Potato mashers and kids may seem like an odd combination but they are a match made in heaven.
I have been wanting to get my kids into the kitchen with me more. And I don’t mean in the teaching way but a way that might actually help. Well, it appears all I needed was to be making recipes that need a potato masher!
Monday I got my 6 year old in the kitchen and she had a ball! First, we made guacamole. I cut them open, took out the pits and showed her how to scoop out the meat with a big spoon. Then she mashed! And mashed! Then I took the masher from her, sprinkled in the mix and handed her a spoon (yes, I said mix;). Then we made banana bread. I had 2 hands of bananas that were perfectly dark brown! So I dumped them into 2 big bowls and she mashed them all up for me while I did dishes!
This was a great success! If you are looking for a way to get your kid into the kitchen try a recipe that needs something mashed!
This Christmas had been a mess of chaos, joy and lessons (go check them out here). In the chaos I didn’t have the time or stamina to make the gingerbread house. So NerdDad had the awesome idea to just hand out the pieces to the kids to decorate. So we just used canned cake icing to base coat the panels. Then I gave them each a bowl of different types of candy (1 bowl per person so they could keep the germs from sticking their fingers in the mouths;) to decorate. I picked up chocolate covered seeds, M&M’s and mint meltaways from Winco to add to the candy that came with the kit. We didn’t want to give them any of the hard candy because they would have a hard time eating it. These are just the oldest and the youngest’s creations. Then those were their panels to eat.
I have to say, I thought the kids would be very disappointed if I didn’t do a gingerbread house. I do it every year and then they spend a week eating it. They had a ball doing this! They seemed to enjoy the fact they did it more than any gingerbread house I made. Apparently I am once again putting my own pressure on me in other people’s names;). This was such a big hit even if I do a gingerbread house next year I think we will also be doing this!
I got this recipe out of a Pampered Chef cookbook. I made them for MOPs. I also make these for all my parties and they are always a huge hit. The only problem is that they are a bit rich so they go great with milk. This is an awesome recipe to make with kids. You mix up everything while they unwrap the peanut butter cups
***Frugal hint: If you watch the after holiday clearance, you can also get the mini peanut butter cups for a fraction of a price. They always come out with different holiday themed wrappings that the stores have to get rid of them. Then remember, chocolate and peanut butter store well.
Ingredients:
1 package of brownie mix (I use about a 20 oz family size box but the original recipe calls for 15oz) 1/3 cup hot water 1/4 cup oil 1 egg 48 mini chocolate covered peanut butter cups
Process:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients well except for mini chocolate peanut butter cups. Place liners into your mini-muffin tins (you really needed to line them). Fill the cups half way with batter and then press in a mini chocolate peanut butter cup into each cup. Bake 13-20 minutes or until the brownies are set. I use 2 Pampered Chef mini-muffin tins and it takes 13 minutes. Cool completely.
