Back to School Pencils: Munchkin Mondays

I'm always looking for fun and creative ways to get my kids to eat. They are both fairly picky so I try to make their food fun. My daughter especially loves it when I make her food creatively as she is a very creative girl herself.

I was at Target recently. Since I can't just walk past their dollar section, I entered and found another cute little recipe book similar to the one I found for the Squid Dogs recipe entitled, "Disney Family Fun: Easy Kids' Lunches." You can find a similar recipe book here.

One of the first recipes that caught my eye was this simple and fun recipe using string cheese to make pencil-shaped snacks. Since my daughter will be starting kindergarten in a week (yikes!) I thought this would make a fun back-to-school snack or lunch item for when she gets home. I adapted the recipe to better fit my budget and kids' tastes and came up with what you see below.

Enjoy!

Back to School Pencils
string cheese, mozzarella and/or cheddar
green pepper
Bugles corn snacks
raisins
bologna, thick or regular
toothpicks

First cut up your green pepper. Find an area on the pepper that is flat and cut out as many small circles as the number of snacks you will be making. I used this small round 5/8 inch cutter from Wilton.

Next, take a slice of thick bologna or cut one slice of regular bologna in half and cut out several small circles using the same circle cutter. I used regular bologna since that is what I had in the house already. It will look nicer with the thick bologna if you have it.

Grab some Bugles snacks and snap the pointy ends off of them.

Take a raisin or more if you're making more than two snacks, and slice it in half. You'll need half a raisin for each snack.

Now to assemble the pencils...

Using a sharp knife, slice a portion of the cheese stick near one end at an angle, removing a triangular shape. Take one Bugle snack and press it gently onto the angled end of the cheese stick. Take half of a raisin and press gently onto the other end of the Bugle for the "lead" of the pencil.

On the other end of the cheese stick, insert a toothpick so that only 1/4-1/2 inch remains sticking out. Take a green pepper circle and skewer it onto the toothpick. Next, do the same with the bologna, forming your eraser.

If you have small children eating this, you can always leave the toothpick out and use mustard, mayonnaise or ketchup to stick each piece together. If you leave the toothpick in, always remember to warn the child that the toothpick is there.

And there you have it! Back to School Pencils. This is one pencil that you're allowed to chew on. Hope everyone has a great school year!

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Full Plate Thursdays

Giant Skillet Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookie

With my one year blogiversary coming up and my husband's birthday a few days later, I figured I'd bake a special cake to celebrate both.

My husband wanted a cookie cake, which I've never done before but I wanted to make it a bit fancier by baking it in a skillet. I thought this would be more difficult but as it turned out, it was so much easier AND I was able to use the skillet as a mixing bowl as well. Fewer dishes for me = a much happier blogiversary!

Hope you like it!

Giant Skillet Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookie
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Melt butter in 10-inch cast iron skillet on stove top over medium heat. Stir in sugar, brown sugar and vanilla with a small whisk or fork then remove from the heat. Let the pan rest away from the hot burner until somewhat warm but no longer hot.

Whisk in egg then carefully add flour, baking soda and salt. Stir slowly so as not to spill mixture over the sides of the pan.

Fold in chocolate chunks.

Spread dough with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until it covers entire bottom of pan.

Place skillet into preheated oven and bake for 11-14 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately with a scoop of ice cream for a warm, gooey cookie or wait until cool for a more dense cookie. I drizzled some chocolate ice cream shell coating over the entire cookie for a fun and delicious treat!

Enjoy!

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One Year Blogiversary Giveaway!

July 27th was my official one year blogiversary! To celebrate, I have several great prizes available to give away to seven, that's right, SEVEN of my followers!

Julie, an Avon representative, has been nice enough to donate three items to give away. Please take a look at what you can win below, then head over to her website to see what else Avon has to offer:

Dove and Heart Anklet Set- $7.99 value
Plus (1) NAILWEAR PRO+ Nail Enamel in Ruby Slippers (beautiful sparkly red) not pictured-$6.00 value

Foot Works Beautiful Mint & Aloe 3-Piece Pedi Care Collection-$15 value

Secrets to Keep Eau de Toilette Spray-A dreamy blend of fruits and florals. Whispers of sweet apple and juicy strawberry with a passionate heart of jasmine, white musk and warm sandalwood. 1.7 fl. oz. A $16.50 Value!

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In addition to the Avon products donated by Julie, Tricia, a representative of Linen World, has graciously donated two more items:

5 Qt. Collapsible Colander with a value of $14.99 which can be found on page 46 of her catalog.

AND this Gourmet Chef Apron with a value of $9.99 in the Olive Oil print. It can be found on page 50 of her catalog.

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Did you know that in addition to my food blog and my photography blog, I also have an Etsy shop?! 

It's pretty new so I'm just beginning to stock it with my creations but I would love for you to go take a look. I'll be continuing to stock it up throughout the giveaway so check back often for new items!

Since my Etsy shop, Mama Z Creations is just starting out, I thought I would also donate an item from it as well. Take a look at my shop here. If you're drawn as the winner of the Mama Z Creations
item, you will receive one item of your choice, up to a $10.00 value for free with free shipping -or- you can choose an item or items totaling more than $10.00 and take $10 off of your total purchase. 

Any remaining amount from the $10.00 will be forfeited and cannot be used towards a future purchase or for store credit.

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For our last prize, I wanted to give you this little gift set as a way to say thanks for all of your support over the past year. 

If you follow me on facebook, you know how much I love coffee! I wanted to spread the coffee love by offering this 4-count box of Tully's Coffee K-cups assortment, a 4-count Green Mountain Coffee Brew Over Ice Hazelnut Iced Coffee K-cups and a 50-count box of Stevia In The Raw. There are even a few coupons attached or inside of the boxes so you can buy more great coffee goodness!

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Whew! That's a lot of stuff to give away! There are many ways to enter so you'll have a lot of chances at winning a prize.

To enter:
Simply fill out the Rafflecopter form below (it might take a few minutes to load so be patient!) by clicking on each entry option and doing the task that it requires. Once done with that task, click Enter and move on to the next entry. You don't have to enter every way but your odds will improve with each entry completed.

When the contest is over, I will draw the winners and notify each by email. Once notified, the winners will have 48 hours to respond or they will forfeit their prize and I will draw another winner. This giveaway will end on Thursday, August 17th at 12:01 a.m. EST. 

Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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