Children and Snacking.

I was reading this post and article over on the Ohdeedoh and all the comments about children and snacking and it got me thinking. Is it really so bad to take a snack out with you if you know it's going to keep your child happy and quiet(er) while you're out running around?

Granted, I don't think it's the best idea to continually bribe my son with cookies and candy every time we run out, but we usually take some cheerios (usually the multi-grain, his fave) or crackers or a banana with us because he tends to get hungry when we're out. Though, he does usually get a treat at the candy store when we go to the mall, but I've finally limited his intake of the dark molasses chips he get's from See's Candy from 3 to 1 for a day.

I did notice a huge difference in my son's mood and ability to keep himself from "falling apart" one day when I realized that I hadn't given him any sugar that morning. It took me a while to figure out that although he might be screaming over that piece of candy that he wants at the moment, he'll probably be over it in 5 minutes and he'll be just fine. Giving him too much sugar to keep him quiet in the car for an extra minute usually come back and kicks me- hard.

So I do see the problem with offering children too many sugary and non-nutritional snacks (especially if they're kindergarten and elementary school children eating Twinkies and Doritos as a snack every day), but I think it's healthy to eat something healthy in between meals, though maybe not every 20 minutes. I'm not going to stop with his healthy snacks, but once he turns 4 he's not eating at Church anymore, even if it means having to take him out because he won't be quiet.

Red Wine Cupcakes (!)

Check out these gorgeous wine cupcakes made by my friend over at Occasional Sugar. They've actually got red wine in the cake and frosting recipes! That's so unique- I never knew you could make cupcakes with wine. Doesn't it look like you'd just want to drink it up!?

Rainbow Cupcakes

Like everyone else who's seen this Rainbow Cake, I've wanted to try to make one. Christopher's Birthday cupcakes seemed like the perfect opportunity so I did all of the Sesame Street cupcakes rainbow on the inside. I didn't want them to be a perfect upside-down rainbow inside, so I tried to spread around the blogs of color in each cupcake. I thought it'd be a nice little surprise for the kids when they ate them but they didn't seem to think it was as cool as the adults did. I thought they looked neat and the inside of the cupcake wrappers looked pretty too!

Sesame Street Cupcakes

For Elmo I used a red cupcake wrapper and did his fur with red frosting using the Wilton decorating tip #22 (from what I remember, but it may have been a little smaller of the same shape). I started on the outside of the cupcake and worked my way in, kind of in circles, pulling the frosting up as I went. I used a dab of black frosting and 1/2 marshmallows for his eyes and stuck a little frosting as well as cutting a little bit of the marshmallow off each side in the middle where they touched each other to keep them together. His mouth was 1/2 of the chocolate part of an Oreo cookie (cut in half carefully with a serrated bread knife) and his nose is an orange peanut butter m&m.

Cookie monster had a blue cupcake wrapper and blue frosting and I used Wilton decorating tip #134 to make his fur. I started on the outside with his fur and worked in, adding a little more after I stuck the Oreo on to cover it at the top. His eyes & mouth were done the same way as Elmo but I offset his eyes to make him look kooky :)

Oscar's fur was done the same way as Cookie Monster's but with green frosting. I was originally going to use a green cupcake wrapper for him but came up with the idea to use silver, so it would look like his trash can! His eyes are white m&m's with black frosting dots and a black frosting squiggle for his eyebrow (Wilton tip #1 for both). His mouth is the same Oreo cookie as Elmo & Cookie Monster.

Grover also got a blue cupcake wrapper and his fur was done the same way as Elmo's. His eyes are white m&m's with a dot of black frosting using Wilton decorating tip #1. His nose is a pink gobstopper, his mouth is 1/2 a chocolate Oreo cookie with some red frosting to accent it with Wilton decorating tip #1. If I'd had time I think I would have tried to look for some other candy to use for Grover's eyes, since they're not perfectly round but slightly oval.

For Ernie I used a red cupcake wrapper because he has red stripes on his shirt. I frosted his face smooth with orange icing. He's got the Oreo cookie mouth, white m&m's with a dot of black icing for his eyes, orange m&m's for his ears, a red peanut butter m&m for his nose and some squiggly black frosting for his hair (Wilton tip #2).

Here is Bert pre-mouth & nose. For him I kept the tops of the cupcakes mostly yellow and I used a green cupcake wrapper because he wears green pants. I frosted an oval for his face in yellow frosting and used white m&m's with black frosting dots for his eyes, yellow m&m's for his ears, an orange peanut m&m for his nose and the smile, hair and unibrow were done with black frosting (Wilton tip #2).

The Count got a green cupcake wrapper because his clothes are green. I frosted the whole top of the cupcake smooth with purple/dark lavender frosting. I used little pieces of marshmallows for his eyes, and Oreo cookie for his mouth, more purple frosting for his ears, nose and around his eyes (Wilton tip #3), white frosting for his fangs (I just frosted those by hand, but they would have looked better if I used tip #1), and black frosting for his hair, eyes, and goatee (Wilton tip #1). The Count took the most time to decorate because of all his small details.

I saved him for last because I thought Big Bird was going to be really really hard since I had never done frosting like his feathers but these actually weren't too bad. I used a pink wrapper because of the pink stripes Big Bird has on his legs and yellow frosting for his feathers. I used Wilton decorating tip #102, fanning each feather out from left to right as I worked around the whole cupcake. I started from the outside with circles of feathers and worked my way in. I made the feathers pretty big, so it only took about 4 rows all together. His eyes are white m&m's with a black frosting dot and a bright blue strip for his eyelids (I used Wilton tip #1 for those).

I made the top feathers and his beak out of candy melts tinted yellow. Because I didn't need much of the candy melts for this, I found it was easiest to use a zip lock bag with a (small!) hole cut in the corner for the melted candy melts instead of a decorating tip with a coupler. I used two pieces for his beak, with the top one being bigger than the bottom party. His tongue is red frosting.

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a good Easter. Gregory & I were super tired after having been traveling for almost the past 24 straight. It was nice to see family though, especially since Christopher and all his little second cousins are growing up so fast! C & Austin (yellow shirt) had both just turned 3 a few days before Easter and they really enjoyed the egg hunt, looking at worms, and just running around together. C also enjoyed ALL the candy he got and his still working through it!

Friday Night Dinner

Because Friday's mean no meat for us, we sometimes have to be a little creative with dinner. But no meat doesn't mean no taste! This week we made a simple but very delicious dinner of gnocchi with a pesto cream sauce, some of my dad's garlic bread, and a little white wine. We made it as easy as possible and used store bought gnocchi (an Italian potato like dumpling) which we tossed with a sauce that was a mixture of pesto and heavy cream. For the garlic bread we spread with a little homemade butter & garlic mixture and broiled for a few minutes. Pour some wine and we were ready. Very yummy and we didn't even miss the meat (much)!