By Sarah Lasry & Kosherstreet.com
Playing with Your Food: With the short days and long nights of winter just really getting started, a little fun with our kid’s food is in order. With these great recipes, our kids can have a little after school or Sunday fun in the kitchen with us. These recipes are also great for parties, and with Chanukah coming up, what cun festive additions to our latkes and drediels!
.I was so intrigued by this crazy fun food idea inserting raw spaghetti in to your hotdogs to make these jiggly fun hotdog squiggles. So, I had to try it for myself to see if it would work. Well it did! And it was really funny to see my family’s reaction when he started to eat his dinner of Crazy Hot Dog Spaghetti.
Spaghetti Hot Dogs
All you need is a package of your favorite hot dogs and 1 package of Spaghetti
1. Get a pot of water on the stove to boil
2. Cut your hot dogs into large bite size pieces.
3. Stick your raw spaghetti noodles into the center of the raw hot dog – (you can vary the places of where you insert the spaghetti)
4. place your hot dog spaghetti pieces into the boiling water – and cook until the hot dogs are ready to eat. ( I recommend cooking them 5 minutes longer than usual – to ensure that the spaghetti in the center of the hot dog is not raw)
5. Remove and drain from water – and serve in a large bowl. Watch your kids faces light up with glee!
Elmo Cup Cakes
Makes 18 cup cakes
This is a great project to get your kids involved with – they will love sorting out the colors and decorating the Elmo faces. If you are making them for Chanukah, I suggest using blue food coloring and adding some candy driedels for the nose.
Ingredients:
Duncan Hines Cake Mix (I used red velvet for the Elmo cupcakes, but you can use any kind)
For the Butter Cream:
2 1/2 sticks margarine or butter, softened
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. non-dairy whip topping or heavy cream’
12-13 drops red food coloring
For the face:
36 mini brown chocolate lentils or mini chocolate chips
18 large marshmallows, cut in half
18 orange or pink small gumballs or colored chocolate lentils ( I used Leibers brand mini chocolate lentils)
18 Chocolate sandwich cookies cut into halves
Directions:
Make the cupcakes and allow them to cool completely. As the cupcakes are cooling make your butter-cream frosting.
In a mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add the confectionery sugar and salt; beat at medium -low speed until most of sugar is moistened about 45 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat on medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds, add the vanilla, and cream and the food coloring and beat on medium speed until color has fully incorporated.
To assemble the cup cake:
1. Pipe the red frosting onto the cupcakes – I used a medium sized flower tip and made many little flowers covering the whole cupcake
2. Once the cupcake is fully frosted, cut the marshmallow in half and stick 1 brown lentil on each sticky side of the marshmallow making the eyeballs ( I found it was more “Elmo-like” to put the lentils slightly askew and close together )
3. Place the uncut side down of the marshmallows into the cream. Then place the orange nose lentil.
4. Cut your sandwich cookies in half , and stick them slightly up in the air where the mouth should be.
What you will need: White cake mix and all its added ingredients – Food Coloring
Make your batter according to instructions on back of box
Divide your cake batter into 4 separate bowls. Spoon batter into measuring cups first then transfer into bowls. Start with 1 1/2 cups, 1 1/4 cups, 1 cup and end with 1/2 cup batter divided
Add 8-10 drops of coloring per bowl, mix well
Grease a 9 inch spring form pan. Then starting with your largest colored batter, gently spread the first layer into the pan.
Then spoon the next color layer on top of the first.
Then using the flat end of a butter knife gently spread the batter – being careful not to mix the two colors together – rotate the pan. Repeat with the rest of the colored batter
Once you finish your last layer. Cover pan with foil and bake in oven according to box instructions. Let cake cool before removing from pan and slicing.
{Sarah Lasry & Kosherstreet.com, Matzav.com Newscenter}
