I celebrate every holiday with a brunch or breakfast. Sometimes it's to kickoff the season and other times it's on the actual holiday. I think every time I create a new holiday celebration I think it is my favorite one. But this one is really high up there; takes the cake!!!!
Most of our holiday celebrations are breakfast but this one was a brunch because I wanted to do more lunch food. The menu included mummy quesadillas, spider donuts, ghosts chips, monster teeth and ice cream sandwiches, and ghost milk.
If you know me you know I love to create and keep things fun but I also only tackle the simple projects and recipes. My life is way too chaotic to take on long and tedious stuff. We have making popsicles on our Summer Bucket List every Summer and I was looking for a new flavor. We've been loving fresh citrus from Bee Sweet Citrus and so I decided I wanted to make something incorporating our favorite mandarins.
This is a simple five ingredient recipe that takes little to no time. You will need 2 mandarins, 1/2 cup of orange juice, 3 tablespoons sugar, 1 cup whipping cream and 1 tsp. vanilla.
Start by peeling mandarins and placing in a food processor or blender. Add OJ and sugar; process for 20 seconds.
Then add vanilla and whipping cream and process for 60 seconds. If the mixture is still runny process a little longer.
Pour into popsicle molds and place in freezer. After a few hours add popsicle sticks and freeze overnight. Remove from freezer and run under warm water for a few seconds and pull popsicles out of mold. Place in plastic bag and freeze.
Quarantine started feeling like groundhog day pretty early on. So after a few weeks I decided I was going to have to get us all out of rut. My whole life I've lived by the motto of "Get up, dress up and show up." I lost that right away in quarantine and so I decided I was going to have to get back to that and start my days off right and actually get ready. It helps me to feel so much better and have the energy to tackle the day. Another way I broke the monotony was changing up breakfast. During regular school we had oatmeal or cereal almost everyday because the mornings were so rushed. One of the bright sides of quarantine was not having to be out of the house by 7:45 every morning. Since I had a bit more leisure time I decided to add some fun into breakfast to help curb the groundhog blues.
The girls were thrilled with the change of menu and started praising me for the creative breakfasts. And let's be real there wasn't anything too special or creative. I just changed it up but still kept things simple. Here are a few of the favorites:
My kids would live on snacks if I let them. Is it just my kids that ask for a snack five minutes after a meal?!?! Or is that normal little person behavior? I get the feeling they think I live in the kitchen and it's okay for me to be their snack slave. Someone also must have given them the idea that fruit snacks are a food group. I'm trying to break that idea and keep snacks healthy and nutritious as often as I can but sometimes I have to trick them into choosing the healthy snacks. One way I accomplish that is making their snacks fun and creative. This usually ensures lots of smiles and clean plates!
Vitamin C is such an important part of their diet especially in these unsettling virus times. A great snack are mandarins from Bee Sweet Citrus. I just sliced some up to make some fun items. First were little fish. You need Bee Sweet mandarins, raisins, carrots, and candy eyes. Slice the mandarins, top with 1 eye, and cut two pieces off of a baby carrot for tail. Finally cut carrot in half lengthwise then cut the carrot into fourths. Then cut a small notch in the middle of one of the pieces. Place all together on a plate. For another version of the orange fish I sliced mandarins and then in half again. Layer to make fish scales, cut a slice of a carrot for the mouth, candy eyes for the eyes and mini marshmallows for the bubbles.
To make a mandarin sun slice a mandarin, top with two raisins, and then cut baby carrots into fourths lengthwise and place around mandarin.
Lastly I made a butterfly with grapes, mandarins, carrots and black decorative icing. Cut mandarin into slices and then cut two slices in half again to make wings. Place next to five grapes and use icing to make eyes. Lastly, I cut two very thin slices of carrots for the antenna.
My girls were so excited to see this afternoon snack spread and it only took me a few minutes. Luckily I also had everything on hand (yes I always have candy eyes and black icing).
If you're ever in a rut here are a few other snack ideas that were a huge hit in our house:
It's such a tough call but 4th of July is probably my favorite holiday. The magic of Christmas is super hard to beat but a holiday during warm weather is my jam! I'm all about the heat and all the fun that brings. We also celebrate big for 4th of July and I love our 4th traditions!
Do you know anyone who has great teeth and didn't have braces at some point in their life? Yup, me neither! Orthodontia just seems to be a milestone in a child's life. Since it's something that just about everyone has to experience I love that we've found a program to introduce the process to our kiddos.
Thurman Orthodontics has a fabulous program starting at age 7 called Groovy Grins. Twice a year your child comes in for FREE checkup including x-rays to see how their teeth and jaw growth is developing. This way you are perfectly informed on when it will be the best time for your child to get braces. The best part for your kid is the free swag they get at every checkup. Emily came home with a bag full of gear and now she keeps asking when her next appointment is. The best part in my eyes is that she won't be scared or intimidated when she really needs braces. She'll be comfortable with office, the staff and the process. It's a total win-win and I couldn't recommend Dr. Thurman and his Groovy Grins program more!
Any kid will feel like a real VIP at Dr. Thurman's office because they can make a hot chocolate and grab a cookie. Plus they go home with a bag full of swag. Extra bonus mom can make a coffee or tea (and a cookie, duh) and sip while you wait for your child's appointment to finish.
Lastly, the office is beautiful, interactive and totally inviting. You can schedule your Groovy Grin appointment by calling (559) 439-0425.
If you want to see more about the Invisalign process from Dr. Thurman check out my post HERE.
I live for a holiday breakfast and coming up with new ideas every year. The theme for this 4th of July breakfast was firecrackers. I made firecracker pancakes and also a DIY firecracker craft. I also served red, white and blue parfaits. Red and blue milk topped everything off.
