Monday, January 30, 2012

I'm Late, I'm Late, for a very important....



Last night our themed dinner and book was "Me With You", and in the book, they had pie. So, for dinner we had chicken pot pie and apple and cherry pies for dessert.

I LOVE themed dinners with my kids. If you haven't tried one, do it. TODAY.

NOW.

Ok, I won't be so gruff. But tomorrow, please? ;)

It really is easy, you let your child pick out a book of their own, and you comb through to see if they had a meal within it.
IF NOT, Go off of the books theme and create a meal. If it does, Make that.

EX: Stone Soup: easy; soup

EX: Dora's First Day of school; they had boxed lunches so you could do that, or make a latin american dish. :)

Decorate accordingly, if budget allows, mine usually doesnt.
BUT I usually decorate with stickers, construction paper, and what nots.

Our very first one we did was "Alice In Wonderland".

I have included photos below, but I will explain. My daughter chose this book, and of course I combed through it and in the book the meal was soup.
We made Pasta Fagioli soup. "Souper" easy recipe; also included!

For our tablescape, I decorated the table with a newspaper tablecloth, and set the serving plates and cake dishes onto tissue paper squares in the center. You know, to add color! I purchased a $5.00 plastic tea set from Wal-mart and had my kids paint their own cups and plates.

Then I had Ky make "blue tea" for the tea party. (pink lemonade with blue coloring) and we put a "Drink Me" sign around the container.
We also made mini cupcakes with pink and purple striped frosting; for the Chesire cat.
Then we took construction paper and made "Mad Hatter" hats. Which by the way was completely silly looking, but it was supposed to be.
Mine may or may not have had feathers. ;)

So we served the soup in bright colored plastic sundae dishes and we set it up with conversation hearts around.

I found a conversation heart that read: MAD 4 U! Yes, I am stoked about this. My kdis wanted the whole "Eat Me" cookies, but yeah, I wasn't about to have my 4 & 6 year old going aroudn saying "Eat Me"! hahah.

OH OH! I ALMOST FORGOT; in the book there were critters at the table. Funny thing, I was snapping a photo of the table and I looke dback into my camera and SURPRISE! There was a critter; hahaha. So, Little Binx got in on it, for a smidge.

SIMPLE THINGS.

Recipe: Pasta E Fagioli Soup adapted by Rachael Ray

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons (2 turns around the pan) extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 pound (about 3 slices) pancetta, chopped
2 (4 to 6-inch) sprigs rosemary, left intact
1 (4 to 6-inch) sprig thyme with several sprigs on it, left intact
1 large fresh bay leaf or 2 dried bay leaves
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
Coarse salt and pepper
2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans
1 cup canned tomato sauce or canned crushed tomatoes
2 cups water
1 quart chicken stock
1 1/2 cups ditalini
Grated Parmigiano or Romano, for the table
Crusty bread, for mopping

Directions:
Heat a deep pot over medium high heat and add oil and pancetta. Brown the pancetta bits lightly, and add herb stems, bay leaf, chopped vegetables, and garlic. Season vegetables with salt and pepper. Add beans, tomato sauce, water, and stock to pot and raise heat to high. Bring soup to a rapid boil and add pasta. Reduce heat to medium and cook soup, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 minutes or until pasta is cooked al dente. Rosemary and thyme leaves will separate from stems as soup cooks. Remove herb stems and bay leaf from soup and place pot on table on a trivet. Let soup rest and begin to cool for a few minutes. Ladle soup into bowls and top with lots of grated cheese. Pass crusty bread for bowl mopping.

SERVES 6; Calories: 365; Total Fat 10 grams; Saturated Fat: 2 grams; Protein: 18 grams; Total carbohydrates: 50 grams; Sugar: 8 grams Fiber 9 grams; Cholesterol: 13 milligrams; Sodium: 1,101 milligrams


Making "Tea"
Making "Mad Hatter" Hats
Mini "Cupcake" candies
Hubby getting in on the fun :0)
See my critter :)















Monday, January 16, 2012

I'm Late, I'm Late, for a very important date!

So I sat down and made a list of fun things I would like to incorporate in our every day life. I have noticed here lately, and lately I mean for off and on about a year, that we are just not as fun anymore. Aww Poo. And one of the itens on the list was to have a themed dinner once a week. One of my children, whichever one bribed me with enough cookies, gets to pick a favorite book. We would go though the book and figure dout what was eaten or create a meal from the book. {Ex: book: stone soup; food- soup} My sweet baby girl, who is the youngest, gets to go first. And her book was Alice In Wonderland. Ok. Now, I by NO MEANS are crafty. I have hardly any crafting skills or money..... In about an hours time, I bought some construction paper, soem stickers, cupake mix GASP!, canned frosting GASP! GASP!, a mini tea set, and some conversation hearts. WHICH by the way, completely fell in love with them because I FOUND one that read MAD 4 U! Mad hatters tea party- get it. HA! Sorry I will crawl back into my cage. :) Anywho, we threw together some mad hats, painted out mini tea cups, made a fabulous table setting out of newspaper and tissue paper, grabbed some cake stands, made mini cupcakes, monkey bread, soup, blue "tea" lemonade, and away we went! We had so much, I HIGHLY recommend it. Here are some pics, because who wouldn't want to see chaos running amuck! Kuppy
Making "Tea"
Making Mad Hats
Mini Eat Me treats

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Welcome one and all!

Howdy! I do hope your either here from my other blog, or a new follower! Either way, Welcome Darlings! I am super excited to start blogging on this new blog, the everyday life of me, and ahving my other blog to cupcakes only. Please stay tuned and ENJOY!!!! P.S. This will not start til Monday, still tweaking soem things out. Thank you for your patience.