Usborne Fashion Coloring Books Review

Posted in activities for kids, books & book reviews, usborne by Rosemary Lynn

So, we love to color in our house. Happens all the time. We will draw and color on just about anything, but high quality (sorry dollar store) coloring books are my fave way to go. And, just so we’re clear, high quality does NOT mean high prices.

Which is why I wanted to share some books with you, all of which feature nice thick pages and beautiful illustrations for around 6 or 7 bucks. Can’t beat that.

The other reason these books are so amazing is that people of all ages can enjoy them. I’ve purchased these books for both kids and adults, and my daughters and I often color them together.

First, I wanted to introduce the Vintage Fashion Coloring Book:

As you can see from the video, this is a pretty awesome book. It’s great for kids (and adults) interested in fashion design, but also for anyone looking to just relax and have some fun coloring.

You can head over to my website to see the Vintage Fashion Coloring Book. It has 32 pages of gorgeous illustrations to color, and is suggested for ages 6 and up.

Another similar book we own is the Clothes and Fashion to Color book that I got for my daughter, seen here:

It also has 32 thick pages and tons of historical fashion to color. It’s rated for ages 6+ but is, of course, great for any age. It features different decades on different pages. Here’s one I was recently working on:

Plus, there’s the mini sized Pocket Fashion Drawing Book that we usually keep in the car. ‘Cause, like I mentioned, my daughter is pretty much always drawing.

Isn’t that just too cute? We love it.

The pocket book is a smaller size – easier to store in a purse or something, but it has many more pages. At 128 pages, it’ll keep you entertained for a long time.

Plus, it features mostly modern styles, if that’s your thing.

If you’d prefer something different, here are some examples of different coloring books available on my site:

And they are seriously awesome. There are more in the series too, which means tons of PATTERNS TO COLOR! I’ll make some videos for them too, (and some newer fashion coloring books as well!) but if you have any questions about them, please comment or message me anytime!

Happy Coloring!

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10Jun2016

Shredded Spicy BBQ Chicken Crock Pot Freezer Meal

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

I haven’t made this recipe in a while, and I really don’t know why.

This Spicy Shredded BBQ Chicken is great. And it’s a Freezer Crock Pot meal, so you store them in the freezer, and then on the day you want to eat it, you just pull the bag out of the freezer and dump it into the crock pot.

A bit of work to shred it, but after that, you’re done!

And there’s leftovers, too. Can’t beat that!

This recipe makes two bags, but you easily can double or triple it and fill up your freezer.

But remember, it IS spicy. If you’re looking for a more mild version, go easy on the chili powder and consider using fewer green chilies per bag (the recipe calls for 2 oz) or splitting the 4 oz can between 4 bags instead of 2.

Here’s what I love about this (besides the ease of cooking and the leftovers): you just dump all the ingredients in a bag.

That’s it.

The prep is literally this: dump everything in the bag.

Sweeeeeeeet.

Make sure you write your instructions on your freezer bags first, before you fill them.

Then prop up the bags on the counter by folding the edges over themselves to keep it open.

Okay, okay…. there is ONE step before the dumping.

You do have to dice up the onions and garlic.

I use a garlic press and squeeze those babies right in the bag.

See?

Chicken in the bottom and everything else piled in on top. You may have to cut one chicken thigh in half if you have an uneven amount in your package.

And I guess you could – theoretically – measure out everything, but when it comes to the tomato sauce and chilies, I just go ahead and dump or scoop what looks like half the can into each bag. It’s close enough.

After that, the easiest way to mix it up is to massage the bag gently with your fingers for a minute.

Then you’ll want to squeeze out as much air as possible and seal the bag.

Lay each bag flat in the freezer on a tray or large box or anything that will allow it to freeze flat. Smooth flat any lumpy sections that might be sticking up.

Check after a couple of hours. Once frozen solid, the bags can be stacked or arranged on a shelf in an upright position.

When you take the bag out of the freezer, run it under the cold water in the sink for one minute to break up any large chunks – making sure the bag is still sealed and no water gets inside.

Then dump it in the crock pot. Cover and cook.

You can flip the chicken over a few times and stir it, if you like.

Or you can just leave it and let it cook. It doesn’t need stirring. But I compulsively check on crock pot stuff if I’m home when it’s cooking. Especially if it smells good. ;)

Once it’s cooked, remove the chicken to a bowl or plate and shred it with two forks.

As you work, add the shredded chicken back to the pot.

It should shred easily, and it’s best to have it shredded finely so that the sauce can cling to all the tiny moist pieces, but even if you’re in a super hurry, you can still mush it up pretty quickly.

Doesn’t that look good? And it’s not even mixed in yet!

Stir the shredded chicken back into the sauce and set the crock pot to the “stay warm” setting until you’re ready to serve it.

And there are so many ways to serve it. I sometimes serve it by itself with rice on the side, or you could put it on the rice. You can put it on a salad, in a taco, on some nachos, or – like in the photo at the top of the page – in a hamburger bun.

If you put it in a bun, you’ll want to toast the inside of the bun to help hold in all the juicy goodness. Maybe even top it with a little cole slaw.

From one bag, we made a dinner of sloppy joes (in the hamburger bun I mentioned), and then the next day, I constructed some taquitos with the leftovers, pictured below. I put a little chicken and a little cheese in a 6-inch tortilla, rolled up 15 of them and put them in a 13-by-9-inch dish with some nonstick spray. Then I baked them at 375°F for about 20 minutes and we dunked them in a little dish of sour cream to eat. My kids devoured them.

(Oh… and I turned on the broiler for a minute and walked away. Don’t do that. Don’t ever walk away from an active broiler… just sayin’)

Here’s the recipe:

Shredded Spicy BBQ Chicken Crock Pot Freezer Meal

Ingredients:

2 to 3 lbs. boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 sweet onion, diced
3 to 4 garlic gloves, diced or pressed
8 oz. can tomato sauce
4 oz. can diced green chilies, drained
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon sweet or smoked paprika
2 teaspoons dry powdered mustard
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Label two gallon-sized freezer plastic bags with the instructions: Shredded Spicy BBQ Chicken. Cook on low 5-6 hours (or high 3-4 hours). Remove chicken, shred, return to sauce, stir, serve.

Evenly distribute all of the ingredients between both bags; for example half the chicken (even if you have to cut one thigh in half), 4 oz. of tomato sauce, 1 ½ tablespoons cider vinegar, et cetera, in each.

Gently massage the bag to mix the ingredients and press out as much air as you can before sealing. Lay the bags flat in the freezer, on a box or tray, and allow to freeze solid. Then you can stack them or store them upright until ready to use.

When ready to eat, dump the contents of the bag into a crock pot. You can run the closed plastic bag under cool water in the sink for a few minutes to make it easier to break it up. Put the lid on the crock pot and cook for 5 to 6 hours on low or 3 to 4 hours on high.

Remove the chicken to a plate or bowl and shred it with two forks. Allow it to cool first, if you need to. Return the shredded chicken to the crock pot and stir well. Serve or put on the “keep warm” setting until ready to eat.

Serving suggestions: over rice, inside hamburger buns, inside tacos or burritos, on a salad, or all by itself.

This recipe makes two bags/dinners. Each bag serves 6 to 8 people.

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To print the PDF version of the recipe, click here:

Shredded Spicy BBQ Chicken Crock Pot Freezer Meal

Happy Eating!

17May2016

Sight Words Ball Toss (Feed the Shark)

Posted in activities for kids by Rosemary Lynn

We’ve been working on our Sight Words lately, which we sometimes call Power Words (Power Word Hopscotch and Power Word Heart Pom Pom Toss).

This “Feed the Shark” game was intended to teach my daughter her sight words vocabulary, but can easily be adapted to be used to teach the alphabet to preschoolers, too.

I wanted to try something a little different, but still very tactile and involving movement, so I wrote some of my daughter’s words on ping pong balls that I picked up at our local dollar store.

I wrote the words with a paint pen. Not a permanent marker since I’ve found that those sometimes rub off.

Then I put the balls in a little bucket. We took turns pulling out a ball, saying the words, and then tossing it into the shark’s mouth if we got it right.

My kindergartner helped her younger sister with the words, of course, and even though she wanted to make a rule about only getting a certain number of guesses to read the word, we didn’t worry about missing the shark’s mouth. We just kept throwing until we got it.

And I happened to have made that shark (Glut from The Little Mermaid) about two years ago and I have all the photos from the birthday party I threw for my girls for which the shark was one of our featured games and I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about it… but I guess I’m running a little behind. Oops. #Momlife.

Anyway, you can obviously throw the balls into anything – it doesn’t HAVE to be a shark’s mouth. We keep Glut around and play with him from time to time, but you could toss the ping pong balls into any basket, laundry basket, bucket, box, or boots that you happen to have lying around.

If it’s winter, try tossing them into a Christmas wreath lying flat on the floor. If it’s Halloween, try tossing them into a plastic jack o’ lantern. If it’s spring, try tossing them into a watering can from the garden. Or flower pots. Whatever you have handy.

Have fun!

5May2016

Tissue Paper Flower Cut Out Cards (Made with Cookie Cutters!)

Posted in activities for kids by Rosemary Lynn

This was a neat craft I enjoyed doing with my girls, and the Tissue Paper Cut Out Cards make great presents.

You can give the cards for Mother’s Day, birthday, Thank You cards, or even Thinking Of You cards.

They’re versatile that way, and you can let your kids get hands-on with the crafting.

I cut the tissue paper strips ahead of time by rolling up some colorful sheets of tissue paper into a tube-like shape and snipping off inch-wide pieces with sharp scissors.

I did do the cutting myself for these flower shapes because I wanted them to have the detailed shapes cut out of the middle of the paper, which is a little hard for small fingers to do. But they had plenty of fun with the glue and tissue paper.

I used cookie cutters from a couple of different sets, kind of like this Spring Set and this Nesting Set. We went with flowers because we made this during the springtime, but you could use any shape you like.

Fold a piece of construction or craft paper in half to make your card.

Trace the shape inside the cookie cutter, just like you would use a stencil, onto the front of the card.

Then poke your scissor in the middle of the shape and cut it out of the front of the card. Or your could open the card and place it flat on some cardboard and use an X-Acto knife to carve out the shape, or let an older kid or teen do it.

Take a white sheet of paper and cut it to fit just inside the cards.

Let your kids slather the white paper with glue or glue sticks, and then lay out the tissue paper pieces in stripes that go across and touch each other or slightly overlap.

Once the sheet of white paper covered in tissue paper strips is mostly dry, slather the inside of the card where the cut out shapes are.

Lay the white paper carefully against the glue with the tissue paper facing the cut out shapes.

Then your colorful tissue paper will show through like this:

Isn’t that darling?

The recipients were quite charmed, and the girls enjoyed making them.

You could make these cards for other holidays, too.

You could do Christmas shapes and use red and white tissue in a green card, for example. Or orange and purple tissue paper in a black card cut with Halloween shapes.

Follow me on Pinterest for more great crafting and activity ideas!

Have fun!

28Apr2016

The Story of Diva and Flea (Book Review)

Posted in books & book reviews by Rosemary Lynn

I am so happy I picked up The Story of Diva and Flea. I may even love the book more than my kids do, and they really like it.

First of all, Mo Willems is currently my kid’s favorite author. Seriously. Elephant & Piggie are HUGE in our house right now.

But whereas Elephant & Piggie are more of an Easy Reader book for K-2 kids, this book is aimed at a slightly different crowd. Not too different – if you look on Amazon, they’re both listed for ages 6-8, but this is a book that is more likely to be read TO them than BY them.

And I certainly don’t mind.

(Actually I adore reading the E&P books with all my funny voices, too, but that’s beside the point.)

Diva and Flea has a great rhythm and an excellent structure. They meet, they both try something new, and they discover how wonderful it is to try new things – even if they seem scary at first.

There are three acts. In the first they meet, in the second Diva expands her borders, and in the third Flea expands his. They both face their fears head on – with the support of each other – and come out the better for it.

What a wonderful, wonderful lesson for children.

The writing itself is peppered with so many fun details. For example, Flea is a stray cat who considers himself a “Flâneur,” which is “someone (or somecat) who wanders the streets and bridges and alleys of the city just to see what there is to see.” The part I like best? “A great flâneur has seen everything, but still looks for more, because there is always more to discover.”

Little Diva has a tremendous fear of FEET because she is aware of just how “squishable” her small stature makes her. But she loves Fleas stories, like the ones about “The Underground Rooms on Wheels” and “The People Who Drink Cough-Fee All Day.” And those stories are part of what inspire her to explore they city.

Flea introduces Diva to the world outside of her courtyard and the “tower that could cut a cloud in half,” and helps Diva discover the bravery inside of her. Then Diva helps Flea conquer his fears, which also grants him the gift of the thing he doesn’t have: a home.

The illustrations by Tony DiTerlizzi are beyond charming. I love the perspectives of the tiny dog Diva, I love the facial expressions of Flea, and I love the colors and the dazzling backdrops of the Parisian setting.

And that setting!

Ah, Paris, my Paris.

Many years ago, when I was writing my Travelblog, I said that upon leaving Paris I had left part of my heart there. And how very true that was.

Paris took me in. There is life in the very bones of the city, deep in the foundation, in the stones, and the hum of the Seine and the glow of the Tower against a gently falling night. It calls to me still.

But even if you don’t feel about Paris the way I do, it certainly never hurts to explore different cities and different cultures with your kids. The Story of Diva and Flea brings many things to your children, and, at the very least, is a wonderful read-aloud to snuggle with.

Happy Reading!

22Apr2016

Usborne’s Amazing Books on Shakespeare

Posted in books & book reviews, usborne by Rosemary Lynn

I am mildly (okay, that’s an understatement) obsessed with Shakespeare.

I’m not exactly a Shakespearean scholar or anything, even coming from a literature major in college, but really more of what I call a Shakespeare groupie.

I love Shakespeare and everything that he has given us, and I love to share the stories and the characters and the words with my kids. My girls are still very young, but we’ve already seen multiple live performances together, watched some of the plays as movies, and done crafts and activities based on the plays.

And one of the original reasons that I became a consultant with Usborne Books & More is because of Usborne Publishing’s amazing collection of books about Shakespeare. Which is what this post is about. I wanted to share with you how these books help to get kids excited about Shakespeare and help to research and understand his plays.

Though, honestly, I really got the books for myself. My kids just get the benefits of having them around. ;)

This seemed like the perfect time to share them, too, with this month being a worldwide celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death. Not a celebration that he died, mind you, but a celebration that we’re still so excited about and grateful for everything that he brought into our world through his art.

Talking about books seemed to me a great way to honor the words he gave us. ;)

The books are much more impressive in person, however, than they appear from a simple photograph, so I’m first going to share a video review I made of the books listed here – so that you can see a glimpse inside of them and compare what they offer. Then I’m going to list each book with a brief description.

Ugh … I don’t like watching myself on video. But hopefully I was able to explain and demonstrate the books well enough for you to figure out what would be best for your household or classroom. (Even if I did get confused and stumble over my words here and there…)

But if anything was unclear, or you have any further questions, please leave a comment here and I’ll do my best to help!

Here are the books, including the gift collection not mentioned in the video:

Illustrated Stories from Shakespeare

Recommended Age: 8+

Pages: 414

The Illustrated Stories contains retellings of 6 plays, all fully illustrated with artwork on every page. It’s a hardcover book with a soft outer cover and includes a ribbon bookmark.

Plays included: Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and the Tempest

Usborne’s Shakespeare Hardcover Gift Collection

Recommended Age: 7+

Pages: 5 books at 64 pages each

This boxed set contains five hardcover books, one for each of the five plays represented, and each includes a ribbon bookmark.

Plays included: Macbeth, Twelfth Night, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Romeo and Juliet

Sticker Dressing Shakespeare

Recommended Age: 5+

Pages: 24 pages + 10 pages of stickers

This sticker dressing book allows you to dress up characters from many of the plays with over 160 stickers, from Bottom to Macbeth and Cleopatra to Hamlet. Also includes some quotation stickers.

Where’s Will: Find Shakespeare Hidden in His Plays

Recommended Age: 7-11

Pages: 48

A truly fun and unique concept, this book of Where’s Will is the Shakespearean version of Where’s Waldo.

There is an illustrated summery from 10 of his plays, followed by a double spread illustration for each of those plays in which you must seek out characters from the play.

Stories from Shakespeare

Recommended Age: 12+

Pages: 192

This book is covered with a sturdy flexi-binding and retells 10 of Shakespeare’s plays with large lively illustrations. Includes summaries of all of the plays.

Play include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, As you like it, Twelfth Night, The Tempest, The Merchant of Venice, The Winter’s Tale, Macbeth, and The Taming of the Shrew

The Usborne World of Shakespeare

Recommended Age: 11+

Pages: 64

Available in flexi-binding or in library binding, this book will thoroughly introduce you to Shakespeare. Find out how he lived, what Elizabethan London was like, and why we still perform his plays today.

Includes multiple glossaries plus information about how to further research the topics on the internet.

The World of Shakespeare Reference Book

Recommended Age: 10+

Pages: 32

Shorter than the book mentioned just above, this hardcover reference book contains similar information, but in smaller chunks and with a more colorful format.

That’s it for my review! Overall, I highly recommend ALL of these books, but I understand most people aren’t going to rush out and stock up on each and every one of them, so I hope I’ve been able to help you decide on a favorite(s).

Also, be sure to follow me on Facebook where I have a habit of posting random funny or interesting Shakespeare stuff. ;)

Happy Reading!

20Apr2016

Cookie Butter Fudge

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

So I decided to create a recipe for Cookie Butter Fudge.

And … oh … this is quite possibly both the best and worst thing I have ever done.

This fudge, people, is RIDICULOUS.

If you’ve read my other fudge recipes, you know that I abhor the types of fudge that don’t set and require refrigeration. So, in that vein, this fudge has no condensed milk, or even marshmallow creme or anything like that. It’s just good old fashioned homemade fudge.

With cookie butter.

*drools*

If you are here, I’m assuming you’re familiar with cookie butter. If not, you should seriously consider acquainting yourself immediately.

I used the Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter which I ~~often~~ sometimes eat by the spoonful straight from the jar because, you know, it’s awesome. So that’s what I recommend.

But if it’s not available in your area (or you don’t want to order it from Amazon), I’ve seen similar products at Publix (European cookie spread) and Target (Biscoff creamy spread).

So, here we go…

Simple ingredients. Just milk, cream, butter, and sugar for the base, and cookie butter and vanilla for the extra flavor.

Dump the first ingredients in the pot and whisk together.

If you’ve forgotten to set out your butter ahead of time, just slice it and throw it in cold. Bring up the pan to a boil slowly, making sure the butter melts and gets combined.

But once it gets to a boil, do NOT stir it again. (It will get all grainy and weird.)

As it comes to a rolling boil, it’s going to expand. A LOT.

So use a very large pot.

As it cooks, it will reduce back down.

Once it gets to soft ball stage, it will be much thicker with larger bubbles.

This takes about 15 minutes.

Unless I’ve forgotten to leave it at a rolling simmer. If the temperature is too low, it can take a lot longer than 15 minutes to get to soft ball stage. Just make sure you get there, or the fudge won’t set.

Take it of the heat and quickly stir in the vanilla and cookie butter.

You’re going to beat it over a bowl of ice to help it cool down and set.

Stir it well, but as soon as it is thick enough to pull away from the sides and bottom of the pot while you stir it, go ahead and dump it in your prepared pan.

You’ll need to let it sit for awhile to finish setting up.

Once it’s hardened (this should take between 30 minutes and an hour), pull it out by the foil. You can let it sit longer, on a cooling rack, if it feels wobbly and soft.

Then place a large platter over the fudge and use that platter to flip it over:

You’ll want it to rest upside down for a bit to make sure the bottom dries out.

Then place a cutting board over it and flip it back to right side up.

Cut the fudge with a long sharp knife, wiping the blade on a towel between slices.

Let the fudge rest for awhile (at least two hours but I’ve left it out as long as overnight) so that it hardens all the way around.

You want it fully set not only so that you can stack the pieces on a plate or in a container, but also for the wonderful texture balance of the sugary, buttery flakiness of the exterior that contrasts with the utter softness of the interior that will melt in your mouth like a liquid drop of cookie joy.

Cookie Butter Fudge

Ingredients:

1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup Speculoos Cookie Butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prepare an 8×8-inch baking dish with tin foil and a light coating of butter or cooking spray.

Whisk together the milk, cream, sugar, and butter in a large saucepan. Bring it to a rolling boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer it without stirring. This is important: do NOT stir the mixture! After 15 minutes, test the temperature with a thermometer. Once it reaches 235°F or soft ball stage, remove from heat. Do NOT stop simmering until it reaches this temperature, or it will not set. This may take more than 15 minutes. It will be noticeably thicker when it’s done.

Remove from heat and stir in the cookie butter and vanilla extract.

Fill a large bowl with ice and place the saucepan into the bowl on top of the ice. Stir the fudge over the ice until it is very thick. Then (making sure not to let any of the melted ice get into your fudge) pour it into the prepared baking dish, spreading it smooth.

Place baking dish on a wire rack and allow to set. This may take a half hour or longer, depending on the temperature and humidity of your home. Carefully remove the fudge from the dish by pulling out the foil. Place a large plate over the fudge and flip it over so that the fudge can rest upside down for a few minutes, to let the bottom to dry. Follow the same procedure to flip it right side up on a cutting board.

Cut into squares or rectangles with a sharp knife, wiping the blade on a towel between slices. Allow the pieces to sit without touching for at least a 2 hours or overnight to make sure each piece is fully set and has a nice solidity all the way around the smooth interior. Then store covered.

Makes about 3 dozen 1-inch pieces.

[Note: I used Trader Joe’s Speculoos Cookie Butter, but you can substitute any European cookie spread.]

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And to print the free PDF of the recipe, click here:

Cookie Butter Fudge

Happy Baking!

12Apr2016

Triple Chocolate Iced Scones

Posted in food & flavor & recipes by Rosemary Lynn

I recently made some Sweet Honey Scones (they’re awesome btw, you should try them) and I was still in the mood for scones, but also really in the mood for chocolate.

This was my solution.

And a pretty darned great one, if I do say so myself.

These Triple Chocolate Iced Scones are thick and crumbly like a biscuit, but moist too and so very chocolatey.

I’ve been eating these for breakfast and dessert.

I love versatility. ;)

They’re freshest within the first 2 or 3 days, but that shouldn’t be a problem. They are SO easy to eat.

Oh, and the “triple” in the name comes from them being chocolate scones with chocolate chips throughout and topped by a decadent chocolate icing. *drools*

Getting set up.

After you mix together the dry ingredients, you’ll cut in the cold butter.

Then comes the cream and vanilla (yum!) and the chocolate chips.

Looks good once it all comes together, no?

Knead it gently to pull it together. Overworking the dough will make it tough.

And sprinkle some cocoa powder instead of flour over your work surface to keep it from sticking.

Shape the dough with your hands into a circle or a square.

A circle will make 8 large wedges. The squares above come in a count of 16, but as you can see in the photo below, I further cut these squares down by slicing them diagonally to make small triangles.

Which made it easier to eat two or three or four at a time…….

The dough is just slightly sticky enough that you may have to reshape it after cutting, especially if you use a pizza cutter like I did.

But that’s okay. They reshape easily with your fingers. Just press the dough where you want it to go.

The icing is optional, technically, but such a nice touch.

Just blend the cocoa powder and powdered sugar and stir in a little vanilla and water until you’ve got smooth ribbons of chocolate easily dripping from your fork in thin ribbons.

The baked scones, pre-icing.

Try not to over bake them or the bottoms will burn. The bottoms will be a little darker than the rest anyway, but keep an eye on them towards the end.

They’ll be done when they look puffy and solid, and there’s no indent left behind when you touch the top with your finger.

How wonderful do these things look covered in icing??

Cover your work space with waxed paper or something similar to catch the drips of icing.

To decorate your scones like this, scoop the fork into the icing and then wave it back and forth over the scones to drizzle them generously with the liquid yummy-ness.

Let the icing dry completely before storing. I usually let things like this sit for at least an hour (or more) to make ultra-certain that the icing is hardened all the way through and won’t get smooshed when I stack them in a container.

Triple Chocolate Iced Scones

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (one stick) cold unsalted butter, sliced
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon vanilla
2 to 3 tablespoons water

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until it resembles large crumbs.

Add the cream and vanilla to the dry mixture and stir until just moistened. Add the chocolate chips. Knead it gently with your hands to pull it all together. Do not overmix.

Sprinkle a little cocoa powder over your work surface, and shape the dough with your hands into a circle or square about 8 inches across and one inch high. Cut the circle into 8 large wedges or cut the square into 16 smaller squares. If you’d like mini triangles, as shown in the photos, cut the 16 squares in half diagonally to make 32 pieces. Place them an inch apart on a baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the dough is set and leaves no indent when you touch the top. Let rest on pan for two minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.

Make the icing by mixing the powdered sugar and cocoa powder with a fork. Add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of water and stir well. Continue adding water a teaspoon at a time until the icing smoothly drips from the fork in thin ribbons. Drizzle the icing over the completely cooled scones.

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To print the free PDF of the recipe click here:

Triple Chocolate Scones

Happy Baking!

11Apr2016

Letter J: Free Alphabet Worksheets for Kids

Posted in activities for kids, alphabet activities, free worksheets & printables by Rosemary Lynn

Letter J Alphabet Activities FREE Printable Worksheets from Roaming Rosie

If you’re new here, please read the Introduction to the Alphabet Activities first!

Here are all of the printable PDFs for the Letter J. They are free for home and classroom use, but please don’t sell or reproduce them.

J is for Jaguar

J is for Jeep

J is for Jelly Bean Counting

J is for Jelly Beans

J is for Jolly Jesters Juggling

J is for Juice

J is for Jupiter

And here is a picture of the two Jelly Bean worksheets:

J is for Jelly Beans FREE printable Alphabet Activity Worksheets from Roaming Rosie

For the first one, I cut out little kidney bean shaped jelly beans from construction paper. For the second, we used real jelly beans, which are usually pretty easy to find year round. I tried to stick with the colors that come in most packages.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of our Letter J projects:

Letter J Alphabet Activities

Follow me on Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest to see my latest posts.

Have fun!

Roaming Rosie Signature

11Apr2016

Letter J: Alphabet Activities for Kids

Posted in activities for kids, alphabet activities by Rosemary Lynn

Letter J Alphabet Activities from Roaming Rosie

Welcome to Letter J Day!

If you haven’t read the Introduction to the Alphabet Activities, you should start there.

Don’t forget to check out the Letter J: Free Alphabet Worksheets for Kids, too!

Here are all the activities we did:

J is for Jellyfish Alphabet Activities from Roaming Rosie

First, as always, we did our construction paper craft. But instead of one big letter that we decorated, we did a bunch of little letters.

I had cut out a pile of Letter Js and a rounded top so that my kids could make their own jellyfish with the letters as tentacles.

And googly eyes. I swear they get more excited about the letters that need eyes…

J is for Jack o Lanters Letter Sorting Alphabet Activities from Roaming Rosie

Then for our Letter Sorting activity, where they needed to separate out the capital and lowercase letters, I went with jack o’ lanterns.

My kids were still kind of little at this point in out Alphabet Activities, so I had cut out the pumpkins and faces ahead of time and all they did was glue the finished jack o’ lantern to the paper before gluing on the letters.

Now that they’re older, I might still have cut out the face pieces but I would have let them make the faces themselves first, probably from a selection of eyes and mouths.

J is for Jump Alphabet Activities from Roaming Rosie

Back to the chalk!

I love that my girls love being outdoors, so chalk letters are great way to get them moving.

I drew a bunch of big Letter Js to represent the word “jump.” And then we did just that – jump from J to J.

J is for Jell-O Sensory Bin Alphabet Activities from Roaming Rosie

This was a TON of fun for my girls.

The night before Letter J Day, I made a couple of boxes of Jell-O in a big plastic bin and I threw a bunch of toys into it that started with the Letter J.

I didn’t get all fancy with worrying about where the toys would stay once the Jell-O solidified. I just tossed ’em in. Most of the toys floated to the top, but they were still partially submerged and, thus, still had to be dug out by little fingers that were eager to get messy.

J is for Jello Sensory Bin Alphabet Activities from Roaming Rosie

We did it outside to keep the mess out of the house, but I suppose you could do it on a tile floor somewhere if you covered it in a tarp or with a tablecloth.

We made a pile of the toys in another bin (the sand castle-shaped container you see at the bottom), and then we rinsed off everything with the hose when we were done.

The toys we used were probably ones I found in the dollar store, but here are some examples of the plastic Jet party favors, craft Jewels, and plastic Jacks that are similar to what is pictured above.

I would check the party sections of your local store for similar items that are sold as party favors, and the craft section for the jewels.

J is for Jelly Beans Alphabet Activities from Roaming Rosie

We did a few worksheets, as always. There were my typical letter searches and mazes and such, but the jelly bean ones were the favorites of the day.

I wonder why….. (nom, nom, nom)

You can find these jelly bean worksheets, along with others, on my Letter J: Free Alphabet Worksheets for Kids post.

J is also for Juggling!

So we watched the video above, which my girls love because they enjoy watching kids doing things (plus he’s really good), and then we tried juggling with some light balls we had around the house.

We weren’t terribly successful, except at producing lots of giggles. :)

J is for Jelly Toast Alphabet Activities from Roaming Rosie

Gotta love jelly toast!

I cut out the J shapes with our letter cookie cutters, then slathered the toast in some butter and strawberry jelly.

J is for Jamaican Jerk Chicken Alphabet Activities from Roaming Rosie

I didn’t want to make a big, complicated dinner in between our projects, so I kept things simple with this chicken.

I marinated a package of boneless thighs in some Jamaican Jerk Marinade that I picked up in the supermarket and threw them on a grill pan. Easy Peasy. (Don’t forget to have the Little Ones seek out the Letter J on the bottle of marinade!)

That’s it for Letter J! Except for the free printable worksheets I made, which you can get here: