Hawaiian Luau Party

Aloha! This weekend, my sister and I planned a Hawaiian-themed party for our Mom's birthday. We bought lei's, drank Blue Hawaiis out of pineapples, had a bunch of decorations and yummy food. Of course, we had Hawaiian music playing the background. Theme parties are fun!

Check out the recipe for Mango salsa below!

Mango Salsa

This salsa is refreshing and healthy!

~ 1 ripe mango, peeled and ½-inch diced
~ ¼ cup chopped scallion, green part only
~ ¼ cup diced red bell pepper
~ 1 tablespoon finely diced fresh jalapeno
~ 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
~ 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
~ ¼ teaspoon salt
~ ½ teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and let sit in fridge for an hour or so before eating. Serve with nacho chips or pita chips. This would be delicious with fish for dinner as well!

Chocolate Lollipops

My girls and I made chocolate lollipops today. It was so much fun and they are yummy!

Here's how we did it:

~ 1 bag (11 oz) white chocolate chips
~ Food colouring, your choice (we used pink and yellow)

~ Sprinkles or small candies for decorating

~ Lollipop sticks

Melt the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl over simmering water on the stove. Takes about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally until melted and smooth.

Colour half of the melted chocolate for decorating (we coloured it all using a couple different colours) by pouring chocolate into a bowl and adding a drop of food colouring.

Spoon tinted chocolate into a baggie or pastry piping bag and secure closed. (I used ziploc bags and just cut the corner off for piping.)

Place filled portion of bag into a small bowl of hot water so chocolate doesn't harden while you fill another baggie with chocolate.

Give each child a small sheet of waxed paper and place a lollipop stick on top. Let each child spoon a dollop of chocolate over the top of the stick. Or use piping bag. Use a spoon to spread the chocolate into a circle or oval. Decorate with a different colour of piped chocolate if you wish.

Decorate with sprinkles and small candy. Let sit and harden or pop waxed paper and lollipops into the fridge to harden. Peel away waxed paper and eat!!

~ Courtesy of 'Kids Parties'

Strawberry Lemonade

Here is a yummy take on homemade lemonade!!

~ 2 cups water
~ 1 cup sugar
~ 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
~ 1 cup fresh lemon juice
~ 1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and halved
~ 2 cups cold sparkling water or club soda
~ Ice
~ Mint sprigs, garnish
~ Whole strawberries, garnish

In a medium saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves. Add the lemon peel and lemon juice, stir, and remove from the heat. Let cool completely, then strain into a clean pitcher.

In a blender, puree the pint of strawberries and add to the pitcher with the lemon juice. Stir well to combine and refrigerate until well chilled.

Add the sparkling water and stir well. Pour over glasses filled with ice and serve, garnished with mint and strawberries.

~ Recipe courtesy of Mo and Emeril

Crepes

Tonight, I had no idea what to make for supper.  We desperately need to go shopping but in the meantime, I was on my own with the girls, it was nearing 6:00 and they were hungry.  I looked in my pantry, the fridge and found ingredients for crepes.  Perfect!

To make 6 crepes, use:

~ 1 cup flour

~ 1 cup milk

~ 2 eggs

~ 1/4 tsp. salt

~ 1/2 tsp. sugar

~ 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Put ingredients into a blender and pulse for 10 seconds.  Scrape sides and keep pulsing until mixed.  Heat up your crepe pan or frying pan to medium heat (I played around with the heat). Grease heated pan with a dab of butter, only for the first crepe.  You don't need to regrease.

Pour a bit of crepe batter into pan and turn pan to coat the bottom evenly.  (This is why I like mixing it in a blender, it's easy to pour!)  When the batter starts to bubble, check the bottom of the crepe and flip it over.  It only takes a minute or two on each side so don't leave your crepes alone!  Pour next crepe and repeat.

The only fruit I had in the house were apples so I peeled and sliced an apple, microwaved it til it was soft and added a touch of cinnamon.  Put a bit of apple mixture onto a crepe, roll it up and eat it.   We dipped ours in a bit of icing sugar and syrup.  Tasty and (fairly) healthy!   Use any fruit you like or stuff crepes with ham and cheese or mushrooms.  The possibilities are endless.  Bon appetit!

Green Beans and Basil

I am always looking for good vegetable recipes. They have to be simple, quick and tasty! Getting kids to eat veggies is difficult but try them out in different ways, hopefully you'll find one that your kids will eat!

This one sounded good to me. I'll post a comment to let you know how it turns out.

~ 1/3 cup KRAFT SIGNATURE Sundried Tomato and Oregano Dressing, divided
~ 1 lb. (450 g) green beans or yellow beans, trimmed
~ 1 red onion, sliced
~ 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil

HEAT dressing in large skillet on medium heat. Add beans and onions; cover.
COOK 5 min. or until beans are crisp-tender.
TOP with basil; cover. Cook 1 min. Serve warm.

Sounds good, doesn't it?!

~Kraft Canada