Christmas Reindeer Tiny Teddy Cookies

Don't you just love these! We made them today at school with the reception kids!

Arnott's Milk Arrowroot biscuits, basic white or butter cream icing, choc bits, jaffas and Tiny Teddies for the antlers! How easy are they?

I love the whole assembly thing for reception kids as cooking can get a bit tough as they want to eat everything straight away and get so frustrated having to wait for it to cook!

Any hoo, I am off to make more for Chrismas gifts now ....toodles!

Tic Toc Tea Cups

I love girly things! Having 2 boys, I really don't get to see them around our place much but I really admire mums of little girls who can put together things like these.....

The recipe calls for:

1 packet Arnotts Tic Toc biscuits

1 packet marshmallows (Allens are best)

1 packet of Freckles

2 packs of musk life saver lollies (cut in half with a sharp knife)

60gm block of white choc (melted)

Start by putting all the ingredients into bowls so they are easy to access ie. a freckle bowl, marshmallow bowl etc. Then gently melt the white chocolate (this will be your glue) either in the microwave or in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water.

1) First for the Teacups! Get some of the white chocolate on one of the flat sides of a marshmallow and then stick it in the centre of a Tic Toc. You can do this step a couple of different ways, either dunk the marshmallow (which is fun for kids) or use a spoon to spoon a bit on the marshmallow. Complete all the Teacups before moving on to the next step.

2) Next the freckle froth! Use a spoon to gently dab a bit of white chocolate on a freckle then place it on top of the teacup marshmallow. Complete all the freckle frothys!

3) Finally the handles..... Using he spoon again, dab a small amount of the chocolate on both ends of the cut lifesavers and press on to the side of the marshmallow to make the handles.

Voila, there you have it! Gorgeous little treats and I must say that even the boys love them too!

Enjoy

Sugar Highs in Children - Parties

Just a thought.....

As I just put up a post on Kids Party Food I thought this was probably worth mentioning.

My husband and I were recently lucky enough to spend some time at a health retreat to get our diet and exercise back on track. While there, they placed a great deal of weight on removing sugar from our diets.

After a lecture on the effects of sugar, I spoke to one of the nutritionists about the content. Where it is easy to ask me to remove sugar from my diet, I find it really tough to do for my kids, particularly at kids parties. We have one son (aged 4) who does suffer from extreme reactions to sugar. This is particularly evident at kids parties. You can really notice a significant change in behaviour if he has lollies or too much sweet food at parties. He becomes aggressive, teary and really difficult to manage. I find it upsetting as I know that it is not his usual nature to behave that way. He is exposed to limited sweet food at home but it is more the natural sweetened versions ie. fruit juice, fruit bars and occasional sweet biscuits.

The nutritionist was really understanding in the way that you deal with kids and sugar. In referring to my son, she said that it would be worth me trying to balance out the sugar highs by increasing his protein levels. According to her, that would reduce the extremity of the reaction.

She was not saying that I needed to sit my son down and feed him a t-bone steak before each party, although it definitely would have done the job!

No, pretty simple really, every time we go to a kids party now, I just pack some the kids each a squeezy yogurt (Vaalia is a favourite!), a cheese stick or give them a ham & cheese sandwich in the car on the way. I cannot tell you the difference that this has made to their reactions to sugar at parties! I'm still not a fan of loads of sugar at parties, but at least now I am a bit better at limiting the reactions.

Now, I'm not saying that this will work for everyone, but it did work for us and it definitely made sense!

I have got to say that this was probably one of the best bits of information that I have received since having kids!

Hope it helps.

Easy Kids Party Food - Part 1

I love a good kids party and I am a big fan of traditional kids party food - yum! It always seems to bring back some happy and cheerful memories.

The thing with kids parties is that having the little kiddies around while you are trying to get the party organised, makes them somewhat tricky!

I hope you don't mind but I'm breaking this post up into a few different postings otherwise it will just get overwhelming!

Lets start with some real favourites.....

1) Sprinkles! No party is complete without them! I am a big believer that you can put sprinkles on anything and it will instantly scream "PARTY" back at you! There are several brands available now that use natural colours so there is even more reason to party!

Fairy bread is an absolute must!!!

The thing is, we all seem to leave it until last to make as we want the bread to be the lightest and freshest. However, did you know that you can make it in advance? You make it, using the freshest bread then freeze it and pull it out about 2 hours before the party, plate it up and voila, easy, quick and stress-free! Seems so simple, doesn't it? It took me a couple of parties to figure it out but now I have it down!

I tend to do it about a week before the party and use very fresh bread (normally wholemeal as I like to cram in some goodness where I can). I store it in Tupperware in my freezer and prep

are a layer at a time. I freeze the bread first, just because it is easier to cut that way, especially when the bread is really fresh. Then take enough to put a single layer in the bottom of my container (I use a container that is about 30cm long x 20 cm wide x 5 cm high) so about 6 slices. I butter it (tastes better with butter not margarine) and cut up into 4 triangles leaving the crusts on, then put in the container before sprinkling on the sprinkles (just as it makes the clean-up easier).

2)  Another thing that is really great for kids parties, especially if you are going with a healthier option is sliced banana with sprinkles on. This is really good if you have kids with allergies as it means that they don't miss out on the fun. You just slice the banana into little round circle and sprinkle away. As the banana is moist, you will need to prepare this one at the last minute to avoid the colours running. I have often showed up at a party with a banana, knife and sprinkle shaker in my bag! Just one of those things you need to do when you have a kiddo with allergies, I guess!

3)  So that's the sprinkly bits, next is Honey Crackles! Yum, Yum, YUM! Honey Crackles or Honey Joys, same thing!

Another easy one that you can do in advance! Love that! I normally do them about 7-10 days prior to the party and really try not to eat them prior to the day!

I go with the Kellogs recipe from the side of a Corn Flakes packet.

If you don't have a packet handy here goes:

90g butter or margarine
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp honey
4 cups Corn Flakes

Preheat oven to 150C.
Melt margarine, sugar and honey together in a saucepan until frothy.
Add Corn Flakes and mix well.
Spoon into paper patty cases. (I go with the foil ones so the grease doesn't show through)
Bake in a slow oven (150C) for less than 10 mins.
Allow to cool.
Makes approx 20 (or more if you make the mini size!)

4) So the last thing that I'm going to suggest food-wise for an easy party is mini franks, little boys or cocktail frankfurts.

We have the best butcher up the road (Windsor Meats) which does a skinless variety! Brilliant! Quality-wise, they are also great.

It is always so annoying to have to peel them as my kids are going through that fussy stage an won't eat them with the peel on! So skin-less is fabulous! For our family, this is something that they only get at a party, not an everyday food and I tend to only get them from somewhere that I trust. Yeah, I know, probably a bit OCD!

I like the skinless variety not only for the pain of peeling, but also as there is less colouring without the bright red skin!

I spoke to the butcher and he made a point of telling me not to cook them too long as they would split. Apparently they are already cooked and only need warming. I kind of know that but it was still good to hear!

I have so many kids party suggestions, check back soon for more ideas! Cakes, healthy options, special treats and loot bags - still to come!

Ciao for now!