Pinicchio Themed Movie Night

      So its no secret I love Disney! I was so excited when Pinocchio came out on dvd. I had to plan a fun night for my little peanut. (And me too lol) I spent countless hours on yet another favorite of mine Pinterest. I pulled together awesome ideas for a night of fun. I found coloring pages and a maze page too. I also Found a directed whale drawing and had my girl paint it with water colors. We made a special themed dinner, dessert and movie snack too. It was such a good time. My daughter enjoyed every minute. She really liked the movie and already asked to watch it again.

     I started with a menu that was perfect for even my little miss picky pants. I typed it up, added a Pinocchio clip art picture, and printed it out.

Menu:
* Pinocchio's Pizza
* Geppettos's Pieces of Wood ( biscuits with garlic butter)
* Figaro's Fruit
* Blue fairy Drink
* Wish Upon a Star Chocolate Chip Cookies
* Jiminy Crickets (choc covered raisins)
* Pinocchio's nose  (Handi snacks cheese and bread sticks)
* Monstro Crackers (goldfish crackers)

Activities:
 *Whale craft
* Maze sheet
* Coloring page
Link to where I found the printable maze and coloring sheet.

http://colouringdisney.blogspot.nl/search/label/PINOCCHIO


     My daughter really enjoys being in the kitchen with me so I decided to make homemade pizza. We also made chocolate chip cookies and used melted candy melts to pipe stars and added sprinkles. We cut up some strawberries and placed them into a little star dish. We baked biscuits and topped with a garlic butter.  We had blue V8 splash as our blue fairy drink.

little pizza maker hard at work

wish upon a star cookies

     While the pizzas baked in the oven it was time for our craft and maze sheet.

     She did such an amazing job with following the step by step instructions. Her work of art came out fabulous. Here is the link to the whale art project. http://artprojectsforkids.org/portfolio/whale/  
 
      Now it was time for dinner. The pizza smelled and looked heavenly!

 

Our themed food all ready to be enjoyed.

     During the movie we enjoyed our movie snacks. My favorite was the chocolate covered raisins. This was such a great night! I hope you enjoyed this post and are inspired to have your own Pinocchio movie night!

Til next time!

My World Famous Cinnamon Roll Pancakes!!

     Ok, so they may not be world famous but they are famous in this household. There are lots are different recipe variations going around, so I decided to come up with my own. Cinnamon rolls are one of my favorite foods in the world! But lets face it they can be a bit of a pain in the neck to make. These pancakes hit all the right notes and are simply amazing! They are pretty simple to make as well which is a plus! I start with my tried and true pancakes from scratch recipe, but you could totally skip that step and use pancake mix. They would be just as delicious. If cinnamon roll is not for you try my homemade pancakes plain or add fruit. They are the most yummy fluffy pancakes ever!

For the pancake batter:
* 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
* 3 1/2 TSP baking powder
* 1 TSP salt
* 1 TBSP white sugar
* 1 1/4 cups milk
* 1 egg beaten
* 3 TBSP melted butter

Directions:
* In a large bowl combine all  dry ingredients. Mix them well. You can sift together if you have a sifter.
* Make a well in the middle of you mix.
* Pour in milk, 1 beaten egg, and the melted butter. Be sure the butter is not too hot. If its too hot it will scramble your egg.
* Put a dab of butter on a hot skillet and fry until bubbly and ready to flip.

well in the mix, ready to add wet ingredients

For the cinnamon roll pancakes follow recipe above for the pancake batter or use your favorite boxed mix and follow the steps below. When making the cinnamon roll pancakes, I find it to be the easiest to prepare the filling first and put the cream cheese, vanilla, and butter in a small pot before moving onto the pancakes.

Ingredients ready to go. I ran out of vanilla so had to improvise.

For the cinnamon filling:
* 1/2 stick of butter melted
* 1/4 cup plus 2 TBSP brown sugar
* 2 TSP ground cinnamon

Cream Cheese glaze
* 1/2 stick butter
* 2oz cream cheese
* 3/4 cup powdered sugar
* 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix it all together and place in a ziplock bag. Cut a whole in the corner and pipe a swirl of goodness onto you cooking pancakes. Do this just about when the pancakes are ready to flip.

swirls of deliciousness

Next you will want to prepare you cream cheese glaze. In a small pot heat up the cream cheese, vanilla, and butter on low heat. Whisk occasionally. Once everything is melted and combined, whisk in the powdered sugar and set the glaze aside. Plate your pancakes and drizzle with the glaze! So yummy!

whisking the glaze

Yummy!

Rainy Day Baking Today = My 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies!!

     Today is a rainy blah day. Rainy days give me the urge to bake. I always love to bake but I get an extra push on rainy days. Today I am going to share with you my super secret peanut butter cookies recipe. It is so easy and takes minutes. I came up with this recipe years back when I wanted peanut butter cookies, but did not have close to what I needed. So I got to thinking and improvised with what I had. Now the first few times the cookies flopped, but I am no quitter lol. After some tweaking here and there I came up with a super delicious, ridiculously easy peanut butter cookie! These are something you can whip up fast. You will have all the ingredients in your kitchen already. No need for a trip to the market for these puppies! Are you ready for the secret recipe? Dun Dun Dun...... All you need is:

     *1 cup sugar
     *1 cup peanut butter
     *1 egg
   

      This will make 12-18 cookies! Right now you are saying "You have got to be kiddin me?" or "Shut the front door?" Am I right? Alright lets get to the directions, so you can get started on these bad boys yourself. Maybe surprise the family with some yummy cookies for dessert!

~ Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

~ In a mixing bowl combine all the ingredients.

~ Mix together until all incorporated.

~ Roll the dough into inch sized balls and place on a un-greased, non stick cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

 ~ Use a fork to flatten the balls.

We added Reeses bites for these ones.

~ Bake for 7-8 minutes or until the edges are lightly golden. Watch them because they can easily over cook.

~ Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool. They will still be soft to the touch. As they cool they will firm up.

~ Enjoy!

     These are super versatile cookies. You can add a forth ingredient like my munchkin did to change them up.  She wanted Reese bites in some of them. You could add chocolate chips, Reese Pieces, Hershey kisses, or anything that your want. You could top with fluff while they cool, or make a thumb print while they cool and add a tiny bit of strawberry jam. All so Yummy! So there you have it my super secret easy peasy lemon squeezy peanut butter cookies. I hope you enjoy them!