Easter Baskets

I just finished up the boys' Easter baskets and I think they are going to love them. Here is what I included for my little lovies.

Stuffed Bunnies (made by Mom!)
Homemade Cherry lollipops
Plastic eggs filled with fishies and animal crackers
The Gruffalo movie for Alex and Lady and the Tramp movie for Aaron (that kid loves dogs)
Melissa and Doug Pet Handle Stampers (the stamps fit in large plastic eggs)
Duplo building plates (no more battles over the one that came with their blocks...hopefully)
Coloring books


And so as not to deprive my poor children out of a little chocoate, I made some chocolate bunnies with a mold I found at Target. I just melted down some (amazingly delicious) 60% cocoa by Ghiradelli and poured them into the molds. The molds had space to add lolli sticks so I used the ones I had leftover in hopes that a handle will make the chocolates a bit less messy for the boys (a girl can wish right?).

So there you have it! A little home-made and a little store-bought...all in hopes of seeing two little boys smile on Easter morning. :)

At Last! Chicken Nuggets!

My kids had their first chicken nuggets last weekend.  Unfortunately? for them they weren't the classic kind from Mickey D's.  They were the healthy home-made kind.  But even though I admit I have a great love for chicken mcnuggets, these were pretty darn good too.

These nuggets are made with ground chicken so the texture is good for even the littlest finger food eaters.  No molars required!  Because, we still don't have molars around here....  And to make these little nuggets even more Mom-friendly?  They have grated carrots and chopped baby spinach in them.  Veggies and protein all in one! Glorious.

Aaron, double fisting.

Chicken Nuggets, adapted from Amanda at The Frikin Chicken  (I just stumbled upon this blog and it turns out the author is also a mom of twins!  She has some other recipes I want to try and I'm definitely going to start following!)

2 lbs ground chicken
salt and pepper
2 eggs
1 carrot, grated
1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
Italian seasoned breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  In a large mixing bowl season the ground chicken with salt and pepper.  Next add all the ingredients except for the breadcrumbs and mix them together with a rubber spatula (or your clean hands!). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or spray it with cooking spray).  Spoon a rounded tablespoon of meat into a plate of breadcrumbs and roll to coat and form a little flattened oval "nugget".  Place the nuggets on the prepared tray and spray each one with a little olive oil cooking spray.  Bake them for about 18 minutes.  Cool and serve!

This makes about 3 dozen so freeze them for yummy nuggets anytime!

Eating with a spoon is Tough

I have no idea if we are late or early to the utensil-using party, but here we are at 13 months just starting to introduce the babies to spoons and forks.  Mostly just spoons.  I bought some "Take and Toss" utensils, a couple of bowls with suction cups on the bottom, a huge tub of yogurt and off we went.  We've only practised a few times but so far.....

It usually starts off pretty well, some yogurt gets in the mouth.

 Sometimes they use the wrong end....or just their fingers.

 There is always a mess.

The suction cups usually fail at some point.

We've had one meltdown (yogurt in the eyes apparently hurts)

But all in all, it hasn't been too bad.  Fun, even.

We have work to do though, LOTS of work to do.  I'm guessing we'll have this skill mastered by the time they are in middle school.  :)