Frozen Ice Skating Party

My youngest daughter, whose birthday happens to fall right after Christmas, wanted to go ice skating for her birthday.  We were lucky enough to stumble across a Groupon deal for a local ice rink for a group of 10 skaters - just enough for our crew, plus the cousins and a few friends. 

Since we were going to have kids there other than just family, I decided we'd do a few treat bags.  And, since the girls had just seen the movie Frozen, and we were ice skating, going with a Frozen theme seemed appropriate.

Since we were going to be doing a physical activity away from home, I thought the kids would probably like some bottles of water.

So, how do you make plain old bottled water interesting to a group of 8 year olds?  Why you give them melted snowflakes, of course! I printed the labels from this blog.    She also has lots of ideas for ice skating party favors and activities.

The next thing we did was make the treat bags. I let the Birthday Girl help decide what went into the bags. She opted for: hot chocolate mix, chocolate covered spoons, lip balm, gloves, and a snack.

Here is where I found all the Frozen printables.  They are free, although it does ask you to "check out."

For the chocolate spoons, we simply used chocolate melts and sprinkles.  Super easy!

All that was left was the birthday cake.  And sense we were having to travel, Birthday Girl decided on snowmen cupcakes.But I wasn't sure how to travel with the cupcakes and have the survive to the destination. 

After some brainstorming, we decided to try the "frost cupcakes with a melted marshmellow" approach. All you do is take a large marshmellow, eat a few of them for quality control purposes, then top each cupcake with one of their own in the last 5 minutes or so of baking.  They puff up pretty big so be prepared for that.  They will flatten out once you take them from the oven and they cool.

 

We used some chocolate chips for the mouth, a caramel piece for the nose and some pearls for the eyes.

 

We had a great time ice skating and didn't suffer any major casualties.  Here's to hoping you don't stay frozen in this wild winter weather we're having!

Pumpkin Alfredo Sauce

You're going to think I'm crazy, but I just made this for dinner:

And I liked it.  :-)

What is it, exactly?  It's pumpkin alfredo sauce.  I found this recipe while browsing for ways to use up the rest of the pumpkin puree I had in the freezer from the holidays. I almost passed right by this little gem because, well, it just sounded gross. But I also thought it sound just crazy enough to be good.

But, it's not! It's really pretty yummy and even more important, it's very easy.  Here is what I did:

Ingredients:

• 1 jar Newman's Own All Natural Alfredo Sauce
• 1 1/4 cups pureed pumpkin, leftover from a fresh pumpkin
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 large handfuls of fresh spinach
• 1 box of Whole Wheat Spaghetti noodles (Or whatever type of noodles you prefer)
• 1 pound brown ground meat (Or sausage, chicken, diced ham or omit altogether)
• Fresh shredded parmesan for serving

What to do:

Prepare pasta as directed. I used whole wheat spaghetti because that's what I had on hand. But I think any noodles would do just fine. Once noodles are cooked drain and set aside.

 

Put browned meat in the same pot you just cooked the noodles in. I sometimes try to cook meat ahead of time and keep in the freezer - it sure helps with skipping steps in the dinner prep process. Also, I had originally planned to use some diced chicken in this, but hubby had other plans for the chicken and got to it before I did.  So, feel free to use ground meat, sausage, chicken, ham, or no meat at all. That part is really up to you.   But, I digress.

 

Mix in alfredo, pumpkin, garlic, salt and pepper. Heat through. Toss in spinach and wilt just slightly.

 

Then just plate up your noodles, top with sauce and Parm and that's it.  A yummy healthy dinner in about 30 minutes or less and all cooked in one pot - if you have your meat pre-cooked.

 

To be totally honest, when I put this out on the table, I got all kinds of cross-eyed looks - including one from the husband. No one thought they would like it and I was even a bit skeptical.  But it really was yummy.  The pumpkin flavor does not come through much at all. Depending on how strong you like your alfredo sauce, you might not be able to taste it at all.  It was so good that a few even went back for seconds. :-)

 

The original recipe can be found here. 

 

It didn't call for any type of meat at all, but I have a household of carnivores. I knew I had to add something in. If you have an issue with texture, you might opt for the chicken or noodles other than whole wheat. To me, the combo of ground meat and the wheat noodles was a little - I dunno, gritty? It wasn't bad and I was able to get passed it, but I know that texture can be an issue for some.

 

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!