There seems to be an essential skill that isn’t taught to our kids much these days. Cooking. Who teaches their kids to cook now? Well you should, and the best place to start is with homemade candy.

If you start teaching your kids to cook something they don’t like they probably won’t develop a love of cooking. But if you start the kids out cooking homemade cakes or homemade candy you can just about guarantee that the kids will love it, and want to do more.

Last night I was doing some cooking with my kids who are 11 and 8. They had a great time and of course they got to lick out the bowl too. Kids get so much enjoyment from cooking something that is simple to cook and great to eat. And homemade candy is always great to eat.

And once kids learn to cook they have a skill for life. And they graduate pretty fast from homemade candy onto other stuff.

There’s a few simple things to remember, whether they’re cooking homemade candy or anything else. Allow plenty of time, expect mess, start with a simple recipe and get them started on the simple tasks.

And of course you’ve got to keep them away from heat, so avoid candy, for example, that requires a syrup. Syrup is heated to a high temperature so kids shouldn’t be stirring it, for example. No syrup burns.

And there’s just some stunning wonderful homemade candy recipes for kids too. I’ve mentioned syrup, it’s also a little difficult to do too, as you have to get the temparature just right, so steer clear of syrup and start with some of the more basic homemade candy recipes like truffles or pralines.

But when you’ve got the kids confident at their cooking they can try so many different candy recipes. I just love toffee, especially the chewy type of toffee, how about truffles, or nougat. Yumm.

There you go I’m hungry now.

Seriously though, teaching the kids to cook candy gets them on the road to cooking for life, and they learn to love to cook anything with time.

So grab some great homemade candy recipes, there’s lots on my website. And it’s cheaper and makes better candy than the store bought candy. Get the kids involved, they’ll thank you for it when they get older.

One of the components that guests look forward to the most is, of course, the food! Contrary to popular belief, baby shower food does not have to be pricey or expensive to make. This article will provide some easy-to-follow baby shower menu recipes that are sure to awe all your guests. These recipes will make people believe that you spent a fortune on the menu, yet they will cost a fraction of what people generally spend on catering for events like showers.

Some of the easiest appetizers and snacks come already pre-made! Buy refrigerated croissant dough, biscuit dough, and cookie dough. Use baby-themed cookie cutters like diaper and baby bottle shapes, and roll croissant dough in the shape of diapers. You can also use pastel-colored sprinkles for the cookies to add a cute touch. These snacks are easy, inexpensive, and delicious!

Another idea is to make adorable, little baby-themed cupcakes. Buy cake mix and add the other ingredients as directed on the box. Bake in cake cups and decorate with frosting and sprinkles. A couple of drops of food coloring can be added to plain, white frosting to create light, pastel colors. Heart-shaped cupcakes stand out a bit more and look beautiful, but the size and shape of the cupcakes are entirely up to you.

The next recipe is a delicious and colorful salad recipe. This recipe is nutritious yet very appetizing, and will definitely be loved by all the ladies! In one or two large salad bowls, mix 2 to 4 bags of spring mix lettuce (depending on the size of your shower and the number of guests), 1 to two small packages of baby tomatoes, 1 to 2 cups of diced cucumber, ” to 1 cup of shredded carrots, 1 to 2 cans of canned, sweetened tangerine slices, ” to 1 cup of raisins, and ” to 1 cup of caramelized pecans. Serve chilled with honey mustard or a sweet style vinaigrette.

An amazing fruit salad, popular in parts of Latin America is made using strawberries, mango, melon, sliced bananas, grapes, sliced oranges, sliced apple, and sliced pear. You can adjust the types and variety of fruits to fit your taste. Mix all the fruit pieces in a large decorative bowl and generously drizzle with sweetened condensed milk. Add caramelized almonds if desired.

A fabulous spinach dip that can be served with both corn chips and crackers calls for 1 ” cups of real mayo (you can use light mayo if preferred), ” cup of softened cream cheese, 1 package of frozen spinach (cooked and drained), ” cup chopped green onion, ” teaspoon of salt, ” teaspoon of pepper, and parsley to taste. Combine all ingredients and serve warm. If desired, you can melt Mozzarella or Parmesan cheese over the dip before serving. Provide an assortment of crackers and crunchy corn chips to eat the spinach dip with.

These easy to follow, pre-made recipes will take up almost none of your time, and are guaranteed to bring compliments!

Although you can never go wrong with a classy, traditional baby shower, cute new trends are emerging that have proven to be successful. From serving strictly fondue lunch or dinner items, to hosting a Hawaiian Luau party, these new baby shower trends and crazes are fun, hip, and exhilarating!

Fondue has become a new trend not only for baby showers, but also for all types of events and socials. Melted cheese with crackers and melted chocolate with fruits are light but filling appetizers that will satisfy cravings. Cheese dip can be melted and served with veggies like broccoli and carrots, along with assorted crackers. Many chocolate fountains are inexpensive and can be used to melt chocolate and serve with fruits, marshmallows, biscotti, and pretzels.

The art of scrapbooking has become increasingly popular over the past few years. So much so, that it has become a popular theme among social gatherings and events like baby showers. In recent scrapbooking-themed baby showers, hosts sent out scrapbook-themed invitations to guests, tying into the theme. At the bash, each guest is given a different baby-themed layout sheet, with supplies like stickers, letters, cutouts, glue, and scissors. The guests then design and decorate the layout sheet for the mommy-to-be. All these sheets can then be put together into an album for the new coming baby. This makes a great memory and keepsake for the expectant mother.

Hula and Luau-themed Hawaiian festivities are now ranked as some of the most popular baby shower ideas of this decade. Luaus can be fun and colorful, yet inexpensive and easy on your pocket. Leis can be given out as souvenirs, and you can play tropical, Caribbean tunes as background music. Fruit platters and fun drinks like Pina Coladas and Strawberry Daiquiris will add to the Hawaiian setting. Luaus are original, entertaining, and can fit any budget. Even on a tight budget, you can impress your guests and seem like you spent a fortune on your baby shower.

Another popular tendency in todays society is to host co-ed baby showers. In past times, baby showers were considered a womens affair, therefore, women were the only ones allowed to participate. Today, that taboo has been debunked, and more women are choosing to allow their husbands and other male members of their family and friends circle to participate. For a long time, men were shut out from being able to take part in baby-welcoming festivities. Now, this has become absolutely normal and even encouraged in North America.

Among all the trends and new practices in baby shower events, the most affordable yet incredibly chic seems to be the contemporary simple look. Classy, clean-cut, and simple dcor shows fine taste and a flair for decorative trends. Today, the predominant style for interior design is contemporary chic, and this look can be accomplished even on a tight budget. If you have a knack for planning and design, coordinating a simple and classy event should be a breeze. These days, the phrase “simplicity rules” is key.

I’m one of those folks who bought a crock pot, thinking it was the answer to my dinnertime chaos, put it in my pantry and promptly forgot about it. Until my grocery budget and work schedule got stretched to the limit. Now, my crock pot is front and center on my kitchen counter top and instrumental several times a week in feeding my family a good, home-cooked meal.

If you have forgotten exactly when you bought your crock pot, or it has a pattern or color that’s reminiscent of the 70′s, 80′s, or 90′s, it’s best to buy a new one. You’ll be doing yourself a favor spending the $30 to $50, what with all the new energy efficient models available. There are also some really great, new features like temperature settings, warming cycles, and secure leak-proof lids. Although, the best feature of all is that a crock pot saves you both time and money. That’s great to know, but how do they do that?

Money Saving: Certain dishes, like beef stew, pot roasts, and soups, are usually cooked for a pretty long period of time. If you’re using your oven for, say 3 hours, that’s about 10 kWh for that meal. Cooking the same pot roast in a crock pot for, say 6 hours, will take about 1.2 kWh. That’s simply based on your oven wattage of roughly 2500 versus your crock pot wattage of roughly 200. It just makes sense using a smaller appliance for such a long cooking period. Check out your appliance wattage and energy consumption using any of the energy consumption calculators online and see if you don’t agree.

Most crock pot recipes call for inexpensive cuts of meat. The low, slow cooking of a crock pot breaks down the sinew and connective tissue of less expensive cuts of meat. Crock pot recipes call for cooking in liquid which also tenderizes tougher cuts of meat, so you end up with meat that falls apart with a fork. A more tender cut doesn’t stand up as well to the long, slow cooking or the liquid. Opt for beef cuts like brisket, bottom round, rump roast, round steak, or even a good chuck roast. Pork shoulders and short ribs are good, too.

Are you spending money on fast food? How many times have you rushed through the convenience store, spending money you didn’t have on bad food? Here’s where your crock pot can save you money with a little planning. Get your meal planned, shop, and prepare everything ahead of time. Now, when everybody gets home after school and work, and all that evening chaos begins, at least you know you have dinner bubbling away in the crock pot. No more quick, and expensive, stops for fast food.

If your air conditioner is running, you really don’t want to start that oven, or even have a burner going on your stove top for any length of time. I know you’re thinking, well, it’s hot out so why not just eat salads and sandwiches? But, if you live in a part of the country where the summer heat lasts sometimes for seven or eight months out of the year, you and your family can really get hungry for a nice pot roast or hearty soup. And when it’s hot and steamy outside, and the air conditioner is just barely keeping you comfortable, you don’t want to stress it, or yourselves, out by adding more heat to your kitchen. Your little crock pot just won’t crank out that much additional heat.

Time Saving: Consider your time spent over a stove top, watching a pot boil, stirring the contents, as your valuable time wasted. One-pot meals are real time savers, but only if you don’t have to watch it cook. And, yes, a pot roast in the oven is certainly a time saver, but it is not a money saver. We want both, now don’t we?

Another time saver is getting my family involved with some of the cooking tasks. I can have my children in the kitchen with me, washing vegetables, peeling potatoes, and putting ingredients right in the crock pot for me because there is little danger of getting a burn since the crock pot is not turned on until everything is inside and ready to go. And, since most of my favorite crock pot recipes are three, four, or five ingredients, it’s easy to ask my husband to start dinner on some of those busy mornings.

If you’ve been running to the grocery store several times a week to hurry up and get something for dinner, you’ve been wasting a lot of your very precious time. Wouldn’t it be nice to pick up the kids from swim lessons and be able to go right home without that frantic stop for food? I keep several of my favorite crock pot recipes in my purse, so all I have to do is make one planned stop at the grocery store, buy the ingredients I need for a couple meals, and my shopping is done for the week. I even have time now to clean all my vegetables when I get home so they’re all ready when I put my planned crock pot dinners together. Now, we’re really saving time!

Money and Time Saving: Using a larger crock pot yields the best returns for my family. Cooking once and eating twice is not only a time saving feature, but a money saver as well. I use an oval, 6 quart size crock pot, so that we have leftovers for lunch, which solves the problem of wasting money going out to eat. For my time and money, it makes sense to use a crock pot several times a week for our family meals.

Now that you’ve seen the time and money saving reasons to use your crock pot, I challenge you to give your crock pot a second chance. Get your crock pot out again, or treat yourself to one of the new models, and browse through some recipes. It’s time you started cooking and saving time and money all at the same time!