Taco Seasoning

Another recipe I tried a million of and finally figured out.

This amount fits in my jar

Homemade Taco Seasoning
4 T. dried minced onion
8 t. chili powder
2 T kosher salt (or 4 t. table salt)
4 t. garlic powder
4 t. cumin
1 t. pepper

Homemade Slime

Homemade Slime! I made this to use for Letter S Preschool. It was super easy and fun.

Mix equal amounts school glue and liquid laundry starch, and add a little food coloring. Mix it until the liquid is all dissolved. If it is too runny, add more starch. One small bottle of school glue (plus equal amount of starch) made a nice amount for one kid.

It's globby, gloopy, squishy, squeezy and really, really fun.

72-Hour Kit Menus

I'm working on putting together our 72-hour kits.  For the food, I made each of us 3 gallon Ziploc bags.  Each bag has 3 meals and some snacks.  There are not a ton of calories here, and extra water is required, but it's certainly better than nothing. Maybe I need to throw in a few extra Clif bars. I'm going to try for 3 16 oz bottles in each backpack itself. Here's the menu I used for our 72-hour kits.

Breakfast Day 1

oatmeal

Instant Breakfast

fruit cup

Lunch Day 1

Easy Mac

V8

Dinner Day 1

soup

Crystal Lite

Snacks

granola bar

pudding cup

hard candy

Breakfast Day 2

Poptarts

applesauce

chocolate milk

Lunch Day 2

peanut butter

crackers

fruit snacks

Dinner Day 2

ramen

juice box

Snacks

almonds

Clif bar

hard candy

Breakfast Day 3

breakfast on the go

fruit snack

juice box

Lunch Day 3

ravioli

raisins

Dinner Day 3

peanut butter

crackers

Crystal Lite

Snacks

granola bar

pudding cup

hard candy

Playdough Recipe

I have been using a new playdough recipe that seems to be a bit more elastic and doesn't require cream or tartar (which is unavailable in India). I think it makes a good amount for three colors.

2 cups flour

1/2 cup salt

1 packet Kool-Aid or a few drops of food coloring

1 cup boiling water

2 1/2 tablespoons oil

Playdough

There is a section in my recipe box titled "Misc." There are several rather wacky family recipes (or science experiments) and Maggie is a great age to start trying them. Maggie's playdough was dried out when we went to use it today, so we whipped up some of my mom's recipe. She picked two colors (blue and white) and I made 1/4 batch, or about 3/4 cup of each.
2 c. flour
1 c. salt
4 t. cream of tartar.
Combine in a saucepan. Add 2 c. colored water and 4 t. oil. Stir quickly and cook over medium heat. Stir constantly until it forms a ball. Turn out and knead. cool. Store at room temperature in Tupperware.
I made 1/4 batch at a time because you add the color when you first mix it, not afterward. It was fast and easy, only about 5 minutes per batch.