-
Hostess Cup ‘Sheet’ Cake
Do you remember when Hostess went bankrupt and no one could get their tasty, completely unhealthy pastries? I.WAS.DEVASTATED! Hostess Cupcakes are my absolute favorite quick pastry. I knew I had to find those flavors in a homemade DIY edition…thus the Hostess Cup ‘Sheet’ Cake was born. This was out of laziness as well as desperation. While it is fun to eat a cupcake, I wasn’t about to make a bunch of cupcakes that required filling. I just cannot make those types of commitments to food. I knew I could easily add the same flavors to a sheet cake. Devil’s food cake, marshmallow flavored filling, chocolate ganache on top…these were my…
-
DIY: Bouncy Balls
It is truly amazing the types of activities you can do that completely blow kids’ minds. Homemade bouncy balls is exactly one of those activities. With social distancing currently being the norm, I challenged myself to be a little bit more hands on with our homeschooling routine. So we’ve been doing some sort of craft or science experiment every week. This week was bouncy balls. It was super fun and took no more than an hour. In that time we were able to set up, make several bouncy balls, and then clean up. This activity is definitely a fun one, and the perfect thing to do with your kiddos on…
-
Easiest Sticky Rice
Sticky rice is something that I could eat all day long! It’s also something that typically takes a day or two to perfect. Who has time, or the mental capacity to make rice the day before? I don’t! Well, if you are like me, then you will need this recipe in your life. When boiling any type of grain you typically use the 1:2 ratio. This works for white rice, brown rice, multigrain rice, quinoa, couscous…The 1:2 ration means that for every serving of grain you are going to boil, you need to add in double that in liquid. For example, if you are cooking 1 cup of rice then…
-
DIY: Chalk Puff Paint
Now that the weather is beginning to warm up, I am just itching to soak up as much vitamin D as I can get. Still with the social distancing it can prove difficult. I know my amigos have been going stir crazy and so I’ve had do come up with some creative and somewhat wild activities to keep them occupied and not upset that they have to stay 6 feet away from their friends. Lemme tell you, I have heard every possible way that hide-and-seek could be played while social distancing. Chalk puff paint is exactly one of those hair-brained ideas that flourished out of desperation. This little craft is…
-
Easy Instapot Scalloped Potatoes
I spent my high school years living in Western Idaho. While Idaho is the land of potatoes, I did not see my first potato field until my freshman year of college. A majority of the potato fields are in Southeastern Idaho. Still, my love of potatoes (in all forms) began LONG before I lived in the potato state…and to this day, French Fries are still at the top of my potato loving list. When potatoes and cheese are combined, though…that is a match made in heaven. So when I made scalloped potatoes a few weekends ago, my boys couldn’t get enough or stop thanking me for making them. While this…
-
Soft Molasses Cookies
Molasses cookies are more popular in my little family than chocolate chip cookies. While I do have a couple of kiddos who are chocolate lovers, molasses cookies are definitely loved by all. The spices and flavors bring me to a younger time and back into my mom’s kitchen. My kid brother insisted we call them Gopher Bottom Cookies instead because molasses has a swear word in it. Then my dad would tell a dad joke that went something like this… A family moles were out for a walk and they came upon a hole. One went in to check it out, then another, and another. The last mole came out…
-
Homeschool 101: Educational Subscription Boxes
Just like with everything else when it comes to education, and as professional educators can attest to, coming up with creative ways to teach and engage your students/children is one of the most effective ways for them to learn. With all of us social distancing at the moment, and most school districts distance learning in the country; coming up with any way possible to teach and/or reinforce learning and education is a HUGE must. Since I am a homeschool mom, I thought I’d continue this Homeschool 101: tricks and tips. To see my other posts about education at home, see below This week, I want to highlight my top favorite…
-
Easy Monkey Bread
I’ve been told quite often, ‘I wish I could make cinnamon rolls, but I am too intimidated to try.’ The answer to that anxiety is monkey bread. If you have never heard of monkey bread, then let me tell you all about this tasty goodness. Monkey bread does not have bananas, or any other type of foods monkeys typically consume. It is called monkey bread because to eat it you pull it apart and it is so easy even a monkey could do it. It has all of the flavors of cinnamon rolls with a fraction of the prep or time. This is also a recipe that has only 5…
-
Homeschooling 101: Educational YouTube Channels
As a homeschooling parent, utilizing resources any way you can definitely makes the process a lot smoother. While I have a whole host of educational online games that I love, I use educational YouTube videos more often in lessons and teaching. Sometimes children just respond better to someone on the screen than their own parents. While there is plenty of mind-numbing, useless, hilarious content on YouTube… Like this one…for example… There is also PLENTY of educational, entertaining videos and channels that cater to all ages…from preschool to high school. Below are some of my favorite YouTube Channels. Beginning with the younger ages, Have Fun Teaching is perfect for Pre-K through…
-
Mexican Hot Chocolate Cake Pops
My absolute favorite hot chocolate flavor is Mexican Hot Chocolate. The juxtaposition of the chocolate with the cinnamon and a tiny bit of heat with cayenne pepper. Because of my not-so-secret love affair with these flavor combinations, I just knew I had to create a cake pop that paid homage to the tasty hot drink. Also…I somehow ended up with 50 million boxes of Red Hots in my pantry. Neither Matthew or I know exactly how I ended up with SO.MANY.BOXES of Red Hots. So when I was figuring out the details of these cake pops, I knew topping them with smashed Red Hots would provide the perfect heat for…
