Indoor Fun on a Snow Day {or a Rainy Day}

Snow days are my favorite!  I love having the kids home for the day, spending the majority of the day in our pajamas, and having fun!  We love playing outside in the snow, but when the temperatures are so cold we tend to come inside to warm up and have fun.  I've come up with a list of fun things you can do with the kids on a Snow day (or a rainy day...or ANY day!).  

• Read books!  Do your children take AR tests at school?  A snow day is a good time to squeeze in a bit of extra reading as a family.  
• Make your own playdough!  This can provide HOURS of fun!  Here are my instructions on how to make playdough at this link.
• Play dress-up, even if it means raiding Mommy & Daddy's closet for things to wear.
• Make a Hot Chocolate bar! 
• Do some baking.  There's nothing better than a fresh-baked muffin or cookie to go with your hot chocolate on a snowy or rainy day!  Here's a few of my favorite recipes for baking.
• Make a cool snowperson craft
• Work on a puzzle
• Make Alphabet books with the kids, this is such a fun project.
• Have a movie party...pick out a family favorite, pop some corn and watch a movie in your pj's.  Or make it an even bigger event like we did for our Harry Potter party last year.
• Play games!  So far today we've had Cootie Bugs, Battleship and Monopoly Jr. going on.
• Do any sort of craft (I keep a box of winter crafts in the basement for snowy days - comprised of items I purchased on Oriental Trading or picked up at the Dollar Tree)

 How do you spend your snow days?

Fall Baking

I love fall...the cooler weather, the falling leaves, cuddling under quilts, and perhaps soon a fire in the fireplace.  One of my favorite things to do in the cooler months is to bake.  Our house is hard to keep cool during the hot months of summer, so I tend to keep the oven off as much as I can, but now that fall is here I can start baking on a regular basis again.  I LOVE to bake! 

 

Here are a few of my favorite things to bake:

Oatmeal Cookies

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins (pictured)

Multi-Grain Bread

Pumpkin Muffins

No-Knead Bread

Zucchini Bread

Granola Bars

Here's a few recipes I've been wanting to try:

Baked Apple Donut Holes

Zucchini Squares

Pretzel Bites

Overnight Waffles

What have you been baking?  I'd love to hear from you in the comments section (links & recipes are much appreciated, I'm always on the prowl for new recipes to try!)

sugar cookies, a holiday tradition

Each Christmas I get together with a few of my cousins, my sister, and my sister in law and we spend an entire day baking sweet treats to share with friends and family.  It's always a special day, filled with laughter, flour, reminiscing, icing and love.  This year we made buckeyes, oatmeal chocolate chip cranberry cookies (thank you anna!), peppermint bark, oreo truffles, funfetti cookies (thanks haley!), chocolate covered pretzels, and of course, everyone's favorite: sugar cookies decked out with icing, candies, and sprinkles.  I love watching our decorators pull out all the stops with their designs.  I thought I would share my sugar cookie dough recipe with you.  What are you baking this holiday season?

Sugar Cookies

1 1/3 cups Margarine
1 ½ cups Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
2 ½ Tbs. Milk
4 cups Flour
3 tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Salt

Mix all ingredients well, divide dough into halves (or even quarters) and put in ziploc bags. Chill for one hour (I’ve chilled overnight). On a floured surface roll out dough (about 1/8 – ¼ inch) and cut with your favorite cookie cutters. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 7-8 minutes at 375 degrees. Cool and then decorate.

Tis the Season for Pumpkin Muffins

Pumpkin Muffins:

1 cup canned pumpkin

½ cup vegetable oil

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 ½ cups Flour

½ tsp. Baking powder

½ tsp. Soda

½ tsp. Salt

½ tsp. Cinnamon

½ tsp. Nutmeg

½ tsp. Cloves

Heat oven to 350°. Mix ingredients and pour into paper-lined muffin tin. Bake for 30-35 minutes.

baking with my boys

baking

this week i devoted an entire afternoon to baking. i have been slacking in the kitchen since henry arrived in january. i have made meals, and dishes for parties, but i have not spent time cooking for enjoyment lately. in fact, for a while i was feeling like cooking was a chore, when i used to enjoy it so much. henry is getting older (as i type that a tear trickles down my cheek), and so it is easier for me to find time to spend in the kitchen, it's not as stressful as it was in months past. and to celebrate this fact, ella and i spent an afternoon together baking. i'd like to mention that my timing for this baking day couldn't have been worse...i chose one of the hottest days of the year to keep my oven on for hours in a house that is cooled by two window units. it was totally worth the heat, but i might wait for my next baking afternoon until the temperatures are less than 90degrees outside!

we made:

~ 28 banana chocolate chip muffins (stashed them in the freezer for school lunches). very tasty, but thinking next time i will try peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips. the kids love them! thank you meal makeover moms.

~ 2 loaves of zucchini bread, and for those who are wondering, i took a poll, and apparently you leave the peel on the zucchini when grating it. this bread is delicious!

~ 2 snickers pies. heaven in a crust.

~ a batch of chewy granola bars...also very yummy, and filling. my cousins gave me these granola bars the night henry was admitted to the hospital with rsv (when he was 1 week old). these bars sustained me that very long weekend.

~ pizza for dinner: fresh tomatoes & basil from the garden with olive oil, garlic & mozzarella...yummmmmmm!

what have you been baking lately? please share some links for your favorite recipes!