Admin, Author at Have Sippy Will Travel

Welcome to IOWA!

March 19, 2017 by Admin 1 Comment

Ever consider visiting Iowa? If not, maybe you should. There are some great family stops and a lot to do. These are a few of our favorite stops on our recent visit.

Amana Colonies

Located 20 miles from Cider Rapids are the Amana Colonies, 7 villages that were originally German settlements in Iowa. Settled in 1855 the colonies remained self-sufficient until the 1930’s. The Amanians operated independently as a community by farming and handcrafting to maintain their own local economy. Today you can visit the villages and shop at their craft stores, eat local fair, or drink a glass of wine or beer. Antiques, furniture, home decor, clothing, and gifts you will find nowhere else create a unique shopping adventure.

The Colonies tradition of great food is available for visitors to explore in the restaurants or specialty shops. The Amana Meat Shop and Smokehouse has over 160 years of experience offering ham, bacon, sausages, beef, and pork to visitors and online. The Ox Yoke Inn is a fantastic place to stop for lunch, and has amazing German style food. The staff is gracious and the food is affordable and filling. The Broom and Basket Shop is exactly what you might expect, a store dedicated to selling locally handmade brooms and baskets. Another interesting stop is Iowa’s Largest Walnut Rocker, at over 650 lbs. and 11 ft. tall. Great for a family picture. These are just examples of some of the interesting sites you can wander through on a visit to the Amanas.

Adventureland Park

A land of adventure awaits visitors outside Des Moines for thrill seekers and amusement park goers. Water rides and roller coasters are just a start to the fun. Magic shows, circus acts, live music, and over 100 rides all make up Iowa’s largest tourist attraction, Adventureland Park.

On a hot day nothing like a trip down the lazy river to cool off. Adventure Bay is a full waterpark experience. Water slides, wave pools, and Shipwreck Shores for the kids.

Science Center of Iowa

“Science rules” and no place is better proof of that than the Science Center of Iowa (SCI) Classes, hands on exhibits, and shows to engage visitors of all ages. Pint Sized Science offers programs for kids 3-5 like Superhero Science, Digging Dinos, and Sounds Like Science. These are amongst the classes that might interest the tiny learner in your family and there are option for older kids as well. Café Scientifique is a free program for adults and young adults.

Take a break and sit down in the SCI Blank IMAX Dome Theater to view a documentary film or even a Hollywood release. The dome is six-stories high, wrapping around viewers so the images fill your vision in every direction. Feel like you are inside the film while you get off your feet for a while.

Want to keep learning? Why not stay late? Overnight Adventures and Almost Overnights at the Science Center of Iowa are a whole new way to view SCI. Make the experience more than a museum visit by staying after dark.

There is so much to see and do- so if Iowa wasn’t on your list of places to visit, jot it down. See you there!

Filed Under: travel Tagged With: family travel, iowa, midwest, travel

Macaroni from Monkey Monkey Music with Meredith CD Release

February 24, 2017 by Admin Leave a Comment

New music is always a great way to invigorate kids and get them up and moving. Monkey Monkey Music has a new collection of songs, Macaroni, available for sale now. Parents may already be familiar with Monkey Monkey Music and Meredith LeVande (the creator). Her songs and music videos have been featured on PBS Kids, Kids Thirteen, and over 100 public television stations across the US.

monkey music

Macaroni is the title track and like many of the other songs it touches on a hallmark of childhood and creativity, all of the uses we can find for macaroni! Whether we wear it, or use it to make music, Monkey Monkey Music points out how something as simple as pasta can be transformed by imagination and ingenuity.

Education through music is a big part of Meredith LeVande’s work. Her words invoke the joy that learning can bring forward in young children while their body moves to the beat.

kids music

As an educator and songwriter Meredith has been creating music since 2001. Her work is available on CD and DVD on the Monkey Monkey Music site, iTunes, and Amazon. Monkey Monkey Music has two previous albums you can check out as well, Monkey Monkey Music with Meredith LeVande released in 2004, and What Are the Odds released in 2010.

Filed Under: entertainment, kids Tagged With: kids music, music

Turkey Soup

December 5, 2014 by Admin 5 Comments

This recipe is really easy, and it’s great to use left over meat with it. I always make this after a family dinner or, Thanksgiving, Christmas even. You take those left overs and the carved up turkey ( bones and fat and all) boil it for a few hours with vegetables till all the meat falls off. Toss some beans in there, you have left over soup with whatever meat you had on hand. It makes a great hearty soup, my kids like to eat it in mugs after a rainy day .

Ingredients

The remains of your turkey or chicken ( even Ham works) with bones, skins, fat, everything. No need to pick off the itty bites of extra meat, it’ll come off later. This is going to make the broth for the soup

2 cups of left over Turkey or Chicken or Ham

3 stalks celery chopped

1 large onions chopped

2 cloves garlic minced

2 large tomatoes chopped

1 cup mushrooms

1 cup both red and green peppers

1 1/2 cups chopped carrots.

1 bag of dried beans which have been soaked over night or 3 cans white northern beans ( rinse them)
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Filed Under: food, recipes Tagged With: cooking, food, Soup

Blackened Catfish Recipe

May 12, 2014 by Admin 7 Comments

This is a simple quick meal for the family. If you season just one side of the fish you can save the left over seasoning, or if you have more than 4-5 fillets this will easily still work just season one side if you use more than the pounds that’s called for. I made this with pan seared asparagus, just place a tablespoon of butter in a skillet ( cast iron is best) melt the butter on medium high heat keep it that warm and toss the asparagus in. You want to keep the greens moving so it won’t burn, it will turn a real nice bright green and go tender when finished. Sprinkle with pepper then transfer to plate. It will only take 5-10 minutes not even sometimes depends on how thick the asparagus is.
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Filed Under: evergreen, food, recipes

No Fuss Doughnut

March 12, 2014 by Admin 2 Comments

This is a super easy treat to make for the family. If you thought you couldn’t find the time to make donuts- you are wrong. This is a awesome fool proof way to make up some fresh donuts for any occasion. All you nee is some oil and some Pillsbury biscuits and you are ready to go.

These are rolled in cinnamon sugar, they make a great quick snack for after school!

What you need:

Oil for frying

Deep skillet for frying

1 can of buttermilk biscuits

a small donuts cutter for the holes

rack for placing donuts on once fried
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Filed Under: baking, recipes Tagged With: desserts, donuts, quick recipes

3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

January 19, 2014 by Admin Leave a Comment

This is a perfect recipe for the kids to do themselves. Of course adult supervision is needed to handle the baking and hot pan but the kids can mix this up all by themselves. Another great thing about this recipe is that you only need 3 things- Yes THREE! This is why I really love this one. I do enjoy baking cookies but sometimes getting all the ingredients out and measuring each single one makes a mess. You only need an egg, sugar and peanut butter for this.

They bake fast so watch them carefully

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Filed Under: baking, food, recipes Tagged With: baking, cookies

21-Day Tummy: The Revolutionary Food Plan

January 2, 2014 by Admin Leave a Comment

As the holidays are winding down and resolutions or goals are made many people find themselves making a goal to lose weight. It’s no wonder considering we eat the most around the holidays. We’re stuffed like turkeys and well, who can help it? Good food is hard to pass up, which makes this 21-Day Tummy diet brought to you by Liz Vaccariello a solid win for anyone needing to jump start their year and make some healthy choices.

Diving into the book right away you are thrown a lot of helpful facts and tips. There’s practical tips everyone would need not just those trying to lose just holiday pounds or more.

Many of the recipes in this book are focused on getting the system working well. If our gut isn’t working the rest of us isn’t doing too good either. So many other plans target just dropping the pounds not the fact that some foods can trigger reacts deep within and cause us even more troubles. I found this to be a major plus in the book.

The recipes were easy to follow as well as easy to make. There’s simplicity in here and true focus which can really help those who suffer from a slow digestive system. This should jump start the gut and get you ready to start feeling better inside and out. I made a lot of sides from the books, salads and some of the dressings which are fresh and tasty.
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Filed Under: book review, fitness, health, review Tagged With: coookook, diet, diet cookbook, eat healthy

Lettuce Chicken Tacos

December 28, 2013 by Admin 1 Comment

This is a great recipe to use with any left overs really. Easy during the holidays as well. You’ve been cooking non stop, have all these left overs, don’t want to cook dinner anymore- so why not use up anything you’ve got on hand to make a healthy meal?

Lettuce takes place of a tortilla or hard shell taco, making it healthier. You pick your meat , anything from pork, chicken to turkey and they your vegetables. This is really a make it your own, mix and match kind of deal .

Ingredients

2 cups cubed cooked chicken ( or your choice of meat)
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