Thursday, March 20, 2014

Kids Crafts- Aquarium Diorama

Another glorious spring Day here in New Mexico. With 6 kids with me today I had to be prepared. I took the time over the past week to make a new Pinterest board of things that would be fun and age appropriate to do this summer. The board is accurately named 'Summer2014'. One of the first things I saw (that I had all materials on hand) was this Aquarium Diorama.

Amazingly, I even had the foam sea stickers! I bought a package of them from amazon that was three times the size I expected. I have enough of these to last 5 more projects! 



I skipped the sand and 2nd color of paint. Too much for these little guys and my patience. ;) 

The painting of the plates was quite time consuming for these kids and gave me lots of time to get a snack ready and feed  the babies. 


I used Dixie plates and wished I had used regular cheep paper plates. The paint was runny on the waxy surface. I added some flour to it to thicken it up.
The kids had a lot of fun doing these and ran out of room for all the fish they wanted. We used tape instead of staples and Saran Wrap for the window 'glass'. 


This is one of the better projects Ive come across for 2 to 4 year olds. They were able to do mostly all of the steps themselves with minimal assistance. They were talking about ocean life and naming all the fish and asking questions about each one. 


And best of all, they were super excited to show their loved ones and take them home to keep enjoying. 


Definitely a success. 



(The middle plate is the 1 year olds) 

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Smoothie Recipe


I've had a couple people ask me for some smoothie recipes, since I drink them daily and brag about how awesome they are. ;)

I really only make two variations. One is a copy cat of Keva Juices Ragin' Bull. Which they have changed and is now called ragin' rocker, since they switched to rock star energy drink.

Anyway, the Ragin' Bull is my favorite. If done just right, it tastes like sweet tarts. Measurements are not exact. I really just eye it. It also usually makes enough for two smoothies and are about 300 calories. 

Start with a blender.
 Add:
8 oz of sugar free red bull 
8 oz of guava juice
Hand full of frozen peaches
Hand full of large frozen strawberries
Blend!

If your having trouble blending add water or more juice. 


That's it! Sometimes I'll add a scoop of vanilla flavored whey protein, it no longer tastes like a sweet tart, but is still yummy and will keep you fuller longer. 

My second favorite smoothie has stuff I almost always have on hand. (I don't always stock red bull or guava juice) 

Easy peasy.

I use some kind of Naked brand juice. I switch up the brands periodically, but usually green machine, mango or berry. 

Juice 8 to 12 oz
Water 4 to 8 oz
Hand full or two of baby spinach
Hand full of frozen strawberries
Hand full of frozen blueberries
5 hour energy (optional) (I use kirklands brand)


The 5 hour energy gets me motivated. (I don't drink coffee) and I normally use it before workouts or an expected long or strenuous day. 

I also LOVE putting spinach in my smoothies. I will usually make the smoothie first, give some to the kids, then blend again with the 5 hour energy. It's a great way to hide the greens in their food. And since I discovered you can dehydrate spinach, I don't have to worry about having it fresh on hand, Or if its slightly slimy :/. 


Mmmmmmmmm.................

You can use fresh fruit if you like, but you'll need to add ice to get the frozen consistency. You can also add plain yogurt for added nutrition. I'm not a big fan of dairy smoothies so we don't do this often. 


Unsuspecting children, drinking delicious spinach smoothie. Bwa ha ha ha!!



I love smoothies! 

I hope this helps you start your own smoothie experimentation. The possibilities are truly endless. And if you have a hard time being creative, just grab a menu from your favorite local smoothie shop and experiment with their ingredients and your measurements. 

Happy blending! 

Monday, March 17, 2014

Last minute St Patties Day Activities

I'm not much of a planner when it comes to some things.

Crafting activities is one of them.

I get an idea and wing it. 

So, today is St Patricks Day. I did not prepare anything fun for the kids. I did not wear green. I did not research the history to explain to them. I did not really care. Then, I felt guilty. 

I quickly skimmed Pinterest for visual ideas and saw this:



Perfect. Easy, and I had all the materials. I did not venture into the details, I usually don't. I use Pinterest for visual ideas and then wing it. 

I shredded some construction paper and looked for any green decorations I had on hand. Amazingly and to my surprise I didn't have (or couldn't find) my shamrock stickers. So, green frogs and green foam was all I had. Add markers and glitter, and that's really all I need. 




It kept the kids entertained for a good amount of time and they had a lot of fun. 



'Binoculars for spotting leprechauns! Awesome! ........what are leprechauns?' 



Ah yes, what are leprechauns.......hmmmm. 



A quick google search and a brief explanation is all I gave them. If I was being perfectly honest, I'd tell them it's a holiday to punish your liver like the stereotypical Irishman does. But I won't.




I then made glorious plans to bake green sugar cookies, but, after nap I was in no mood for a big mess. Soooooo I whipped up the easiest St. Patrick's Day snack ever. I pulled out the individual store bought rice crispy treats and painted them (water and food coloring) green, added green sprinkles and BAM! Best mom ever. ;) 

Ha ha yeah right. But it was satisfying enough for me, and the kids had fun. At least I did SOMETHING. 




The water made the tops a wee bit soggy.  The kids did not notice, at all. And the sprinkles almost made up for it. :)


Well, that's it for St Patricks Day here. Thanks, Pinterest, for once again saving this mom's ass. ;)

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Dehydrating Spinach



So I just recently found out you can dehydrate spinach!! 

Why have I not know about this!?! I swear I waste more spinach than I use. I always buy the Costco size organic baby spinach. It comes in a thin plastic tub with lid. I use some about every other day, but in the end, feed about half the container to the rabbits. (So it's not really a waste, either) 

Anyways, recently a friend asked me why I didn't just dehydrate it and explained this is how she makes her green juice powder at home. She takes all her unused greens and dries them out and powders them and makes her morning green smoothie with the powder.

I'm pretty sure my jaw dropped. This thought had never crossed my mind. 

I immediately pulled out my dehydrator and put half the container of spinach in it to test this out. 


Half the container filled all four of my trays.

I set the heat at about 125*. After about 7 hours I started to checked every 2 to 3 hours, in total it took close to 8 hours to fully dehydrate. 


Once don't I shuffled all of the dried spinach into the food processor.


And processed! 


The end result was slightly grainy, but very powdery, and smelled somewhat awful, but close to the smell of canned spinach. (Which I despise) 


The half container of spinach dried down to about 5 oz of powder.


I used it the very next day in my favorite green chile stew recipe, something I normally would not put spinach in. It was fantastic! You could not taste it at all, but it was visible and gave a nice seasoned look to the stew. 


I also used it in my sons smoothie, which I normally put fresh spinach in, however, I was able to put about 5 times more of the dehydrated version in one smoothie than fresh without any change in flavor. 


Hells. Yes.


This was such a fantastic success. I'm sure ill be doing this about every two or three weeks.