I Will Make You Fishers of Men Lesson

The lesson this week was on the "fishers of men." So I made a graham cracker with goldfish snack for the kids. I used a cinnamon graham cracker - yum!

I had a coloring sheet for the kids.

And I found a word search.

And another coloring sheet.

We wrote Bible verses on one side of the card stock fish. On the other side we glued colored tissue paper.

I had a bunch of gray card stock - so I cut out bunch of fish and then cut a ton of colored tissue paper into little squares. The kids really enjoyed the craft. I have a picture on instagram of a few more fish. Instagram account roommom27_teresa_steele.

I made little goldfish cups for the take home treat.

And I made a little tag for the take home treat. 

Substitute Teaching 3rd Grade Religion Class

This week I was asked to substitute teach 3rd grade Religion class. I quickly made some store-bought chocolate covered graham crackers into little Rosary cookies with some icing dots and a little cross. October is also the month of the Rosary.

The lesson was on Luke 18:9-14 which is the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. I found this word search on the internet.

I also found this coloring sheet. At first the children thought the man on the floor was the Pharisee.

Then I took some snack sized Hershey bars and made them into little take home treats.

I wrapped the candy bars with some blue wrapping paper and put a little "Be Humble" sticker on each candy bar. To be humble is really what I wanted the kids to understand from the parable.

I love 3rd graders - they are so smart and fun!

Substitute teaching 1st Grade Religion Class This Week

Jesus said come follow me and I will make you fishermen of men Luke 5:1-11.

This is first grade so to reiterate the lesson I made the kids these little graham cracker treats. These were super simple to make! I just spread 3/4 of the graham cracker with blue tinted melted white chocolate. While the chocolate was wet I sprinkled some graham cracker crumbs on the bottom of the graham cracker and added the goldfish with little sprinkle balls.

The kids loved the graham cracker treats. I used cinnamon graham crackers which made them so sweet. 

We also learned about St. Blaise because the feast day of St. Blaise was February 3rd.  To reiterate the lesson of St. Blaise I made the kids some candle cookies. We watched a short movie about the life of St. Blaise and since he is the patron Saint of throat disorders Monsignor John came by the classroom and blessed the children's throats. It was adorable.

I simply cut a small marshmallow on the diagonal. Press the sticky portion of the marshmallow into sprinkles and using melted white chocolate adhere the marshmallow to Pirouette cookie. Adding a few white chocolate candle type drippings. They dried on a piece of wax paper.

Once the chocolate is dry they can be packaged into pretzel bags. The kids loved taking home a little reminder treat of St. Blaise.

This week we also started learning a little bit about Lent. Ash Wednesday is next week on February 10th. It is so early this year. 

God Bless all of these darling first graders.

Key Lime Pie

Today I made a Key Lime Pie - it is one of my husbands favorite desserts. He always wants to order Key Lime Pie for dessert in restaurants. It is really very simple to make and this recipe called for lime zest which added a little extra lime flavor. I also did not process my graham crackers in the food processor because I detest cleaning out my food processor. So instead I put the graham crackers in a large zipper top bag and used a rolling pin over them repeatedly until they were almost fine crumbs. I think my crust has a thicker rustic look.

I found this recipe on The Moveable Feasts and it is a really fascinating blog.

Ingredients:

4 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

4 large egg yolks

1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk

11 graham crackers, processed to fine crumbs ( 1 1/4 cup)

3 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

For the filling whisk the zest and yolks in a medium bowl for about 2 minutes until the mixture is tinted light green. Whisk in the sweetened condensed milk and then the lime juice. I used a combination of regular and key limes to make the lime juice. Key limes are so small that it would take forever to make 1/2 cup of juice.  Set the mixture aside to thicken at room temperature.

For the crust preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix the graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter. Stir until the mixture is blended.Press the crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie pan. Pressing the mixture to the bottom and sides of the pan to form an even layer. Bake the crust for 15 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool for about 20 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and add the filling on to the cooled crust and bake for 15 - 17 minutes. The center should be set but yet wiggly when jiggled. Return the pie to the wire rack so that it cools to room temperature.

Once the pie is cooled it should be refrigerated for at least 3 hours. Serve with lime slices and dollops of whipped cream.

I used the key limes to make the slices to decorate the pie.

Key Lime Pie is really a perfect summertime dessert. It is both sweet and tart, cool and refreshing.

ABC and 123 Graham Cracker Treats

This is a really fun treat for back-to-school or it can even be used for teacher appreciation week.

I have 10 items on my Fall Bucket list and so far I have completed 4 out of the ten and blogged about them! I am thrilled with my follow-through!

Practice making icing numbers and letters on parchment paper.

Using half of a Hershey bar - glue the printed side face down on the graham cracker with a little icing.

So to make this simple project you will need:

Graham crackers

Hershey bars

Red m&m's

Primary colored icings

Parchment paper

I got this idea from crissycrafts.blospot.com - she used white icing to make her numbers and ABC's. Check out her blog if you have a minute. Because she has a lot of great ideas.

Pink Ribbon Graham Crackers

I made some Pink Ribbon Graham Crackers to pass out to my friends to remind them to make their mammogram appointments. Also in honor of those who have survived and those who are currently fighting.

I spread the Graham Crackers with pink tinted chocolate and sprinkled some with pink sugar crystals and the rest I piped a hot pink Breast Cancer Ribbon.

I had to let the piped on Pink Ribbons dry overnight. Then I packaged them with all different Pink ribbons.

On the backside of the Pink Ribbon Graham Cracker I placed the Sugar Graham Cracker. Yum!

You could also adapt this project for Red Ribbon week. This would be a fun treat to pass out to your neighbors or the Moms on your kids sports teams.

Fashion Graham Crackers

I made Graham Crackers in honor of Fashion Week. Noelle helped!

Two of my favorites - Tori Burch and Chanel.

We needed a double Graham Cracker for one of my very favorites - Prada!

Noelle said she wanted credit for helping me write the logos - she did the Prada and Louis Vuitton.

I made a dish with Trina Turk, Fendi, Chanel and Tori Burch. Should I sign up for a cake decorating class?

I hope you enjoyed my Fashion Week Graham Crackers!

Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers

I had some extra melted chocolate left over from when I made the Rice Crispy Peep treats and I had left over graham crackers from when I made the Peep S'mores. So.... I dipped the graham crackers in chocolate and put sprinkles on them! I always have tons of sprinkles!

Once the chocolate was dry - I packaged them in a plastic bag and tied then with a coordinating ribbon.

I also used some egg shaped sprinkles on the graham crackers.

These are great party favors and you could use the extras as lunch box treats. These would also be a great sports team snack - you could use sprinkles in your team colors!

Oh and forgot to tell you - these are so yummy!