Month: May 2018

Chocolate Empanadas

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Empanada (8).JPG

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, here’s a messy flour-filled project that will have your little chef loving time in the kitchen!

Ingredients:

For the dough:

  • 2 and 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 8 tablespoons Earth Balance butter
  • 1 Ener-G egg
  • 1/2 cup milk

For the filling:

  • Chocolate-hazelnut butter, warmed*
  1. To prepare the dough, combine the flour, salt, and cocoa powder in a large bowl.Empanada (1)
  2. Add the butter in small pieces, and mix into the four mixture with your fingers until it looks like cornmeal. I was so proud of my son for getting his hands right in there!Empanada (2)
  3. Add the Ener-G egg and milk, stirring until a soft dough forms. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
  4. Divide the dough into 16 portions, and roll into balls.Empanada (3)
  5. Working with one portion at a time (cover the remaining dough with plastic wrap), roll out into a 6-inch circle. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the chocolate hazelnut butter into the center. Rub water gently around the edges of the dough with water and fold in half, pressing to seal. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and repeat with the remaining dough. Here’s my son having a blast with his play portion as I worked!Empanada (4)
  6. Use a fork to crimp the edges of the empanadas, then bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes.Empanada (5)

These are best served warm!

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*For the best results, order a vegan Nutella from a retailer like Vegan Essentials. I didn’t have time for an online order, but chocolate hazelnut spread from Justin’s peanut butter company (widely available) worked in a pinch.

Sombrero Station

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Sombrero (8)

This adorable craft will keep kids busy if you have Cinco de Mayo plans for tomorrow! Travis and I made ours early, but the craft easily multiplies to keep kids of various ages entertained.

First, I hot glued one paper cup upside down onto a paper plate for each sombrero. Pretty, colorful plates work best, although you could use white if kids will want to decorate them with markers.

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We set out an assortment of decorations, including tassels, pom poms, pipe cleaner pieces, and a big dish of glue.

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Travis’s favorite decoration by far was to dip a pom pom in glue before finding the perfect spot for it on his sombrero.

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Ole!

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To attach tassels to the brim of the sombrero required more hot glue, so that was another grown up step.

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Now place atop your head and celebrate (glass of leche optional)!

Sombrero (7)

Alphabet Rocks

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Alphabet Rocks (3)

I’ve been wanting to make these adorable letter-learning rocks for Travis for weeks now, but it required finding 26 relatively smooth stones, and we simply hadn’t had a chance to get to the beach. Finally on a sunny spring weekend we headed to the shore, perfect for collecting rocks.

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Travis adored the collection process, finding rocks and shells and other treasures along the way. Do take care in selecting your rocks. You need them to be large enough and flat enough to paint the letters of the alphabet. Ultimately some of mine worked better than others!

Alphabet Rocks (1)

Once home, we washed the rocks and left them to dry overnight. The next day I painted them with lower case letters using acrylic paints. You can alternate several colors if you prefer. My original plan was to alternate blue and gold paint, but the gold didn’t show up well on several rocks, so all blue it was!

For a decorative touch, add dots of white paint around each letter. Once dry, make a black dot in the center with a sharpie.

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Now the rocks were ready for play!

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There’s so much you can do with these. In addition to just spelling sight words (your child’s name, go, stop etc.) we used the rocks for two specific purposes.

The first was as a learning aid to our Usborne Starting to Read Pack.

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Travis is very tactile, so having to select the rocks that went with each word on the page helped reinforce what he was seeing.

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We also loved using the rocks as a supplement to activity worksheets from Education.com. If you’re not familiar with the site, it’s full of activities and lesson plans for children, ages preschool through middle school. For example, kids will love to discover and learn new words with reading-to-picture match up sheets. Be sure and check out Education.com more learning resources just like the one we used.

For our purposes, Travis first found the alphabet rocks that corresponded with each word before we matched it with its picture.

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This made it so much more tactile and engaging for him than a two-dimensional activity.

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Overall, these rocks are a fantastic tool to reinforce letter learning and early reading. How do you plan to use the rocks? Please share in the comments!

Cheesy Baked Potatoes

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Cheesy Potato (2)

Potatoes have been a hard sell for my three-year-old… until this recipe, that is!

Ingredients:

  • 4 russet potatoes
  • 1 bunch broccoli (about 2 cups florets)
  • 1/3 cup plain non-dairy milk
  • 1/4 cup vegan mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons Earth Balance butter
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 8 tablespoons shredded Daiya cheddar
  1. Cook the potatoes in the microwave or oven until very soft. Let cool, then cut in half and scoop out the flesh into a bowl, leaving 1/4-inch thick shells. Set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, steam the broccoli for 5 minutes, until tender. Drain.
  3. Add the broccoli to the bowl with the potato flesh, along with the milk, mayonnaise, butter, and salt.
  4. Divide the broccoli mixture evenly among the 8 potato halves. Top each half with 1 tablespoon cheddar.
  5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Cheesy Potato (1)

 

 

A Gift for Grandma

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Mother's Boxes (4)

Happy May! We’re starting to think about Mother’s Day around here, and if you’re looking for a sweet little gift that your child can put together for Grandma, this jewelry box fits the bill. It comes together in just a few easy steps, meaning even the littlest grandkids can help out.

I purchased two wooden boxes from the craft store to start, so don’t worry: there’s no woodworking required!

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Paint the lids of the boxes in whatever colors your children want. We thought pastel shades would be nice for this project. Don’t worry if a little paint goes over past the lid of the box.

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We had originally hoped to find decorative nautical knot buttons as the tops of the boxes, but couldn’t locate them in craft or furniture stores. Instead, Travis loved these decorative buttons.

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Drill a hole in the center of each lid (grown-up step!), then hot glue the buttons in.

The perfect spot for a grammy to store her jewelry!