"Keep it Simple, Sweetie" with Cooking; Nut-free muesli bars

 Hand made muesli bars are so good because you really do know what you are putting in them. This one can also go to school because it is nut-free unlike a lot of the bought ones that may contain nuts.

Ingredients;

130g mixed dried fruits

20g crystallised ginger

60ml apple juice

155g quick oats

15g rice bubbles

1 tsp lemon zest

60ml apple juice

1 tsp lemon zest

120ml honey

Method;

Finely chop the fruit. (I used my mini processes for this but you could just cut them)

 Cut up the ginger.

 Pour the juice over the fruit and ginger and set aside for 5 minutes.

 Place oats in a bowl

Add the rice bubbles

 Add the lemon zest. Stir until combined.

Place the honey in a small saucepan and bring to the boil on medium heat.

 Reduce heat and simmer 1-2 minutes until syrup has thickened.

Add the fruit to the syrup.

Simmer for a further 3-4 minutes

Add the fruit to the dry ingredients.

 Stir until combined.

 Spoon the mix into a slice tray.

Press down with a spoon.

 Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until set.








Cut into bar size bits and Waa Laa, yummy healthy muesli bars. xx

"Keep it Simple, Sweetie" with Craft; Alphabet Monster

This little guy is super cute and I think he is actually going to be fairly handy in my house. I have made him to help my four year old with her letters but I'm going to make another one for my six year olds high frequency words. Awesome.

 What you need;

Some bright paper for decoration

A container. (I used a baking powder container because it was empty. It is 125g, fairly small, but I thought this was good. Any box or container you have would work.)

A computer to write the letters nicely (Not essential)

Laminator paper to make it last longer (again not essential)

Scissors

Sticky tape

Anything to decorate

Method;

Cut a slit hole in your container. (I just used scissors for this but it depends on your container.)

 Write the letters or words on your computer

 Print them out onto your bright paper

 I did upper and lower case letters on different coloured paper.

Cut them out

 I then laminated them to make them last longer but this is not essential. Cut out the laminated letters. Stay 1/2 cm away from the paper edge, so the laminated sheet stays together.

 Decorate your container

 Cover it in bright paper, I then put wide sticky tape around it, so it would last.

 Add the cute touches. two layers of foam and an eyeball.

 The game;

The game is to match up the upper case and the lower case letters.....

And feed them to the monster. It is very important to tell the monster what he is eating, the name of the letter and the sound that it makes. 

Yummy, happy monster. xx

"Keep it Simple, Sweetie" with Cooking; Apricot Balls

 These are super easy and super yummy and super healthy. So they have it all. AWESOME.

Ingredients:

150g dried apricots

3tbsp. boiling water (use a bit more if needed)

120g oat bran 

40g desiccated coconut

25g skim milk powder

40g desiccated coconut, to roll in.

 Method:

Place the apricots into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

 Add the boiling water,

 oat bran,

 coconut and skim milk powder.

Process until it forms a firm paste. (I tried to pretend, in the photos, that I did all this in my tiny processor. Don't be fooled, I did it in sections, sorry. Note to self; Must tell husband I need a proper processor, "It's for my blog, honey, It's essential...... PLEASE").

So it ends up looking like this. The picture makes it look like it is fairly dry. It is but you can roll balls and they will stick together. If this doesn't happen, add a bit more water.

 Place the rest of your coconut onto a plate.

Take a small ball. I use a little ice cream scoop for this, so they are all the same.

 Roll the ball around the coconut.

 Waa Laa. They are soooooo yummy. Try them today. xx

"Keep it Simple, Sweetie" with Craft; Rainbow drawing

 This is great fun to make with the Kids and then great to use.

You will need;

Coloured paper

Scissors

Ruler

Pencil

Container

Salt

Method

Choose about five pieces of coloured paper. Nice and bright and different from each other.

Work out how big you need them to fit into the container you have. The container needs to be a baking tray or similar size.
Cut the paper to fit the container.

 Stick them all together on the edge......

so they end up like this. I them laminated them so they would last longer but this is not necessary.

 Get the container you are going to use. I made one out of two boxes I had.

 Place the coloured paper inside.

 Add the salt until it totally covers the coloured paper.

Now start drawing in it. As the kids draw they see the colours coming through. This was great with my son who is just learning his colours. He was able to really concentrate on each colour as he could see it.

 Draw your name or.....

 a beautiful picture.

So FUN. xx

"KISS for Kids" are part of the team.

In our house we believe that everyone has to play their part in helping our team. That means they clean up for themselves but also do things for others. If they say they don't want to help, I tell them that the next time they ask for help from me, I will say no. This is fairly harsh but works well.

I was tested the other day though when miss 6 said she would not be part of our team. I explained that she would not get any help the next day and actually she would not be able to eat breakfast or put on clothes or use anything in the house because they all belonged to our team. She said ok, she would help a bit so that she could wear some clothes but she would get money out of her own money box and walk the 2 km to our local Coles to buy her own groceries. I ended up walking with her and she made it to the end of our road (about 500m) before she decided that being part of the team was actually not that bad.

So what should kids be asked to do? Here is the list I have come up with, do you agree???

Ages 2-3

Put toys in toy box

Stack books on shelf

Place dirty clothes in laundry basket

Put rubbish in the bin

Fold washcloths

Set the table

Fetch nappies and wipes

Wipe up spills

Use dustpan and broom

Ages 4-5

Feed pets

Put away toys

Make the bed

Clean up bedroom

Water plants

Put plates in dishwasher

Put dishwasher items away

Prepare simple snacks/ breakfast

Use hand-held vacuum

Clear kitchen table

Match clean socks

Put clothes away in drawers

Replace toilet paper roll

Bring in mail

Ages 6-7

Fold towels

Sweep floors

Weed garden

Peel potatoes or carrots

Make salad

Load dishwasher

Put a load of washing on

Dust

Put groceries away

Ages 8-9

Hang out clean washing

Fold clean washing

Scramble eggs

Bake cookies

Walk dog

 

Ages 10-11

Clean bathroom

Vacuum

Clean countertops

Prepare simple meals

Mow lawn

Do simple mending (Button)

Wash/ vacuum car

Wash windows

Ages 12 and up

Mop floors

Trim hedges

Paint walls

Shop for groceries with list

Cook complete dinner

Bake bread or cake

Do simple home repairs

Iron clothes

Watch younger siblings

I have to say I expect my kids to do a lot. When my girls were 4 and 5 they were expected to do 6 jobs every morning.

These were;

            Get themselves breakfast – cereal

            Get dressed

            Brush their teeth

            Brush their hair

            Clean their rooms; beds made, nothing on the floor, everything away. (I would help them with hanging up clothes because they couldn’t reach).

            Sign in; Write their names on a piece of paper for practise.

After me showing them a few times they were very capable. It always amazes me what my little people are capable of. xx