Please Join us for a #KidsCookChat Twitter Party on Monday, October 27th at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET !

We’re having a party!  A Twitter party, that is!

Research shows that when families cook together and eat together, the whole family is healthier.  You know how passionate we are about getting kids in the kitchen!  We’ve talked about it before, here , here, here and here.

That’s why we’re having a party! We hope you’ll join us, along with our partners the National Processed Raspberry Council and The Kids Cook Monday for a Twitter party to learn simple ways to cook with your kids!  We’ll all be sharing our best tips and recipes, and you’ll have an opportunity to win some fabulous raspberry-red kitchen prizes, including:

Raspberry Ice 5-Qt Artisan KitchenAid Stand Mixer

Red Kitchen Aid 9-speed hand mixer

Red Le Creuset Heritage Stoneware 8 “ Square Dish

Red Le Creuset Batter Bowl

Red & pink heart-shaped measuring 

Join our Twitter party using #KidsCookChat on Monday, October 27^th at 5 pm PT/8 pm ET.   We hope to see you there!

Disclaimer:  We are consulting registered dietitians for the National Processed Raspberry Council.

Celebrating Kids Eat Right Month

We both have cherished our moments in the kitchen (and garden!) for a long time. Growing up, I was in charge of these simple tasks: whipping the whipping cream, peeling potatoes, picking the peas and carrots, stirring almost anything, and taste testing...

While we realize not every child has the opportunity to pull a ripe carrot from the soil or pea pod straight from the vine, many advocates of healthy eating understand the value of connecting to real food. Farmer’s markets, trips to the grocery store, and even including children in the dinner-prep provides them with a window through which they can begin to understand where our food comes from, to taste how delicious it can be, and to experience the wonder of the food that nourishes us.

So in recognition of Kids Eat Right Month, here are our 5 tips to encourage healthy habits for children and adults of all ages.

1. Invite your child into the kitchen to help make dinner.    Kids are more likely to eat what they cook; they love projects, and cooking their own dinner gives them a sense of accomplishment and ownership.  Give them age-appropriate tasks like washing vegetables, measuring ingredients, dumping or stirring, and of course, taste testing.

2. Give foods fun names.  A recent study from Cornell University shows children eat twice as many vegetables when the veggies were labeled with cool, fun names, like ‘X-ray Vision Carrots’ and ‘Tiny Tasty Tree Tops.’  So, let your kiddos come up with fun names for foods and you’ll watch those veggies disappear!

3. Give kids choices.  Let your children have a say in dinner and they’ll feel empowered.  For example, when you’re making pizza, set out bowls of different types of vegetable (and maybe even some fruit!) toppings, and let your child build his own pizza.  You may be surprised when they choose spinach! 

4. Introduce new foods. Studies suggest kids may have to taste a food 15 or 20 times before she starts to like it.  So, keep serving that side of broccoli and encouraging your child to at least taste it.  Eventually, their taste buds will start to accept it—and even like it!  At the same time, include foods on the table that they already like such as carrots, beans, or berries!

5. Eat together as a family.  The research is clear—kids who eat dinner with their parents are healthier, happier and less likely to get into trouble as a teen.  The best conversations in our lives—and often our best memories—usually happen around the table.  There are 1,440 minutes in a day—make at least 30 of those minutes a dinner with your kids, and you’ll all be happier! 

Here are a few online resources filled with articles and ideas for cooking with your kids.

Kids Eat Right (www.eatright.org/kids) is a site of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, focused on kids nutrition. 

Spatulatta (http://www.spatulatta.com) teaches children to cook with free step-by-step videos and encourages children to eat more vegetables and fruits.

Super Kids Nutrition (www.superkidsnutrition.com) provides articles, tips and resources for raising healthy eaters. 

The Kids Cook Monday (www.thekidscookmonday.org) provides articles, tips and resources for cooking with your kids.

ZisBoomBah (blog.zisboombah.com) is an interactive website that helps families get excited about healthy meals. 

Whole Wheat Pizza with Caramelized Onion, Roasted Fennel and Tomatoes & Goat Feta

Last week, a young friend of mine came over to hang out for pizza night and a movie. (Cloudy with a Side of Meatballs, if you’re wondering).  She loves to cook and is always thrilled to learn something new.  Last time she came over, we made butter.  Her Dad said she kept talking about that for days.

This time, we made pizza, including the dough.  She was thrilled when kneading the dough suddenly made sense, and it started to “look like pizza dough!” as she put it.  You can find our recipe for whole wheat pizza dough here. 

When it came time to bake the pizzas, I set out a variety of toppings—caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes, roasted fennel, spinach, fresh basil, basil pesto, kalamata olives and two different kinds of cheeses—so she could make her own.      

She was a little wary of the onions at first, until she tried them.  “Those are delicious!” she said.  It’s a good strategy if your kids don’t really like vegetables—cook them until they become sweet and caramelized.  This means cooking onions for a very long time over low heat, until their sugars develop.  Or with other vegetables, roast them in a hot oven until they become brown and delicious.  Kids (and adults!) will eat them like candy.

You can’t beat pizza and a movie (or pizza and games) for spending time with kids.  It’s an easy way to get them in the kitchen with you, and is sure to make dinner time a fun experience for everyone.

What are your favorite ways to get kids in the kitchen with you?  We’d love to hear your ideas! 

Here’s a basic recipe for caramelizing onions.  You don’t actually need a lot of fat in the pan, just low heat and a long time, stirring occasionally.  If you need a little help cutting the onions, McKenzie wrote a great tutorial here.

Caramelized Onions

2 onions, thinly sliced

1 – 2 tablespoons olive oil

Pinch of salt

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Place a cast iron skillet (or heavy bottomed skillet) over medium-low heat.  Add the olive oil to the pan and let it get hot.  Add the onions, salt and red pepper flakes.  Cook stirring occasionally, for about an hour, or until the onions are very soft and very brown and taste sweet.  If the pan starts to get too dry, you can add a little water, chicken stock or wine.  The onions will keep in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 4 days.    

You can also add any other herbs you like.  Thyme is delicious.

Basic Recipe for Roasting Vegetables

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cut all vegetables to the same size.  Toss with olive oil, salt and any spices, if you like.  Spices like smoked paprika and cumin are delicious.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place seasoned and oiled vegetables on the baking sheet in a single layer.  Don’t let them overlap or they will steam and not brown. 

Roast for between 20 and 30 minutes, depending upon the type and size of the vegetables.  Your nose will tell you when they are done, as they will start to smell sweet.  Take them out of the oven when they are caramelized to your liking. 

Something like broccoli might only take 20 minutes, while sweet potatoes may take 30 or more.

If you are roasting tomatoes, don’t put any other kind of vegetable on the baking sheet, as the juice from the tomatoes will prevent the other vegetables from browning.

Roasted vegetables will keep in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 4 days.  They are great for snacking, salads and side dishes!

Basic Recipe for Cooking the Pizza

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven to preheat for at least 30 minutes.

If you are making the dough from scratch, divide the dough into three equal pieces.  Each of these dough balls will make one large pizza or two to three individual pizzas.

Stretch the dough to the desired thinness and size.  Place the dough on a pizza peel that has been generously dusted with flour or cornmeal (so you can slide the pizza from the peel to the pizza stone).

Top your pizza with desired toppings.  For this pizza, I topped it with caramelized onions, roasted fennel, roasted tomatoes, some spinach ribbons and goat feta cheese.  Try not to add too many wet toppings, as this can make for a soggy pizza.

Slide the pizza from the pizza peel to your pizza stone.  If you don’t have a pizza stone, just place the pizza on a baking sheet and put in the oven.

Bake the pizza for about 10 – 12 minutes, or until the crust is browned and the toppings are bubbling.

Remove from oven and let rest for a few minutes.

Enjoy, preferably with people you love!  And a movie is great, too.

Cooking with Kids - Fast Food Makeovers

All kids love fast food.  Even kids who grow up with garden-loving parents who crafted homemade baby food and refused to feed their child sugar for the first years of his life succumb to the allure of the happy meal. 

There’s nothing wrong with having a hamburger or chicken fingers every now and then.  It’s part of growing up.  But, as a parent, you can arm yourself with tips and recipes for making your own fast food at home, so you can control the quality of the ingredients.  Make it fun, and your child will beg for the box with the prize inside just a little less.  Here are a few tips for making your own nourishing fast food experience at home.

      1. Invite your child into the kitchen to help make dinner.  Kids are more likely to eat what they cook.  Kids love projects, and cooking their own dinner gives them a sense of accomplishment and ownership.  Give them age-appropriate tasks like washing vegetables, measuring ingredients, dumping or stirring.   

   

        2. Cook with whole, real foods.  Studies have shown that food additives can affect a child’s behavior, and can aggravate attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).  Start with whole, unprocessed foods that are free of artificial colors, preservatives and sweeteners, and you can rest assured your child is getting the nutrition she needs with the taste she wants.  For example, for a milk shake, blend milk with frozen bananas, peanut butter and some cocoa powder for a ‘Chunky Monkey’ shake.  And speaking of Chunky Monkey…   

      3. Give foods fun names.  A recent study shows kids eat twice as many vegetables when the veggies were labeled with cool, fun names, like ‘X-ray Vision Carrots’ and ‘Tiny Tasty Tree Tops.’  So, let your kids come up with fun names for foods and you’ll watch those veggies disappear!

      4. Give kids choices.  Like all of us, kids want to have control.  Let them choose between healthy options, and they’ll feel empowered.  For example, when you’re making pizza, set out bowls of different types of vegetable (and maybe even some fruit!) toppings, and let your child build his own pizza.  You may be surprised when he chooses spinach!    

      5.  Sneak in a little extra nutrition.  Studies suggest kids may have to taste a food 15 or 20 times before she starts to like it.  So, keep serving that side of broccoli and encouraging your child to at least taste it.  Eventually, her taste buds will start to accept it—and even like it!  In the meantime, there’s nothing wrong with sneaking a little more vegetables into her favorite foods, to make sure she’s getting all the nutrition she needs.  For example, shred carrots or zucchini and add it to hamburgers or meatballs, add shredded or puree veggies to the pasta sauce, or puree cauliflower and add it to mac n’ cheese.  You can even blend fresh spinach into a blueberry smoothie.  I promise, she’ll never know!  This works for picky husbands, too.  

      6. Don’t forget the fun drink.  Mostly, kids need water, water, water.  Sugar-filled sodas, sports drinks, and even juice provide extra calories with little nutritional value.  But, we all need a fun, flavorful drink every now and then.  Make your own ‘soda’ by adding a splash of 100% fruit juice to sparkling water, and even garnishing it with fresh fruit slices or berries.  

      7. Eat together as a family.  The research is clear—kids who eat dinner with their parents are healthier, happier and less likely to get into trouble as a teen.  The best conversations in our lives—and often our best memories—usually happen around the table.  There are 1,440 minutes in a day—make at least 30 of those minutes a dinner with your kids, and you’ll all be happier!

Here are a few online resources filled with articles and ideas for cooking with your kids.

Kids Eat Right (www.eatright.org/kids) is a site of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, focused on kids nutrition. 

Spatulatta (http://www.spatulatta.com) teaches children to cook with free step-by-step videos and encourages children to eat more vegetables and fruits.

Super Kids Nutrition (www.superkidsnutrition.com) provides articles, tips and resources for raising healthy eaters. 

The Kids Cook Monday (www.thekidscookmonday.org) provides articles, tips and resources for cooking with your kids.

ZisBoomBah (blog.zisboombah.com) is an interactive website that helps families get excited about healthy meals.

This article appears in the Fall 2013 issue of Bellingham Alive.

Here are two recipes for making your own happy meal at home.  

Crispy Chicken Fingers

Serves 4

2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Sea salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 eggs, lightly beaten with a splash of water

1 cup whole wheat panko bread crumbs

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Cut the chicken breasts into strips the size of ‘chicken fingers’.

Pour the whole wheat flour, eggs, and whole wheat panko bread crumbs each into separate bowls.  Season each well with sea salt and black pepper.  Pour the olive oil into the panko bread crumbs and toss well to evenly distribute the oil.

Bread each chicken by dipping each in (1) whole wheat flour, (2) egg, and (3) panko bread crumbs, patting on the panko bread crumbs to make sure they adhere well. 

Lay the prepared chicken tenders onto a rack set on a baking sheet.  Bake the chicken in the preheated oven until the chicken is cooked through and browned and crispy, about 12 to 15 minutes.

‘French Fries’

Serves 4

2 russet potatoes or sweet potatoes

Extra virgin olive oil

Sea salt

Freshly cracked black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Place a sheet pan in the oven to preheat.

Cut each potato into wedges of desired size, smaller for crispier potatoes and larger for steak fries.  Place potato wedges into a large bowl and toss with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper.

Remove sheet pan from preheated oven.  Pour potatoes onto pan and arrange in a single layer.  Return pan to oven and bake for about 25 - 30 minutes, or until the potatoes are deep golden brown. 

Helping Kids Learn to Love Real Food

Have you had the pleasure of plucking a crimson red, slightly-sticky tomato off the vine, slicing and eating it right there in the garden, the juices still hot from the sun running down your arm? 

It’s heaven. 

Or, have you experienced the delight of watching a chick pierce through its shell, chirping in high-pitched wonder as it kicks to shed its home for the first time and gaze at the world with round eyes?

Luckily, McKenzie and I both had the privilege of spending a lot of time on farms while we were growing, up.  As kids, we knew first-hand where our food came from.  It came from the garden or the barnyard or the lake out back.

But so many children do not have first-hand experience of what real food looks like—much less how it gets to our dinner tables.  More importantly, they don’t know what real food tastes like.  They can’t comprehend the sweet deliciousness of a spring pea or a just-picked carrot—and how much better those fresh vegetables can taste than sweet tart candy.

Last month, I turned 37.  It seemed a good enough reason to throw a party.  Why not embrace my age?  And you know how much I love to entertain. 

Even better, I decided my make the birthday party a fundraiser for Common Threads Farm, an amazing non-profit organization based in Bellingham that teaches kids to grow, love and appreciate real food.

I happen to be on the Board of Common Threads Farm.  But even if I wasn’t a Board member, I would be a passionate advocate for this organization.

For one thing, they offer summer Pizza Camp for kids.  Pizza Camp!  Kids learn about gardening, real food and cooking by making pizza from seed to table—growing their own vegetables, milling grain for homemade dough, making cheese from fresh milk.  The week ends with homemade pizza.

Need I say more?  You know how much we love pizza. 

If that’s not enough, Common Threads Farm also offers summer Farm Camp and after-school programs for kids, and they lead the School Garden Collective in Whatcom County, allowing teachers and students to integrate the garden into their curriculum for math, science, art—any subject, really.  A garden makes a great classroom.

It’s an organization with a noble mission. 

To begin the party planning, I recruited my über-talented mother and my sweetheart to pitch in and help.  I’ve learned in my life—it is okay to ask for help.  It’s been a hard lesson, but the rewards are amazing.  Less stress, happy faces all around. 

In honor of Common Threads Farm—and in a desperate attempt to bring Spring to the Pacific Northwest—I decided on a color scheme of raspberry pink and lime green, centered around my old green chrysanthemum plates from CB2.

I purchased yards of material from the fabric store to make table runners, easily hemming them with stitch witchery.  And Mom created beautiful flower arrangements to place around the house.

Setting out (and labeling) all of the platters and serving pieces ahead of time, makes sure each dish has a home.

I designed the menu based on a Middle Eastern mezze, developing dishes that could all be made ahead and wouldn’t need attention during the party.  We actually had everything cooked and stored hours before the party started.

All we had to do was re-heat or plate before the guests arrived.

The menu included homemade whole wheat focaccia and flatbread, with crispy-spiced roasted chickpeas and Elie's famous hummus...

...a platter of roasted vegetables with yogurt-dill dipping sauce, and an Israeli eggplant spread...

...ful (fava bean stew) topped with a cucumber & tomato salad (a crowd favorite), and a farro salad with caramelized onions and slow-roasted tomatoes and lemon zest, based on a recipe by Joy the Baker, one of my favorite bloggers...

...a roasted beet salad with Calabrese olives, pistachios and parsley in a lemon-fig vinaigrette....

...tender lamb meatballs with spicy tomato sauce, served with yogurt-dill sauce....

...and lovely and delicious cupcakes (made by a young entrepreneurial baking friend).

Just as the party was starting, our friend Becky showed up with gifts—one of which was this adorable apron.  I didn’t want to take it off.

About 50 people attended the party.  We had a great time, but most importantly we raised money to help teach kids to love real food—a cause close to my heart. 

Me with my beautiful Mom, Carolyn

As the evening wound down, we gathered around for a little music.  Not a bad way to end a fun night enjoying delicious food with special friends for a good cause.

Elie, with his brother, Oren

If this is the first you've heart about Common Threads Farm, and the cause struck a chord in your heart, please visit their website to donate and help kids learn to love and appreciate real food.

The only sad part of the evening was my partner-in-crime, Miss McKenzie, couldn’t be here, because she was seeing clients that weekend.  I guess that’s what’s called ‘work.’ 

It sure gets in the way of girl time.

And now, for a recipe...

One of the most popular dishes of the evening was the Roasted Beet, Orange, Olive & Pistachio Salad.  I thought I’d share the recipe with you here.  You may see some of the other recipes coming up in future posts, so stay tuned.

Roasted Beet, Orange, Olive & Pistachio Salad

Serves about 30, for a party

3 pounds yellow and red beets

6 - 8 oranges, peeled and sliced

Zest of one lemon

Zest of one orange

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 - 2 teaspoons fig jam (or you could substitute another jam, or honey)

1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/3 – ½ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup pistachios, roasted and roughly chopped

1 cup olives (I like Calabrese olives), pitted and halved

1/4 cup fresh parsley, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place washed beets on a baking sheet and wrap with aluminum foil.  Bake about 1 hour, or until beets are just tender.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.  When cool enough to handle, loosen skins from beets with a paper towel or a thin knife.  Slice beets .         

Whisk together the zest, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, fig jam, sea salt and black pepper.  Stream in the extra virgin olive oil to desired consistency.  Taste for seasoning and adjust, if necessary.

Place the beats and orange slices in a large bowl and toss them to coat them with vinaigrette.  Stir in the roasted pistachios, olives and chopped parsley.  Enjoy, preferably with those you love.