Monthly Archives: February 2010

Feb 26Connecting the Dots: Mealtime & Mental Healt...

Earlier this week, I went to a parent education night at a school in our community, and listened to a riveting talk by Madeline Levine, author of The Price of Privilege. She painted a pretty dismal picture of the state of mental health of teens in our country these days. I'll start you off with the depressing parts so that we can get them over with...and then you can learn about how you can make a difference. Although parents want to "do right" by their children, there is a growing trend towards...

Feb 24Buried Treasure…Summer Flavors in my Freezer

This morning, I innocently opened my freezer to see if it contained any frozen spinach for tonight's dinner. The next thing I knew, I was compulsively emptying each shelf and spreading the contents all over my kitchen. The freezer isn't very big, yet for some reason, I felt like I hit the jackpot - there were treasures buried deep inside that I had completely forgotten about. And there were some that made me laugh out loud, such as the star-shaped ice cubes made from leftover coffee. But,...

Feb 22What's Cooking With YOUR Kids - Kitchen Sci...

Thanks to Jenna from Food With Kid Appeal, for this week's installment of What's Cooking with YOUR Kids. I love how she clearly explains all of the steps that the kids can do on this recipe! My kindergartner, Big Boo, has homework a couple times a week, sigh. Often its stuff we can do in the car, sometimes he’s got to make a list of blue things, or opposite words. This week one of the options was “help mom or dad cook dinner.” The boys have been in the kitchen with me since they...

Feb 17How Can Our District Refuse to Improve School Lu...

Do you have any idea how I can get the people at the San Rafael City School District Offices to watch Jamie Oliver's TED acceptance speech? If they did, wouldn't they feel compelled to change our school lunch program? Jamie's wish: "I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity." Have a look...and let me know if you have any ideas for how to persuade the school...

Feb 15What's Cooking With YOUR Kids - Peanut Butt...

This week’s installment of What’s Cooking with YOUR Kids is from Kelly of Two Kids Cooking, an adorable blog featuring cooking videos of her children. Thanks for hosting this series – it’s a great idea. Since we host an online Kids Cooking show, many of our family cooking stories are caught on tape. But, even when it’s not for the show, we love spending time in the kitchen together. With busy schedules, quality family time is something we’re always striving for more of making and eating...

Feb 12Does the Farmer's Market Value Education an...

As you probably could have guessed, I am a die hard Farmer’s Market fan. Unless I have too much work to do, I am there – rain or shine. It’s my happy place. Farmers are proud of their crops, customers chat about delicious food and compare recipes, and there are loads of delicious samples to taste. Johan, my apple vendor and long-time friend, has been asking when I’ll be a part of the market, dispensing advice to parents about how to involve their children in the kitchen – or spreading...

Feb 11Changing School Lunches: The Start of Our Journe...

I can't believe that we haven't had this discussion in my school district yet. It's time. I'm pissed that they are feeding our students toxic food. And even worse - the kids that get the crappy food are the ones on the reduced fee lunch program - and it may be the only food they get all day. If we could feed all of the kids REAL food, I might actually participate in the school lunch plan. At least some of the time... Every year, there are groups of parents that get angry about the quality...

Feb 9How I Started My Cooking School for Kids

When people learn that I own a cooking school for children, they almost always say, "Oh, you are a chef." And I always jump in and correct them, "No, I am a teacher." To me, chefs are artists - creative people who get inspired by raw materials (forgive the pun) and transform them into something wonderful and delicious. An excellent chef, in my opinion, will inspire people - to try new flavors, taste the foods of different cultures or maybe even to cook more at home. But me? No, I am not...

Feb 8What's Cooking with YOUR Kids - Christmas P...

Many thanks to Joanne from The Foodies for sending in this adorable photo and story for today's installment of What's Cooking with YOUR Kids. Christmas Pud? Or Pudding at Christmas? Does anyone really like Christmas pudding? Really? I know someone must like it somewhere, but I have never met them. We declared an embargo on Christmas puddings in our house about 4 years ago. Christmas should be about indulging in things you enjoy. We all like sprouts, so they stay, no-one likes bread sauce, so it...