Super Bowl snack-Mini Soft Pretzels with dip

I love me some Pampered Chef! :)  Actually, I sold it for a time and have a lot of their items.  Yes, they are sometimes expensive, but I find my PC products useful, of good quality, and sometimes time saving.

We didn't really have a plan for the Super Bowl (since we know no one), but I thought it'd be fun to make a little snack.  Back when I was teaching I taught an after school cooking program for kids.  It was an extra curricular thing that the kids paid for (and was extra income for me).  I taught teaching techniques and we made a recipe.  The kids got to take home recipes and try them at home.  One thing we made was called Mini Soft Pretzels with Honey-Mustard Dip.  I thought they would be perfect for the Super Bowl.

The recipe came out of this cookbook

Sorry about the picture!  My kitchen has really bright track lighting and I've yet to figure out how to take pictures without some crazy shadow!

Here's what you need for the pretzels

1 pkg (10 oz) refrigerated pizza crust

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp caraway seeds or sesame seeds

Here's what you need for the honey-mustard dip

3/4 cup mayonnaise

3 tbsp dijon mustard

3 tbsp honey

1. Preheat oven to 425*.
2. Unroll pizza crust onto a flat cutting board.  (I skipped this part and just put it right on the cookie sheet.)
3. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough lengthwise into 18 1/2 inch wide strips.  I decided to make mini pretzels, so I cut mine a little different.

 It ripped a little on the way out of the package.

    

4. Form each strip into pretzels.  Again--I didn't follow the directions exactly.  I decided I didn't want to mess with trying to make crazy looking pretzels, so I just made twists.

 

5. In a small bowl, combine egg and salt; brush onto dough using a pastry brush.  Sprinkle with seeds. (I didn't use seeds, but I did sprinkle half of them with sea salt.)

6. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

7. For honey mustard dip, whisk together all ingredients until well blended.  Hint: don't buy cheap dijon mustard.  I think it changes the taste.

8. Serve with warm pretzels.  We ended up going over to my bosses house to watch the game on their projection screen in their home theater.  I took these with us.

Valentine's Mobile-Kids Craft

Little Man didn't have school FOUR days last week!  Two of those days I was off, but two of those days I was chilling with him at home.  You can only sit around, play Star Wars, and watch TV so many times.  It was time to pull out a craft out of my hat.  I figure we'd do something Valentine's related.  LM loves to paint, so I decided we'd just make a simple mobile.

We could have just painted with brushes, but what fun is that? :)  We've painted with many different methods--marbles, bubble wrap, string, and sponges.  This time I decided to use things I could find around the kitchen.  Little Man was eating his breakfast while I was making my collection.  He knew we were getting ready to do an art project.  He kept saying, "Wow, I bet this is going to be really special" and "this art project is going to be so fun, huh?".  Painting is painting, but if I can make it exciting even before we start then I've done good.

Here's what I found:

Then I folded a pink piece of construction paper in half.  I took one half and halved it again.

I took the two smaller halves and taped them together to make a circle--the top of my mobile

Then I drew some hearts on some paper.  I made three pages and then traced them one time.  

That left me with six sheets.

Don't laugh at my paint colors!  I had a hard time coming up with a purple.  

Apparently it's not as simple as mixing red with blue. :)

Note to self: Don't take pictures for the blog when Little Man is wearing pajamas with his name on it!

The papers all done and drying

I ended up cutting the hearts out myself.  One, because there were a lot of them and I knew LM would get bored with it.  Two, because I didn't want the lines I drew to show.  Three, because I wanted the hearts that match to actually sort of match.

I also went ahead and just taped everything together.  Normally I like to do art projects where Little Man does the work, but sometimes it's just not gonna happen.

Here's how it turned out.

I forgot to mention that LM painted a few hearts on the top with a sponge.

18 Weeks

You know I have to start today out by saying "GO PACK GO!"  What a great game!  I didn't really like how close it got in the second half, but I know some people say that makes it a good game.  I am so stinking excited that we won.  It's about time! :)  Of course I had to wear my Packers t-shirt for this weeks photo.  Baby will be a Packer fan too!

How far along: 18 weeks

Size of baby: Baby is the size of a sweet potato

Total weight gain/loss: +8.5 pounds

Maternity clothes: still a mix, but mostly maternity

Gender: We find out next week!!!  We CANNOT wait!  I really hope baby cooperates!

Movement: Yes!  Still not a ton... just a little here and there when I lay still.  It still just feels more like a tickle than a kick.  I always feel like tickling it back! :)

Sleep: It's been pretty good this week.  Of course, two snow days (off work) and two days with shortened work days because of weather didn't hurt.  I got to sleep in and relax.  I don't want to jinx anything, but I *might* be getting some of my energy back.  We'll see.

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach or with my one leg bent up to the side.  I can physically do it, but it hurts/cramps my belly.

Cravings: I'm still not having what I would consider "cravings"... but things I am liking to eat are: pickles (which I love even when I am not pregnant--but I've been going through about a jar a week), Cheezits, various forms of chocolate (Dove ice cream bars, mounds candy bars, Michael's peanut M&M's)

Food Aversions: Again, I have not really had a "food aversion" or anything making me sick.  Although there are times that certain foods do not sound good to me.  For example, I am totally over pizza.

Symptoms: exhausted, weird dreams, "pregnancy brain"

Surprises: This is not really baby related, but I was surprised at the crazy ice we got.  They are saying that this storm was part of the crazy storm the entire country was getting and not really normal for us.

Best Moment of the week: I was going to say getting my first (and second) ever "snow day" as a nanny.  However, I'm pretty sure the Packers winning the Super Bowl trumped that!

Fun purchases: We bought the crib and changing table--more on that later this week.

GO PACK GO!

Well, even though I am living in the Dallas area, and the Super Bowl is in Dallas... I sadly did not get tickets.  BUT... I will be watching.  I am unashamedly a Packer fan and I am hoping and praying that they can pull off a win.  It's time!  The last time they were in the Super Bowl was my senior year of high school--and they lost! (Although, the did win it the year before that.)

So come 5:30 (cst), I will be wearing my Packer t-shirt and screaming and cheering my team on.  And just like almost every time I watch a Packer game, I will tell Michael, "I just love that Donald Driver!" :)

Win or lose... I will always be proud to be a Cheesehead!

GO PACK GO!
 P.S. Did you notice how many blogs in a row were NOT baby related?!?! :)  I just wanted to point that out! :)  Baby post coming tomorrow!

Winter Crafts

While I was searching for pictures for my C.O.S.I. post, I came across a craft that I don't think I shared.  It is actually from about two years ago when Little Man had just turned 3.  It was long before I started blogging, so the picture was just taken for my own memory.  Hence the reason it is hanging with the kitchen utensils. :)  Either way, I thought some of you with little ones might want a quick wintery craft idea.  

Simple Snowman Head

This literally took about 5 minutes.  Little man cut out the circles and glued on the eyes and nose.  He then drew a mouth.  We used a pipe cleaner and huge pom poms to make ear muffs.  I remember he thought the pom poms were pretty cool. :)

Four for Friday

One

We seem to have gotten the same crazy storm that the rest of the country is experiencing.  The freezing rain started sometime in the middle of the night on Monday (or Tuesday morning).  I ended up having my first "snow day" since I left teaching.  Little Man has had snow days from school, and before he went to school there were days I declared a "snow day" and we did not leave the house.  I always had to go though.  Apparently, even big companies close down here.  My bosses office was closed, so I was off Tuesday.  Her offices were closed Wednesday too, but I had to go in because she had a mandatory meeting to attend.  The roads were PURE ice!  I've never seen anything like it.  The schools have been off most of the week.  Everyone keeps telling me this is not normal Texas weather.  I guess I'll believe them.

 

 Two

Besides the weather, the big news is the Super Bowl being in town this weekend.  The Packers and the Steelers have been in town since Monday.  I'm tempted to go to the Packer's hotel and scout it out, but I probably won't.  There are lots of Packer/Steeler items in the stores.  I'm hoping maybe I can score a Packers onesie for cheap after the crowds leave town and the things go on sale.  We'll see.

 

Three

Michael was offered a job!  He will be working as some sort of tech support for T Mobile.  They give top pay for veterans, so he'll start out making basically what he left AT&T at.  That's a huge blessing.  Plus, benefits start on April 1st.  That's also an answered prayer.  At AT&T it took six months for benefits to kick in, so we weren't sure what was going to happen here.  His work is super close (less than ten minutes away), which is nice.  He's not one to tolerate long commutes. :)  He starts the job on the 14th and will go through 8 weeks of training.  His hours for the training time will be 8 to 4, but after that, they could be evenings.  We are actually OK with this, because once the baby comes an Little Man is in school, I will be at home from around 8 to 3 every day.  If he works nights, we can have family time during the day while the baby will be awake (as it grows).  Otherwise, we'll both get home from work around the time the baby will go to bed for the night and Michael won't get to see it much.  The only down side is that my anatomy scan is scheduled for the 15th, so he won't be there when I find out if it's a boy or a girl.  It's kind of sad, but at this point, a paycheck and benefits are more important!

 

 Four 

Right in the middle of this crazy ice storm, we realized we had a flat tire.  The sensor for one of the tires on the Santa Fe had been on for a while.  Michael filled it with air and then two days later the sensor was back on.  It didn't look too bad... until right smack dab in the middle of the ice storm.  We went to get it fixed and found out that it had a huge screw in it.  Super!  So it was a new tire for us.  I'm hoping that's the end of our tire problems for a while.  I enjoy having the high tech sensors on there to tell me if there is a problem, but I'm sick of seeing them lit up!

Alphie the Robot

Little Man turned 5 on Monday.  I can't believe it.  I love looking back at old pictures and videos of him.  He's changed and grown so much!  So of course I had to get him a birthday present.  He has more toys than any child could ever possibly play with.  I knew I did not want to get him any more Star Wars toys.  I also knew that he would be getting a ton of dinosuar things since it's his new kick.  I can't really not get him a toy.  First of all, he has tons of clothes too.  Second, what else would I get a five year old?  So I always resort to getting something that is educational.  Let's be honest--I pretty much do that with all kids gifts, whether they have "everything" or not.  It's the teacher in me.  Plus, everyone else likes to buy all the fun/cutesy/popular toys.  So while wandering the aisles of Target, I stumbled upon this.......

It's Alphie!!

Do you remember Alphie?  He was around when I was little!

He looked more like this

I can't remember if I had one, or if I just played with ones my cousins had (Sonja? Melissa? remember?), but I definitely remember playing with him.  I also remember thinking it was super cool.  (Of course, a talking light up robot was a little more unique 25 years ago, but still.)

Michael was shopping with me and he thought it was pretty cool too.  So that's what we got.... along with a book about dinosaurs.  Michael said something about hoping LM likes it or hoping he plays with it.  I said, "I'm the nanny.  I will make him play with it!"  I thought that the fact it was a robot was on our side, but it's true...it's no star wars toy or dinosaur.

We went bowling on Saturday night and had a little mini party for LM, so he opened it then.  He was way more into his dinosaur toy from the TV show Dinosaur Train.  However, I came into work on Monday morning and saw Alphie was out of the box and on the table.  I told Little Man he'd have to show me how it worked.  G said he played with it all day Sunday.  Yay!  Educational toys can still win! :)

I highly recommend you getting this for a little one--either your own, or as a gift.  I paid $40 at Target.  I'm not sure if you can get it cheaper online or not.  Also, they have card booster packs for $10 each.  It comes with the robot, cards that are easily stored in the back, and batteries.  It says ages 3 and up.  Some of the stuff is a little easy for Little Man, but others aren't.  I also like that some of the things that he already knows are asked in a different way than he is use to (hello standardized testing!?!).  It makes him think about it!  I would say this is ideal for children ages 3 to 5--before Kindergarten.  It depends on the kid though.  A smart 2 year old could catch on to some of things, where as a slower learning 5 or 6 year old could still benefit from it.  The booster packs may be harder too.  I'm not sure.  One is specifically about letters and one is specifically about numbers.

Things the box says the cards can teach:

letter-sound recognition
phonemic awareness
print awareness
letter shapes
helping with numeral and shape recognition
working with patterns
matching and sorting
spacial reasoning
introducing multiple-step thinking patterns
cause and effect
compare and contrast
categorization
introduction to music
vocabulary development
color recognition
directionality