Homemade Cheese Crackers

Making your own crackers is actually quite easy! Harry loves cheese, so I thought I would make him his own cheese crackers. This saves me time at the grocery store because I have to quadruple check all the food labels due to Harry's peanut and tree nuts allergies. 

These cheese crackers are quite healthy for you, and they are a delicious snack!!! :) Harry loves them.

Here's what you need:

2 1/2 cups ground flaxseed

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon paprika

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 cups shredded cheese

4oz. milk 

**Note: I used breast milk because I have a giant supply in the freezer. Lol.**

What to do: 

1. First, mix the dry ingredients together. (Flaxseed, sea salt, and paprika)

2. Then add the unsweetened applesauce and mix until crumbly.

3. Slowly stir in the cheese and milk, and then roll the dough into a ball.

4. On a flat surface, sprinkle some flour down and flatten out the dough.

5. Cut into shapes or whatever you'd like, and place onto a greased cookie sheet. 

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and bake for about 18-24 minutes. 

7. Cool and enjoy! :)

Watermelon Cupcakes

Dessert doesn't have to be unhealthy for you or make you feel guilty. It can healthy, guilt free, and quite delicious!! I made watermelon cupcakes. Yummy!!

Here's what you need:

1 1/2 cup ground flaxseed

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp sea salt

1 banana

2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup prune juice

1/3 of a small watermelon

What to do:

1. First, mix all of the dry i ingredients together (flaxseed, flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, and sea salt).

2. In a separate bowl, mash up a banana. 

3. Then, add the mashed banana, unsweetened applesauce, and prune to the dry mixture and mix well. 

4. Mash up 1/3 of a small watermelon in a separate bowl, and stir it into the batter.

**Note: You might have some watermelon juice and small watermelon pieces. That is ok.**

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and fill up a cupcake pan with liners. (Or if you are like me and don't have liners, grease the cupcake pan.)

6. Fill the cupcakes up about 3/4th full, and bake for about 25 minutes.

**Note: The cupcakes will be a little moist. That is ok!**

7. Cool and enjoy!!

Homemade fruit snacks

Scott loves fruit snacks! He could eat them all day. So, for Father's Day I decided to make Scott his own fruit snacks that were a bit healthier than the packaged ones. It was very easy to make! 

Here's what you need:

1 cup of berries (I chose strawberries and blueberries)

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup 100% pure fruit juice (I chose prune juice because we love prune juice.)

1/4 cup water

2 packets of regular unflavored gelatin

What to do:

1. Combine the berries and water into a sauce pan,  and heat on medium until they boil.

2. Mash up the fruit, and then add applesauce. Heat on medium again until they boil. Cover and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, add the cold fruit juice, and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Let it sit for about a minute. 

4. Add the berries/applesauce to the fruit juice and gelatin, and stir for about 3 minutes.

5. Pour into molds, ice cubes trays, or whatever else works. Refrigerate for about 3 hours, and enjoy!!! :)

Bubble Paint

Bubbles and paint?!?! Seriously this is so cool!!! You can have colorful bubbles and make some cool pictures. Harry and I had so much fun with it. 

Here's what you need:
Bubbles
Food coloring
Paint

What to do:

1. First, mix some bubbles and paint together.

2. Then, add about 5 drops of food coloring to each bowl, and mix again. 

3. Blow the bubbles into the air and catch them on the paper, or blow them directly on them the paper.

**Note: The bubbles will dry different colors and make cool designs on your paper!**

Ice Chalk

Ice chalk is so much fun for kids!! It is super simple to make too. All you need to do is mix some water, food coloring, and corn starch together and freeze it. This was such a fun activity for my son!

What you need:
Food coloring (red, blue, yellow, and green)
Water
Corn starch
Ice cube tray

What to do:

1. Mix water and corn starch together and fill up the ice cube tray.

2. Then add food coloring.

**Note: I played around with the colors and added different amounts to each to make a variety of colors.**

3. Freeze.

4. Color with your ice chalk or watch it melt!

**We took the ice chalk to the park with us and played with it there. We colored with it and watched it melted. Harry loved it! **

Father's Day Plate

Well, Father's Day is always a tough holiday for me. I miss my dad and grandpa. This is my 8th one without my dad and my 10th without my grandpa. The fact that I can't make them a homemade gift from Harry breaks my heart. I know they would have loved a homemade gift from Harry!

Harry does, however, have a spectacular and amazing dad and an awesome grandpa. Harry and his dad are buddies, and they love playing guitar and reading together. Harry's dad is totally getting spoiled. :)

I Love homemade gifts!! So, with my help, Harry and the boy I take care of, made plates. It was a very inexpensive and simple project to do. They are a bit sloppy, but they turned out super cute!!!! :) This is a great homemade gift that dad's can cherish and enjoy!

Here's what you need:

Dishwasher and microwave safe plates

Tempera paint

Oil based paint sharpie marker

**Note: The plates came from the dollar store. Literally, they did. Told you this was inexpensive.**

What to do:

1. First, put paint on your child's hand, and help them stamp their hands onto the plate.

2. Then, turn the plate so the hands are upside down,  and write "Hands down, best dad around" on it. I also added "Happy Father's Day" on it too. 

3. Bake in the oven at 180F degrees for 35 minutes to seal the paint.

**Note: You can use the plate as a decoration, or you can eat with it. I recommend hand washing it now though.**

Homemade Crackers

With Harry's food allergies, it is very difficult to find healthy snacks that do not have any peanut or tree nut ingredients or that are not processed in the same facility as them. He is a picky eater too, which makes things even more difficult. It is very time consuming reading every last detail on food boxes while shopping too. So, I decided to make Harry his very own crackers!! It is easy to do too. :) 

Here's what you need:

4 cups of whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 banana

12oz breast milk (or any other milk)

Sea salt (topping)

**Note: I added some extra nutrients to his crackers by using breast milk in them, however you can use any type of milk. :) I just like to cook and bake with my stash of frozen breast milk. Lol. 

What to do:

1. First, mix the flour,  baking powder, and salt together. 

2. Mash up 1 banana, and then mix it up with the dry ingredients. 

3. Add the milk, and mix well. 

Note: The dough will be a little sticky. That is ok.

4. Sprinkle some flour onto a counter or flat surface and roll out the dough.

5. You can either cut the dough into pieces or use cookie cutters to make fun shapes.

Note: I made duck shaped crackers. :)

6. Sprinkle some sea salt on top for additional flavor. 

7. Place crackers onto a greased cookie sheet,  and bake at 30 degrees for 20-25 minutes. 

8. Enjoy!!! :)

My son loves them!!! :)

Exploding Paint

Looking for a fun activity?! Try making exploding paint. It is easy and fun!! It's a fun science experiment and great for sensory play. Harry had so much fun doing this. :)

Here's what you need:

Washable watercolor paint
Baking soda
Vinegar
Construction paper
Ice cube tray

What to do :

1. First, fill an ice cube tray with different color paint.

2. Next, add some vinegar to the paint.

(The paint might settle to the bottom of the tray, which is totally ok.)

3. Take turns pouring 1-2 teaspoons of baking soda in each color, and watch the paint explode!!

4. Now, dip the paintbrush into the paint and dab some paint onto the paper.  

( It should still be a little bit fizzy! Totally ok!)

5. Using a measuring cup, pour a very small amount of vinegar onto the paper and watch the paint explode! :)

(Once your picture is dry, it will have a very grainy texture to it, and the colors will be much lighter. Harry loved this experiment!)

Glow in the dark bath

My son, Harry, loves lights and light fixtures, and he is always pointing them out where ever we go. He knows sign language, so he frequently uses the signs for light, on, and off, and he is very in tune to what is going on with the lights. He will tell you to turn the lights on and off too. :)

Since he loves lights so much, I thought that we would have a glow in the dark bath to experience a different type of light... I saw another mom blogger post about making a glow in the dark bath too, so it must be easy, right? Right!! It was fun too. :)

**Fun Fact: Vitamin B glows in black light. Pretty cool,  huh?! Tonic water also works, but we only used vitamin B.**

Here's what you need:

1-2 black light bulb (depending on your space)

Vitamin B complex pills

2 Ziploc bags

Toys that will glow

**Note: I found the black light bulb on Amazon.com, and it was only about $4. I found the vitamins at Kroger, but you can also get them online or in other stores.**

What to do:

1. First, place 4 vitamin B complex pills inside a Ziploc bag, and seal it shut. 

2. Then,  place the bag into another bag so it is double bagged, and seal it shut. 

3. Using a hammer, rock,  or anything else you can think of, firmly press down on the vitamins and hit them until they are crushed. (I used a water bottle. Lol.)

4. Pour the crushed up vitamins into a glass, add warm water, and mix together until slightly dissolved. 

5. Fill up the bath with warm water, add the vitamin B mixture, and add toys. 

6. Put the black light bulb in, and turn it on.

7. Have fun!! Harry was a little unsure at first,  but he ended up having fun, and he enjoyed it. He loved splashing in the water and kicking his feet to see what happened. He also kept examining his bathing suit because it was glowing. Lol. 

**Note: This is definitely safe to do because the vitamin B is very diluted with all of the water, and your child is not actually drinking the water.**