Tried and True

Super Quick Homemade Mac and Cheese

Jan 31st, 2012

When it comes to my kitchen, there really aren’t that many steadfast rules. I mean, sure, there’s the normal safety regulations: don’t play in the stove, don’t run at your brother with that knife, don’t eat leftovers that are hairier than my legs in winter. (Hah, too much information?! Nah.) But other than that…pretty much anything goes.

Except for Mac & Cheese. Mac & Cheese must 1. Be ooey gooey cheesey and 2. MUST be super easy to make. It’s our emergency meal, when everything else would take too long to cook, Mac & Cheese usually saves the day. That’s why, when I was searching for homemade mac and cheese recipes, 90% of them lost me as soon as I read “melt cheese and milk in second pot.” SECOND pot? Are you serious? My children are practically eating their hands, they’re so hungry, and you want me to use two pots?! That’s why boxed macaroni and cheese is so perfect. Your kids are starving? BAM. Lunch. And only one pot to clean.

But can anything that comes out of a box with processed powered cheese really be perfect? It really is a battle of evils and sometimes convenience just has to win. I know powered cheese is not going to kill my children but what if I could find a homemade mac and cheese recipe that was super easy to whip up and didn’t have all the preservatives of the boxed variety? It’s a win/win, right?! YES!

Enter in the Revolutionary Mac & Cheese recipe from Macaroni and Cheesecake!

There’s an actual recipe over on that fabulous site but basically you just cook the noodles in milk until they’re soft and then (without draining!) just mix in shredded cheese. A little salt, a little mustard (really helps bring out the cheesy taste) and you’re good to go. Awesome, right?! Totally satisfies The Ooey Gooey and Ridiculously Quick Rules I have for Mac & Cheese.

We even use soy milk and store bought shredded cheese. Still tastes good. I’m hoping to start shredding/freezing my own cheese so it’ll be interesting to taste the difference, if any, that creates. We’ve been eating this instead of Annie’s for a couple months now and I haven’t had any complaints from my 3 year old son or my husband and both of them are big fans of Macaroni and Cheese! So I think we’re good. Yay for super quick homemade Mac & Cheese!

2 comments
Posted in: Food, Kids.
Tagged: meals · quick

Light Table

Jan 28th, 2012

by bumblev.

You spend enough time hanging around the DIY or Kids sections of Pinterest and you’re definitely going to come across light tables. I first came upon the idea from Play At Home Mom and once I figured out that they weren’t talking about the light tables you use to trace things (although you could use it for that!), I was completely hooked and brainstormed for weeks how I could implement one in our house. We definitely don’t have room for a table that is 100% just for light activities but there had to be someway to add it to an existing piece of furniture.

Then I heard about a tutorial floating around the internet where someone converted a train table to a light table! (You’re awesome, Minivan or Clown Car?) We have one of those ridiculously large train tables taking up space in our playroom anyway. We use it for a million different things everyday…why not add a light function to make that a million and one.

Unfortunately, the tutorial on Minivan or Clown Car? was for a different style of table so we had to pretty much just start from scratch. If you scroll down, you’ll see that I had to sacrifice a drawer (the horror!). Jim made up for this by enclosing the two side panels of the table. It kinda sucks that the manufacturer didn’t just enclose them to begin with but what’s a few happy parents in comparison to a couple more dollars profit per table. Boo.

But back to the table…we originally tried to keep the drawer functional by stringing rope lights across the top of the drawer but the lights were too close to the plexiglass panel and you could pretty much just see the rope through it. Also our rope light wasn’t nearly bright enough. Maybe it’s because we bought a cheap rope light, an LED rope would probably work better but those are kinda pricey. So, instead, we did away with a drawer, enclosed the sides and bought two Slim Line Florescent Lights.

We’ll probably nail the drawer shut, just in case any kid decides to have a lightsabor fight or something.

Light Table

Materials:
- train table
- sheet of plexiglass
- white contact paper
- wood strips
- screwdriver/screws or liquid nails
- 2 slim line florescent lights

Instructions:

1. First, you’re going to have to create side beams for the piece of plexiglass to rest on. I got Jim to measure, cut and screw in a few pieces of scrap wood into the inside of the table. Unless your table is a KidCraft from Costco, it’s probably going to be different from the one we have pictured here. Make sure that the side beams are inset enough that the plexiglass sheet isn’t higher than the table top. We put ours about 3/4 an inch down so that there would be a little lip even when we have the plexiglass in. It helps prevent things from rolling all over the place. You could try to use Liquid Nails if a drill and screws aren’t your thing.

2. Repeat on all four sides. Try to make them as level as possible. Again, this will prevent things from rolling everywhere.

3.Cover the back of your plexiglass (cut to the size you need) with white contact paper. This will help diffuse the light and is easier and more efficient than frosting with spray paint.

4. Add your lights to the drawer. Wish we could have found lights that would fit in the drawer better but our choices were somewhat limited to what I could find at Home Depot. We have a both lights connected to a small power strip that is then plugged into the wall. That way we can just turn on the power strip when we want to use the light table.

5. Carefully lay in your plexiglass piece (contact paper side down) and flip the switch! Edit: Adding a few more pictures of what the light table looks like. (Thanks Amy!) And before someone mentions it, the table is usually pushed up against the outlets so we don’t have to worry about covers. Yup, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! :D

Ok. So, you have a light table. Now what? Jump over to my Light Table folder on Pinterest to get you started on the ridiculously huge amount of activities you can set up for your child. From sensory activities with water beads to letter practice in sand, the possibilities are endless!

Of course, Max (my 8 month old) is very interested in what all this Light Table fuss is about so if any of you have any ideas on things to do with babies and light tables, I’d be very very interested!

5 comments
Posted in: Kids.
Tagged: diy · kid craft

Saturday Morning Waffles

Jan 23rd, 2012

by bumblev.

I love early Saturday morning productivity. You know, those mornings where everyone wakes up on the right side of the bed, the kids are more than happy to cooperate with your every request and the house is so clean you focus on some of the other things on your “To Do” list.

Yeah, ok. That never happens in our house either.

I’ve been wanting to make and freeze a bunch of waffles for quite a while now (at least two years) so last weekend when Max (my 8 month old) decided to finally sleep at 8 in the morning (after fussing all night long *sigh*) and Jack (my 3 year old) was entertained by Jim (my 408 month old), I grabbed a strong cup of coffee and got to work on waffle production.

I used the Cuisinart Dry Waffle Mix I had pre-made the day before and then quadrupled the wet ingredients to make four batches or 16 waffles.

Dry Waffle Mix (via Cuisinart)
5 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 cup wheat germ
1 cup buttermilk powder
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons baking powder
2¼ teaspoons salt
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoon cream of tartar

Waffle Mix Waffles
Makes 4 waffles
1¾ cups Waffle Mix (See waffle mix recipe)
¾ cup reduced-fat milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1½ tablespoons vegetable oil

1. Put all the ingredients into a medium mixing bowl. Whisk until smooth. Let batter rest 5 minutes before using.

2. Preheat the Cuisinart® Waffle Maker to desired setting (a tone will sound when preheated).

3. Pour all of the batter (about 2 cups) onto the center of the lower grid of the preheated waffle maker; spread batter evenly using a heatproof spatula. Close lid of waffle maker. When tone sounds, waffles are ready. Open lid and carefully remove baked waffles. For best results, serve immediately with desired toppings.

I guess it helps to let the batter sit for a few minutes so I took a break to hang out with my boys and get a dose of my daily cuteness! Jim was working on lowering the coffee maker shelf so that I could reach it without a chair. It really is the little things that count…and being able to make a fresh pot of coffee is definitely one of those little things!

Ok, looks like my waffle maker is good to go.

Two cups of waffle mix into the middle of the waffle maker and we’re in business!

While waiting for the notification light to turn green, I played a bit with Jack and his Monsters (actually they’re really mine!) in the bin of dyed rice. Actually, while I have you here, can we all just take a moment to notice Jack’s big boy underwear…yaaaaaay! Whew, finally.

Now we have yummy homemade waffles waiting for us in the freezer that we can just pop in the toaster on those crazy weekday mornings. That is until this batch runs out and then it’s right back to E-double G-O for us! :D

2 comments
Posted in: Food.
Tagged: frozen

Mason Jar Foam Soap Dispenser

Jan 20th, 2012

by bumblev.

Yay, another completed pin! Only 2, 565 more pins to go. ;)

As far as crafts go, the Mason Jar Foaming Soap Pump Tutorial from Life With Laura was wonderfully easy. The only thing I did differently was cut the hole in the lid small enough so that the pump just barely fit through. I was then able to apply a small amount of silicon glue around the bottom of the pump (under the lid) to seal up any gaps. I also used Krylon’s Hammered Metal spray paint. Pretty happy with the finished product and most importantly, it works perfectly with my homemade foaming soap! (few squeezes of Almond Dr. Bronner’s and water)

Bit of a tangent, but did you know that you don’t need to wash your hands with water when you use foaming soap? You just lather up with the foaming soap, rub it all over just like you would do with normal soap, and then rinse with water. You could probably decrease your hand washing water usage by 50%. Nice. I seriously must be the only person on this planet who didn’t know that!

Back to the mason jar, we need another dispenser in the bathroom but I think I might use a different container. The mason jar looks cute in kitchen but the bathroom needs something a bit more streamline and clean. I’ll get back to you on that.

Don’t forget to enter the I Love You Giveaway on Facebook! Four lucky readers will win unique, hand painted prints of the “I Love Everything About You” print I posted last week. Giveaway ends January 20th.

1 comment
Posted in: Home.
Tagged: diy · mason jar · pinterest

Scissor Skills

Jan 17th, 2012

by bumblev.

Jack and I have been working on his hand/scissor skills for a while now. As a crafter, you can be sure I was pretty eager to have him start working with them but I tried to hold off until he had the right skills, patience and maturity to use them in the correct manner. I really think it’s help cut down on frustration as well.

To start,we began strengthening muscles and developing coordination when he was tiny by attaching and removing clothespins from cups, cardboard, trays, you name it. After that, we moved onto other simple projects like color sorting poofs with tongs or transferring cotton balls from one jar to another with tweezers. Just recently he graduated to picking up noodles with training chopsticks.

A little bit before he turned three, we introduced training scissors (the ones that bounce back after you squeeze them shut). For some reason, these really annoyed him. Maybe it was that he was still a little too young or that he wanted to have more control or maybe a combination of the two. Either way, once we gave him real scissors (meant for kids, obviously), it didn’t take long for Jack to get the hang of them.

With his new scissors, the first activity we worked on was cutting up thin strips. The strips were long enough so that he could hold it in his left hand and cut with his right, but not so wide that he couldn’t cut through them in one slice.

Now, we’ve moved on to cutting through paint swatch strips by following the white lines (thanks for the wonderful idea, Happy Hooligans!). He loved doing it and I loved watching how wonderfully he controlled the scissors. You can give a kid some scissors and watch them hack through a piece of paper at almost any age but to watch Jackson actually decide on how he wants to make a tool work and have the physical skill set to enact it…amazing.