I’ve been bit by a desire to bake and or create treats lately. Last time I got the bug, I ended up with interesting looking cakepops and an overheated kitchen due to using the oven. It is kind of rough wanting to be creative in the kitchen and feeling too hot to do anything about it.
I don’t know exactly what thought process led me to this, but I started thinking about no-bake treats. I was able to list more than five, so I thought I would share them here. One recipe a day!
Today, it is Ready to Go Sundaes. This is inspired by the Ben and Jerry Flipped Outs. I figured I could make the same thing in muffin tins and have ready made sundaes to pop out when the fancy struck.
You need ice cream, ice cream topping, and cookies or brownies.
Set ice cream out to soften.
Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
Pour the ice cream topping into the liners, covering just the bottom. (The amount it totally up to you.)
Smash up the cookies in a plastic bag.
Spoon in the cookies to cover the topping in the cupcake liners.
Spoon in ice cream to fill the cupcake liner.
Freeze until hard.
When ready to serve, place one sundae on a plate or in a bowl.
Remove cupcake liner.
Enjoy!
Now, since it is sooooo hot out, I want to help you out and not let you lift a finger to make treats for your family. The nice folks at Little Debbie (she’s a hometown girl!) sent our family a gift pack of Little Debbie 100 Calorie Packs. Six boxes of treats (chocolate, yellow, and new flavors lemon and cookies & creme) were all ours for consumption. Fuller was thrilled.
Little Debbie sent them to me with no strings attached (I didn’t even have to blog about it), but they did offer to help me give away the same sampler boxes to lucky readers. If you leave a comment on this blog post (with a valid email address) you will automatically be entered to win your own sampler box. One comment per reader, and unfortunately, this is for readers in the United States only.
I’ll do the drawing via random.org and announce the winner tomorrow when I post a new no-bake treat recipe.
This past Saturday the countdown to Curious George at the Creative Discovery Museum finished and found our family eating breakfast on the museum plaza. It was a delightful pancake breakfast and made getting up early worth it.
We went inside and straight upstairs to check out the new exhibit. We were not disappointed in the Curious George themed exhibit. The pulleys, the lights, the dress-up costumes, even the wind machines- it was as if Fuller had stepped right into the monkey’s world. And Fuller was so excited.
The big draw of the morning was the photo op with Curious George. We waited in line for a while and once we got it, we were happy to say, “We’ll be back!” and took off for home.
Today, we returned. We spent most of our two hour visit in the exhibit where Fuller had a blast checking out the overhead projector and conveyor belts.
I have a feeling visiting the museum is going to be a frequent summer activity. And I’m very happy about it.
Yes, yes, I think changing diapers is fun. It is fun now that our family has started the switch to cloth diapers!
I know I blogged about it before Tebow made his arrival- I wanted to make the switch from disposables to cloth diapers. For me, it isn’t about being green, it’s about saving the green. I would get a knot in my stomach every time we bought disposable diapers. It just seemed like such a waste.
But making the switch completely was going to take some green that we just didn’t have. Plus, a friend of mine gave me the advice to not worry about cloth diapering (and all the decisions that went with it) until after we got to know our new kid. It totally took some stress off, but finally it came down to it- I didn’t want to keep buying disposables.
So, Damon and I hashed it out and decided to look at some different cloth diapering options. We bought a few, borrowed others, and I decided I really, really like the All-in-ones, one sized cloth diapers.
You might be thinking, what? In fact when I say cloth diaper, this is probably what you see:
And yes, this kind of diapers (known as prefolds), are still used by many cloth diapering parents. But cloth diapering has evolved into some easier and waaaaay cuter methods of cloth diapering. I tried the prefolds and it was ok, but not that easy. The all-in-ones are diaper covers where you stuff a pocket with an absorbent insert, which pulls away wetness, similar to disposables. When dirty, you just remove the diaper and wash it all later (every other day). If they are one sized, it means the diaper can be used from birth to potty training (usually). Continue Reading »
I think this is one of the most exciting aspects of parenting- teaching your child to read. It really is like a light switch going on when things just click and start to make sense. Once the light is there, suddenly your child is telling you what a sign says, what the ad in the magazine is advertising, or how to make chocolate chip cookies.
No, Fuller can’t tell me how to make chocolate chip cookies. But he’s getting there!
It isn’t like Fuller just suddenly started to read, and it no he hasn’t completed the Harry Potter series yet. But he just sat next to me and read me three books. He didn’t do it gracefully, he stopped and got frustrated several times, but I sat there with a smile on my face and my heart puffed up with pride because he is reading!
There are several tools we are taking advantage of in teaching Fuller to read and I thought I would share what we have been using, in case you might want to try them.
The first tool I am sure you are already doing: read to your child. Now, we aren’t the type of parents who read to our child in the womb, or even in the first six months of his life, but we do read to him often. Damon and I have different methods of doing this. I read library books to Fuller and Damon reads comic books. Both have value and help us create our own special bond with Fuller. Continue Reading »
I took this video a while back when Damon and Fuller were practicing football in the backyard. Damon built this ingenious sled that helps Fuller learn how to catch the ball (I’m sure he will discuss it at later date). Fuller loves it.
And yesterday I finally just used my webcam to take some video of Tebow “talking.” I realize now that it is a little long, but I like listening to him, so you should too!
