Sonic and Knuckles (Lions) Photo Board

 

Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery are known as Sonic and Knuckles this season, so we decided to create a photo board prop for fun. 

I drew the design first with pencil, then outlined it with black Sharpie, and finally painted it with acrylic paint. The board came from Dollar General. I cut out the face part for the photo opportunities. 

Hot Cocoa Day Party

 

For National Hot Cocoa Day, we decided to use our Ninja Slushi to make a frozen version. 

I mixed 2 1/2 cups milk, 1/2 cup whipping cream, and three packets of hot cocoa. I put it in the machine and hit the milkshake setting. It was delicious and made about four cups this size. 

Rudolph Party with Beef Sliders

For the 65 anniversary of Rudolph, we decided to have a dinner party. I found a lot of Rudolph snacks and merchandise at the Dollar Tree. We also had reindeer sliders, Sam the Snowman cheeseball, silver and gold (Hershey) nuggets, and a hot cocoa bar. 

To make the beef sliders, brown one pound of hamburger with one diced onion, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp paprika and 1 Tbps minced garlic. Drain the grease. 

Cut Hawaiian rolls in half and place on a baking sheet. Put the cooked burger on the bottom half of the rolls. 

Top with cooked onion rings and shredded cheese (I used cheddar and mozzarella.) Put the top of the rolls back on. 

Brush the top with butter and bake for 10 minutes. 

You can put an optional sauce on top of the burger. For that, mix 1/2 cup mayo, 1/4 cup ketchup, 1/8 cup mustard, and 1 Tbsp relish. 

 

Grinch Party and Cake

 

We always have an annual Grinch party. This one was complete with shaved beef, Who-hash, Who-pudding, Grinch cookies, biscuits, Grinch punch, and green Jello. I also decorated a mini Grinch cake this year. I had  Grinch and Max figures I added to the top. To help the fondant tree stand up, I put a straw through the cake and used a skewer stick in the bottom of the tree and ran it down through the straw.

Hot Cocoa Sensory Bin

 

I used dry pinto beans for this bin. I cut the pom poms off of a piece of garland I found at Dollar Tree, found some plastic candy canes, and got scoops and cups from the Dollar Tree. 

Hassleback Potatoes

 

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. 

Put your potatoes on a cutting board between to metal straws (or something similar). Slice very thinly, without cutting all the way through the potato. 

Put the cut potatoes on the baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil and salt and paper. Use your hands to coat the olive oil around the whole potato. 

Bake for about 50 minutes. 

In a bowl, mix together 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 Tbsp minced garlic, 1/2 tsp salt. After the potatoes have baked for 50 minutes, take them out and spread the butter over them, making sure to get butter in the slices. 

Bake for another 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are crisp on the edges and tender in the middle. 

Mini Pecan Pies

 

Ingredients: 

1 pie crust

1/3 cup corn syrup

1 egg

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp melted butter

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup pecans, chopped

Whipped cream, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a mini muffin pan with cooking spray. Roll out the pie crust. Use a 2 1/2" round cookie cutter to cut 24 circles. Prick the bottoms of the pie crust with a fork. 

Mix the corn syrup, egg, brown sugar, vanilla, butter, and salt. 

Add the chopped pecans. 

Put about 1 Tbsp of mixture in each pie crust. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Wicked Dinner Party

 

We decided to have a Wicked theme dinner party last weekend. I made Elphaba's green enchiladas, Glinda's garlic cheese bread, pink and green cupcakes, pink and green Jello, pink lemonade and a mixture of green sherbet and Sprite for the green punch. We added some dry ice to the drinks for a little more fun. 

Dinosaur Birthday Cake with Volcano

 

For the volcano, I made Cocoa Krispie treats and shaped them around a narrow mouth cup. I tried two different size volcanoes. On the actual cake, I went with the larger volcano. There is a slightly larger cup that the treats are molded to in the larger volcano. Then I put a narrow tall shot glass plastic cup inside of the larger cup. This made for filling with dry ice and water a lot easier because I could do that outside of the volcano and then place the shot glass cup in its spot without dripping water on the volcano. And I could add more dry ice and warm water when I wanted to make the eruption again. 

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins (Starbucks Copycat)

 

Ingredients: 

3 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups canned pumpkin (large can)

2 eggs

1/2 cup melted butter

 2 tsp vanilla

Cream cheese filling: 

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

2 tsp flour

2 tsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

Line your muffin tins with paper (24 muffins). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, and salt together. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, pumpkin, melted butter, and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. 

Mix until just combined. Scoop into the prepared muffin tins until each cup is about 3/4 of the way full. 

Prepare the cream cheese mixture. Use a hand mixture to combine until it is smooth. Put the mixture in a pastry bag or a Ziploc baggie. Cut off the tip of the bag. Put the pastry bag in the center of each muffin and fill with about 1 Tbsp of the cream cheese mixture. Pull the bag upward as you are filling. 

Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center of the muffin. If it comes out clean when inserted in the filling part, they are done. These are really good warm. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. 

Apple Cider Slushy

 

Ingredients: 

5-6 cups frozen apple cider

2 cups ice cubes

1 cup apple cider

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Start by lining a large measuring cup with a gallon Ziploc bag. I filled the bag as full as I could get it and still seal it (about 5-6 cups of cider). I pushed out any air left in the bag and put the bag flat in the freezer for about 5-6 hours. 

I filled my blender to the 6 cup line with the frozen cider chunks. Then I added the ice cubes, liquid apple cider, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Blend the mixture and serve. 

I made a smaller batch with 2 cups of frozen cider, 1/2 cup of ice cubes, 1 Tbsp of brown sugar, a couple of sprinkles of cinnamon, and about 1/2 cup of cold cider. 

Khan Academy Mastery Cakes

I told my juniors that I would make them any flavor of cake they wanted if they completed the Digital SAT Khan Academy ELA Mastery Course. These were a huge hit! After this round of cakes, eight more kids completed the mastery before the test! The mini cookie cake was pretty popular. 

Pre-Easter Dinner Party

 

To make the weekend more exciting, I like to do theme dinners. This was a Peter Rabbit theme dinner the weekend before Easter. 

St. Patrick's Day Party

 

After St. Patrick's Day, spring break came closely behind. I decided to put a little gift/candy/favorite thing in a bag for each kid for each day of the week leading up to Spring Break. It was a fun way to wake up each day and give them just the motivation to get through that long week. 

Pi Day

 

My sister's birthday is on Pi Day (March 14th) so I made her a cake with a lot of circles. We also made playdough and pretended it was pie dough, rolled it out, and decorated our pretend pies. We made paper plate pie crafts as well. 

Mario Day Party

 March 10th is Mario Day. This is one of my favorite days of the year! I made a special cake this year.