I have a delicious treat for you today.  Actually Tracie at cleverlyinspired has a tasty treat for you… so, I’ll let her take over:

So happy to be here today on While He Was Napping!!! Thanks for having me Krista!

My name is Tracie and I am the author of cleverlyinspired. You will find all sorts of projects, recipes and crafts. I hope you can stop over!!

On Sunday’s I tend to pull everything out of the fridge that need to be “use it or loose it” . It is all an experiment….sometimes it works…others, not so much. This Sunday it was the mushrooms…

Oh, drool.  I’m definitely going to have to make me some of those.  How yummy!  Thank you for sharing this. Mmmmm.  Ok, go check out Tracie’s other awesome recipes!  

Have you checked out the Summer Daze Giveaways Sneak Peek?  Come find out what all the fuss is about!

I have been playing single momma for the last couple weeks.  I don’t know how you ladies do it!  Whew!  I am exhausted.  And craving conversations not about Lightning McQueen, Blanket, or trying to explain (to the wall, it seems like) why “big boys only get binkies at night-night”.  We’ve also had some cool weather again… cold enough that we’ve had to stay inside.  ICK!  Little Monkey is going stir-crazy and he is driving me up the walls!  So, I’ve been on the prowl for new things for us to do.  Recently, we tried Play Dough.  IT WAS A HUGE HIT!
 
Little Monkey loves it!  I strap him in his booster chair, hand him a chunk of play dough and some cookie cutters and he’s good.  For like at least half an hour.  HEAVEN!  And because he’s strapped in his booster chair, I don’t have to stand there and watch him closely for signs of mischief.  And, he’s only shirtless because we’d just had ravioli for dinner, not because the play dough is messy, ‘cause it’s not.  Wow, that was a lot of commas in that sentence (run on, much?!).  All of my past English teachers and professors would die.  =]

I have this book, titled The Toddler’s Busy Book, by Trish Kuffner.  Someone gave it to me, but I don’t remember who.  There’s also one for pre-school aged children too. 

I have an abbreviated version… only 101 things to do with my toddler.  Not the 365 as claimed in the photo (which, by the way, if you click on, will take you to the source).  My favorite part of the whole book… the back has recipes for all kinds of stuff, including play dough.  Yay!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1/2 Tbs vegetable oil (I actually used olive oil, as I didn’t have vegetable oil)
1/4 cup salt
1/2 Tbs cream of tarter
Food coloring (or 1/2 tsp of cocoa – the food coloring I thought was in the cabinet, wasn’t.  Guess we left it at Grandma’s.)
Saucepan
1 cup flour

Directions:
Combine the water, oil, salt and cream of tarter in the saucepan.  Heat until warm, not hot.  Remove from heat, add about 1/4 cup of flour and mix.  When the mixture is cool enough, knead more flour into the dough until it’s not sticky.  You may need more or less than the whole cup.  Store dough in an airtight container or a zippy bag (suck the air out). 

This recipe was super easy and made plenty for Little Monkey… especially since I plan to grab our food coloring the next time we’re at Grandma’s… which means more colors… which means more dough.

Here’s the message we sent to Daddy:

The cream of tarter makes this dough last 6 months, so don’t skip it if you don’t have any.  This dough is SUPER salty, but it won’t hurt your kiddos if they eat it.  And it’s so salty, they won’t eat much.  I promise.  P.S. Don’t lick the dough off your fingers.  BLEH!  Ask me how I know…  =]

Krista

Hi Everyone!  I wanted to share some features from our Recipe Exchange party, which is still open, by the way. I will continue to do features on the links posted there.  I am also going to give the party it’s own page with an easy-to-access link from the drop down menu on the “For The Table” tab in the navigation bar.  So, keep adding your awesome recipes to the party!  Ok, enough jibber-jabber.

Sisters in the Kitchen shares a delicious recipe for Cafe Rio Pork Burritos!  If you’ve ever eaten at Cafe Rio, you know it’s delish.  If you haven’t, just trust me, it’s delicious!  We don’t live around a Cafe Rio.  Not even close.  So, this will be an awesome treat!  They also share a homemade flour tortilla recipe!  My Mr Right is gonna be in HEAVEN!

Anna at Ask Anna shared a yummy stir fry recipe.  We do a lot of stir fry.  It’s so versatile.  Throw it over rice or in a tortilla.  We have even put it over tortilla chips when we didn’t have rice or tortillas.  It wasn’t as bad as we thought it might be.  It was actually pretty good.

Christine at Great Oak Circle passes on a scrumptious Mint Chocolate Sandwich Cookies.  Don’t these just look so yummy!

Brandy at Jumping Jack shared a couple of recipes that are freezer-friendly!  Perfect for the busy woman (or man).  I really am smitten by the Stuffed Peppers.  We love bell peppers and this is definitely on my list once we get moved over to our new house.

Erin at Making Memories… linked up this S’mores Stuffed Brownies recipe.  Oh my gosh!  This screams to my inner chocolate goddess.  AHHH!  Definitely trying this!

Amber at Aunt Peg’s Recipe Box shared this great Teriyaki Chicken Wing recipe.  I’m always looking for ways to dress up my meat dishes.  I get tired of meat and so changing the taste a little really helps me out because My Mr Right loves his meat dishes.

Jenny at Love Being in My Southern Kitchen passed on a great Peanut Butter Granola recipe!  I love peanut butter.  I am going to have to put this on my to-do list too!  I’m going to be a busy girl!