Summer - 8/12 - The Idea Room

Watermelon Pops

Has it been as hot at your house as it has been here? We have been in the 90′s and actually hit 100 degrees today! Whew! We have been craving some cool treats…hence the numerous popsicle posts. But who doesn’t love a great popsicle? Especially watermelon popsicles.

The kids and I whipped up these yummy watermelon popsicles the other day. They were pretty easy. We found the recipe from Kraft Foods here.

We followed the recipe pretty closely but used sugar-free Jell-O for both the lime and the strawberry Jell-O. Therefore we didn’t need to add any sugar. We also just used half the amount of cream cheese and added a bit more Cool Whip. We also used our popsicle molds we had purchased at Target. When we tried to get the popsicles out we had to be VERY careful when pulling them out. Be sure to run under hot water to help the popsicles slid out without separating the different popsicle layers. Better yet, next time I make them I think we will make them in paper cups so that we can just tear the paper cup away from the popsicle. We did accidently pull some popsicles apart leaving the red top in the popsicle mold.

But all in all, the kids thoroughly enjoyed them. I actually did not taste one as I am not a big fan of Jell-O…not to mention FROZEN Jell-O. But just seeing the way my kids gobbled these up, they had to be fairly tasty! Happy Summer People!

July 2, 2010 · Filed under: Summer Tagged with Kids, recipes, treats

Patriotic Fruit Pizza and Other 4th of July Recipes

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Have you ever tried Fruit Pizza? We love it! This year I decided to make it for our Family Home Evening last night to go along with our Patriotic Lesson. It was a hit. And the best part is that it is super easy to make.

Simply take your favorite sugar cookie recipe, I used this recipe here, and then roll out your cookie dough into a nice circle. Place the dough onto a round pizza baking sheet and bake in the oven at your recipes temperature for about 12-15 min. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Frost the cookie with your favorite cream cheese frosting or Cool Whip and then top with the fruit of your choice. (I used a cookie cutter to get a nice star shape and then used that to make the blueberry star).

I love this dessert, but especially in the summer as it is light and refreshing. We have also made these before on individual round cookies. Then had a sort of fruit pizza cookie bar. We had various cut, fresh fruit and let each person create their own by picking and choosing the fruit combination on their individual cookie. Such a fun idea for showers too!

YUM!

Need some more fun ideas for your 4th of July festivities? Check out these fun ideas!

Recipe Girl shares how to make these Patriotic Cheesecake Bars! Don’t they look amazing? I will be making these for sure as my husband is a HUGE cheesecake fan.

She also shares a recipe for a red, white and blue potato salad! A definite must too!

17 and Baking shares a fun red, white and blue cake that is similar to the rainbow cake shown here earlier.

The Barefoot Contessa shares with The Food Network a flag sheet cake to bring some patriotic fun to your BBQ or picnic. Love this!

SugarMama Baking Company has some fun red, white and blue recipes too. I would love to make and taste this red, white and blue trifle…YUM!

Aren’t these strawberries from Rachel Ray so pretty? Love me some chocolate covered strawberries!

And finally…I love this Stained Glass Patriotic Jell-O from the Brown Eyed Baker. My kids would definitely love this.

June 29, 2010 · Filed under: Fourth of July, Recipes, Summer Tagged with

Make Bouncy Balloon Balls

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Been SUPER Busy! May and June have FLOWN by and I have been going from one thing to the next. Luckily the next few weeks should slow down a bit. Things round here should get back to normal and I have some fun projects in the works for you. I thought you might want to see a few pictures of what we were up to the last few weeks.

Can you relate?? But the good news is…I do have a little summer activity for you to do with your kids! Make some super balls…

My boys and I found a fun and super simple way to make a bouncy balloon ball. Do you remember this ball from last summer? Well, it was fun to make but was not very bouncy like the super balls I grew up with. But…this new ball is a lot more like the super ball from the 80′s.

All you need are a package of round water balloons. We used the 9 inch size. First we took one balloon and filled it with a small amount of water, just enough to make it expand a tiny bit. Then we tied it off and cut off the excess end of the balloon.

Then take the rest of your balloons and cut off the long end that you tie off so you basically just have the round balloon. Cut off less first as you can always cut more off it you need to!

Then put the water balloon into the one of the cut balloons. Always place the open end of the balloon so that it is completely covered by the rubber balloon. Continue with balloon after balloon until you have a nice sized ball. This should give you a nice and thick balloon that is really durable! Then bounce away to your heart’s content.

My boys loved this little project and have found made up some games to play with their new bouncy balls.

**Be extra careful with the cut up balloon pieces as they are choking hazards. Be sure to keep them away from small children!