Mickey Mouse birthday treats

I'm still in denial that my baby is already 4.  I seriously don't know how that happened so fast!  This kiddo is a total Disney fanatic.  Wonder why with parents like us?  :)  This is the second time he's insisted on a Mickey Mouse themed birthday party.  I already had most of the decorations, so I thought, why not?

Throwing a birthday party so close to Easter always messes me up because there is just so much going on every spring!  As usual, I realized at the last second that I had not a clue what to make (food wise) for Liam's birthday party.  Liam requested Mickey Mouse cupcakes.  Other than get Mickey patterned cupcake wrappers I couldn't think of how to make a Mickey cupcake.  Finally I decided on Mickey head toppers over the frosting.  They turned out okay too.

These were really easy and quick to make.  I printed out a sheet of paper with 15 Mickey head outlines on it and covered the paper with a large piece of wax paper. I filled a freezer bag with half a bag brown melting candy. I know they don't taste as good as real chocolate, but they are so much easier to melt, and keep at the desired consistency.  I microwaved the bag for a few minutes (checking and squishing occasionally), then took it out, cut a tiny very small hole in one corner, and used the bag like a piping bag.  I just traced the Mickey outline and filled it in.

I filled in the first 15 Mickeys and just slid the bottom outlines over to an empty section of wax paper and made more.

Note:  The melting candy should be easy to handle, and be warm, not too hot.  You need to keep moving and fill in the Mickeys quickly because the candy will want to keep coming out.  Also, you don't want to wait too long and have it firm up too much before you finish.  It is really easy if you get a good rhythm going.

Let the Mickey heads cool.  It shouldn't take long if you're in a hurry.  Pick them up off the wax paper and stick them on top of the cupcake frosting.  Unless you've made your Mickeys crazy thin they should pop off the wax paper very easily.

I thought I had a Mickey Mouse cookie cutter until the day before the party.  Oops!  Instead of Mickey shapes I decided to go super simple and make round Mickey cookies.  They're a bit sloppy, but I made about a million of them and started to get really tired.  They are yummy though, so I really don't mind the leftovers.  :)  The royal icing recipe is available here.  I wrapped these cookies up in stead of giving out goodie bags.  No one ever seems to play with goodie bag contents anyway, and who doesn't love cookies?

Liam was so excited by all the Mickey things around our house, and playing with friends.

Last year I stumbled across a site that had a great idea.  Every year starting at about age 3 give your child a questionnaire.  The same questions every year, and you can compare the answers.  Such a great idea!  Last year Liam refused to answer at least half of the questions, but this year he actually responded to all of them.  I was pretty amazed.  His answers were pretty cute too.

I got this idea from reaves party of three if anyone wants to check it out.  He are Liam's responses:

1. What is your favorite color? red
2. What is your favorite toy? trains
3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? Phineas & Ferb
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Preschool lunch
6. What is your favorite outfit? My red shirt
7. What is your favorite game? Candyland
8. What is your favorite snack? Fig bars
9. What is your favorite animal? platypus
10. What is your favorite song? Twinkle twinkle little star
11. What is your favorite book? Goodnight moon & Biscuit series
12. Who is your best friend? Preschool friends
13. What is your favorite cereal? Daddy's cereal (whatever he's eating, mostly wheat bran)
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play games
15. What is your favorite drink? Boy soda ( the only “soda” I give him is carbonated water with a bit of lemon juice in it, but I can't think of what else he's talking about.)
16. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas!
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? My blankets and a book
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? A fig bar (wishful thinking!)
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? cupcakes
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A Daddy!

Yes, even our hard hats are Mickey!

cheesy omelet muffins

There is a story that goes with these muffins.  Yesterday morning the boys wanted breakfast, so Liam helped me make pancakes.  I made it the cheater way with Bisquick mix, sugar, an egg, and some milk.  I make pancake batter in a large measuring cup so I can measure, mix, and easily pour all in one cup.  We ate all the pancakes, cleaned everything up, and played for a while.  The boys were happy playing by themselves so I told them to keep playing and I'd go take a quick shower.

Shortly after I finished getting ready for the day I came out to find Jack quietly playing in Liam's room (as always), and I walked out to the kitchen to find... Liam cooking.

Liam had poured all our remaining Bisquick mix into a large clean measuring cup just like I had, taken the pancake recipe out and laid it on the counter for reference (even though he can't read yet), and put the empty Bisquick container back in the pantry.  Then he had taken out the sugar and scooped some out with a large wooden spoon just like I had before putting the container away (I know because he left out the sugary spoon).

When I walked out he was in the process of adding eggs.  Yes, EGGS.  My recipe used one egg.  Liam was halfway through cracking number six!  I was actually pretty impressed how tidy his work space was.  He only spilled a tiny bit of egg white on the counter, and I had only taught him how to crack an egg recently.  I'm really glad I came into the kitchen when I did, because he had five more eggs set out, ready to crack open!  He had literally emptied the egg carton form the fridge and put it back in empty.  When he saw me he perked up and announced, "I'm making pancakes!  We ate the other ones already so we need more!"  Then he hopped off his table to go grab the milk.  Happy and totally nonchalant about the whole thing.

I was gobsmacked.  I couldn't figure out first whether to take photos, be pissed about so many eggs getting wasted, or be impressed that he took initiative, that he's a great cook, or remembered perfectly how I made pancakes (minus the number of eggs used).

Okay, I was mad impressed, and thought he was adorable, but I still made it clear that I was annoyed at how many eggs he used.  He was so cute, and I HATE wasting food, so I tried to think of some way to save the egg-y batter.

Enter in the cheesy omelet muffins.  So named because when Jeff came home from work that night and tried one, that's what he said they tasted like.  I tried my best to scoop out the small amount of sugar in them, then added some milk and a handful of shredded cheese.  They bake really well, and turned into a perfect breakfast.  Jeff never has much time in the morning, so I like to have a speedy breakfast option available.  These can be pulled from the fridge and microwaved for a minute, then eaten in the car.  Perfect.  Sometimes culinary accidents make some interesting finds!

I told Liam he was getting to be a good cook and he replied, "Grandma says when I cook at her house I am a chef."  Sounds about right.

My batch made eleven, but I could have filled them each a little less and still had twelve good sized muffins.  Just don't fill them too high, because eggs puff up quite a bit when they cook.

perfect egg-y cheesy muffins.

Cheesy Omelet Muffins
makes about 12
bake time: 20-25 minutes

ingredients:

• 1 cup Bisquick mix
• 6 large eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• large handful of shredded cheese (cheddar or 3 cheese blend)
• pinch of black pepper

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray 12 muffin tin pan.
2. Mix all ingredients together well and pour into muffin tins. 
3. Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden brown on top.
4. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before removing.  Eat warm.
5. Refrigerate to store, microwave 1 minute to reheat.

a proud mommy moment

Okay, these pictures aren't great, but I just grabbed the closest camera (my phone) because I had to document the cuteness.  

Liam woke me up this morning by jumping on my bed and asking me to open the jar of peanut butter that he then thrust into my face.  As I groggily woke up and loosened the lid Liam rambled on about how he had already grabbed a knife, but "do not worry because I got the kind that is not pointy so it won't hurt me."  I would have liked to go back to sleep but Liam reminded me that it was now daytime so I had to get up now.  Plus he opened the curtains.

I walked out to the kitchen where Liam was climbing up to his little plastic table that he uses to reach the counter.  He had already grabbed a loaf of bread and the aforementioned butter knife, and had sliced a piece of bread in half.  He quickly spread peanut butter on his bread and started to clean everything up so he could eat his sandwich.  You've never seen a kid more excited about a peanut butter sandwich than Liam.

All I did in the entire process was loosen a lid and offer to put the bread away for him.  

Wow.

When did my little baby grow up?  I have always let the kids know that as long as they follow a few simple rules (no sharp knives yet, clean up, no sitting on the counter) they can have fairly free rein in the kitchen, and I want them to be comfortable cooking, but wow. ... Time goes by fast.

And frankly, I'm just happy that he wanted a sandwich for breakfast and not a huge bowl of fishie crackers!  That's why crackers go on the top shelf.  :)

I'll be back soon with an actual recipe.  This was just cute and I just had to post.  :)

the downside of having a kid be very comfortable in the kitchen

Prepare a long "oh my gosh my kid is equally parts crazy and adorable" rant.

I try to make Liam feel at home in the kitchen.  He knows he isn't allowed to touch knives (butter knives excluded) until he is five.  We just made up an arbitrary age older than he is now.  I figure we'll revisit the age when he turns five... Otherwise in the kitchen he pretty much has free rein to help cook.

I saw no problem with this because he is generally such a tidy kid and always asks if he needs help.  Today was not like that.

I was putting away laundry and out of the kitchen area for maybe five minutes when Jack came crawling over to me.  I noticed that he smelled good.  Really good.  And not normal baby good.  I noticed he had something in his hair, so I sniffed him closer and smelled cinnamon.  Cinnamon?  Why does my kid smell like cinnamon I wondered.  Any time I notice something "off" in the house, I go to Liam first. It just helps me get the bottom of things much quicker.  Sure enough, found Liam playing in Jack's room.

Turns out that Liam opened the spice drawer because he wanted to smell things.  He immediately went for the cinnamon.  He decided to dump most of the cinnamon contents into the back of a toy tractor trailer (which according to him belongs to Farmer Renkins from Curious George), and I found him soon after he spilled a bunch of it on the kitchen floor, closed the cinnamon container, put it back and closed the drawer, and went into Jack's room.

On the down side, cinnamon everywhere that took a while to clean up, on the good side Liam likes seasonings and feels comfortable in the kitchen.  Bonus: Jack's room smells good, and Jack still smelled deliciously like cinnamon even after I washed his hair.

Note: I would have taken a photo of Liam looking adorable COVERED in cinnamon (he smelled great too) but I was too busy trying to steer him into the tub quickly while he gleefully tried to relocate the cinnamon all over him to the hallway walls.

For all the cinnamon you see pictured, there's about 60% more I didn't get good pictures of, plus the pile of cinnamon in the kitchen, and the large amount covering both boys.

*breathes deeply* The house smells nice, the house smells nice...

creamy fruity protein smoothie

You know your kid is self sufficient when you get out of the shower and hear "Mommy!  I have a surprise for you!", the sentence that ALWAYS makes me nervous when Liam says it, walk to the kitchen and see this...

Luckily he was waiting for me to plug in the blender because he knows he's not allowed, but then he's not supposed to climb onto the counter either.  Hmm...

What's in a toddler made smoothie you ask?  Apparently anything he could reach.  He included an orange (with peel of course.  No knives yet!), some Crystal Light iced tea liquid concentrate, and some olive oil.  Three of his favorite things.  Yeah, he has weird tastes for a little kid.  Not that he has ever combined these three flavors before.  By the way, he not only pulled out the blender, filled it, and set it on the stand with the lid fully on, but he pulled a little cutting board out of the drawer for me!  I love the thought processes of kids.

I complied with his pleas to help him off the counter gladly, and he immediately put his hands up towards the blender and yelled, "Ta da!"

Naturally.

Once I rinsed the iced tea concentrate and olive oil out of my blender (sorry kiddo!) I added back the orange.  Peeled this time around.  I pureed this before adding the other ingredients because sometimes the pulp and other fruity pieces need a little extra blender time.

Once my orange was pureed I added two small frozen bananas, a cup of low-fat vanilla yogurt, and two scoops of vanilla cream whey protein powder.  If you don't have frozen bananas, just use room temperature ones and toss in several ice cubes.

This smoothie is very thick and creamy.  If you prefer yours to be a bit less so, just add a little orange juice to thin it out a bit while keeping the yummy flavor.

Can't smile.  Too busy drinking.  :)

ingredients:
1 orange, peeled
2 small frozen bananas
2 scoops vanilla cream whey protein powder
1 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt (I love Tillamook)

directions:
1.  Puree the orange solo.  Then add the rest of the ingredients and blend until liquified.  Add a bit of ice cubes, or orange juice to thin your smoothie out or make it icier.  Drink immediately.

Serves 2

Enjoy!

future baker

This is my son Liam's way of telling me that he wants to make muffins.  I woke up one morning and he had already pulled out the muffin pan and was putting liners in it.  He is a muffin addict.  He makes a good guinea pig to try new flavors on!  He definitely has my sweet tooth though.  Once I asked him what flavor of muffins he wanted to help me make.  He responded hopefully, "cupcake muffins?"