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I was recently reminded of this post and it made me wonder how much backyard camping has been going on during the pandemic. If you want some more ideas on how to enjoy backyard camping, I thought I would republish this article. I also came across another article that would be especially good for those of you who aren't experienced campers. It tells you all about purchasing tents and equipment that you might need as well as a couple of good camping recipes. The writer lives in the UK, and they have been experiencing extreme isolation there. But, compared to our Arizona backyard where we have already hit 106 degrees during the day, their UK garden is like an oasis! After you re-read this post, you will want to check it out here: Garden Camping, a wonderful escape.
This weekend, my husband and I and a couple of our kids are going camping. Our family has always enjoyed camping in the great outdoors! It is a great way to get out of the Phoenix heat! Later this month, I am going to our church's girl's camp again, so camping is really on my mind.
With summer here and parent's looking for ways to entertain kids, Backyard Camping can be a great way to do something fun without having to spend money on gas, but still helping the kids spend time out of doors. Plus, there is the added benefit of being close to a clean bathroom! Camping in the heat of the city, you ask? Well, that can be a problem in some places, (like Phoenix), but there are some ways to help with that! So, for this Fun Friday, here are our best ideas for a fun Backyard Camping Night!
Set up, Timing and Preparation:
Food Suggestions:
If you live where it is cool enough in the evening to actually have a fire pit fire, you can do a variety of things:
If you live in Phoenix, or somewhere else where it is too hot for a fire at night, you can do this:
Ways to Be Cool:
Camp Out Activities:
There are so many fun things to do when camping, whether you are in the woods or on a backyard camp out. Here are a few of our favorites:
Backyard camping is an activity the whole family can enjoy together, or just let the kids sleep on their own after the night's activities! Mom and Dad are right inside if they get scared! So is the bathroom! (Make sure they use it before they settle down for the night!) The memories you make with them will last a lifetime!
Be sure to visit www.yay.fish to see more ideas about camping in your own garden!
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I have been entranced by the idea of charcuterie boards for some time now. I see them all over the place on different blogs and I've really wanted to try my hand at doing one. The ones that are mostly shown online are meat and cheese boards, which really look delicious. Holly, from Spend With Pennies teaches how to make one very inexpensively with ingredients purchased from Walmart. I think you could go even less expensive with some ingredients from Dollar Tree as well.
When Lindsey decided to host a Pie Party this year, I knew that I had to try a pie version of the charcuterie board. I found a couple of ideas that I loved:
We thought that it would be a great idea to give away mini pies for people to take home after feasting on pie at the party. So, I decided to make a Pie Party Charcuterie Board to hold the give-away pies! The Reluctant Entertainer purchased her pies, which is an option. But, since we know that our homemade pies taste better than purchased ones, and since people especially requested pecan and apple pies, those are the pies I made.
I loved the idea of tying plaid around the pies! They look so cute! I had some coordinating plaid flannel prints that I cut into strips to use. Here is how I put everything together:
I loved that the Reluctant Entertainer used maple leaf cookies from Trader Joe's, I just didn't have time to go pick any up. But, I loved the Knott's Berry Farm raspberry cookies that I found at the 99 cent store! I mean, you just need to use your imagination and see how things will fit into your board.
I think that you could easily make hand pies to work on a tray like this as well. If you need recipes and ideas for pies, check out our book, For the Love of Pie, available in our Etsy shop.
The fun thing about this board is it will fit into so many situations. I was afraid that using the plaid would make it look to much like a Christmas Board. It could have with a few more touches, but as it was, it fit well into the Pie/Fall theme of the party. So, if you are thinking of doing something like this for the holidays, which I think would be awesome, you might want to look at an idea like this one on Whipperberry! I may have to try that method next!
These charcuterie boards remind me a little bit of Sheet Pan Meals, like these that I talked about a couple of weeks ago. I guess I'm all about the communal eating lately! The Pie Charcuterie Tray was a big success. If you don't have a large microwave platter hanging around, I'll post some options below! If you have other ideas for presenting charcuterie, drop me a line in the comments!
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Two fun things for Fun Friday, and for a fun weekend! This is the weekend before Halloween. When Alicia shared pictures of my grandson designing his own jack-o-lantern, I had to include the picture in this post! He is such a sweet, good, handsome boy! And I can't forget smart and talented! I am not biased at all! She carved the pumpkin for him after this. I love his happy smile. Here in Phoenix, we have to wait until the last minute to carve pumpkins or the heat will make them get moldy too fast. (Then they look really spooky!) For those of you who live in cooler climates, like Alicia and her family do, have you carved your pumpkins yet? How detailed do you get? If you haven't carved one yet, this would be a great weekend for it and that would take some of the pressure off getting all of the Halloween things done this week.
Thing #2 was inspired by a gift from my friend, Rhonda. She loves to shop yard sales and last week she found this candy mold and thought of me.
She didn't think of me because I have a mustache. I don't. But, I teach the children aged 3-11 music in our church. Sometimes I use mustaches as a gimmick as I get them to sing. Knowing that, Rhonda thought of me when she saw these mustaches. I was so excited to think of something to do with the mold.
First, I thought of doing some kind of mints or fondant chocolates. Then, out of the blue a nickname for a mustache came to my mind. Have you ever heard of a mustache being called a cookie duster? That made me think of cookies, which led to the thought of cookie dough and I thought, "How about Cookie Dough Cookie Dusters?" And that is how this treat was born! If you don't have a friend to find you a mold like this at a yard sale, here and here are a couple of similar molds that I found on Amazon.
Cookie Dough Cookie Dusters
To make the egg-less cookie dough, I used this recipe from Simply Bakings. All I did differently was to leave out the chocolate chips. I felt like for the mustache mold, they would add too much bulk, so I decided to put a layer of chocolate on them instead. So, I melted chocolate chips to do that. Click the photos to get better directions:
Now, pop the tray into the freezer to harden the chocolate. When it is hard, take the tray out of the freezer and pop the mustaches out of the tray!
I wasn't patient enough to wait for the tray to be ready for another batch, so with the rest of the dough, I formed balls and dipped the top of them in chocolate. They are pretty sweet, too! Just not as cute as the Cookie Dough Cookie Dusters!
You can also find gluten free versions of cookie dough recipes as well, I just didn't use one of those this time.
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Back in the early days of our marriage, pre-children, my husband was in the military and we were living in Texas for a short time. We didn't have a lot of money, but we enjoyed staying home and playing games together. Sometimes we would sit on the floor and play a game or two. I would make a big pan of nachos! This was pre-microwave days. I would spread tortilla chips on a sheet pan and sprinkle grated cheese over them and put them in the oven to melt the cheese. We would eat those nachos right off of the pan and play Aggravation. Now that we are empty nesters and nearly 40 years married, I am treasuring those memories and reliving a few of them! Now, instead of nachos, I have been enjoying some full fledged meals roasted on a sheet pan. We don't usually get down on the floor to eat them, but gathering around the table is just about as good!
Today, for Fun Friday, I thought I would share my experience with jumping on the roasted sheet pan meal bandwagon! I love the idea for just the two of us, but it would work great for a family of 4 or for a pair of couples. You will probably need more than one sheet pan if there are more of you than that!
Shrimp Boil on a Sheet Pan
I read about a version of a sheet pan meal that mimics a Shrimp Boil. Say shrimp and I am on board! I used parchment to line my sheet pan. Then I put on corn on the cob chunks, potatoes, acorn squash chunks, shrimp and smoked sausage! I drizzled olive oil over them and put on salt, pepper, garlic, dried cilantro and whatever else strikes your fancy. I cut the potatoes and squash fairly thinly so that everything would get finished quickly. It turned out to be delicious!
Sausage and Squash Bake
I had an acorn squash that I baked just cut in half, sprinkled with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar. On the same pan, I put sliced potato and sliced Polska Kielbasa. Then, we scooped some of the soft baked squash into our bowls and topped it with the sausage and potatoes. It was very hearty and tasted like Fall!
Gathering around a pan of food, laughing and talking and spending time together is a lot of fun. If you are like me, you will be able to look back on those moments years from now. It kind of reminds me of theFondue Party idea. Another great perk is that there are a lot fewer dirty dishes! Have you jumped on the sheet pan meal band wagon? What have some of your favorite combinations been? Let me know in the comments!
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Creators of Hot Cocoa Bombs! (copyrighted)
Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to eleven! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Archives
April 2024
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