Quick Dill Refrigerator Pickles

This comes from Rachael Ray and is SO good to use up those fresh cucumbers that my neighbor brings me from her garden!

Quick Pickles
1/2 cup white vinegar, eyeball it
2 rounded teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon mustard seed
1 teaspoon salt
1 clove cracked garlic
1 teaspoon dried dill or 2 tablespoons fresh dill leaves, chopped or snipped
1 bay leaf
4 kirby cucumbers, cut into 1-inch slices on an angle

Directions
Heat small saucepan over medium high heat. Add vinegar, sugar, mustard seed, salt, and garlic to the pan and cook until it begins to simmer and sugar dissolves. Toss the dill, bay leaf, and sliced cucumbers together in a heat-proof bowl. Pour the simmering liquid over the cucumbers and stir to evenly coat. Allow to cool to room temperature or chill before serving.

Preschool Part 4: Christmas Time and Letter L

I am on week 4 of my turn with preschool playgroup and I am loving it!  Only two more weeks after today and then I have to turn my 7 little cuties over to the next mom.

Today we learned about the letter L and for a snack we had...

Christmas "Lights"

 These beauties were made when I used my football shaped cookie cutter for the shape and then used one of my favorite things this month, a box of 6 colored sprinkles shakers.  Z thought they would have looked better if I would have used green for the bulb, but once again, I have a TON of red frosting in squirt bottles left over from Halloween!

 We also made these cute "letters" to Santa.  I saw  craft kit for something similar on Oriental Trading, but decided to make up my own template.  I bought some felt and pieced them together with the preschoolers.  We put a loop of ribbon on the top so that they can hang on the tree, or on a door knob, which is what Buddy did with his.

 And then we attached a ribbon on the back so that we could tie on a letter to Santa!

Turkey Kisses

This was my last week of Thanksgiving-themed preschool lessons, so of course we had to have a Thanksgiving feast!  Each preschooler brought a food to share.  We had olives, popcorn, cheese cubes, banana muffins, and cookies.

To celebrate the letter of the day, "K" I came up with these little gems,

"Turkey Kisses"

I bought some creme filled vanilla cookies, Hershey's kisses, and candy corns.  Then using all the left over frosting that I had from my Halloween bake-off, I attached them thusly.

When I made them again later, I gave them a little red waddle with the frosting to hang off of their kiss face and it looked even cuter.

 Pilgrim boys enjoying the feast

 And my two pilgrim girls

Preschool, Thanksgiving, and The Letter "J"

This was week 2 of being in charge of Buddy's preschool and this week we were in charge of letter J.  What on earth can tie Thanksgiving in with the letter J?  Go ahead think of a word, I dare you, and no, "jam" doesn't count!

There isn't one, so we had to make our own tie in with Gratitude "Jars" filled with "jellybeans"!

Each preschooler glued the felt pieces together to make their turkeys.

This is what they looked like...

The poem attached says, "Here's my jar of gratitude, And with each jellybean I'll say, Something that I'm thankful for, As I countdown to Thanksgiving Day!"

I wrote it myself, did you know I was such an amazing poet?

The pieces are attached to a baby food jar filled with jellybeans.  The kids are supposed to say something that they are thankful for each time they eat a jellybean.

  It was amazing hearing my own kids count their blessings all week as they munched on jellybeans. 

And when we were done with the craft, we played some "Thankful Bingo".  I printed off bingo cards that I made using a 3x3 table and put pictures of items that 3 year olds would be thankful for.  Each card was different and the first child to fill up their card won a prize.  I don't think that any of these 3-year olds had played bingo before, and now that we're all so good at it, I will be taking them all to play Bingo at Fort Hall Casino next week, where we will also continue our study of Indians!

I got the idea for the turkey jar and the pattern for the pieces here.

Corn A'Plenty

It is my turn to teach Buddy's preschool class this month and today we were in charge of the letter "I".  Hmmm... what on earth could we possibly make or do that ties "I" in with Thanksgiving?

INDIAN CORN!

 I knew that those corn on the cob holders that we got for our wedding 10 years ago would some day come in handy.  I think that this may truly be the first itme they were used.

The day before buddy helped me measure all the ingredients to make the snacks.  We used the generic brand of Trix cereal and picked out all the yellow, red, and orange ones and threw in just a few purple and blue ones for a little color variation.

 They're a hit with the 3-year old crowd!

 But even the older kids think they're pretty cool.

 And while we're SNAFTING (snack crafting... that's right I just made up a new word, feel free to use it... just send a trademark payment of $50 post marked to me)... let's throw in a craft.  Gather up these supplies:  multi-colored pony beads (I like the see-through kind), yellow card stock, left over corn stalks, and some raffia.  You will also need some glue.

 Cut a corn cob shape out of the yellow cardstock, leaving a long stem.  Spread glue all over the corn cob.

 Let the kids place beads all over the surface of the corn cob.

 If you are too poor or too lazy to go get pony beads, just use your leftover cereal from the SNAFT.  Punch a hole in the stem of your corn cob and tie a piece of raffia.  Leave enough room that the finished indian corn can be hung from a door knob.

Glue on some leftover cornstock around the stem and hang your beautiful decoration!

And now, the recipe for the Indian corn on the cobbers.

INDIAN CORN SNACKS

4 tablespoons of butter

4 cups of mini marshmallows

5 cups of colored ball shaped cereal (I used a generic trix and sorted out the yellow, red, and orange)

Fruit Leather (we so happened to find green fruit roll-ups, thank you Shrek!)

Popsicle sticks

In a large pot, melt butter and mini marshmallows over low heat (about 5 minutes).

Remove the mixture from the stove and use a wooden spoon to stir in cereal. Allow the mixture to cool for about 10 minutes.

Using buttered hands, shape each treat by pressing 1/3 cup of the mixture around a Popsicle stick. Add fruit leather husks to the bottom of the ear, slightly moistening them to help them stick if needed. Makes 15 treats.

*This recipe was inspired by this post on Disney's Family Fun website, however they made theirs with puffed corn cereal (Kix or Corn Pops) and mixed the cereal with diced dried fruit.  I didn't think my kids would eat the dried fruits that they used, so I made mine this way.  But theirs look totally cute also.  They also had a really cool indian corn cookie that I just noticed today.  You can check it out here!

Flower Hot Dogs

A fun way to snaz up a hotdog. Flower hotdogs were my favorite when I was a kid, and I am always surprised at how many people don't know about this simple little trick.

Get yourself a raw hotdog

Then using a butter knife, make a slit in the hotdog about every half-inch. Be careful not to cut all the way through.

It should look like this when you are done.

Microwave for 30-45 sec. It will curl itself up. (If it doesn't you can help it.)

And, voila! You have yourself a flower. Just add ketchup, mustard, and whatever else would cute this baby up.