Earth Day Craft: Earth and Other Planets

This month my kids and I have been doing activities and crafts that center around Earth day for the month of April. The first of these (and my favorite) was using container lids left over and saved from different things, like milk jugs, to stamp the planets of the solar system. We took several different sized lids and set them out with paints and brushes and two pieces of paper tapped together. We painted the flat side of the lids and stamped the sun and planets in order (my six year old stuck to that plan, my three year old just stamped wherever).

We used a picture of the solar system for guidance and my son labeled the planets. We also read a book called, If You Decide To Go To The Moon by Faith McNulty, which shows a kid preparing for a trip to the moon in a rocket. He gets supplies and games and during the trip talks about being lonely. He gets out on the moon and walks around in his space suit. He discovers that the moon is lacking a lot of the lovely things that the Earth has. On his way home he realizes how special the Earth is because it is the only place with the ability to have life which creates so much beauty and so we really need to protect the Earth.
                                                               

This was a super easy project that we put together last minute but is great for science, art, motor skills, and writing (if you label planets).

Marbled Paper Art

I have to confess right from the start, this craft was not mine in the making, but it was so much fun that I had to share it with everyone. 

My Grandparents were visiting for a few weeks in March and my Grandma brought along some craft supplies and a project idea that she was just so excited to have everyone do. She set up by putting down a disposable table cloth a tin baking dish slightly larger than 8 by 10 and about 4 inches deep, cans of shaving cream, two boxes of food coloring, stir sticks, card stock paper cut to maybe 7 by 9 inches pieces, and a squeegee.

She had us fill the tin with a bunch of shaving cream and then flatten it out using the squeegee (or hands and by the way super flat is not that important here). 

Next choose a few colors of food coloring and place a few drops around on the shaving cream. You want some space between the drops and you want it to span the entire pan. 

Next take the stir stick and place in in the shaving cream and move it through the drops of food coloring to make a design, any design will do. 

Next lay your paper down flat into the shaving cream and rub the back so that the front comes into complete contact with the shaving cream. Then pull it straight up and lay it on the table cloth. 

Grab the squeegee and use it to carefully wipe away the foam. 

Then set the paper out to dry and repeat as much as you want using the same shaving cream and just adding new colors or with all new shaving cream. 

And Grandma (Great Grandma to some at the house) gets to start hers finally:

Super fun, good sensory play, color theory/naming/mixing, art project that can later be a writing project, because now we have lots of pretty paper to send letters with. :)

Amazing Vegan and Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes

 I recently found a recipe for a muffin that is really moist and incredibly healthy. I decided that there must be a way to change that recipe to make a healthy cupcake that would accommodate our recent wheat and dairy allergies. I set out to create a chocolate cupcake with a chocolate frosting. I used the recipe from the chocolate tart I made recently to make the frosting and then whipped it. 

 A recap of that recipe: 

Chocolate Frosting

1 cup Coconut Oil-melted
1 cup chocolate powder
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Stir them together and refrigerate until solid. Put into a mixer and whip until creamy leave at room temperature. 

The Cupcakes were a bit more of an adventure because when I decided to make them the first time I was missing a banana and had to use pumpkin puree instead. I decided to add a few dates and a bit of maple syrup to compensate and they were really good. They have a bit less of a banana flavor than the original muffin recipe but still do taste like banana a bit. They are very healthy and contain no grains, dairy, or eggs.

 Chocolate Cupcakes-Vegan & Paleo

6 Medjool Dates in a liquid measuring cup then fill with simmering water up to the 1/4 cup mark. 
1 Tablespoon Maple syrup added to the dates.
2 Tablespoons ground Flax seed in 6 Tablespoons hot water. 
1/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup chocolate baking powder
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
2 Bananas
1 cup almond butter (or other nut butter)
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon cider vinegar


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins (I highly recommend lining them not just greasing them)

Add the first 8 ingredients to a container to use an immersian blender or to a food processor. Blend well until completely smooth. Add in the cider vinegar and blend to completely mix. Spoon into muffin tin to fill muffin cups about 2/3 of the way. Bake in the preheated oven for 22 minutes. If you stick a toothpick in it will come out with a little damp chocolate on the bottom. 

Allow the cupcakes to cool completely, and I really mean completely I tried it before they were all the way cool and it didn't work, and frost with the frosting. ENJOY!

My 6 year old son wanted to take a picture of me making the cupcakes. :)

The Best Chocolate Mousse Tart

My entire life I have loved to dance. My Dad says that I used to kick my feet in time to one of the songs that his band played while I was still in the womb (my Mom was also in this band and I have never even thought to ask her about this, odd since it was her that would have noticed). I used to make up dances in my living room for hours and then subject my Mom's friends to "recitals" when they would come over. My even got my friends involved in dancing with me.

I took a few dance classes over the course of my life and have always had difficulty with them because they require that you perform movements that someone else feels go to the music and frequently I disagree. 

When I was in high school I took up going to monthly swing dancing at the Mission Mill in Salem, Oregon. This really fun Big Band would play and all these people who were in high school would take the floor next to a group of people who probably learned when flappers were a big thing. It was great. I danced with so many partners and ALWAYS had fun. 

My best friend Margaret and I used to dance together anytime the mood struck which pretty much meant whenever a swing song came on the radio. Which in the years between 1995 and 1999 was pretty often actually because the Cherry Poppin' Daddy's (Eugene based band) had gone national, as had a few other bands that made it onto mainstream radio channels like: The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, and the Squirrel Nut Zippers.  

We painted some houses one summer for Margaret's father and played a lot of this music and took a few breaks to dance to the songs even though it was pretty sweltering. We did some swing dancing in Hawaii after attending a hula dancing show put on for the many many bands participating in the International Music Festival and Contest of Pacific High School bands. We most likely were made fun of by many high school students from around the world who viewed us as they were dispersing. We also danced at her wedding. Her in her wedding dress and me in my maid of honor dress.

Swing dancing with Margaret at her Wedding

I have been sad to see dancing slip from my life over the years. In college I did take some dance classes, three or four semesters of African dance which was a blast and three semesters of ballet which was good in its way. Unfortunately for me, my husband is completely resistant to dancing. I mean he did dance with my once at each of most weddings we have attended, but other than that nothing. 

I have found some other ways to fill my dancing need: going to 80s Video Dance Attack a few times, dancing with my kids, and of course dancing by myself in my living room when no one is looking. My husband started telling me I should just go swing dancing by myself and he was sure I would find someone willing to dance with me. Well I have started to think I might just take him up on that and then enter some new friends Brian and Megan. 

 Can't you tell my little guy enjoys dancing?

Brian and Megan also really enjoy dancing. Megan also used to make up dances for hours in her living room and disliked classes as a kid because the teachers were expressing their vision for the song and her's was ignored. They have started to break Tommy (my husband) down. He actually agreed to learn with us. To a video. In our living room. So a few weeks ago Brian and Megan came over with a video and we all learned the first eight beats of foot work for the Lindy Hop. Wow, it was harder than I thought! 

Tommy was really good, he picked it up really quickly and stuck with it for about 45 minutes. When we stopped he swore up and down that this was the last time (we'll see about that). 

Now getting to the point of the story (finally) Megan had brought Tommy some sweet treats as a reward for sticking with it. She is vegan and so she thought she would introduce Tommy to some things that he can still have (now that allergy testing shows he can't have wheat, dairy, or eggs). She brought a fantastic chocolate tart thing by Hail Mary which is a great product if you don't have the desire to make this totally check them out. They make this thing that is sort of chocolate mousse like but it is vegan and grain free and raw. It also happens to be AMAZING.

I tried it and thought this is really good and I bet I can make it. Well I did. Mine are not as cute because I don't have a pan that is right for it but they taste amazing, they are creamy, rich, crunchy, and oh so chocolatey. I have lots of ideas for flavoring this thing in the future. So if you like chocolate mousse or chocolate you will LOVE this. Really I think this is the most general public friendly, vegan and paleo, recipe I have come across. 

Chocolate Mousse Tart: Vegan and Paleo

Muffin Tin (I molded tin foil to the cups so I could just pull the tarts out at the end and then pull the tin foil off, you could probably use muffin tin liners for this)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees if you want a crispy but non-raw crust. 

For the Chocolate Cookie Crust:

 1 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon  almond flour/meal
4 tablespoons cocoa powder 
4 tablespoons maple syrup
4 tablespoons coconut oil
1/8 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients well. Divide evenly, about 2 tablespoons of the mix into the bottom of each muffin cup. Press it down to flatten it and cover the bottom evenly, if it seems too thick (more than 1/4 inch) press some of it up against the edges to create a small cookie bowl. 

For a crispy crust:
Bake these for about 11 minutes and then let cool for about 10 minutes.  

For a Raw Crust but not crispy:
Set aside do not bake.

While the cookie crust is baking (or not) make the filling:

The Mousse Filling:

2 cups coconut oil melted
2 cups cocoa powder
1 cup maple syrup (works best if room temp)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract (we use alcohol free)

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl until well incorporated. This should be quite runny if you used the oil melted. 

Putting it together: 

Pour the mousse filling into the muffin tins over the cookies to fill them about another 1/2 inch. If there is mousse left feel free to add more to each tin. Refridgerate for about 10 minutes or until solid. Once they are totally solid you can remove the tinfoil from the tins and peel the foil from the mouse. Then you can serve them. I like to allow them to sit for just a few minutes so they are softer. These could be left in the tin foil and stored in the fridge for a few days before serving them. 

Also you could use a better pan like a tart pan to make this. I may try out my spring form pan next time and see if I can just make one large one to cut up.


For your listening enjoyment: 

Chocolate Chip Cookies: Dairy, Egg, Grain, and Sugar Free

About 3 weeks ago my husband and son got results to some allergy testing back. I was fully expecting the diary and wheat allergy but the egg allergy took me by surprise. My husband took all of the results very hard. We have taken all of these things out of our family's diet but my husband really wanted a few things to help him through the transistion. One was pizza and the other was cookies. I tried a califlower pizza crust and that failed horribly. So then I took on the cookies because I knew I had good results with some I had tried before.

I wanted to do a chocolate chip cookie and after finding a few recipes that were close to what I was looking for ended up with this:

Grain, Egg, Dairy, and Sugar Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (Super good and nice and chewy):

1 1/2 cups ground cashews (grind very finely in a food processor, they will start to almost become cashew butter)
1/2 cup almond flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup melted virgin coconut oil
1/4 cup ground mejoul dates (I used six large ones, pit them, put in the food processor with the coconut oil)
1 tablespoon vanilla (alcohol free is our preferance)
1 tablespoon full fat canned coconut milk
chopped dark chocolate (check for diary free/gluten free)

Mix everything, except the chocolate, in the food processor until very smooth. Stir in the chocolate.

Place the dough in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees and either line a cookie sheet with a non-stick mat or lightly grease (coconut oil works really well for this). Scoop out about a table spoon (or two for larger cookies) of the dough and place on the cookie sheet. Squish them down so they are flatened and look like a cookie, these do not melt down or expand much if at all while baking.

Bake for about 11-13 minutes.

I recently got a Nespresso machine and Aeroccino Milk frother/steamer. I have been really enjoying the quality of coffee that it makes, I am pretty picky about that. I am also amazed that with ALMOND MILK it can froth so well. The picture above is done with almond milk. Wow!
                                                                   

Double Chocolate Cookies (Grain Free, Vegan)

The other day I was taking a walk at our local lake while my kids were in school. It had been very cold (for the Portland area) so the lake was partly frozen over and it was snowing. It was beautiful and quiet walking around the lake. My checks were cold but I was staying warm. As I wandered I took the occasional photograph. This is one thing that I have been enjoying now that I have both of my children in school at the same time once a week. 

Here are some photos: 

When I got back to the car I went home and decided to have a hot cup of tea to warm up. I started browsing Pinterest and ran across a recipe for Healthy Double Chocolate Cookies. They looked great but for some reason I didn't repin them, which was much regretted for the next few days as I tried to find them again. 

I never did find them but I found a different recipe here. I did not have all of the ingredients and I needed a vegan recipe, so I changed the recipe a bit and came up with these: 

These are really intense dark chocolate cookies and they are not too sweet which in my book is wonderful. They are chewy which I love. I am not ashamed to say I have actually had them for breakfast two days in a row. :) 

They are great with my morning cup of how English Breakfast tea and even better with my evening (decaf) cappuccino which I will have to tell you about another time because I have a new and wonderful espresso maker (Nespresso). 

These cookies are a lot like Lara Bars but taste and texture are way, way better. They could be shaped into bars and used in the same way a Lara Bar is (like a snack bar or quick pick me up).

On to what you have all been waiting for the recipe:

Double Chocolate Grain-Free, Vegan Cookies:

1/2 cup Almond Meal
1 cup ground cashews (place about 1 1/4 cup raw unsalted cashews in a food processor and grind   until very fine, measure to make sure you have 1 cup)
1 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon flax seed in 1/4 cup boiled water (let sit until thick)
1 medium ripe avocado
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 1/4 cup chopped medjoul dates
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (we use a version with no alcohol) 

Extras: 
Handful of chopped dark chocolate or dark chocolate chips.

In a medium bowl mix the first 5 ingredients (almond, cashew, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt) with a fork or whisk. 

In a food processor add in the avocado, flax seed with the water, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and chopped dates. Process until very smooth. Add in the dry ingredients about 1/2 cup at a time and mix until just incorporated. (After two thirds of the dry ingredients my food processor was out of room due to its very small size so I switched to my mixer but I recommend sticking with the food processor) 

Add in a hand full of chocolate chips and any other extras you like. Suggestions are dried fruit like cranberries, dried coconut, or chopped nuts. 

Get a piece of parchment paper and move the dough onto the parchment paper and then roll into a log shape that is about 1 foot long. Roll the parchment paper around it and place in the refrigerator while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

I suggest lining a cookie sheet with parchment. Take the log of cookie dough from the fridge and cut 1/4 inch pieces so they are circles. Place this on the cookie sheet. The knife with get sticky so you could wash it or just be prepared to reshape the cookies by hand into evenly flat circles. These cookies do not change shape while baking. Continue cutting cookies from the log and place on the cookie sheet.

Bake for 9 minutes and remove from the oven. Move to a cooling rack very gently. Once cool make sure to store them in an airtight container. 

Great Gifts for Toddlers 2 to 3

At two kids start to enjoy roll play. Think dress up, acting like Mom/Dad, pretending to answer a phone with the beginning of a conversation (Hello), cooking, pretending play is really beginning to bloom. Conversation is also starting to take off and by the time they are three it is amazing how far they have come. Gross motor skills become more refined as so fine motor skills. Things like kicking a ball, playing basketball on a short hoop, riding a tricycle are great skills to hone in on. Art starts to be come really fun at this age, gluing, cutting with scissors, painting, writing with large crayons/markers, stringing things like beads are all great for developing fine motor skills. 

Many of the previous suggestions (1-2 year, 6-12 month) still work as wonderful toys with more refined ability, instruments like bells, balls, push toys, ride on, music, etc. 

Here are a few new things to add to the list: 

1. Games: There are some really great games that come in to play at two. We love this one by Haba, which I reviewed previously:

Haba has a great line of games and toys that are both fun and require brain power to play with. 
2. Art supplies:
Crayola has a line of art supplies just for this age group and they are okay but I actually find that my kids both enjoy more traditional crayons/markers/paints and usually can use them at least as well if not better than the ones crayola put out for this age group. That being said crayola does have great crayons, markers, and finger paints. 

These triangular crayons are really helpful in getting the right grip:

But I have to say that my favorite drawing medium for this age are these Colorix:

They are so easy to glide on and create bright, vibrant colors with. For those just learning it is a lot easier than crayons. 
3. Role Play items:
Think telephone, kitchen set, shopping cart, dolls, vacuum/broom and other things that your child sees on a daily basis being done by adults. Does Mom or Dad have a brief case, a brief case might be a good choice. A pretend lap top, a baby to take care of, all of these things that help the child to learn the roles they see going on around them every day.
We are lucky enough to have quite a few of these things, a few of the most used are: baby dolls, telephone, vacuum and brief case. 

4. Dress up to go along with role play getting items to dress up in is something that my kids love! If you have a Doctor kit at home this Doctor outfit might work well:

 
Melissa and Doug also has many other great costume sets, fire fighter, construction worker, and many others. 
 5. The song Let's Go to Work by Kira Willey, this is one of my favorite new songs. I might like it more than anyone else in my family, it is so so so cute. 


6. Playdoh and things to use with playdoh, of course there are tons of recipes that are really easy and cheap to make but here is a link to a set of playdoh and "cookie cutters" that are a great starter set.

7. A trike or balance bike with no peddles is great for learning the mechanics for riding a bike

 
We have one like this: 

8. Not forgetting bike safety training, a helmet

9. A night light. Towards the end of this year in particular is when toddlers start to get scared of being in the dark room. This turtle has a timer so if they fall asleep it does not stay on all night. 

There are also some cute ones that can be easily be taken off the plug unit and carried to another room. 

10. Sensory table, great for learning about new textures and how things scoop and pour. Change out the medium from sand or water, to noodles or rice sensory learning is always fun for a toddler.


I hope this is helpful. What are your favorites for this age? 

Emilia