is a picture scavenger hunt. I draw pictures of items in the house and send her on a scavenger hunt to take pictures of all of them. If you really want to put your kids to work, get them to take pictures of all your valuables for insurance purposes!

2. Dance Party!

This is probably my favorite. I love to dance and so do my kids. Even if you don't have an extensive music collection, you can listen to lots of free music on services like Pandora. Get in on the dancing yourself and get a little exercise while you're at it. We do this so much I'm starting to think the The Chipmunks make quality music.

3. When In Doubt, Turn On The Spout

Water has wonderful healing powers when it comes to cranky kids. (I guess the same can be said for tired moms.) I usually reserve bath time for that space of time between dinner and bed time when I just want the day to end. But sometimes I do bath time right smack in the middle of the day because it keeps them happy. Add a little colored shaving cream paint or some fizzy tub colors and you can let them play until they're prunes while you relax on the floor with a book. Without a doubt they'll be super dirty by bedtime but it gets me through the day and some days that's about all I can hope for.

If it's summertime, a sprinkler or kiddy pool in the backyard works well, too. While you're out there, throw a little soap in pool and call it a bath.

Or you can always fill the kitchen sink with soapy water and let them at it. You'll probably end up with a lot of water on the floor but maybe you can convince them that mopping up the floor is part of the fun, too!

4. Color Buckets

I have a few colored buckets from Finley's art-themed birthday party. These work perfectly for the color bucket game. Give your kids a bucket (or anything else they can put stuff in) and have them go around the house finding things the same color. Ok, you'll probably spend a few minutes putting everything back. But if it keeps the kid busy for a bit, I'm ok with that.

5. Hide-and-Go-Seek with Toys
My husband likes to play this game with the kids. He hides one of their toys that makes noise, like LeapFrog My Pal Scout or Violet, turns on the music and has them search the house for them. I'm sure we all have way too many annoying noisy toys, so just grab one of those to use. And if you hide it so well that the kids never find it, even better!

6. Stickers, Stickers, Stickers

When there's no paper to be found, mama works well, too!

If there is a sheet of stickers in the house, Grady seems to be able to sniff them out. I'm always finding him sitting on the floor peeling stickers off a sheet and nicely decorating the house or himself. I should probably be better about putting them out of reach. Finley was the same way at that age, but she used to decorate me instead of the house. It always keeps the kids quiet makes them happy, so it makes me happy.

7. Dress-Up

This is an easy activity that I never even have to encourage the kids to play. They're usually off in their room playing quietly and then one of them comes out wearing something totally random. We have the standards like dresses for Finley, hats, and a fishing vest for Grady. But Finley also found a 6 - 9 months baby outfit in the donation pile that she quickly turned into dress up clothes. She loves wearing it and it now has a home in the dress up the basket, too. (For a while that was her favorite hat to wear when we went out.)

We also have a duck costume that Finley wore for Halloween when she was two. She still squeezes into it and Grady likes to wear it, too. Basically, anything that the kids don't wear normally, goes into the dress-up basket and makes for hours of fun!

8. Pipe Cleaners + Colander

Give your kids a colander and handful of pipe cleaners (or spaghetti noodles if you're fresh out of pipe cleaners) and walk away. Honestly. That's all I had to do. No instructions needed. They'll figure it out and have a lot of fun.

9. Lacing

I think one of the hardest things about doing crafts and activities with kids is the preparation. Once you've pulled out your supplies they've already lost it and there's no going back. That's why I love this one. You can have it ready in a minute or two. Find a shoelace, or any sturdy string. Cut up some straws. And you're done. Let the kids lace the straws onto the shoelace. When they're done, put it all in a ziploc bag and you've got a quick activity for those "I'm bored" moments.

10. Word World

This one is also super fast and super easy. Pull out some letter magnets and a baking sheet. Write some words on a piece of paper and let your kids spell the words with the magnets. If they're a little younger you can give them animal magnets to play with. If they're a little older you can let them make up their own words.

What are your go-to activities that help keep you and your kids happy?