Welcome to Mom’s Library

This post is filled with parenting tips, activities for young children, crafts, devotionals, recipes, and more!

Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss the next Library!

Click here to see all Mom’s Library Posts
 

Fall Snacks

Wild Alaska Berry Muffins – Erica Barker Get a head start on breakfast with these berry muffins!   Easy Grain-Free Egg Bake – Intoxicated on Life Eggs have many nutritional values. Check out this recipe with 18 eggs! Cinnamon Rolls – Do It All Working Mom Start your morning the right way – with these delicious cinnamon rolls!   Snickers Sundae {in a Mason Jar} – My Joy Filled Life  Curl up near a campfire with this simple Snickers Sundae recipe – in a mason jar!   Apple Butter Scones – Study at Home Mama Here is the perfect excuse to have some apple butter!   Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies – One Little Project

Add a fall splash of pumpkin to classic chocolate chip cookies!

Would you like to participate?

  Please follow me and support your fellow bloggers by visiting some links! Grab a button if you were featured!     * by linking up you give Mom’s Library Bloggers permission to use photos from your post with a link back.

The post Fall Snacks and Mom’s Library #157 first appeared on True Aim.

So break out the summer food and activities while you still can! Make some watermelon lemonade slushies and head outside to enjoy the beautiful weather while the kids burn off energy chasing each other in a last season game of tag.

Watermelon Lemonade Slushies

These are SO addicting. They taste like sweet and sour candy, but are probably a lot better for you. Well, maybe.

First things first, freeze your watermelon by taking a melon baller and scooping out the balls onto a pan lined with a non-stick sheet or wax paper. My kids LOVE using the melon baller for some reason, so they helped me out with this part. Then, freeze overnight or for at least 3 hrs.

If you are making the lemonade, you’ll want to do that ahead of time too so it can chill in the refrigerator before you add it to the frozen watermelon balls.

I just used some Simply Lemonade to make it fast and easy. Besides, I’m pretending the laziness of summer is still here.

Fill up your blender to the brim with the frozen watermelon balls. If you don’t like your slushies so sweet, then use some crushed ice with the watermelon. Cover the watermelon ice balls with the chilled lemonade and blend until smooth.

What you get is the best slushie flavor and texture. I was temped to just drink them all myself. I served mine in mason jars with straws for the kids and it made 4 jars full.

If you have an overripe watermelon, this would be a great way to use it. I can’t stand eating mushy watermelon, but if you put it in this slushie it will give it a strong watermelon flavor.

So I sipped the last of my summer goodbye. Until next time, I’ll miss you!

The post Goodbye to Summer: Watermelon Lemonade Slushies Recipe first appeared on True Aim.

Sometimes we have to motivate our children to eat their salads. They’re not big fans. But serving it this way made it really fun and they ate it up even without any dressing! So my kids ate tons of extra veggies and I didn’t have to cook!

Salad Buffet Dinner

It’s all about presentation. Really! My kids thought this looked so cool, they didn’t even fret about eating a bunch of salad. You could use a bunch of separate bowls, but I used a platter that hid the lettuce (not my kids favorite) underneath all the yummy toppings. The base I used was romaine lettuce and baby spinach.

My daughter Audrey prepared all the toppings, so I didn’t really have to do anything. Just washed and dried the veggies and gave them to her to chop. Her favorite thing to use is the peeler.

When my kids help in the kitchen, they are a lot more likely to eat what they make than what I put in front of them, especially if they get to choose what goes into their food.

I asked Audrey what veggies she would like and then put a few more in there. She was really excited about this dinner!

Funny what a little fancy platter and a variety of toppings will do to make kids eat their salad. What do you cook when you don’t feel like cooking?

The post Cooking with Kids When you Don’t want to Cook: Salad Buffet Dinner first appeared on True Aim.

My kids made a week’s worth of snacks all by themselves! No joke. It was really fun and easy and it just took one day with the help of a little yogurt.

First my daughter made mini Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Muffins. Then, my other kids helped make Yogurt Fruit Popsicles, Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches, and Yogurt Bites.

3 Easy Yogurt Snacks Kids Can Make

First, we started the Frozen Yogurt Sandwiches because it takes a little while for the yogurt to freeze up. We picked 3 different kinds of Yoplait yogurt, now made with 25% less sugar, to put in our sandwiches; strawberry, strawberry cheesecake, and orange cream.

You can add chopped fruit to make these even healthier. I put a little mango in the strawberry because I had a mango I needed to use up.

My daughter helped me keep an eye on the yogurt in the freezer. After 45 minutes, we tested the consistency and stirred it up so it wouldn’t get too hard in spots. Then we checked it every 15 minutes after that, stirring each time.

After about 1 hour and 15 minutes, it became thick, but soft enough to scoop onto our graham crackers. The 3 containers of Yoplait, made 6 large Ice Cream Sandwiches. I cut each into 4 pieces and so they are perfect for snacking!

Yogurt Fruit Popsicles

While the Yoplait yogurt was thickening in the freezer, we made our second snack. We used small paper cups, frozen fruit, 3 different kinds of yogurt, and sticks to make our popsicles.

Emma helped me with this snack and divided about a cup of frozen fruit between 6 small paper cups. Then she scooped the yogurt in and mixed it all up.

The sticks can be used to clean the inside of the cup. After you put the stick in, just tap the cup down on a surface to make sure there is no air on the bottom.

We put those in the freezer and they were ready in about 3 hours. To remove the cups, I just cut a slit in the top and tore off the cup.

Yogurt Bites

This was the easiest snack to make and I did it mostly for my baby, but popping a few of these in my mouth really helps suppress the need for something sweet in the evening before dinner.

I let my son have a little fun with this one. He helped me fill the plastic bag with yogurt and then squeezed it out on a nonstick baking mat. If you don’t have one of those you could use parchment too.

We slipped it in the freezer and then after an hour, they were ready to pop in our mouths for a cool and sweet bite!

Which snack do you think your kids would like the best?

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Yoplait®. The opinions and text are all mine.

The post 3 Easy & Healthy Yogurt Snacks Kids Can Make first appeared on True Aim.

4th of July Snack Plate

To make your snack plate you just combine your favorite red, white, and blue fruit or veggies on a platter. I picked strawberries and blueberries and I also used pineapple cut into triangles to make a star shape in the middle. It might be easier to get a starfruit instead.

For the white in my platter, I used marshmallows. This was a special treat because of the 4th of July celebrations. My kids never eat them otherwise. We’ve also used Jicama before which is an edible root that will soak up flavors from the fruit. I like to put cinnamon on it to give it a little more flavor.

It’s totally up to you what you want to put on your fruit platter. The fun part is arranging it so it’s pretty. My son Colton helped me put all the fruit on the plate.

We talked about how our fruit looked like the colors of the flag and how 4th of July was coming up. He was pretty curious as to what that was. Not sure if he understood, but I did my best to explain it to a 3-year-old.

He sure did like this fruit plate! Gone in seconds, I had to reload it with more yummy fruit! Now I just need to figure out a fun veggie plate that disappears just as fast.

What kind of fruit will you use for your platter?

The post Easy 4th of July Fruit Plate for Kids first appeared on True Aim.

My kids love chicken, fruit, and pasta. Veggies are another story. They are getting pickier when it comes to what kind of veggies they eat. I found that if I add fruit to veggies, they’ll eat a lot more of them just to get to the fruit.

What makes this recipe even better is the veggies I can hide in their pasta thanks to Ronzoni’s new Garden Delight. There is 1 whole serving of vegetables for each 4 oz. portion and they add lots of pretty colors too.

Raspberry Chicken Pasta Salad with Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing

Another reason I love this recipe; the only cooking involved is the pasta for just 9 short minutes. My eldest daughter knows what to do, and gets the pasta cooking for me.

After the timer goes off, I run the pasta under cool water to stop the cooking and cool off the noodles so I can add my veggies.

I like to put very thing in this salad, but for my kids I keep it to lettuce, cucumbers, raspberries and chicken. Sometimes we add some cubes of mozzarella or goat cheese when we have it. If I’m making this just for myself, I’ll add spinach and avocado too.

You can use whatever kind of cooked chicken you like. It tastes great with this salad when seasoned with garlic salt or you could even get a rotisserie chicken from the store.

Raspberry Chicken Pasta Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Cool, fresh, sweet, sour and salty.

Author: True Aim

Cuisine: American

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 12 oz Ronzoni Garden Delight Pasta
• 2 cups cooked chicken chopped
• ½ cucumber
• 1 cup Raspberries
• ½ head of Ice Berg Lettuce
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tbs olive oil
• 3 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp poppy seeds
• ¼ cup sugar
• salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Cook pasta according to directions. Drain under cold running water to stop the cooking and set aside.
2. Make the poppy seed dressing by whisking the yogurt, olive oil, vinegar, poppy seeds, and sugar together in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate until ready to use.
3. Combine Pasta, chicken, cucumber, lettuce and raspberries in a large bowl and serve with dressing and any salad toppings like nuts, croutons, bacon or shredded cheese.

3.3.3070

You can find Ronzoni Garden Delight pasta at your local Walmart. There you can find an in store coupon for $0.55 off starting 6/22/15; offer expires 8/2/15.  Find a $1.00 off coupon on any two Garden Delight items in most newspapers on 6/28/15 (while supplies last).

Serve this amazing salad as a side or a complete meal, either way, your children will be happy and you’ll be happy to know that they got a good dose of veggies in their diets.

The post Raspberry Chicken Pasta Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing first appeared on True Aim.

All my kids love using a knife. It makes them feel all grown up, but there are a few things that I do to make sure they are safe. First, all my knives are very dull. I never let them use a sharpened knife. Next, I make sure they are standing on a sturdy surface and am right next to them just in case something happens.

Easy Fruit Salsa Recipe

This recipe is so easy, the trick is to cut the fruit into small pieces. I usually cut down the whole fruit into manageable pieces for my daughter to finish into little squares. However, the strawberries and kiwi are soft enough for her to do on her own. I think see was concentrating pretty hard while she was cutting everything. How about you?

Apple, Mango, and strawberries make up the majority of this salsa, but you can use any combination of fruit and I think it would be good. For tart fruit, you may need to add more jam or extra sugar.

To serve, we usually make cinnamon tortilla chips in the oven. Those are good even alone! Combined them with this salsa and people will rave about them!

Easy Fruit Salsa Recipe

 

Print

Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Amazingly tropical, here's nothing to this salsa, just chop and mix!

Author: True Aim

Recipe type: Side, fruit

Cuisine: American

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 Golden Delicious Apples
• 1 Pound Strawberries
• 2 Mangos
• 2 Kiwi
• 1 Pint of berries (usually Raspberries, but can substitute black berries)
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1 Tablespoon Strawberry/Raspberry Jam or Jelly
• For Cinnamon Tortillas
• 6 Flour Tortillas
• 1 Tablespoon Butter
• Cinnamon & Sugar (about 2 tbs sugar and ½ tea cinnamon)

Instructions

1. Chop apple, strawberries, mango, and kiwi into small ½ inch pieces. Mix with the juice of half a lemon and Jam. Taste and adjust, adding more lemon or jam if needed.
2. For Cinnamon Tortillas, preheat the oven to 375. Butter tortillas on one side and sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar. Use a pizza cutter to slice into triangles.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly golden and toasted. Cool on wire racks and serve with fruit salsa! Yum!

3.3.3070

Have you made this before? What kind of fruit do you or would you like to put in it?

The post Cooking with Kids: Easy Fruit Salsa Recipe first appeared on True Aim.

Sundays, we like to be lazy and purposeful at the same time. By lazy, I mean we like to sleep in and not rush things. By purposeful, I mean we still have a routine and do some special things.

Take breakfast for example. Some times I don’t start making it until 8:30 or 9, but I always try to plan something special. This Sunday we tried Cinnamon Roll Monkey bread made with new Pepperidge Farm Pecan Caramel Sweet Rolls from Walmart as a little treat with our eggs.

I added cranberries and orange glaze for a really amazing flavor. My kids were squealing with delight and you know those eggs were gone in 2.5 seconds.

Cranberry Pecan Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

My son got involved in the cooking this day. I’m so excited to see him in the kitchen. Maybe one day he will be making this all by himself. Well I know he will because he can practically do it already other than putting it in the oven.

The great thing about these cinnamon rolls is that caramel sauce already comes with them so you don’t need to add any extra sugar like you usually do with monkey bread.

Plus, I don’t like my Monkey Bread too sweet. This is the perfect balance because the cranberries and orange glaze adds a slight tart flavor that makes you not want to stop eating.

After my son helped me put half the pecans, cranberries, and cinnamon roll pieces in our bunt pan, I put some of the caramel sauce on and then we finished putting the last cinnamon roll pieces on top of that followed by more sauce to help it all stick together.

While the bread was cooking, I mixed up a quick glaze with powdered sugar and 100% Florida Orange Juice, the perfect finishing touch. Really, you don’t want to skip out on it!

Cranberry Pecan Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

40 mins

 

Cinnamon rolls turned into Monkey Bread that goes perfect with any special breakfast or brunch.

Author: True Aim

Recipe type: Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: American

Serves: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

• 2 Rolls of Pepperidge Farm Pecan Caramel Sweet Rolls
• ½ Cup of Cranberries
• 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Florida Orange Juice

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a bunt pan with cooking spray.
2. Cut the cinnamon rolls in quarters. You should have 16 pieces, but don't worry if they separate into more.
3. Sprinkle one pouch of the pecans that come in one container on the bottom of the pan along with a handful of cranberries. Arrange a layer of 8 cinnamon roll pieces on top.
4. Spread 1 pouch of caramel on top sprinkle with more pecans and cranberries. Arranged another layer of the remaining cinnamon roll pieces on top and spread the remaining pouch of caramel sauce on top.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly browned on top.
6. Meanwhile mix together the orange juice and powdered sugar until well combined.
7. Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit for a couple of minutes before turning out upside down on a plate.
8. Top with orange glaze and serve warm.

3.2.2885

This was so easy to make, so I’d love to try another flavor of Sweet Rolls from Pepperidge Farm with this recipe and bring it to our next family gathering!

How about you? Do you have any easy breakfast or brunch recipes you like to serve on special days?

The post Cranberry Pecan Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread first appeared on True Aim.

We’re so lucky to have great neighbors. I wanted to bring some goodies over to say Merry Christmas and was looking for a special recipe. Nestle DelightFulls were a perfect solution. I have never tried them before so I didn’t really know what to make other than cookies. For something different, I went over to their Recipe Website for ideas.

I found a delicious Pound Cake recipe with mint filled DelightFulls. After looking over the recipe, I knew I wanted to change it up. First, there is a LOT of butter and sugar in it. Second, I wanted to try the Cherry filled DelightFulls and so I changed up the recipe to fit.

Chocolate Cherry Chip Pound Cake

My daughter Audrey helped me tweet the recipe. I talked to her about butter and how it called for a certain amount, but I didn’t want to use that much in the recipe. So instead I used 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup of apple sauce.

The next change I made was the sugar. I reduced the sugar 1/4 of a cup and thought it could have been reduced even more because the cake came out really sweet and rich.

Finally to make it a chocolate cake instead of white, I added 3/4 cup of cocoa powder and reduced the flour by 1/2 cup.

Wow! It came out really decadent and moist! The Cherry filled DelightFulls gave it the perfect amount of cherry flavor that reminded me of those famous chocolate covered cherries. The perfect treat to deliver next door.

Here are those changes again:

• Substitute 1/2 cup butter for 1/2 cup apple sauce.
• Reduce sugar by 1/4 cup.
• Reduce flour by 1/4 cup and add 3/4 cup cocoa powder.
• Use a full bag of DelightFulls Cherry Filled Morsels.
• Add a dash of salt.

Remember to spray your mini baking pans with cooking spray so they come out easily.

To get the full recipe, Please go to the #TollHouseTime Website and get even more inspiration on using DelightFulls Filled Morsels!

The post Holiday DelightFulls recipes: Chocolate Cherry Chip Pound Cake first appeared on True Aim.

This post contains a giveaway, for more information read my full disclosure.

When you are young and broke, homemade are the only gifts you can afford. I started making gifts back when I was a teen. Usually my mom did it with me, but one year I was determined to make my uncle some peppermint patties. Yorks were his favorite, Junior Mints second.

I grabbed a recipe from an old book from my grandmothers shelf and wasn’t sure what would happen. They turned into minty animal droppings, aka Janine’s Junior Mints, but my uncle didn’t mind; they tasted great! The only problem; I just didn’t make enough.

Edible Gifts in Jars

Anything can be put in a jar, decorated with a little fabric and ribbon or with a label.

1. Cookies in a Jar

2. Cake in a Jar 

3. Hot Cocoa in a Jar

4. Waffles in a Jar

5. Bread in a Jar

6. Syrup in a Jar

7. Pie in a Jar

8. Muffins in a Jar

9. Nuts in a Jar

10. Brownies in a Jar

11. Cranberry Butter

12. Granola in a Jar

13. Caramel Sauce in a Jar

14. Hot Fudge in a Jar

15. Strawberry Jam

16. Lemon Curd in a Jar

17. Soup in a Jar

18. Spicy Jelly in a Jar

19. Rootbeer BBQ Sauce in a Jar

20. Dry Rub in a Jar

21. Ranch Mix in a Jar

22. Bread and Butter Pickles

23. Hamburger Helper in a Jar

24. Chili in a Jar

Homemade Chocolate Bark Recipes

I love Chocolate bark because it is easy to make and you can create lots of amazing flavors.

25. White Chocolate Holiday Bark with Cranberries and Pumpkin Seeds

26. Peppermint Bark Cups

27. Yogurt Bark with Strawberries and Pistachios 

28. Bite Sized Party Bark with Mini Chocolate Chips and Peanuts

29. White Chocolate Oreo Bark

30. Easy Toffee Pretzel Bark

31. Homemade Butterfinger Bark

32. Rocky Road Bark

33. Coconut Bark

34. Lemon Bark

35. S’mores Bark

36. Pumpkin Spice Latte Bark

37. Buckeye Bark

Homemade Truffle Recipes

Yummy chocolate treats packed full of flavor make the perfect edible gifts because they are so rich and look pretty too. 38. No Fuss Chocolate Truffles

39. Red Velvet Oreo Truffles

40. Samoa Truffles

41. Truffles Kids Can Make

42. S’mores Truffles

43. Blueberry Lemon Truffles 44. Lemon Cookie Truffles

45. Nutter Butter Truffles

46. Chocolate Candy Cane Truffles

47. Gluten Free Cookie Dough Truffles

  48. Thin Mint Truffles

49. Pumpkin Pie Truffles

50. Eggnog Truffles

Homemade Candy and Snacks

Delectable little goodies and snacks make great gifts for friends and hosts.

51. Seafoam Candy aka Honycomb Sponge Candy

52. Candy Citrus Peel

53. Gingerbread Christmas Tree

54. The Best English Toffee

55. Chocolate Peanut Butter Popcorn

56. Slice and Bake Shortbread

57. Chocolate Covered Raspberries

58. Pumpkin Seed Brittle

59. Strawberry Meringues

60. Homemade Tootsie Rolls

61. Homemade Kool-Aid Taffy

62. Homemade Butterfingers

63. Peanut Butter Confetti Marshmallow Squares

64. Eggnog Fudge

65. Maple Pumpkin Fudge

66. Rocky Road Fudge

67. Red Velvet Fudge

68. Pretzel S’mores

69. Cream Cheese Mints

70. Homemade Butter Mints

71. Honey Mustard Pretzels

72. Christmas Chex Mix

73. Slow Cooker Pumpkin Harvest Chex Mix

74. Pumpkin Spice Muddy Buddies aka Puppy Chow

75. Chocolate Churro Muddy Buddies

Those are just some ideas to get you started! For more homemade edible gift ideas, follow my Cookie Board on Pinterest! What do you like to make for an edible gift?

Follow True Aim Education’s board Cookie Cookie on Pinterest.

The post 75 Homemade Edible Gift Ideas first appeared on True Aim.