If you’ve decided to clean out the pantry and toss any canned frosting, cookies with trans fat, or candy with high fructose corn syrup, I have the perfect project for you!
We were recently at a very cool Christmas event that had a gingerbread house competition, and this inspired us to go home and make our own! Of course I could have gone to the health food store and only purchased things I wanted to let me son eat, but we were visiting my mother-in-law and the nearest store is just your conventional grocery store. We wanted to get started on our project as quickly as possible, so I gave her a list of items we would need and she went on a hunt.
She came back with all of the necessary building supplies. Graham crackers (no gingerbread baking here!) powdered sugar, canned red and green icing, red hots, gum drops, candy canes, pretzels, chocolate chips, peppermints, frosted mini wheats, and marshmallows.
Of course my son had never seen most of these items in his life, so I just told him that they were only for decoration (which is all they’re good for anyway!) And who really eats their gingerbread houses once they’ve spent all that time making them? Definitely not us- I fully expect my mother-in-law to bronze her grandson’s. He understood the rules, and built and decorated the most beautiful house I have ever seen. Of course I’m not a biased proud mother…
But really- those first prize winners at the competition don’t hold a candle to ours!
As we were decorating, it occurred to me that lots of people have these things in their pantries, and feel guilty or wasteful tossing them…dig them out now, get your little architect, and start designing!