A Day with Dad

So Marc has Fridays off. He has had Fridays off for about 4 weeks now. Every Friday him and Jacq have their very own daddy and me adventure. One week it was the zoo, the next week toy town. Every morning starts with breakfast at Five and Diner and then continues on from there. Yesterday they visited dad's work and then dad decided to get sweet and bake cupcakes! Him and Jacq went and bought their supplies and came home and spent the afternoon making valentine's day cupcakes for me and the grandparents. They are so cute! Here are the pics.

The Supplies!










The finished product!


It was so cool to come home from work and see that they had such a fun, productive day together. Thank you Marc and Jacq, I love my cupcakes!

Veggie Art

Jacq thought this was silly and fun!

What you need:
Paper plate (for your paint)
Paint
Construction paper
Fruit & Veggies cut in half

You can use whatever foods you have. We used an apple, orange, cucumber and broccoli. Potatoes and fun too because you can cut shapes into them.

Use a plate to pour your paint onto.

Pretty basic instructions here. Use your food as your 'paintbrush'. Show your child how to do a sponge paint-like motion with the food so they are 'stamping' it and not painting. Jacq had fun doing this. And after we used the other halves of the fruit to make smoothes!

Watercolor Art

I have been doing crafts and cooking a lot lately. I just haven't been blogging them. So I am taking advantage of this rainy Sunday and Jacq taking a nap, to get caught up.

I can't find the link to where I saw the idea for this. I'll look for it some more and try to post it later.

What you need:

Watercolor paper
Watercolors
Cups (for water)
Paintbrushes
Contact paper
Frame (optional)

With your contact paper cut out a letter (we used ''J" for Jacqueline) and adhere it to the paper. Make sure you press really hard to eliminate bleeding of the watercolors.



Next, let your child watercolor all over the paper. Set aside to let dry completely.







When it is done peel the contact paper from the paper. Now you have a beautiful piece of art! I went to Michael's and found a frame for $8. We put this up in the living room and Jacq shows it to everyone who comes over.



As you can see it did bleed a little under the contact paper but it still looks great.
Here is a portrait of the artist.

Recipe: Parmigiano-Reggiano Crusted Chicken

This recipe is fantastic. I got it from Rachel Ray magazine. Whenever I make it I have to make a double batch because Marc always wants seconds.

What you need:
1/4 c flour
2 eggs
1 1/4 c grated parm-reggiano cheese
3 tbl olive oil
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast, pounded to about 1/4 inch thick

Jacq always likes to help me cook dinner. There really wasn't much for her to do here since this dish is so easy. So I let her pour the dry ingredients onto plates for me while I pounded the chicken.

Pour your flour onto one plate and your cheese onto another.
*TIP: For easy clean up, use paper plates!






Get a medium skillet and add your evoo to the pan and turn to medium heat. Next crack your eggs into a bowl and lightly beat it. Make your assembly line. Flour first, then egg then the cheese.



Take each chicken breast and coat with egg then the flour. Then coat with the cheese. Give the cheese some firm presses so it sticks. Add to the skillet and cook each side until golden, about 7 mins per side.



Delish! Here is what it looked like right before I plated it.



Enjoy!