Simple Pirate Dress Up!

As I have said before, my family LOVES doughnuts!!!!!!! What does this have to do with pirate dress up, you ask?? This coming Wednesday, September 19, 2012, Krispy Kreme is having a special pirate day. If you talk like a Pirate, you get a FREE Doughnut. BUT if you dress up like a pirate you get a WHOLE DOZEN DOUGHNUTS for FREE!!!!!

I'm gunna show you how to dress your kids like a pirate with stuff around the house!

First you will need a pirate hat!

I used a large white piece of paper (19X13). You could also use a newspaper!

Here is what you do! Fold your paper in half!

   

Then face the open end towards you and fold the top corners in leaving a little space between the folds.

   

Then fold up the bottom end and turn over and fold up the other!

   

I then drew a simple skull and crossbones but you could leave this off if you like!

The hat stays on better if you tape or staple some string to the inside!

You may also want to tie a bandana around their head instead!

Now your little pirate needs a hook!

All you need is a cup, plastic or styrofoam, and foil!

Roll up a piece of foil and then squeeze it with your hands.

    

Make a hook at one end of the foil. 

Poke a hole it the top of the cup with something sharp and insert the long end of your foil!

   

What about a sword!?!

Check out how easy it is to make this stick sword!

Go find a stick outside!

Now get into your recycling and find something that is thin cardboard, like a cereal box. 

I used, wouldn't you guess, a DOUGHNUT BOX!!! LOL

Then draw a big tear drop shape and cut it out!

         

Have your child color the end without a logo on it!

You are going to cut two holes at each end....where you see the two black circles!

Insert the stick into the end of the tear drop that is larger.

   

Then fold it over and insert the stick through the other hole!

There you have it! A few simple accessories to dress up like a pirate!

I had to add a picture of my almost 3 month old pirate baby! 

Incase you also wanted to make an eye patch, 

here is a cute easy Tutorial on how to make one!

Just click on the picture!

After you have made these simple accessories just put you child in black pants and and oversized T-shirt (red, black, gray, white or striped) and tie a sash around their waist! If the shirt is old, rip the ends a little for flare!

UPDATE: We went to Krispy Kreme and my little pirates got THREE dozen doughnuts! Yes, they gave a WHOLE DOZEN to my three month old baby! LOL

How to Spice Up a Package Brownie Mix!

I have been on a huge chocolate fix lately....

I love to make a batch of Brownies and enjoy them for a few days.

The great thing about chocolate is that is has so much flavor and dark color that you can add almost anything to it and no one will know! 

So I asked myself, how can I have the ease of package brownie mix but add nutrition to it!?!

Here is the simple answer!

Get yourself a package of brownie mix....whichever one is your favorite!

I got the Reduced Guilt Brownie Mix from Trader Joes! It is great because all you add is 3/4 cup of vanilla yogurt to the mix and bake. They also have a Gluten free brownie mix!

Simply follow the directions on your box to make your batter and now here's the fun part.

Use about 1/2 cup of black beans and a large handful of fresh spinach and blend it in your food processor! Or, if you have the ingredients already from making "Hale the Kale" Salad that I just blogged about, use up the rest of your Kale instead of Spinach!!!!

These measurements aren't exact....if you want to add more it will still be yummy!

      

It will make a green paste. This is what it looks like before I mix it into the batter. However, once mixed up, you could NEVER tell!

This next step is optional: I love peanut butter and chocolate together. So what I did was pour half of my batter in the baking dish. 

Then, I melted a little peanut butter and poured it over the batter and then add the rest of the batter on top! Now bake as box instructs!

When there is about ten minutes left to baking I sprinkled a handful of dark chocolate chips to the top of the brownies! You don't have to do this step either, I just love the texture the chocolate chips add!

Enjoy a yummy treat thats actually not so bad for you after all! =)

Hail the Kale Salad: Copycat Recipe

There is a restaurant in Overland Park, KS. that our family is ADDICTED to! It is called Sheridan's Unforked.... It was developed by the same guys that own Sheridan's, a dessert place with mostly Frozen Custard. Because of this, you know their dessert menu is AWESOME!!! However, they also have GREAT food! Two of their core values are to provide quality meats as in a five star restaurant and  to buy, promote, and support local ingredients first! There is only one location so far so if you are ever in the area you have to try it out! 

To find out more, click HERE for their website!

Any chance I get, I will tell people that they HAVE to go to this restaurant and try out the Kale salad! I'm telling you, it's so good that our kids even gobble it up! 

You will never find a more tasty way to eat fresh Kale!

I figured that most of the people that view my blog will never be in Kansas so I decided to try and make this salad so you can all have a taste of Unforked! 

What you will need:

• One bunch of fresh Kale (4-5 cups after chopped up)
• 1/4 cup of toasted bread crumbs
• 1 cup of fresh grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 1/2-3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 2 1/2-3 Tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice
• pinch of salt and pepper

If you are just trying this out or have a smaller family, I suggest that you cut the recipe in half

because this makes a large bowl of salad.

The first thing you will do is toast your bread crumbs. Just put them on a baking sheet in the oven,  

250 degrees for about 10 minutes. 

 While you are toasting the bread crumbs, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Then set aside.

 Now you are going to prepare the kale. All you have to do is wash it, cut the leaves away from the stem, and chop into small pieces. This would give you about 4-5 cups of kale. Put your chopped up kale in a large bowl and massage it a little with your hands, this helps the texture. 

Then add your bread crumbs, cheese, and dressing.

Toss and serve immediately!

 I had to add something to the end of this post! If you ever make it to Unforked you also have to try the Brownie Bling Pothole for dessert! It is our FAVORITE custard! It is fresh vanilla custard, blended with peanut butter and brownie bites, and then they cleverly add a hole of Chocolate syrup in the center to make the "Pothole"! 

You can simply try to make your own at home buy buying a half gallon ice cream with peanut butter  added to it. If you want to make it cakey,  the way Sheridan's does, I suggest fresh brownies mixed in and don't forget your "pothole" of chocolate syrup in the center! SO GOOD!

Enjoy a taste of Sheridan's Unforked!

Soapy Water Game

My Daughter was asking me to play a game or do a craft with her. I walked over to the table, where we would do the activity and I just thought, Man the table really needs to be washed!

So out of my mouth came.... "Hey, let's play the SOAPY WATER GAME!"

At first I thought this would entertain her for 15 minutes and my table would be clean at the end.... but it turned out to be so much fun AND educational if you can believe!

This actually ended up being a two hour activity! 

We started off just with a bowl of SOAPY water and a sponge. If you don't want it to be all over the floor, try not to put too much water in the bowl. 

I just let my daughter go to town scrubbing the table! =)

   

After about 10 minutes, I put a little more dish soap on the table in front of my daughter and smeared a thin layer of soap. Then we started writing our alphabet. I would write a letter and ask her what it was and then have her copy it. It is always fun to have an abstract surface when practicing writing because it gives it a new spin and makes it fun to learn!

Then I brought out some straws and bubble mix, if you don't have any  bubble mix then dish soap will work. 

I poured a little soap/bubble mix on the table.

 We dipped the straws in the soap and started blowing bubbles on the table! 

We even had fun blowing bubbles at each other!

   

Then I had my daughter get out her tea set and we played tea party with "bubble tea"!

If you don't have and actual tea set just use real mugs... It will be just as fun!

And YES, at the end of the game, I had a clean table!

SCORE!