Christmas Recipes - Jube Jube Marshmallow Popcorn Balls

This is a very easy, delicious popcorn ball treat that my family just loved each Christmas. It is easy to prepare like rice crispie squares.

Ingredients

3 qts or 12c of popped pop corn
1/4c butter
1 (10 oz)bag of marshmallows
1 small bag of baking jube jubes (optional)


Method:

1. Pre - butter muffin tins or cookie sheets to put the popcorn balls on
2. Pop popcorn and put into a large bowl or roasting pan and set aside. Mix in small baking jube jubes with the popcorn or add them after with the marshmallow mixture which ever way you prefer.
3. In a heavy pot melt butter and marshmallows at a low heat and stir constantly so it doesn't burn.
4. When all marshmallows are melted pour the mixture onto the popcorn and jube jubes until they are well coated.
5.Grease your hands with some butter first then grab some popcorn ball mixture and shape it into a ball. I would let my children help me do this step. Put the popcorn balls into a muffin tin or on a cookie sheet and continue until you use up all the popcorn mixture.
6. Put them into the fridge to harden quicker and then you can put them into a container and keep them in the fridge to hold their shape. You can keep them on a plate but they soften. They are great gifts to give as well.

Optional: You can use food colour and food flavours instead of jube jubes if you wish but mix the food colour and food flavour in the pot when you finished melting the marshmallows. If you can't find any baking jube jubes you can buy the regular jube jubes and cut them into smaller pieces as this works as well.

These are a delicious treat and they never lasted long in my home.

Summer Learning: 8 Fun Ways to Keep Your Kids Learning All Summer Long

By Jamie Jefferson

Most kids look forward to three months of nothing but fun and games, but, as a parent, you know that learning should take place year round.

And while it can be hard to get your child's attention among all the swimming pools, video games and television shows that they'd rather be spending their time on, it's important that you keep the learning going (at least at some level) during the summertime. That way, when they return to school in the fall, they'll be enriched and ready to learn.

Here are eight fun ways to keep your kids learning all summer long, including some educational websites your kids will love.

1. Start your summer learning adventure by heading to your local library. Most libraries offer reading programs each summer that challenge your child to read. They may have flyers to help your child stay on track and reading suggestions divided by age group. Taking a weekly trip to the local library will be a great family activity to look forward to each week.

2. Instead of letting your child sit in front of video games all summer long, why not make the process educational? There are many educational computer games and games for video game systems that allow your child to have fun and can help them keep up to date with their basic skills at the same time. Keep in mind though that too many computer games, educational or not, will reduce your child's activity level, so make sure to use the video games in moderation.

3. Check out some free learning websites for kids. Three to try: Funbrain.com, math.com and abcteach.com (which has printable worksheets). If your kids prefer online communities, try Webkinz.com, which requires the purchase of a webkinz toy; ClubPenguin.com, which is geared for 6 to 14 year olds and is free to play but also has activities that required a paid membership; and WhyVille.net, a free online community for pre-teen and teen boys and girls.

4. Summer is a perfect time to discover, or re-discover, the unique learning opportunities in your neighborhood. If you haven't been to the local museum or other historic location within driving distance of your home, now is the time to do it. Make sure to talk about the history, science or other subject you'll be learning about so your kids can get the most out of the experience. Big metropolitan museums, zoos or landmarks are also great destinations during the summer. Even though gas is expensive, a road trip every now and then may be just what the teacher ordered.

5. Allow each of your children to choose a comprehensive workbook that they can work on a bit each day. Some workbooks cover math, reading, social studies and science. You might want to work out an incentive program to make sure they get their worksheets done each day. For example, each worksheet equals one ticket. Once they reach five tickets, everyone is rewarded with a few hours at the pool or a run through the sprinklers.

6. Play some educational, age-appropriate games, such as Scrabble, Boggle or chess. Purchase some family favorites in travel editions so the kids can play them on car rides and on vacation.

7. Learning during summer vacation can also take a more formal role in your child's life. If there was a subject your kids struggled with during the school year, now is the time to get tutoring or enroll them in a program to help them catch up. Make the experience fun by balancing their study time with some good old-fashioned family fun.

8. Vacation is the perfect time for sharing non-traditional lessons with your child that expose them to concepts they won't find in regular school. If they learned about plants this year in school, help them plant their own garden so they can see the concepts in action. Reinforce their knowledge of fractions and measurements by having daily or weekly cooking lessons with you in your kitchen. Many schools have had to cut back on arts and music, so summer gives you the perfect opportunity to let your child's creative side flourish.

If you tried to pack all of these ideas into one summer, you'd have a tired kid on your hands! Pick a few to try and keep the learning going throughout summer. By making learning fun, your child won't realize they are learning at all.

Jamie Jefferson writes for Momscape.com and Susies-Coupons.com, where she shares book warehouse coupons and Limited Too coupons.

Article Source: http://www.artipot.com

Six Ways To Break Into Food Writing

SIX WAYS TO BREAK INTO FOOD WRITING By Pamela White

These are the times that try writers' souls.

Publishers post guidelines for writers that require published clips to be sent with query letters. Writers cannot get published clips unless they've been published. The logic is just as perplexing when writers try to break into new niches. Food editors ask for food-related writing samples prior to assigning stories to new writers. Never fear, there are ways to conquer that old "Catch 22."

Here are six ways writers and chefs can break into food writing. Some are sneaky roundabout ways; others make use of editors' needs for new writers to pen essays and travel pieces. Combining food with another writing niche is yet a third way to acquire those valuable food writing clips.

One: Try a sneaky way to get a food writing clip. Look at your professional expertise. How does it connect with food? If you are an architect or you've worked with one to design a kitchen, use that to write an article for a handy man magazine. Include tips on how to lay out a kitchen so that food lovers or amateur chefs will be delighted with the results. Do you know a professional party planner or are you known for your gatherings? Write up a holiday event, including recipes, for your local newspaper or a regional magazine. Love the outdoors? Write about building a barbecue for a do it yourself magazine, or share tips on fileting fish for the weekend fisherman.

Two: Write a personal essay about food. It's not only professional food writers that are writing essays about food memories, favorite meals and picky eaters. Everyone has a tale to share about summer fruit, Fourth of July cookouts or first bites of TV dinners. Who is going to buy these essays? Read the food magazines. Saveur runs expressive essays on everything from bread soaked in milk to a first experience with a mango. "The Square Table," an online, non-paying market, accepts essays on dining. "Woman's Day" and "Family Circle" publish essays on food and its impact on family, life and relationships. "Parents," "Parenting" and "Child" publish advice regularly on getting picky eaters to try new foods.

Three: Report on your vacation. But instead of writing something as banal as "what I did on my summer vacation," write a travelogue, including short reviews of restaurant meals. Oh, you didn't travel to Provence last June? Write about traditions at your family reunion. Why not do a round up of five or six small barbecue joints in Kansas City? Stayed close to home? Write about the food at the water, amusement, or theme park – what was good, bad, or healthy. If you did travel abroad, I hope you took plenty of notes and photographs. Once you have your idea for a travel and food piece in mind, start looking for markets. Local newspapers in both the place you visited and where you live are possible markets. Frugal-themed newsletters and websites use articles on traveling and eating on the cheap. An article about how to dine well at amusement parks and fairs would interest readers of parenting and women's magazines.

Four: Teach a cooking class; take a cooking class. Write it up as a publicity piece for the cooking school. Alternatively, write up how to teach a cooking class as a home-based business for women's magazines or entrepreneur publications. Maybe you live in a city that has food events, like Taste of..., wine tastings, chili cook-offs, or baking competitions? Alternative newspapers, weekly newspapers and regional magazines are possible markets for articles on how to put on a baking, or cooking, contest, the best in local wines, or which restaurants offered the best bites at a large gathering.

Five: Combine food writing with another niche. Write about kitchen gardens, herbs grown in window boxes, winter gardens, starting seeds. Interview organic gardeners, local farmers, and who's selling at the farmer's market. Combine camping, RV's and fishing with recipes and quick snacks to pack that are easy to transport yet tasty. Think further – sports-minded magazines (don't forget dance and cheerleading publications) can use recipes that provide quick energy with minimal fuss. Health writers can write articles on diets that help chronic conditions: pain, yeast infections, migraines, arthritis.

Six: Pick a lesser known holiday and write it up for fun. St. Swithin's Day is an ongoing joke at our household. It falls on July 15, so we claim St. Swithin to be the patron saint of barbecue. You can pick an actual holiday -- something that isn't done to death -- or write about a special holiday your family has created.

These ideas are also starters for established food writers looking to expand into other markets. Pick one, or mix and match for your food writing success.

(c) Pamela White, 2006

Want to use this article in your ezine or on your website? Feel free as long as you include the following:

About the author: Pamela White publishes Food Writing, the free ezine for food writers from her website: www.food-writing.com She teaches food writing classes, and her book, Make Money as a Food Writer in Six Lessons, is available at Amazon.com .