I Pinned This - Colored Noodles

We eat a lot of different foods in our house but the one thing I have to fight everyone else to eat is spaghetti. The hubby doesn't like it, Chloe claims to not like it, Aria can't have it yet. But I love spaghetti and it makes me so sad. 

I started making Spaghetti Pie a few months ago (easiest recipe EVER below) and the hubby actually enjoys it.  1 down, 1 to go.  I know Chloe likes it, but enjoys pretending (this isn't the only food she does this with) that she hates it and it will kill her to eat it.  So when I saw this on Pinterest, I knew the score would be Mom 3, everyone else 0 - if it worked. 

Here's what Pinterest promises:
Cook spaghetti then fill ziplock 1/4 with water & add food coloring. Add spaghetti... coolest idea ever for kids!! (The link from Pinterest takes you to a photography website of rainbow food, nothing more.)

Here's what I did:
Slightly doubtful about it working as well as the picture I started off by cooking the noodles.  I used linguine noodles so the would be more noodle for the color to stick to.

The best way to get the different colors is to split the noodles up into baggies.  I added enough water to cover the noodles then dropped in 3-4 drops of food coloring.  (I only did some of the noodles in case something weird happened with the food coloring, we'd still have something to eat.)

 I let the noodles sit in the colored water for 2-3 minutes, dumped out the water and put them into a bowl to check the results.

The colors aren't as bright as the Pinterest picture, but they were much brighter than I expected! The yellow was the only one that looks drab, but what do you expect when you're dying beige noodles yellow? 

I threw the colored back in with the regular noodles and finished making dinner.  Once the sauce and cheese were mixed in, they didn't stand out as much, but it was enough to trick our 4 year old into thinking "This is the best dinner EVER!"

Do you have any foods you have to trick your kids into eating? 

XO!

A fun thing to do with the colored noodles other than eat - let your little ones "draw" on the table using the noodles.  Practice making shapes or letters!

* Spaghetti Pie (easiest recipe EVER!)

• cooked noodles (as little or as much as you want)
• sauce (as little or as much as you want)
• cheese (as little or as much as you want)
• Mix the noodles and the sauce together and put into an oven safe pan.  Sprinkle cheese on top (I like to cover the noodles with cheese).  Bake at 400 until cheese is melted and starts to turn golden brown. ENJOY! 

I Pinned This - French Toast Muffins

Preschool is from 8:30-11:15 in the morning and as a former teacher (and a mom), I have a hard time sending cupcakes to school for birthday treats so early in the morning.  I scoured Pinterest for a healthier breakfast treat to send that the kids would love.  When I saw French Toast Breakfast Muffins, I was excited!

Here's what Pinterest promises: 

French Toast Breakfast Muffins. These are amazing!! Taste exactly like French toast!!! Made with skim milk and light butter was only 121 calories a muffin if you make 12!

Following the link, here is the recipie: 

1/3 c. butter, melted
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg (preferably room temperature)
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 c. milk

Topping (option: cut topping in half*)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a medium-large bowl, sift together all dry ingredients. Add wet ingredients and stir just until combined, but still a bit lumpy. Do NOT overmix; overmixing will ruin the texture of the finished muffins. Also? Don't overmix the batter. Finally, don't overmix. Scoop batter into muffin tins that have sprayed with cooking spray. Using a large ice cream scoop, I got 8 medium-large muffins out of this batter; I think you could get 10-12 muffins by distributing the batter a little less generously. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until they just start to turn a bit golden at the edges.

For the topping, mix sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Place melted butter in another small bowl. Dip the warm muffins in melted butter (you can dip just the top, but it's even tastier to dip the whole muffin!), then dip/roll the muffin in cinnamon sugar. *May have left-over topping; the extra topping can be used for dipping, while eating the muffins (oh my). Another option is to cut the topping ingredients in half. CONSUME, ENJOY, GO CRAZY! (velvetlava.blogspot.com)

Here's what I did: 

I followed the recipe as directed. I was surprised how thick the batter was while mixing, but I guess french toast muffins should have the consistency of bread. 

When they were baked up and coated in cinnamon & sugar, they looked amazing! 

Of course I couldn't wait to try one so before I even put the next batch in the oven (or the pan for that matter), I popped one into my mouth.  They were... ok.  Not sweet, but ok.  I knew 3-4 year olds would not be as impressed as I had hoped.  

Before throwing in the next batch, I mixed about 1/4 cup of brown sugar into the batter and baked according to the directions.  The brown sugar caramelized inside the muffins and added just the sweetness the original was lacking. I was still worried about how the kiddos would like them so I made cinnamon rolls instead, but the brown sugar muffins were a hit with the hubby and me!  (I didn't coat the second batch in cinnamon & sugar).  

Especially after the addition of the brown sugar! 

XO!