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Summer Snaps
As much as I am enjoying this last bit of Summer vacation, I have to admit that seeing signs of fall (pumpkin spiced coffee beans for sale, all the fall sweaters & tights) has me quite excited for September & October. I am trying to remind myself to enjoy the Summer before it’s gone…garden goodness, all the tall sunflowers, amazing leaf bugs, and late sunsets….
How To Tuesday – S’mores Bark
Today’s how-to is super simple, and very Summer inspired…S’mores bark. Like the candy cane bark you make at Christmastime, but with a Summer twist. The ingredients are super simple, kids can make it, and you can easily make it vegan by using rice chocolate & dandies brand marshmallows (they toast up brown too!).
Here is what you need:
12 oz of chocolate (you can use milk chocolate, dark chocolate, chips or bars whichever you prefer)
5 graham crackers crushed (1/2 a sleeve)
1 & 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows
-Pre-heat your oven to 200F
-Line a cookie sheet with foil. Try to use a cookie sheet that has edges, or create an edge with the foil so when your chocolate melts it does not spill over the edge.
-Break up your chocolate and spread it around the foil covered cookie sheet. Place into the oven until it melts. Use a spoon to spread it around the pan into a somewhat even sheet of melted chocolate.
-Sprinkle on your crushed graham crackers and marshmallows.
-Turn broiler on high and put pan of s’mores bark into oven just until marshmallows are toasted. It will happen quickly so keep a close eye on it.
-Place pan in freezer or refrigerator until chocolate is completely cooled and hard. Then break up bark into smaller pieces. Store S’mores Bark in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
How To Tuesday – Summer Cards with a surprise
My youngest son and I decided to make some cards to send to his friends. I found this tutorial online for making wind-up paper butterflies. They flutter out when the cards are opened, so we thought caterpillar cards would be perfect for hiding the butterflies inside.
All you need for the cards are:
-blank white cards & envelopes
-colored paper
-circle punch
-black marker
-glue stick
-wiggly eyes
Simply punch of a bunch of colored circles and let your kids glue them down to make a caterpillar. Then they can draw a face, legs, and glue on some wiggly eyes. It’s super easy and B was able to do all the cards by himself.
Now the butterflies are a bit trickier, but the instructions are really good. Here are a few things that worked well for us…. We had to use 20 gauge wire instead of 24, I cut the wings a little smaller (so they would be lighter, and ended up cutting the top wings wire shorter once it was assembled to help lighten those wings too. While there was a bit of trial and error with these, they are pretty magical! You wind them up, then sandwich them in the card, put it in the envelope and mail it. His friends will have quite the surprise when opening, I just hope we don’t scare anyone too bad!
