Fun Summer Day Cooking & Crafting at Nana's

Summer slips by so quickly...and somehow those grandkids seem to grow more in the summertime.

HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN?

Earlier in the summer, I began planning a day to spend with granddaughters, Charlie (12) & Chloe (10), so we could make memories in the kitchen, before they went back to school. They live just a few minutes from us and that makes it so nice!

What a fun day we enjoyed!  We were VERY productive too!

The first thing they did was make a dessert for them to take home, using swiss cake rolls. It was filled with pudding and needed to set. They cut the rolls into 1/8's and lined the bottom of sides of a springform pan.
(I lightly greased the pan first)

TA-DA!!!

Click here for a copy of the Chocolate Swirl Delight recipe at Taste of Home.

They enjoyed 'octopus & seaweed' for lunch....they loved it!

(ramen noodles tinted green)

It's difficult to see, but this octopus had a ketchup smile & eyes...or you could use mustard.

For instructions for making Octopus and Seaweed click here

And for dessert, I surprised them with 'fish sticks' (vanilla sugar wafer cookies coated with peanut butter, then dipped in crushed corn flakes) and mini burgers (mint pattie between two vanilla wafers - red frosting(ketchup)...white frosting(mayo)...and coconut tinted green for the 'lettuce')

We made paper towel butterflies and they took a 'flock' of them home...

For instructions for Paper Towel Butterflies at Skip to My Lou, click here

We also tried our hand at making tissue paper flowers.  The girls are soo crafty and talented I often feel like they're teaching me!  They did a beautiful job!

To watch a simple video with instructions for making these flowers, click here

(I'm a very visual person and seeing this made it so much easier to do)

We also made homemade ice cream...outside.  A simple and fun recipe in the "Kid's Corner" of my cookbook, and one I love to share. The girls often ask to make this cooling recipe - it's just too fun!

KID-FRIENDLY ICE CREAM IN A BAG

1 c. light cream (I used half vanilla flavored creamer) MM!

3 Tb. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

qt. size ziplock freezer bag

2 gallon size ziploc freezer bags

crushed ice

rock salt

Mix first 3 ingredients together and pour into the qt. bag. Squeeze the air out and place it into a gallon bag (for safety sake). Squeeze out the air and seal. In the bottom of the second gallon bag, place some ice cubes and rock salt.  Place the other bags on top, then fill in the sides with more layers of ice cubes and rock salt so that it is higher than the level of cream. Then this is what you do...(it took us about 10+ minutes)

and this is what we got...

...with chocolate syrup on top...

Next....

I love recipes that require the kiddos to unwrap candies, so we made Rolo Brownie Bites with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting.  OH MY!

These were simple to make and very tasty.

Photo credit: Cook Lisa Cook

Check out this cool recipe at Cook Lisa Cook

A.MA.ZING!

We also made Cow Pies (Candy)....a simple and easy Taste of Home recipe that even young kids to help with.

Click here for this easy 4-ingredient recipe.

This is a our "Grand Finale" picture with everything we did this fun day...

(Except the ice cream of course, cause it was gone)

We also played a couple of games of Sorry too!

What a sweet memory-making day!  I hope when the girls are grown, and I'm gone to my Heavenly Home, they will treasure these times in their hearts as I do now.  

I think we all slept good that night! *_*

(Eventually, I'll repost these recipes one or two at a time...)