Cooking

Aunt N got Little Miss A a fun cupcake set a while back and we used Spring Break as a time to "break" it out!  A absolutely loved it!  She could do the whole thing on her own.

YUM!

21st Century Christmas Cookie Decorating

We picked these cookies that looked too fun to pass up...

COOKIE COLORING!!!!

Happy to report they were not only fun to decorate, but actually YUMMY to eat too!!!!!

Ready, Set, FALL!!!!!

Okay, so it has officially been fall for a week, but it FINALLY "feels" like Fall now. I woke up this morning and decided we needed warm "fall" cinnamon rolls with orange icing and Halloween sprinkles before we headed out for school. The kids loved it!!! They were so excited to eat breakfast that it wasn't like they were being force fed and rushed out the door in the morning. This one tiny little thing made me feel more like the Mom I used to be. I need to do this more often!!! (For all of our sakes/sanity.)

Pizza Pie!

My little chefs were in the kitchen tonight whipping up personal pizzas. They truly did everything (with minimal direction from me) from making the dough to forming their individual crusts and then of course adding their favorite toppings. Although I think more olives ended up in their tummies than on top of the pizzas. ;)

Hmmm, what other dinners can they make? I think it's time to start experimenting! :)

Cookies...

After a morning of running errands, we came home to a nice afternoon thunder storm and decided we needed to make cookies!!!!

Little Miss A and Mr. D did virtually EVERYTHING!! They had so much fun! :)

A Lesson In Taste

We were making a GIANT celebration cupcake for Daddy...starting his new job...and decided to make his favorite: yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I had a box of yellow cake mix, but no chocolate frosting, so we hit the cookbooks and made that from scratch instead. Honestly, we couldn't leave the house since we were stuck at home with construction peeps all day so we improvised with the old fashioned method...it was kind of nice. :)

Anyway, I broke out the chocolate powder to add to the mixture in the mixer and A & D both wanted to taste it. When I told them it was REALLY bitter, they both asked (in unison) "What's bitter?" What better way to find out than to try it!!! Their reactions were priceless!!!

Little Miss A went first and I seriously thought she was going to throw up...she ran as fast as should could to the trash can to spit it out. Mr. D was up next and was laughing the whole time. Even while laughing, he followed A's lead to the trash can to spit it out.

I guess we now know what "bitter" means. :)

The Recipe

The concoctions are continually being created at the Caswell house. Here is today's surprise...

Ingredients:

oranges

salt and pepper

water

grass/weeds

Directions:

Peel oranges. Add remaining ingredients. Mash. Stir. Done.

I'm glad I was able to convince Mr. D not to drink it. :) Before I even had a chance to do to the same with Little Miss A, she said "Don't worry Mommy, I would NEVER drink that nasty suff!" Smart girl. :)

Kitchen Chemistry

I am in the middle of a kitchen chemistry project with my 2nd graders at school and have been having so much fun that it made me realize it had been a while since the Caswell Kids had an afternoon in the kitchen with Mommy! So, we went straight home from school and made chocolate chip cookies. Our usual version is to grab the package out the fridge, open, place the cookie squares on a cookie sheet, bake, done! Nope, not today, we measured, we mixed, we tasted and baked it together. It was awesome!!! I miss our old Cooking Club we had with playgroup. Maybe we'll start a new group with some neighborhood friends instead. :)

Oh Christmas Tree!

After seeing the incredible "Big Top Cupcake" on TV, we knew the Caswells just HAD to have one...we're a little obsessed with cupcakes over here. :) It's awesome!!! We made our first one into a Christmas tree. The decorating of Christmas trees continues...

Halloween Treats

With a growing collection of Halloween cookbooks, we had an assortment of menu items every week this month that were just "spooktacular" fun. :) With a little food coloring, fun cut out shapes and a gruesome name anything can become a disgustingly fun treat. The kids got to the point this month where they would just ask "are you just using your imagination?" :)

Valentine's Party

Okay, so a HUGE perk to my job is that my Fridays are somewhat flexible. I was able to go help at A and D's Valentine party at school today.

After putting their valentine's together, they were both SO excited to share. (Asking all week long, "Is our party today?") We've done Valentine's with playgroups the past couple of years, but this year they REALLY got it! Although they were both somewhat confused as to why they weren't putting a Valentine in their own decorated bags, they definitely loved giving! They began the Valentine festivities on Monday. This ENTIRE week has been filled with fun "heart shaped" Valentine activities that the kids have just "LOVED!"

We started today's party with a cooking craft, which of course led to a huge plate of yummies. Then had some time for crafts and of course passed out Valentines. Our Valentine "unveiling" was saved for home. Which I loved. We got home this afternoon and were immediately unloading and checking things out. They were so excited to see all their friends names on each Valentine. They were saying "Look, this one is from..." Not that they can read, but they see their classmates names so often they recognize them almost as well as they recognize their own. It's so fun!

Valentine Goodies!!!

Life has gotten so super busy lately, that we had to just come home and do something "fun!" So we made our valentine cupcakes and will have to follow up with the cookies sometime this week. The kids loved it...okay, they loved the batter and the frosting. (I wonder where they get that from? Hmm...) I started getting out the ingredients when D said "Mommy we can't make our valentine goodies without our aprons and chef hats!" Sheesh, what was I thinking? He's absolutely right!!! I love it! :)

Baking Day!

It was baking day at the Caswell house today!!!

We started the day with gingerbread houses and ended up with a gingerbread town. I think through the process, A & D may have consumed their body weight in candy throughout the course of the day.

Then it was on to the sugar cookies. The kids did it all! (It helps when you buy the pre-packaged, pre-shaped sugar cookie dough flats!) They made the fudge as well. (It was an Eagle Brand box, so again, they truly did it all.) They helped a ton with the Swedish Cookies too! What fun!!!

We ended the day with our traditional lasagna and a drive through our favorite neighborhood lights. Yes, Aunt Kate, the Griswold's have done it again this year!! CRAZY!!! I just know they're going to win the neighborhood award AGAIN...how many years running? I'm losing count! :)

Well, it's getting late and the kids are dreaming sweet dreams without care,

so it's off to finish things up, if I dare. :)

Week In Review...

Okay, so I've been a little late in posting this week...it's been a bit crazy over here.

Kids in the Kitchen

We had a super fun play date yesterday after school at Ms. D's house. We made some super yummy toffee bars. A & D were totally into using the mixer. I guess I need to start relinquishing a bit more control when they are helping me in the kitchen. They loved it! They also made the cutest little spiders with marshmallows and pretzels with funky Halloween decorated abdomens. Of course, knowing how much Little Miss A and Mr D LOVE marshmallows, this was a huge hit with the Caswell Kids!

Me Too Iguana

Yes, Aunt K, we still need that Sweet Pickles book...Tuesday was a classic case. As much as Little Miss A LOVES dance class. As soon as she realized that we would be watching D in his karate class, she decided she wanted to do karate too!!!

Train Party
We went to a party for some of our twin friends' on Saturday. The highlight of the party was the train ride around the park. The "tunnel" was decorated for Halloween. (It was really spooky!) The kids LOVED it! A kept saying "the hands keep grabbing my hair!" (There were plastic gloves filled with some slimy material hanging at just the right spots through the tunnel causing them to "get" A every time.) A & D had so much fun playing. Little Miss A, ironically, had one of her old dance friends at the party too. Neither one of them wanted to leave even though they had been falling asleep in the car on the way to the party. :)

Eating dirt? Nope, not the Caswell Kids!

I hope you are sitting down to read this...we actually left school at 3:15 today!!!!! YEA...hopefully a trend that will continue into the future! I decided we'd have a little fun in the kitchen and make some slimy, grimy dirt cups...complete with gummy worms of course! The kids had so much fun, and were such big helpers. Sadly, I think they both enjoyed the making the dirt cups more than eating them. I am seriously starting to wonder what is up with these silly monkeys. Kids that are more likely to eat broccoli than pudding with cookies and gummy worms...what's up with that? Are we related????? Seriously, who wouldn't eat that? Answer...A & D. Well, I guess I should clarify, they LOVED the gummy worms, but that was it. They just stirred the dirt around. Maybe because it was called dirt? Who knows. It was just so great to have a nice afternoon at home doing something fun together. :)