Blast from the past

Who remembers dunkaroos? If you were alive in the 90's I'm sure you do. I crave them, almost on a daily basis. Especially pregnant, I wanted to take a bath in them. A friend actually found some for our road trip to Texas when I was pregnant with  Lil A. It was amazing.

I set out to buy some on amazon and they were all sold out :( But there were a gillion recipes on Google so I set out to try one. I have no idea who actually created it, if you do lemme know and I'll link them ;)

What you need for cookie goodness is
1 box funfetti cake mix - just the mix
1/2 tub cool whip - low fat, sugar free, chocolate, it really doesn't matter
1 c - 1 1/2 c plain vanilla yogurt - all I had was Greek and it really didn't taste that off
Animal crackers, cinnamon teddy grahams, really any cookie to  dip with

** Use sugar free yogurt and cool whip to make a low cal snack! Really, it's low cal.

Mix everything together in a big old bowl and chill for a few hours or overnight. The DIG IN!

Doesn't that look amazing?!

Beware of sneaky kids while making this

My kids were gone by the time this was ready, so I tested it out on my friends' kids and I think it was a hit. Go whip up a batch for that next pot luck/office party you have to go to. I guarantee you won't have any leftovers. 

She was totally digging it

Unplugged

Wednesday is special pool day with us a bunch of friends. Mainly because they have a Military discount for my friends who weren't cool like me and bought a season pass. So with summer camp, my run, and the pool there isn't a lot of bento and cute food making at the T house on Wednesdays. They still get bentos, but they are much simpler and easier to throw in a diaper bag.

Also, there isn't a lot of internet action going on either. We don't watch TV or even have cable for that matter, so completely unplugging and just being with your kids is an amazing thing.

The kids got to eat their snack in peace, without me taking pictures of it. Big A actually tried to pose for me even thought I didn't have the camera. Aww.
 I got to put my phone down and not worry about emails/tweets/texts for a few hours.

Basically, turn the stuff off and and bask in the glory of the day.
Just remember to reapply sunscreen on yourself after you slather the kids.
TRUST ME 

Clothes made my cry

IT BURNS LIKE THE SUN 

Eggs? Yes please!

Eggs are a standard breakfast food for the T clan. We go through a dozen in about 3 - 4 days, and that's just breakfast foods. 

I was asked by a friend to make eggs in mini muffin pans that her kids could eat for breakfast. Well, challenge accepted. And these are my final results. An egg sandwich with a mini bagel, half a muffin bar, and some grapes. The sandwich was inhaled about 5 seconds after I added dip dip (ketchup) to the plate. That's a win, especially because there are some yummy veggies cooked in the eggs. Wanna know how I did it? Of course you do. 

I didn't get many pictures bc my kids were having a play date when I created this. Actually, I only got pictures of the finished products. Don't hate me. Please?

You need
- mini muffin pan - a regular one will work
- 4 eggs
- splash of milk - you need it so substitute it if you can't use dairy
- cheese! as much shredded as you like. I used 1/2 c
- 1/4 - 1/4 c chopped veggies. I did onions, orange peppers, and a smidge of left over zucchini
- seasonings to taste. I used 1tsp of garlic, salt, pepper
- Bacon crumbles (optional)
- 12 mini bagels

Preheat oven to 350
Mix everything together in a big bowl. Waft the smell ( I love that word) and add more seasonings as needed.
Spray muffin pan with non stick spray and fill 3/4 of the way with egg mixture.
*if using a regular muffin pan fill about 1/4 of the way
Bake for about 15-20 mins or until set

While cooking lightly toast bagels and prepare foil if freezing (which worked out awesomely)

Pop eggs out of the muffin pan and assemble sandwiches! It's that simple.

Now, either my mini bagels are huge, or my mini muffin pan is super tiny, but the eggs didn't fit how I wanted so I kinda squished them until they fit the bagel.

Pancakes and breakfast happiness

It's no surprise that I like to have my freezer stash stocked for breakfast foods, snacks and lunches. This is because I require a stupid amount of coffee to function before I can even think about turning the stove on. I also hate feeding them cereal because they are always starving 2 seconds later and it's not exactly a balanced meal.

So without further ado, here is my not so secret secret pancake recipe. These babies are super fluffy and reheat like a charm

Makes 12-15 medium size pancakes

1 cup flour
2 TBS baking powder
2 TBS sugar
1 TSP salt
2 TBS oil - I use vegetable or canola
1 C milk
1 egg beaten
1 - 2 TSP vanilla
* if you want to go crazy add a dash of nutmeg, you won't regret it

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix the wet in a separate bowl.
Add the wet stuff to the dry, mix well (not too much)
Then let sit while your griddle/pan heats up.
Why let it sit? IDK some magic in that makes the pancakes all fluffy and delicious

I go the extra 2.6 seconds and cut mine into shapes right after the come off the pan. Why? because it's super cute and the kids go bananas for them. I save the scraps and just tear them up when the shapes start to get boring.

I went a little nuts and cut out some fruit leather and plopped them on the pancakes. Maybe he will stop calling trucks "car-cars" and cars "vroom-vrooms" Took me about 3 minutes, mostly bc I had kids climbing up my legs to play with the cutters.

He really really really super liked the shapes and the fruit leather. I'd be shocked if he doesn't want this again tomorrow. 

Afternoon snack

Big A gets home around 1:30  from summer camp I feed him a snack and then I tend to not feed him until dinner at 5:30 or 6:00. So his snacks need to be something more than just a single piece of fruit or a cookie.

I made his snack in my new robot container from Target and I think it's pretty darn cute.

Just 2 almond windmill cookies (the pack was on sale for $0.50!!!), some grapes, and peaches with dried cranberries in the middle. That should be enough to hold him off the starvation train until dinner. I hope

Take out bento

Sometimes I ship lovingly take my kids off to a Kids Night out Program. It's a great program and it's $20 for both my kids and I can leave them there for 4.5 hours. What could be better?  Well, it just also happened to by my birthday
WIN WIN for everyone!

The only thing I don't enjoy is that drop off is at 6 and parents are encouraged to bring a dinner for their child. I get that it's a night out and a drive thru window might seem like a God send, but, but, but sending a kid with his own pizza (yup always happens) or sending your baby, under 15 months, with a Happy Meal and a SODA (I was enraged at this) is not always the best option for them. Can't you grab them a deli sandwich and some baked chips? Please?!?

Well, in comes my kids. They are not phased by bright colourful bags of take out because they hardly get it, and when they do I put it all nice on a plate, but Big A still likes to eat with the other kids.
Cue take out bentos!

All those berry containers or even plastic lunch mean containers sitting in your recycling bin are total game for a take and toss bento. Like when your kids go on field trips, pack a lunch instead of risking lunch boxes getting left on a bus or whatnot.

It's a pretty simple idea, but it's really hard to pack colorful foods mainly bc I try and use foods that require no refrigeration and that don't have liquid. But work with what you have and go wild!

First gather what you can safely send with out an ice pack or microwave. 

I chose
- Jelly sandwich
- Choc chip muffin bar
- Pop corn
- Fruit cookies
- and a super cold already cooked fish stick
* It's cooked so good to eat and will reach room temp by the time he eats

Before you cut anything, make sure it will fit in the container. I had to try about 13 cutters before I settled on the airplane. And then 12 cutters were taken by little hands and I am still looking for them.

Get everything all nice and cut, and put your bottom layer in the container. 

I like to use popcorn or veggie straws because it will raise everything up and make it easier for little hands to get. Then just arrange everything on top to make it fit. 

Super easy 

Now you have something you can feel good about your kids eating, and feel good about not making a silly amount of garbage on a simple lunch.dinner

Pair a dinner with snacks for both kids in their adorable reusable bags, and off they go! 

I filled the bags with frozen mini muffins from my stash for two reasons. Baby would eat them as a dinner and he is teething again so it will feel good on his gums. And they would be thawed by the time Big A finished his dinner and was ready for a snack.

See why freezer stashes are so awesome? 

If you like the bags check out Hustle mama on ETSY or you can find her on FB . I really, really, really, love mine. And with 75 fabrics to choose from plus other awesomeness? She will definitely be getting another order from me

Oh oh oh. Since it was my birthday and I am a teeny tiny bit obsessed with bentos, my awesome husband ordered me a ton of stuff (like 26 items) from Bento USA and these

I can't wait to use them! And the kids were passed out on the floor so I couldn't turn the light on to get a decent picture. oops.