Practical Homeschooling » recipes

Peanut-Butter Rice Squares

Laura — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 22:35:21 +0000

If your children enjoy Rice Krispy squares, they’ll be sure to LOVE this peanut-butter version (pending any peanut allergies, of course). They are easy to make and require minimal help from the parents. Younger children can feel proud that they made these all by themselves!

You will need:

1-250g. bag of marshmallows
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
8 cups rice cereal

Place marshmallows, butter and peanut butter in a large microwaveable bowl. Place in microwave for 45 seconds. Remove and stir. Place back in microwave for another 30 seconds, and stirr again. Continue microwaving at 30-second increments until everything is melted and combined.

Add vanilla and mix.

Add rice cereal and mix until combined. Smaller children may need a little help with this. Pour mix into a greased 9X13 pan that has been pre-greased. Grease hands with a little more butter, and pat down with hands. Allow to cool before cutting into squares. Enjoy!

On Boxes and Oatmeal Cookies (recipe)

Laura — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 00:38:12 +0000

For Muslims around the world, today marks the first day of Eid-ul-Fitr, a celebration marking the end of the fasting month or Ramadan. The girls have left for the night to celebrate the event with their father, so I’ve been blessed with some time off and as many mothers do when they are suddenly confronted by an empty house. I took a nap.

We’ve had a busy few days with visiting with friends and working on projects. The highlight of their day yesterday was making oatmeal cookies with their friend, J, and her mother. We came across an awesome recipe, and I made a few modifications with it and these cookies are just as good (if not better)!

Chewy Oatmeal-Currant-Raisin Cookies

Yummy cookies!

(makes 48)

You will need:

3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 3/4 cups oatmeal flour (place oatmeal in blender)
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried currants

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
In large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Stir together flours, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually beat into butter mixture. Stir in raisins and currants. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Cool slightly, remove from sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Make Your Own Edible Crayons

Laura — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 18:16:24 +0000

Made with nuts, seeds and marshmallows, these crayons are free of artificial colours and truly neat! This idea and images were totally snagged from Luxirare. You can even colour with them!

It`s something I’d love to do with my girls, but since I’m still layed up in the hospital, I’ll have to wait till I’m out and I remember to gather the necessary ingredients.

To see how these health bars were made, please visit the original site here.

21 Awesome Popsicle Recipes

Laura — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 21:18:41 +0000

It’s that time of the year where, instead of complaining about everything cold, we are embracing it in order to get some relief from the summer heat!

Dawn and Emily are at an age where all things ‘popsicle’ light up their lives with joy, spending time every day sucking their sweet, cold treat. I quickly grew tired of the plain frozen-juice pops, and went on a mission to find new wonderful recipes to try out. The girls like them much better, and it gives them different flavours and textures to experiment with.

1. Mango Kulfi

This ice-cream-type desert originated in Pakistan and India. While this recipe calls for mango, you can substitute it for many other ingredients, including peach or orange.

2. Dripless Popsicles

If you’re a mom, you probably find that giving popsicles to young children a rather stressful event. Try dripless popsicles! The jello in the recipe solidifies the popsicles enough that they don’t make a mess while being eaten.

You will need:

1 package fruit-flavoured Jell-O
1 packaged unsweetened Kool-Aid
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup boiling water
2 cups cold water

Place Jello-O in bowl. Add boiling water and mix till gelatin is dissolved. Add sugar and Kool-Aid. Dissolve as much as possible. Add cold water, and continue mixing until all particles are gone. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

3. Rocky Road Pops

You will need:

1 package instant chocolate pudding
2 cups of milk
1/2 c. miniature marshmallows
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Prepare pudding according to package directions. Add in marshmallows and nuts. Pour into molds and freeze.

4. Ice-Creamsicles

Love the flavour of a store-bought creamsicle? Try this:

You will need:

1 can of frozen concentrated orange juice, partially defrosted
1 can of water (same can as the juice came in)
1 pint vanilla ice cream

Combine all ingredients in the blender and blend till smooth. Place in molds and freeze.

5. Creamy Fruit Pops

3 cups grape (or other) punch
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Combine the two ingredients and freeze in popsicle molds.

6. Orange-Banana Smoothie Pops

Recipe courtesy of Country Living.

7. Oreo Pudding Pops

You will need:
1 box instant chocolate pudding
2 cups of milk
8 Oreo cookies, crushed into crumbs
1/2 cup thawed cool-whip or whipped cream

Prepare chocolate pudding according to package directions. Add crushed cookiest and whipped toping. Combine till smooth. Place in popsicle molds and freeze.

8. Banana Blueberry Swirl Popsicles

From MarthaStewart.com

9. Banana and Coconut Frozen Yogurt Popsicles

From Wandering Chopsticks

10. Easy Creamy Lemon-Dream Popsicles

You will need:

2/3 cup sugar
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1 pinch salt
1 2/3 cup buttermilk

Whisk all ingredients together until sugar is well-dissolved. Mold and freeze.

11. Maple Mocha Pops

From Taste of Home

12. Homemade Fudge Pops

You will need:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 c sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place chopped chocolate into a medium glass mixing bowl. Set aside. Combine heavy cream, milk, sugar, and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until cocoa is dissolved and mixture comes to a simmer. Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 2 to 3 minutes and then whisk gently until all chocolate is melted. Add the vanilla extract. Divide into molds and freeze.

13. Honeydew-Lime Popsicles

You will need:

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
4 cups cubed honeydew
2/3 cup fresh lime juice.

Combine ingredients into blender and puree. Force puree through a fine-meshed sieve, passing through as much of the pulp as possible, discarding the remain. Distribute into a popsicle mold and freeze at least 6 hours.

14. Melon Popsicles with Mind, Honey, and Yogurt

You will need:

1 medium melon, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
handful of mint leaves
3 TBs honey
1 TB lime juice
1 cup unsweetened Greek strained yogurt

Purée the melon, mint, honey, and lime juice in a food processor. Strain into a bowl through a fine sieve, pressing on the solids to extract the juice. Discard the solids. Stir in the yogurt until smooth. Distribute into a popsicle mold and freeze.

15. Frozen Strawberry Peach Pops

From Country Living

16. Cardamom Rhubarb Sorbet Pops

3 1/2 cups fresh rhubarb, chopped
2 1/2 cups water
1 2/3 cups sugar
1/4 ts. salt
2 ts. dried lemon zest
1/2 ts. cardamom
1 ts. vanilla extract
2 TB corn syrup

Place the rhubarb, water, sugar, salt & lemon zest in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. The rhubarb should get very soft. Cool. Place in blender and mix until smooth. Press through a strainer to remove pulp. Stir in remaining ingredients. Dispense into mold and freeze.

17. Red, While, and Blueberry Pops

From Serious Eats, a nice snack for summertime.

18. Plum Smoothie-Pop

Another neat one from Country Living.

19. Kiwi Ice Pops

…and another!

20. Rootbeer Float Pops

From Erin Cooks

21. Tyler Florence’s Yogurt Popsicles

And this final one is courtesy of Oprah.com

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Recipe: Alien Guts!

Laura — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 02:00:33 +0000

A Facebook Friend posted this awesome way of preparing hotdogs and spaghetti. It may be hard to tell at first sight, but the spaghetti is actually IN the hot dogs. I spiced it up with some sauce and decided to name it “Alien Guts!” What better way to get your kids (especially the boys) eating something other than Kraft Dinner!