Kool Aid Dough

The kids are still on a bit of a break before we start our new school year in a couple of weeks...so they are ripe for some kitchen chemistry experiments (in our Adventures with atoms and molecules book) and for a little fun making their own concoctions.

Here's a kids' concoction that always goes over well. I guess with the ingredients used, it could be ingested by the gluten-eating sort...but I'll just consider it another non-edible recipe! If you've tasted it, you'd say, "EWWW!" also.

With summer going strong, it's too hot to bake! Since we're not eating much regular flour around here, this recipe will also help us to use up all that white fluffy stuff hanging out in our pantry!

Mix:
2 pkgs. of unsweetened Kool Aid
2 cups hot water until dissolved

Add:
2 TBSP vegetable oil
Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine:
2 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 TBSP cream of tartar

Add Kool Aid water to dry ingredients and mix well.
Knead in additional flour as needed.
Store in air-tight container.

This dough has a very nice consistency and keeps a LONG time without drying like other commercial doughs.

In the picture above (of mostly dwarves in a goblin cave), the dough was made from strawberry Kool Aid. Cherry makes a better scent and a brighter pink! You know...just FYI!

Last year, the kids made this for their friends on Valentine's Day. It was a good alternative to giving kids more CANDY!! They divided it up and put balls of the dough into zippy snack bags, put some Valentine's stickers on them and made their deliveries! We made 2 batches, and I believe they had enough to give to 12-15 friends.

Check out this site for MANY many more dough recipes to try. Our kids also really like the peanut butter dough since they can snack as they play!

Linen Spray...or Monster Repellent

Okay, this recipe doesn't fit into any of my edible categories. I'm just adding it since our kids reallllly like it, and, well...it's homemade! When I was running low on my regular linen spray I use for ironing, I thought I'd find out how to make my own. Well, there are lots of recipes online just waiting for you to find them. The only real trick is to get just the right scent. I'd advise anyone to start out with a small quantity so you're not stuck for too long with a fragrance that's not up to snuff! This recipe makes less than 2 cups, and the fragrance possibilities are endless.

12 oz. (1-1/2 cups) distilled water
1/4 cup vodka--yep, just the good ole drinkin' kind!
1 tsp. essential oils--you may even want to count individual drops if you're using more than one fragrance
(I used 1/4 tsp. jasmine oil and 3/4 tsp. lemon oil)

Put it all in a clean spray bottle, shake it up each time you use it, and ah...smellllllll!

Jasmine is flowery, so try something else if that's not your thing. Vanilla is ALWAYS good! Just don't use the dark colored oils/extracts--it may stain. In general, lemon or other citrus scents mix well with different fragrances. So go ahead and sniff away at some essential oils in the natural section of your grocery store.

PARENTING BENEFITS:
If you're having trouble getting the kids in their beds at night, spray their sheets and watch them leap!

Use it for toddlers as a "monster repellent". You know, have your kids watch you mix it up, spray it in their room, and let them know it'll keep all bad things away at night! Don't laugh--it works! Mosquito repellent works, doesn't it?