Today we experimented with the idea of fruit and cheese kebabs (which I really, really want to spell as “kabob,” despite Spell Check’s insistence that I shouldn’t).  We made a trip to the produce section of the grocery store and walked out with strawberries, grapes, and apples.  Then to the dairy case for a couple of kinds of cheese.  We went with cheddar and mozzarella because I have some other recipes in mind that use those two types.

What you need to make fruit and cheese kebabs:

• One or two cheeses
• Different types of fruit
• Skewers
• Small cookie cutters

A little fruit, a little cheese, and a couple of skewers!

We used small cookie cutters to make our cheese and apples into fun star shapes.

Cut your fruit and cheese into bite-sized pieces that kids can help put on the kebabs.

Alternate fruit and cheese on your skewer for healthy fruit kebabs that kids love to eat.

What I Learned the Hard Way:  Your kid may be way more interested in just eating the fruit and cheese as you’re busy trying to make it look pretty.  This is a good thing, though.  It means she was actually enjoying a healthy snack!

I didn’t even know that some people called these candies peanut butter balls until recently.  My whole life, I’ve known them as Buckeyes.  I guess that’s not too surprising since they were my grandma’s specialty, and she was born in Ohio!  Grandma’s Buckeyes were delicious, but they were a little intimidating.  For one thing, you actually melted paraffin wax into the chocolate.  What?  I guess it made them shinier.

Luckily, I came upon this really simple recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.  They were so easy (and delicious) that my preschooler and I ended up making a couple of batches during the holiday season last year.

Related Pages: No Bake Cookies, Anise Cookie Recipes

What you need to make buckeyes:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3 Tbs. butter (softened)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 bag chocolate chips

Buckeyes (peanut butter balls) really only take four ingredients.

Mix the butter and peanut butter, then sift in the powdered sugar while continuing to mix.

Roll the mixture with your hands into 1" balls.

I started letting the peanut butter balls chill for about 20 minutes in the fridge to make the next part easier.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave in 20-second increments, pulling them out and stirring them before continuing to heat.

We used a whole bag of chocolate chips, and there was so much left over that we made a batch of chocolate spoons as gifts.

Insert a toothpick into each peanut butter ball and swirl it around in the chocolate until all but the center is covered. Gently shake of excess chocolate and place on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper to dry.

You can change this craft up for just about any holiday or occasion by altering the sprinkles and candy colors.

Credit for this chocolate spoon craft goes to Mr. P. at DelicousDeliciousDelicous.  His are absolutely beautiful, so I recommend you take a look over there, too.

Related Pages: No Bake Cookies Recipe, Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipes, Christmas Treats Coloring Pages

My three-year-old and I made these as party favors when it was my turn to host Bunco night at the house, but we also packed some up and took them to her teachers at preschool.  The idea was to use them to stir into your coffee, but I found that many of the ladies were perfectly content to just eat the goodies right off the spoon!

What you need to make this chocolate spoon craft:

• Plastic spoons
• Chocolate chips
• Sprinkles and/or small candies
• A book
• A bowl

My daughter is convinced that everything is better with sprinkles!

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave. We did a few rounds at 30 seconds and a couple of follow-up rounds at 15 seconds.

Prop the spoon handles up with a book so that the bowl part is flat and the chocolate won't run out. We used a regular spoon to ladle the chocolate into the plastic ones.

Kids can help add sprinkles to the still-warm chocolate to make this edible craft fancier and tastier.

You can add candies to your chocolate spoons, too. We used M&Ms and Kisses.

One bag of chocolate chips makes a lot of spoons!

What I Learned the Hard Way:  It takes them a little while to set up, so don’t make them 15 minutes before the party starts.

We had a friend coming over recently, and she was so impressed by the fact that we had made cider for her.  She walked in the house and said it smelled “mulled.”  I asked what that was, and she told me she meant the way some people warm it with spices and everything.  So, I was all, “Yeah, that’s the kind we’re having.”  Seriously, I looked like a total Suzie Homemaker, and the whole process from start to finish took about ten minutes.

What You’ll Need to Make Homemade Mulled Apple Cider

• Apples – We used about a dozen (If you want to cheat and do really easy version, just use pre-made apple juice.  Your kid will totally not care.)
• Juicer
• Apple slicer or knife
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Cloves

I've looked into the difference between "apple juice" and "apple cider," and even though the juicer filters it to some degree, I'd say what comes out still qualifies as cider.

Wash your apples. If you happen to have a ladybug around, it makes this part more fun. ;-)

Slice your apples.

Run the apples through the juicer right into a sauce pan. Add about a teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon each of ground nutmeg and ground cloves.

I didn’t get a picture of it, but the spices left kind of a scum on top after the apple cider was warmed, so I just skimmed it off.

It tastes delicious and totally made my house smell like the holidays!

Seriously, how did I not know about this!?

I’ve always heard of snickerdoodles, but I had NO IDEA how good they really are.  Now, my how family is aware, and we’ll likely be using this snickerdoodle recipe many, many times.  The cookies stayed soft for days, even when left out in the air.

Related Pages: 12 Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipes, Applesauce Recipes

Snickerdoodle Cookies Recipe:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar (Yes, there is something other than home made play dough that uses cream of tartar!)
• 2 TBS sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  

  How to make snickerdoodles.

Beat the butter on med-high for about 30 seconds before adding half of the flour, the sugar, egg, vanilla, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Then add the rest of the flour and beat it all together.

In a smaller bowl, mix together the sugar and cinnamon.

Roll your dough into 1-inch balls and then roll them around in the sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Place the balls two inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 11 minutes at 375 degrees (F). The edges will brown slightly.

Cool your snickerdoodles on a wire rack (or, you know, whatever).

Rice Krispie Treat Eggs	Corn Flake Krispie Treat Easter Chicks	Rice Krispie Treat Easter Bunny	Chocolate Easter Rice Krispie Chicks
Spectacular Rice Krispie Treat Eggs	Rice Krispie Treat Spring Butterfly	Easter Rice Krispie Treat Pops	Easter Egg Rice Krispie Treats
Rice Krispie Treat Nests	Rice Krispie Spring Flowers	Rice Krispie Spring Caterpillar	Trix Krispie Treats (Think outside the cereal box!)

You might also want to try our Easter Bunny cupcakes or our easy flower cupcakes.

This homemade smoothie recipe is healthy and totally kid-approved.

When it comes to getting kids to eat healthfully, it’s not always easy.  Dot and I got to experimenting a while back and ended up making some awesome soothies.  She likes them so much that we went through quite an experience one night when she kept asking for “foovies,” and we had no idea what she was saying.  Now the whole family calls them foovies, and we have them all the time.

Related Pages: Non-Alcoholic Drink Recipes for Kids,Watermelon Recipes

There are tons of ways to make smoothies, but we like our version, and it’s even pretty healthy:

• 3/4 cup yogurt (we like fruit or vanilla)
• 3/4 cup frozen berries or fruit
• 1/3 cup orange juice
• 1/2 banana

Everything in this yummy smoothie recipe is pretty healthy.

Blend the smoothie ingredients until...well...smooth.

I just recently tried freezing some of the smoothies in these popsicle molds I got from Tupperware, and they are a HUGE hit.

Smoothie popsicles are awesome!

Making no bake cookies with kids is fun.

Dot and I enjoy baking, but nothing gets requested as often as these yummy, yummy no-bake cookies.  Despite the fact that there’s a fair amount of sugar and butter, I try to tell myself that it’s offset by the oats and peanut butter, for a cookie that’s not entirely horrible for us.

To make no bake cookies, you will need:

2 cups sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 cups minute oats

Ingredients for no bake cookie recipe

• Start by putting the milk, butter, sugar, and cocoa into a saucepan.
• Heat the mixture to boiling and let it boil for 1 1/2 minutes.
• Remove from heat.
• Stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla.  (I put the peanut butter in first so it can melt before I add the oats.)

Boiling the no bake cookie mixture for 1 1/2 minutes is supposed to be the key to getting these to turn out just right.

The mixture will be very hot, so I usually have Dot watch me as I scoop spoonfuls out onto wax paper.  She then “helps” by flattening them down with a spatula.

This recipe makes about 36 no bake cookies.

What I Learned the Hard Way: Every once in a while, I get a batch of these that won’t quite firm up.  I have yet to figure out why, exactly.  What I have learned, however, is that you can put them in the freezer to harden them up, and they’re still totally delicious.  (Seriously, even if they’re just piles of goo on the wax paper, they’re totally delicious.)

Homemade Play Dough

This play dough recipe has been one of our best craft projects yet.  Dot has been known to play with it for literally HOURS during the day.  The hardest part is convincing her not to mix all of the colors together, but we do what we can, right?  The recipe itself is pretty easy, although I had a bit of a scare, as I figured I didn’t have cream of tartar around the house.  It turns out my husband had purchased some for something he made back at Thanksgiving, so we were able to add it in.  Apparently, it gives the play dough better elasticity.  (By the way, don’t let the number of pictures in this post make you think this is a complicated project.  It was actually really, really easy.  I just took a lot of pictures.)

Related Pages: Coloring Pages for Kids, Peanut Butter and Jelly Recipes, Circus Crafts

Homemade Play Dough Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup (warm) water
• 1/4 cup salt
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• food coloring

Homemade play dough ingredients

Measure dry play dough ingredients into a saucepan

Play dough ingredients start out a little soupy

As you cook over medium heat, the play dough firms up, it only takes a few minutes

When the play dough is firm, take it out of the pan and knead it.  It’s probably not too hot, but check it just in case to make sure you or your kids don’t get burned.

Coloring your homemade play dough

I then cut the dough into six roughly equal pieces, one of each color (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple)

Five drops of food coloring per play dough ball

I placed each ball into a plastic bag and then kneaded it to get the color to spread evenly.  To get the colors, try this.

• Red = 5 drops of red
• Orange = 3 drops of yellow, two drops of red
• Yellow = 5 drops of yellow
• Green = 5 drops of green (or three drops of yellow and two drops of blue)
• Blue = 5 drops of blue
• Purple = 3 drops of blue, two drops of red

You can also make your play dough smell good by adding things like peppermint extract, cinnamon, vanilla extract, etc.  I added banana extract to the yellow, but apparently I needed more, as we couldn’t smell it when all was said and done.

Make scented play dough

A play dough rainbow!

Keep your play dough in an airtight container, and it will last quite a while.  We’ve had ours for about two weeks, and it’s still in pretty good condition!

What I Learned the Hard Way: Mixing the color into the play dough is harder than it looks.  The majority of the time we spent making the dough revolved around mixing in the color.  You can make all of your dough a single color by adding the food coloring to the mixture before you heat it, but I wanted to have lots of colors and think it was worth the extra work.

Hot Cocoa Gift Jars

My not-quite-three-year-old and I made two of these hot cocoa jar gifts in about ten minutes this morning, which worked out perfectly, since a friend unexpectedly stopped by, and we had a ready-to-go, homemade Christmas present to send home with her!

Related Pages: Christmas Rice Krispie Treats, Christmas Sugar Cookies, Printable Christmas Gift Tags

You’ll want to pick up a few extra things to make this jar gift:

• canning jars (I got used ones from a thrift store, but you can find new ones at the grocery market)
• hot cocoa mix (you can make it from scratch, but I took the easy way out!)
• mint candies
• mini marshmallows
• wax paper
• ribbon
• embellishments
• hot glue

Find everything you need for this homemade gift right at the grocery store!

Start by cutting two wax paper circles that are the same size as the interior of the jar.  They don’t have to be perfect.  They’re going to help keep your ingredients separate in their layers.

Fill the bottom one-third to one-half of the jar with your cocoa mix and place one of the wax paper circles on top.  Layer the mint candies next, followed by another wax paper circle.

Mints are a great addition to hot cocoa, and they look gorgeous in this display.

The top layer is mini marshmallows to float in the hot cooca.

Fun, colorful, and easy homemade gift in about five minutes!

Finally, decorate the jar with ribbons and other embellishments.  I had some silk poinsettias around, so I hot-glued them to the top for a festive look.

Jar gifts are pretty and you know they'll actually get used.

What I Learned the Hard Way: Hm.  This kids’ craft really was as easy as it looks.  I guess the biggest lesson learned is that my husband is in trouble for teaching the little one that marshmallows are “snowman poop.”  I got to hear that term over and over again this morning!

Remember, this is Day 12 of Twleve Days of Gifts Kids Can Make! 12 down and NO more to go!

Happy Holidays, everyone! xo