October is a Spooktacular time for adults and kids alike. Whether you’re into it for the ghouls and goblins, creepy tales, costumes, parties, or the candy (my personal favorite!), there is plenty of excitement in the cool fall air.

I remember my parents always made sure to make it a fun time for us kids, and then later on would get a babysitter and go over to the neighbors for a party. For some reason, my parents loved goblins; they would always dress up in the most terrifying and real to life costumes. (I still get nightmares from them to this day!)

These days, as a parent myself, it’s up to my wife and I to make the day enjoyable for the whole family. We aren’t big party people, so it’s rare that we go out to a Halloween party. But nothing makes us happier than watching the kids have a good time.

So, after we head out in the early evening to make our trick or treating rounds, we have a spooky dinner of “Fingers & Fries” (we strip chicken cutlets into “fingers” and serve them with our signature ‘blood’ hot sauce). Then we play a ghoulish game of monster themed bingo and end-off the night with some haunted dessert. Last year my wife made these delicious yet simple Witches’ Hats cookies and they were a big hit. (click here for the recipe)

I’d love to hear about your families Halloween activates, please share them in the comments below.

The cackle and high pitched screams you’ll hear from your kids as they mount their brooms, ready to fly away….. Well, maybe not quite, but seeing how much they enjoy these cookies is sure to make you smile! These cute and whimsical cookies are tasty and super easy.

What You’ll Need:

• 1 (4.25 oz.) tube of orange or red decorating frosting
• 1 (11.5 oz.) package of striped shortbread fudge cookies
• ½ (13 oz.) package of milk chocolate kisses

What to do:

Pipe a small mound of frosting in center of each chocolate-covered cookie bottom; press a chocolate kiss on frosting. Pipe a frosting band and bow around base of each kiss. Enjoy!

Recipe Source: myrecipes.com

These healthy quesadillas are a delicious way to fuel your day. They have a snappy, fresh kick from the star ingredient, tangy Granny Smith apples. Prepped and ready in less than 5 minutes, it’s the perfect meal to munch as you head out to the car. Combine the healthy choice with a combination of flavors sure to please any pallet, and you have a true breakfast champ.

What you need:

• 2 flour tortillas (regular or whole-wheat)
• 1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar
• several thin slices of a Granny Smith apple

What to Do:

1. Sprinkle an even layer of cheese over one tortilla
2. Scatter the apple slices on top of the cheese and top with the remaining tortilla
3. Microwave for 30 seconds or until the cheese melts
4. For a crisper tortilla, use a large skillet and crisp for 1-2 minutes on both sides, until the cheese is melted
5. Cut into 6-8 wedges

Recipe Source: Parenting.com

Funny Back-to-School Napkin Rings

Bring some Back-to-School excitement into your home, and what better way than making meal-time more fun! These fun and whimsical napkin rings are going to make your kids smile with delight, not to mention keeping  them busy for quite some time.. Combining the classic look & style of the classroom, these apple-napkin-rings are perfectly detailed, they even include a fuzzy little bookworm.

What You’ll Need:

• Stiffened felt (also known as E-Z felt) in red, brown, green, white, and black
• Glue
• Extra thick green pipe cleaners

How to Make It:

1. For each one, first cut a 3-inch-wide apple shape from the red felt.
2. Use a hole punch to make a hole on each side of the apple, then glue on a brown felt stem and a green felt leaf and let the glue dry.
3. Next, curl a few inches of one end of a pipe cleaner into a tight spiral for the worm’s head. Glue on a red felt mouth and white and black felt eyes, and let the glue dry.
4. Finally, thread the pipe cleaner through the apple’s holes, leaving a loop in the back, then fold over the end to eliminate any sharp edges.

Craft Source: Spoonful.com

Bubble blowing and swimming are great summer activities for young children.  Why not put them together for double the summer fun? All you need to do is fill your kiddie pool with this homemade bubble solution, grab a hula hoop and/or bubble wands of all sizes, and get ready to have fun! You’ll kids will love this activity, and happy kids make happy Mommies and Daddies!

What You’ll Need:

• The perfect bubble solution
• Hard plastic kiddie pool
• Hula hoop.

How to do it:

For the Bubble Solution:

• 5 Gallons of Water
• 10 Cups of Dawn dish soap (regular not antibacterial)

A few tips:

• Let this solution sit overnight. For some reason this helps
• The less foam you make, the better your bubbles will be
• Too much foam is the enemy to giant bubbles
• Try to keep the splashing to a minimal

That’s it – Have a Bubble-Blast!

Activity Source: Nobiggie.net

As a kid, during the summer months, I often got to help my grandmother with yard work in her country home. One of the perks of working with all the dirt, flowers, and weeds (besides getting dirty) was my really cool rock collection. I must say,this rock collection was everything to me, until it got thrown out by accident one year. I can only imagine how much I would have liked to do a project like this with my rocks. I guess I’ll just have to start a new rock collection with my kids. Painting rocks is a wonderful activity for the kids on a long, golden summer afternoon. Instead of paint, this project uses wax crayons for a really cool effect. I know I’m going to get to re-live my childhood (at least for an hour) when I do this with my daughter.

What you’ll need:

• Smooth, flat rocks
• Aluminum foil
• Oven mitt
• Newspapers
• Old crayons

How to make it:

Step 1 – After you’ve gathered some smooth, flat rocks, clean them off, and bake them for 15 minutes on a foil-lined cookie sheet in a 225º oven.

Step 2 – Using an oven mitt, remove the rocks from the stove and set them on a pad of newspapers (note: the rocks will be very hot to the touch).

Step 3 – Remove the wrappers from some old crayons and draw on the stones — the heat will melt the crayons into vibrant liquid wax. For the swirly effect shown in the picture, hold each crayon against the rock in one place to create a puddle of color and use the end of the crayon to swirl it around.

Craft Source: Spoonful.com

It’s hard to have a true camping experience, without the deliciously, gooey, chocolaty, graham crackery goodness of campfire s’mores. But, what if you’re like me and truly love the taste of s’mores all year round, and in the comfort of your own home? Well, this recipe is ones of life’s best kept secrets; with its combination of chewy cookie heaven + fudgy gooey deliciousness, it’s going to be your #1 go-to comfort food. So pull out your camping baking gear, because we’re going on a taste bud adventure!

What You’ll Need:

• 11 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• 3 regular sized Hershey’s bars, broken into pieces
• 1-2 packages graham crackers, broken into squares

Baking Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, sea salt and cinnamon to combine. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter with white and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
3. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixer and combine on low speed.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallows. Chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour to overnight (I did one batch right away and another after chilling overnight and found there was no difference.)
5. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line baking pans with parchment paper. I used one 11×17 pan and one 9×13 pan but you can really use any sized pans you want.
6. Lay out graham crackers side by side on the pans as close as possible (they should be touching). I used 16 graham cracker squares on one pan and 10 squares on another. You may have to add or remove graham crackers according to how much dough you have. If you want your cookies thicker you will use more dough and less graham crackers.
7. Place tablespoons of dough on graham crackers about 1 – 1 ½ inches apart. I averaged about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough per graham cracker square as seen in the picture above. Press down slightly with fingertips.
8. Bake for 5 minutes then remove from oven to press Hershey’s bar pieces on to the top. You can place as many pieces or as little as you want depending how much chocolate flavor you want.

Bake for an additional 5 – 7 minutes or more if your cookies are thicker. They will be done when the edges begin to turn golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool. For clean cutting make sure cookies are completely cool and cut with a sharp knife.

Recipe Source: The Girl Who Ate Everything

I had a wonderful day yesterday. The whole family headed out for a late afternoon trip to the beach. We got there with 2 ½ hours left of daylight, and thankfully, by that point it wasn’t too crowded, so we were able to enjoy ourselves at a slower pace. My eldest daughter, who just turned 4, had never been in the ocean before, and was very excited to jump in the waves. That was until she actually SAW the waves. Well, I can’t exactly blame her for being a little nervous, they were HUGE. Anyhow, after a little convincing and sand-play time, I got my daughter in the water with me, and it was awesome! We spent an hour or so, jumping into the waves and having a blast, at which point she ever so cutely said,  “Daddy, this water is sooo sugary”  It was so cute I decided not to correct her.

There is nothing like that burning feeling all over your body after a great swim in the ocean. Well, as we were coming out of the water, that’s when the “salt” really started to burn.  You see, I put my hand into my bathing suit pocket and what do you know? There was my leather wallet, (a motif from my grandfather) soaking wet. Ok, breathe, I can deal with this. Then, I realize my iPhone had been in that pocket too, and must have gotten washed away.

On any normal day I would have “freaked out” and let the stress ruin everything, but today was our family day and I wasn’t going to let that happen. Instead I took the “losses” in stride and made sure to double down on my gains.

My wife and I took our two little ones to get washed off, no easy task as any beachgoer knows (I mean how was there still sand in my daughters diaper, I changed it 4 times!!!) Anyhow, we ended the night with a delicious picnic and the sun setting behind us… The drive home was spectacular, taking in the summer night breeze and having the kids drift off to sleep in the back seats. During the drive I was thinking about everything that happened, and realized my daughter’s comment didn’t need any correction; the water really was sugary! Life has plenty of “salty” experiences, but we have the ability to turn that salt into sugar.

As ‘everyone knows’, Brussels sprouts are not on any kids “top ten” list.

This got us thinking… Why is it that Brussels sprouts are one of the most disliked greens by children of all age? So, we decided to have a little fun, and investigate this “greeny monster”. Is there any way to get kids to eat them and are they truly as disliked as it seems? I guess it’s a good time to mention that as a kid, I didn’t mind eating Brussels sprouts, however, I will do my best to offer an unbiased opinion.

First off, Brussels sprouts are part of the cabbage family and there are quite a few different varieties. They are loaded with 20 essential vitamins and minerals, are an excellent source of fiber and protein, are low in calories, and contain hardly any fat. Sounds like a dream, no? Now, if we could just get our kids (and ourselves) to eat them, we’d be in pretty good shape!

We’ve done some serious investigative digging and we’ve discovered that, believe it or not, children’s’ dislike for Brussels sprouts may be more than just an “urban legend”.  Children have many more taste buds than adults, and are therefore, much more sensitive to bitter or sour tasting foods. Interestingly, this is part of a survival instinct that protects children from toxins (which are usually bitter or sour tasting).  As we age and our brains learn that not all bitter foods are dangerous, our taste sensitivity diminishes and we learn to enjoy foods which are sour or slightly bitter. To a similar effect, children also have a heightened sensitivity to smell, and Brussels sprouts can often have an unpleasant odor,especially when overcooked.

So it seems that in our quest, we have found the problem, but you know how the saying goes: “Within the problem lies the solution”.  We just need to figure out a way to make Brussels sprouts taste less bitter and smell yummy.  So here’s a simple recipe to turn these ‘cabbage sprouts’ into gourmet tasty delights.

Brussels Sprouts – Lime O’ Butter   

What You’ll Need (we did say it was simple):

• Brussels sprouts
• Butter
• Lime Juice
• Salt
• Pepper

Cooking Directions:

1. Cut the end of each Brussels sprout off and remove the loose outer leaves; Slice thinly or run through the slicer on your food processor.
2. Melt enough butter in a pan to coat the bottom of the pan over medium high heat; Add the Brussels sprouts and cook until bright green with a little bit of crispy brown on a few edges; Remove from heat; Squeeze half a lime over the cooked Brussels sprouts, or use one capful of prepared lime juice; Serve with salt and pepper (add to taste).
3. The amount of butter is to taste as well, we are always trying to cut calories, so minimal amounts are better, but if you are all about taste, go for a dollop, you won’t be sorry.

Recipe Source: Food.com

We’re confident that if you give the above recipe a try and keep an open taste bud or two, your kids will  fall in love with these delicious, (yet sometimes smelly) ‘’green monsters”.

As we close the file on this investigation, I find myself stuck with a serious craving for some of these delicious sprouts…. Like I tell my plate after I finish a meal, “until we eat again…”

(Part of the “Healthy Lifestyles” series)

Grilling season is here, which means goodbye hot cocoa and hello backyard BBQ!  Here are some ideas to keep your family barbeques kid friendly. Kids love eating with their fingers and they’re always on the move (it’s hard enough for me to get my daughter’s hotdog in her bun before she’s off again). So here’s our tip, keep the food portable (think corn dogs at the county fair) and finger fun.

Additionally, bring out the inner chef in your little one by let them get involved with some of the prep work.

• “Pattie Cake, Pattie Cake…” – Let them help you shape the hamburger patties. Make it even more fun by letting them make all the different shapes they know, burgers no longer need to be bound by the law of Pi.
• “It’s a dirty job, but somebody has to do it” – Kids love to get dirty and marinating the wings is a great way to have some messy fun. You can also let them add in some of their favorite ingredients; like a little applesauce into the BBQ sauce, or some diced peaches to the sweet and tangy marinade. They’ll be delighted they helped with the ‘recipe creation’ and guess what it will actually taste good!
• “Mommy, I think I’ll just eat dessert tonight” – help your children make their own fruit kabobs and then pop them on the grill. As the sugars start to caramelize, the texture of the fruit changes, so it will be a nice tasty surprise from what they are used too and it’s a heck of lot healthier than that chocolate cake.

What? Grilling in January? Yep, you can give your little chef the joy of grilling all year round! Surprise them with our Gourmet Grill from Hape Toys.  Made from high quality wood this grill has all the works, sure to please even your toughest food critic.

(part of the “Little Chef” series)