Wednesday, May 28, 2014

El Chico's Salsa



 Ingredients:

2 cups chopped tomatoes OR 1 (24 ounce can whole tomatoes...
1/4 cup chopped onions
1 whole jalapeno (canned or fresh)
1 clove garlic, mashed (large clove)
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Place all ingredients in food processor or blender. Process until everything is chopped well. The secret to the salsa is refrigeration - at least 8 hours before serving. The older the better.

Monday, May 12, 2014

Sparkle Princess Playdough

Strawberry-Scented


Sparkle Princess Playdough from thecoersfamily.com
We’re big fans of playdough around here. It’s a terrific tool for creative play that allows your child to explore textures, visual reasoning, spacial concepts – it’s just an all-around brain builder. And we’re especially fond of scented playdough. We created a batch of sparkly princess playdough for our Abby’s third birthday party. This recipe is so simple, you can whip up a batch in just a few minutes.

Abby requested a pink princess party for her birthday. We happily obliged with pink decorations and sparkly nonsense all over the house. She’s the ultimate girly-girl, with no prompting on my part. I am more of a mud-pie kind of gal. But she’s into all things princess right now and that’s cool with me. The majority of her friends are little boys, so they were invited to be warriors or superheroes if they were costume-inclined. We made a blue batch for anyone who wasn’t totally into pink.
sparkly princess playdough
These two batches of playdough made perfect, inexpensive, party favors.
playdough princess party favors
We’ve used this easy playdough recipe in the past and it just works great every time. It’s very easy to make a few simple changes to customize your playdough with added scents, food colors, and other fun things… like glitter.

Sparkle Princess Playdough

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup salt
  • 2 tablespoons cream of tarter
  • 2 tablespoons – or more – ultra fine glitter
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cup boiling water
  • 1 tablespoon strawberry extract
  • about 10 drops red food coloring
  • plastic bags for storing
ingredients for sparkle princess playdough
Heat water to a very low boil (just starting to see bubbles). I popped mine into the microwave for about three minutes.
hot water for play dough
While the water is heating, combine flour, salt, cream of tarter, and glitter in a large bowl.
making sparkle princess playdough
Stir to mix well. Add vegetable oil. No need to mix just yet.
making sparkle princess playdough
Next add hot water and food coloring drops.
making sparkle princess playdough
Stir, stir, stir until a dough ball begins to form.
making sparkle princess playdough
You may need to use your hands to form the dough, once it’s cooled enough to handle.
making sparkle princess playdough
And it’s just a matter of smooshing and mooshing until you have a nice big ball of playdough.
homemade strawberry scented sparkle princess playdough
It’s best to store this playdough in a ziplock plastic baggie after play time to keep it from drying out. Your little princess (or prince) will enjoy this fun sparkly, strawberry-scented playdough.

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