The Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot - Recipes To Enjoy with the Book!

Hazelnut Pancakes Recipe from The Healthy Mouse

The Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot is now available and trust me when I say this book is one that you'll enjoy with your kids!  

Missed my review of The Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot?  Find it here!

But we all know reading is only part of the adventure.  I really enjoy doing activities with my kids that make the book come to life and create memories for both of us.  That's why I was really excited to see my friend Jessica from over at The Healthy Mouse created some Rockford T. Honeypot recipes.  Check them out!

Looking for more family fun? Click here to head to my preview of the book and download FREE coloring pages.

Which ones are you excited to try?  I think I see some Hazelnut Pancakes and Lemon Sorbet in our future!  If you give any of this recipes a try, be sure to tag me on Instagram and Twitter @dsnyrunrgrl so I can see your creations.

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Have a SWEET Quarantine - Hershey Fun to Have at Home!

I don't know about you, but I've been missing a lot of my favorite places during this time while we're at home with the safety measures in place from the coronavirus pandemic.  Like many of you, I've had travel plans upended - including a birthday weekend visit to one of my favorite local destinations, Hershey, Pennsylvania.  We like to visit Hershey several times a year for trips to Hershey's Chocolate World, Hersheypark, and more.  So while we can't go experience the fun of Hershey in person, we brought the fun of Hershey to our house with these fun activities!

Hershey At Home Activities

Hersheypark Coloring Pages - Thanks to the wonderful folks at Hersheypark, here are some free printable coloring pages.  We love planning our visits to see our favorite characters and ride the exciting roller coasters.  These coloring pages keep the excitement alive until we can visit again!

Planning a visit to Hersheypark?  Check out my guide for visiting with kids!

Ride the Roller Coasters - I know what you're thinking. . .ride the roller coasters?  But the park is closed?!?  No worries, Hersheypark has released POV videos on their YouTube channel of their roller coasters so you can feel like you're a part of the SWEET excitement.  Check it out!!!

Make Some Hershey Sweets - We all know one of the best things about visiting Hershey, PA is the chocolate!  I mean, what other theme park is entirely inspired by and centered around chocolate? So when you can't visit Hersheypark and Hershey's Chocolate World right now, you can still make some yummy Hershey chocolate treats.  Some of our favorites:

• S'mores - You know the drill.  Grab some graham crackers, marshmallows, and a Hershey's chocolate bar!  No fire, no problem! You can preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place the bottom part of the s'more and the marshmallow in the oven for 3-5 minutes until just softened.  Then top with your favorite chocolate and the second half of your graham cracker.  
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies - OK, these may be a new addiction in my house.  I made these from scratch, but you can easily use a base brownie box mix instead.  I found the base brownie mix on Pinterest which linked to this site.  After making the mix, I added crunched up Reese's cups to the batter then poured in the pan.  I cut up two more Reese's cups to top the batter and then baked following the directions on the website.  They turned out delicious!

I can't wait to be back in Hershey soon!  Until then, I'll be making my own SWEET moments at home.  Enjoy!

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My Favorite Quarantine Recipes

Famous Butter Chicken and Bacon Green Bean Casserole

If you follow my blog regularly, you know you can find lots of information here about entertainment and family travel, but food blogging is not typically my strong suit.  Well. . .nothing has really changed with that during the quarantine.  I'm not a super creative person when it comes to creating recipes and putting cute spins on things, but I am good a finding recipes on Pinterest and have been having fun copying them for my family.  I'm going to share a few of my favorite links here so you can give them a try in your kitchen.

What Makes Something a Favorite Quarantine Recipe

I have a few pieces of criteria I look for with my favorite recipes right now.  They still have to be pretty simple to follow.  I have young kids at home which means I'm working and schooling in addition to trying to do the basics like keeping them fed and bathed.  I don't want anything overly complicated and a lot of times they like to help me cook so the more simple the recipe, the better.  Also, nobody wants to be running to the grocery store all the time in these circumstances, so my favorite recipes have to be ones that include mainly "on-hand" ingredients - not super unique spices or unusual things.  Lastly, they have to be pretty kid-friendly.  If you know me personally, you know my kids are among some of the pickiest eaters on the planet.  There are some of these recipes they won't eat, but I like to keep them kid-friendly enough that I can entice them to at least try something new at dinner.

Favorite Quarantine Main Dish Recipes

Famous Butter Chicken

Copycat Disney World Totchos (Weight Watchers Friendly!)
Ham Pot Pie

Pork and Zucchini Stir Fry

White Chicken Chili 

Mayo-Free Avocado Egg Salad

Favorite Quarantine Side Dish Recipes

Bacon Green Bean Casserole

Oven Roasted Vegetables

Easy Garlic Skillet Potatoes (I spice these up with some bell peppers too!)

Favorite Quarantine Dessert Recipes

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Brownies
Easy One-Bowl Banana Bread

Hot Milk Cake
Easy Pie Crust (This is the recipe I used for the Ham Pot Pie above)
Amish Cinnamon Bread

Amish Cinnamon Bread

Keep checking back!  I'll be updating this frequently as I continue to try new recipes.  Let me know if you have any favorites that I should try during this time too!

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Walt Disney World Totchos Copycat Recipe

Food blogging isn't normally my jam, but when it comes to recreating the magic of a favorite copycat Walt Disney World recipe and it goes well, I feel the need to share it so others can get in on the fun.  If you're a regular at Walt Disney World, you know that totchos are a hot commodity.  And Disney fans can rejoice in the fact that totchos are super easy to recreate in your own kitchen to bring a little bit of Disney Parks magic to your day!  Added bonus, I've found a few ways to save some calories on my recipe and give you the breakdown of how this works into my Weight Watchers Blue plan.

What are totchos?

Totchos are essentially nachos but made with tater tots instead of tortilla chips.  You can top them with any number of goodies, just like you would with nachos - the sky is literally the limit!  So why mess with something as good as nachos?  I don't know the origin story of the totcho, but trust me when I tell you it's delicious.  I feel like it's even more filling than nachos as the tater tots are more dense than the tortilla chips.  

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