Frozen S'mores

This recipe has been all over social media lately, so we decided to give it a try. It is delicious! 

Ingredients: 

1 large box of instant chocolate pudding (6 servings)

2 1/2 cups milk

7 oz marshmallow cream

4 oz. cream cheese

1 8 oz container of Cool Whip

Graham crackers

Mix the pudding and milk together in a bowl. Line a 9x13 inch pan with parchment paper. Spread the pudding on top of the parchment paper. Put in the freezer while you make the marshmallow layer. 

Use a hand-held mixer to beat the marshmallow cream and cream cheese. Fold in the Cool Whip. 

Spread on top of the pudding layer and return to the freezer for 6-8 hours. I cut it in half and just used what we were eating at that time to place between two graham cracker halves. I returned the remaining pudding/marshmallow mixture to the freezer and just cut more squares when I want to make another one. That way the graham crackers don't get stale. 

Instant Pot Rice Pudding

This rice pudding recipe is fast and delicious! (I found it on Pinterest:https://sweetandsavorymeals.com/instant-pot-rice-pudding/) 

Ingredients: 1 cup long-grained white rice (rinse it well)

2 cups whole milk

1 1/4 cup water

pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Add the rice, milk, water, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the instant pot. Stir well. Seal the instant pot and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Let it naturally release for 10 minutes. Open the lid and add the vanilla and condensed milk. Stir and top with extra cinnamon if desired. Make sure you cool completely and store in the refrigerator. This is great warm or cold. 

4th Annual Christmas in July Party

We love celebrating Christmas in July. We start the week by visiting Bronner's to pick out a new ornament for the year. 

Then I put together activities for our Christmas in July punch board. 

The activities this year included some Christmas Eve traditions that are celebrated around the world. 

#1. Iceland: Jolabokaflod-books are given on Christmas Eve and the family spends the evening reading their new book. 

#2. Iceland: place shoes by the window and see if you get candy or rotten potatoes in the morning. 

#3. Finland: Everyone gets a bowl of rice pudding. One almond is hid in the pudding. The person to get the almond is said to have good luck for the year. 

#4. Germany: decorate your Christmas list with pictures and put it on the windowsill. 

#5. Make frozen hot chocolate (2 cups ice, 2 packets hot chocolate, 1 cup milk)

#6. Build an igloo for our elf.

#7. Open a present

#8. Christmas pancake breakfast

#9. Make snow slime

#10. Decorate cone trees

#11. Make frozen s'mores

#12. Make watermelon trees

#13. Grinch pudding cups

#14. Snowball shooters

#15. Make tea-light snowmen ornaments

#16. Make fruit and veggie tree for holiday meal

New books

Rice pudding

We checked out books from the library too. 

Shoes and lists on the window. 

Cone trees

Snow slime (I picked up a kit on the after-Christmas clearance-$5.)

Grinch pudding cups. We decorated the green straws and added whipped cream.

Fruit, veggie, and watermelon trees

Toilet paper igloo

We made the shooters with toilet paper rolls and a balloon. Make sure you tie the end of the balloon so it pushes the puff ball out of the top when you shoot it. 

Cut three different size white card stock circles. Place them over a tea light. Add a face. Cut a hat out of black card stock and decorate it. Cut out arms from brown paper and glue it to the white paper. Glue a piece of ribbon to the back to make it an ornament. 

Frozen s'mores. (Mix a 6-serving box of chocolate pudding with 2 1/2 cups milk. Spread in a 9x13 inch pan that is covered with parchment paper. Put in the freezer while you make the marshmallow layer. Using a handheld mixer, beat 7 oz marshmallow cream, 4 oz cream cheese, and 8 oz Cool Whip. Spread on top of the pudding layer and put in the freezer overnight. Cut into squares and place between graham crackers when ready to eat.) 

Frozen hot chocolate 

New Orleans Pelican Jersey Cake

David's favorite basketball players are Zion Williamson and Lonzo Ball. Ironically, their jersey numbers are 1 and 2 and he turned 12 this year, so it made sense to make him their jerseys into cakes for his birthday.

I made homemade fondant and colored it the day before making the cake. To make the fondant, put 1 bag of 16 oz mini marshmallows and 1 Tbsp water in a glass microwavable bowl. Heat for 30 second intervals. Stir after each one. It took about 1 1/2 minutes for my marshmallows to melt. Add 3 cups of powdered sugar (1 cup at a time, stirring after each addition). Use Crisco to grease your counter. Pour the melted marshmallow mixture on the Crisco. Knead in about 3 more cups of powdered sugar. Make sure you grease your hands with Crisco as well. When the dough is no longer sticky, separate and add food gel color. Cover with Crisco and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in an air-tight container and refrigerate for a few hours before rolling. 

For one of the the cakes, I separated a white cake and colored it purple, green, and yellow before baking. 

I trimmed the cakes to resemble a jersey, then covered it with regular white frosting before decorating the rest of the jersey with the fondant. 

May the 4th Be With You Activities

We always celebrate "May the 4th Be With You". Rachel loves Star Wars, so it is definitely a day she looks forward to. We started the day with BB 8 doughnut sticks. 

I created a photo backdrop out of tablecloth and construction paper stars for her to do a photo shoot. She dressed up in her Rey costume and had fun with poses. 

We also did a Star Wars Scavenger Hunt: I found the clues from playpartyplan.com

I wrote the clues on construction paper and hid them around the house. She loved it! 

First Day of Summer Activities

To celebrate the first day of summer, we did some fun activities together. I made up a basket that contained a lot of "blue" themed things, along with the treats they would need to do our activities and snacks. 

We made blue jello cups and added life saver gummy for pool rings, gummy fish, and teddy grahams. In the vanilla pudding cups, we crushed up vanilla wafers for sand and added little drink umbrellas, Airhead Extreme strips for beach towels, and more teddy grahams. 

We also did Coke and Mentos experiments and played in the slip n slide and did some obstacle courses outside. 

O'Henry Bars

Ingredients: 

1 cup sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

6 cups cornflakes

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

Start by melting the sugar and corn syrup together in a saucepan. Let that boil. Remove from heat. Add the peanut butter and cornflakes. Press into a greased 9x13 inch pan. Pour the chocolate and butterscotch chips on top of the cornflake mixture. Bake at 300 degrees for about 3 minutes. Use a knife to spread the melted chips together. Let that set for a little bit before you cut and serve. 

Trolls World Tour Movie Night

For our at-home Trolls World Tour Movie Night, we added some colorful treats, crafts, and a scavenger hunt. 

I had some extra cardboard boxes, so I turned one into a punch rainbow. I just added treats inside the plastic cups before I covered them with tissue paper. Each kid got to take turns picking a color to punch. 

This was also the end of the scavenger hunt. The gifts were some trolls figures and a Trolls Monopoly Jr. game that we played that evening. 

We made some fun Trolls treats (sugar cookies and Trix marshmallow treats)

We also had colorful Jello trifles. 

 #1: You are looking for Red. It is where one of you lays your head. 

#2: Orange is next. Its name is your clue (I put it under the bag of oranges). 

#3: Yellow is where you might say Hello. (front door)

#4: Green can be found in a machine where you put your jean (s). Washer

#5: Blue will be in one shoe

#6: Violet is by a Lego space pilot (I put this in our Lego space rocket)

Final color sheet: You did it. Your World Tour beings at the end of the rainbow. (The kids found the gifts at the end of the cardboard rainbow board pictured above.)

Cowboy Caviar

Ingredients: 

1 can black eyed peas

1 can black beans

1 can corn

1/4 cup jalapeno peppers, diced and seeded

1/2 red onion, diced

2 peppers (colored and/or green)

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup canola oil

1 Tbsp water

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

Drain and rinse the black beans and black eyed peas. Drain the corn. Add all three to a bowl. Chop the jalapenos, onion, and peppers and add to the bowl. In a measuring cup, add the apple cider vinegar, canola oil, water, sugar, salt, and pepper. Whisk together and add to the bowl. Stir all of the ingredients together and serve with tortilla chips. 

One Hour Homemade Cinnamon Rolls

I found a variation of this recipe on Delish Recipes: https://delishrecipes.net/outnumbered-one-hour-cinnamon-rolls/?fbclid=IwAR1dLEpqZwkg9H6T2zV41fo6oA4kN9rgy9sL2eAO4pYabpqrsWuG5i8NOK8

Ingredients: 

2 3/4 cups flour

1 Tbsp yeast

1 tsp salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup milk

1 egg

Filling: 

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp butter, melted

3/4 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp milk

Put the flour, salt, and yeast in a stand mixer. In a glass measuring cup add the butter, sugar, milk, and water. Put it in the microwave for 1 1/2 minutes. Add to the flour mixture. 

Add the egg and mix. Let the dough mix with the hook attachment for about 5 minutes. 

Place the dough on the counter and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, mix up the filling. Put the brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla in a bowl. Stir. 

Roll the dough out into a large rectangle. Top with 1/4 cup of softened butter. Then add the filling mixture. 

Start on a long end and roll into a log. Cut in half and then cut each half into half. 

Divide each quarter into three pieces. 

Spray a 9x13 in. pan with cooking spray. Place the 12 rolls in the pan. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees and then turn it off. Cover the pan with tinfoil and let the rolls rise in the heated over for 25-30 minutes. 

Bake the rolls at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. 

When you take the baked rolls out of the oven, flip them over onto another baking sheet.

In a bowl, mix the glaze ingredients together until they are smooth. If you want it thicker, add more powdered sugar. If you like it thinner, add more milk. Top the rolls with the glaze.