Wholesome Fun | Wholesome Mommy :: by the Centsible Sawyer

Category Archives: Wholesome Fun

St Patrick’s Day Toddler Treat – Kid’s Can Cook!

Written on March 13, 2012 by Denisesawyer in Wholesome Fun

St. Patrick’s Day is this Saturday and I’ve got a simple treat you can make with your kiddos! All it takes is some pretzels, some Hershey Hugs candies, and some M&M’s. And in just 10 minutes you’ve got a fun little treat you can keep all for yourselves or bag ‘em up and hand ‘em out at school or at the office (which is what I intend to do!). I love to give little treats out to my coworkers to say I’m thinking about you! (:

Ok, so here’s the how to:

First, have your toddler sort out the green M&M’s for this St. Patty’s Day treat. (You could use other colors for other holidays – red and blue on the fourth of July, or color coordinate for a shower or birthday party too!)

Next, place a sheet of foil on a baking sheet and have the toddler place pretzels on the baking sheet. Then, have the toddler unwrap the Hugs and place them on top of the pretzels. Be prepared to have said toddler eat several handfuls of the ingredients. (:

Place the pretzels with Hugs into a preheated, 200 degree oven for 5 minutes.

Push an M&M into the Hugs. They will be a little warm. You may prefer to do this step yourself but my toddler did help without being burned.

Allow to cool on the counter or pop into the fridge for faster cooling. I wrapped mine in these cute natural brown wax paper bags (I found them at Earth Fare) with some green raffia ribbon. Easy peasy – done in a flash.

To see more cute St. Patrick’s Day ideas visit my Pinterest board here.

I am a participant in the Walmart Moms program. Walmart has provided me with compensation for my time on this post. Participation in this program is voluntary. As always, all opinions are 100% my own

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DIY: Trash to Treasure – Starbucks Punch Glasses

Written on March 7, 2012 by Denisesawyer in Wholesome Family, Wholesome Fun, Wholesome Living

Last weekend was my son’s third birthday! It was all decked out in Thomas the Train style! I did a lot of the decorations myself and I want to share one of my crafty projects with you!

See that cute drink bottle my little engineer is drinking out of? It is an UPCYCLED Starbuck’s frappuccino bottle. You know those cold coffee drinks that come in a pack of 4? That’s the one! Totally something that would otherwise end up in the trash is now treasure that I can use over and over again! I have a set of about 45 now that I intend to use for showers and dinner parties, and birthday parties just to mix it up and make it fun!

Of course Starbuck’s isn’t the only brand that makes these, some stores have store brands. But, they aren’t all identical so whatever you decide to use, just stick with the same brand -whichever one is the tastiest to you is a good way to decide!

Each bottle comes with a sticky label and a date stamp on the bottle. To get rid of the label you have a couple choices- peel and soak in hot water and the glue will come off OR peel the label off and use a little GOO Gone to get rid of the glue residue. Goo Gone will also remove the inked date stamp on the bottle too! So, I recommend using a little of it so you’ll have a totally clean, blank slate to work with.

Here’s a close up of one of the bottles from Judah’s party. I ordered a file from a paper crafter on Etsy that included these cute labels along with tons of other paper printables for Judah’s party for just $10. But, I have lots of other {cheap}
ideas to help you fancy these bottles up for your own party! You could use colored, textured, and/or patterned scrap book paper to make your own. (You’ll need to cute the strips of paper to 8×2 inches). You could also add some stickers. Wide ribbon would also be cute along with a sweet paper circle punch right over the top.

To secure the paper (or ribbon) I just used a little transparent tape. And, to top off the look – for ultimate cute factor -you can get some striped paper straws in coordinating colors! Aren’t these the cutest?! And, they were perfect for little hands too!

What do you think?

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Bento for my Buddy

Written on November 11, 2011 by Denisesawyer in Uncategorized, Wholesome Fun, Wholesome Recipes

Fall Themed Muffin Tin Lunch: (Left to Right) strawberry yogurt with fall harvest sprinkles, mini Nilla Waffers sandwiched with peanut butter, lunch meat ham rolled and skewered with pumpkin picks, sharp white cheddar cut into pumpkin shapes, Ritz crackers, and mandarin orange segments. *I'm going to have to invest in a bew muffin tin with 6 wells!

My love of pinterest and my need for a little excitement during lunch has bred fun lunches for Judah. I wanted him to eat healthy foods at lunch and already know that presentation is key when it comes to littles like Judah. He will eat a great variety of things – as long as they look interesting and appealing to him. Some of his favorite foods might surprise you: avocado, mandarin oranges, carrots, sweet potatoes, and spinach are on his top 5 list. The main thing I have to combat with him isn’t that he is a picky eater but that he won’t sit still long enough to eat very much at one sitting. That is why muffin tin meals, bento lunches, and themed lunches have been a hit around here.

Owl PB&J with an almond beak and dried cherry eyes, pretzel tree branch with green grape leaves

This week I found a few ideas from pinterest and the others I came up with after finding inspiration from seeing what others are doing. I’ve been mostly sticking with a fall theme but I also pay attention to what needs to be used up in the fridge so we aren’t wasting things. This week we finished up some chocolate pudding I had made and then I made up a batch of orange Jello jigglers using my pumpkin silicone ice cube trays (found at the Dollar Tree last year around this time – see bottom picture). These have been a hit. (I told you Judah is intrigued by something different!) He asks for them often – even at breakfast, although I only allow them for a treat at lunch or during snack.

Airplane open-faced cream cheese and strawberry preserves sandwich with popcorn "clouds" and mandarin orange segments "sun"

Judah even helped me on a couple of occassions. He helped me make me make the dinosaur tortilla crackers (see below) and he always enjoys adding the sprinkles to the pudding or yogurt.

This week one of our meals was taken on the road (another great thing about bento boxes). The lunch below was the one I packed for Judah to take with us to the park. We wanted to enjoy the good weather while we still can…it is only getting colder around here! Well, that’s our week in bento. I’ll keep sharing our lunch photos in hopes of giving you a little inspiration to mix things up – whether it be trying out bento or themed lunches or just trying a new sandwich filling. Bon Appetite!

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Bust a Boring Lunch with Bento!

Written on November 3, 2011 by Denisesawyer in Main Dishes, Wholesome Fun, Wholesome Recipes

Grilled avocado circle sandwiches, refried rice, and grapes

I have recently become a new convert to pinterest. I LOVE it. I have gotten so many good ideas for recipes, birthday parties, cool lunches for Judah, and lots of other things. If you are unfamiliar with Pinterest, it is basically a social bookmarking site, a virtual bulletin board, if you will. You see things you like and you pin its picture to your “site” then you can look at what other people are “pinning” and if you like something they like you can repin it to your own board. You know, for safe keeping, to look at/refer to later. I’ve pinned all sorts of good recipes, lunch ideas, craft projects, etc and you can see them all by visiting my Pinterest page here.

Cheese Toast cut with leaf cookie cutter, apple slices, pretzels, and "acorn" dessert {mini nutter butter and a hershey kiss}

My most recent obsession is bento lunches. Judah is a pretty good eater – as far as variety goes. However, lately he has been eating less and less, especially at lunch time. He has better things to do…like build train tracks in my living room. I’ve been board with lunch too. I feel like we’re constantly eating the same things and I’m scrambling to figure out what to feed us. And, with another little one taking up a lot of my time I don’t have a lot of time for scrambling!

You should know by now that I am a die hard dinner menu planner. I plan a week or two at a time on my menu planner and I hang it on my fridge for quick reference. That way I can lay out any items I need to in the morning or the evening before. I’ve never really planned lunch because we usually have leftovers and it has always been a no brainer. However, lately there seems to be less leftovers to go around and often Judah isn’t interested in eating the same thing again the following day. Then, I found this cute lunch planner {from anythingbutperfect.com} and decided that I would give it a whirl. Using some of the cool ideas for lunches I found on Pinterest I planned a whole month of lunches. Of course, I might mix up some of the days and we might miss a day or two, but at least I’ve got lots of ideas waiting on me and I won’t have to give lunch much thought for a while and Judah will be getting lots of variety and healthy choices.

Rolled ham and cheese sandwich, chocolate pudding with sprinkles, sweet potato puffs, strawberries & grapes

Some of the lunches are using leftovers {like the top picture where I used leftover white rice to make refried rice}. Some of the lunches are themed {like the second photo above and the one right under this one that both have a fall theme}. Some of the lunches are bento lunches {using our laptop lunch bento box like the one above and the planet lunchbox in the final picture of this post}. And, finally, some of the lunches are muffin tin meals {like the picture below}.

Fall/Outdoor Theme: Cream cheese and strawberry jam sandwiches cut into acorn shapes using the heal to make the tops, pretzel "sticks," pumpkin shaped organic peach, acorn dessert, chocolate "dirt" pudding {oreo cookie crumbs}, grapes "stones"

Besides finding lots of ways to make Judah’s lunches cute and more appealing, I’ve also found lot of new sandwich fillings and presentations. The top picture is of a grilled avocado and swiss cheese circle sandwich. I found the recipe in $5 Dinner Mom’s breakfast and lunch cookbook {one of my absolute favorite cookbooks – tons of great ideas and recipes that my whole family will eat and that don’t require any strange/hard to find ingredients!}. These were absolutely delicious! The picture just above is an acorn cream cheese and jam sandwich {which is Judah’s new favorite} where I used the heal of the bread to trim off some brown tops for the acorns. My son, who always pulls the crust off ate both acorn sandwiches – crust and all! I’ve also been serving the sandwiches open face {like the leaf cheese toast and the turkey and cheese flower in the bottom photo} and Judah really gobbled them up. Just by leaving the top piece of bread off he was instantly more interested in eating a sandwich! The rolled sandwiches are a piece of bread rolled flat with a rolling pin and then filled with cheese and ham and rolled and sliced.

Turkey and cheese open faced sandwich cut with a flower cookie cutter with a half of a grape center, pretzels, green grapes, yogurt, and cholate pudding and oreo "dirt" dessert {with organic vitamin gummy worms from Earth Fare}

These are the pictures of a week of Judah’s lunches. This was the first week I gave this new lunch thing a whirl. So far, Judah has been thrilled with his lunch and has been eating a lot better. He asks what he is having for lunch now and on Friday he asked to see while I was preparing it. Seriously. He took a break from train engineering to come into the kitchen and stand on his learning tower step stool to watch me and get in on the action too! I’ve had fun making them too, so I’d say these lunches are a success.

I’ll continue sharing Judah’s lunches and photos. I hope it will inspire some new ideas for you! And, I’d love to see your photos and hear your ideas too! Bon Appetite! (:

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Fall Fun with my Toddler

Written on November 2, 2011 by Denisesawyer in Wholesome Fun

I try to squeeze in a little Judah and Momma time each day. We’ve been doing some fun fall projects and some other fun projects that I’ve recently found on Pinterest (have I told you how much fun I’m having on there finding new recipes and craft projects, among other things?!)

Some of the fun projects we’ve done lately are these leaves with shaving cream and paint. You can do prints like these in other shapes but these colors made beautiful fall leaves.

Another day we did “volcano painting.” I put baking soda on a baking sheet and gave Judah squirt bottles filled with food colored vinegar. The result was an eruption – of fizzy bubbles AND laughter. (:

After completely using up the colored vinegar and making a huge murky puddle on the baking sheet Judah asked if we could do this again – so this one will be repeated soon.

In addition to these two projects, we’ve also gone on a nature walk to pick up leaves which we pressed and then glued onto jars to make leaf lanterns like these I found on pinterest. On other days we’ve done some baking, including the fall lemon buttercream cupcakes I wrote about, chocolate covered (candy corn colored) pretzels I shared here, and pumpkin muffins (we used the recipe here but we poured the batter into muffin papers instead of making loaves).

We’ve done some simple things too, like building new train tracks and playing with his Lincoln Logs, making homemade hot chocolate, playing with playdough and cookie cutters, and painting with watercolors.

I’m looking forward to doing some more fun projects this week! (:

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The Best Sugar Cookies – Decorated for Fall

Written on October 27, 2011 by Denisesawyer in Dessert, Wholesome Fun, Wholesome Recipes

Last week I made some sugar cookies to get into the fall frame of mind. After seeing the project sheets that Wilton sent I was inspired to make some fun sugar cookie cut outs. {These project sheets are available where the cake supplies are at Walmart by the way}. Last time I made sugar cookies I frosted them with royal icing. Although they turned out pretty, I was really disappointed with the taste of the royal icing – especially after seeing how long it took to do! So, I’ve vowed to never waste my time again – I’m using the good stuff, butter cream icing … and lots of it.

I cut the dough into pumpkin and candy corn shapes using the cookie cutters that Wilton sent. I actually cut the cookie recipe in half since it makes so many. I didn’t have time to do that many and I really didn’t need to eat that many!

After allowing the cookies to cool I iced them with the butter cream frosting that I had colored with Wilton’s food coloring gel. I also added some fun orange sugar from Wilton as well to dress them up! I love colored sugar – so sparkly… it is like glitter and bling for food.

The recipe I use boasts that it is the best sugar cookie recipe and it is my opinion that they are absolutely right! These cookies didn’t last long, they were so yummy. I’m sure I ate my share!

:: Best Ever Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup almond paste
4 egg yolks
2 cups butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Beat the almond paste and egg yolks until crumbly. Add the butter, sugar, and salt and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add flour and mix well. Divide into 4 portions. Roll the dough in a ball and then flatten into a disc shape and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours (until easy to handle).

On a floured surface (flour is important!), roll one portion of the dough with a floured rolling pin until it is 1/4 inch thick. (Leave other portions of dough in the fridge until you are ready to roll them, they heat up and get hard to work with quickly!) Cut with cookie cutters and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.

Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees for about 6 to 8 minutes (until the edges begin to brown). cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing them onto cooling racks to cool completely.

Allow cookies to cool completely before frosting. I used Wilton’s buttercream frosting recipe. Except, I prefer to use almond extract instead of vanilla and I use all butter instead of half butter and half solid shortening. I prefer the flavor but if you like a stiffer icing the shortening will help it to stabilize and not melt at room temperature. I didn’t have any trouble with mine melting though. Use food coloring gel to color the icing the shades you need. (It is important to use gel and not liquid so you don’t water down the icing).

I am a participant in the Walmart Moms program. Walmart has provided me with compensation for my time on this post. Participation in this program is voluntary. As always, all opinions are 100% my own.

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Feast of Tabernacles

Written on October 26, 2011 by Denisesawyer in Product Reviews & Giveaways, Uncategorized, Wholesome Family, Wholesome Fun

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my family celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles {or Sukkot} a couple weeks ago and we had an absolute blast. The festivities lasted nearly a week and each evening we hosted our friends and family for a different themed dinner.

The schedule of events looked like this:
:: Wednesday – Middle Eastern Night
:: Thursday – Mexican Fiesta
:: Friday – Grilled Pizza/Italian Night
:: Saturday – Soup Swap
:: Sunday – Bonfire at a friend’s house

Middle Eastern Fare

To get ready for the week I popped over to my local Walmart and picked up some cute paper goods in a harvest/fall theme. These came in a dinner size and a dessert plate (luncheon plate) size and I bought several packs of each. I also had some fun printed plates left over from last year that I bought from Walmart so I had plenty of fun prints to choose from to mix it up each night.

In addition to the plates, I bought a pack of orange Solo cups and some balloons in fall colors along with a helium tank (the kids LOVED this). I think this is my third helium tank I’ve bought from Walmart. They have a good price for these and we love balloons! In addition to a good price on balloons and tanks, Walmart also has a fabulous party section now. They have expanded the section and it contains all sorts of colors for table cloths, balloons, plates, napkins, cutlery – all matching and all just $0.97! They also have some really cute birthday party stuff now, including lots of licensed character stuff and they’ve redone the party favor bins too and they have lots of cool additions if you’re in the market for birthday stuff anytime soon.

In addition to paper goods, I also purchased some cute fall tableware that can be used each year over and over as these parties are going to be happening every year. I have purchased similar items from Walmart in years past and I like that I can continue to add to my pieces and grow my fall tableware a little each year without breaking the bank! This year I purchased a large bowl and a three bowl dip server shaped like fall leaves. They worked great on several nights to hold chips and a variety of dips.

Each night we served hot apple cider in our Crockpot to warm our bodies with through the night since the festivities were held outdoors. We also built a fire in our fire pit. And, since these parties are a celebration I thought it would be fun to make and serve a special dessert each night. One night I made cupcakes with lemon buttercream frosting with Judah. For the Middle Eastern night I made a fig tart and we purchased baklava from a local Greek diner.

Another night I made homemade caramel corn to munch on and tinted it orange to fit our fall theme! Be sure to come back so you can grab my recipe for this one – you’re going to want it! It is easy and delicious!

I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the photos and hearing some of the details of our party. We had so much fun and ate way too much! I can’t wait until next year! Of course, there will be more parties at my house between then and now – any excuse to throw a party. (:

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Elefun Busy Ball Popper – A Review

Written on October 25, 2011 by Denisesawyer in Product Reviews & Giveaways, Wholesome Fun

When Judah was about 6 months old he received a Playskool Busy Ball Popper. It has been a favorite around our house ever since then. He is two and a half now and he still loves to retrieve the balls. He gets so excited! He screams and hollers and the game can get quite wild. He usually drags whoever he can convince into playing along with him – which makes it even more fun and exciting.

When I was approached to review the new Playskool Elefun Busy Ball Popper my replay was, “of course!” My thought was that my new little one would love this new toy but that is … if Judah will give it up! As soon as it arrived he begged to open it up and luckily we had some D batteries on hand or he would have been very disappointed! He has played with it a ton since then. It seems that these toys just never get old!

The difference in this sweet Elephant and the original ball popper is that the Elephant does a little more. First, you drop the balls in the ears. One ear send the ball up through the trunk -shooting it out just like the original ball popper did. The other ear sends the ball into the belly – kind of like a gum ball machine. Secondly, the trunk spins around – giving you the control to choose whether to send the ball across the room or straight up. This is great because you can make it easier for babies who are sitting and playing with the ball popper or send them flyin’ for little runners who need to expel some energy! And, like all the ball poppers this one plays music. This one plays 10 different tunes.

The Playskool ball poppers will continue to be favorite toys around here – and they make great gifts! It is suitable for 9 months and up (I’ve even seen some adults at my house enjoying getting in on the ball fetchin’ fun!) The Elefun Busy Ball Popper retails for $29.99 and is available at most major retailers.

I recieved a Playskool Elefun Busy Ball Popper to review. All opinions are my own.

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Fun Fall Snacks: Colored Chocolate Covered Pretzels

Written on October 19, 2011 by Denisesawyer in Dessert, Wholesome Fun, Wholesome Recipes

Since Eliana has made her entry into this world I’ve been trying to find a little time each day to do something fun with Judah. This is usually during Eliana’s napping in the morning. I think it is important to give him a little private time with mommy and I enjoy it also.

Last week we had fun doing a few fall projects. I’ve been finding lots of great ideas on Pinterest and you can see whatI’ve been finding by checking out my boards here.

One idea I found that Judah and I did together were these delicious little chocolate covered pretzels. Chocolate covered pretzels are always a hit – who doesn’t love this salty and sweet snack?! – and we made them especially for fall to share with some friends by using Wilton chocolates in orange, yellow, and white.

I melted each color one at a time and dipped the pretzels using a skewer allowing the extra chocolate to drip back in the bowl. I put them on parchment paper to dry. My sous chef, Judah, helped by putting the sprinkles on while the chocolate was still wet. I had some sprinkles in these exact same colors that I had picked up in the fall baking stuff.

It took a little reminding to get him to ease up on the sprinkle coverage. (: I kept reminding him to “save some for the other pretzels,” and to “only use a little.” He had so much fun though.

And my sprinkle-covered kitchen floors were proof. (:

Once all the colored pretzels were done and dry I packaged them up into small little bags and added a cute sticker that read, From the Kitchen of Denise Sawyer. I purchased this digital file a while back on Etsy and now I can print and punch these cut tags/stickers any time I want.

Judah, Eliana, and I delivered these to my coworkers at Berry College the following day. Judah had fun helping me hand out our creations. And, we kept a few for ourselves too… and they were yummy!

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Make Your Next Party Sustainable

Written on September 28, 2011 by Denisesawyer in Wholesome Fun

With football season here you may be finding yourself doing a little entertaining or tailgating. But, regardless of whether or not you are a football family, these tips are great for any party – any time of year. It is always fashionable to keep your footprint small.

There is no need to stock up on paper plates or napkins. Get some cool plates that you can use over and over. Most of us have dishwashers these days so it is really not a lot of trouble to wash a few plates. I bought these white cocktail plates and have used them numerous times for all sorts of parties. White is great to put with any theme or color. I also have a nice stash of cloth napkins since we use them daily. They are wonderful because you toss them in the washer instead of the trash and you can save a ton of money too. No need to pick up those pre-printed napkins for your favorite team -just keep a stash of cloth ones in your team’s colors.

What about keeping the fans hydrated? You could always use regular glasses, but if your beginning to feel the stress of too many dishes, I’ve got a couple of other ideas that are just as susstainable and less work! One idea is glass bottles on ice. You can recycle the empty bottles. The same thing goes for canned drinks too! I decided to go with these classic Coke bottles – made in Mexico so that they’re made with cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. Bottled drinks are so much fun! These are available at my local Walmart.

Serving up good food and a good time doesn’t have to mean breaking the bank or filling a garbage bag full of paper plates, napkins, silverware, and cups. Using the dishes you have and getting a little creative can be fashionable, frugal, and earth-friendly!

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