Wednesday, January 18, 2012

A Star is Born...Or Homemade Dino-Oatmeal

Any time my girls come shopping with me I have to avoid the cereal aisle because they will inevitably see the Dinosaur Egg Oatmeal and want it. However, the price tag always dissuades me from purchasing it. So, today I decided there must be a way to create my own "dinosaur eggs" to put into oatmeal. Here are the results (which I think my girls will go for). If you want the full instructions, read to the bottom.



I had recently purchased a bottle of star sprinkles, and thought my girls would like those just as much if not more than dinosaurs. So, I started piping dots of icing along a sheet of waxed paper, but quickly decided it was NOT worth the effort, so after some brainstorming, I thought about Chex Muddy-Buddies, and decided to try a similar tactic. I warmed some icing in the microwave until it was runny, then poured a little bit (about 1/3 as much icing as sprinkles) into a zip-lock bag. When all the sprinkles were coated I scooped a bunch of powdered sugar (again, I am not a measurer, but it was about as much powdered sugar as sprinkles). Then I sealed the bag and shook it like crazy. Soon, the sprinkles were covered with powdered sugar and started separating from each other. I separated larger lumps with my fingers and continued to shake until I was happy with the size of each "egg." Then I poured the contents of the bag into a colander and gently shook off any extra powdered sugar. At this point I had a bowl full of star eggs. So I took a small scoop, put it in my oatmeal and poured the hot water on top to test it & sure enough! the stars were hatched from their eggs.

*EDIT
I have had several comments asking me what type of icing I used. I had half a can of random vanilla icing in my fridge. Any brand should work, just melt it until it is soft.