We didn’t entertain much yesterday as we were re-cooping from our daughter’s birthday celebration on Saturday. She turned 8. Although sometimes, it’s as though she’s 16. But she’s our baby girl and my little angel. I just wish time didn’t fly by so fast. Those of you who are fans of Family Meals Matter Cooking Club on Facebook got to see pictures of the Tangled theme birthday cake I made for her birthday. It turned out pretty good, moist and light despite how many layers and how much frosting I used. It sure put a smile on her face when she saw it. I would do a few things differently like make sure I use cake pans that are completely round. This helps them stack even and better.

Despite the indifference of weather, all weekend long we enjoyed a BBQ celebration with hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, potato salad, grilled corn and watermelon. We even made room for a huge batch of spaghetti and homemade bread rolls. We also enjoyed banana sundaes served in these cute waffle cones I picked up at the local thrift store.

Here’s the Tangled theme birthday cake. I’ll share the recipe soon.

This week, it’s back to the drawing board. No, I didn’t set this week’s menu in stone. In between BBQ, Birthday Celebration and spending time with the family, I seemed to manage to sneak in some time to work on Noel’s Family Meals; a meal planning subscription for busy mom’s and their families. Yes, there are others out there. I’m bringing a bit different and unique approach to my readers and members. Just take a peak and you’ll see. Meal times are more than just eating and getting something on the table quickly and certainly more than just dinner. Let’s bring family meal times back to the table and create wonderful family memories!

I have a rough draft idea of what I’ll be cooking this week. It’s going to be another chicken night tonight. I’ve got some chicken breasts marinating in the refrigerator then later throwing it on the BBQ with some fresh sweet corn I picked up at Raley’s. Later in the week, I’ll be making a casserole with any leftovers, serving with a fresh green salad. One night, we’ll have breakfast for dinner and on our family night, I’ll make calzones. As you can see, it’s a pretty simple week.

Your turn! Share your menu, we want to see them all!

Believe it or not, children don’t develop picky eating habits just to annoy and frustrate their parents. The first signs of picky eating habits typically emerge as a child enters toddlerhood. I was told that the habits tend to diminish between the ages of 4 and 5, although certain studies suggest that if children are still picky by age 9, they’re likely to remain picky into young adulthood.  Here are some tips I’ve learned along the way when raising children and tips on how I Turned “Yuck” into “Yum”.

1. Keep Meals simple, and serve individual foods separately. Complex casserole dishes are rarely popular with children. Occasionally, you may stick a “secret” ingredient in.
2. Serve new foods in smaller quantities that you know your child will eat. I know our daughter eats smaller portions than our son and give her smaller amounts to start off with. If she wants seconds, than I’m happy she enjoys the dish. When introducing a new food, insist that your child try it, but don’t expect instant acceptance. It took me a long time to finish my peas when I was younger. Now that I’m older, I have grown to love the taste of peas.  Discuss new foods briefly so that the meal is not a mystery-children like to know what they are eating.
3. Avoid hot, spicy ingredients unless your children prefer such foods. Parents can easily add extra seasonings to their own plates.
4. Encourage your children to accept beans. Unfortuneately, beans have a bad reputation because of their texture as well as their gas-producing properties. (Did I just say gas? You  mothers know what I mean). Serve beans in soups, tacos or burgers-forms that are more likely to succeed with children.
5. Whenever possible, add extra nutrition to your children’s meals with the following ingredients: nutritional yeast, miso, sunflower seeds (grind the seeds for younger children), wheat germ and tahini.
6. Use a juice, to make tasty and nutritious fruit and vegetable drinks, which children enjoy at both snacks and meals. Encourage children to invent their own combinations. This gets them excited about fruits and vegetables. Remember, if your children start out with wholesome ingredients, you can allow them much more freedom of choice without worrying about their nutrition.
7. If children are hungry between meals, offer them raw vegetables for a snack. Carrot and tender celery sticks (children aren’t fond of stringy celery) in a cup of cold water will be gobbled up as fast as cooking-by adults as well as children.
8.  Don’t keep foods in the house that you don’t want your children to eat. A child may never choose fruit over a cookie, but he or she often will choose fruit over nothing.

Due to the Memorial Day holiday on Monday May 30th, 2011 our support desk will be closed during regular office hours (9am -5pm PST).

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Today’s post is from Stephen Pazyra, CEO of an online bakery that delivers premium logo cookies. Today he’s sharing how you can spend quality time in the kitchen with your kids making fun and simple recipes that are kid-friendly. What a great way to spend a day with your kids!

Enjoy today’s post!

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Baking with children is a great way to spend quality time together and provide them with a fun (and sometimes messy!) experience. Whether or not the kids are your own, you’ll have a great time supervising their cooking endeavors, and these five simple, kid-friendly recipes are perfect for involving little hands in the kitchen.

·         Crazy Kids Personal Pizza
Practically every child likes pizza, so why not teach the kids in your life how to make one? This Food Network recipe is nice because it’s for a personal pizza. That means if you’re cooking with several children, each one can add the toppings he or she desires.
To make this recipe, you need a pizza stone, store-bought pizza dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella, Romano cheese, olive oil, flour and several toppings. Pizza is fun because there are so many ways to make it. You may also want to try this homemade pizza recipe!

·         Peanut Butter Cookies with Hershey Kisses
Your children will be the envy of their friends if they make these mouth-watering cookies from the Cooks.com website. Perfect with a glass of milk, they’ll satisfy even the pickiest of eaters after a long day of school.
Once you’ve mixed the dough, you roll it into small balls, which kids love because they get to dig in with their hands. You bake the dough until it is golden brown, and place a Hershey’s Kiss in the center of each cookie. This recipe makes 48 cookies, ensuring they last a few days.

·         Banana Bread
Children will enjoy smashing bananas for this Williams-Sonoma recipe. Just make sure the bananas you give them are very ripe. The recipe really is quite easy to prepare. The hardest part is the 45 minute wait while it’s baking.
During this time, you can have your little bakers help wash the dishes and clean the counters. To motivate them, tell them their reward will be a fresh slice of banana bread!

·         Soft Pretzels
Soft pretzels are another fun recipe for children to make. Between mixing, rolling, and shaping the dough into a pretzel shape, kids will want to make this snack again and again. This Allrecipes recipe requires you to dissolve yeast in warm water, add a bunch of ingredients (sugar, salt butter and egg), and stir in flour.
You refrigerate the dough for a while, cut it in half, and separate each half into 16 equal pieces. After rolling each piece into a 20-inch rope, shaping the pieces into pretzels, and brushing egg over the pretzels (you can also add salt), you bake them in the oven.

·         Crunchy, Oven Baked Chicken Toes
Children will probably laugh at the funny name of this Rachael Ray recipe. But their laughter will change to pleasure when they sample the tasty treat. The first steps involve crushing corn flakes and mixing them with breadcrumbs, sugar, salt, pepper, and allspice.
Next, some vegetable oil is mixed in with the breading. After a grownup has cut chicken breast tenders into 2-inch pieces, the child can turn the chicken in flour, eggs, and the breading. The last step is baking the chicken for about 15 minutes.

Do you have any fun, child-friendly recipes that you like to make with your little ones?

Author Bio: Stephen Pazyra is founder and CEO of 1-800-Bakery, an online bakery that delivers premium logo cookies with a commitment to quality and freshness.

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cristic/322430933

Today’s post is brought to you by Assistant Chef, Bridget Sandorford. Bridget shares how you can go green in your kitchen, reduce energy costs and save some green too!

Enjoy today’s post!

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There are numerous ways you can save money when cooking meals for your family, whether it be buying bulk foods or whipping up cheap yet delicious meals for you and your children to enjoy. But if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen you may or may not be aware of the fact that the different appliances you use could be wasting high amounts of energy that could raise the cost of your monthly electricity bill as well.

If you’re sick and tired of putting a large portion of your paycheck into your energy bill, or if you’re researching into how you and your family can become more environmentally friendly, here are five different ways you can green your kitchen and save some green at the same time:

1. Dishwashers
Believe it or not hand washing your dishes actually wastes a lot more water than using a dishwasher, especially if you leave the water running while you wash or dry your dishes. If you can, try to run your dishwasher once every few days and turn off the heat-drying option to help save energy.
2. Light bulbs
Compact fluorescent bulbs (or CFLs) last ten times longer than regular light bulbs, and are generally more environmentally friendly as well. Light emitting diodes (or LEDs) are also another smart option, however they tend to be quite expensive.
3. Kitchen cleaners
Try to avoid using commercial cleaners that can not only be damaging to the environment but to your children’s health as well. One of the best ways around this is to purchase non-toxic organic sprays to clean your kitchen, but if you don’t feel like shelling out the extra money then basic soap and dishwasher detergent can be just as effective at cleaning your counters, stove and much more.
4. Pots and pans
If you’re cooking on a stovetop, then make sure the size of your pan matches the burner size, and try to use flat-bottom cookware that is made from copper or cast iron.
5. Ovens
When using your oven to cook, try not to “over pre-heat” your oven and keep the door shut as much as possible. Also, try to bake with ceramic, glass or cast iron as they tend to retain more heat.

Bio: Aside from school and working part-time as an Assistant Chef, Bridget Sandorford is the resident Culinary Schools blogger where recently she’s been researching pastry & bakery training programs as well as culinary colleges in Colorado. Her passion for food has followed her research into many different areas, such as nutrition, fitness, organic foods, gardening, and cooking on a budget. She lives outside of Charleston, South Carolina.

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