Monthly Archives: April 2010

Apr 27IACP Portland - Empowering, Inspiring and Delici...

I have a sneaking suspicion that the week I spent at the IACP Conference in Portland will be life changing. I made new friends, met online pals in person, and learned from some of the best in the business. And I ate. A lot. Before the conference started, I visited the Oregon Food Bank, where I did a training about Cooking with Kids for volunteers who work with families in nutrition education programs. It was wonderful to connect with these women, hear their stories and help them with some...

Apr 26What's Cooking with YOUR Kids: Babka is a F...

Thanks to Cheryl for her thoughts about cooking with her young girls! I am thrilled that she offered to participate in What’s Cooking with YOUR Kids! (I love her blog and adore many of the blogs in her blogroll – maybe What’s Cooking will make it there one day!) Take it away, Cheryl… I often spend my weekends in the kitchen with my girls. At not quite 2 and 4 it is a favourite activity for all of us. My oldest talks about us being chefs, even asking "What's next, Chef?" with every new...

Apr 23Dinner for Busy Moms

It always makes me so proud when people think that I have useful tips to share. It's much better than thinking that I blabber into cyberspace without helping anyone! I was pleasantly surprised to see that a few of my tips made it into a new book, Dinner for Busy Moms, by Jeanne Muchnick. Take a peek - maybe my experience will help you, too! I am pretty sure that we busy moms can use all the help that we can get :-)

Apr 21DooF Camp - A Fun Day of Casting a Food Show for...

It surprises me that I haven't blogged much about my experience with DooF - but the time has come. What? You don't know what DooF is? It's "food" spelled backwards, of course! And it's also the multimedia company that I am lucky to consult for. We are making a fantastic-funny-silly-entertaining-amazing food show for kids. It's been busy around here - we are putting the finishing touches on our new website, having fun on our new Facebook Fan page, and bantering about making good food fun...

Apr 19What's Cooking With YOUR Kids: Cupcake Play...

Many thanks to Erin, who shared this fantastic post from her blog, One Particular Kitchen. Some of my very favorite kids came over to play yesterday — a nine year old boy and 5-year-old twin girls, and of course two year old Kiddo, who is a permanent fixture. The girls’ favorite game at my house is, “Hey can we make… (pause while scanning inventory of my pantry… mini cupcake liners spotted) CUPCAKES??” I love having kids in the kitchen! I say the earlier they learn a love of cooking...

Apr 16Snickerdoodles with 3rd Graders: Great American ...

Every year, I look forward to the Great American Bake Sale. It is a perfect event for me and my students. We already cook together - and this gives us an important reason to make some sweets for a change. All of the money we raise from selling our treats goes to Share our Strength, an organization dedicated to fighting childhood hunger. Today I made some cookie dough with my daughter's 3rd grade class for our bake sale next month. They were sorely disappointed that they wouldn't get to taste...

Apr 14School Lunch Reform: Central Kitchen Renovation

This is part 2 of our second task force meeting on school lunch reform in the San Rafael City Schools. I’ll start this post with an apology. It isn’t going to be funny. Not even a little bit. And that makes me sad. Given the horrible financial state-of-affairs in our local school district, it is hard to believe that they are about to spend $300,000 on a renovation of our central kitchen. Apparently the money came from some equipment grants, stimulus funds, the high school district (the...

Apr 13SOS! Earth-Friendly, Kid Pleasing Dinners for Bu...

I am so proud of my friend Aviva. Not only does she help families get dinner on the table with her menu planning service, The Six O'Clock Scramble, but she also makes the environment a priority. Her new book, SOS! The Six O'Clock Scramble to the Rescue; Earth-Friendly, Kid-Pleasing Dinners for Busy Families, came out TODAY and I want to give you a copy! I can't help but want to get a copy of this book in every family's hands... It offers tips for making meals, even if families are busy. It...

Apr 12What's Cooking with YOUR Kids - Letting Kids Be ...

Thanks for starting this part of your blog site! I love that you are bringing all these families together this way. I don't know very many people who enjoy doing this as much as I do. I come from a pretty strong background in Early Childhood Education so being able to bring these two elements into my kitchen with my daughter has been a priceless experience. This time around I got the chance to bring my niece and nephew into our little cooking rendezvous and we had a blast! It was their...

Apr 9Wonton Cups – Making Meals Fun for Kids

I've done it! I have discovered a great method to make food fun for kids (and their parents!). And the best part? It's versatile, and you can use the technique to serve all types of foods - from breakfasts to desserts! I never thought I'd do a photo tutorial for you, but here goes. Oh yes - one safety tip before we begin. Please use round wonton wrappers - they don't have sharp corners when they are cooked. Here are some ideas you can use to fill up these babies: scrambled...