St Patrick's Day crafts & Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes

     So its been a very busy few months here. I have been slacking with my blog and I hope to catch up soon. Right now in our home we are focusing on St Patrick’s Day. Of course we always have our corned beef and cabbage with soda bread. I usually make some kind of yummy green treat and maybe some mint chocolate chip ice cream. This year I have decided to try something new for dessert Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes…to go along with our ice cream. 

     Anjali has been working on a few crafts to decorate our home. The first one we made was a rainbow, made out of Froot Loops. The clouds are her hand prints in white paint. She had a blast making this one…not to mention ruining her lunch by eating half the Froot Loops! I suggest doing this at snack time…with a separate bowl for “eating” ones…just to be safe when using glue.

     The second project was a shamrock. We had yellow and blue paint and discovered what happens when you mix the two together. Nothing really special here but a good color learning project. We cut it out and hung it on the front door.

     The third project we completed so far is Goodluck Bear from the Care Bears. I had her spread glue over the entire picture then she covered the whole things with pieces of crepe paper (or you can use green tissue paper). She had fun tearing the pieces before hand and then sticking them on the glue. It turned out cute, we cut it out and put it onto pink construction paper. We will be doing this same process with shamrocks later this week. For the shamrocks I don’t use construction paper, just plain computer paper so when we hang them in the window they become kind of translucent. Very pretty window decorations.

Chocolate Guinness Cupcakes Recipe

Cupcake Ingredients:

2 large eggs, at room temperature 

1/2 cup plain yogurt, at room temperature 

6 oz. dark stout (like Guinness), at room temperature (*measure after the foam has settled) 

2 tsp. vanilla extract 

1/2 cup cocoa powder 

1 cup sugar 

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 

1 tsp. baking soda 

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon 

6 Tbsp. butter, melted

Frosting Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature 

4 Tbsp. butter, at room temperature 

4 cups powdered sugar 

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup cupcake pan with cupcake papers; spray the whole thing including the cupcake papers, with nonstick spray. Set aside. 

2. Melt butter in microwave or on stovetop, then set aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and yogurt. Add beer and vanilla whisk until well combined.

4. Sift all the dry ingredients together (cocoa powder, sugar, flour, baking soda, and cinnamon) into a separate bowl.

5. Add about a third of the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and blend well using a mixer on low speed, or a hand mixer. Add the rest of the flour mixture, a third at a time, mixing well after each addition. When all ingredients are blended, add the melted butter then continue mixing until very well combined.

6. Pour batter into the 12 cups, filling each only about 3/4 full. Bake on center rack of the preheated 350 degree oven and for approximately 25 minutes. When cupcakes are done (toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake will come out clean), let cool for ten minutes then remove cupcakes from pan and let them cool completely on wire rack.

To make the Frosting:

1. In a medium bowl, blend together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla. 

2. Gradually add powdered sugar, mixing well until it’s all incorporated. * Use immediately

Free purse book, Valentines Day & Raspberry Oatmeal Bars!

     I love free or close to free stuff…who doesn’t! Today I ordered a purse photo book from Walgreens for free. It’s a great gift that I plan on giving my mother and grandmother, neither of them being iphone “compatible“, for Mothers Day. The code can be used multiple times, all I paid was $3.20 for tax and shipping…which means I don’t even have to travel to Walgreens for my photo book! 

(1) 4.5” x 6” Purse book = $6.99
Coupon code: Purse = -$6.99
Standard S&H = $2.99
Sales Tax = $0.21
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Total Price = $3.20 　    

For the next month I will be in “Love” mode. I will be planning Valentines Day crafts for the kids to do. I have a fun song that I sing with Anjali, along with cut out hearts that we use as visual. This teaches her color, shape, and numbers. The picture and song below are for red but I cut out every color of the rainbow to use for this song.

Hearts! (Tune: 1 little 2 little 3 little Indians) 

One red, two red, three red hearts, 

Four red, Five red, Six red hearts, 

Seven red, eight red, nine red hearts

Ten red hearts for you!

~ Repeat with all different colors.

     This weeks homemade treat is Raspberry Oatmeal Bars. They are very yummy with the original recipe but I will be altering them this weekend to include ½ cup of pureed beets. I’m a little nervous about this one so I will be posting the taste results after I do it… Stay tuned! Until then enjoy the original recipe below.

Raspberry Oatmeal Bars

2 cups Old Fashioned oats
1 ¼ cup flour
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup spread able margarine
1 cup raspberry preserves
1 cup dried cranberries (optional)1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat baking pan with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl combine oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, and vanilla. Stir well. 
3. Add the margarine in quickly until the ingredients are not powdery any more. Do not over mix, some of the margarine may still be visible. 
4. Take about ½ of the oat mixture and press it into the bottom of the pan firmly. Bake about 13 minutes. The edges will be lightly brown but not fully baked.
5. Spread the raspberry preserves over the baked oat layer. Then sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the preserves. (I like to add dried cranberries to the remaining oat mixture before sprinkling over the preserves) Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
6. Let pan cool completely before cutting into bars. Serve and enjoy J

Brazilian Carrot Cake = yummy!

     So I’ve been trying to find easy ways to add extra vegetable and fruit servings into our daily routine. Those who know me know that my husband’s mother is from Brazil. During our visits his grandmother always makes Bolo de Cenoura or Carrot Cake. Their version is very different than the carrot cake we are used to here in America. So here is the recipe for Brazilian Carrot Cake that is easy and has about 3 servings of carrots in it.

Ingredients
3 eggs
3 medium/large carrots grated
1 & ½ cup sugar
¾ cup oil
2 cups flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ Tsp cinnamon (they don’t use this in Brazil but I like it)

1. Mix all ingredients together in blender (except the flour and baking powder.) 
2. Pour mixture into a bowl, sift 2 cups flour and the baking powder into the mixture, mix well for about 2 minutes.
3. Grease a pan and sprinkle with flour. Pour batter into pan
4. Bake 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until cake is golden brown. If a toothpick comes out clean and it is good.

Icing (easy way!) 
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup white sugar
1 cup instant hot cocoa mix
3/4 cup milk

Make the icing by placing the butter, 1 cup sugar, instant hot chocolate drink mix, and milk in a pan. While stirring, heat to almost boiling over medium-high heat until mixture thickens. When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and spread the icing evenly over the top immediately.

New for 2011

     The Holidays have ended and we are now back to “normal” everyday life. My resolution this year is to be more Aware. I know that sounds very vague but that was intentional. I want to be more aware of the ingredients I use to feed my family, keeping us healthy. I want to be more aware of the people in our communities that I can help, whether it be with money, time, or donations. I want to be more aware of the money I’m spending, deciding more carefully if it’s truly necessary spending. I want to be more aware of my stress and personal health, learning how to balance my life. I want to be more aware of my expectations of others, making my expectations reasonable and clear. I want to be more aware of my personal relationships, making more effort to keep my loved ones updated and in touch. I could go on forever… So now you may understand why I made it so vague! 

     So as a small start we have started making Smoothies each day, each one containing 1 serving of vegetables and 3 servings of fruit…in just 1 drink! We are once again donating our gently used books to the local children’s clinic, our used toys and clothes to the shelter, and again sponsoring a child’s birthday. I have been doing great with our budget, saving is like a game to me. My goal in the next month or two is to plan our summer vacations and outings…this way I can determine the budget needed for our family time. I think I may even give in this year and try a camping weekend…I’m trying to be brave! 

     I wish I could say that I have started a work out routine but I’d be lying. So my goal is to make a schedule of “mommy time” that will include my work-outs and a little bit of quite alone time for just me. A happy mommy is a happy family, right? I will have that done and started by February 1^st. 

     I recently created a daily expectations list that I post up on the refrigerator. It has each of our names on it and underneath each name is my expectations for that person that day. Some days may have nothing and other days have a few things written down. I was tired of coming home from the pharmacy at 10pm and being angry that the clothes were still sitting in the dryer…but I realized if I never asked for it to be done then I shouldn’t have automatically expected it to be done. This list seems to be a great way to prevent silly arguments and stress building up inside.

     As for personal relationships…that one is harder. With family spread out all over the country it is hard to find time to keep everyone updated. So beside face book, my blog, and email I have set up a Family website. It allows me to upload all of our pictures, videos, and keep a journal. Invited guests can go on when ever they wish and see what is new and even order pictures from the site. Then once a week they receive a McAllister Family update in their email. While I’d prefer to see or talk in person this seems to make it feel a little more personal.

Yummy 6 layer Dip

1 (1 ounce) package taco seasoning mix 
1 (16 ounce) can refried beans 
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 
1 (16 ounce) container sour cream 
1 (16 ounce) jar salsa 
1 (16oz) Guacamole
2 cups of Shredded Cheese (Your favorite)
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions
Layer 1: blend ½ taco seasoning mix and refried beans.
Layer 2: Mix the sour cream, cream cheese and ½ packet seasoning together
Layer 3: Shredded Cheese (I like Pepper Jack here)
Layer 4: Guacamole
Layer 5: Salsa
Layer 6: Shredded Cheddar cheese

Bake @350 until cheese is melted (about 20 minutes for me)

How I tricked my kids into liking spinach!

     I’m lucky to have children who love fruits and vegetables. My son will order an adult size salad over chicken fingers and fries at a restaurant. The problem is during a busy day its hard to make sure they are eating the right amount of fruit and vegetables. So I started to research smoothies after watching an episode of Dr. Oz. I looked up many different recipes and read lots of reviews and tips. Once I decided on my ingredients it was time for the true test…getting my kids to drink it. 

Smoothies

1 banana sliced (no peel)
1 apple sliced (cored & peeled)
1 orange sliced (no skin or seeds) 
1 cup blueberries
1 cup apple juice (or other fruit juice)
1 handful of fresh spinach (no stems)

~ Blend until completely smooth and no “chunks” remain.

     So I blended the ingredients in my blender and poured it into the cups. We all sat down and tried it together. I liked…a bit tart from the blueberries I think but I like that. Anjali drank about half of her cup and Conner completely drank his. It was a success! Just to be sure that it wasn’t a one time thing I made them again today and this time my children fought over whose cup was who’s. I consider that a complete success and this smoothie will be a daily drink our home from now on!

What if Santa doesn't come?

During the year we sponsor a child’s birthday. We buy a gift, decorations, and a small birthday cake. We bundle it all up and make a “Birthday Box” to give to the Childs parents…and that night the child gets a small birthday celebration. It breaks my heart to think that there are children that don’t know the wonder of blowing out candles on a birthday cake, and making a wish.

Of course when the Holidays came around it was only natural for me to also sponsor a child for Christmas. Each child has a small “about me” with their gift request. It allows you to understand their like and personalities. This year a little girl was asked what she wanted and this was her response. 

“I’d like a baby doll for Christmas. I really hope that Santa doesn’t run out this year”

When her teacher asked her if that is what she asked for last year her response was.

“Yeah but Santa didn’t come last year. Mommy said that he ran out of toys and that he had to make sure the sick children at the hospitals got toys first. But this year my mommy says that he should have enough to give to everyone.”

Well that story did it for me! I was tearing like a little baby. To know that a child might wake up on Christmas to nothing…that Santa never came…is just a heart breaking thought! But that little girl was able to accept that maybe their were children who needed a gift more than her and even more amazing is that she kept hope and joy in her heart, not giving up on the magic of Christmas. So this year for every gift I bought we donated a gift in return. This is something that my children have been taught to do from the very beginning, for every toy that comes into the house one gets donated to charity. 

As for the little girl that I sponsored this year…not only did Santa not run out of baby dolls but he is adding extra gifts for those children who didn’t get them last year.

Merry Christmas to everyone reading and don’t forget ~ the real magic is the smile and joy on a child’s face when they realize that someone out there was really listening to their wish.

My grocery bill was $300...but I payed under $140!

     I love food shopping! I think this is something that you either hate or love… and I love it. I usually go alone while my husband is home with the kids so I can take my time and really get a good deal. This week my husband was on call all weekend so my daughter had to come with me while my son was at school. Thankfully Shoprite has a service to watch your children and my daughter is finally enough to spend time in there…and she loves it. What 4 year old girl wouldn’t love 2 teenage girls painting her nails and giving her their complete attention!

     So besides the food shopping I also needed some household items like toilet paper, dishwasher detergent, cat litter, cat food, dish soap and sponges. So I already knew that my $130 goal (for 2 weeks of groceries) was going to be a little higher this week. 

     Well I have to say that my trip was a great success! My Bill of $299.86 came down to $138.27 after my savings card was scanned and my coupons came off. So this trip I saved $161.59...Hooray! Over $40 of that was in coupons…oh how I love printable coupons! So for my family of 4 our total grocery bill (with a few household items included) came to $138.27 for 2 weeks…less than $10 a day!

Children who Inspire

     I hear stories all the time about the powerful Philanthropists making a difference in the world. People like Warren Buffet, Bill Gates and Oprah donating their time, money and resources to make a difference. But when you hear stories about children who dedicate their lives to do amazing things and make a difference in the world…that is something I find inspiring, magical and life changing. Below are four “Philanthropists” that stole my heart and respect.

Alexandra Scott - Alex’s Lemonade Stand
Alexandra “Alex” Scott (1996-2004) is the inspiration behind Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. Alex was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, a rare form of childhood cancer, before her first birthday. In 2000 four-year-old Alex Scott held her first lemonade stand to raise money to find a cure for kids with cancer--while bravely battling her own. Alex raised an astonishing $2,000 at her first stand. In August of 2004, Alex passed away at the age of 8, knowing that, with the help of others, she had raised over $1 million to help find a cure for the disease that took her life. Her family continued her legacy and to date, Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation has raised more than $35 million toward fulfilling Alex’s dream of finding a cure, with more than $12 million of those dollars coming from lemonade stands.

Phoebe Russel - Phoebes Foodbank
Phoebe’s teacher preschool always asks each student to perform a public service project before graduation. Past graduates operated lemonade stands and donated their proceeds to the food bank, but Phoebe was the first to come up with the idea of recycling cans for her project. So she started collecting empty cans and other donations to support the San Francisco Food Bank, her goal was to raise $1,000. Word spread about Phoebe’s efforts and caring people dropped off bags of cans on the school’s steps and left envelopes of cash in the school’s mailbox. In just a few weeks, Phoebe collected 4,497 cans and raised a total of $3,736.30 (about 17,971 meals)! When Tyson Foods heard about what Phoebe was doing and the company donated more than 30,000 pounds of chicken to the San Francisco Food Bank. It works out to almost 120,000 donated meals for the hungry in San Francisco. 

Zachary Bonner - Little Red Wagon Foundation
Zachary "Zach" Bonner, at just seven years old, founded Little Red Wagon Foundation to aid the 1.3 million homeless children in the United States. In 2004, when Hurricane Charley hit neighborhoods, he collected 27 pickup trucks of water in his little red wagon. Bonner teamed up with the Standup for Kids and collected 400 backpacks of supplies, nicknamed "Zachpacks", for homeless children, filled with donated snacks, toys and toiletries. His "My House to the White House" project took place in three stages covering 1,225 miles to raise awareness and funds for homeless children. Then in 2010, he walked from Tampa to Los Angeles, calling the trip "March Across America". He began the 2,478-mile walk on March 23, 2010. Bonner walked an average of 17–22 miles every day. During his walk, he gave gift cards to people in need. On September 14, 2010, Bonner completed the nearly 2,500-mile-walk to Los Angeles. 

Talia Leman’s - Randomkid.org
Talia Leman’s mission is simple: To help kids help others. It began in 2005 at age 10, she saw the story of the victims of Hurricane Katrina and wanted to help. She rallied 4,000 school districts to do fundraisers, raising more than $10 million. She then founded RandomKid.org, with the tag line, “The Power of ANYone,”. It’s a nonprofit to educate, unify and empower young people of all backgrounds and abilities to make a measurable difference in their efforts to help solve real world problems. At age 11 she set up a mini-United Nations to work with 70 delegates who raised $26,000 to build a school in rural Cambodia for 300 children. Today, RandomKid works to provide crutches and artificial limbs to victims of the Haiti earthquake; planting vegetables at local homeless shelters; and unifying schools to sell their own labeled water to raise funds for water pumps in Africa.

Kid Friendly Gingerbread Cookies

     One of my favorite Christmas traditions is baking cookies. I love making all kinds of treats, but it just wouldn’t be Christmas with out Gingerbread Cookies. The only problem is my children are not big fans of the taste for Gingerbread. After we make them a few weeks will pass and they always end up hard as a rock and then into the trash they go! So this year I tried a new recipe that looked like it was “kid friendly” and it was a success. My children ate half the batch before getting a chance to decorate them.

Kid Friendly Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients

1 (3.5 ounce) package instant butterscotch pudding mix
1/2 cup butter (softened to room temp)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the dry butterscotch pudding mix, butter, and brown sugar until smooth.
2. Stir in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, and cinnamon; stir into the pudding mixture. Cover, and chill dough until firm, at least 1 hour (I leave mine over night).
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking sheets. On a * floured surface, roll dough out and cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets (they spread alot).
4. Bake for 7-8 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are golden at the edges. Cool on wire racks.
5. Decorate as desired.

* make sure your suface is floured at all times...everytime you roll it out re-flour your surface or it will stick!



Birthday around the Holidays!

     Each year we have a small family “party” in November where we celebrate my daughters birthday. We do this because I want to make sure that my daughter, who’s birthday is on December 13^th, never feels that her birthday is overshadowed by the holiday season. Then on her actual birthday we have a cake and open her present from mommy, Daddy, and Big brother. But I still worried that as she gets older she will feel like her birthday isn’t as important since Christmas is celebrated all months long. This prompted me to alter our Christmas traditions for now on.

     We decided that Our Christmas tree and stockings will not go up until after her birthday. It actually works better this way since we get a real tree and this will make it last longer without pine needles all over the floor (my vacuum will thank me this year!). Our Book advent calendar is being shortened to 12 days, and will go up on her birthday. The first book will always be a non-Christmas book, and part of her birthday gift. 

     We will still have our two other Christmas countdowns that will start on December 1^st like normal. The first one is your typical Santa Beard Count down, with cotton balls. The second one is our Christmas banner countdown, that spells out We Wish You A Merry Christmas by the time Christmas eve arrives! This way each day the children can each get to do one of the calendars, alternating between the two.

     For Anjali’s Birthday this year we will start her birthday off with yummy ice cream cone cupcakes and then open our first Book of our advent calendar. This year it will be “Happy Birthday Biscuit”, perfect for a child who thinks she is a puppy! I’m hoping by making these small changes she will never think her birthday is less important. I believe that everyone deserves to feel special on and around their birthday, especially children.