Edible Play Dough

Reading through a cookbook (a hobby of mine), I found a recipe for edible play dough. I know Guy is too young to do play dough (the real stuff), but I decided to give this a shot. It's a simple recipe made up of creamy peanut butter, powdered milk, flour, and powdered sugar.

I made it while Guy was napping on Sunday. When he got up, we played. It's been a long time, and my creative juices weren't flowing. To start off, I gave Guy a ball I shaped (pretty decent sized), and he immediately ate about 1/2 of it. Yum.Then Dad came to help--making this little man.Obviously Guy had no problem pretending to be a dinosaur and eating a man. Dad then made this, and told him it was a horse. Remember how Guy loves horses? Well, he was done eating. Even after Dad told him it was a dinosaur, Guy still wouldn't eat it.

Next time I think I'll dye some/all of it.

Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter

3/4 c. dry nonfat milk

1/2 c. flour

3/4 c. powdered sugar

Mix peanut butter and dry milk together. Stir in flour and powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Our Cowboy

I wanted Guy to be Zorro for Halloween (fitting, right?), but nobody makes that distinctive round hat in his little size. So, another year . . .
Rob found the above photo online, and we liked it, but decided to make a few motifications. Right now Guy's favorite animal is a horse. So, I whipped out my paper mache skills--in second grade I won 2nd place and $25 to an art store for making a paper mache squid. These skills haven't been honed since then, but I think my horse head turned out okay (free handing it). It took a lot of work, and I've now decided it's going to be Guy's costume for the next 10 years. I don't think I'll ever spend so much time on a costume for a one year old again, but it did work out well and he had a good time. The morning he saw it all put together, he couldn't stop neighing.

Oh, and I had the extra jeans and fake boots for him too, but the costume just got too heavy for him, so maybe another year. Really, it won't be his costume for years on end, but I will reuse it--whenever it is that we move next, the horse head is coming, we'll just make it a new box. :)

Best Apple Crisp Ever

I'm not a pie fan--I don't like pastry crusts. I know, I know, I'm weird. Rob reminds me of that every time he gets to eat pie somewhere else. Fortunately, he's even pleased when I do something with a graham cracker or Oreo crust.

My favorite fall dessert is apple crisp. I've enjoyed it for years, but it really became my favorite after my sister-in-law, Sara, introduced me to a new version. Hers calls for a little butterscotch pudding in the topping--that caramelizes into the apples. Yum!

I like mine extra "crispy," so I actually do 2 toppings for apple crisp now. I tried putting the 2 topping recipes together, but one calls for melted margarine/butter and the other calls for softened margarine/butter. After experimenting, I've decided it's best to do both separately.

In a 9x13 pan mix the following:
8 cups peeled, sliced apples (if you make lots of apple stuff, this is a must)
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 T flour
1/2 cup milk
1 cup water

Topping 1:
1 1/3 cup flour
1 cup oats
1/2 cup sugar
1 c margarine, melted
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
2 packages butterscotch pudding (cook 'n serve)

Topping 2:
1 cup flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup oats
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

Bake at 350 for 45-50 min.

I know, it's a little bit labor intensive because of the 2 toppings, but it IS worth it. It's fabulous!

Notes:
I use a pastry blender to mix the toppings
Pudding topping goes on first, then the other crispy one on top
I actually never measure the apples, I just fill the pan up with apples and mix the other ingredients in
You're welcome to borrow my apple corer/slicer/peeler tool :)

Pumpkin Patch

Saturday was a busy busy day, and we didn't even go Trick or Treating. We did, however, visit a pumpkin patch and then buy a new car. Yea! It's actually a nice looking Chevy S10 SS truck. Rob found it on KSL so we are now a two car and one motorcycle family. Yea for that second car in the winter, what a difference it will make. More costumes photos to come later. . .