Happy National Kale Day! Here's a quick, & addicting snack plentiful in vitamins & nutrients! Enjoy! <3 Lishie Kale Chips
1 head kale, washed & dried
2 TBSp olive oil
Sea salt
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Remove the ribs from the kale & cut into small pieces. Lay on a baking sheet & toss with the olive oil & salt. Bake until crisp, turning the leaves halfway through, about 20 minutes.
1 bag of Peppridge Farm Rainbow Goldfish (Dinosaur Food!)
1 bag of Yogurt covered raisins (Dinosaur Eggs!)
Mix it all up in one, big bowl...
Place a new, cleaned, Kid's shovel in the bowl...
And you have it... a Prehistoric
SNACK QUARRY.
The kids LOVED it. Loved "digging" food.
It's the simple things.
Speaking of Simple things... Prehistoric Punch & Party Horns. For Gabriel's 3rd Birthday, we had a Space theme & served Tang. It went over so well... People ran out to buy, well, Tang. So I thought, well, serve Tang again since it's orange for the dinosaur theme & call it "Prehistoric Punch". As for the "Party Horns" for any triceratops in the crowd, they were just dime candy sticks.
Another fun, colorful, full-of-sugary-goodness recipe from Gabriel's Dinosaur Party.
Boulder Bars!!! Beautiful snacks that harken back to the dinosaur age... Never heard of them? They were created by the bright Lava from the Lava Cake Pops! Anyway, these too were loved by all so much so that mommasaurus here did not get one! Ha.
1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows & stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.
2. Add TRIX® cereal. Stir until well coated.
3. Using buttered spatula or wax paper evenly press mixture into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Cool. Cut into 2-inch squares. Best if served the same day.
MICROWAVE DIRECTIONS:
In microwave-safe bowl heat butter & marshmallows on HIGH for 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Follow steps 2 and 3 above. Microwave cooking times may vary.
IF I could take good pictures, this is what they'd look like up close & personal... From Cravings of a Lunatic:
I make a huge deal of my son's birthdays. Why? He is important to me & with each year passing, each day, I love him more & more & want him to have friends & a wonderful life. I want him to celebrate life. See, my son has autism & he is non-verbal. But, autism does not have him. He's the sweetest, happiest child I've ever seen & he is social. He seems to run on the peripheral of everything, watching in & feeling part of it all at the same time. He enjoys other's happiness. And how much more to make him happy than to throw a fun-filled party?!
This year, I dubbed, the Year of the Dinosaur.
And rightly so. Everything has been dinos with us- Valentine's, Easter eggs, etc. And Gabriel seems to love them! We are even redoing his baby boy dino room into a big boy dino room!
So for his party, I made the little ones dinosaurs themselves. I ordered masks then hand made foam dino feet to match the masks. They even had name tags: "_____OSAURUS" They had to ROAR to get them ;) And they kept on roaring all through the party... to the dig/scavenger hunt at "the excavation site" (a tub of orange sand filled with tiny plastic dinos) The kids had a checkoff list paper of the 4 kinds of dinosaurs they could "hunt" & collect in their plastic baggy... to take to create air dry clay "fossils" by stamping either the "hunted" dinos they found or some of the other objects on the table (including plastic centipedes, bats, etc.) Then onto coloring personalized GABRIELOSAURUS dino pages & crafting w/ dino stickers on constuction paper. A huge T-Rex was awaiting them (DinoSAWus!!!) for pictures... And besides pizza, they had all sorts of dino-themed foods to snack on... Carnivores (pepperoni pizza), Omnivores, Herbivores & Snackivores!!! The favor- a big plastic dinosaur to adopt & take home! A Roaring good time!!!
So who is on Pinterest? :::Raising Hand!!!::: (FOLLOW ME: Lishie) I try to only pin ideas I will use & this was one of those things I had seen in passing from the blog Come Together Kids. I had 5 overly ripe bananas- this heat is terrible on the produce!- & my pre-schooler loves bananas. So, I thought, this is the time to try "banana ice cream". I made it a different way because I just didn't consult the blog post... Anywhichway this is done should have the same results but I wonder if mine would have been more yellow if I'd done it Laura's way?!
Gabriel was not keen on the texture but he really doesn't like ice cream so I think that has more to do with it... I ended up using the "ice cream" as the base of a smoothie, together with pear juice, vanilla yogurt & strawberries. You may want to try this though if you have a banana AND ice cream loving child it would be a win-win since it is so healthy.
<3 Lishie
One Ingredient Banana "Ice Cream"
3-5 Ripe to Overripe Bananas
Blend the the bananas until they are completely smooth. Place in a freezer safe, airtight container. Freeze & serve.
I will only blog about products I believe in & use for myself & family. I try to find & buy the freshest pre-packaged goods imaginable if need be arises. I really try to also only buy organic when I am able. So...
Recently, when our NJ home was threatened by Hurricane Irene, I stocked up on fruit purees for Gabriel because, in case we were not able to get out to the supermarket, I knew my toddler would NEED his fruit! I was delighted to discover Ella's pouches in our store. Ella's are great & here are just a few reasons why:
NO added sugar, salt or water
NO preservatives or thickeners
NO egg, wheat or gluten
BPA free packaging
100% organic baby & kids food
Orthodox Union Kosher
Great for travel!
Easy for recipe additions (see below)
Re-sealable!
The packaging- it's beautiful, fun, bright & happy!
Well Gabriel absolutely LOVES a few of the flavors so, although they are purees, we've stayed customers past the hurricane threat & I now use these for smoothies for my boy. Through blogging, I was asked, along with Gabriel, to become an "Ella Explorer" & we are happy to oblige.
Parents, sign up to be a friend! 50 lucky winners a month get a cool upcycled bag just for signing up!:
My Sabra House Party was so much fun! My friends all came to eat & have fun but the children were the energy of the party- all boys!
I had a selection of hummus ~ Classic & ~Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
& the new, Sabra dips to try including: ~Roasted Garlic Veggie Dip ~Onion & Fresh Herb Veggie Dip ~Spinach & Artichoke Veggie Dip...
& the ~Classic Guacamole, which was really, really delicious.
I created a few ways to experience the dips... cut up veggies... tortilla chips, Pitas chips.... pitas or wraps... And I made two chicken salads, Hummus Chicken Salad (recipe below) & chicken souvlaki/tzatziki sauce with a spinach & tomato salad on the side or for topping.
The new dips are good, like the hummus. Most surprising revelation? The 2 & 1/2 year old who loved the Spinach & Artichoke Veggie Dip!!!
Spray a baking sheet. Place the chicken on the sheet & brush with olive oil, & sprinkle the herbs de provence on the chicken. Bake for 40 minutes if bones, 60 if bone-in chicken. Allow to cool.
In a bowl mix together the hummus & the olive oil. If you want it thinner, add a little water. Place all of the diced veg in this same bowl. Set aside.
When chicken is cooled, cut into 1" cubes. (Discard skin & bone if applies.) Add the diced chicken into the bowl with the veg & hummus. Toss to coat & mix.
Giveaway:
~1 Sabra Key chain, ~coupon & ~recipe.
For U. S. residents only:
Just comment below on what is your favorite dip/hummus combination!
Happy Halloween! WOW, here in the Northeast, NJ especially we've gotten a White Halloween! So strange to have snow in October for Halloween. My tot & I picked our large, gorgeous pumpkin off of the porch to allow "Jack" to defrost ;) & to carve him. Boy how is it I forget how seriously slimy, squishy & gross those orange innards are every year till that first handful?! And this year, they were freezing cold to boot!
Don't throw those seeds out when you carve your Jack O'Lantern!!! They are the best kept secret for some. Roast them & toss 'em with spices & you have the best snack! Stay safe out there y'all!!! <3 Lishie
Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin Seeds
Sea Salt
Rinse the seeds under cold water in a colander & pick out the pulp, goo & strings.
Place the pumpkin seeds in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Jack's saying, "Snow?!"
Sprinkle with sea salt & bake at 300 degrees F until toasted, about 30 minutes, checking & stirring after 10 minutes.
I will only blog about products I believe in & use for myself & family. I try to find & buy the freshest pre-packaged goods imaginable if need be arises. I really try to also only buy organic when I am able. So...
Well Gabriel absolutely LOVES a few of the flavors so, although they are purees, we've stayed customers past the hurricane threat & I now use these for smoothies for my boy. Through blogging, I was asked, along with Gabriel, to become an "Ella Explorer" & we are happy to oblige. 
My Sabra House Party was so much fun! My friends all came to eat & have fun but the children were the energy of the party- all boys! 
adapted from Sabra
Pumpkin Seeds
