Maple Syrup Snow Candy

by Jayda

Need something fun to do on a cold winter day in the Capital? Why not make candy? Maple syrup snow candy!

Ingredients:

1 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 cup EarthBalance butter (or unsalted butter)

Directions:

1. Heat the syrup and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.

2. The mixture is ready 6 to 7 minutes after it boils (220 to 234 degrees on a candy thermometer); soft ball stage.

3. Remove from heat and cool for 2 minutes. Bundle the kids up and find some clean snow to pour the cooled maple syrup over. It cools quickly so that kids can taste it right away.

Bonus:

Maple syrup is a significant source of several nutrients. For example, on average, a 60 ml (4-tbs) serving of maple syrup supplies more than 100% of our daily intake of manganese, 37% of riboflavin, 18% of zinc, 7% of magnesium and 5% of calcium and potassium.

Jayda is a nutritionist and researcher, living under a co-dictatorship, a master mediator, whole food advocate, living a little greener everyday. She can be found at EatWhole Be Vital.

Valentine's Day Cupcakes

by Carly

Jake loves to help in the kitchen and making cakes or cupcakes is probably one of his favourite things to do. In light of Valentine's Day coming up, we decided to make some cupcakes to bring over to a friend's house.

We decided to make "rainbow" cupcakes, by separating the cake batter into four bowls (after it's been mixed) and colouring one bowl purple, one red and one pink.  We left the fourth bowl white.  I used both paste food colouring (for the red) and liquid food colouring for the pink and purple.  To make it easier for Jake to mix the colours into the X's and O's baking cups we picked up at the Dollar Store, I spooned the batter in freezer baggies and snipped a tiny hole in one corner.  We carefully put a bit of each colour into the baking cups, then baked the cupcakes according to the directions on the mix.

Baked

When the cupcakes had cooled, we iced them with pink and purple icing, topped with heart shaped sprinkles and tiny coloured dots.  Mmm!

Decorating

Finished

Eating

Do you make any Valentine's treats with your kids?

Carly has red hair and occasionally the temper to match.  She loves potatoes, rainy nights, photography, her husband, her five year old son, Jacob and her brand spanking new son, Noah. Probably in reverse order. She also blogs

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More Tasty Snacks from Budsie

by Ezmy Ages ago, back when Budsie was just a wee little dude who couldn’t walk or terrorize the cat, I shared a favourite recipe of his: Budsie Oatmeal. Well, today we have a new favourite: Budsie’s Trio of Super Yogurt. Super easy, super tasty (even for mums and dads), and super good for you.  Yay!

Budsie’s Trio of Super Yogurt

-1/3 cup Balkan-style, plain, full fat yogurt (with yogurt, you simply must go full fat)

-1/4 cup berries (blueberries are Budsie’s personal favourite, but I enjoy raspberries. Tip: buy boatloads of berries when they are on sale and freeze them for future use!)

-1 tbsp of ground almonds

-1 tsp ground flax seed

Mix everything together in a bowl. Serve with a spoon, although little hands do love to fish the berries out first. Serves one awesome toddler at snack time. Enjoy!

Ezmy is mum to son Ewan (aka Budsie). When she isn't working on her master's thesis, or playing games with her boy, she's blogging furiously on Ezmy Writes, talking about life as a stay-at-home mum in our nation's capital. Ezmy can also be found on Winefox.ca; here, Ezmy learns about tannins and other fancy wine lingo. Follow on Ezmy on Twitter (@ezmytweets) where she posts updates on life with an active and very vocal baby

Nuts and Bolts - A Gift For The Snacker In Your Life

Looking for a little extra something for a gift basket?  Think that a tin of something snacky would be the perfect gift for the mailman or bus driver on your Christmas list?  Want a dish of something nibbly to leave out on the coffee table at your holiday gatherings?  The possibilities are endless!  (Or you could just make it and eat it all yourself!)

This is such and easy recipe that it is a great for the kids to help. And you really don't have to have any cooking or baking skills to pull this off!

Nuts and Bolts

8 cups Cheerios 8 cups Shreddies 8 cups Corn Pops 2 cups pretzels 2 cups peanuts 3/4 cup of butter 2 tsp of each: salt, summer savoury, marjoram, garlic powder 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp ground pepper

Start by layering half of each type of cereal , pretzels and peanuts in a LARGE oven proof pan, I use my large roasting pan. Then layer the other half of everything on top.

Mix the spices all together in a small dish and then sprinkle on top of the cereal mix. Slice half of the butter in thin slices and place on top of everything.

Cover your pan, place in the oven at 250 F for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, mix well. I like to shake the roast pan and carefully turn it upside down and shake. Slice and add the rest of the butter on top. Place in the oven for 15 minutes. Mix well and put in the oven for a final 15 minutes. Let cool throughly before packaging or storing in air tight containers.

Put some in a Christmas tin from the dollar store and you've got a perfect little gift for someone.

Our sixth winner of a Family Pass to the Canadian Mint is Sarah S!

If you leave a comment on any post for the duration of the giveaway, you are entered to win. Additional comments are not required and won't increase your chances of winning (though they are always welcome).

HOW TO ENTER

We are going to be giving out one pass a day for the next 6 days. To enter leave a comment on any one of the giveaway posts or tweet about the giveaway:

I’d love to win a family pass to the @canadianmint from #kidsinthecapital this holiday season!  http://www.kidsinthecapital.ca/?p=6655

Only one entry will count and you can only win once.

Winners will be picked each day from all comments and tweets received by 8:00pm. If you'd like to know more about this giveaway and the Canadian Mint, please read our introduction post.

Now, tell us your favourite edible gifts to give (or get)!?

Recipe: Give the gift of Apple Crumble!

by Amanda I love this recipe, it's a great idea for a little giveaway for the holidays, relatively inexpensive and very easy to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Apple pie filling

2 1/4 cups granulated sugar 1/2 cup cornstarch 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1/2 tsp salt 5 cups water 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice 1 lb granny smith apples, peeled, cored & sliced

Place a rack in the bottom of a large stock pot. Fill pot with hot water. Sterilize 5 x 1 pint canning mason jars, 5 lids and 5 rings by placing on rack, jars upright. Bring water to a boil.

Boil 10 minutes and remove with a holder and allow jars to air-dry.

Combine sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and water in a large saucepan. Place over high heat and cook until thick and bubbly, stirring frequently.

Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice.

Tightly pack apples into sterilized jars. Slowly pour syrup over apples, covering them completely. Gently tap jars on countertop to allow air bubbles to rise. Screw lids on jars.

Carefully lower jars into pot using a holder. Add more boiling water if necessary, until tops of jars are covered by 2 inches of water.

Bring water to a full boil, cover and let stand for 30 minutes.

Remove jars and place on cloth covered surface until cool.

Once cool, press top of each lid with finger, ensuring that seal is tight - lid doesn’t move up or down at all. Sealed jars can be stored for up to a year.

Crumble Topping

3 cups brown sugar 2 cups oatmeal 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour 4 tsp cinnamon 1 cup butter

Combine brown sugar, oatmeal, flour and cinnamon in a bowl. Cut in the butter until crumbly. Package in cellophane bags.

What's your favorite Christmas gift to make?

Amanda was born and raised in Ottawa where she continues to live with her husband and son “J”. Amanda is bilingual and interests include reading, blogging, socializing, and advocacy on children and teen issues.

Canadian Mint Family Pass Giveaway

Our second winner of a Family Pass to the Canadian Mint is Sherry!

Methodology: Tweets and comments are put in chronological order and a random number is generated by Random.org. The number today was 4.

HOW TO ENTER We are going to be giving out one pass a day for the next 10 days.  To enter leave a comment on the post from that day or tweet the following:

I’d love to win a family pass to the @canadianmint from #kidsinthecapital this holiday season!  http://www.kidsinthecapital.ca/?p=6700

You can enter every day, but you can only win once. One entry per day per family.

Winners will be picked each day from all comments and tweets received by 8:00pm of the same day. If you'd like to know more about this giveaway and the Canadian Mint, please read our introduction post.