Dinner with Grandpa's & Salt Dough

The night Grandpa Austin came for dinner, the dinner was not only good (Hawaiian Haystacks, Mmmm.... my favorite) but we had entertainment as well. Boo loves eggs, if you didn't know... And she was trying to pass her love of eggs onto Grandpa. She pushed a chair up next to his, which already makes him a little nervous, something about little kid and their germs and them wiping stuff... It's like he never even had kids! But she climbed up on the chair and held up the freshly peeled hard boiled egg to him and said "Take a bite..." with this tone in her voice that said she was teasing. Hmm... Where did she get that from I wonder Grandpa.... She would crack up laughing at him when he would turn his head away and tell her "no" teasing her back. I tried to get video of it because it was so cute, but by the time I got the camera out she was done.

Then it was off to spend time with Grandpa Austin, he left soon after that, hmmm, I wonder why... She was just a barrel of monkeys that night!

This is Salt dough:

It looks like mush, and it is, but it was our play dough as kids. Just the smell of it brings back memories, it was a lot of fun to play with but your hands wreaked of salt and burnt flour after you were done with it. My mom made some for Boo while we were there but not before letting her play with a pan of flour?... I guess I'm just not as creative as my mom in finding fun things to play with. She had quite a good time, and got flour spread all over the table. Which was okay because once my mom finished with the salt dough it absorbed the flour.

My mom let us choose the color when we were kids, Boo chose blue. I often ask her what her favorite color is; it changes daily I think mostly because she just says the first one to come to mind. I guess blue was the front runner that day. She got quite the kick out of playing with cookie cutters, the same cookie cutters that I played with as a kid.

Salt Dough Recipe:(courtesy of my mom)

2 C flour
1 C salt
4 ts cream of tartar (it doesn't work well without it)
2 Tb oil (I put too much in the other day)
About 2 C water

You need to find a pan that is large enough to fit another sauce pan into. I try to use a sauce pan with a lip so I will have something to perch the side on while it cooks. It doesn't take long, so you can just hold it in place. It takes a double boiler set-up. Fill the larger pan with enough water to cover the bottom and up the sides a little of the the smaller pan. Not so much water that it splashes out. That can be dangerous to short observers. Heat the water and when it is boiling, put the ingredients into the smaller pan and start heating the stuff. Stir the mixture while it cooks and thickens. The play dough is done when the stuff becomes thick and starts to ball up as you stir and scrape. It doesn't have to be solid thickened to be done. I cooked it too much last week and it was too dry. It can be a little gooshy when you take it off the heat and out of the pan. Bon Appetito!