Our homemade chicken nuggets were way better than Mc Donald's, but they've got us beat on the play area! :)

Instead of going with my first instinct and driving through Mc Donalds with my son for a happy-meal, we decided to be really creative and make our own chicken strips at home (ok, so maybe that's not REALLY creative, but humor me). It was way easer than I thought and relatively quick, plus we were able to add a little extra yummy surprise, CHEESE!!!!!! Is you get to know me better you'll discover that I am absolutely obsessed with CHEESE! All I did was thaw some chicken, Mash up Chex Mix cereal (It was supposed to be corn-flakes but we didn't have any in the cubbord) in a separate bowl that I added cheese to, and melt some butter in a third bowl.



I put all the bowls in a row in front of my son and told him to dip the chicken in the butter, then roll it around in the Chex Mix Mixture and place it on a baking sheet.



I will say this, I thought my son would feel like it was christmas morning when I told him he could, essentially, PLAY with all this food and get his hands messy, but I think the butter was to much for him. He kept wining and wanting me to WIPE HIS HANDS OFF! Which is ironic because he had spent the entire morning collecting the ugliest bugs he could find for his bug collection! WHY DIDN'T HE WANT HIS HANDS WIPED THEN? (don't worry, I washed them before we started making the food... I know what you were thinking!)

Unfortunately Andon lost interest about halfway through, wanted me to microwave him some notchose and went outside to eat, but it only took me a second to finish and the chicken strips were DELICIOUS! (I would know, I ate 6!)

cooking with the kids/my 1st attempt!

soooooooo, I finally did it! I invited my 4-year-old in the kitchen with me to cook, and wait, there's more... he had a friend over!!!! Yes, you heard right, I was in the kitchen cooking with 2, yes 2, kids! (OK, i'm sure there are some of you out there with 5 and 6 kids and you're thinking, "BIG FAT DEAL" but this was a first for me so HUMORE ME!)

I started out small with Cupcakes, and shhhhhhhh, I used a box mix. but I decided to do something a little fun for the kids, we took mini candy bars and poked them into the batter, that way when you bite into the cupcake you get a little surprise! We made a huge mess, it took way longer than I thought and... the kids, and even me, had a BLAST! Here's a few tips to make your life easer when you try this... trust me, some of this I learned the HARD WAY!

If you have more than one child helping you, give them each there own things, I had a chocolate and vanilla mix and each of them got one, they both had there own bowls, there own frosting, well, you get the idea!

If you let them crack there own eggs have them do it in a separate bowl so you can pick out the shells before dumping them into the cake mix, (smart, I know, I thought of it myself)

and finally, After you make the cupcakes delivered them to friends with homemade cards, that made the day even more fun for us!

to find out the exact recipe and more tips and hints you'll have to pick up my book, out in Nov. (I know, it's a shameless plug!)

Some of the books at apricot press!

OK, so not all of these are mine, but they are GREAT as well! You'll be hearing about, and from, some of these great authors as well, so make sure to check back and check out the website!

I must be crazy!

So, I've decided I need to spend some more quality time with my son, (There never seems to be enough time in the day). I'm a single mom and so I look for every opportunity to fit play time into work time into cleaning time into learning time etc... That being said, one day a light went on in my head, "Why don't I make cooking time into family time"!!!! I know, I'm sure many of you are thinking, "Ya, Erin, I already thought of that" Well, I'm a little slow on the uptake. :) So, I'v spent the last couple months compiling recipes that are fun to cook with your kids! Tonight I'm taking the LEAP and trying one of my new, "have my son help in the kitchen" recipes with him...it should be interesting if nothing else! Check back tomorrow and I'll share all the gory details, maybe you can get some ideas that will help when cooking with your own kids, or maybe you can help me with some new ones!

hi

Hi! My names Erin Allred and I'm one of the authors here at Apricot Press, I have an AMAZING job, I get to travel all over the United States and Review restaurants, resorts, fun things to do etc! I know, I know, what a job right? Well, I get to visit so many great places that they wont all fit in my books! So I'm starting this blog to share with everyone some of the fun, scary, crazy, and excited destinations I visit, and you'll get to hear about all the, "behind the scenes" stuff that I could never print in a book! Sometimes I even get brave enough to take my 4 year old son along so you can see first hand what he thought, (4-year-olds are BRUTALLY HONEST) and get an idea how kids will like certain destinations. So, If you LOVE to travel and want to check out some really great places in your area, check out my bogs!

Oh ya... there are other great authors here at apricot press and you'll hear from them to... ok, so now I've mentions the others now lets get back to what's really important... my blogs!!!!! LOL! Can't wait to share my adventures with you!
-e