Playing Board Games to Learn

My daughter seems to be more interested in her brother's toys and games than her own. So, a few weeks ago, I decided it was time that she got to play some of those games - to use them to help her learn. She will be two in November, so she isn't actually old enough according to the manufacturers suggested ages for any of the games that we have. We had gotten the Original Memory Game and Candy Land for my son the Christmas when he was almost 2 1/2, so we had used them before to help our son learn before we could play the game the "right" way.

My daughter's vocabulary is at that point where it is starting to expand. So, I decided that we would start with Memory. Only, instead of turning the cards upside down we placed them all picture side up. I would ask her to find the bananas, the crayons, the watch, etc - starting with the words and pictures that she knew. As we moved through the words and pictures she knew, I would start to pick up the first card and say, can you find the other squirrel (as an example), showing her the picture and allowing her to form the connection between the name and the picture. She has gotten really good at remembering where she saw the card and when I say the next item to look for, she quickly jumps up and finds both cards As we have played, her vocabulary is growing and she knows the name of all the items now. In fact, she has started telling us what she is going to look for.

Even my 5 year old will play with her, which is a nice chance for them to learn to play together and for him to help her learn. Plus, it gives me the opportunity to have a few minutes while they are entertaining each other to make dinner, clean up dinner or whatever task is at hand.

For other tools to help you and your family check out Toolin' Up Tuesday at Life As Mom. Look for other tips and tricks at Works for Me Wednesday over at Rocks In My Dryer.

Micro-Cooker

A few months ago, a friend had a Pampered Chef party and I decided to purchase the Small Micro-Cooker. It is a pan "customized for microwave cooking! Prepare veggies, melt butter, heat soups and reheat leftovers."

I love it. It is so nice to steam vegetables in. I use barely any water compared to the amount of water that I had to use when I steamed my vegetables on the stove top. In part, this is because I don't worry about the vegetables sticking/burning to the bottom of the pan. With less water, I like to believe that I am pouring away less nutrients when I drain off the water used for steaming. The vegetables have a nice bite to them when they are done, which I like as well. Mushy vegetables are no good.

When you prepare leftovers it is a convenient way to reheat most anything that you would have made in a saucepan - soup, rice, pasta with sauce, etc. You can also use it to heat up canned pasta dishes like Spaghettios.

The design of the cooker includes venting in the lid. This allows you to cover the food, so it won't spatter all over the microwave, but allows the steam to vent during the cooking process (no more lids blowing off the dish you are reheating). Additionally, the vented lid allows an easy one-handed way to drain the water after you are done cooking.

And, it is dishwasher-safe, a definite plus in my book. Since my regular cookware has to be hand-washed, using this dish for preparing my side dish saves me from having to wash one additional pan.

Check out the Tools others are using at Toolin' Up Tuesday over at Life As Mom. You can also find out what works for others over at Works For Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer.

Silicone Cupcake Baking Cups

A while back I had to throw away my standard 12-cup metal muffin pan. Evidently, it had baked too many muffins and cupcakes. The last time I used it, I had two pans in my oven, one 6-cup metal muffin pan and the 12-cup metal muffin pan. Both were full with cupcakes in paper liners. When they were only about 1/2 way through the baking time, I started to notice a lot of smoke in the house. I opened some windows and turned on the exhaust fan hoping to clear the smoke. Of course, the kids were in bed asleep and no amount of effort on my part could keep the smoke detectors from going off. You know, it is not easy to explain to a 5-year old that when the smoke detectors go off, you are supposed to get out because the alarm means there could be a fire and then turn around and tell him, don't worry, we don't need to go outside, it is just what Mommy is baking.

Because my assumption was that it was something on the bottom of the oven just smoking off, I allowed them to finish baking, watching the time pass hoping that the smoke detectors wouldn't go off again. It wasn't until the cupcakes were out of the oven and I removed them from the pans that I noticed that the bottoms on the cupcakes from the 12-cup pan were all black - the bottom 1/4" was burnt. That was the source of the smoke, nothing in the bottom of the oven.

Of course, I was baking them for school treats for my son, so I found myself driving to WalMart at 9:30pm to buy another cake mix and a new pan. I used the pan once and washed it and it rusted - I promptly returned it, a pan that rusts after one use is not a good pan. This frustrated me, so I didn't buy another one because I knew that I had a stoneware muffin pan that I could use, although it only holds 12 muffins/cupcakes, so if I'm making a standard cake mix, it meant that I would have to bake twice to bake all 24 cupcakes. A while back, I also had bought some silicone cupcake baking cups, but had used them only limitedly since I couldn't send them off to school because I couldn't be sure I would get them back.

This past Sunday, I decided to make some Pumpkin Streusel Muffins as part of a fall feast. I decided to use my silicone cupcake baking cups in my stoneware because I only had a couple of paper liners. As I filled the cupcakes, I quickly realized that it would make more than 12 muffins. I pulled a couple of the silicone cupcake baking cups out of the pan and set them on top of the pan between the cups in the pan, filling the vacated locations with paper liners. By doing this, I was able to bake 16 cupcakes all at the same time with one pan.

This was great to me. I had always used the cups in a muffin pan, never considering using them as the directions suggest they can be used on a regular baking sheet not just within the muffin pan.

After baking them this way and having no issues, I decided that I must get a second set of the silicone cupcake baking cups. They aren't cheap, about $10 for a pack of 12 cups, but I think they are worth it (plus, if I use one of those coupons from the home stores, I should be able to save a couple of bucks on them). Having a second set (24 total) would allow me to make all 24 cupcakes from a standard cake mix at once by placing the baking cups on a sheet pan and not even use a muffin pan. It will save me money by only having to run the oven for one bake cycle, rather than the two cycles to make 12 at a time that I had been doing. It will save me money on the paper liners for the cupcakes or muffins that I make for us to eat or take to a friend's for dinner. Additionally, by using the reusable baking cups, we are also being more environmentally friendly because we aren't creating the extra paper waste. Of course, I still have the stoneware muffin pan and can use that when I need to make cupcakes in paper liner for taking to school. One thing that I have learned with time is that spraying the baking cups with a little bit of no stick spray makes the muffins/cupcakes easier to remove from the cup, but the added cost of a little spray isn't a big deal to me.

For other tools that make life easier, check out Toolin' Up Tuesday at Life as Mom. You can also check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in my Dryer for other tried and true tricks and tips.

Canned Goods Rack for the Pantry

When we moved into our house a few years back, the one thing that I was glad to gain was a pantry in the kitchen. At our last house, we had used a closet in our basement to store extra food items. Unfortunately, I quickly learned that the wire rack shelving that seems to be used so universally in the closets is not at all suited for holding significant numbers of cans. At least not with the configuration that I have that only has side supports due to the relatively small size of the pantry. To combat this, I found myself organizing my shelves with cans lining the three wall sides and then filling the middle with other "lighter" stuff. Unfortunately, this way of organizing resulted in me double stacking cans and made locating items more challenging. I knew there had to be a better way.

I wanted something that would allow me to organize my cans where they would be easily accessible. As I thought about possible solutions, I decided that the racks that Campbell's Soup was displayed in on shelf was exactly what I needed to help me organize my pantry. I figured that something like that would be easy to find. I searched high and low for something that I could purchase. I tried a number of racks, including both wire and plastic soda can organizers, but nothing worked for canned vegetables. I even contacted Campbell's directly to see if I could either order through them or if they could put me in contact with a supplier. All to no avail.

Then, one day, I found it. I found it on QVC.com (just checked, I can't find it there anymore). It has plastic rails with metal connection rods. It was a little more money than I had hoped to spend, but I decided to maximize my shipping dollar and to allow for more storage, I would get two racks. This turned out to be a great idea on my part, because when I received the racks, I discovered that when you bought two you could use the enclosed connection rods to connect the two racks, creating a "third" rack between the two I had purchased. The two racks I had purchased were perfectly sized for a standard vegetable can (and canned pasta, beans, tomatoes, etc) and the additional rack created with the connection rods is the perfect size for soup cans. Actually, if I had bought the third rack, I would then be able to have five "racks". The modularity is a very nice feature.

Each rack has two sections, one inside the other, so it allows for the storage of a lot of cans. I keep vegetables in one section, beans in one, tomatoes in one and canned pasta meals in one. I have two sections for soup, which I have split between eating soups and cooking soups. It is a great organization tool. Since you load the cans from the top and remove them from the bottom, it helps to make sure that we are using the oldest product first.

I keep the rack on the floor, it is much too heavy to put on a shelf. This required me to relocate things like soda that I had previously stored on the floor of the pantry, but freed up some additional space for me on the shelves. I still struggle to keep the balance of the pantry organized, but my cans are always in order.

This is one organization tool that I am glad I found.

For other Kitchen Orgnazition Solutions, check out Works For Me Wednesday Kitchen Organization Edition at Rocks in My Dryer. Find other tools to make your life easier at Toolin' Up Tuesday at Life As Mom.

How do you relax?

Jessica over at Life As Mom, who just had a new baby, is hosting her weekly Toolin' Up Tuesday and today she asks, What Helps You Relax?

For me, there are a number of different things that help me relax. A personal favorite, but one that I don't seem to have the time for, is soaking in a nice, hot bubble bath with a good book.

When I'm at work and stress levels are up and/or my mind is racing, I have found that a walk around the block can help me relax and get back in focus. It may not sound relaxing, but it really does bring down stress levels and give me a fresh perspective on things. If I'm walking with someone, we talk. A nice distraction that allows the rest of my brain to sort and sift. If I'm walking alone, the downtime allows my brain to process through stuff and by the time I return, things are back in order. You know how things that you can't remember always seem to come to you at the most random times? My theory is that our brains are so busy most of the time that they need some downtime to sort through things and "find" what you are looking for.

Another way that I relax/unwind is to work a Sudoku puzzle. I'm addicted. I love the challenge and I work a puzzle every night at bedtime. I don't always finish a puzzle every night, but I work at one until I can't keep my eyes open. It seems strange to me that working a puzzle is relaxing, but for me it is.

For other ideas/tools for relaxation, check out Jessica's post at Life As Mom. And, while you are there, check out that little "FishChick" she had earlier this week. What a cutie!

Indispensible Baby Gear

Jessica over at Life As Mom features her regular Tuesday feature with a baby gear theme today, Toolin' Up Tuesday: the Baby Edition. She asks, what is a baby tool/thing/gadget that you have really enjoyed. There are a lot of things that I have been glad that I had and many that I wonder, why did I waste my money.

I suppose if I had to choose one item that we have gotten incredible use out of and lots of comments when we use it, it would be Kiddopotamus Tiny Diner. A really simple thing really. A reusable table mat. It rolls up neatly into itself, so it fits in the diaper bag and after use, keeps the mess inside. It has a wide and deep surface and has a tray to catch all those dropped food items. No more worrying about how clean the table is when you are dining out and the catch tray helps reduce the amount of food lost to the floor or left covering your toddler's lap. We love it so much, that I have bought them for almost everyone I know that has had a baby since my son was a toddler. We have used it for the past 4 1/2 years, through two children and it is still holding up fine. Definitely worth the $10 or $12 it costs all those years ago.

Some other favorites:
Bouncy seat with vibrator
Playskool Step Start Walk 'n Ride
Toddler Silverware with travel case (since discontinued)
Toddler Silverware from Oneida (not a match to my set, but close and the kids love using "real" silverware)
Twist crayons (they don't break as easy as the other crayons).

Some non-favorites:
Baby Einstein DVDs
Crayola TaDoodles (the crayons don't stay in the holder).