Doodads: A Family Foodie Tradition

I'm sure every family has their favorite holiday food, but in our family the holidays are ALL ABOUT THE FOOD ~ and eating it with family! One of our must have food items includes homemade Doodads. Now, I'm sure folks have other names for this delectable salty snack such as homemade 'Chex mix' or the like, but we've just always called them Doodads.

I found this recipe shortly after we were married, when I was trying to build up my arsenal of recipes. I've tweaked it over the years and made it my own with the flavors I know my family likes. But, this year I have been given some suggestions on spices to add to the mix. We'll have to see about all that, because now I'm intrigued to find out if they'd actually taste good with the these new flavoring ideas! 

Doodads is the official food that kicks off our Thanksgiving food fest! We typically cook all week leading up to Thanksgiving, and it's nice to have something to munch on while we're cooking up a storm. I can remember when we first started out making this recipe and how long one batch would last, and now we have to quadruple the recipe to make sure it last until Thanksgiving (but to be honest it barely does last, I usually have to hide a gallon ziplock bag just to make sure!). 

Since I am only two weeks shy of my due date, I have been given strict orders to scale down our Thanksgiving feast ~ sigh.  Not a perk of being pregnant during the holidays, but I do appreciate the concern and love my family has for me! One of my love languages is baking and cooking yummy food, especially for my family. I know how much my family loves some of the special dishes I only prepare at Thanksgiving, so this has been extra hard on this ol' girl. But, I can assure you one of the foods that was not cut out of the menu, was Doodads. 

Doodads

Ingredients 

1/4 cup melted butter

2 tbsp seasoning salt

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

3 cups nuts (we prefer pecan halves and peanuts)

4 cups pretzels

8 cups oat cereal

8 cups corn cereal

8 cups rice cereal

Directions

Combine butter, salt, and sauce. Mix remaining ingredients in a large bowl then pour butter mixture on top. Toss gently with spoon until evenly coated. Spread mixture on to two large baking pans. Bake 45 minutes @ 250*, rotating pans and stirring mixture every fifteen minutes. Let cool, then store in an air tight container or ziplock bags.

Y'all it has only been two days since we made our traditional super sized batch of Doodads and I have literally eaten so much of it, I don't think I will be eating any more!! I'm not exactly one given to indulging in sweets, but when it comes to salty snacks I have zero restraint ~ ugh!!! I'm blaming it on the baby this year though, lol. 

I'm truly blessed in the fact that since I've spent years teaching my little ones to cook and bake, now that many of them are older, they are perfectly willing and capable to lend a hand in the kitchen. I have truly been grateful for their help this year when I've been slow, awkward, and pretty much unable to keep up. 

Not only did I have the privilege of my kiddos helping with the making of our Doodads and our other Thanksgiving food, but my husband helped too. On our Doodad making day he surprised us with a half of day of work, and actually came in and immediately took over, finishing up the mix while I took in some much needed rest. 

With how much we make it took a little over three hours to get this tasty Doodad mix wrapped up. We are blessed to have a double oven and were able to do four pans of mix at a time, but we did a total of eight pans this year. With how quickly we're going through it, I think next year I'm going to have to make the recipe x5, 😅 So is the life of a large family mama!

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Thanksgiving Craftivities

Whoop Whoop super excited that I'm getting this post on here before Thanksgiving! The last few weeks of pregnancy I literally feel like a ticking time bomb and always preface my list of to-dos with "if the baby doesn't come today". Well as y'all can see the baby hasn't come yet and I got all our fun Thanksgiving craftitvities done and documented!! Yes, I am one happy mama. And to make it all even better, every day of our projects went off without a hitch except the last day ~ sigh! Well, you can't win them all I guess. 

We kicked off our Thanksgiving craftivities with baking homemade cut-out sugar cookies. 

Making cut-out sugar cookies is one of my favorite holiday traditions, so much so that the kids learn real quick and at a super young age the cookie making process, lol.

Of course we can't make cut-out cookies without icing them. The day was so full with activities that it was well after dinner before we could get to icing our cookies. Mama almost made a major booboo!! When we went looking for our sprinkles, we discovered most of our fall sprinkles were empty ~ Yikes! You can't ice cut-out sugar cookies without sprinkles!! Thankfully we made it work, but I will be urgently restocking our sprinkle stash.

Our first art project was a turkey directed drawing. 

I absolutely love how the kids get into creating their own personalized directed drawings.

Our next craftivity went along with watching our Charlie Brown Thanksgiving movie. 

The children made mini pumpkin pies.

 My eldest daughter decided to add chopped pecans to her little pie, and I think it turned out so pretty.

Next we made 'Thankful Turkeys'.

I free-handed a turkey body, beak, gobbler, and feathers onto construction paper for the children to glue together. On each of the turkey's feathers the children wrote what they were thankful for.

One of our Thanksgiving traditions is to make mini loaves of pumpkin chocolate chip bread for our neighbors and a couple family members. 

I'm one of those weird mamas who loves having my babies in the kitchen with me AND when I see extra big cheeky grins like this one on Lydia, it makes all the extra work and chaos worth it to have them bake and cook with me! 

I almost love these mini loaves as much as muffins. They're so cute and perfect for gift-giving. 

Last we had a Thanksgiving minute-to-win-it. The goal was for the children to blow faux turkey feathers across the room. The first one to reach the other side of the room was the winner.

During our seasonal fun schooling weeks we do 'light duty' in regards to the nitty gritty of our normal core homeschooling regime. This week we did do a Thanksgiving interactive notebook (which I did not take any pictures of~ sorry). For the most part the children's lessons consisted of whatever they could do independently. It gives us all a much needed break from our normal homeschool routine.

Scheduling these fun school weeks has been a lifesaver for this mama and I wish it hadn't taken me so many years to figure out how to incorporate them into our homeschool schedule. Trust me though, they will forever more be a common reoccurrence in planning all our future homeschool years.

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Holiday Muddy Buddies

Happy Halloween

I have to start off with apologizing for my absence! You know how it goes, everyone has that one month or season where you're just insanely busy and it's a major struggle to get everything you want, done. Sadly, my blogging has taken a back seat lately because October is our busiest month of the year! I seriously have at least a dozen posts headed your way; I just have to find the time to get them posted! 

Since I am so behind with my posts and today is Halloween, I thought I'd share a fun seasonal/holiday recipe, and then I'll go back and start posting, in order, all the other posts I have planned, lol.

To me the holidays are never complete without loads of fun food, especially recipes that are easy for kids to make. On Halloween we eat a plethora of festive foods, but this year we added in Halloween Muddy Buddies. This is a super easy snack mix to make, so much so that even your little ones can lend a hand. This recipe is easily adapted for any holiday with the appropriate colored chocolate M&M's. Since it is Halloween, we used Halloween colored M&M's.

Holiday Muddy Buddies

Ingredients 

1 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup butter

9 cups Chex cereal (I used a whole box of Aldi brand corn Chex cereal)

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 bag holiday colored chocolate M&M's

Directions 

Line two large jelly roll pans with parchment paper. Pour cereal into a large bowl. Melt chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a glass bowl in the microwave. Pour melted chocolate mixture over cereal and toss with spoon until evenly coated. Pour cereal onto cookie sheets, dividing evenly. Cool in fridge for 30 minutes. Pour cereal back into large bowl and toss with sugar. Add M&M's. Ready to eat immediately or store in air tight container.

I realize a lot of conservative Christians do not celebrate Halloween, and I 100% support that decision. (We went many years without celebrating the day!) But, now we've adapted the holiday to fit our lifestyle and simply use it as an opportunity to create fun family memories. We are intentional to keep it light, fun, and void of the dark scary stuff that often overshadows a fun day to dress up and use your imagination. 

Making festive food is just another wonderful addition to our family's Halloween celebrations. It didn't take more than an hour (and not all at one time) to make this fun treat. My kiddo thought it was a great festive snack. There was nothing spooky or 'bad' about this snack mix ~ only a special holiday memory of baking with mom on Halloween. Life is what WE make it to be, even a holiday like Halloween!

So to all our fellow Halloween celebrating friends ~ be safe, make those treasured memories, and enjoy your evening!

With Love & Hope,

Jennifer

Kids in the Kitchen: Memories Not Messes

As mothers we want to make every moment we have with our children count. We often hear the old adage "Quality over Quantity"; which certainly seems applicable when raising children. Our attention is pulled in every direction. The demands of motherhood are extreme and nonstop. A mom is expected to be everywhere and do everything with a smile on her face, all the while never tiring. Well, we all know that just simply isn't going to be the case ALL the time. And so we find ourselves on a 'mommy mission' to find those little nuggets of time to create as many memory making opportunities as possible. One of my personal favorite ways to spend time with my children is while I am baking and cooking.

Let's face it, we have to eat. Kids have to eat. Okay actually they want to eat constantly, but typically not the food we are preparing, sigh. Why not incorporate them in the food prepping process? Yes, I know you can do it faster and with far less mess; but remember as mothers, we're looking for as many opportunities as possible to spend QUALITY time with our children. I find that when I'm cooking or baking with my kids, that they have more of my undivided attention than with any other activity we could do together. Which for me, makes the positives far outweigh the negatives of my children being in the kitchen.

Cooking and baking is fun for children. It's one of the best sensory learning activities a child can do AND it's a life skill they can take with them forever. Even if you can't cook or bake, there are simple meal prepping activities you can involve your children with as you work to get the meal ready for everyone to eat. I have found the following 5 simple steps to help me remain focused on purposing to include my children in our family's meal prep even when it isn't the easiest process.

1. Remember you're raising children who will become adults, and the art of preparing a meal is a huge asset for their future nutritional needs as well as budget.
2. When children are involved in the cooking process, they are more likely to eat the food.
3. As they get older they will be able to carry more of the workload of preparing family meals, therefore giving you an occasional break from kitchen duty.
4. Responsibility is a good thing, it gives children confidence and the encouragement to believe in themselves in many different aspects of their lives
5. Time in the kitchen with anyone, especially children, often leads to the best conversations which helps to further deepen a parent/child relationship.

While it may not be the easiest to cook or bake with a child 'underfoot', I can assure you the treasured memories you are creating deeply overshadow any inconveniences. Purpose NOT to look at the mess, they can always be cleaned up, but look at the sweet child who WANTS to be with you, gleaning from everything you have to share. There will come a time when they will no longer be in your home to create special memories and make those messes.

Even with all the demands of motherhood it is an awesome gift and one that shouldn't be taken for granted. While none of us will ever be the perfect mother, we can look for opportunities to spend quality time with our children. I challenge you to let your little ones bake and cook with you, relax, smile, and enjoy the journey. Make some messes but more importantly make some priceless memories.

With Love & Hope,
Jennifer