Peanut Butter and Nutella Puppy Chow

This puppy chow is not for your fur legged friend...it's the kind that you put in a bowl, sit by the glow of the Christmas tree light and savor each sweet crunchy bite slowly as you relish in the peace and quiet since your kiddos are snoring softly in their beds. Oh wait, sorry that just might be me??? Anyway, this thing is absolutely amazing!!! I had never made it before so I went to my go to place and I pinned a few recipes on Pinterest, but truthfully there's a basic recipe on the back of the box, but you know me, I don't really follow recipes all that well. This could mean a great big flop or sweet success. The first recipe I made was using peanut butter. I'm not a huge peanut butter fan, but I must admit it was pretty yummy. The Nutella recipe is at the bottom. Here's my version:

PEANUT BUTTER PUPPY CHOW

Gather it:

6 cups of Rice Chex

~ 1 cup of powdered sugar

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

4 large spoonfuls of peanut butter

1 tsp of vanilla

~ 1 Tbsp of coconut oil (you can probably also use vegetable oil or butter)

Make it:

1. Place chocolate chips, peanut butter, vanilla, and coconut oil in a small bowl or even in a glass measuring cup. Melt together in 30 second increments and stirring in between. Mine took about 1 minute. 

2. Place Rice Chex in a large Ziploc bag or a large plastic container with a lid (I chose the latter) and pour melted chocolate mixture over the Chex. Shake it around until all the Chex is covered with the chocolate mixture. No matter what you do, don't melt the chocolate in a large bowl and then dump the Chex into the bowl and mix together...it will cause a lumpy Puppy Chow. How do I know this??? Because that's how my first batch came out. I tried to save a step and not have to wash 1 extra bowl. Unfortunately the kids teachers received lumpy Peanut Butter Puppy Chow, but the Nutella Puppy Chow that it was mixed out turned out perfectly. 

3. Pour half of the powdered sugar into the mixture and shake. Add more as needed until the Chex is coated with the powdered sugar.

NUTELLA PUPPY CHOW

Gather it:

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup Nutella

Everything is the same as above except NO peanut butter 

Make it: 

Same directions as above!

And that's it...now I dare you to not eat it all at once!!!

A basket full of Puppy Chow and a gift car for all EIGHT of the kid's teachers. I had a slight freak out moment when I realized I had 8 teachers to buy for. Parker has 1 speech teacher (his teacher's aide is no longer with them otherwise it would have been 9), 2 morning teachers at his preschool and 2 in the afternoon. Avery has 2 morning teachers and 1 afternoon teacher. 

A gift was also sent out in the mail...

What's in a preschooler's lunch?!?

I have a hard time figuring out things to put in Parker's lunch. When I was a stay at home mom he ate really well, but now that I pack his lunch he has refused some of the things he used to eat like peanut butter sandwiches, cucumber rings, and carrot sticks. There have been times when I open  his lunch container and I see that it's full of food and I'm like "what did you eat???" Uusally when I find something that he will like and then that's what I pack for his lunch for the next week or so until he gets tired of it.

I try to keep his lunches simple, but he MUST have fruit, carb, protein, and milk. If I can squeeze veggies in there then I try even if it's just a few carrot sticks, otherwise, he gets his veggies at dinner time. But, I need ideas! What do you feed your preschooler?

before he started preschool I made Parker a lunch similar to what I was thinking of packing for him: half an apple, carrot sticks, peanut butter sandwich, and a few mini chocolate chips. He also had milk. Note: the chocolate chips were a special treat and he does not get treats at lunch. The beginning of February was the last time he ate a peanut butter sandwich. Every time I pack him one, he doesn't eat it.

lunch all gone!!!

ham sandwich, apple slices, carrot sticks, grapes, cashews...and milk

Parker's fairygodmother suggested using pita pockets to see if he would eat sandwiches. Parker loved the idea, but ate only half a pita. he also had plums, carrot sticks, pecans, and milk.

Daddy packed his lunch: pretzel chips, honeydew, red ants (craisins) on a log. Kevin was so proud of himself for this idea. Unfortunately Parker who normally loves celery ate only a few bites.

grapes, plums, hard boiled egg, carrot sticks, and banana/blueberry/pecan mini muffins. Fairygodmother said the muffins didn't sound too appetizing, but all I tasted was banana and pecans.

pecans, hard boiled egg, blueberries, and muffins

clementines, pretzel fish, pecans, and peanut butter sandwiches cut into teddy bear and giraffe shapes. sandwiches weren't as a big of a hit as I hoped they would be.

strawberries and blueberries, ham pieces cut in animal shapes, colby jack cheese cut into flower, a plain rice cake. This lunch was a huge hit!

pineapple (he normally loves it, but barely touched it!), carrot sticks, ham cubes, rice cake, and milk (not shown)

milk, clementines, pecans, hard boiled egg, granola bar, pretzel chips...most of this was eaten except for a couple of nuts and a few bites of the egg

ham, pecans, rice cake, granola bar, dried mangoes...most was eaten!

diced mangoes, peanut butter crackers, yogurt raisins, yogurt, milk...this lunch was a HUGE hit. Parker's teacher said he was so excited about his mangoes! lol

this was Parker's lunch the Thursday before Easter (he didn't go to school on Good Friday)...he LOVED his blue hard boiled egg. Ate almost everything except the mangoes...guess the newness of it wore off. lol

yogurt raisins, peanut butter crackers, milk, string cheese (he had boycotted cheese months ago, but decided he likes cheese again), cantaloupe. this lunch was ALL GONE!!!

Now please share your lunch ideas for your preschooler! I need some ideas!!!



Cheeseburger Pasta

I saw this recipe on Pinterest and def wanted to try it. I can't believe I'm about to admit this on a public blog, but I LOVE Hamburger Helper. There...I said it! I was first introduced to this delicious concoction by some friends right after college. I've been hooked since. We don't eat it often b/c it's not all that good for you...like at all! So I was pretty excited when I found this recipe...it tastes so much better! Plus, I already had all the ingredients so I didn't have to buy anything! I did have to alter the recipe a little bit b/c 1 cup of macaroni (well penne in our case) wasn't going to feed my family of four. My hubby and kids can eat a lot and we like leftovers for lunch the next day. There's quite a few more steps than my usual recipes, but they are all super easy!

Here's my version:

Gather it:
1 lb ground turkey
3 cups of penne
4 cups of chicken broth (this is a little less than two 14.5 oz cans of broth)
1 can of Rotel (tomatoes with green chilies)
1 pkg of taco seasoning mix
1 small white onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced

Cheese Sauce:
4 Tbsp butter
4 Tbsp flour
1.5 cups of milk
2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Make it:
1. Brown turkey. The original recipe says to drain it, but I'm lazy so I just turn the heat up on high to cook off the excess liquid. Mine's not really fatty since I use turkey and not beef so it's just mostly water. I also throw the onion and garlic while the liquid cooks off.

2. Add taco mix, broth, penne, and Rotel. Mix together and bring back to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Allow pasta to cook through.

3. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt butter and whisk flour in 1 Tbsp at a time to make a rue. Cook for a few minutes.

4. Whisk milk in slowly and bring to a boil. Keep whisking until smooth and thick.

5. Remove from heat and whisk cheese in a little at a time until melted.

6. Pour cheese sauce over the pasta and mix together. FYI my pasta mixture had a lot of liquid until I mixed the cheese sauce in and allowed it to sit for a few minutes then it thickened up nicely.

Add salt and pepper to taste. I didn't add it to the overall dish b/c I figured there was already plenty of salt from the taco mix and I wasn't sure how spicy the Rotel would make the dish and the kids are going to be eating it too. FYI it wasn't spicy at all so I added a sprinkle of pepper and salt to my dish. The kids got theirs as is. They absolutely loved it!!! Yay!!!

You can tell they were really concentrating on their dinner! lol Kevin said both kids were so quiet and just really concentrating on eating.  

Both also asked for seconds. Here's Avery eating seconds...and was a hot mess!

Here's the original recipe.

Valentine's Day Lunch & Gift

I'm not huge on celebrating Valentine's Day. It was never a big thing growing up and even when Kevin and I were dating we never did much for it. I love that it's a day about love, but we celebrate that every day. I'm still not huge on it, but Parker is almost 3.5 years old and he has been doing Valentine's Day stuff at school so he knows what it's about. Plus it's his first Valentine's Day since starting school and I wanted to do something extra special and cute for his lunch...maybe entice him to eat his lunch more at school. Nothing big or time consuming but I'm sure he'd get a kick out of it. I wish I could bribe one of his teachers to take a picture of his reaction!

I'm cheesy...I cut his strawberries, carrots, and rice cake (or as Parker calls it popcorn cake) into little hearts. I was going to do a heart shaped peanut butter sandwich, but Parker has developed an aversion to them since Sunday and the kid rarely eats turkey sandwiches. For protein he gets a hard boiled egg. You can't see it, but the cupcake liners have red and pink hearts all over it. 

Everything smushed together. I added 5 little peanut butter stuffed pretzels as a special treat. 

And umm, slacker mom I decided to do something super easy for gifts for his friends in his speech class. Miss Phyllis got the same gift...I was going to do an additional gift, but Valentine's Day kind of snuck up on me! lol Anyway, I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it was so easy! Plus it's something he can give to his 2 friends that are boys that isn't all sweet and lovey! I went to the Dollar Store and bought the rulers. It came in packs of 2 so I only spent $2 since I already had the red paper and the red ribbon. Parker kept saying he wanted a ruler...bad Mommy didn't buy him one so I promised him that I'd go to the store and buy him one. Parker picked which color ruler he wanted to give to his friends and Ms. Phyllis. He was very adamant! 

English Muffin Pizza

Parker LOVES pizza! It is his favorite food! He's not picky either. He will eat pepperoni, sausage, veggies, plain cheese...whatever I put in front of him. Kevin and I used to buy Bagel Bites, but my kids are big eaters! Parker can eat 8-9 of those in one sitting and Avery can eat about 4 so one big box is gone in one sitting! I decided to make a healthier version when I started to stay home with the kids. It's super easy and the kids gobbled it up! I mix the toppings up depending on what I have on hand, but the kids aren't picky when it comes to their pizza. Now that Parker is older, he gets to help me make the pizzas...which of course means Avery wants to "help" too. It gets a little messy with cheese and herbs everywhere, but the kids have fun. Not that they don't already love pizza, but they tend to eat more of whatever we are having if they help make it...even if it's just to shake the dried parsley container (hence the reason why I have parsley on A LOT of our meals!).

Gather it:
English muffins, sliced in half
pizza sauce (pasta sauce will work too if that's all you have on hand)
pepperoni (regular or mini - the kids LOVE the mini)
yellow bell peppers, diced
shredded mozzarella cheese
Italian herb seasoning

Make it:
1. Set oven to broil. Place English muffins on a pizza stone (or baking sheet) and broil for a few minutes to allow it to crisp up a bit. If you like a soft "crust" you can omit this step. Watch it carefully to make sure it doesn't burn.

2. Put sauce on top of muffins then the cheese. Sprinkle herbs on top of cheese then add pepperoni (and other toppings of your choice). Sometimes I add a little bit of extra cheese on top of the toppings so that they "glue" together and don't just slide off.

3. Place back in oven and broil until cheese is melted. I like a few little brown "burnt" spots on my cheese. Again, watch it carefully so it doesn't burn.

Easy and yummy!!!

This was last summer when Parker wasn't 3 yet and yep Parker had a whole English muffin pizza! 

I told Parker as I was tucking him in bed last night that if he has a good day at school we would make pizzas for lunch today - his eyes lit up and got excited. I also told him  he had to stay in bed and no getting out...guess what...he stayed in bed! lol

Parker wanted to know if he could eat the pepperoni instead of putting it on the pizza. lol he ate a handful before any others made it on the pizza. FYI the pot holders are there to protect their little hands/arms from burns. 

taking big bites of his pizza

Parker shoving a large piece in his mouth while Avery contemplates what to eat first.