Today (April 2) is Peanut Butter and Jelly Day.  I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, if they are made right.  I’m pretty sure everyone has their own opinion about how to properly make this seemingly simple sandwich. For me, a thin layer peanut butter must be spread on BOTH pieces of bread with a thin-ish layer of jam in between.  Notice I said jam, not jelly, raspberry is my flavor of choice.  Crunch or smooth – that just depends on my mood.  As a kid, white bread was a necessity, but now I am a full wheat bread convert.

Anyway, to celebrate this holiday, we (of course) had PB&J for lunch.

I’m also using today as an excuse to make Ina Garten’s PB&J Bars.  These things are AWESOME!  They’re quite easy to make – the hardest part is waiting for them to cool before you cut into them!

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 extra large eggs at room temperature
2 cups (18 oz) creamy peanut butter
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups (18 ounces) jam (Raspberry is my flavor of choice, but today I used seedless boysenberry)
2/3 cups salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch cake pan.  Line it with parchment paper, then grease and flour the pan.  I like to leave some overhang on my parchment to use as “handles” when lifting the bars out of the pan.

Cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until pale yellow – about 2 minutes.  (You’ll notice that mine is more of a light tan, rather than pale yellow.  That’s because I don’t follow directions too well, and I dumped the peanut butter in with the butter.  I got most of it out before adding the sugar.)

Turn the mixer to low speed and add vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter.  Mix until all of the ingredients are combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  When I say sift, I really mean whisk together – no need to get out the sifter.  These cookies aren’t that fussy.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.  Mix until just combined.

Spread 2/3 of the dough into the prepared cake pan.  Use a knife or offset spatula to spread it out as evenly as possible.  Spread the jam evenly over the dough.  Then drop small globs of the remaining dough evenly over the jam.  You don’t need to cover every space – it will spread out in the oven. Sprinkle chopped peanuts on top, and bake for 45 minutes until golden brown.

Cool and cut into squares.  ENJOY!!!!

My kids are picky about yogurt, usually the more colorful, fun and full of sugar the better.  They don’t like fruit that mixes in, in their words, “That’s gross!”  This is one reason I’ve been a long time fan of Stonyfield products.  Their YoBaby and YoKids line of yogurt are something my kids will eat that I can feel good about giving them.  YoKids yogurt still has that element of fun that is common to other yogurts packaged for kids, but it doesn’t have the gelatin, phony colors or high fructose corn syrup that I don’t want – and it’s made with organic ingredients – love that!

I was really excited to find out that Stonyfield just launched, YoKids Greek, a line of organic Greek yogurt specifically for kids.  I love Greek yogurt, it’s packed with protein, and the smoother, richer texture makes me feel like I’m indulging in a sinful treat, rather than eating something that’s good for me.  However, on this my children and I don’t see eye to eye, I’ve never been able to get them to like it.  So I jumped at the chance to test this new product, maybe it would be a winner.

You know what? My kids gave it the okay seal of approval.  They said that they would eat it, and that they did like it better than other brands out there.  It didn’t have that tang that some of the other yogurts have.  Did it make them Greek yogurt converts? No.  For a snack, they’d still rather have traditional yogurt – YoKids Squeezers are popular in our family.  However, they won’t balk or complain if I give them YoKids Greek with their breakfast for some added protein, each serving has 6 grams.  I also love the fact that it’s organic. I can feel good know that I’m giving my children a product made without the use of toxic persistent pesticides, antibiotics, growth hormones, genetically engineered ingredients, or artificial colors & sweeteners.

Stonyfield is collaborating with Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.  This beloved book is now a fun, colorful feature film with a great message about caring for our environment.  A Lorax themed matching game, coupons and sweepstakes are featured on the YoKids website.  You can enter to win a screening of the Lorax and an organic garden for your child’s school.

Disclosure: I received coupons to try YoKids Greek Yogurt and movie tickets in exchange for my post; however, my opinions are my own.

My daughter had a St. Patrick’s Day party at school this week. Of course I signed up to bring something, and as usual I waited until the last minute to figure out what I could make.  Someone else had already chosen cookies, and they were already having chocolate lollipops, so I thought cupcakes might be a little too much for their pre-school bodies to handle.  instead, I made rainbow!  Fun, easy, and healthy (except for the marshmallows, that is).

Strawberries, clementines, pineapple, honeydew, blueberries and blackberries.  I used Fluff to “glue” down the mini-marshmallows.  I wanted to add some chocolate coins, but like I said, I threw this together at the last minute.  Our local grocery store did not have chocolate coins.

Now, I signed up to bring GREEN food.  The rainbow above is clearly not green, so I felt compelled to bring in a treat that followed the rules.  These pretzels topped with chocolate and M&Ms were perfect!

We’ve been making them for years, but for some reason, I never think of making them holiday specific.  This is just one of the many reasons why Pinterest comes in handy!  I saw tons of green pretzel snacks and problem solved!  A treat that takes just minutes to prepare and can be assembled by a child – PERFECT!

Preheat oven to 350.  Meanwhile place pretzels on a baking sheet in a single layer.  You can use ANY type of pretzel, but these square ones work really well.

Add a chocolate to each pretzel.  I usually use Hershey’s Kisses (or Hugs), but then I saw that Christi of Love From the Oven used Wilton Candy Melts – love that!  I had some on hand, and they don’t have to be individually unwrapped.  Place the pretzels in the oven for about 2 minutes.

When you take them out, place an M&M on the top of each pretzel.  It will kind of mush down into the melty chocolate – YUM!  If you’re like me and doing this at the last minute, place the tray in the freezer for about 5 minutes.  This will allow the chocolate to set up so you don’t end up with a melted glob when you transfer your treats to a bowl.

YUM!!!!  For a delicious variation, try placing a Rolo on top of the pretzel.  Instead of topping it with an M&M, use a Pecan.  Instant turtle candies — sooooo good!

Honestly.

This is how my children spent the better part of an hour the other day, and where I’ve found them several times since.

You probably haven’t tried this since you were a kid (if ever), but since I introduced the trick to my children, I’ve been blessed with several minutes of solitude.  Actually, the credit goes to my father-in-law.

In case you’ve never tried it, stand in a doorway.  With your arms at your sides, press each wall as hard as you can with the back of your hands.  Hold this position for 30-40 seconds.  Step away from the door and let your arms rest at your sides – RELAX.

Magic, right?  I know.

My kids were actually arguing over who could stand in the doorway.  The next day, at random moments, my daughter would say, “I’m going to do the floating arm trick.”

I even tried it, just to take a trip down memory lane.  It is cool.

You can actually find a brief explanation and more experiments to try at Kidzworld.com.

So next time the kids say, “I’m bored.” Just let them stand in the doorway pressing against a wall.  They’ll try it over and over – I guarantee it.

It’s been a while since I’ve made a special lunch for the kids.  Today was Rainbow Day at school, so I felt like it was the perfect opportunity for rainbow themed food. Don’t these veggies look so pretty waiting on the cutting board?

In the first box I put tri-colored pasta with marinara dipping sauce, colored Goldfish, red peppers, carrots, yellow peppers, green beans (yes, my kids like them uncooked), and purple potatoes (I did cook those).

Then there was the fruit salad.  Well, the ALMOST fruit salad.  As I was putting together the lunch, I realized I forgot to buy the red fruit.  So my “strawberries” were actually more red peppers.  I thought about leaving them out, but a rainbow without red isn’t a rainbow.  So the fruit container consisted of red peppers, orange segments, pineapple, green grapes, blueberries, and blackberries.

Of course, I can’t leave out dessert.  They each had a Rainbow Cupcake in their lunch box too!

These always make me smile!

I can’t believe I didn’t take a better “BEFORE” picture, but the “AFTER” picture of this once red, beat up coffee table is stunning. It’s amazing what a little paint and some help from talented friends can produce.

National Pancake Week is February 19-25.  My kids LOVE pancakes, so National Pancake Week is certainly worth celebrating in our house!   We love experimenting with different flavors and syrups, but plain pancakes can be dressed up with a little food coloring.

To make these, start with a bowl of batter, uncolored.  Make a pancake (or 2), then add a drop of food coloring to your batter.  Repeat this until all of your batter is gone.

You can do this with ANY pancake recipe – even the ready made stuff you can buy in the grocery store.  This is my “go to” pancake recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 cup flour (if I’m not going to add food coloring, I use whole wheat flour)
3 tsp. baking powder
3 Tbsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. canola oil
3 eggs, separated

DIRECTIONS:
Combine all ingredients, except egg whites.  Place egg whites in a separate bowl and beat until stiff, white peaks form.  Fold egg whites into batter mixture until completely incorporated.

Ladle batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto hot griddle.  I use an ice cream scoop to measure out my batter.  Bake until bubbles start to appear.  Flip over an bake other side until golden brown – about 1 more minute.

Also known as, “Cakes I see on Pinterest that I have to try”:

I think the outside of the cake was a total success – easy to create and pretty to look at.  I might need a little practice with the inside of the cake (it looks more like a chevron than a heart), but my kids were impressed.