Bean Mosaics

Get several varieties of beans.  Draw a picture first on your paper plate.  That will give you an outline for your picture.   I used a paintbrush to apply the glue to the plate and place the beans on the design.

Pig Pinata

Who doesn't like pinantas?  I love them!  So I helped my mom make this pinata for our upcoming Cub Scout Blue and Gold.

Materials you need:
One regular balloon
Newspaper
Masking Tape
Duct tape
Cooking spray
Paper Mache Paste
Twine
Paint, paint brushes


Paper Mache Paste Recipe:

1 cup of flour
2 cups of water
1/4 tsp salt

Mix well.   Dip your cut up strips of newspaper through the paste and wipe of the excess.

Instructions:  

1. Blow up a balloon.

2. Crumple up one full sheet of newspaper, shaping it into a cylinder.  Take masking and wrap in around the cylinder to keep its shape.  Make four of these.  These will be the feet.

3. Make one more cylinder, but make it larger.  Tape it off, and this will become the snout.

4. Cut a square out of a piece of newspaper and fold it into triangles until you have a sturdy triangle.  Make two of these.  Fold about a half inch up on one of the triangles  and put a tear in the middle.  This will help fit them on the balloon.  These are the pigs ears.

5.  Now we will masking tape the feet and snout to the balloon.  I placed the snout at the tapered end (or the place where you tie off the balloon).  Tape on the feet and ears.

6. Spray the balloon with cooking spray.  You can start dipping cut up strips of paper in the paste and putting it on your pig.  Cover the whole pig.  Let it dry overnight.   Apply another two coats of paper and paste to the pigs.  I apply one coat a day and let it dry a day.  I like to have a sturdy pig.  You can make the pinata as thin or as thick as you want by adding as many coats as you want.  Then I turn the pig over and cover the bottom of the pig's feet and leave them turned upside down to dry.  I only do this once.  No need to give this three coats.
   TIP:  I don't cover the bottom of the pig's feet until the end because as they dry the feet stick to what ever they are sitting on (if you let them dry on a paper bag, they will stick to the bag).

7.  OPTIONAL STEP:  At this point, I reinforce the points where the feet attach to the balloon with duct tape.  I put on the duct tape in the same fashion that I did the with the masking tape.   Once done, I apply one more coat of newspaper strips dipped in paste to cover up the duct, allowing it to be paintable.

8.  I cut a piece of twin and tie it off in a knot.  This will be the loop attached to the pig, right behind its ears.  I fastened the loop by running masking tape through the loop and taping it all the way around the girth of the pig, around the belly and back around again.  Wrapping it two times around.  I cut a small flap more towards the rear of the pig with an exacto knife.  (CAUTION:  GET AND ADULTS HELP WITH THIS!)  Fill the pig with candy.  Tape over the hole with duct tape when you are finished.  Now paper mache all the places that have duct tape.  Let it dry.

9.  The pig is ready to paint.  Let it dry.  Then add eyes and nose holes with a sharpie or paint.

10.  Go get your friends and family and start swinging.

Vanilla Pudding Mix

We used this recipe  http://busycooks.about.com/od/conveniencefoodmixes/r/vanillapuddmix.htm and made it dairy and corn free.  We followed the instructions per the recipe.

1 1/2 cups of Dari-Free potato milk powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup  powdered sugar (make sure it doesn't contain cornstarch)
1 cup sifted arrowroot starch
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoon vanilla sugar



Combine all the ingredients and store in an air tight container.  Makes three cups of mix, yielding 24 servings of pudding. 

To make the pudding:  Mix 1/4 cup vanilla pudding mix, and 1 cup of milk* in a small saucepan.  Over low heat, stir constantly until it boils.  Stir constantly for one minute.  Remove from the heat and add 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract, and a dash of cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg.  Pour into serving dishes and chill until thickened.

*I am going to try this with different types of milk and I will let you know the results:
1. coconut milk - makes a stiff pudding, but is good. (Pictured above)
2. rice milk - makes runny results and doesn't set up very well

Brownies

3/4 cup all purpose flour mix*
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons of cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon xanthun gum
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup extra light olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup water

Mix the dry ingredients together- flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and xanthun gum.  Add the wet ingredients--the pumpkin, oil, extract and water.  Blend until well mixed.

Greasea  8x8 pan and spread the batter in the pan.  It will be thick.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. 

*All purpose flour mix:  3 cups white rice flour, 3 cups brown rice flour (I use Authentic Brand here), 2 cups of potato starch, 1 cup of tapioca starch