Nuts About Cookies Bark

When you have a very busy child underfoot and an infant to contend with the chances of baking a cake from scratch are slim to none. Too often dinner comes from the freezer or sadly it comes home in a brown bag and Styrofoam containers. Dessert? Think stale cake from the bakery. Plastic wrapped cookies. Yeah. I never claimed to be the perfect wife or mother. I seriously lack in the cooking department if you are seeking home cooking or from scratch cooking. Instead of beating myself up about not being June Clever, I realized that I don't have to make everything from scratch. This inspired me so I started playing around with ingredients I had on hand and I came up with a yummy dessert that took less than 5 minutes to create.

I came up with Nuts for Cookies Bark. It was nothing short of awesome! To create Nuts for Cookies Bark you will need:

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

10-18 crushed oreo cookies (I broke mine into chunks)
1/2 cup od pecans, crushed
1 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips


Spray a microwave safe bowl with cooking spray. Pour chocolate chips into the bowl and microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until the chips are melted and can be stirred smooth.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

While the chocolate chips are melting, place half of the cookies and nuts into the bottom of a container, you could use a baking dish or a cookie sheet. Pour the melted chocolate over the base. Top with the remaining cookies and nuts.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

Allow to cool at room temperature for about an hour. Then cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for about 2 hours so that the bark will set and harden properly.

Before serving, allow to set at room temperature for a few moments. Break into chunks and serve.

Find more yummy desserts here:

Homemade rice pudding

Easy dipped shortbread cookies

Chocolate Covered Marshmallow with Coconut

We had another snow storm on Saturday of last week. While I watched the snow blowing from my window I decided to make a dessert that would take no more than 5 minutes to prepare and that would give us a little taste of the tropics to ease the pain of another winter storm.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

To make Chocolate Covered Marshmallows with Coconut you will need:

1/2 a bag of milk chocolate chips

2-4 tablespoons of shredded coconut depending upon your preferences (completely coated, partially coated etc)

10 jumbo marshmallows

Cooking Spray

Start by spraying a microwave safe bowl with cooking spray.

Add chocolate chips to the bowl. 

Place your coconut in another small bowl.

Microwave for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until the chocolate chips are melted and smooth.

Dip a marshmallow in melted chocolate. Roll it in the coconut, set aside on a wax or parchment paper lined plate. Allow to harden, about an hour. You can speed this up by placing the marshmallows in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes.

If you love chocolate and marshmallows- hop over to check out my Double Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Recipe.

5 Minute Cardboard Craft

I might get a little silly about wanting to hoard cardboard, but I seriously see possibilities and an invitation to play when I see cardboard.

My son has toys on top of toys to play with, but I like it when I can inspire his imagination. It is interesting to see how he plays when presented new options.

We had an empty Similac box and I decided it would be a fun to see what I could do with it as a  5 minute project.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

 I started with an empty box.  I carefully opened it up along the seam.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

Then I put it back together, printed side in, brown side out. I tore of the flaps on one side so we had an opening. and I used a few strips of tape to secure the box.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

I grabbed a handful of crayons and asked Roo what he wanted me to make.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

He said "The Library!"

Now, don't you dare laugh at my art work!

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

I colored the building red and made simple windows with stick people and books.
He got the hint.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

He stopped playing cars for a moment and kissed his sister. Then he realized I had in fact made the library.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

 He dashed over and got the Mickey Mouse gang and took them to story time. This project took me less than 5 minutes. My son had a blast with his library and he played with it for 2 and a half days. It doubled as school and a garage for cars, then a cave for dinos.

How do you create fun activities with your kids with items you would otherwise throw away or hopefully recycle?

Find more easy kids crafts here:

Lemonade craft

Leaf fox craft

Hand print fish puppets

Time Out Jar

I first made these calm down jars in 2014. My kids were so small that we used plastic, just in case they were dropped or thrown during a tantrum back then. While the children have grown so much since then, I have made these with them a few times. I have updated the post and included a few new photos for you.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

If you need an idea that brings a little more zen and fewer tantrums, let me introduce you to the time out jar. You can call these whatever you like; a meditation jar, a calm down jar, or a time in jar. The idea remains the same, this jar can help your kids take a minute to collect themselves after a meltdown, or offer them a quiet minute for themselves anytime they want it. Plus, the results are pretty and relaxing to watch.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

Make these with a plastic container, like a treehut body scrub container, if you have little kids.

If your kids are older, and would be more likely to use this as a meditation tool, feel free to use a mason jar, or even better, recycle a used food jar, like a pasta sauce container.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

This is an easy craft, that all ages can help with. It is cool enough to get tweens interest, and you can use your favorite colors and whatever glitter you like. We have even added chunky confetti to time out jars.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

Supplies:

1 to 2 tablespoons of glitter glue

Chunky Confetti

Glitter 

A mason jar and lid

1 ¾ water

A craft stick

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

Pour the warm water in the container with the glitter glue.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

Add a drop or two of food coloring to the glue and water.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

I lined the lid of the container with glue and firmly sealed the jar.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman.

And here you have a TIME OUT JAR.

Photo Credit: Sara Lehman

You can find all of my sensory ideas here.
Egypt Sensory Play
Feeding Sharks Sensory Bag

Making Traffic Lights Preschool Craft

My son and I have a routine. In the morning he has free time, he can play as he like or watch cartoons. He can color or grab a stack of books to look at. While he has free time I work. At 10 a.m. He gets his notice that we will clean the living room together when am finished cleaning the kitchen. 

Roo takes advantage of that notice and plays as hard as he can while I work in the kitchen. If it appears that he is having a especially good time I might dash in to make beds and start a load of laundry so that he can extend his fun.

When the chores have been taken care of Roo and I pick up all of the evidence of his morning fun. 

When the blankets, pillows, toys and books have been put away and the carpet has been vacuumed it is craft time. Harper likes this part of the morning because it is her chance to get on the floor and roll around.

Each week I have 2 planned crafts and I offer Roo the chance to choose the other 3 activities for the week. Last week he told me he wanted to make a "red light". 

Hmmm. That is easy peasy! Even I can manage this one without incident!

To begin the craft we got out the disposable plates I keep in our craft supplies for projects like this one, and 4 sheets of construction paper in red, yellow, green and black. I grabbed a tube of glue and we sat down to create.

I had Roo help me tear the paper into small pieces. I thought this was a good way to work on fine motor skills and develop his pencil grip.

 

Next I tore the black paper into 2 strips.

I made 3 circles of glue on each paper.

I demonstrated what I wanted Roo to do. Place the little bits of paper onto the glue. At first he wasn't sure why I wanted to keep the colors separate. 

But then he saw what we were doing! How cool! We had 2 "red lights" and he was ready to play. There was no waiting for the glue to dry!

And yes, that is a spider riding a motorcycle on the tracks!

2 "red lights" were not enough. With big blue eyes Roo begged "More Red Lights Please!" So we made another one with bits of paper on one of the plates we had used earlier.

I had a happy little boy who was very interested in daily craft time and who found inspiration in our craft to jump into a serious session of imaginative play. I felt accomplished that we had a smooth craft session, we worked on fine motor skills with a high interest creation. 

I am thinking of a better option for red lights for Roo. Maybe painting them on clothes pins so he could set them up by the train tracks. What do you think? What would you try?