Homemade Play dough

 As those of you in our neck of the woods are well aware of , it's freakin' hot outside! We REALLY love finding things to do in the house because 105 degree heat makes for very hot slides, swings, car seats, you name it! We don't even walk to the park one block from the house.

We thought we would try out a homemade play dough recipe and see how it would do in place of store bought. My girls love play dough, but they especially love mixing all the colors together into one giant mess. Oh, and leaving it out to dry! This makes play dough fairly expensive around here so this recipe was perfect because I don't have to run to the store and pick up fresh play dough.

We made four batches of the recipe into pink, light blue/green, yellow , and a light purple. I didn't use regular food color, but I had a big box of Wilton decorator colors ( that I use for cake decorating ) and thought those would work fine.

Homemade Play dough

1 cup flour

1 cup water

2 tsp cream of tartar

1/3 cup (yes, cup) salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

food coloring

In medium saucepan, mix 1 cup flour, cream of tartar and salt.

Add 1 cup water and 1 tbsp oil.

Turn burner on medium low and stir well, will be a little lumpy.

Keep stirring until it starts getting somewhat thick. ( If there are still a few lumps, you can work them out when kneading). Once it reaches this point, add the food coloring.  ( this will take any where from about 1 to 3 minutes , approximately)

Now it will start getting almost solid, keep stirring and once it starts to gather on the spoon, it's done.

Remove dough from the saucepan and place on wax paper to cool. Once cooled slightly, knead for a minute or two to work out any lumps and give it a more smooth texture.

I actually split each batch in half, then stored one half for later. The remaining half, I divided between the girls so they each have about 1/4 batch of each color; the recipe makes quite a bit.

Of course , we had to get the cookie cutters out too. We have tons of play dough accessories from birthdays and Christmas, but they didn't even ask for any of those!

The play dough actually keeps pretty well too. I've had the other half of the four batches stored in a container in the pantry for over a week now and it's still soft. If it gets dried out a little, you can always just add a drop or two of water.



Easy "Back-to-School"

I know that August doesn't officially begin for a few days, but I've already started getting excited about Back to School "season". Don't get me wrong...I love my children, but long for school days to escape their boredom and resentment at "having nothing to do" in the house (it is, after all, 104 degrees outside!). They do , in fact, have plenty to do to keep them busy such as tons of toys, art and craft supplies and cleaning their rooms (yuck!). They just don't WANT to because they've been doing all these things most of the summer, except the cleaning bit. So we've been frequenting the local community water parks, the Museum of Science and History, and the dollar movies - but even these get old after the umpteenth visit .
Therefore, I'm excited about shopping for school supplies, registering for fall activities and trying new recipes to cook in a hurry on the nights we have to run around to all those above mentioned activities!

I'd love to share all of the great Back to School recipes and ideas that we find in this series!

In fact, just this week I picked up my copy of the Back to School Special Issue of All You magazine and found some great ideas I can't wait to get started on! It's loaded with recipes for weeknight dinners and great kids lunches, meal prep ideas, saving on school shopping, you name it....

To start off, I thought I would share one of my girls' favorite recipes that we came across in a Taste of Home Back to School mini-magazine a couple of years ago, Mini Cheddar Meatloaves. These are so easy to throw together and I've even made a double batch and frozen a second pan for later several times.

Mini Cheddar Meatloaves

1 egg
¾ cup milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

½ cup quick cooking oats

½ cup chopped sweet yellow onion

1 tsp salt

1 lb ground beef chuck

Topping:

2/3 cup ketchup

½ cup packed brown sugar
1 ½ tsp yellow mustard

In a large bowl, beat the egg and milk. Stir in cheese, oats, onion and salt.

Add beef and mix well.

Shape into 8 loaves and place in a greased 13x9

baking dish. 

Combine ketchup, brown sugar and mustard and spoon over loaves.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Makes 8 servings.

I'll keep adding more recipes and ideas for Back to School, feel free to share any of your ideas or tips to make Back to School fun and stress free!

A Pasta Surprise...

Well, it's Sunday and we wanted to try somehing new for lunch today. Yesterday, we took the girls to the local science and history museum and I got the munchies on the drive over. We stopped by the grocery store and I ran in to grab a snack. Luckily they were Diamond brand Glazed Walnuts because this morning I happened to grab them from the diaper bag and found a recipe on the back of the bag.

Hubby instantly liked the idea, so we thought we'd give it a shot ( we both love Glazed Walnuts!)

Penne with Sausage, Broccoli and Diamond Glazed Walnuts

Ingredients:

12 ounces dried penne
1 pound Italian sausages
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced (used 2 tsp jar minced garlic)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 pound broccoli (or your favorite vegetable), chopped (used frozen, thawed)
1, 28-ounce can diced tomatoes ( used 2 14.5 oz cans)
1 package Diamond Glazed Walnuts
Shaved parmesan cheese, for garnish ( used shredded )

Directions:

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil over high heat; add the penne and cook until al dente, about 10 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water, then drain the pasta and set aside.

Heat a large saute pan over high heat. Add the oil and swirl to coat. Remove the casings from the sausages; using your fingers, pinch the sausage into small pieces and allow them to drop into the hot pan. Cook until golden on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove the sausage from the pan and drain on paper towels. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the oil in the pan.

Add the onions, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper; sauté until the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the bell peppers and cook 2 minutes. Add the broccoli and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juices; bring to a boil, lower heat and cook at a simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the reserved 1 cup of pasta water.

Add the cooked pasta and sausage; toss well. Add the Diamond Glazed Walnuts; toss together well. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Transfer to a bowl or large casserole dish and garnish with shaved/shredded parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

The only thing we worried about was how the girls would like it ...

Guess that's all the approval I can ask for!!!!!

Welcome to Texas Mom Cooks!

Hi, I'm Crystal, the Texas Mom Cooks! I love to cook and try things in the kitchen, but I have two little girls who test everything too, so here you will find our adventures in the kitchen. Some will be delicious, others disasterous, but all will be an adventure.