Pattye Duffner's Blog

My School Lunch Bag

 

A friend of mine and I have started a lunch service business.  Please come and check it out on our website www.myschoollunchbag.com  or find us on facebook and become a fan  here!

 

If you are a teacher or have a student in the Yorba Linda, Placentia, Anaheim Hills area we have the lunch for you!  We even have an adult menu for the office and teachers. 

Beach Party

 

Davis’s birthday party was a blast…and easy.   Having friends and family meet at the beach for a day of fun was on the plan.  And a day of fun was had.  Davis loved having his family and friends around him and I loved the celebration.  Happy birthday my big boy.  You have brought so much joy into our lives.  You are a special little boy that is smart, funny and charming.  In 2 years you have made this world a better place by just being in it,

Ella turns 8! One sweet party

With 4 brothers you are truly the princess not only on your birthday but everyday.  Happy 8^th birthday princess Ella. 

    
 

You plan your own parties, make all the decisions and run the show.  I love that about you.  You wanted an all sweets party this year.  Paper invites attached to large lollipops hand delivered to your friends was the beginning of a sweet day.

 

I made small pink cakes frosted in white for all the girls to decorate, aprons with candy fabric and a table full of your favorite sweets.  Happy Birthday, I love the person you are.   

 

Happy 9th Birthday Quinn

Quinn wanted a football party... so you know when your kids are little and you rent a clown (or other party fav) at 9 I guess the thing to do is rent a coach!  Let me tell you Quinn's football coach took off work, ran the entire party, and even brought a gift!  What more could a 9 year old want?  After the party he even told me "this was the best party ever".  SCORE!  That is all I want to hear... Here are the details and the invite.

Made these on elements and printed 2 on 5x7 photo paper.  Cut down the center to get 2 invites out of 1 print.  Also made a flyer with "tailgate party info".  All additional info that would not fit on fun ticket! 

 
9 favs at 9! 

1. Riding bike 

2. Collecting football stuff 

3. Watching tv 

4. Playing video games 

5. Mom   

6. Dad

7.  Brothers and Sister

8.  Math

9.  Sleeping

Happy Birthday My Big Boy, Momma Loves You!
 

Mario Party Birthday Party: Happy Birthday Braeden!

 

Kicking off the event with a postcard invite mailed out to his favorite friends. 

 

For Braeden’s 6^th birthday bash he wanted a Mario Party Party!  We had traditional birthday party games with a twist.  Ie: 

Hot potato with Mario music and using “bull dog”  pin the wii remote on braeden (painted an outline of him sitting with his hand out) kids made paper wii remotes and pined them on.

Gunny sack races with bags in the symbols of the Mario Bros characters hats… M  L  etc.   Simple cone hats and a bit of paper crafting turned them into themed hats. 

Braeden worked weeks ahead of time making all the decorations that we hung on the windows.  Hand made drawings off all happenings in the Mario Party world. 

Mustaches, Kettle Korn and Shave Ice topped off the party that would not be completed with out a fabulous cake!

Happy Birthday Braeden!

Braeden turned 5 today and for the 3^rd year in a row he did not want to change to the next age…  Last year on his birthday it was a sore subject to say he was turning 4 and this year he is feeling the same way.  He wants to not turn 5!  This just makes me smile, this is so Braeden.  I tell him that is fine he can be any age he wants.  No one is making him grow up.  I am glad he has his very own opinion on what he wants… 

 

His birthday party was a blast.  The book theme went as planned.  The only issues were that I had a house full of sick kids the week before and I was not up for any last minute planning so I am glad I had done what I had before.  I turned target t-shirts into "brown bear brown bear" iron on shirts.  Party hats were made out of old books.  The food was all the food in the book "Very Hungry Caterpillar".  Read books.  Made bookmarks.  We played musical chairs, hot potato, pin the hat on the cat, and had a piñata…  I found these book bags and the decorations that I did not make from Highsmith, a library resource on-line.   Breaden loved it and so did I.  Happy birthday baby Braeden, I love you.   

 

Handmade Valentines

 

 

This year I am making the valentines with the kids…  I can’t say it is cuter then any store bought ones but it was fun to make together and it is homemade.   

 

 

I had each kiddo write on a blank sheet of paper “Happy Valentines Day From --------” or what ever they wanted to add.  Ella added the word “friends” on hers (so cute) and the boys drew a heart.  After they each wrote their own valentines on their own sheets of paper I scanned the image and saved it as a jpeg.  I opened elements 5 and started…  Open a blank file to be the size of my colored sheets of paper (mine were 8.5 x 11).  Opened the jpeg of their original written words.  Simply dragging and resizing the words to fit on the page as I wanted,  (over and over and over and over) I had a finished image.  Flattened the jpeg and renamed it. 

 

 

 

From here I printed this new image onto colored paper.  Used a play doe cutter to trace onto the backsides of the colored paper and cut!    Using a small hole punch cut 2 holes for the sucker to weave through….  I put the finished valentines on glass bowls around the house for Valentine decorations. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Classroom parties...

 

Squash Bowling How-To
First, make the pins: Attach vinyl sticker numbers to 10 butternut squashes. With painters' tape, cover portions of each squash to create stripes. Fill in stripes using acrylic craft paint, and let dry. Carefully peel off stickers and tape. Designate a lane, and set up the pins, placing lower numbers in front and higher ones in back. Have each player stand about 15 feet away, grip a small pumpkin by the stem, and bowl. (Should the stem fall off after a few tries, players can grab onto the whole pumpkin.) Give everyone two turns, and award each player the number of points on the pins knocked down.

Back To School

 

The "back to school" teacher gift was a quick last min put together.  Our apple tree is over flowing with green apples again.  So I took the similar project from last year and made it a bit bigger with a full size Carmel dip and apples to fill a cellophane bag.  I attached a tag made out of chipboard and paper.  I had to use one of my favorite stamps to write on so that the teachers would know who it was from.  Quick and easy…

Back To School Count Down...

My back to school check list continues with lunch box love notes.  Here are a couple of ideas to get you going… I have found some great ones at Target and Hallmark.  They are very different but fun none the less.  One you can write on the back and are more child like and the other has a re-positional back like a post it note!  Another idea is to take some of those flash cards that are missing the complete set and hand write a note to your little one.  Even some left over party napkins have filled in a pinch for me as well.  The kids get a little surprise and hopefully bring a smile to their face.

 

Summer drink

 

The grapes are also ready… Here is a fun-entertaining recipe to share with you for an easy drink.  At your next gathering try this.

 

 

Lemon-Grape Coolers

 

Ice
3 cups unsweetened white grape juice
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 cups lemon-lime flavored carbonated beverage
1 small bunch grapes, washed and halved
1 lemon, sliced into rounds

In each glass filled with ice, or a large pitcher filled with ice, pour in the grape juice, lemon juice and lemon-lime soda. Stir gently. Garnish with sliced grapes and lemons.

 

 

 

August is the perfect time to plant your pumpkins in time for Halloween.  I have started my patch… wish me luck!

Apple season

This year the apples are abundant!!! We have more apples then I will know what to do with.  They are happy and yummy.  If you are visiting us please ask for a bag full.   Here is a yummy recipe.  I think I need to figure out a fun project to make for the teachers on the first day of school that has to do with apples.  Any thoughts?

 

Baked Apples

Ingredients

Makes 4

·      1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

·      1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar

·      1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

·      1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·      1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

·      1/4 teaspoon salt

·      4 medium apples, skin peeled in a spiral

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Stir together butter, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, ginger, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

2. Scoop out the core of each apple with a melon baller, being careful not to go through the bottom; discard cores. Fill each apple with oat mixture, dividing evenly. Transfer apples to a 9-inch square non-reactive baking dish. Add 1 cup water to the dish to cover bottoms of apples by about 1/2 inch. Cover dish with aluminum foil. Bake until apples are soft but not mushy, 40 to 45 minutes. Serve warm.

Feeling HOT HOT HOT...

Perfect Lemonade Recipe

• 1 cup sugar (can reduce to 3/4 cup)
• 1 cup water (for the simple syrup)
• 1 cup lemon juice
• 3 to 4 cups cold water (to dilute)

Method

1 Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely.

2 While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer to extract the juice from 4 to 6 lemons, enough for one cup of juice.

3 Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the lemonade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lemon juice to it.

Serve with ice, sliced lemons.

Serves 6.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

  Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Enjoy a cocktail version of a root beer float: vanilla ice cream topped with Irish stout. With the ice cream sweetening the rich beer, the float is as much a dessert as it is a drink. Scoop ice cream into a pint glass, and pour in enough stout to fill it. One pint of ice cream and one 12-ounce bottle of beer will yield 2 servings.  Or if you are like me a great root beer float with an adorable Saint Patrick's Day pick in it would do the job! 

Take a Break...

  This is my absolute favorite cookie in the entire world.  It is a pumpkin chocolate chip drop cookie.  Today it is a raining day in sunny southern California.  I wanted to share this recipe with you all in hopes to inspire you to take a break and enjoy a hot cookie and some milk.  Debbi makes these cookies for me when I baby-sit or just because often and I love them.  I have asked her for the recipe so that I can share it all with you… I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

1 can pumpkin

1 spice cake mix

1 bag choc chips.

Mix together until all lumps are gone. Bake at 350 for 15 min.

If you have the time you should check out Debbi's blog she just did the most adorable Mario Brothers Birthday Party!

Now What???

Now that Halloween is over what are YOU going to do with all those pumpkins?  Okay, I COULD make a pumpkin pie...or roast pumpkin...or make spicy pumpkin seeds...but honestly, I have a lot of pumpkins.

Homemade Pumpkin Facial Masque

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh cooked pumpkin, drained, cooled, no skin
1 egg white whipped
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp ground oats (oatmeal)
2 tbsp plain yogurt
dash of fresh lemon juice
pinch of nutmeg

Or

Ingredients:
1/2 cup fresh cooked pumpkin, drained, cooled, no skin
1 tbs oats (oatmeal)
1 tbs honey
1/2 tsp olive oil (or any oil you have on hand)
pinch of nutmeg
squirt of lemon juice

Mix all of the ingredients together to form a thick like consistency. Adjust the ingredients if needed, add more oats to make it thicker or add more liquid to thin it out. Apply this mixture to your clean face and neck, leave on for 5-10 minutes. Use tissues to gently remove the bulk of it, then rinse with warm water followed by a cool water rinse, gently pat skin dry.

Enjoy!

Martha to the rescue...

Last week I tried the starch ghosts and do not feel this is the best craft project for this year...  It worked out great but I am worried that the overnight drying time will be a problem.  So here is the other option for the craft project, we have done this before at a Halloween Party and it went well.  Wish me luck! 

Create a ghoulish Halloween candy face with a variety of candy, but be sure to warn children not to eat the candy on the face.

Tools and Materials
Good & Plenty
Miniature marshmallows
Twizzler licorice bites (Black)
Gummy teeth
Licorice wheels
Candy corn
Neapolitan licorice
Ball pins
Glass canisters
Scissors
Small pumpkin

Halloween-Candy Face How-To
1. Secure the candy to the pumpkin with ball pins that match the color of the treats so they aren't too noticeable. Tip: Chewy candy is easier to bend and snip.

2. Place pumpkin on glass canisters or reuse large glass jars for candy.

Sucker...

A fun way to say thanks for coming, or to escort them to their seats is with a lollipop display.  It is as Yummy to look at as to receive.  Take a wooden box and paint it red (candy red of course), add a Styrofoam insert available at floral supply stores. Hot glue gumdrops over entire Styrofoam (of course they will no longer be edible).  Insert each Lollipop directly into Styrofoam in-between the gumdrops.  To make labels simply do a text box in word cut into circles and you are done!  Imagine having names on one side and the table setting on the other for a fun casual wedding.  Or names on one side and a “thank you note” on the other side for your guests as they leave your next birthday bash!!!

Quick bread

This chocolaty loaf calls to mind pound cake, but it's lighter and somewhat more textured. It's great with a glass of milk, but the swirls and ganache make it fancy enough to offer with dessert wine.

Makes one 8 1/2-inch loaf

·      8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan

·      1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

·      1/2 teaspoon salt

·      3/4 teaspoon baking powder

·      8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

·      2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

·      4 large eggs

·      1/2 cup whole milk

·      1/4 cup heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8 1/2-by-4-by-2 1/2-inch loaf pan; dust with flour, tapping out excess. Sift flour, salt, and baking powder into a medium bowl.

2. Melt 5 ounces chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth.

3. Put butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Add sugar; raise speed to medium. Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in three batches, alternating with two batches of milk. Mix until just combined.

4. Pour half of batter into melted chocolate; stir well. Alternating between remaining plain batter and the chocolate batter, drop large spoonfuls of batter into the prepared pan. When pan is filled, use a table knife to cut through mixture with a swirling motion.

5. Bake until a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour. (If bread browns too quickly, tent with foil.) Let bread cool slightly in pan on a wire rack, about 10 minutes. Run a thin knife around edges of bread to loosen; unmold. Let cool completely on rack.

6. Make ganache: Put the remaining 3 ounces chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until just about to simmer. Pour cream over chocolate; stir until mixture is smooth. Let stand 10 minutes to thicken slightly. Using a small offset spatula spread ganache over cooled cake; let stand until set, about 1 hour. Bread can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 2 days.

It's a Wrap
Try these simple packaging ideas -- they're as easy as the breads themselves. Present muffins in the tin they were baked in, with any drips wiped off, of course. Wrap it in a cellophane bag and then in linen with frayed edges; tie on a tag -- and the recipe if you like -- with twill tape. Bake cornbread in wooden molds, which then serve as gift boxes (they can't be reused for baking). Cover bread in cellophane, then put in a loaf box from a baking-supply store and wrap with loose-weave cotton fabric and sewing thread. Bake bread in a can and cover with rounds of waxed paper, then a round of tissue paper or striped cotton; the whole is neatly tied with waxed-linen thread.

On your marks... get set... go!

Its guests will never forget a two year olds birthday if you plan it right!  Having a hot wheel theme with cars galore is a fun way to celebrate your little ones day!  Complete with little burger sliders for them to chow down on.  Road walkways and décor with the details on the street make this one party they will not even want to leave.  Have your guest arrive on his or her own wheels (bike, boards anything will work) and have a parade as one of the events. 

Fall Feasts

In celebration of fall this event was planed with details in mind.  Making your centerpieces out of clear glass vases, filling with fruit, water then the color flowers of choice will take your table from ordinary to extraordinary.  Grouping like flowers in a bunch will give visual impact and make a stronger statement.  Differing the heights of your single arrangements spread out over several containers may be the perfect backdrop to your fall feast. 

Back To School... 283 Days Until Summer

Back to school here in the Duffner home is a mixed emotional day.  Happy for the little ones, sad inside for me.  I will miss them terribly.  Here is the Back to School project for this year.  The clipboard I made after seeing Stephanie’s in her home a few months back while working on her scrap room (which by the way will be aired on Scrapbook Lifestyle On Sept. 10^th) and thought this would be a perfect 1^st day of school gift for the teachers.  I did a bit of a twist on it and came up with this… It is a mini clipboard with a notepad that has the calendar of how many days until summer. I had to fill in the numbers so that took a while but I did save the file so if you are interested please leave a comment telling me and I can easily e-mail you the doc. 

Along with this I wanted to give them the more traditional gift of an apple but as you know me I have to twist that up too!  I bagged a red apple on top of raffia and put caramel dipping sauce on top and tied it with a raffia ribbon.  Supper easy and fun to put together with the kiddos!  I hope the teachers like it as much as we do.

The Perfect Snack

   As you know the man that keeps this house and my dreams afloat is a Kettle Korn Man.  He works his heart out making Kettle Korn and I thought it would be fun to share some popcorn recipes today for your next party…  In celebration of us now offering home delivery we are going to ship 3 small bags of fresh kettle korn directly to your door, just leave a comment here and I will do the drawing Wednesday night.  If you are picked I will e-mail you for your address.  Thanks for playing along!

• Each order is popped fresh and shipped promptly
• Ship anywhere in the Continental 48 States
• Makes a great gift
• Hand-made gift cards included

Not long ago, this delicious treat was found only at local festivals. Due to overwhelming popularity we now offer our highly addictive Kettle Masters Kettle Korn brand popcorn through the Internet.

We still make each batch by hand over an open fired kettle using the finest ingredients available. The slightly sweet, slightly salty combination of our Kettle Korn is outright addicting!

White Chocolate Popcorn Crunch

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5 cups popped popcorn
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1/2 cup sliced almonds
12 ounces white chocolate baking chips, chopped white chocolate or white candy coating
1-2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

• Cover a baking pan with foil or wax paper; set aside. Place popcorn, cranberries and almonds in a large bowl; set aside.
• Melt chocolate in a double boiler over barely simmering water, stirring until smooth OR melt according to package directions. (If chocolate is not smooth after melting, , stir in 1-2 tablespoons shortening until mixture is smooth and loose enough to coat popcorn.)
• Pour chocolate mixture over popcorn mixture and stir to coat. Spread onto prepared pan; allow to cool completely. When chocolate is cooled and set, break into chunks for serving. Store in an air-tight container at room temperature.

Variation: White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn Crunch:
Omit cranberries and almonds. Stir in 1 cup crushed hard candy peppermints after chocolate is melted.

Edible Popcorn Party Bowl

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10 cups popped popcorn
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 cup water
1/3 cup light corn syrup
½ teaspoon vinegar
¼ teaspoon salt
10 drops food color, optional

• Spray the inside of a large, stainless steel bowl with cooking spray and the outside of a 2nd large, stainless steel bowl; set aside. These 2 bowls will be used to form popcorn bowl at end of cooking time. (Note: if one bowl is smaller than the other, spray the outside of the smaller bowl.)
• Spray a 3rd large bowl with cooking spray and place popped popcorn inside; set aside.
• Stir sugar, water, corn syrup, vinegar and salt together in a medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil, cover, and boil for 3 minutes to allow steam to wash down sides of pan. Remove lid and attach candy thermometer to pan. Allow mixture to boil, without stirring, until mixture reaches 290º F. Stir in food color, if desired.
• Working quickly, pour syrup over popcorn and toss with a large spoon until popcorn is thoroughly coated. Pour popcorn mixture into first prepared bowl and use a spoon to push mixture evenly up onto sides of bowl. Firmly press second prepared bowl onto popcorn to form popcorn bowl. Allow popcorn bowl to cool completely between stainless steel bowls. To serve, tip popcorn bowl out and place on platter. Fill with popcorn to serve.

An Apple A Day

Now my apples are ripe… gotta love southern California summer fruit.  Here is one of our apple trees…

And a recipe for Baked Stuffed Apples

·      1 lemon, halved

·      6 small firm baking apples (about 1 1/2 pounds), such as Empire or Cortland

·      1/3 cup (1 ounce) chopped walnuts

·      1/4 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped

·      2 tablespoons finely chopped crystallized ginger

·      1/2 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped

·      2 tablespoons sugar

·      1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·      1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

·      1 pound coarse salt

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. Squeeze lemon juice into a medium bowl filled with cold water. Using a sharp knife, remove stem from each apple. Using a melon baller, remove cores and hollow out apples until walls are about 3/4 inch thick. Place apples in water.

2. Place walnuts on a baking pan; toast until fragrant and golden, 5 to 7 minutes. Let the walnuts cool, and roughly chop.

3. Place walnuts, cranberries, ginger, apricots, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl.

4. Drain apples; spoon walnut filling into each cavity, packing fairly tightly. Place apples in a baking dish just large enough to hold them all. Add salt, being careful not to get any salt in the filling; fill until the salt covers the apples up to where the filling begins. Cover with a sheet of aluminum foil.

5. Bake until apples are tender and start to pull away from salt, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool slightly. Remove apples from salt; serve.

If the kitchen is not the place you want to spend your time try this out with all those apples…

These apple votives are a prize for everyone’s eyes, their flames a promise of warmth. Every apple will float differently, so see how they balance in water before marking their topsides with a dot. Place the tea light over the dot, and trace around its circumference with a utility knife, inserting the knife vertically as deep as the tea light is tall. Set aside the light, cut the circle into sections, and scoop them out with a spoon. Squeeze lemon juice onto the cut surface to keep the apple from turning brown, and insert a tea light.

Got Grapes?

My grapes are ready again this season…  Here is an easy and quick recipe that I wanted to share...

Red and green grapes are nestled inside individual puff-pastry shells to create sweet, flaky tarts. Puff pastry can be found in the freezer section in 17.3-ounce packages. Some brands come in one-pound pieces; weigh out 8 1/2 ounces, and roll the piece into a 9 1/2-inch square.

Ingredients

Serves 4

·      All-purpose flour, for work surface

·      1/2 standard package frozen puff pastry (about 8 1/2 ounces), thawed

·      1 large egg yolk

·      1 tablespoon heavy cream

·      2 cups red and green seedless grapes (about 3/4 pound)

·      2 tablespoons granulated sugar

·      Pinch of salt

·      Sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, unfold pastry. Cut into 4 squares (4 3/4 inches each). Transfer to a rimless baking sheet. Using the tip of a paring knife, score a 1/2-inch border around edges of squares, being careful not to cut all the way through pastry. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes.

2.  Whisk together egg yolk and cream; set egg wash aside. Toss together grapes, granulated sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Divide grape mixture among tart shells, keeping it inside the borders. Brush edges of tarts with egg wash, and sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until pastry is crisp and golden and grapes are just beginning to collapse, 23 to 27 minutes. Let cool on sheet on a wire rack.

Beauty for the eyes

Even making your punch look good is something you can do with little or no effort at all.  Take a fresh lemon and thinly slice it to fill the sides of your container will show a fun way to tell everyone what is in store for them to drink.  Oranges in orange juice is beautiful as well!  Try mixing it up for a fruit punch with some limes, and blood oranges for a colorful effect.