Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Another Winner!

I tried something new today......

Pamm's Tuna Salad

1-7oz. package mini-alphabet pasta, cooked and drained
1 pouch light tuna
1 cup frozen peas & carrots
1 cup shredded cheese
Ranch dressing

Mix together and chill.

(I didn't measure the dressing, just put enough to hold it together.)

The toddlers gobbled it up!

Monday, July 6, 2009

Trying New Foods

Over the past few weeks the toddlers have tried a few new foods. They love them all!

Black eyed peas are a new favorite veggie and I served frozen peas and carrots frozen! What a treat!

I also tried a new recipe for oatmeal. I'm always looking for items that are made of whole foods, I can make ahead of time, and that is easy for the toddlers to eat by themselves and this fits the bill:


Easy Baked Oatmeal

Make ahead for a grab and go breakfast.

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350*.
  2. Combine wet ingredients in a big bowl
  3. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl
  4. Mix wet and dry ingredients together
  5. Bake in a silicone muffin tin or muffin tin lined with silpat muffin cups.
  6. Bake them for 20 minutes.
  7. Makes 8 muffins.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Cheesy Corn Muffins

I made a bunch of these and froze them. It makes for a hearty snack! They are very yummy!

1 cup milk
1 cup cottage cheese
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 (8.5 ounce) packages corn muffin mix

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prepare 12 standard-size muffin cups (either spray with cooking spray or line with paper liners).

Combine milk, cottage cheese, and eggs in a large bowl. Use electric mixture to blend on medium speed for one to two minutes. Stir in cheddar cheese, then stir in muffin mix until just blended. Do not over mix.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, dividing equally. Bake about 13-15 minutes, or until muffins are light brown on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean. Let muffins cool to room temperature.

From Hood.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Did You Know.....

Pamm's House has reduced the use of chemicals over the past year? It's been just about a year since I made a big effort to eliminate chemicals from our home and daycare. Although it's almost impossible to eliminate every chemical, they are now used very sparingly in our home.

Laundry: I make a mixture of Borax, baking soda, washing soda, and Oxy Clean. It takes only two-tablespoons per load, so this mixture lasts around three or four months. I use white distilled vinegar as my fabric softener. It's amazing, but it works very well. In addition to softening the laundry, vinegar kills germs as well as bleach! So, the laundry is sterilized as well as softened. I wash all our laundry, the toddler's blankets and even the cloth toys--anything that can go in the washing machine, does.

Dishwasher: I mix Borax, baking soda, and Seventh Generation (a green dishwasher soap). Again, only two-tablespoons per load is all that's needed. Instead of Jet Dry, I fill the rinse agent compartment with white vinegar. The plastic toys (without electronic parts) go into the dishwasher.

Counters, high chairs, and table: I fill a spray bottle with white vinegar and spray it on the surfaces, then wipe with a wet dish cloth. It sterilizes these surfaces as well as cuts grease and cleans very well!

Floors: I use white vinegar on my vinyl kitchen and bathroom floors. I love the idea ofsatirizing as well as cleaning at the same time. I also fill my carpet cleaner with white vinegar, too. Sterilizing, cleaning and softening the carpet is done all in one step!

General cleaning: I keep vinegar in several spray bottles all over the house. I use it for spot cleaning and sterilizing everything. I can mist the toys for a quick sterilization. To keep germs guessing, I buy peroxide in the spray bottle and alternate between the two sprays. Baking soda is something I keep handy and use as I would cleanser.

I'm sure you picked up on my theme: White Vinegar. Here's 1001 Uses for Vinegar.

In my experiments last year, I even used baking soda for my shampoo and apple cider vinegar for my conditioner. Can you believe the vinegar works as well as Pantene? It's amazing!

I just thought I'd pass on this information as it can be helpful as it can save you a lot of money! Also, I have noticed a lot less allergy problems with dh as well as the children.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Giving Kids Time to Respond

via Make and Takes by Marie 


When asking a child a question, we often expect them to answer us right away. Even with questions like, "How old are you?" you would think a child could answer right away. Well, with kids, especially small ones, it can take their brains a little longer to come up with an answer. They just need a little more time to process our questions. Unfortunately, as adults, it's hard for us to not have answers NOW.

We often end up answering the question for them because they didn't answer fast enough. But if we just give them time, at least 5 seconds, they'll have time to process what's been asked and can give you an answer. Now it may not be the correct answer, but they'll at least be able to respond.

Giving Kids Time to Respond

Give 'em time: Remember the 5 Second Rule

This technique helps children process their thoughts, learn language and speech, and builds self-confidence. I used this method effectively everyday in the classroom, when asking my Kindergartners questions.

So the next time you ask your child a question, just wait 5 seconds. You may even have to count in your head slowly to yourself: 1 one thousand, 2 one thousand, 3 one thousand, 4 one thousand, 5 one thousand! Try it and you'll see their eyes light up as their little brains figure out an answer, having been given enough time to respond.

It's all about being patient, something I'm still working on!

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Looking for free ways to advertise your daycare?

A few months ago, I update my Promote Your Daycare page.  There are a lot of idea on how to get your daycare name in your community--many are FREE!  Here's the page:  Promote Your Daycare

Sunday, March 29, 2009

The dirty truth? You can be too clean

By Jeanna Bryner

A dose of dirt could be the best medicine for preventing allergies in kids who've never had them.

While avoiding excessive contact with germs can help prevent the spread of infections, going overboard with cleanliness could be at least partly responsible for an increase in allergies among children, mounting research suggests.

"We’ve developed a cleanlier lifestyle, and our bodies no longer need to fight germs as much as they did in the past," said Marc McMorris, a pediatric allergist at the University of Michigan Health System. "As a result, the immune system has shifted away from fighting infection to developing more allergic tendencies."

More than 50 percent of Americans ages 6 to 59 years are sensitive to at least one allergen, according to a national survey conducted from 1988 to 1994 by the National Institutes of Health. That's two to five times higher than rates found in a previous 1976 to 1980 survey.

Recent research has found evidence for the so-called hygiene hypothesis, which explains how more sterile environments can lead to higher rates of illness. For instance, scientists in Germany recently found children exposed to farm animals (and the associated bacteria and other microbes hiding out there) were about half as likely as other children to develop the autoimmune illness Crohn's disease.

More animal helpers
Allergies are a reaction by the body's immune system to foreign, yet generally innocuous, substances, including pollen, mold, animal dander, dust and certain foods that it deems harmful. If your immune system has never or rarely detected even the natural background level of such substances, it can go haywire when contact does occur.

"Allergies are on the rise because our society has changed the way we live," McMorris said, adding that "as a result, people with allergies are having children with others who have allergies, which in turn creates a natural increase in the prevalence of allergies in our society.”

In addition to exposure to farm animals, dogs and cats kept as pets could also help children avoid developing allergies. A study published in a 2002 issue of JAMA concluded that children living in a house with two or more dogs or cats during their first year of life were much less likely to develop allergic diseases compared with children raised without pets. . . 

The dirty truth
From the constant use of anti-bacterial soap for dish- and hand-washing to air-tight seals around doors and windows, some modern homes have become shrines to hygiene. Add vaccinations and antibiotics to the mix and the body's immune system can get too much artificial reprieve from nature.

"The natural immune system does not have as much to do as it did 50 years ago, because we've increased our efforts to protect our children from dirt and germs," McMorris said in a statement released this month. . . 

The battle against bugs doesn't have to come to an end, but finding a balance between healthy living and clean living is a must . . .

McMorris says we've gone too far though with germ-avoidance.

"I don't think we should put kids in a bubble," McMorris toldLiveScience. At the end of the day, he said, parents should just let kids be kids.