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Quick Cereal Bars

School is starting soon or has started already and it's back to those crazy rushed mornings. Some folks might be inclined to skip breakfast.

Hey! That's the most important meal of the day. So if you're rushing out the door and need a quick breakfast, try these cereal bars. They're not the most healthy, and you'll need to grab a banana or yogurt with it. But it's better than skipping breakfast altogether.

You will need:

1 serving of your favorite cereal-I used multigrain cheerios

3 Tbsp mini marshmallows (original recipe calls for 2 Tbsp)

cooking spray

Spray a microwave ball with cooking spray. Put the cereal and marshmallows in the bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds. Stir.

Original recipe said to wait one minute and shape into rectangles with wet hands. I was able to shape mine with dry hands and with no waiting period.

wrapped in saran wrap

So easy kids can do this!

I found this fantastic recipe idea here. Her blog is incredible!



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This site has a whole list of things you can do with empty cereal boxes-check it out-my fave is the notepads craft:

Saved By Love Creations

  Great for when you're in a rush. Just keep the bottom milk part in the freezer, so it's ready to go when you're in a rush. I bought one a few years ago and we liked it so much, we bought more. They weren't easy to find.

Pizza Pockets

This is a really yummy lunch or snack idea. If you don't have a sandwich maker, they  are pretty inexpensive. I like the ones with the partitions.

     



I recommend this one, if you're going to be purchasing one, triple the functionality, this one has 3 interchangeable plates, sandwich maker plate, grill plate and waffle plate. Awesome!


we don't have this brand, but we do have a 3 in One.

or you can make it in the oven, although it won't be quite the same.


Pizza Dough-You can use your favorite recipe or use this really easy one that I used
1 C. lukewarm water
1T. instant yeast
1/2 t sugar
1 t salt
1/4 C. olive oil
2 1/2 C. flour

Mix yeast with flour. Add rest of ingredients & beat well. Knead in more flour ( you have to use your own judgement here-do it by feel, the dough should be elastic & soft, not too dry. Let rest 15 minutes.

Sauce-I used Barilla Marinara
Cheese-I used Shredded Mozarella
Optional: other fillings of your choice: meat, olives, peppers, tomatoes, spinach, etc.


Take pizza dough and roll it into a square of dough about the size of a square slice of bread. Roll out another square the same size.

(Optional: slightly bake the dough for a minute or two-I skipped this step)

one square

2 squares approximately the same size

 Spread sauce and sprinkle on cheese on one square. Place square on Sandwich maker. Take second square and place on top. Let the sandwich maker do it's job-you should end up with 2 pizza pockets

spread sauce on dough-mine could have used  more sauce

and  more cheese-here it's on the sandwich maker ready to be assembled

put the square with just sauce over the other square.
SEAL by pressing the edges of the dough together with your finger
to make it look even fancier, after pressing down, seal again with the tines of a fork

Close your sandwich maker, if you have a 3 in one
make sure it's set to sandwich, if you want it a bit crispier,
 then set it one number higher

it's cooking.
The sandwich maker will turn off or click when it's done.

It's ready, you can break/cut it in half & serve

Yum!
Someone wasn't very willing to let me get a picture,
 they wanted to eat it NOW!

Ideas for Sandwich Maker:

I have not made any of these, except the one they call pizza pockets with the bread. I do think the second link is a lot more creative with their use of the sandwich maker.

http://community.tasteofhome.com/community_forums/f/30/t/136055.aspx

http://voices.yahoo.com/ideas-using-sandwich-maker-536951.html

Back to School Crafts Round-Up

Now on Facebook

This is going to be a short post, I'm now on Facebook, please join me there.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fun-with-Unique-Heart/236625276380007

see you soon!

Back to School Making Lunch Fun

Good Morning,

Some places have started school already and some schools don't start until after Labor day. I've started my semester and the holidays are coming up, so we might just be getting busier over here. The next few posts will be school related post unless they aren't for some reason that I currently don't know and that I may or may not reveal to my readers.

Today's is about Making Lunch Fun

1. Use cookie cutter's to cut out sandwiches-use the leftovers for bread crumbs or stuffing. You can use cutters specifically made for sandwiches or use cookie cutters that you already own. I like the sandwich ones' because I feel there's less waste of the bread with those or less bread to put to another use. If you'r going to be using your own cookie cutters and saving the bread for another use, I recommend cutting the bread before filling it-no one wants peanut butter and jelly flavored breadcrumbs.



I love these, I think they're so cute and would be great for picky eaters
              my favorite one of them all-    


2. Pack jokes with your kids lunches that's sure to put a smile on their face

Here are some sites to help you out:

The Gunny Sack
Caps Creations
Pinterest-Lunch Box Notes
Spoonful

3. If you use paper bags you can decorate the bags


You can make Hello Kitty lunch bags:

Buy white lunch bags
    


and print out the picture from the link below.


Hello Kitty Picture

You might need to enlarge the picture to fit the width your bag.

You can either use my trace method to trace the picture onto the bag or you can cut out the bow, the eyes and the nose, (whiskers are optional just because you might find it easier to draw your own). Color the bow red-this is something your child can do, unless you'd like it to be a surprise.

Paste on the bow, eyes and nose in appropriate spots. Draw or paste on your whiskers.

To make this a craft that your child can do:
Mom should use the trace method to trace on the picture and cut out the pieces. Have your child color the pieces and match the pieces, to mom's tracing. While this way is a little more effort, your kid can be involved and it's good for their development.

The trace method can be used for any picture and doesn't necessarily have to be a white lunch bag.

While we're not going for party bags over here-it does help to have an idea of what the final product is supposed to look like-so I found this picture, which while not quite the look were going for it is similar and if you want to use her suggestions and dress yours up a bit. Feel free to knock yourself out (that's not supposed to sound rude-but it might come across that way-sorry if it comes across that way to you).

Source: Presently Pink
while I believe these are quite nice,
the whiskers are a little too long for my taste
and for lunch bags we can forgo the glitter and the tissue paper.

So I cropped this picture to give you an idea of what it's supposed to look like
-sorry no little girls over here to make this for and

tada-aren't they cute

You can also use white lunch bags to make snowman, draw or cut out a scarf, draw or cut out a carrot for the nose, you can add real buttons or draw on some, be creative. 

You can also make puppet lunch bags or Funny Face lunch bags

For the puppet lunch bags you need to lift the flap and color it red. Then add your own eyes and ears, you can make it be anything you want, a dog, a cat etc. You can also funny face stickers and make funny faces on the lunch bag.

Here are some sites with great ideas and some are can be quite appropriate for different times of the year.

Family Crafts

DLTK_KIDS-this one's got a ton of ideas

Enchanted Learning

Child Drama

Wow! I think this post should keep some of you super moms out there busy, er enjoying yourself or the time off before school starts with your kiddies or busy while you miss your kiddies who have started school.

Reheating Rice?

Source: Google Images

So you had leftover rice, and you placed it in the refrigerator. In general rice doesn't keep well. But it also doesn't taste that good cold. The other day, our sides were from the refrigerator. Frozen vegetables and brown rice. I took out the rice, and it was hard. I thought no one's going to eat it. Is it possible to revive it? I was going to put it in the oven, with a wet paper towel on top. Then I decided to do a quick internet search. I was semi-on the right track, many people said you can't reheat rice, but I saw that someone said you can microwave the rice. My rice was hard and I had nothing to lose.

1. I put my rice in a microwaveable container
2. I filled it up about an inch with water. Shook it around, tried to get most of the grains wet.
3. I decided it had too much water, so I spilled some out
4. I placed my wet paper towel over the rice, right on top of the rice (not the container.)
5. I microwaved it on Hi for 4 min.

Rice Revived!

*Not saying it tasted the same as fresh, but much better than hard rice.
* I did this with brown rice.