Valentine's Day Heart Shaped Hot Cocoa on a Stick

Well, a few reasons for making up this recipe.

1. I bought the heart shaped molds for the fruit snacks and really wanted to make sure they did not become as Alton Brown say's "a uni-tasker"

2. The triplets are really into anything they can eat on a stick. Recently I have been putting a stick in their morning yogurt and freezing it and it has been a big hit.

3. The triplets also really like coffee. What?! Let me explain. The only way I have been able to make it through the last 2 years with out falling asleep on the spot has been mommy's little helper: caffeine. So, every morning during breakfast when the kids eat, Mommy has her coffee. Well, the triplets started asking/demanding coffee of their own. So, on occasional morning I make one cup of warm cocoa and split into 3 mugs. They love to have there morning "coffee" with mama.

4. I was looking for cute valentine's day gifts for friends and family

5. I needed something chocolate ASAP.

Hot Chocolate on a stick-

- 8 ounces of chocolate (any kind, I used Lindt 80% cocoa)

- 7 Ounces (half a can) of sweetened condensed milk

- molds or ice cube trays

- sticks

Heat the condensed milk in a saucepan over low heat - do not boil. Add the chocolate and let melt. Stir gently. Take of heat and carefully put into piping bag or spoon into molds. Add sticks.

I put into the fridge overnight to let set. Below is the finished product. They have a kind of matte finish and I would have liked them a bit shinier. Maybe a different kind of chocolate or a heating it over a double boiler would have helped? These tasted great, and melt smoothly into a glass of warm milk. Just need to work on shiny and I will probably try these again because they have been a big hit.
Baby A loved swirling his into warm milk and then eating the melted chocolate. Please note that is frozen yogurt in his other hand not a giant Marshmallow. Although, a Marshmallow on a stick would be a great addition to this recipe, hum, please see my marshmallow post for ideas. Also, please don't call Joan River about my lovely non match sleep-wear. What, you thought I did all this in heels and an apron? ha.
In fact this little guy loved these so much, I even let him have a second one.

Yum.

No Bake- Snow Day Cookies

So, due to the ice storm, we have been stuck up in the Perry House for over 2 days now..... and looking for activities. I was so desperate for activities, that I even let them play with play-dough for the first time. Actually, they had a blast and were really good about keeping it on the art table. So, I thought making cookies would be fun. I was looking for a recipe that did not require eggs (safe to lick the bowl), one that they could "roll" the dough like play-dough, and that only required ingredients that we already have in the house. Oh, and of course I would love to throw a few healthy ingredients for my picky trio.

So, I did a little web surfing and adapted this recipe from the Brown Eyed Baker.

No Bake Chocolate, Peanut-Butter- and Oats cookies-

½ cup (1 stick) butter
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup milk
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
½ cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups quick-cooking oats

1. Add the first four ingredients (through the cocoa powder) to a 4-quart saucepan

2. Bring to a rolling boil and let boil for 1 minute.

3. Remove from heat.

4. Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla until smooth, then stir in the oats.

5. Once this cools a bit and can be handled by toddlers drop by spoonful onto wax paper (we were out of wax paper, so I just put them on a cookie sheet).

6. Let toddlers lick the bowl. No eggs in here, so no worry about them eating it.

7. Last, let your cookies set. I explained to baby B that we needed to let the cookies rest before we can eat them. So, he waved to them and said nigh night cookies- so cute.
They should set in about an hour, but you can put them in the fridge if you NEED them sooner.

Enjoy.

DIY Fruit Snacks

Baby B might be a fruit snack.... or at least partially a fruit snack. He is totally obsessed with Welch's fruit snacks, I am sure he must be at this point partially made of fruit snack. He has been known to take many an adult by the finger and say "walk walk". Typically this walk ends up at the pantry and the next words are "fruit snack". Did I mention this happens at least 3 times a day! I have been buying these at Costco (daddy has been known to eat a few packs as well). So, I decided to take a closer look at what Baby B was ingesting multiple times a day. The first ingredient did not looks so bad. But the second ingredient is corn syrup followed by sugar, ick. And of course there is the Red, Yellow, and Blue dyes.

Okay, so I googled around, modified a few recipes and came up with this.

1/2 cup of 100% fruit Juice - I went with Cherry

2 packs of .75 of Knox Gelatin

and some molds - I found these adorable silicon Valentines Days ones at the Dollar Spot at Target.

So, pour your 1/2 of cup juice into a pot. The "sprinkle" the gelatin over it (I think they call this blooming, how fun). Let this rest for a few minutes and the put the pot on the stove on low heat. Mix around until the gelatin is dissolved, but do not boil. Carefully pour into the molds. Next, let them set-up in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Pop out of the mold. These came out of the silicon molds really easily.

Here is the finished product. The consistency is surprisingly good. The flavor is not as strong as the Welch's fruit snacks, probably because they use a concentrated flavor. I am thinking maybe I will try cranberry next time, hum?

The true test will be what Baby B thinks tomorrow....

The Birthday Party was a success!

We have awesome and generous friends and family!!!

In lieu of gifts, we asked them to bring a package of diapers to be donated to The Julian Center, an agency serving women and children who are the victims of domestic violence or assault. Many times, these families arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs. Diapers are on the agency's wish list of needed items. You can learn more athttp://www.juliancenter.org/.

We collected 1463 diapers!!! Thank you

The Cat in the Hat theme for the party was so much fun. I got the banner below made for under $15. I have not had the heart to take it down yet.
I made cupcakes to match our theme. They are supposed to be Thing1,2, and 3 cupcakes.

The triplets liked them too. Here they are patiently waiting for their cake in the Thing1,2 and 3 shirts.

Happy Birthday sweet babies, I cannot believe you are 2 years-old!!!

Birthday Prep- goody bags

I cannot believe my little peanuts are turning 2 in just 3 days. And this Birthday party is creeping up on me fast. Since my brother has been visiting this week I have had an extra set of hands around which has been nice. So I went ahead and started to get the goody bags together. I had these circular labels leftover from a previous project, so i used them for the bag sticker. I just used the free Avery software and upload the image I had saved from the t-shirts I made.

As for the contents of the goody bags, I found some great after Christmas sales online. I got the pencils and the mini-books from Birthday Express online. And for some reason the Dr. Seuss stuff qualified as Christmas items and I got an extra 25% off, sweet.
Lastly, had (bribed) my little bro to stuff and put stickers on 30 bags (again red bags after Christmas = sweet deal). Here is the finished product.