Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter + Southern Banana Pudding + Jello Playdough

We spent Easter this year at both of our parents houses.

We did manage to sneak in a stop to Six Flags on our way from point A to point B.

Rylee's Easter basket (from us) this year





Included

Two Eric Carle books (nearly completing her collection)
A Finding Nemo bath Toy
Pearl Necklace (for playtime and so she doesn't steal mommy's anymore)
Bubble Wand
Heart shaped, home-made crayons found on Etsy
Home made Jello Playdough (see below for instructions and pictures)
One small container of m&m's

We're not big candy givers around here. I like to fill Rylee's Easter basket with things that she can use over and over again, candy not being one of them. I know there are probably people out there that think I'm depriving her of something but if she never knew it to begin with, I'm not really depriving her, am I? Besides that, I'm trying to teach her good eating habits. And it's not like she doesn't get candy or sweets ocassionally, I sell cakes and pastries. Anyway, it's just how we do it here. There really is no right or wrong way.

At the in-laws







Pit stop, Six Flags. My kid's a thrill seeker. She can ride most of the kiddy rides but she REALLY wanted to ride the big rides. She cried when they told her she couldn't ride the tea-cups and had a melt down when we told her she couldn't go on the bobsled or the Titan.







Southern Banana Pudding

I make this as often as I can. It's not your typical banana pudding. This one is rich, it's creamy and of course, it's terrible for you. This Sunday we took it along to Rodney's parents house for Easter lunch.




Ingredients:

1 box vanilla pudding
2 1/2 cups milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
16 oz whipped cream (softened, not frozen)
Vanilla wafers
Bananas

Mix pudding and milk together, add condensed milk and mix well. Fold in half of the whipped cream. Layer pudding mixture, bananas and wafers. Top with remaining whipped cream and a few bananas. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. Enjoy!

I do have step by step pictures but this is a pretty easy recipe to follow. It's very, very good too!

Jello Playdough



We made this for Rylee the night before Easter, for her basket. Rodney says it's incredibly cruel to give this to anyone, let alone a child. While he was stirring (he was the stirrer), he decided to have a taste (because it smelled so good, like berries) and all I heard was, "UGHKKKK, that is NOT good." I told him it wasn't meant for eating, just for smelling good and that's when he told me it was cruel.

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 3-oz box of your favorite Jello color
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil



Combine everything in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat until the mixture comes together and starts to take shape. When the mixture starts to pull away from the sides of the pan, the playdough is done. Make sure you keep the temperature on medium-low, the dough burns very easily. Take out of pan ( we turned ours out onto a sheet of wax paper) and kneed when the dough is cool to the touch. Keep stored in an airtight container. Voila! Smells good and easy to make at home!

3 comments:

Mumsy said...

Love the Easter basket! What a cute monkey. AND no! You are not depriving her. I wish we'd done less candy. They got enough from friends and relatives. The EB will not be bringing them candy next year.

And, I love Rylee's dress! Adorable.

And, THANK YOU for the recipe for that playdough. I have been wanting to make it for so long, but I couldn't find the right recipe using the Jell-O.

April said...

I LOVE Rylee's Easter dress! I hope to have a girl someday to dress up so adorable!
Great idea on the jello playdough- must try that when Mason is old enough!

Steph said...

Thanks ladies!

I really love her dress too.I bought it at Nordstroms! I had her picture taken in it (at Northpark Mall for you DFW'ers) and every year they have a photographer that brings along live bunnies. We did it last year and I thought it would be cute to do it again this year. Last year she loved the bunnies, this year they had to sit to the side in a chair, away from her. Crazy kid!

The jello playdough is pretty awesome. It is sort of tempting to taste though. But I think in the long run it might teach her not to try any kind of playdough. Maybe not though, haha!

April, Mason is ADORABLE. And you dress him very cute, I love it when you put ties on him! That has to be one of the cutest things on a baby, a tie. That and a good hat.