When it's too chilly to play outside, your children will enjoy whipping up these recipes. Tasty, too!

It's that in-between time for children -- too cool to play outside for very long, the last weeks of the school year seeming to the kids to be dragging by much too slowly. If your daughter is young enough to still be charmed by the Easy-Bake Oven she received for Christmas, here is a link for homemade recipes: http://www.fortunecity.com/millenium/sesame/177/ezbkrecipe.html And here are some kid-tested recipes to keep the older kids amused:

Preacher Cookies -- so called, as the myth goes, because you can whip them up in a jiffy when the preacher's car pulls in the driveway and before he gets to the door! 2 cups sugar 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/4 cup cocoa 1 stick of margarine 1/2 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla 1/4 teaspoon salt 3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal Heat the sugar, peanut butter, cocoa, milk and margarine until melted, but do not bring to a boil. Let sit a couple of minutes to cool. Add the vanilla, salt, and oatmeal, and mix well. Drop by teaspoons onto waxed paper. When cool, dig in.

Ham Whirls: spread softened cream cheese on white bread, arrange thin-sliced ham lunch meat on each slice of bread. Roll up one end of the bread like a jelly roll, then secure with toothpicks. Chill in refrigerator for about an hour, then slice each 'whirl' with a sharp knife into rounds.

Bubble Bread: 2 pkg. buttermilk refrigerator biscuits 1 cup brown sugar 1/4 cup water 1/2 cup butter 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans Cut biscuits into 4 pieces each and set aside. Combine in a saucepan brown sugar, water and butter. Bring to a full boil. Add cinnamon and nuts. Fold in biscuits. Pour into a greased angel food cake pan or a Bundt pan. Bake for 20 minutes at 375. Remove from oven and invert on a large plate or platter. Serve warm with butter.

Puddin' in a Cup: Combine 1 tbsp. instant pudding (any flavor) with 1/4 cup cold milk in a jar with a lid. Stir well and then shake, shake, shake. Ready to eat!

Now it's time to have fun with the blender. Try both of these: Orange Julius: 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup water 1/3 cup orange juice concentrate 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 6 crushed ice cubes Put in a blender and mix for 30 seconds. Serves 1.

Purple Cow: 2 cups vanilla ice cream 1 6-oz. frozen grape juice concentrate 1 1/2 cups low-fat milk Blend. Serves 6 to 8.

Then there are two 'recipes' that are easiest of all: Black Cow: 1 scoop vanilla ice cream in tall glass, 1 cup cold root beer. Boston Cooler: 1 scoop vanilla ice cream in tall glass, 1 cup cold ginger ale. (In Detroit where I grew up, it had to be Vernor's ginger ale, only. Nothing else would do!)

About the Author

Stephania is a human service professional with nearly 40 years in the field. She publishes a content-rich ezine, "Tidbits from the Pantry," about self-help, growth, and relationships to over 11,000 subscribers, and offers a life coaching service. To subscribe to her ezine, mailto:info@humansrv.net?subject=SUB Visit her site at http://www.humansrv.net