cooking - The Little Style File

How To Make Memorial Day Treat Boxes

May 23, 2013

Many will celebrate Memorial Day weekend surrounded with family and friends honoring those who have served our country by showing their Patriotic pride. Memorial Day is also a great time to teach our children the importance of freedom.

Children and treats go hand in hand, and what better way to get them involved in understanding the meaning of Memorial Day than to create a treat box! To get your children into the spirit of remembering those who have served our country this is really a fun and simple craft for all ages to enjoy.

My little one loved peeling the stickers and was able to apply them herself.

Once she finished decorating her box we filled it with chocolate chip cookies and delivered this sweet treat to our neighbor. Older children could drop these off at a local VFW or hospital. In addition to giving away the treat boxes you could offer them to guests as a way to take home leftovers from a Memorial Day BBQ.

Fill the boxes with cookies or any treat of your choice. Add ribbon and your treat box is ready for delivery!

*The takeout boxes can be found at your local craft store. Children of all ages can enjoy decorating them with markers, patriotic foam stickers, and ribbon.

Happy Memorial Day from The Little Style File! What are your holiday plans?

Filed Under: cooking, crafts, holiday, tutorials Tagged With: DIY, fun with kids, memorial day, treat boxes

How To Make Mickey Mouse Cookies

April 23, 2013

Part of planning a fun party is all the cool details. These Mickey Mouse cookies were a huge hit at the Mickey party! I wanted to share how to make them with you.

How to make Mickey Mouse Sugar Cookies:

Step One: Make the Sugar Cookie Dough

1 1/3 cup Butter

1 1/2 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

(Cream Together)

Combine:

4 cups of Flour

2 tsp. Baking Powder

3 Tablespoons of Milk

Add slowly into the butter/sugar mixture. MIx well. Refrigerate dough in a plastic bag overnight.

Step Two: Take out the Chilled cookie dough one hour before making

Step Three: Roll out Dough make your cookies. Grease cookie sheets, Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

Step Four: Cool Cookies completely before decorating/icing them

Step 5: Make Royal Icing:

3 Tablespoons of Meringue Powder

4 cups of Powdered Sugar

6 Tablespoons of warm water

Food coloring of choice

Beat 7- 10 minutes. To thin it out more just add a little more water. After it’s mixed add food coloring. Place icing in a decorators bag or squeeze bottles.

Step 6: You outline cookie first with the icing being on the thicker side. Allow to dry then make sure your icing is ready to flood center of your cookie. Decorate accordingly.

You can check out more details of the party here.

Filed Under: celebration, contributors, cooking, tutorials Tagged With: mickey mouse cooke tutorial, mickey mouse cookies, mickey mouse party

#Cookmore Twitter Party with Kenmore

March 24, 2013

Join us for the #Cookmore Twitter Party w/ Kenmore & Momma Cuisine on Wednesday, March 27 at 8pm CST.

COOK MORE. What do you think of when you hear those two words? Is it a chore and a hassle? Or do you think of fun times with family and great friends?

We are joining Momma Cuisine and some of her friends on Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 8:00 P.M. CST, for a fun Twitter chat with Kenmore #Cookmore! We’ll be talking about tips on how to cook more at home, chat with Kenmore about their appliances, share recipes, and learn about a fun contest on Cookmore.com, Kenmore’s new recipe site where you can enter your “Favorite Family Recipe” for chances to win great Kenmore appliances!

Check out Cookmore.com and browse around some of the featured recipes and even build your own cookbook!

#Cookmore Twitter Party Hosts:

@Kenmore – www.kenmore.com

@mommacuisine – www.mommacuisine.com

Great #Cookmore Twitter Party Co-Hosts:

Candy Tai – @mommypalooza - www.mommypalooza.com

Lori Tamara Brown – @papateriebelle – www.papateriebelle.com

Amanda Her – @thoughtsfromher - www.thoughtsfromher.com

Jennifer Wesbrock Evers – @3girlsmomma19 – www.memyselfandjen.com

The Little Style File – @lilstylefile – www.thelittlestylefile.com

Rachel Hull – @roasted_beanz – www.roastedbeanz.com

Elizabeth Edwards – @table4five - www.table4five.net

Natasha Nicholes – @HFofNicholes – www.housefulofnicholes.com

Sarah Howard – @isarahtakeyou – www.isarahtakeyou.wordpress.com

Looking forward to tweeting with you!

Filed Under: contest, cooking, twitter party Tagged With: twitter party

#MCShowLIVE Cooking Talkshow

February 11, 2013

We are excited to join, Johanna Cook of Momma Cuisine on her #MCShowLIVE Cooking Talkshow tomorrow! We will be talking about outfits for the mom on the go and how you can shop your closet for a night out for Valentine’s Day.

February is both Valentine’s Day and Heart Health Month. Johanna has some great guests for you this month! First, is Vh1 Mob Wives Chicago cast member, Christina Scoleri talking to us about her experience on the show and dishing on motherhood and learning how to cook up her favorite Italian foods, dairy free for her daughter who can’t have dairy in her diet.

For the “Healthy Momma” segment is University of Chicago Cardiologist, Alice Perlowski, M.D., teaching us about heart health, and how women can keep their hearts strong and healthy.

magisso2

(3) Assorted Magisso Kitchenwares (items may differ from picture)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Filed Under: chicago, cooking, events, giveaways, holiday, mommy, mommy style, Valentine's Day Tagged With: #MCshowLIVE, talkshow

6 Favorite Halloween Crafts!

October 9, 2012

The moment the first Halloween catalog arrives in our house in August my kids are counting down the days until the can wear their costumes! Once October 1st hits it is game on for Halloween! They love to shop, decorate and craft for Halloween! Pinterest these days is on fire with awesome crafts, decorations and diy costumes! We picked 6 of our favorite Halloween crafts that all can easily be done with the help of your kids!

1. Edible Eyeballs 2. Spider Rice Krispies 3. Spirit Jugs 4. Candy Corn Marshmallow People

5. Spider Cupcakes 6. Mummy Door

What are your favorite Halloween crafts? Please share them with us on facebook.

Filed Under: cooking, crafts, halloween Tagged With: crafts, diy spirit jugs, edible eyeballs, halloween, halloween crafts, halloween crafts for kids, pinterest, spider cupcake, spider rice krispies

Cooking with friends & a few recipes!

October 1, 2012

One thing that I love to do is cook. I am a cook definitely not a baker! I can ruin a box of brownies, just ask my husband! I was super excited to be invited by Mom Central for a Knives Skill class at The Chopping Block! I have always wanted to learn how to chop vegetables properly and attend a class at The Chopping block in Chicago! Lucky for me I got to do both a few weeks ago! I spent a fun afternoon in the gorgeous Chopping Block kitchen with fellow bloggers working with Chicago Cutlery and learning how to slice, dice and mince vegetables. In the end, we turned our hard work into a wonderful and healthy lunch!

Do you know how to properly chop up an onion? It can change your life! I always have known that good knives can make a big difference when cutting up vegetables but holding a Chicago Cutlery Design Pro knife changed my life! I am serious when I say everyone must own at least one of these knives! They are AMAZING!!!

When you cut flank steak you are supposed to cut against the grain, that is something I have always done wrong!

MJ Tam mixing up our delicious salad!

Meredith and Sandee placing the fruit on the vanilla bean tart!

I had a blast socializing with my favorite Chicago blogger friends, making new ones, learning to chop and enjoying our labor!

I try to cook for my family at least 5 nights a week. Some nights can be hard with various activities that are on our scchedule but that is when a crock pot can come in handy! A few of my favorite recipes at the moment are individual lasagnas, these are awesome! I subsitute making the homemade sauce for Newman’s Own.:) You can make these ahead of time and pop them in the oven when it is time for dinner! In the fall our family loves Picky Palate’s Turkey Chili and Mozzarella Stuffed Meatballs!

What are your go to weekly recipes?

Disclosure: I wrote this review after attending in an event by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of Chicago Cutlery and received products to facilitate my post and a promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Filed Under: chicago, cooking Tagged With: chicago cutlery, cooking, easy recipes for moms, the chopping block

6 fun Lunch Ideas! #BTS

August 22, 2012

Last week we shared some must have essentials for lunch time. School has been back in session for a week and already I am in a lunch packing rut! How can that be??? This is the first time that I have had to pack my daughter’s lunch everyday and I will admit I need some help! I want her lunch to be fun, healthy and something she will actually EAT! I searched high and low (the Internet and pinterest) to find fun healthy lunch ideas!

1. Finger Food 2. Checkerboard Turkey Sandwich 3. Silly Sandwich 4.Polka Dot Sandwich 5. DIY Pizza Lunch 6. Pretzel Kabobs

Have a fun healthy lunch idea? Share with us facebook!

Filed Under: Back to School, cooking, recipes Tagged With: fun lunches, healthy kids lunch ideas, kid lunch recipes

Kid-Friendly Summer Recipes

July 19, 2012

We realize that sometimes having kids help with food preparation can be infinitely far from helpful. We have realized over the years that we are creating memories in the kitchen with our little ones and that is far more important than the mess the make! Here are some tasty summer recipes that your Little ones will have a blast helping with and won’t prove to be a burden.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Why not have a little fun & have a themed dinner!

1. 2. 3.

Grab an apron, your little helpers and start cooking!

Filed Under: cooking Tagged With: cooking with kids, kid friendly recipes, kid friendly summer recipes, kids that cook, recipes for kids

Zoku & Ice Pops

May 29, 2012

Our friends gave us a Zoku for Christmas this year and the kids have been dying to use it! I tried to hold out until the perfect opportunity for ice pops. This weekend we had temperatures has high as 95 degrees and ice pops would be a perfect way to cool off! I am ready to break out the Zoku this week for some fun with the kids!

Some of the recipes we can’t wait to try are Apple, Pear & Orange Quick Pops, Zoku Character Kit, Rainbow Ice Pops, Pink Mojito Ice Pops, Strawberry & Lime Ice Pops and Fruit & Yogurt Ice Pops!

Have you used a Zoku? What are your favorite recipes? Share them with us! Leave a comment below or post them on our Facebook Wall. Stay cool!

Filed Under: cooking, cool finds Tagged With: ice pop recipes, kids ice pops, zoku quick pop maker

Kids in The Kitchen: Dirt Pudding

May 17, 2012

One thing that my kids and I absolutely love to do together is cook! I love creating memories in the kitchen with my kids. There are days when I would rather cook on my own and not have “little” helpers but I remind myself that we are creating special memories together. Recently the kids and I made dirt pudding together and they had a blast! I measured out the ingredients for them and they went to town creating their dirt pudding. This is a great recipe for kids to really do on their own because it cannot be messed up.

Dirt Pudding