Children's Art & Science Program

My Kickstarter got accepted!

I am trying to achieve my goal of starting an art program for kids focusing in science and nature. This after school program would start in Boulder, CO and help kids create and learn about nature and science, and hopefully spread to other parts of the country. Field trips, science lessons, and many many art projects to enhance children's love for the outdoors and expressing themselves creatively are my main goals. With technological advancements, so many kids these days come home from school and sit in front of a TV or computer screen, with their minds numbed. It is important to get children using their imagination, getting their hands dirty, and exploring the area in which they live.  This program is here to create that excitement and challenge that they are missing in the afternoons. CASP's mission is to have these kids be with other children in the same age group, learning about geology, chemistry, physics, and art in a simple way that will entice them to want to learn and create more! Donations would fund rent for a studio/class space, art supplies, guest speakers, van rental and gas for field trips, and legal certifications and forms that must be processed in the event of opening a business. 

Please help me reach my goal of $5,000 to get the program up and running to begin Summer 2015 for day camp! Learn more here!

Avocado Slicer & De-pitter Invention Review

Holy Guacamole!

This thing is awesome! My boyfriend gave it to me as an early Christmas gift while I was making breakfast on Sunday. Normally I wouldn't accept an early gift, but I asked if it would make breakfast better, and it sure did. Not only is this nifty gadget super functional, I found it fun to use. Maybe I'm just a freak, but I went out and bought a bunch of avocados and am planning on making the best guacamole ever for a party tomorrow night. I have always loved avocado, and even cutting it normally with a knife, but now... now, I better watch myself before I go eating 12 avocados a day. They are delicious, and in moderation good for you, so I must pace myself and feed others because there is no way I can not use this thing everyday. It's awesome!

You can buy it online at Williams-Sonoma for $9.95 or find it on amazon

Apple Rose Tarts

Holiday Baking?

Try a tasty yet beautiful dessert that won't put you in a food coma after dinner!

Ingredients:

4-6 Apples of choice
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp Cinnamon
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 1/2 cups flour


Instructions: Boil 1 1/2 cups of water in a medium saucepan with 1 cup of white sugar. Thinly slice apples and add to saucepan, boil for 3-5 minutes. Cooking time depends or the variety of the apples, but slices should be transparent in the end. While boiling, prepare the dough, flatten and cut into 1-2" by 5" rectangles and drizzle with brown sugar and cinnamon. Let the apple slices cool aa bit in a colander and place on paper towel. Place the slices horizontally while layering slightly over one another until the rectangle is mostly covered. Roll from one end tightly and pinch the dough when you reach the other end to secure the rose. Place on parchment paper or in cupcake liners. Repeat until desired amount are created. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350.

Magic Milk

Arts & Crafts: Indoor Fun when the Outdoors Act up.

When the snow won’t stop falling, the rain keeps coming, or the wind won’t slow down, sometimes you have to choose the indoors and get creative. Although you don’t have nature to learn from, there are experiments that and science projects that can teach you other things, like physics and chemistry. Here’s a fun trick that will allow you to see some crazy colors and flows in a way that nature cannot replicate.

Ingredients

• whole milk

• food coloring

• dish soap

• salt 

• oil (vegetable or canola)

Directions

In a wide shallow bowl or deep plate (the shape of the container alters the design, so play around a bit if you’d like). Fill the container ¾ with whole milk. Use the food coloring, 2-4 colors, about 3 drops each, in varying areas of the milk. Following, add a few drops of dish soap, or draw a circle of dish soap, or any other design (different designs will alter reactions). Watch for a few minutes as the colors swirl in various vortexes and flows. You can add more dye for less white in the designs. By adding salt, you will see a reaction in the flow of the colors. Adding oil traps the colors to create color bubbles that don’t mix with the flow. 

              Before Salt                                                                                  After Salt

          

Sausage Stuffing Stuffed Squash

That's a mouthful! Not just the name, when this meal is done no one goes hungry, not even the broke roommate in my case. Inspired by wanting to stuff an acorn squash given to me by a friends mom from her garden, and the first cold day of fall, which to me means holidays, and therefore stuffing, I created -deep breath- sausage, cranberry and apple stuffing stuffed squash.

Total time: 2 hours, serves 6-ish

Ingredients

• 1 large sweet onion

• 1 celery stock

• 20 oz italian ground sausage

• 2 gala apples

• 5oz dried cranberries

• 4 tbsp butter

• 3 eggs

• 1 acorn squash

• salt & pepper

• mustard powder

• 1 loaf wheat or white bread

• 1/2 loaf light rye bread

• 1 can Campbell's cheese soup 

Instructions

Begin by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. Dice the onion and celery and add to a large skillet with 4 tbsp butter, salt, pepper and mustard powder. While this is sautéing, begin toasting bread and ripping into quarter sized pieces into a large bowl. When celery and onion are soft, add into bread bowl and use the skillet to then heat the sausage. Continue toasting and ripping until you have finished the loaf and a half. Flip sausage and continue stirring until fully cooked, then add to the bread mixture. Heat cheese soup with 1/2 cup water, stir, and add to the mixture. Dice apples, and add, along with cranberries. Lastly, add eggs and (remove jewelry from hands) begin to mush with your hands, mixing everything completely until you reach a nice consistency.  Chop the acorn squash in half, scoop out guts, and drizzle with melted butter or olive oil. Fill with stuffing until overflowing and place in greased baking dish. Dispense the remaining stuffing into its own greased baking dish. Heat in oven for 1 hour with the solo stuffing covered for the first 30 minutes. To serve, slice squash into halves again. Bowl recommended. Enjoy. 

Homemade Strawberry Jam

So there was a sale on Strawberries last night...

So I decided to buy 4 packs and make strawberry jam without looking at any recipe, just cooking from the heart ya know?

Time: 2 hours + cool time

Ingredients

• 4 Packs of Strawberries
• 1/4 cup Coconut Water
• 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 3 tbsp Honey
• 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
• Nutmeg
• Salt

Instructions

Begin by heating the coconut water in a large pot. One by one chop the strawberries and throw them in with the coconut water. I left my strawberries mostly whole, up to preference. Bring to a boil stirring consistently. Drop down to simmer and add honey. Bring back to boil stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan to avoid crustiness. Simmer again and add sugar. repeat the boil and simmer, add lemon juice. After the last boil, turn the heat off and add a dash of nutmeg and salt. Keep stirring for about 10 minutes. Once cool enough pour into jars or tupperware and refrigerate  overnight, or 2 hours. Enjoy on toast, granola, with dessert, or just with a spoon :)

No-Mayo Coleslaw and Pork Sliders

I Hate Mayonaise!! Yeughlk (yuk)

I decided that I wanted to make a version on pork sliders and coleslaw, but didn't have much time for my hungry boyfriend was urging me to make dinner quickly. So I took the challenge and still attempted to make it, and succeeded.

Serves 2-3, 25-30 min

Coleslaw

Ingredients

•1/2 cup shredded Broccoli
•1/4 cup shredded Carrot
•1/3 cup shredded Red Cabbage
• 2 shredded Granny Smith Apples
• 1 tbsp White Vinegar
• 2 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 2 tsp Mustard Powder
• 1 tsp Lemon Pepper
• 1 tsp Cilantro
• 1/4 cup of Yellow Tomatoes

Pork Scramble

Ingredients

• 2 Italian Sausages
• 1/2 cup Sweet Peppers
• 1/4 cup Sweet BBQ Sauce

Begin by putting a large pan on medium heat. Chop the end of the sausages and squeeze the ground pork into the pan, leaving the skins behind. While occasional flipping, begin chopping sweet peppers and shredding coleslaw ingredients into a medium sized bowl. When pork browns, add the sweet peppers and let that simmer for about 2-3 minutes. use this time to finish up shredding and stirring together coleslaw. Add the BBQ sauce to the pork and let simmer for another minute or two. Whenever the coleslaw is done, put it in the the fridge. Slice buns or bread and put in toaster or toaster oven until desired crispiness. Turn the heat off the pork, take the coleslaw out of the fridge and begin making your slider sandwich! Enjoy.

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

Make Classic Dishes Your Own by Adding Some of your Favorite Ingredients!

I have never made Chicken Pot Pie before, nor have I ever had it made for me. But I wanted to try and make a version of it without looking at any recipe, just going for it based on what I think would taste good.

Ingredients

• Pie Crust (was short on time     :/)
• 4 boneless chicken thighs
• 1 box of angel hair pasta, or   other pasta of your liking
• 1 can cream of celery
• 1 can chicken stock
• 1/4 cup peas
• 1/3 cup corn
• 1/4 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 sweet potato
• 1/2 sweet onion
• 1/4 cup butter
• salt and pepper
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup flour

Directions

Boil a medium sized pot of water and add in noodles. While water is heating, cook chicken in large/deep skillet with salt and pepper. Chop sweet potato and onion and replace with chicken when it is browned. Chop chicken into thin strips and add back into skillet. pour chicken stock and cream of celery and allow to boil. Add in flour and butter and mix. Finally mix in the remaining vegetables and cooked noodles. Simmer on low and prepare pie crust in a greased casserole dish. Pour the contents of the skillet into the crust laden dish slowly and carefully. Sprinkle the top with most of the parmesan cheese, add the top of the crust and use the rest on top. crinkle the edges to form a seam and make an X shaped slit in the center. Cook for 50 minutes to an hour on 400. Recommended beverage: 1% Milk. Enjoy!