Lesson: Fractions /sharing equally for younger ages

I did drive up pick up at Target for our Pete the Cat book, it was $8.99 for the hardcover. However, there are multiple read aloud versions on YouTube, if you don’t have/want to buy the book. Also really any kids book on pizza would work.

Read Perfect Pizza Party to your children, explain alliteration to your older ones.

Cut white circles out of printer or construction paper and have the kids color their pizza crust, sauce and cheese.

Next cut out of construction paper all of the very silly toppings from the book. Use different colored paper, or draw, color and cut out your toppings. Now re-read the book and with each page, glue on the topping mentioned. Have the kids read aloud the tongue twister with you. Let your craft dry, and have the older kids fill out their pizza fraction work sheet. Again lots of free printable are available online, you don’t have to write up your own.

Ingredients:

1 can refrigerated pizza dough (crescent dough will work in a pinch)

1/2 cup of pizza or marinara sauce

Alright lovers, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and what better way to celebrate than with steak! A nice steak dinner has been my go-to meal for years now. Fun fact, it’s me who wants the steak! My husband was not a steak eater when we first met, but considering he met me IN a steak house I think he knew what he was getting into.

I grew up with a dad who cooked a lot of awesome steaks and went on to wait tables at a popular steak house chain all throughout college. Shout out to Longhorn, I’ll be forever indebted to Darden for not only meeting my husband through that job, but also my best friend. It’s also where I fell in love with food from a cooking perspective.

Now last year I was reading all of this buzz about the cooking method reverse searing. I was intrigued. Then I tried it and oh my gosh, guys it was THE BEST steak I’ve ever made. It was so unbelievably tender, moist and buttery. The best part? It’s EASY! No really, all you need to make this recipe work is time.

Ingredients:

I know an hour plus of cooking time is a lot to ask but it’s 90% inactive time. The oven does all the hard work for you. To give you an idea for length of time you might need for your steaks depends on the cut you chose. When cooking 1lb ribeyes or New York strip steaks I do one hour at 275 degrees for an internal temperature of 155 degrees. For smaller but thicker cuts like 1/2lb filets or tenderloins I do 1 hour and 15 minutes at 275 degrees to reach and internal temperate of 155 degrees. If you like your steaks done more start by adding additional 5-10 minutes to the cook time. Thicker steaks take longer than thin ones, but the good news is you can’t over cook these!

Reverse sear if a foolproof way to never waste money on steak again. It’s easy when grilling a steak to leave it on too long and char it. Steak is an expensive protein and this is a good way to get the most out of that money. Even if you do cook these to medium well or well done the texture is still going to be soft and moist. The low and slow cook method locks in all of the steaks juices making this a delicious bite no matter how you cook it. You will be sure to impress your valentine (or anyone any time of the year) with this new method of cooking steak.

Alright so I am sure you guys have seen these Oreo truffles all over this time of year. I did a good bit of research before trying these out myself. When re-creating a popular recipe I always have to ask myself, what new can I bring to this idea? What makes these Mommy Spice Oreo truffles and not everyone else’s Oreo truffles? Enter my secret ingredient, Candiquik. For anyone not familiar, Candiquik is a delicious vanilla or chocolate flavored candy coating almond bark. Long time followers know my love for this stuff is REAL. Any picnic, birthday party or get together we ever host has my very popular pretzel rods. So Candiquik is a staple in my baking stash.

Oreo truffles are a breeze, only requiring 3 ingredients, that’s it. Oreos, cream cheese and melted chocolate. Now Mommy Spice Oreo truffles are different in that I used Oreos, cream cheese and Candiquik. However, I didn’t stop there. I used all different flavored Oreos! Mint, red velvet, golden, dark chocolate and of course classic. I also used both vanilla and chocolate almond bark and made different pairings with the different flavored Oreos. So below you will find multiple truffle recipes, the flavors may vary but the method will stay the same. Whereas your ingredient list is short these truffles do require a few kitchen utensils/supplies to be successful.

Walmart also sells their own version of Candiquik, pictured below, it costs a little less and the taste is about the same.

Classic Oreo Truffles

Red Velvet Oreo Truffles

Golden Oreo Truffles

Mint Oreo Truffles

Dark Chocolate Oreo Truffles

Grinch Oreo Truffles

I put all of my recipes for only 12 truffles, you’ll want to double or triple the batches for sharing. Now, my standard size food processor could do a double batch but it struggled a bit to get the cookies coarse enough, so I chose to do more smaller batches to get a better consistency.

Now let’s get started. Into your food processor put 12 Oreo cookies, flavor of your choice. Pulse until all of the cookies are finely broken down (big crumbs), to that add 2oz of softened cream cheese. You can throw the cream cheese in in one big chunk but I gave mine a rough chop into 3-4 pieces. Process on high until one large dough ball forms. Next take the blade out of your food processor, scoop out the Oreo mixture and roll into twelve 1” balls and place onto a sheet pan lined with wax paper.

Next put the sheet pan into the fridge for 15-30 minutes. If you have multiple sheet pans, use this time to make more batches. Once the truffle balls have almost set in the fridge, it’s time to melt your almond bark. Into a deep, glass, microwave safe bowl place 2 bricks of almond bark. Put into the microwave for 2 minutes, pausing and stirring every 30 seconds until completely melted and smooth. While the almond bark melts get your sprinkles ready. When the almond bark is melted take your truffles out of the fridge. If you’re choosing to dye the almond bark do so once it’s melted. Stir in your food dye until desired shade is reached. Working quickly, dip each ball into the melted almond bark, coat completely, place back onto the wax paper lined sheet pan and top with sprinkles. Once all truffles are covered and decorated, back into the fridge they go for another 15 minutes. Then you can remove the truffles from the wax lined sheet pan and place them in an air tight container.

Truffles will keep in the fridge for one month.

Pictured below is your three step method, I took photos of the Red Velvet Oreo double batch, you can see the mixture is to the brim of my food processor.

Have fun with these!! There are other Oreo flavors I didn’t get a chance to play around with yet: carrot cake, peanut butter and birthday cake to name a few. I would dunk the cake flavors in vanilla and the peanut butter in chocolate. Now whereas the dunking process can be tedious, the almond bark hardens quickly enough that you taste them in minutes. This is my main reason for always using almond bark over melted chocolate. It sets a lot faster and you end up with a harder candy-like shell on your treats.

Once you taste how yummy, and see how easy these are to make it’ll make the process go by faster. Also the decorating portion is the most fun for kids. A classic bead sprinkle is easy for smaller toddler hands to shake and will look just as festive as a neatly constructed 3 large sprinkle holly leaf by an older child or adult.

Holidays are the perfect time to get kids into the kitchen to help. Have them help you bake some cookies or create some truffles as a gift for their teacher, coach or bus driver. Homemade treats also come with a sense of pride for the person who gets to gift them. It’s a beautiful lesson to teach and instill in your children. Taking the time to make a gift for someone means something and it makes both parties, the giver and the receiver, feel good. Now isn’t that what this whole holiday season is about anyway!