Kids Making Playdough

Following are some recipes that I’ve accumulated. My favorite is recipe #1. I would recommend you try them all and see which one works best for you. All the recipes for the playdough are very similar. Only slight variations but as with baking, slight variations will make very different playdough.

Play Dough Recipe #1

Directions:
Mix together dry ingredients:
2 Cups White Flour
1 Cup Salt
4 tsp Cream of Tarter

To 2 Cups of Boiling Water, add:
4 Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 tsp Food Coloring

Pour liquids into the dry ingredients and stir well. When slightly cooled, knead for a few minutes until smooth.

Hint: Use and electric mixer and it’s sooo easy. If you are doing it by hand and the kids are helping, you might choose to put the food coloring into the dough after it is kneaded. And the better or more concentrated the food coloring is, the brighter the color of play dough you will get.

Play Dough Recipe #2

Directions:
Mix together:
1 Cup Salt
3 Cups Flour
4 tsp Cream of Tarter
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 1/4 Cup Boiling Water
Food Coloring

Makes 4 small plastic containers of Play Dough

Play Dough Recipe #3

Directions:
Mix Together in Saucepan,
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Salt
1 Tbsp Cooking Oil
3 tsp Cream of Tarter
2 1/4 Cups Water

Cook above over medium heat 4 to 6 minutes until batter is like mashed potatoes. Pull of stove and let cool. Add food coloring into the mixer or add later when the kids can knead it in.

Be sure and keep the playdough in an airtight container or a plastic storage bag and your playdough can last up to a month!

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Princess Party Food

Mask any sandwich in an interesting design and kids will eat them. For a Princess Party, cut your sandwiches in a crown design. These were cut with a cookie cutter in the shape of a crown. There were two choices: a cheese sandwich and then a peanut butter sandwich.

In addition to the sandwiches, the Princess Hostess served platters of fruit and cut veggies. That always keeps the moms happy. And it’s very easy to cut up and have prepared ahead of time!

Resources: If you put in a google search “Princess Crown Cookie Cutter” you will come up with many results for the cookie cutter that was used here.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

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Kids Party Food

Food is always a tough thing with kids. Is someone alergic to peanuts, do the parents let them eat pizza, will they be hungry? It’s always tough.

There are some simple food plates that you can prepare for a birthday party for kids that will always be a hit. The party that these plates were served at was in the middle of the afternoon and the kids still ate!

First let’s talk fruit plates. Fruit can be prepared ahead of time and easily refrigerated prior to the party. Everything you see here is perfect. Grapes, orange slices, strawberries are all great. You could also do any kind of berry…..blueberries, blackberries. Apples and pears are a little tougher but with a lemon bath, they could be done as it will slow the browning process.

Birthday Party Food

Sandwiches….basically any sandwich cut in a shape is popular amongst kids. Be creative with your shapes and use cookie cutters to follow the theme of your party. That is if you can. If not, the kids don’t really care. As long as the crust is cut off and it’s in a cool shape they will eat almost anything! It’s really funny.

Great sandwich toppings: Cream Cheese and cucumber, cream cheese and strawberries, egg salad, chicken salad, pb&j (of course), mayo & tomato….pick a couple of these and you will be good to go in preparing the food for your kid’s birthday party.

Top photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

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Drinks Bucket

Fill your bucket with big and small water bottles, juice boxes or other drinks you want to provide. The great thing about individual bottles and boxes with drinks, is that you don’t have to provide glasses or cups as well. But it’s also not always considered “green.” You’ll have to decide yourself which one has more or less impact. We’ve always felt that it’s better to recycle plastic bottles than to be throwing away waxed cups.

Photo taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

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Melting White Chocolate for Cream Cheese Frosting

This Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe is great for cakes and cupcakes where you want a really moist yummy frosting. It won’t do as well on cupcakes or cakes where you want the icing to have perfect corners or shapes. I use this icing a great deal because I think it tastes divine and that trumps the decoration being perfect. I want the best of both worlds. Who doesn’t? And I find that I don’t like the icing that you use to cut shapes out of nearly as well.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
2 oz cooking white chocolate
(1) 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbl Heavy Cream

Sifting Powdered Sugar for Cream Cheese Frosting

Directions:
1. In a double broiler, melt white chocolate over low heat and let stand ’til room temperature. Note: If you don’t have a double broiler simply put a metal mixing bowl over a pot of boiling water. This insures that you don’t burn your white chocolate.  And you don’t have to sit and stir it the whole time.

2. Sift and measure confectioners’ sugar and set aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in the white chocolate and vanilla and beat until mixed well. Gradually mix in the confectioners’ sugar and mix until the batter is nice and fluffy. Beat in the heavy cream.

Hints: This can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 30 days. Don’t tell anyone but I’ve kept it longer than that and it works just fine for those small batches of cupcakes you make for your kids. Make sure you let it warm up to room temp before trying to frost cupcakes.  And after cooking cupcakes, let them cool to room temp or the icing will slide off the side!

Photos taken by Amy Hall Photography, Portland, OR.

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