Tasty Tuesday -- Breakfast at our house

Hello! It's Tuesday! I'm sharing a few recipes that I made for breakfast a couple weekends ago. I found both of these recipes over at the blog The Girl Who Ate Everything. Have you visited her site yet? If not, you should. She features delicious recipes, just like these:

French Toast Roll-Ups

These were so good! I filled ours with Nutella as well as Creamy Peanut Butter. I was out of fresh strawberries at the time, but will try those the next time we make them.

Mini Frittatas

I changed ours up a bit. I used cooked bacon bits and shredded reduced fat co-jack cheese. I also used low-fat milk and Egg Beaters. These were amazing. The recipe made a lot so I packaged the rest up and stored them in an air-tight container in the frig for quick weekday breakfasts (just pop them in the microwave for 15 seconds or so). My son calls these egg muffins!

Head over to her blog right now for the recipes. Just click on the title and it will bring you to that recipe.

 

Jewelry Craft Ideas for Kids

Hi! How's your Wednesday going? I have a treat for you today! I have a guest post today and I think you will really enjoy what she is sharing with us today! 

 

Much like their mother, my daughters are crafting maniacs. They have their own drawers packed with supplies and get excited at the mere prospect of a visit to our local craft store. They also love to spend time trolling the internet for craft tutorials. Unfortunately, they often happen upon tutorials we have to pass on, simply because they’re not child friendly.  A lot of jewelry tutorials require manual dexterity and fine motor skills far beyond the capabilities of young children. These three tutorials are perfect for kids ages 7-12 and require very little parental help!

Friendship Bracelets

After summers end, newly made friends often head off to different schools. Friendship bracelets are a great way for children to celebrate personal relationships without resorting to Facebook.

My girls’ favorite friendship bracelet is woven with many different colors. A wonderful tutorial on how to create this fabulous bracelet can be found at Modcloth. I really love the variety of colors that can be used so that each bracelet is unique and special. 

Bottle Cap Necklaces

Many of you are probably thinking to yourself, “Great, let’s put trash around our children’s’ necks.” But let me tell you, there are some great bottle cap necklace tutorials around the web that look fantastic. You could always buy some on Etsy, but what’s the fun in that?

This tutorial from Compulsive Craftiness is my favorite. If you don’t have a stash of bottle caps, you can get them here. I would avoid any bottle caps that say Corona or Samuel Adams unless you plan on covering up the brand name. You wouldn’t want people thinking that your child is an alcoholic.

Personal Tip: For attaching the jump rings, I highly recommend Wubbers jewelry pliers. We use them for a lot of different crafts and they’re fabulous because they don’t mar the delicate metals that are used in jewelry making. 

Washer Necklaces

This is one of the most kid-friendly jewelry tutorials that I’ve found. These adorable washer necklaces need very little adult supervision. You can find the tutorial at Small for Big.

This craft uses metal washers, nail polish, string and seed beads with a result that is way too adorable to pass up. The only place little ones may need help is in threading the string through the needle. These necklaces leave so much room for creativity. My daughters love them!

I hope your kids enjoy these fabulous jewelry crafts as much as mine did! Letting children take charge in their own projects and express themselves creatively really promotes a strong sense of self-esteem as well as pride in their work.

Claire Thomas is a DIY fiend who has yet to meet a tutorial she can’t tackle. When she’s not crafting, she and her nana can be found scouring estate sales for the next big Antiques Roadshow find.

What kind of crafty project have you done with your kids lately? Please share--I'm always looking for ideas.

Tasty Tuesday -- Skinny Copycat Starbucks Chocolate Chip Frappuccino

It's the first day of October!!! I'm so excited. This means my No-Soda September is over. I tried. I really was hoping to kick the soda habit for good. But, I can't. I've been craving it for the last week of September. But, I do promise that I won't drink as much of it anymore. Whew...thank goodness! Oh, and this is my birthday month, so keep your eye open for a fun giveaway!

Do you love Starbucks? Well, I'm not a coffee drinker, so it's not my first choice, but my daughter is obsessed with that place. One of her favorite drinks to get at Starbucks is the Double Chocolate Chip Blended Frappuccino Creme. I've tried it. It's good and doesn't have an over-powering coffee taste. I could actually handle one of those. BUT...did you know a 12 oz. size is over 400 calories and has 17 g of fat? Now, I can't have one of those.
But, I found a skinny version that has been taste-tasted by my daughter, her friend and myself and we all think it is a good "skinny" version of the real thing. I've tweaked the recipe a bit because we thought the original one was too sweet.

Skinny Chocolate Chip Frappuccino
Adapted from Hungry Girl

Ingredients
1 pkt diet hot chocolate mix
4 oz warm water
1 Tbls sugar free chocolate syrup
2 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 Truvia Sugar Packets (or other sweetener)
1 Tbls Mini Chocolate Chips
8-10 ice cubes
Fat Free Whip Cream

Directions
Mix the hot chocolate and water together until completely dissolved. Pour hot chocolate, chocolate syrup, Truvia, chocolate chips and almond milk in blender. Blend on high for 45 seconds. Pour into a fun cup and top off with some whip cream! Sprinkle a few more mini chocolate chips on top to make super cute!!

Yum! Enjoy this lighter calorie version. According to Hungry Girl, it comes is at 135 calories, 4.5 g of fat! Now, this is something I can have!!