Summer Activities: Place Mats

Place Mats are a good thing to have if you have a messy child or if you are just trying to keep your kids entertained at the table, restaurant or their grandparents house.

Mr. I really likes to make food groups so for our place mat I drew the food plate from the http://www.choosemyplate.gov/ and then we cut out food from magazines. You could do any theme you like or you could just draw a picture. It's really up to your child what they like the best. 

Supplies:

Paper

Glue

Scissors

Markers, Crayons or Paints

Contact Paper 

Directions:

Take the paper and make a design using writing utensils or gluing magazine clippings. 

When you are finished measure out some contact paper and cut. 

Remove the backing of the contact paper and put it on top of art work. Repeat on the back side. 

Cut off access contact paper. 

Display your play mat on your table or keep for visits. 

Here's another idea. Use draw erase markers to draw on them and wipe them off.

Cheap Meals: Tacos and more

About once a week my family and I have tacos. It’s easy to make and not very expensive. A favorite for all of us.

1 lb. of ground turkey or ground beef

1 envelope of taco seasoning of your choice

1 can of black olives sliced

1 tomato

2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

1 box of taco shells or tortillas

Follow directions on the envelope for meat. 

Cut up tomato and put in small bowl. 

Open olives and put in small bowl. 

Shred cheese or buy a bag. 

Follow directions on box to heat up taco shells. Heat up tortillas for about 15 to 20 seconds in the microwave to soften them before making burritos. Otherwise they break easily.

I also will make guacamole sometimes when the avocado is on sale.

1 avocado

1 tbl. spoon of lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

Smash avocado with a fork and mix in other ingredients in a small bowl. Serve on tacos, burritos or nachos.

For an additional side you can make Spanish Rice too. They have envelopes at the store for pretty cheap or you can make your own from scratch. There are a ton of recipes out there. My favorite so far is from AllRecipes.com.

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/best-spanish-rice/Detail.aspx

I also have made chicken tacos too.

2 frozen chicken breast

1 jar of your favorite salsa.

Add chicken and salsa into a large pan and put on medium heat. 

Cover and stir occasionally. 

When the chicken looks cooked take out of the pan and shred it up into pieces. Place back into pan and cook until chicken is cooked through. 

This will feed a family of four.

Use this to make chicken tacos, enchiladas or burritos.