To me, Fall isn’t just about the change in weather. It is about the change in food as well.  My family happily welcomes the change in seasons, especially when accompanied by some of their favorite Fall Foods.

Here are a few of our favorite Fall Snacks that we have made together

Applesauce

DIY Halloween Candy: Peanut Butter Cups and Mounds Bars

Caramel Corn

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (Gluten Free)

Do you have a Fall favorite snack or food you love to make with your kids?

Tell us about it

Do you have tomatoes that haven’t ripened yet {and might not at this point in the season}?

Wondering what to do with them?

Watch as Silas shows you what we do with our green {and half-red} tomatoes.

Want to learn more about what makes tomatoes ripen?

Mature green tomatoes give off a gas, called ethylene, which aids in the ripening process.  This gas normally blows around in the wind while the tomatoes are outside growing on the plant, thereby causing the ripening time to be drawn out.  If you are running out of time in the season, and are worried your tomatoes wont ripen before the frost sets in, you can place the green {or even partially-red} tomatoes in a paper bag on your counter. The paper bag will hold in the ethylene gas, allowing those green tomatoes to ripen more quickly.

Thanks to all those who voted for us in the Clorox Cooking Up A Mess contest a few months ago.

This past weekend we went on our grand prize trip to NYC. The days were filled with adventure, food, and lots of sight-seeing.

One of the parts of the prize was a cooking class for the kids.

We had our class at Taste Buds, a company that caters to child chefs with a full equipped child-sized kitchen.

With a moto of “Learn, Laugh, Cook”, I knew this would be a good place for us.

The class was 2 hrs long, at which the Nicole taught the kids how to make sushi, a soba noodle salad and fortune cookies.

The fortune cookies were a BIG hit with my kids.

Taste Buds offers story times, weekly classes, individual classes, camps, parties {and even adult classes}.

This is a great place to check out if you are in the NYC area.  The staff are friendly and great with kids. The cooking area is open, airy, and speckled with jars of sprinkles, colorful mixing bowls and miniature wisks.

Your kids are bound to have a fantastic time, just like we did.

Thanks Taste Buds!

We recently had a birthday in our house:

Silas turned 6!

Each year I let the kids decide what they want their birthday cake to look like. Yes, look like. As in, come up with whatever you want and I will try to make it.

Last year, just a few days after Silas’ 5th birthday{at which he requested a Feller Buncher cake}, he told me what cake he wanted for his 6th birthday cake: A Space Shuttle cake.

No worries, I thought, he will change his mind.

Low and behold, 12 months later, he still wanted a Space Shuttle birthday cake {and space shuttle toys, and an astronaut suit, and to go to Mars…}

It actually seemed very fitting, in honor of NASA’s 2011 retirement of the Space Shuttles, to make a space shuttle cake.

Since we couldn’t go see the real shuttle, we took pictures of our own.

We didn’t just eat cake for the birthday celebrations,  although we did manage to eat lots and lots of cake.

We also went to a local amusement park and rode the rides.

Here’s to another year filled with fun adventures and lots of love and laughter.

I took the kids strawberry picking last week {and again this week, but who’s counting}.

Silas is a natural born berry-picker. He works hard, finds great berries, and doesn’t mind being hot.

Sydney, on the other hand isn’t a fan of the actual berry picking process, but she is loving the berry eating process.

I am lucky that my kids humor me and keep coming out to the berry fields with me.

Last week we made Strawberry Jam with some of the berries we picked. Let me just say, the jam is AMAZING. Bright red, flavorful and delicious.

If you are on the fence about making jam, then DO IT.  Its great.

Want to know what is great with strawberry jam? Homemade peanut butter, check out our post on making your own!

{Side commercial for making your own Peanut Butter: It is easier than you can imagine. It tastes 1 million times better than the stuff from the store, AND you can make it with simply 3 ingredients: peanuts, oil and salt.  End Commercial}.

Hope you are enjoying some summer berries as well.

I would love to see what you are making with your berries this summer!

LINK to your berry posts in the comments section or leave a note with your recipe!

Summer foods are a big hit in our house.

Watermelon = Yum

Corn on the Cob = Yum

After seeing this picture taunting me from the cover of Women’s Day Magazine {as well as in the “Hello, Cupcake!” cookbook, and on Martha Stewart}, I decided it would be a fun project to try with the kids.

After showing them the picture, and hearing lots of cheering, we ran to the store to buy the color appropriate jelly beans.

Inspired by the idea of Corn-on-the-Cob cupcakes, I thought it would be fun to ALSO try making a WATERMELON cupcake.

My Kids Make “Watermelon and Corn-on-the-Cob Cupcakes” and yours can too! Check out the pictures…..

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Summer days are warm and wonderful and have a way of making you want an ice cream cone. What’s a kid to do when they don’t eat dairy?

Have some sorbet!

My Kids Make “Watermelon Sorbet” and yours can too! Cut up some watermelon and get started!

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This is a post from last Summer that we loved and wanted to remind people of. This cake is AMAZING and I have been counting the days until we make it again!

I saw this recipe for Grilled Gingerbread Smore’s Cake in the Rachael Ray Magazine and I knew my kids would want to try making this ourselves!

This recipe is not only easy, it is perfect if you want to bake on a hot summer day.

All the baking is done on the grill – so you wont heat up your kitchen with a hot oven.

My Kids Make a Smore’s Cake, and yours can too! Watch the video to see how:

The cake is fantastic, honestly. I can’t believe HOW good it is.

Eat it warm – as it looses some of its “yum factor” once it starts to cool.

Still looking for a project your kids can make this Mother’s Day?

Want to give her flowers?

Then check out these Flower projects:

Paper Bouquet of Flowers

String Flowers

Chocolate Flower Lollipops

Here’s a recap of all our Easter projects. Hope you find you to enjoy with your kids!

Daffodil Candy Cups:

Bunny Cake:

The Jelly Bean Bracelet:

“The Easter Egg” – Drawings:

Easter Sugar Cookies:

Bunny Bean Bag Toss: