Monkey Mix

After watching that train wreck of a family, Jon & Kate Plus 8, in their early episodes where Kate is making Monkey Munch, I always wanted to try it.  The name alone sounded fun.  Well, I finally got around to Googleing it and found several hundred links.  Below is the original recipe.  I do urge you to read my notes because I have some awesome suggestions.

The result is a coating of peanut butter and chocolate deliciousness.  My pregnant neighbour ate a whole bowl!  It's tastes AWESOME!

Ingredients:

• 9 cups Chex cereal (any kind)


• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted (6oz.)


• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, melted


• 1/4 cup butter, melted


• 1 -2 teaspoon vanilla


• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Measure cereal in large bowl.


2. Set aside.


3. Microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter for 1 minute on high.


4. Stir.


5. Cook for 30 seconds longer or until smooth.


6. Add vanilla.


7. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until coated.


8. Pour mixture into large Ziploc bag and add powdered sugar.


9. Shake until well coated.


10. Spread on waxed paper to cool.


11. Store in Ziploc bags or large sealed bowl.

My notes:

• I used a bunch of different cereals, nuts, and pretzels to make up the 9-cups of Chex as in the original recipe:

1. 4-cups Quaker Corn Bran Squares since no Chex USA style up here. If you use Crispex like in my Snack Mix Recipe it will just break up and you're left with a bunch of crumbs


2. 2-cups Multi-Grain Cheerios


3. 2-cups pretzels (to get a sweet and salty flavour)


4. 2-cups Shreddies (trying to add fiber where I can)

• I used milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet because that's all I had on hand.  It still tasted awesome.


• Try using Nutella instead of peanut butter


• Instead of Chocolate Chips, try using Butterscotch chips, or even White Chocolate Chips


• I used parchment paper instead of wax because that's all I had on hand.


• Maybe some dried cranberries?


• 1-cup nuts (I like the crunch of nuts.  You can try peanuts, almonds, cashews, etc)


• Someone suggested not using butter, which I tried using less, but the mixture was too thick.  The butter makes it more liquidy and easier to spread over the cereal mixture


• If you don't have a big ziplock bag, use small ones (just more hassle though since you have to do batches).  Try using a paper bag with the seams at the bottom taped up.  Or just keep it in big bowls and toss to mix the powered sugar


• I tried using 1-cup of powdered sugar, but gradually added a bit more 1/4 cup at a time until all my chocolate was coated

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Discipline

Did you get the beats when you were little?  Or did you stand in the corner? When I say 'beats' I don't mean abuse.  Abuse is WRONG.  I don't mean closed hands, bleeding, or broken bones.  I mean discipline.  Don't get it twisted.  If you are hurting your children you need to stop immediately and get help.

How Franklin's parents raised him was definitely different than how I was raised.   Also, the dynamics were different.  I was the only girl and my brothers were 9+years older.

When I was young until my early teens it would be the beats.  Anybody else get hit with a Chinese feather duster?  At first I would get hit until I cried.  Then I would cry right away to try and lesson the blows.  ha!  What was just evil was when I had to go get it so she could hit me with it.  \I am not alone who received this type of beats.  They have a group on FB for this.  My mom was the disciplinarian.  Well, they both were, but my mom was the one who doled out the punishment since Dad worked outside of the house.  Then when I got older, I would like to categorize it as |Asian guilt.  The shame of not honouring your parents and being a good girl.  You know.  Why a B grade and not an A?  My parents were not mega strict.  I mean, the expectations were there, but after a certain age, they gave me the freedom to make choices.  Sometimes they were the right ones.  Sometimes not.  But, they gave me the guidance in my younger days.  And when I got older, I had to decide.

Now, as Marcus is testing his limits, I am in a position of disciplining him.  No feather duster here.  We do do the time outs.  Then get down to eye level and talk about why he was put in time out.  By the third time of telling him not to flick his brother, he might get a 'tap' on the hand.   It's funny in a 'oh no you didn't' kind of way when you tell him not to do something, then he'll try and do it when you are not looking.  But, of course as a parent you have a spidey sense and you watch him out of the corner of your eye as he looks to see if you are watching while he touches his brother one more time.

Sometimes he is stubborn.  He really feels like he is justified in doing ABC and doesn't understand why he can't.  He'll try and make deals.  "Mom, we'll just eat one more candy, then diaper, teeth, books, go to bed.  Deal?"  Well, good on you son.  You don't give up and you try and negotiate what you want.  You're not going to get it, but you try.  Good job.  Well, you can have it tomorrow.  Hopefully you'll forget about promised candy.  Yeah right  :P

We'll help guide him to make the right choices and steer him back on the path with the 'right' discipline.   He'll make mistakes.  I prefer to call them life lessons.  He'll push the boundaries, but we'll still set them to let him know what is 'acceptable'.  Then when he has a choice to make and we're not there to give him a time out, hopefully he'll make the right choice.

Do you have any childhood memories of being disciplined by your parents?  Please feel free to share a memory of you being disciplined or you disciplining your kids.

Check out Parent or Friend or Both post too

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