Sunday, June 25, 2006

Fruity Leather Roll-ups

You will need:

2 Cups appplesauce
1/4 Cu[ honey
Microwave safe plastic wrap
microwave safe tray

1. Stir applesauce and honey together in a small bowl.
2. Line the microwave safe tray with plastic wrap.
3. Pour a 1/8" layer of the applesauce honey mixture on top of the plastic wrap.
4. Dry the mixture in the microwave on the meduim setting for 3 minutes. Let the mixture cool for 3 minutes and then repeat the process until the fruity leather begins to dry. Results may vary depending on the wattage of the microwave.
5. Remove the fruity leather from the tray. Keep the plastic wrap as backing. Cut the leather into strips and roll it up.

For added flavor: sprinkle the applesauce honey mixture with cinnamon before placing in the microwave.

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Sidewalk Paint

This is pretty neat, its much easier to cover a large area of your sidewalk in a fraction of the time it would take you if you used traditional calk. Sidewalk paint can easily be washed away with water.

You will need:

1/4 Cup of cornstarch
1/4 cup of cold water
6-8 drops of food coloring

How to make it:

1. Mix cornstarch and cold water together in a small plastic bowl.
2. Add food coloring and stir.
3 Repeat this process to create different colors of sidewalk paint.

Just imagine what you can make with this paint...large rainbows, landscape pictures, hopscotch grids, make- believe roads and highways for toy trucks.

Shake and Make Ice Cream

You will need:
2 Tblsp sugar
1 Cup milk or half and half
1/2 tsp vanilla
6 Tblsp rock salt
1 pint-sized plastic sip bag..not the cheap ones, you will need a strong bag
1 gallon-sized plastic sip bag

How to make it:"
1. Fill the gallon-sized plastic sip bag half full with ice. Add rock salt and seal
2. Pour the sugar, milk/half and half, and vinilla into the pint-sized sip bag and seal.
3. Place the pint-sized zip bag into the gallon-sized bag and seal.
4. Shake the bag for 5-7 minutes.
5. Open the small zip bag and enjoy.

Please note: If the small bag comes open it will not help your ice cream to taste better...rock salt, ewwww. I have also done this with a small coffee can inside a large coffee can. We rolled them back and forth between two people on the floor. It gets pretty cold so we wore oven mits, but you can also wrap the zip bags in a towel to avoid frozen fingers.

You can add 1/2 tsp of peppermint extract of 3 Tbsp of crushed peppermint stick to make a fun holida ice cream.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Permanent Sand Castle Clay

What you will need:

1 cup of sand
1/2 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup liquid starch

How to concoct it:

1. Combine sand and cornstarch in an old pot
2. Add liquid starch adn mix.
3.Cook the mixture over medium heat while constantly stirring. Eventually the mixture will thicken and turn into dough.
4. Remove pot from the stove and let the sand castle clay cool.
5.Remove clay from the pot and knead it 20-30 seconmds before using. Let sand castle clay scultures dry until hard.

Tips and ideas: Color sand castle clay by adding 1 Tablespoon of powdered tempra paint to the mixture before cooking.
Use candy molds and cookie cutters to shape
sand caslte clay.

Spray Chalk

This washable spray paint works on sidewalks, in the snow, or on the sand.

You will need:

4 Tablespoons cornstarch
1 Cup warm water
4-6 frops food coloring
1 small plant mister

How to Concoct it:

1. Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl.
2. Pour the spray chalk mixture int oa small plant mister. Shake and spray.
3. Avoid clogging by shaking the paint mister before each use.

Tips & Ideas:

  • Use Spray Chalk at the beach to paint colorful sand sculptures on sidewalks.
  • To create graffiti-type art.
  • Use in the snow to create dazzling winter rainbows and colorful snowmen.