Making Birthday Cupcakes with the Kids

This Sunday is our momstown Winnipeg Birthday Party so of course this months momstown curriculum is all about Birthday! So for our Junior Chef's program the children are learning how to make cupcakes and will get a chance to decorate cupcakes too!

I decided to practice my recipe to see if it was kid friendly and kid approved (for taste)! Well okay, I was just in the mood for a cupcake, but use whatever excuse you need to make! :)

My daughter helped measure, pour and stir. There may have been some finger licking happening!

The best part was decorating the cupcakes!

The end result!

Here's the recipe that we found online.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 Cups Cake Flour
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon of Salt
• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
• 1 Cup Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs (room temperature)
• 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 Cup Whole Milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the over to 400 degrees F. Add flour, baking powder, and salt into a mixing bowl. Beat in the butter (bits at a time) using the electric mixer on low sped. 
2. Beat in the sugar and eggs. Add the vanilla and milk and beat on medium to hight until blended. Do not over beat.
3. Divide the batter into 24 mini-muffin or 12 large muffin pans. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let it cool. 
4. Place icing of your choice. My secret icing recipe is called Betty Crocker. Do you know it? It's fabulous! :)  To make it go to your local grocery store and place it in your shopping cart. And there you have it! One fabulous icing for your cupcakes.
5. Sprinkle with your candy / sprinkles of your kid's choice. Be sure to involve your kid in the shopping experience and let them have a say in the toppings. They will remember that experience just as much as the baking portion. 
6. And most importantly have fun! Don't sweat it if some egg shells fall into the batter. It's about the kids learning how to bake. It will be messy! Be prepared for them to wander away half way through leaving you to finish the baking. They'll still be proud and remember the day that they made cupcakes!

Whole Grain Nutty Crackers

Dig In Manitoba to the Rescue: Finding Time to Purchase and Prepare Healthy, Local Food

Between running a household and looking after the kids, there’s no doubt that motherhood is more than a full-time job – and that’s not even counting any additional work you might be doing outside of family life. Even when it’s something you love, it can keep you busy enough that juggling everything can be tricky to manage!

With all of that in mind, who has the time to buy locally-grown, ethically-produced food, cook meals from scratch and provide their kids with healthy snacks?

The Dig In Challenge is here to help you out! As a member of momstown, you already know the value of joining a community for support. The Dig In Challenge is just like that, with a focus on healthy, local, sustainable, and fair food.

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be a huge hassle. There are so many ways to fit it into your busy lifestyle, regardless of whether it’s summertime or back-to-school season. Just some of the things you can do include:

·       Visiting www.DigInManitoba.ca to find healthy, local recipes (plus kid-friendly snacks!), and to share some of your own

·       Getting your kids involved with having fun with food – start them off at an early age by taking them to the farmers’ market or put together a quick, easy meal with them as your special helper

·       Picking local fruit with the whole family through www.FruitShare.ca

·       Playing Heifer games and activities with your children to learn about the importance of fair food

·       Joining the Dig In Challenge (www.DigInManitoba.ca/challenge) to participate in a community of families eager to learn about healthy, local food – it’s free to join, and you’ll get to attend food skill workshops and might even win a prize!

Hungry for more healthy eating ideas? Visit www.DigInManitoba.ca/challenge/action for over 40 ideas!

Check out our Dig In forum for inspiration about what other Manitoban families are doing to eat healthy and local this summer – and how they’re going to continue to do so during the back-to-school season. 

Honey Glazed Carrots

During the holidays my family gets together and each of us are in charge of bringing a dish or two. Glazed carrots is a family favourite! Here's the recipe I've been using since I can remember.

2-3 cups baby carrots (or large carrots cut into small pieces)
1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
fresh minced parsley or chives

In a medium skillet, melt butter. Add brown sugar, honey, nutmeg and cinnamon; mix together. Add carrots. Cover; cook on medium low to medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. When finished cooking, the carrots should be firm, not mushy.

Remove from skillet and sprinkle with fresh parsley and/or chives. Serve.

Hot Apple Christmas Punch

Yesterday was another Gingerbread Decorating Playgroup. It was such a popular event we had 2 parties! Why not! Lisa hosted this one and had a fabulous Hot Apple Christmas Punch that we had to share.

Here's what you need:

1 L Apple Juice

1 L Cranberry Juice

1 container frozen orange juice, undiluted

10 cinnamon disk candies

2-3 cinnamon sticks

Put in slow cooker and wait until it is nice and hot.  2-3 hours on high, or longer on low.

Serve in some adorable Christmas cups and enjoy!

 

 

It's the perfect punch to serve at Holiday themed playdates, like our Gingerbread Decorating Playdate! Click here to see how you can make Gingerbread Houses out of Graham Crackers!

*This recipe was contributed by our momstown Winnipeg member Lisa B. 

Decorating Gingerbread Houses

Looking for a great activity to do with your kids this Holiday season? Make a gingerbread house, or two, or three..... or a village! It is a fun playdate that you can do with your kids and their friends that will keep them all engaged and entertained.

We made our houses with graham crackers. It's economical and easy to handle when building the houses. Perfect size for toddlers. There are a variety of recipes for Royal Icing. I ran out of Cream of Tartar but found a great recipe that I was able to do without this ingredient.

If having a Gingerbread Decorating Playdate, ask each parent to bring a topping to be shared. As the host I provided and premade the gingerbread houses the night before to ensure the icing dried and the houses were strong enough for decorating. I placed each house on a disposable Christmas plate so it was easy for each child to bring home.

We set up around the table and placed all the ingredients in the middle to share. Everything from smarties, to candy corns, candy canes, marshmallows, coconut, little itty-bitty gingerbread men, and so much more. The Bulk Barn has a great selection of treats to decorate gingerbread houses.

Can you believe we were all gingerbread house virgins! It was all of our first times decorating a house. Needless to say the moms might have had a bit more fun then the kids!

Here's the Royal Icing recipe I used:

2 large egg whites
2 2/3 cup powdered sugar, divided

Wisk together the egg whites and 1 1/3 cups of the powdered sugar until smooth.

Add the remaining 1 1/3 cups of powdered sugar to the mixture. Beat on high speed until the icing holds stiff peaks. Add more powdered sugar if needed, until stiff peaks form. Place a dampened clean towel over the bowl of royal icing to prevent it from drying out while you work with it. Once you are ready to use it, fill a pastry bag (or ziploc bag with the tip cut off).
*recipe from www.simplyrecipes.com

We had lots of fun and can't wait to do this again next year. I might even attempt to make my own gingerbread houses from scratch! Okay, who am I kidding.... I so won't! Happy Holiday!

Home Made Baby Wipes

In my quest to go 'green' and 'non-toxic' when my first child came along, I put her in cloth diapers. I also made my own home made baby wipes. I plan to do the same with our second child. I found a great recipe that I thought I'd share with you. It's pretty easy and rather inexpensive. Surely this will be a cost savings in the long run and I'll be sure to know I'm not rubbing chemicals on my baby's bum.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp Baby Wash (Natural / organic baby wash)
2 Tbsp Olive Oil (I have also used Grape Seed Oil)
2 Drops Tea Tree Oil
2 Cups Water

Mix well in spray bottle.  When you are ready to wipe the bum, spritz homemade solution on the cloth wipe and spread around on the cloth wipe.  Clean your baby's bum and toss the wipe in the diaper pail with the dirty cloth diaper.  You can also pre-make wipes with this solution and keep them ready in a container or in a wipes warmer container.  Just make a days worth at a time to avoid the wipes drying out or getting a musky smell.

Why Tea Tree Oil:
Tea Tree Oil has great disinfectant properties and will also give this solution a nice aroma.