F is for Fancy Fried Rice

Ingredients:

2 cooked chicken breasts cut in 1 inch pieces (optional for vegetarian)

1 cup cooked rice

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 eggs

2 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal

1 teaspoon grated and peeled fresh ginger

1 carrot, chopped

½ cup diced red bell pepper (about 1 small pepper)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

½ teaspoon sugar

½ cup chicken stock

1 cup snow peas, trimmed, sliced on the diagonal into thirds 

Directions:
Heat oil in medium skillet over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking. Add eggs and scramble.  Add carrot and cook for 3 minutes.  Add chicken, snow peas, scallions, and ginger, cook for 3 minutes. Add rice and bell pepper , cook 2 minutes. Stir together soy sauce, sugar and stock then add to skillet. Cook an additional 3 minutes and serve. Serves 4-6.

C is for Cold Couscous with Craisins

Ingredients:

10 ounces couscous

1 cup craisins

3/4 cup chopped green onions

3/4 cup chopped red pepper

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper 

Directions:
In a large bowl, prepare couscous according to package directions. Place in large bowl and fluff with a fork. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until chilled.  Stir in craisins, onions, and pepper. In a small bowl, whisk the lemon juice, oil, paprika, salt, and pepper; pour over couscous and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. 6-8 servings.

B is for Bumble Bee Banana Bread

Ingredients:

3 brown or blackened bananas

½ cup (1 stick) softened butter
1 egg

½ cup sugar
½ cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix flour and baking soda in a bowl, set aside. Mix bananas, butter, egg, sugar, honey, and vanilla. Combine flour and baking soda then mix incrementally into banana and sugar mixture. Pour into muffin cups and bake about 20 minutes (60 minutes if using a loaf pan) until fork comes cleanly through the center of the muffin or loaf.

A is for Awesome Apple Chicken Salad

Ingredients:

4 (6 ounce) chicken breasts

salt and black pepper

¾ cup bread crumbs  (optional for Gluten Free)

3 tablespoons olive oil

¼ cup sour cream

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 stalks celery, sliced

1 Granny Smith apple, cut into matchsticks

1 tablespoon chives, chopped 

Directions: 

 Slice chicken breasts into two inch pieces and season with salt and pepper then coat with bread crumbs. Heat 2 Tbsp of  oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook chicken until brown and cooked through adding more oil to the skillet if necessary. Place chicken on a plate.

In a large bowl, whisk together sour cream, mustard, and lemon juice. Stir in chicken, celery, apple, and chives. 4-6 servings.

Y is for Yellow Y

A simple craft that teaches about the letter Y and the color yellow and provides an excellent opportunity for your child to practice small motor skills such as cutting and gluing.

Materials Needed:
construction paper
black marker
magazine pictures

Scissors

glue

Directions:
1. Using a black marker, trace a large Y onto a sheet of construction paper.

2. Cut out yellow pictures from a magazine and glue them into the Y shape.

X is for Xylophone

Materials Needed:
construction paper – black, red, orange,

yellow, green, blue, and brown

black marker
glue

scissors

Directions:

Cut strips of construction paper as follows:

blue – 5 inches by 1 inch

green – 4.5 inches by 1 inch
yellow – 4 inches by 1 inch

orange – 3.5 inches by 1 inch

red – 3 inches by 1 inch 

Cut out little drum sticks from the brown paper.

Glue the colored strips on to the black construction paper in the shape of a xylophone and draw

two little black dots on the end of each colored strip of paper. Glue the brown drum sticks

on top of the xylophone.

W is for Wizard Wand

Materials Needed:

8 1/2 x 11 plain white paper
hot glue gun and LOTS of glue sticks
sponge paint brush
paint (brown, red, green, black, silver and/or gold)
Mod Podge

 

Directions:  
Begin by rolling paper into a narrow funnel. You want one end to be just a bit wider than the other.

Stick the tip of the glue gun into the narrow end of the wand first. You are going to fill the entire tube with glue. Don't miss any sections. Squirt glue into the wand until you can see it about 3/4 of the way full through the entire tube. Allow to cool for a moment. Fill the remainder of the way, through the wider end and allow to cool completely. Tube should be entirely full. When cooled it will be solid and near unbreakable. Each wand will take approx. 3-4 hot glue sticks. Squeeze a small bead of glue on the top or narrow end of the wand. This will give the wand a nice rounded finish on top.

Once the wand is completely cool, use a sponge brush to lightly brush your base paint layer. We used brown. For a darker look you can also use black  .

For your second coat skim a layer of maroon or green (or whatever color you choose) over the top of the brown. The paint dries very quickly.

When it is completely dry, use the hot glue gun to carefully draw designs on your wand with the glue. We did vines with flowers, "knots" like wood, spirals, snakes, anything! Get creative!

Hold the wand vertically and squirt a bit of hot glue on the top and let it drizzle messily around the tip. Then hold it upside down and do the same just a bit thicker so it runs down like wax on a candle.