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A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

“A lifestyle blog with a focus on my food adventures”

May 27, 2021 TikTok Tortilla Trend: Is It The Best or a Bust?

Everyone is doing the TikTok Tortilla and I just had to see for myself: is it was one of the best ideas ever or is it going to be a total bust.

I decided to make a Rachel with mine. A Reuben is made with corned beef and sauerkraut, and a Rachel is made with either turkey or pastrami and coleslaw. I love extra cheese on everything, so that’s what I did here. I whipped up some home made Russian dressing, added on some pineapple coleslaw and of course, pastrami. First, take a knife and cut halfway through the wrap. Next, fold the cheese (on the right of the cut) up to the pastrami. Fold the pastrami to the dressing and coleslaw and then finish it off with a fold to the cheese, all in a counter clockwise motion. Throw it into a skillet for two to three minutes on each side to get it melty on the inside and crisp on the outside.

Verdict? I loved it. First, because it was so simple and easy to make. Second, it’s a great way to use up any leftovers you may have in your fridge. There are endless combinations that you could make! For example, I’m thinking scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon and cheese would be a great choice. Perhaps one with refried black beans, your taco meat of choice, cheese and some yellow rice. What about Nutella, marshmallow fluff, strawberries and bananas?

Have you tried the TikTok tortilla wrap trend? What’s your favorite flavor combinations?

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May 25, 2021 Making Home Made Gifts: Decoupage with Kids

My favorite way to decoupage is to use this product called Mod Podge. You can pick it up at Michael’s or even Target. It’s like glue, it goes on white and dries clear. I love the glossy but they also sell a matte finish.

One of our favorite things to use is paper mache shapes – you can buy boxes like the one shown above or get letters, there are lots of possibilities. Cover the shape with a generous amount of Mod Podge. We used tissue paper in Valentine’s themed colors for this box. After you have placed all of your paper, cover entire project with Mod Podge. You could use tissue paper like we did, or cut up strips of magazines or wrapping paper….the possibilities are endless. We gave these to friends this year as gifts, along with some paper mache heart ornaments, and they were such a big hit!

Oddly enough, when I think of decoupage, I used to think of those creepy ransom letters you see in the movies or on TV, where they cut out magazine letters and paste them all together. But totally not what decoupage is! While searching for images of decoupage on the internet, I found some pretty cool looking projects people have made.

Side note to this: I was first introduced to Mod Podge when I was a kid at summer camp. We made these cool wreaths. First we covered flat foam wreaths in tape and then we mixed up different colored dried beans with Mod Podge. We piled the beans onto the taped wreath form and let it dry. I gave one to my grandmother and always loved seeing it hanging up in her house every time we went over. I amy try to replicate one with my kids…

To find Mod Podge at Target, click here.

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May 20, 2021 Pretzel Kisses – Easy Ways to Use Up 30 Minutes

I have no idea what these are actually called, but we call them pretzel kisses in our house. Sometimes, you just need something to keep your kids occupied with while you do the dishes or get dinner ready, whatever. The most time consuming part about this is little hands unwrapping 40 Hershey Kisses, or however many you decide to make.

We like to use all different kinds of Kisses, and even Hugs too! If you want to get especially tricky, have your kids make them into patterns or sort them into piles according to design. My favorite pretzel kisses are made either with Hugs or the original Hershey Kisses. We tried the sugar cookie Kisses and let me tell you, they weren’t horrible! You can also make these with Rolos, which we also love. Line your baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Line up your square pretzels and put your Hugs or Kisses on top. Place in oven at 200 degrees for about 4-6 minutes. Remove from the oven and add an m&m on top of the hug (or Kiss) and squish it down. Place in fridge for 5-10 minutes to let the chocolate set.

There’s something so simple and nostalgic about these, we make them frequently and even add them to our holiday cookie boxes that we give to our friends.

Have you ever made these? If so, what do you call them?

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May 18, 2021 Are You Team Candy Corn? Yea or Nay?

I feel like you either love candy corn or you hate it. There is no in between… For me, I am totally NOT on team candy corn. But they are fun once in a while to use to make crafts. For these cupcakes, it was more about decorating them than what they tasted like. For these kinds of crafts or baking projects, I just use cake mix from a box and if I’m feeling very lazy, I use store bought frosting – although most times I make my own buttercream frosting, it’s so simple!

Sometimes you want to be present for the activity that you are doing with your kids – and taking shortcuts Is totally ok. They’re never going to remember that you used store bought frosting! My piping skills are not top notch, but you can see that the candy corn and candy eyes cover up most of the frosting, so this cupcake decoration is very forgiving.

Even my youngest likes to get in on the fun, and while they don’t exactly look like turkeys, all the kids had a blast making them!

My brother gave me FOUR bags of candy corn this year. I have no idea why. He was probably regifting them to me. While I could have just dropped them in his mailbox (and we would have passed them back and forth until next Halloween), we decided to make a wreath with them. That way, he would have to take them back! I found these particle board wreaths at the dollar spot at Target and we used Mod Podge to glue the candy corn to the wreath. We used the spray Mod Podge to coat the candy corn and give it a shiny finish. I think they turned out pretty cute!

Are you team candy corn?

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May 13, 2021 What’s in the Muffin Tray Today?

Picking up from where my last post left off, my muffin tins have been getting quite the work out during this pandemic. I loved these carrot cake cupcakes – I mean, that’s basically eating a vegetable, right?! I really think I I just love the cream cheese frosting and the carrot cake is just a vehicle to get the frosting into my mouth. Here’s a link to the recipe.

A dinner favorite, and well, a breakfast favorite at our house are egg muffins. Make them ahead of time and then just warm the up in the morning for a quick grab and go breakfast. I use a dozen eggs for a regular muffin tin that makes 12 muffins. Whisk eggs and add a little dairy if you like. Coat the muffin tin with non stick cooking spray. Fill muffin tin with the toppings of your choice – we like ham and cheese or broccoli and cheese the best – but you could literally put anything in yours. Fill the rest of the tray with your eggs and put in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

I use muffin tins for all kinds of craft projects – to hold beads or paint, even sprinkles when we are decorating sugar cookies. My kids loved popping popcorn and then adding all kinds of treats to them – everyone had their own customized snack for movie night!

Sheet pan pancakes are probably the smartest thing I have ever made in my house. Not only does everyone get what they want as toppings, but I don’t have to stand over the stove making mutiple batches that I can’t keep warm. Because you know who is going to be the one eating cold pancakes… Meanwhile, muffin tin pancakes are a close second favorite to the sheet pan pancakes. For sheet pan pancakes, make your regular batter. Spray a cooking sheet with non stick spray. Pour batter (and toppings) onto the cooking sheet and cook at 425 degrees for about 15 minutes. Muffin pancakes are the same thing. Make your favorite batter, add in toppings, cooking time will vary on muffin size – we love both the regular size and the mini muffin pan (because everything mini tastes delicious, doesn’t it?)

And finally, the grazing board muffin tin. I did a sweet one, but we do this for lunch time as well with turkey and cheese roll ups, veggies, hummus, grapes or other berries – the possibilities are endless.

What is your favorite thing to make in muffin tins?

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May 11, 2021 Snack Attack: Grazing Boards For All Occassions

While we may not be entertaining, I still like to make grazing boards. They’re fun to put together, they’re pretty to look at, and my kids love them. Here are some boards that I put together over the course of the quarantine. I love the leaf tortilla chips from Trader Joe’s, which is also where I picked up the maple sandwich cookies, the chocolate turkeys and the dried orange slices.

Here’s another fall themed board, but this time, I added yogurt covered pumpkin cookies from Trader Joe’s, Halloween themed Oreos, marshmallow pumpkins from Williams Sonoma, Reese’s ghosts and pumpkins and a fun little s’mores dish. You can make the s’mores dish by buying the individual Keebler graham pie crusts. Cut up some chocolate to go on the bottom and top with mini marshmallows. Put them in the toaster and broil them for a minute or two. Add on two candy eyes and viola!

Fall continues with a cranberry and cashew nut mix from Trader Joe’s, dried apricots, raspberry star thumbprint cookies, chocolate pumpkins from Vermont Nut Free Company and gingerbread sandwich cookies from Trader Joe’s. Are we seeing a Trader Joe’s theme here?

Moving into Halloween, I used Utz pumpkin shaped pretzels, frosted animal crackers, Halloween themed pirates booty, bat shaped gummy treats and how cute are those ghost veggie chips?

Moving from fall and Halloween into the holidays, this fun grazing board uses gingerbread sandwich cookies from Trader Joes, peppermint chocolate covered Oreos, iced gingerbread cookies, gummy candy canes, Reeese’s nutcrackers, tree shaped marshmallows, Lindt peppermint truffles, Pepperidge Farms hoilday sugar cookies and cute little candy cane tic tags in the corner!

Valentine’s Day I decided to do a muffin tin snack board – my kids love their snacks this way – a little bit of everything to choose from. Heart shaped shortbread cookies with chocolate on the bottom, XO pretzels from Utz, Kisses, sweet tart hears, heart shaped veggie chips, Reese’s hearts, and some cute gummy hearts.

What does your favorite grazing board have on it?

To find a Trader Joe’s location near you, click here.

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May 6, 2021 How Much Screen Time Are Your Kids Getting?

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Cake

Before the pandemic, we didn’t have any screen time. I’m not saying that to brag. When the kids were at home when the pandemic started, we quickly went from no screen time to a few shows a day. That’s in addition to the time they spent on the computer for classes. At 2, my youngest was watching television with the “big kids”, because how do you say some can watch but others can’t. I would NEVER have let my oldest watch television at 2. Funny the differences with a first child and any other children that come after :).

So when I needed time to make dinner, what happened? Television. I needed to clean the kitchen after a meal, yup, television. Judge all you want. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Tell me you’ve been there…

When I pictured myself as a mom, I never pictured myself as having television show themed birthday parties, but here we are, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. In the grand scheme of things, it isn’t a bad show. I remember it from when my niece was a kid. Friendly for all ages and has multiple seasons – which is key when you are in a pandemic. There is nothing worse than a show with annoying voices that get stuck in your head, or a show that only has one season and a) your kids are upset when there aren’t any more new shows, and b) you have to watch the same six shows OVER AND OVER AGAIN (because I can definitely recite some shows basically word for word). Don’t even get me started on humming the theme songs even when my kids aren’t around!

My kids LOVED this cake by the way. Tell me your favorite shows for younger aged kids and how your screen time has changed during the pandemic.

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May 4, 2021 Recycled Crayons For Valentine’s Day And Every Day

I had known about recycled crayons for a long time, but never got around to making them. And then, the pandemic hit. We did every craft project known to man.

There is something so wonderful about a new crayon. It’s sharp, it colors so smoothly…. and then all the sudden you find yourself faced with having to peel the paper if you want to color more. My kids deem those crayons “no longer useable”. Side note, I remember when I was a kid and my mom bought me a huge box of crayons that I wanted just because it had the sharpener built in!!

I can’t tell you how many crayons we have in general. Never mind the broken ones or ones that I find in the bottom of my bag that we got from a restaurant 80 years ago. In our house, we have a big jar, and we throw all of the “we aren’t using them anymore” crayons right in. When you have enough crayons, dump them out, peel the paper off and have the kids help you break them into smaller pieces. My kids like that part the best. We have silicone molds in so many shapes, but I love the heart ones the most. The silicone molds make it so easy to pop the crayons out when you are done. They’re great for Valentine’s Day or any day for that matter. We made Valentines and attached these homemade crayons to them – so cute.

When you have the crayons broken up in your silicone mold, place them on a cookie sheet for stability. Bake them at 250 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Keep an eye on them while they are cooking! When they are done, let them cool. Pop them out – they’re ready to go!

These make great birthday party favors! They are a good choice for Halloween for kids who have allergies and can’t have candy. You can even give some to friends for Earth Day!

Have you ever made recycled crayons before?

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April 29, 2021 Driveway Birthday Parties…The New Trend?

Can I be honest for a minute? The one thing I actually don’t mind about the pandemic is that birthday parties have gone away. (EEK, I admitted it!) The BIG ones, the ones where you invite the whole class, you know what I’m talking about. And if you had more than one kid, forget about free time. Our weekends used to be PACKED with birthday parties. I would have a steady supply of LEGO kits and birthday cards at the ready in our house and sometimes we would be DOUBLE BOOKED.

I kind of like having just our immediate family over (socially distant of course) in the driveway – keeping focus on what is important. My kids don’t need 8,000 presents, which they would previously rip through at lightning speed. They wouldn’t even get to enjoy what they received because there were 20 other gifts to open. I ask my parents to get them experiences, not toys. I ask family to get practical gifts like clothes, art supplies or books.

Last year, we had a friend surprise one of my kids with a Birthday parade – all the kids from class made home made signs, beeped and waved from their cars. I think that was one of the best birthdays so far! There was a lot of love that day!

Have you scaled back on birthday parties? Tell me what you’ve done to celebrate – I’d love to hear your ideas.

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April 27, 2021 You Know You’re a Mom When…You Pick Up Your Own Birthday Cake

Pictured: Blackbird Doughnuts Cake

Finish this sentence: “You know you’re a mom when…”

Mine is when you pick up your own birthday cake. Since this was a big birthday for me, I decided to go big or go home. That means, not just one cake, but three. And my husband came through with a cake as well, even if it was a few days late (better late than never).

Every month, Blackbird has different flavor cake in addition to the standard vanilla and chocolate. They claim that it serves 2-4 people, but in this case, I made my own suggestion that it was really a single serving! I mean, it did say “personal sized”. This one was two vanilla doughnuts with house made jam and vanilla buttercream frosting. AMAZING. I could have eaten this alone in my closet and it would have been my best birthday ever. I think I was smart enough to make a homemade cake as a decoy cake – the kids ate that one and I had this one to myself…

Blackbird Doughnuts Locations in South End, Fenway, Harvard Square, Beacon Hill, Brighton and Newton Centre

Order cakes online through the catering menu.

Elm Street Sweets Pie Sampler

This is the pie of my dreams: the party pie sampler from Elm Street Sweets, a sister bakery to the Rosebud in Somerville. They hibernated over the winter, because it just wasn’t feasible to keep it open, but I’ve got my fingers crossed that it re-opens. The pie is 9″ and has two pieces of cookie dough brownie pie, two pieces of cookies n’ cream pie and two pieces of peanut butter fudge pie.

Elm Street Sweets Pickup at The Rosebud in Somerville or Posto in Bedford

New City Creamery Ice Cream Cake

Next up, New City Microcreamery in Hudson, MA. I love this ice cream cake because it actually has CAKE in it. Make sure to plan ahead if you want a customized cake, three days ahead actually. They do have pre made cakes in the freezer should you need one last minute. Choose up to two different kinds of ice cream and one “funk”. We went with the mint chip and the chocolate chip cookie dough. Cakes come in three sizes: 6, 8 or 10 inch – we went with the 6″.

New City Microcreamery 29 Main Street, Hudson, MA

Pictured: Milk Bar Birthday Cake

I first fell in love with Milk Bar when I went to New York a million years ago. Their now called “Milk Bar Pie” is one of my all time favorites. I was also in love with their corn cookies. You used to be able to buy the mix and make them at home. The ones at the store in Harvard Square are good, they just aren’t the same as I remember. Side note, you can buy Milk Bar truffle crumb cakes at Target, and they will definitely tide your craving over. Back to the cake: 6″ will feed 8-12. Its three tiers of rainbow flecked vanilla birthday cake with birthday frosting, crunchy birthday crumbs and of course, rainbow sprinkles. My husband gets brownie points for this one!

Milk Bar Boston location at 3 Brattle Street in Cambridge but they ship!

So tell me, have you ever picked up your own birthday cake(s)?

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