Kids In The Kitchen
Recipes: Worcestershire Flavored Pumpkin Seeds
Our kids love getting their pumpkins every Fall before Halloween so we can carve them and roast the pumpkin seeds. Due to traveling and other activities that have taken up our time we were a little later getting our pumpkins. Finally, on Halloween we got the girls pumpkins, after going to three other stores we found pumpkins at Publix! After cleaning out their pumpkins we had enough seeds to make two big patches of roasted pumpkins seeds, another favorite tradition of our family.
Every year we used at least one of our favorite pumpkin seed recipes and try to experiment with a new one. Some years the new pumpkin seed recipes are amazing and they become a new favorite while others are a flop. This year we made the Cinnamon Apple Cider Pumpkin Seeds and I tried a new pumpkin seed recipe using a touch of worcestershire sauce. The worcestershire flavored pumpkin seed recipe was a big hit with all my family members. They agreed it was one we could add to our collection of favorite pumpkin seeds recipes.
Worcestershire Flavored Pumpkin Seeds
- 2 cups fresh Pumpkin Seeds
- 2 tablespoons Butter or Margarine
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1/8 teaspoon liquid Wood Smoke
- 1/4 teaspoon Seasoned Salt
- 1/4 teaspoon Garlic Salt
Rinse the fresh pumpkin seeds. Saute pumpkin seeds in the butter for about 5 minutes (until they start to turn brown). Add the worcestershire sauce and liquid wood smoke to the mix of pumpkin seeds. Saute and stir continually for about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the seasoned and garlic salt onto the pumpkin seeds and mix until evenly coated. Spread seeds into a shallow baking pan and baked at 250 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes or until crispy. Stirring every 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, and put in a dish to serve.
In our house if the pumpkin seed recipe is good about half the pumpkin seeds have disappeared before they have completely cooled and been put into the bowl to serve. The kids especially like to come by the stove as they are cooling and “taste test” the new recipe and provide their feedback! Some of the pumpkin seed recipes we have made are sweet while others are salty. The worchestershire flavored pumpkin seed recipe fits into the salty range. You can adjust the amount of seasoning based on your specific tastes. Enjoy!
Sweet Treats for a Spooktacular Halloween!
3 Easy Seasoned Pumpkin Seed Recipes
Wishing your family a Happy Halloween! I have been away for work the past couple of weeks so we decided to celebrate this Halloween by staying home and enjoying a family night. It is great to be back home and to see my handsome man and sweet kids! The only thing that the girls specifically requested for the our family Halloween celebration was some pumpkins for carving and something good to eat. I also picked up some caramel for making caramel apples!
Here are some of our favorite Halloween and delicious pumpkin recipes!
Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins (4 Ingredients)
Carmel Apple Dip
Pumpkin Dip
Halloween Rice Krispie Treats
Super Easy Halloween Punch
Fresh & Healthy: Halloween School Lunch
Every year for Halloween I try to spruce up the girls lunch. I try to put little goodies in their box that are fun for celebrating the Holiday. The girls always enjoy their special school lunch too. I typically use items that they would normally have for lunch and wrap them in special bags, boxes, or use Halloween duct tape.
Lunch Goodies:
- 1 container Taco Lasagna
- 1 “Trick or Treat” box with Pretzels
- 1 “Caution” Fruit Punch Juice Box
- 1 “Spider” Applesauce
- 1 Halloween bag of Baby Carrots
- 1 “Candy Corn” box Craisins
- 1 Water Bottle
They enjoyed their special Halloween school lunch. Love being able to give them something different for their lunch on Halloween.
Family Brunch: Easy Breakfast Casserole Recipe
This Easy Breakfast Casserole contains – Ham, Eggs, Broccoli, Potatoes, & Cheese
A couple weeks ago I had a few potatoes, ham, and broccoli that needed to be used up so I came up with an Easy Breakfast Casserole that was a big hit with the family. This casserole was a created as a way to utilize items in our fridge and pantry, but received big thumbs up. Hope you enjoy it too. It is one that would be good for a family brunch or you could even prep it the night before and stick it in the oven in the morning. Or better yet put it in the crockpot and cook on low before going to bed. When you wake up breakfast is ready!
Easy Breakfast Casserole Recipe:
- 4 medium Potatoes (peeled and cubed)
- 2 cups Milk
- 2 cups Ham (cubed)
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
- 2 cups Broccoli
- 8 Eggs
- 1 teaspoon Pepper
- 1/2 Onion (diced)
- 2 tablespoons Butter
Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a frying pan and add diced onions stirring occasionally. Saute on low for several minutes until the onions appear clear. Grease a 9×13 pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. While the onions are sauteing, peel and cube the potatoes and put them into the grease pan. Add the saute onions over the potatoes. Beat the eggs in a bowl, add pepper, milk, remaining tablespoon of melted butter, and stir until mixed well. Pour the liquid mixture over the potatoes. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups of cheese over the potatoes and egg layers followed by the layer of broccoli and ham. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese on top. Bake covered at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and 15 minutes uncovered.
Options: You could add peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms or any number of other vegetables to this dish. Use what your family has on hand and what you enjoy eating.
We do have a family member that doesn’t eat eggs or dairy so I made another version for her with everything the same except I made substitutions on the eggs and dairy (I plan on sharing that version with you in a later post). Bon Appetite!
Fresh & Healthy: Fun Fall Lunch Box Meals
It is always fun to add a little extra touch to the kids lunch box for school. In the Fall I put these crazy items in the girls lunches. The Holiday bags help brighten their days. Thankful for the opportunity to pack the girls lunches and that they enjoy the little surprises.
Lunch Goodies:
- PB&J Sandwich (one was an Almond Butter & Jelly Sandwich)
- Bag of Popcorn
- Cutie Citrus Fruit with a pumpkin face drawn on it
- Bag of Mini Sweet Peppers
- Homemade Halloween Sugar Cookie
- Capri Sun
- Water Bottle
Do you have special items you add to your kids lunches?
Fresh & Healthy: Lunch Box Meals
It has been a busy few weeks and I think we are starting to get into the school groove now. Per a few requests I am going to try to update more regularly again regarding what items I pack for the kids school lunches. We try to pack a variety of items for the girls to eat. They have a snack in the morning, lunch, and an afternoon snack that needs to go into their lunches. Almost everyday of the week we have something right after school so we make sure they have enough to get them to dinner.
Lunch Box Meal
- Peanut Butter & Jelly Tortilla & One is actually a Soy Butter & Jelly Tortilla (peanut allergy)
- Fresh Cherry Tomatoes
- Raisins
- Pistachios, Cashews, and Almond Mix
- Oreo Cookies
- Fresh Red and Green Grapes
- Vanilla with Oreo Cookie Topping Yogurt & One with Soy Blueberry Yogurt (dairy allergy)
- ABC or Animal Crackers (one with non-dairy)
- Strawberry Fruit Nuggets
- Chocolate Milk & One with Simply Orange Juice
- Water Bottle
The girls pack their lunches at least once or twice a week. Since they have so much going on at school plus homework I try to pack their lunches for them on the other nights. It gives me a chance to help them out and after homework if they have any extra free time I want them to be able to relax, read, play, or do something fun (be a kid). I am thankful they are still excited about bringing their lunch to school because I know they are eating a variety of food.
The items in their containers (grapes, oreos, nuts, raisins, tomatoes).
Karlie’s lunch is ready to go!
Longan Dragon’s Eye Exotic Fruit
Longan Dragon’s Eye Exotic Fruit sliced open and ready to be peeled.
Jake brought home a Longan Dragon’s Eye Exotic Fruit for us to try. One of his co-workers brought the fruit to work. It is an Asian fruit. The outside has a light brown skin that feels like leather. The white inside fruit tasted like a sweet grape. There is a dark black seed in the center. The white fruit and black seed are what gives it the “Dragon’s Eye” nickname! The girls thought it was great! It’s suppose to be really healthy for you too!
Peeling the Dragon’s Eye
The Dragon’s Eye fruit and the skin!
Here’s the dragons eye, ready to be eaten!
The seed!
Birthday Celebration with a KitKat & Starburst Jellybean Cake!
Jake’s Birthday Cake decorated with chocolate frosting, KitKats, and Starburst Jellybeans
We celebrated Jake’s birthday a week early this summer due to upcoming family travel. The girls helped make the cake and created a fun topping for him. They used two of his favorite candies KitKats and Starburst Jellybeans to decorate the cake. It was cute hearing giggle as they decorated the cake (and ate some jellybeans I am sure). We had a great day celebrating my Handsome Man’s birthday! Thankful for time together to relax, have fun, and enjoy a celebration.
The backside of his KitKat and Starburst Jellybean Birthday Cake!
A slice of sugary goodness! I highly recommend you offset the sweetness with a glass of milk, but hey it’s nice to have something sweet every once in awhile to celebrate birthdays!
Jake reading the birthday cards the girls picked out and wrote notes in for him!
Family Recipe: Mom’s Delicious Dirt
My Mom used to make this amazing “Dirt” recipe when we were kids. This recipe uses gummy worms, oreos, lime jello, and cool whip. I have had a variety of different dirt recipes over the years, but this is the one I grew up on. The combination of these ingredients always taste delicious and gummy worms are super fun to eat no matter what! The other day I was trying to figure out what to make for dessert for our Community Group meeting when the girls insisted that I make “Grandma Penny’s Dirt” since we had leftover gummy worms from another event!
Mom’s Delicious Dirt Recipe:
- 1 package of Oreos
- 2 (6 oz) large boxes of Lime Jello
- 1 container Cool Whip
- Gummy Worms
Put the oreos in a ziplock bag and use a rolling pin or another item to crush the whole oreos into small pieces. Take about 1/2 of the crushed oreos and press them into the bottom of a 9×13 dish. Make the lime jello according to the directions on the box. Once it is made pour half of it over top of the layer of oreos and put in the refrigerator to set. Leave the other half of the lime jello in the bowl and put it in the fridge to set. Once the jello is firm mix the container of cool whip into the bowl of jello. Add the cool whip and jello mixture on top of the jello layer in the 9×13 dish. Place the remaining amount of crushed oreos on top of the cool whip and jello layer and add your gummy worms. (If you’re not planning on serving it within the next few hours wait until an hour or two before to place the oreos and gummy worms on top).
The layers of oreos blend really well together and make this a fun treat for kids of all ages! I did take the pictures of the dessert before going to Community Group, however, in our rush to get home and the kids into bed before it was too late I did not get an individual piece shot of the dessert. I am sure before too long the girls will think of another event I will need to make it for and hopefully I can get a snap shot of it at that time.
Chef Brina
Brina loves helping in the kitchen. The other day she wanted to make blueberry pancakes for breakfast. She did Christmas shapes and the letters for each family member which was a lot of fun. The pancakes turned out amazing. She did an awesome job making breakfast. Love seeing my girls get excited about helping in the kitchen. They are growing up fast and learning so much. I have really been enjoying having my girls home for the Christmas Holiday.
My snowman pancake made by Brina
Jake got a candy cane – the red is blended strawberries (love using strawberries on our pancakes!)
