Author: momsdiary26

Gingerbread House Recipe

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Christmas is here and so it’s time to get a little gingerbready! We did a cute little ginger bread house this season. And I must say it was such an interesting project to work on.

The thumb rule that goes with doing a gingerbread house is that there is no rule except to have fun throughout. Doing it from the scratch including baking gives you the advantage of keeping the ingredients as per your taste, specially if you don’t want too much of the spice content. Decorating it is the more fun part; of course chowing it down being the most!

Ingredients:

For baking-

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened to room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup light molasses or dark corn syrup

2 tablespoons of water

For constructing and decorating-

Royal icing

Butter cream icing

Assorted candies ( Gummies, Skittles, decorating candies, sprinkles etc.)

Directions:

Preparing the shapes: First cut out paper templates for the various shapes required for the house. You will need two of each shape i.e. two rectangles 3 by 5 inches to make front and back, two rectangles 3 by 51/2 inches for the roof. Two pieces for the ends of the house; 3 inches wide at the base, 3 inches to the roof line, and slanted to a peak 5 1/2 inches from the bottom.

Make the cookie dough: Add all the dry ingredients together that is flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice together in a large bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar and molasses together on medium speed until completely smooth and creamy.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until combined.

Wrap cookie  tightly in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. (This is super important else cookie will lose the shape and constructing the house will be difficult.)

Cutting dough into shapes: Remove the dough from the refrigerator and make two balls of it. Roll each ball between parchment paper. The dough will be a little difficult to handle; the parchment will do much of the work. Keep the rolled dough slightly thick (around ¼ inch). Using a pizza cutter or small knife, cut the dough into the gingerbread house template shapes. Re-roll dough scraps so you have enough dough for the whole house. Any extra dough can be used to create fun shapes using cookie cutters like a star or an X-mas tree or a ginger bread man.

Baking: Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Arrange gingerbread house shapes onto prepared baking sheets, and bake the house pieces for about 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow shapes to cool completely on the baking sheets or on the counter.

Assembling and decorating: Select a base for the gingerbread-house. Stick the front piece of the house on the base using the royal icing. Stick the remaining sides and roof using the icing glue. Hold in place for a few minutes. You will need supporting objects for pieces to stay. Wait for some time before doing the roof so that the base sets properly.

Before decorating, the icing on the entire house must completely set. Allow the entire house to set at room temperature for at least 3 hours, before decorating. Decorate with butter cream icing and all the candies and stuff of your choice. Let your beautiful creation be a candy to your eyes for a day or two and then of course it’s ready to be munched down!

Tips and tricks: 

1. Cookie dough can be made 3 days in advance. Baked pieces of the house can be stored for 1 week and can frozen for upto 3 months.

2. Cool the baked gingerbread house pieces on a flat surface, else the corners will curl a bit.

3. If you are not a great fan of too much spices in the cookie, you can alter the ratio according to yourself; I did.

Raising kids with Creative Thinking and Unique Ideas

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It always feel happy to see our children developing into individuals with creative thinking, unique ideas and ability to assertively express what they think.

But what substance these kids are made of? How and they are able to develop themselves with the ideas they have? How they are so clear in expressing themselves? And what makes them so assertive and unique about their ways and actions?

Well! They might inherit a great deal from their genes, of course we can’t do much about it. But, what we can actually do about is favorably create the surroundings and the atmosphere they grow in.

As parents, we play a tremendous role in making them become what they actually do. Well, the factors that decide on the thinking and mind-set they’r going to grow with are all around us. Just that we need to pay a little attention to smaller details relating to them.

Curiosity in kids is really good

Curiosity is something kids are naturally blessed with, more or less. If you are a parent (or even if you are not) to young children, I am sure you will be totally able to relate with such constant bombardment of questions that they can come up with. Well, the good news is that curiosity in kids makes them more intelligent, confident and outgoing. It is a natural phenomenon which lets them learn and grow. They explore a range of opportunities and possibilities much required for the growth of their brain and personality on the whole.

Positive and encouraging responses nurture it, while excessive control and regulations kill it. For this, it is extremely important that we not only answer their queries, but also encourage them with elements that spark curiosity by giving them hypothetical situations and asking open ended questions.

It’s great if kids are encouraged to make their choices

We all want our children to grow as assertive, strong and opiniated adults but at the same time we want our children to be passive, pliable and obedient as kids. The two hardly go hand in hand. The ability to give their opinions comes from their very childhood. When they are making choice of their clothes no matter how wrongly paired those are, they are expressing themselves. Allow them to exhibit their own personalities. When they refuse to get ready on time, they are learning the consequences from their mistakes. Let them learn from their inactions.

Such allowances can be messy and overwhelming. After all, we can’t allow our kids to rule the lives. But that is what parenting is all about. Guidance, gentle explanations and coaching go a long way in regulating them to the way they respond. How successful we are going to be in the same depends on how well we try to connect with them.

Talking back and disagreements are good sometimes

Well, this may sound simple but it’s really not cool when that actually happens. Imagine you asking your kid to do his homework and he says why should I? Actually it’s not easy to listen to their back talks when what we are saying is right and is for their good. We as parents want to have the last word on whatever it is.

But if we try to understand talking back is a huge part of the formation of their personality. They want to make their choices. They are not ready to accept what is dished out to them. Yelling, arguing back or supressing through powerful means is just of no help. When they disagree with us, they are displaying a strong mindset. The best way is to diverge them to a different way to reach a solution.

Allowances for being imperfect are okay

As parents we have a tendency to get our child draw, colour or write perfect. Well, in reality the expectation should be to do well rather than be perfect. Over guiding children to colour with all the colours in boundaries or write spellings without mistakes restricts their thinking. Those little imperfections help them discover creative and their own approach to doing a particular thing. It’s very important that we guide them to the extent and in a way that doesn’t hamper their creativity

The power of appreciation can never be underestimated

As adults, we all like to be appreciated and so goes for out kids. It’s one of the greatest ways of enforcing positive behavior.

Praising or appreciating here doesn’t mean praising them for giving the best result or for some accomplishment or for some innate trait they have like their smartness, intelligence or talent. It’s got to get wider with praising for their efforts, gestures, and strategies. It’s more about trying and not getting distressed even if they are not the best. It’s more about getting better even if they do well. It’s more about attempting something even though they were not confident about it. It’s more about trying hard to reach the goal they decide for themselves.

So let’s appreciate for listening, appreciate for understanding, appreciate for being responsible, and appreciate for being thoughtful!

It’s a great practice to communicate by narrating stories

How often we notice that kids pay special attention if we tell some present or past incidence or narration or practices about our own selves or someone they know . This means, it can be a great way to diverge their thought process to meaningful inferences and conclusions through stories. That can be anything from being true or concocted as far as they are going to leave some good impression on our children.

Even kids can be made to narrate through simple practices; narrating about a particular place they went to, drawing an event or function they attended, correlating an object with something using their own thoughts and ideas or anything.

If we try to understand it, parenting is more about growing ourselves in raising children than anything else and they are completely a reflection of how well we are able to bring it in our practice.

Custard Trifle recipe

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This one comes as my all time favorite super saver dessert. The reason I like it so much is that it not only looks fancy but can also be made with minimum effort. Plus, this trifle recipe gives a superb blend of cake and custard and cream along with fruits. What a combo!

This recipe is a perfect fit for any occasion. With its mild flavors and melt in mouth consistency, this is a sure shot favorite of kids and grown ups equally.

Ingredients:

Vanilla custard

  • 1 1/2 cups of whole milk
  • 3 tbsp custard powder (substitute 3 tablespoon corn starch + 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract/essence)
  • 3 tbsp whole milk (for making custard paste)
  • 4 tbsp sugar or as required

Whipped cream

  • 2 cups heavy whipping cream (cold)
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Additional

  • 250 grams pound cake or 1 small cake
  • 2 cups chopped mix fruit
  • 4 to 5 tbsp of orange juice
  • Chocolate shavings and cherries (for toppings)

Directions:

For custard

  • Dissolve 3 tbsp of custard powder in 3 tbsp of cold milk so that no lumps are formed and keep it aside.
  • Now in a separate pan, take 1 1/2 cups milk; add 4 tbsp sugar and bring it to a boil.
  • Add the custard powder paste and stir quickly, keeping the stove on medium flame so that no lumps are formed. Keep on stirring till the custard thickens. Since it’s for a trifle recipe, I prefer it slightly thicker.
  • Allow the custard to cool at room temperature.

For whipped cream

  • In another bowl, take 2 cups of chilled cream.
  • With an electric beater or in a stand mixer, whip the cream till you get soft peaks.
  • Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, give it a stir and your cream is ready.

Prepping fruits and cake for the trifle

  • Slice and chop fruits of your choice; just avoid citrus fruits and melons. I used apples, grapes, strawberries and pomegranate.
  • Now slice 250 grams or a small block of plain vanilla cake or pound cake into cubes. I used homemade pound cake.

Arranging the trifle

  • Line half a portion of the sponge cubes in a serving bowl. You can also make individual portions of the trifles in bowls or dessert glasses.
  • Brush the cake with any juice of your choice; don’t overuse it.
  • Now layer half of the chopped mixed fruits.
  • Spread half of the custard in a layer.
  • Add a layer of whipped cream.
  • Repeat all the layers.
  • Even out the topmost layer with a spatula and top it with chocolate shavings and cherry. You can also use fruits, berries or anything of your choice.
  • Chill it in refrigerator and your trifle is ready to be served.


Stay-at-home mom things that make it all worth!

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Well you are a stay-at-home mom now and you realize that this easy sounding word is not so easy to live!

You have a hundred chores to do; still you are asked what do you do?

Dressing up for the day has taken a backseat.

There is not a day with sick leave or a vacation.

You are in constant company of your kids, yet there are times when you feel lonely.

You have left your six figure job and your career is the haziest of the things you can see.

Your bank balance which used to flourish once is an unvisited territory.

There are moments of extreme lows when you feel being worthless and find loosing on yourself.

Agreed!

Yet, there is no denial to the fact that there is certainly an edge you have as a mother. The control over routines is of course better. The attention you lend to your family is undivided. There is no additional stress (other than kids). Then there are moments which are so beautiful– moments which only a stay-at-home mom will understand. The moments of sheer bliss and joy– those are inexplicable and make a SAHM’s life worth living.

  • The moments of your child’s first; first laugh, first crawl, first step, first word. Imagine having missed any of these which would mean missing a really big milestone of their and also your life.

  • The moments of fun, play, tickle and laughter without worries of work or deadlines or people at work.

  • The moments when you are there to cuddle, hug and give your warmth in times of their sickness; and not depend on a paid help or be with them with a divided attention.

  • The privilege of having a baby group at the park or in the community to share your struggles, blessings, lessons and offer positive support to one another.

  • The joy of being your child’s mom first and be remembered by everyone in your baby group by your child’s name.

  • The fun of doing silliest of the things with your little human; dressing up your boy like a girl or vice versa, becoming a clown for those heart-warming super infectious giggles or snapping yourselves in the weirdest of weird ways.

  • Those moments watching your little one asleep during his naps in his cosy bed basking in your warmth by his side.

  • That feeling of desperately needing a break from being surrounded by your little someone 24/7; yet feeling something greatly amiss when not being so.

  • The moments of catching on afternoon naps and never feeling if you have had a good one.

  • The joy of teaching love and language to your kids from their own flesh and blood.

  • The fun (though it doesn’t seem fun when it actually happens) when none of your bathroom visits are without an audience or you are being banged at the door by a gumball or answering their zillion questions on the commode!

  • The leisure hour of daytime TV watching with your kids in sofa.

  • That constant struggle to finish off your chores amidst the help by your little ones in unfolding the laundry, rearranging the dishes, dismantling the pantry and of course undecking the house.

  • Those endless efforts to create gadget free time or zones by being a charcter of the pretend plays, or an opponent in the board games or a partner in the Pinterest activities.

  • That super awesome feeling of being your kid’s last good bye to school and first hello from school.

  • The joy of pouring all your creativity in your kids’ at home activities, school projects, lunch boxes; you are a stay-at-home mommy after all!

  • The joy of planning play dates on early releases since they don’t come as a nightmare to you.

  • When home is the first and the only shelter your kids think of, as there is no going to the day cares or the aunts or the neighbours.

  • That feeling of complacence for patiently investing in your children– those hours of struggle feeding or putting to bed or mentoring or answering their questions.

  • Above all, just being there; because you know that this is precious and this all is going to go fast.

It’s Time You Get Your Best Halloween Advent Calendar Ready!

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The leaves are changing color. The breeze has gone pleasant. The wardrobes are getting a revamp to boots and flannels and trousers. The themes in schools have got a fall based changeover. The stores are freshly stacked with tempting collection of festival goods. Nonetheless to mention, fall is here.

Fall brings with it the vibes of celebrations. Halloween being the first and kids’ most favourite.

My son too just loves Halloween. And why not! There is so much to do and there are corn mazes, pumpkin patches, hay farms and haunted houses. And, that cute short fall; giving a much needed breather from the jam-packed school schedules. To make it a little more exciting, we added Halloween advent Calendar to our list this year.

So what is this Halloween Advent Calendar?

The Halloween Advent Calendar or the Halloween Countdown Calendar is a Halloween theme based calendar consisting of compartments which contain little treats or fun activities for each day. This calendar intends to treat kiddos for the entire month and not just one day. After all, there can be nothing better than getting a pre-Halloween surprise each and every day.

You can buy these calendars from stores or also do it by yourself. Not much hype needed, the idea is to keep it enjoyable for the little ones. There is a range of treating ideas that can be included in this Advent Calendar.

Gift ideas:

Halloween candies treat cups
Pirate patch
Halloween books
Witch socks
Halloween donuts bouquet
Monster pencils
Chocolate skull lollipops


Vampire soaps
Halloween jewelry or makeup
Skeleton bookmark

Fun activity ideas:

Do a Halloween craft: It’s time to give a monsterly or a witchish or a ghostly touch to your craft. Some ideas include:
Make a witch slime
Make Halloween paper lanterns
Carve or paint a pumpkin
Make spider craft
Make paper plate mummy
Make toilet paper roll monster
Paste straw skeletons on paper

Make apple cider vinegar: Since apples are back in season and it’s time guests coming over, make a batch yourself. A freshly made apple cider is like a divine treat you give to yourself as well as your guest.

Bake pumpkin pie: Halloween means pumpkins in abundance. So why not use those pumpkins in making pies. What an interesting way to get some fibre, Vitamin A, Vitamin C and potassium! (Use uncarved or undecorated ones though!)

Make your own Halloween Costume: Store bought costumes are common and expensive as well. You can design your own costume. They are super fun and cheaper as well. It can be anything from doing a simple no-sew cape to a costume of your favorite story book character.

Do a Halloween theme based raised salt painting: It’s one simple and enjoyable thing that kids love to do. Simply ask them to do their drawing and squeeze glue over the drawing. Next, sprinkle with salt until glue is covered. Now dip the paint brush into water color and gently touch the salt lines. Let it dry!

Halloween do-a-dot printable: Super easy and fun!


Bake a batch of monster cookies: Easy to bake and super fun to eat!


Do wicked Halloween decorations: Have a happy Halloween decoration shopping or a fun making experience!


Do a ghoulish stick puppet shows: Add an interesting touch to story reading by just doing a puppet show using ice cream sticks.

Visit a pumpkin patch or a local farm: Join Halloween themed festivities near you and make memories of lifetime.

Play Halloween charades or Halloween scavenger hunt: Play the Halloween charade game as Pictionary or let kiddos compete for scavenger hunt of hidden Halloween theme icons.

How to keep the calendar interesting?

Keep your calendar ready and get your kids doing all their chores and tasks before opening the calendar for each day. You can always plan the gift or activity idea according to the time you have for a particular day. If gifts don’t fit in the calendar pocket, put a clue therein and do a little treasure hunt. Have your own versions of calendar, in form of a tree or a pinata or anything that clicks.

Have a frighteningly fun Halloween!