This is a very refreshing salad. It’s light and if you use a rice cooker to cook your quinoa – would take you less than 20 minutes of prep time (mostly chopping and mixing dressing).

I actually think this salad tastes better the second day – after everything has come together in the fridge overnight. I would also suggest topping with some feta cheese, if you like that kinda thing.

Source: This recipe was adapted from a recipe in the January/February 2011 issue of Vegetarian Times!

If you are looking for a cute, easy and inexpensive project to do this week with your kiddos, check out these ghost Rice Krispies treats my kids and I made. They were super easy – just make Rice Krispies treats like you normally would  and as they are cooling you mold them into little ghosts! We used frosting for the eyes and stuck little Happy Halloween signs in their heads (from the Dollar Store!). You can also dip them in coconut flakes, if you really want to make a mess!

The great thing about these is they are really easy for little hands to make – there is no real science in how to form a ghost. ? A batch made about 10 ghosts for us, but they were pretty big.

Here’s the official recipe from Rice Krispies.

What do you like to make with your Rice Krispies treats? 

If I feed my children sugar for breakfast I’m pretty much asking for a loooooong day. So I try to stick to plain cereals, toast, yogurt – you know, the really exciting stuff. Today I surprised them with a red, white and blue breakfast that even snaps, crackles and pops like fireworks!

Other twists on this idea: You can add red, white and blue sprinkles to the cereal (thanks, Maygan!), you could add coconut or white chocolate chips, or raspberries! You could also use a small star cutter like this used for Bento boxes (Stainless Steel Vegetable Cutters) to cut larger strawberries into stars – I think that would be so cute!

We also had a side of Chobani strawberry yogurt with berries.

What are your favorite 4th of July recipes? Do you have any favorite red, white and blue meals?

My son LOVES popcorn – it’s one of our favorite family snacks. I love making stove top popcorn because we know what’s in it. Microwave popcorn is convenient, but after making the switch to stove top popcorn, we can’t imagine going back – it just tastes so much better than the stuff you microwave. And I won’t get on any soapbox but the microwave stuff is filled with chemicals.

Popcorn choking hazard – The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends kids should be at least 4-years old before eating popcorn due it’s choking hazards – did you know it’s one of the top choking foods? Please use your best judgement when feeding your kids popcorn. Even my son who is nearly 6 is always supervised when eating popcorn – just in case!

The ingredients are so simple!

What’s your favorite seasoning for popcorn? 

Ahhh popcorn balls. I guess, back in the old days, back when everybody actually knew everybody (and by that I mean not just Facebook friends) – people would give out homemade popcorn balls on Halloween. My mom has made them every Halloween for as long as I can remember – mostly to send to my Grandma (her mom) who LOVES them.

My mom got this recipe from her aunt Eileen M. It’s not necessarily gourmet and it will rot your teeth. BUT it is very, very yummy and it is very, very easy. Maybe make a batch and bring them to your neighbor, just for old times sake.

Have you made homemade popcorn balls before? What’s your favorite flavor?

(Thank you for the recipe and photo mom. Wish I was up in Alaska to make them with you!)

I have a lot of oatmeal in my stockpile and I got a wild hair the other day to make cookies. I made oatmeal, craisin, coconut cookies and they were a big hit with the whole family. I took the Quaker Oats Vanishing Cookie recipe and just added craisins and coconut instead of raisins.

What are some of your favorite recipes for oatmeal?

I should have thought of this one. But when I asked over on Facebook about making homemade granola, Jenna chimed in and suggested using coconut oil for homemade granola – so glad she did. It’s amazing. I paired it with some of my favorite yogurt and ate it for dinner last night, don’t tell anyone.

I like to have my granola over yogurt. I added dried cranberries to the granola when I served it. I had read somewhere that adding the dried cranberries (or other berries) could add moisture to your granola, which isn’t necessarily good for storage. So I’ve opted to leave them out and just toss them in when I’m eating it. To be honest, I don’t think the granola will be “stored” for long, so I might just toss them in next time I make a batch.

Tell me – do you use coconut oil for making homemade granola? What do you like to put into your granola?

I got the inspiration for this recipe from: Jenna, Bon Appetit and Two Peas and Their Pod

Here’s a dessert recipe sent in from Kim D – her family calls these Magic Middles. They were super yummy. It tasted like a homemade cinnamon roll, without all the extra hassle and work.

I loved this story sent in from Kim with the recipe :

When I was growing up my mother made these usually during the holidays. There were eight of us, so she needed something quick, good and fast!  This fit the bill and we got two each! I had forgotten all about these until I was going through her recipes after she passed away and there it was.  I made them and the memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas mornings came flooding back. Now I make them for my nephews and nieces. According to my sister this was a winning recipe from a Pillsbury bake off in the 60’s called Magic Marshmallow Crescent Puffs. We just called them Magic Middles.

* Warning* the middle will be very hot right out of the oven so let them cool before eating. I remember burning the roof of my mouth sneaking one and suffering in silence so my mother wouldn’t find out who took it leaving her an odd number. I think she knew. ?

Thanks for sharing your story Kim! Now on to the recipe:

What’s your favorite dessert to make?

Check out these rockin’ cupcakes we made yesterday for my son’s preschool class! They are choco-rock cupcakes with chocolate dirt and gummy worms. My son couldn’t wait to bring them to school, especially after a weekend of digging up real worms and rocks in the yard.

I made the little “you rock” signs by cutting squares of rock scrapbook paper (available at JoAnns or Michaels). Glue to the same size square in black cardstock with a toothpick in between both papers. I cut little circles out of Avery file folder labels and wrote “you rock” with a magic marker. Stick the labels on your signs. I also colored the labels with a gray crayon to try and make them look like rocks.

I also think they would be cool to just cover in the choco-rocks, leaving out the worms and dirt. But this is a four-year-olds dream – chocolate, rocks, worms, dirt. . . so we went with it. I also liked that my son could decorate these on his own – there was not a finite detail or pickiness needed – you couldn’t really mess them up.

My son intently decorates his cupcakes. Fresh out of the bath, he didn’t waste any time getting chocolate frosting on his face. That’s a sign of a good cupcake. . .  and delicious memories!

We hope you enjoy these as much as we did! How do you like to decorate your cupcakes?