Happy Chinese New Year

It's Chinese New Year and in honor of that I have been trying out a few new recipes. 

I made a Pinterest recipe the other night that turned out so good! (So very good that we ate it all!)

It was simple, easy, fairly healthy, and if you can get your 5 year old and your husband to both say they liked it, it must be a keeper! I modified it to fit the ingredients I had in my fridge and to fit my gluten free needs.

Ingredients:
6 oz gluten free spaghetti noodles

1/4 cup very hot water
2 tsp low sodium beef bullion
3 Tbsp gluten free soy sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar

Oil for pan frying beef and veggies in pan (I use olive oil)

1lb beef (I used grass feed beef and a fajita steak cut)
1 large red onion chopped
2 large carrots chopped up into small chunk (I used carrots I grow in the summer the wash chop and freeze in 1 lb bags.)
2 cups (give or take) I like broccoli so i make mine heaping cup fulls :-)
2 Tbsp of diced garlic
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Directions:
1) Cook spaghetti as directed. (If you can, time it so you will be draining it about the time the meat and veggies are done.)
2) Combine low sodium beef bullion, gluten free soy sauce, and brown sugar the hot water and stir until fully dissolved. Set off to the side.
3) Cook meat with olive oil in pan until almost done. Near the end add the onions, garlic, and sesame oil so they will start to soften and caramelize a bit and the flavors will combine.
4) Add in carrots and broccoli and put on medium low head to warm and soften veggies. Stir often to mix flavors.
5) When veggies are warmed all the way through (I like mine with a little crunch, cook longer if you prefer a more cooked veg)  Add the sauce you set aside earlier, mix to coat everything well.
6) Pour the entire meat, veg, sauce mixture into the drained noodles and toss to coat everything.

Serve and watch it disappear into happy mouths!

 Original recipe from momsdish.com can be found here.

Serving size:

6

servings

• • 8 ounces
  • Thin Spaghetti; broken in half
• • 1 teaspoon
  • Sesame Oil
• • 1/4 cups
  • Hot Boiled Water
• • 1 tablespoon
  • Beef Better Than Bullion
• • 3 tablespoons
  • Soy Sauce
• • 2 tablespoons
  • Brown Sugar
• •  
  • Oil; for frying
• • 1 pound
  • Beef
• • 2
  • large Carrots
• • 2 cups
  • Broccoli
• • 1
  • large Onion
• • 4
  • Garlic Cloves

- See more at: http://momsdish.com/recipe/400/beef-lo-mein-recipe#sthash.uDCZLntN.dpuf

• 8 ounces
• Thin Spaghetti; broken in half

• 1 teaspoon
• Sesame Oil

• 1/4 cups
• Hot Boiled Water

• 1 tablespoon
• Beef Better Than Bullion

• 3 tablespoons
• Soy Sauce

• 2 tablespoons
• Brown Sugar

•  
• Oil; for frying

• 1 pound
• Beef

• 2
• large Carrots

• 2 cups
• Broccoli

• 1
• large Onion

• 4
• Garlic Cloves

- See more at: http://momsdish.com/recipe/400/beef-lo-mein-recipe#sthash.uDCZLntN.dpuf

And after eatting such a great dinner why not continue the fun with a craft?
 Super simple Chinese lanterns from firstpalette.com.

 Materials

• Paper or cardstock (preferably red or yellow)
• Scissors
• Stapler or tape
• Glue
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Things to decorate your lantern with: gift wrap
  paper, ribbons, sequins, stickers, glitter glue,
  small buttons, etc.

Steps

	1.	Start out with an A4, Letter size, or any rectangular sheet of paper or cardstock. Red and yellow are preferred colors for a Chinese-themed lantern, but you can always choose any color you like.
	2.	Cut a 1-inch wide strip off on one short side. Set this aside for the handle.
	3.	Fold the paper in half, lengthwise.
	4.	Draw a horizontal line one inch from the long edge opposite the fold. *This line is just a guide for cutting and may not be necessary for older kids.
	5.	Starting from the folded edge, cut a straight line about an inch from one short edge, all the way up to the horizontal line.
	6.	Continue to cut more straight lines about 1 inch apart until you reach the opposite short edge of the paper. Remember that the horizontal line marks the point where you stop cutting each straight line.
	7.	Unfold the paper. The paper will have several vertical slits along the middle. Erase any pencil marks or re-fold the crease the opposite way to hide the pencil marks at the back.
	8.	Decorating the lantern is optional but if you wish to jazz up yours, here are some ideas you can try: a.) Make a border by painting with any water-based paint or coloring with crayons or oil pastels.
		b.) Create patterns and details with glitter glue, puffy paint, or markers.
		c.) Glue on a strip of gift wrap paper, patterned paper, fabric, lace, washi tape, or a wide ribbon to make a border.
		d.) Add texture by gluing on materials like craft foam or felt shapes, small buttons, beads, sequins, ribbon, lace, etc. Do not glue on materials that are too heavy for your paper though. Take note to leave at least a half-inch of undecorated area on one top corner. This space will allow you to connect the two edges of the paper to form a lantern.
	9.	Form the paper into a tube shape to transform it into a lantern. Overlap the long edges at least a half-inch. Staple or tape the top and bottom corners.
	10.	Glue on the paper handle from Step 2. Decorate the handle if you like. Once the glue dries, hang the paper lantern as a festive Chinese New Year decoration.

More Ideas

	Instead of paper, you can use a length of ribbon, lace or fabric for the handle.
	Cut strips of crepe paper and glue these along the inside of the lantern's bottom edge. These streamers will make the lanterns move gracefully with the wind.
	Besides the typical red and yellow Chinese lanterns, you can make them in your favorite colors or in hues that go with a particular occasion (e.g. orange and black for Halloween).
	You can also decorate the strips in betwen the slits of your lantern. Glue on small paper or fabric shapes, or draw designs with markers or crayons.

Strawberryosarus.

Strawberries were on sale at the store. I know they are out of season and probably sprayed with an unhealthy amount of pesticides but I got them anyhow. My daughter loves them and so do I. 

I decided to have a bit of fun and create a dinosaur (inspired by a strawberry alligator I found on Pinterest).

It's super simple. 

-clean the strawberries. 

-cut the top of of a large strawberry and place upside down .

-place a toothpick In at an angle and insert a medium sized strawberry for the head.

-use cake decorating gel (or sprinkle, or any other decorating material) to create the eyes and nostrils. 

Then watch your child "roar" with delight when they see them!

Little Love Bug For Your Valentine

I found the cutest little free printable and the perfect stickers for my daughter to make Valentines this year!

This website has a free printable with a little mason jar and the words "heres a little love bug"

We found these stickers for just 97 Cents.

Print, stick, mount on some red paper for added color. Done!  

Schools Closed! Snow Day Activities for Kids and Moms.

Schools closed in many of the midwest schools today due to the extreme cold.

Many working moms were scrambling last night to make day care plans for the day, I am very fortunate that I am home today. However, now the question is what do I do? We have plenty of Christmas toys but we might need to break up the day with a new activity or two.

With the weather so unpredictable here are a few ideas to keep in your arsenal for upcoming school closure days due to snow or cold.  I have tried to select easy things that won't require a trip to the store and that use everyday objects that you should have on hand.

Snow Day Activities for Kids (and Moms).

1. Indoor snowball toss game. Only requires cups, cotton balls, and a marker.

2. Snowman name Art Project. On a cold day an indoor snowman sounds much better than an outdoor snowman. This gives the added benefit of letter/writing practice for little ones as well.

3. If your child has several friends who live in the neighborhood from school who are also home (or if you hare that awesome mom helping out others by watching a few kids that day). Have some friends over and have a make your own hot coco party.

4. With a little shaving cream, glitter, and some glue you can make sparkly snow paint and paint your own snowman!

5. Want to stay away from the snow themed activities? How about a COLOR HUNT. Starting in the the living room and time your child (amount of time can vary depending on age and your child's skill level.) Give your child 5 minutes to find as many Red things as they can. Next start the timer again and do Orange. Repeat with Yellow, Green Blue, and Purple. Then at the end count up the number of things in each category. If you have multiple kids assign a different color to each child.

6. If you want to have some fun with food you can always create some snowman pancakes or snowman donuts for breakfast, you can get really creative and make a snowman pizza for lunch! Yum Yum!

Whatever you end up doing just have fun with your kiddos. Enjoy the day. They grow up fast and you'll look back and smile at the fun things you did on days like this.

Paper Plate Ghosts

A last minute crafts for your little goblins to make. 

Supplies:

Paper plates

Printer paper 

Blacks marker scissors 

Tape

While the kiddos start drawing ghostly faces on the plates:

Fold the printer paper into a fan and cut into 1/2 inch strips.

(You can also cut a curved pattern or just leave them straight.)

Once the faces are done tape 6 to 8 stands on paper onto each ghost. 

Easy, fun, and very little clean up!

Puffy Cupcake Craft

Puffy cupcakes. How much fun are these!?!?!  

Supplies: 

Glue

Shaving cream

Food coloring 

Plastic sandwich bag

Thick card stock

Cotton balls

Cupcake liner

Cut the cupcake liners in half and slightly bend the edges to create a surface to glue down.

Glue cupcake let halves on lower 1/2 of paper. Stuff with cotton balls to give support. Make sure to create a mound on top too. (See picture below.)

Next comes the fun and messy part! Dump a 50/50 mixture of shaving cream to glue into the plastic bag and add food coloring if you'd like to make a specific color. 

 (Rather than give a specific measurement this ratio gives you the flexibility to make a batch in whatever size you want or making multiple smaller matches.)

Now zip the bag *tightly* and let your little one squish and mix!

Carefully snip a corner off the bag and let you little one "frost" the cupcakes. Make sure you cover the cotton balls.

Add sprinkles or decorations if you'd like. 

Set of on a flat surface to dry. They will need at least 24 hours (or more) depending on how thick it is.