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A Valentine’s Day Sweet Treat – Vintage V-Day Cookie Pops

Vintage Valentines Day Cookies

image courtesy of Bakerella

I found these and fell in love with them. I do not think I could do these on my own – so all the Mommy’s out there will have to help, but I know my friends in my class would love these Valentine’s Day cookies.

It looks like you would need what is called frosting sheets and edible ink cartridges that work on some home printers. My mom and I have not tried this, but my mom found this website called TastyFotoArt.com  that seems to have lots of products to do this type of baking. You would have to do a little research to see if you printer is one that can do this sort of printing though! There is also KopyKake.com which will give you more information on this process!

Valentines Day Cookie Pops

image courtesy of Bakeralla

I saw this on Bakerella – and here is what she did.

She made puffy sugar cookies (you can see the whole recipe on her site), but you could probably use the ones that come in rolls in the store if you are looking for a shortcut. Then a stick was inserted into the dough to make the cookie a lollipop. Separate the images from the backing and apply to your cookie. Depending on the shape of the cookie you may need to cut your image to fit properly. It is that easy! As a great added touch, she added a few dabs of icing around the edges which I think looks really pretty.

The options for decorating with printing are so fun! Let your kids choose the pictures though Mom!

 

Filed Under: Featured, Rachels Cafe, Valentine's Day

Kindergartners Talking Turkey

photo credit: Andrew

What a fabulous idea! Kindergarten teacher, Jill Cerny has an annual ritual of asking her class to share their thoughts on how to cook a Thanksgiving turkey. Each child creates an illustration and then dictates their ideas to the teacher who types it up and then adds their image.

Here are a few of the adorable things that kids have suggested!

  • Nathan: I will wait at the side of the road until I see a turkey in the trees. I will take my bow and arrow and shoot the turkey. My dad will skin the turkey and my mom and dad will drive to my grandma’s for Thanksgiving. My grandma will roast the turkey in the oven at 350 degrees. It will cook for five minutes. While the turkey is cooking, we will make a stew. We also make some drinks, like Kool-Aid. The turkey is put on a big table and some people sit at the small table, and we eat the big feast.
  • Ella: My dad gets the turkey from the farmer’s market. He starts to cook it in the kitchen. He puts it in a pot on the stove with a lid. It cooks for 45 minutes on warm, not hot. My dad takes it out of the pot and he puts it on plates for us to eat it, but my sister doesn’t like to eat it.
  • Tommy: My dad will go out to the woods and get a turkey. He will get a bow and arrow and he will shoot the turkey. He will take it home and cook it up. He will cut off the feathers and then put it in the oven. It will cook at 100 degrees for 20 minutes because it takes 20 minutes to cook chicken. My dad will take it out of the oven and place it on the table, and then we start eating it.

To view the full collection of stories and drawings submitted by Ms. Cerny’s class, visit the Darien Patch. It will be sure to give you a chuckle!

Filed Under: Cooking With Kids, Funny Stuff, Mom's Cafe, Thanksgiving

Veggie Bots – Makes Eating Veggies Fun

Us kids like food that makes us smile – if it looks cute, chances are we will try to at least taste. I cannot promise we will eat it all, but we will try it – and according to my mom, that is a challenge!

Getting Kids To Eat Vegetables with Veggie BotsVeggie Bots were created by Lee Bayless. He is a comedian who has created lots of things.

Veggie Bots is a set of tools that lets kids play with their food in a good way. They can make their veggies look like little building blocks and then stack them and build with them to create lots of different creations like robots, race cars and more.

I have not been able to find where to buy the Veggie Bot, but my mom is looking into it to see if it is actually available yet – if it is we will post a link!

But I thought this was a really cool thing to share to help moms be creative with their kids!

 

Here is a video so you can see how it works!

Filed Under: Cooking With Kids, Rachels Cafe

Oreo Turkeys – A Fun Thanksgiving Treat

Oreo Turkeys - Thanksgiving Kids Cooking Idea
Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

I found these and love them! They are adorable turkey desserts made from Oreo cookies. They are easy to make and the kids can do them on their own – or with some help from mom of course! The idea comes from Our Best Bites, and the images are from there too.

These are great to use as desserts for Thanksgiving dinner, for parties and even as place card holders for your dinner table!

 

 

Here is what you will need:

  • Double Stuff Oreo Cookies
  • Candy Corn
  • Whoppers
  • Peanut butter cups
  • Chocolate frosting
  • Yellow Frosting
  • Optional: Red frosting
  • Optional: black sprinkles for eyes

Steps to make your Turkey:

1) Grab a cookie and put a tiny bit of frosting inside, this will help hold the candy corn a bit better!

2) Insert your candy corn. It seems that 5 candy corns, smaller tips inserted into the cream center works best.

3) Put a dab of frosting on the opposite end of the cookie from where you just inserted the candy corn, and then secure the cookie to the “base” cookie. Placing the cookies against the wall while they dry may help them keep their shape better!

4) While your cookies are drying open a peanut butter cup (have a parent do this part kids!) – and cut a sliver off of one end.

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

5) Once your cups are ready, flip your cookies over, but still keep them next to the wall in case the frosting is not completely dry yet. Place a dab of frosting on peanut butter cup and place it on the cookie as shown below.

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

6) For the heads you will put a dab of frosting on a whopper and attach it to the top of the peanut butter cup.

7) Use a dab of frosting and flue on a white tip of a candy corn for a beak, put 2 yellow dots for eyes and if you would like a smaller black dot for the center of the eye. (You can use frosting, a sprinkle, a mini chocolate chip for the black part of the eye).

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

8) Once the beak stays put and everything seems to be sturdy, you can stand these cute little guys up and draw on some little feet if you would like. You can even add a little thingie under the neck!

To be extra creative and use them as place card holders, create your place card, adhere it to a toothpick and you can insert that into the center of the cookie!

And here is the final product! For more details, visit Our Best Bites!

Cooking With Kids - Oreo Turkeys

Image courtesy of Our Best Bites

Filed Under: Featured, Rachels Cafe, Thanksgiving

Pop Art Toast Makes Breakfast Fun

I love these toasters! Breakfast is my favorite meal anyway, but these fun toasters can make it even better.

Pop Art Toaster has really neat toasters that creates a  picture on toast. There is a stencil that has a picture on it and you place that on the toast and insert into the toaster. When the toast is done it comes out with the design on the stencil. There are several different styles of toasters to choose from and lots of fun designs and words for the stencils.

Mickey Mouse is one of their newer toaster products! This is a Limited Edition toaster that prints the face of Mickey Mouse on each piece of bread. I do not like Mickey Mouse much these days, but I know the little kids will love it! I am older now and have a great sense of humor so I would love to have the funny sayings on my toast like “ugh” – although I would never say it, I think it looks funny on toast. You can buy other stencils too like flowers, smilies and more.

Visit the Pop Art Toaster Store to see more of their great products that us kids love.

 

Mickey Moaster Toaster

Filed Under: Gift Ideas, Rachels Cafe

Happy Anniversary To The Ice Cream Sundae

Ice Cream Sundae AnniversaryIf you go on Google today you will see their logo is a sundae! That is because today is the 119th anniversary of what is said to be the first ever created ice cream sundae – although there seem to be several different versions of the actual history.

Rumor has it that on a Sunday afternoon on April 3, 1892 after church services, Reverend John M. Scott paid a visit to the Platt & Colt Pharmacy in Ithaca where he and Chester Platt created the first historically documented sundae. Platt covered dishes of ice cream with cherry syrup and candied cherries and the men then named the dish the “Cherry Sunday” in honor of the day it was created.

The written evidence of this sundae exists in a newspaper ad that Platt & Colt placed in Ithaca Daily on April 5, 1892. By May of that year they were also offering Strawberry Sundaes and Chocolate Sundaes.

Now, there are 2 other versions of who may have created the sundaes and you can see the full history at Wikipedia.

Do you like sundaes? What is your favorite kind?

Filed Under: Rachels Cafe

St. Patty’s Day Treats My Friends Would Love

Every kid likes Oreo’s right? These Shamrock Mint Oreos from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen are a great idea for a class party! I know my friends would love them, just wish we had time to make them. :-(

Here is the recipe in case you find some time to whip up a batch:

Cookies:

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Hershey Special Dark cocoa powder)

 

 

Filling:
1/2 envelope (1 teaspoon plus heaping 1/4 teaspoon) unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons cold water
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon mint extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Green food coloring

What to do next:

Preheat oven to 325. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the sugar and butter. Add the egg, water and vanilla and beat until smooth. Beat in the flour and cocoa until well combined; the dough will be very stiff.

Roll the dough into 1 inch balls, about the size of a walnut. Place the balls on prepared baking sheets and flatten each to about 1/8 inch with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. I also cut my cookies with a round cutter after flattening to ensure that they would all be the same size, but this step is not necessary.

Using a very small heart cookie cutter, or a paring knife, cut shamrocks into half of the cookies.

Bake cookies for 18 minutes. If cookies begin to look too dark or you smell scorching chocolate, remove baking pans from oven immediately. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Make filling:

Soften the gelatin in a cup containing 2 tablespoons of cold water, then place the cup in a larger dish of hot water and leave it until the gelatin is completely dissolved and the liquid is transparent. Remove the gelatin from the hot water and let it cool until it’s room temperature but hasn’t begun to set.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the shortening, then beat in the vanilla and mint extract. Add the powdered sugar, a little at a time, beating until mixture is creamy. Beat in the gelatin.If the mixture seems to dry, add a couple teaspoons of hot water and beat until it is the right consistency. Add green food coloring, a few drops at a time, until desired color is achieved.

Sandwich the cookies, placing a small ball of filling on top of a cookie, and flattening it with another cookie top.

and now – ENJOY WITH FRIENDS!!!


 

Filed Under: Baking, Cooking With Kids, Rachels Cafe, St Patrick's Day

Angry Bird Cupcakes

I love to play Angry Birds on my Mom and Dad’s phone! I love it and it is fun to sling the birds in the catapult.

How neat is it that there is a cupcake that looks like the Angry Birds?

You will love these cupcakes! They are so cool, they look exactly like the Angry Birds in the game – just on cupcakes!

The cupcakes were made by Bobbie Alice - you probably haven’t heard of her, she is a regular baker like me. Not famous but I think she is really good!

Bobbie made these for her sons birthday party – I really wish I could have been there, maybe next year she will invite me.

Rachel

Filed Under: Rachels Cafe

Valentines Day Pancake Fun!

How about a heart shaped pancake for Valentines Day? Perfect! Family Fun has this fun Heart Shaped Pancake recipe.

This adorable recipe is perfect for Valentines Day.  This recipe is fun to make but have an adult help you.

Enjoy your Valentines Day pancake!

Filed Under: Rachels Cafe, Valentine's Day

Fruit Codes Have A Lot To Tell…

Banana PLU Code…if you know how  to listen! Did you know the fruit codes on your fruit are more than just a plain old number?

They can mean something! If you buy fruit you should look at the number on the sticker on the fruit. (My mom said it’s a PLU but since I am a kid I will just call it a number.)

If  it is a 4 digit code then it is your plain old regular fruit with yucky stuff and all.

If the sticker has a 5 digit number that starts with a 9 that means your fruit is organic. YAY! (We like organic!)

And finally, if the sticker has a 5 digit number starting with an 8 that means…..do you really wanna’ know?

OK – I’ll tell you. It means your fruit has been genetically altered. YUCK! Now, as a kid I am not  sure what this really means, but as a kid who loves science and cooking this doesn’t sound that good to me.

So the next time at the store you better check your fruit codes before you hand over your money!

Hi, this is Rachel’s Mom and for you parents out there here is a great resource with more information that you may want to read Natural News.

Filed Under: Rachels Cafe
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