Month: January 2018

Cozy Clove Playdough

Activities, Arts and Crafts
Lizzie Homemaker's all natural cozy clove playdough
This all-natural clove playdough is made with kitchen ingredients and it smells like a hug in the middle of winter.

The warm and spicy scent of clove perfumes this playdough – which makes it an incredibly soothing and relaxing after-school activity to come home to.

Playdough is a lovely sensory activity which promotes self-regulation, attention, focus, and calmness.  Combining scents can heighten that experience.  It’s also a good way for kids to release stress.

Natural Clove Playdough Recipe

The warm and spicy scent of clove is incredibly soothing on a gloomy winter's day.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup salt
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 cups of water
  • 2 tbsp cream of tartar
  • 2 tbsp of ground clove
  • 2 tbsp oil

Directions

  1. Mix all the ingredients in a heavy-bottomed pot or saucepan.
  2. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly for about 3-5 minutes.  The dough will start to pull away from the sides of the pan and should no longer be sticky to the touch.  (If it’s still sticky cook a little longer until it’s not.)
  3. Remove the dough from the pot.  Allow to cool slightly and knead.
  4. OPTIONAL  Pair dough with whole cloves (they’re great for pincer grasp practise)

Store dough in an air-tight container.

Blueberry Coconut Milk Scones

Breakfast, Desserts, Snacks
lizzie homemaker recipe for lactose intolerant friendly blueberry coconut milk scones
These easy blueberry coconut milk scones are delicious and can be prepped ahead of time.

These delicious scones are kid-approved.  I recently made them as an after-school snack and one of my kids said she would trade her LOL doll for another batch.  I need to take her up on that…

My eldest daughter is lactose-intolerant.  Initially we avoided all dairy but we’ve recently found that there are a couple of dairy foods that she can handle.  Butter is one of them.  I’ve tried making scones without butter but the alternatives have never been as good.  This recipe swaps out the traditional milk or cream (which are no-gos for her) with coconut milk.  They are absolutely delicious and it means my lactose-intolerant kid can happily devour these goodies with her sisters.

Coconut Milk Blueberry Scones

Scones are best eaten on the day they are baked. To make-ahead, prep the dough in advance and shape it into a disk, then pop it in the fridge overnight and bake the day of.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
  • 1/4 sugar, plus more for sprinkling
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 6 tbsp (3/4 stick) of cold butter, diced
  • 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • grated zest of one lemon
  • 1/4 cup dried blueberries

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. In a food processor, combine flours, sugar and baking powder.
  3. Add butter and pulse until butter forms pea-sized pieces.
  4. Add coconut milk and lemon zest.  Process until just moistened.
  5. Mix in dried blueberries and roll out into an 8 inch disc. Sprinkle with sugar, if desired.
  6. Cut into 8 wedges, keeping the disc intact.
  7. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.  Allow to cool.

 

If you don’t have a food processor simply cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry blender, or forks and/or knives.