While preparing for some upcoming kids Halloween Cooking Classes, I realized that you might appreciate a few recipes for Creepy Cuisine and Potent Potions that weren’t quite as sugar and fat laden as the majority of recipes you’ll find online.

Vampire Drool

Red Juice, your choice (cranberry, pomegranate, cherry etc)
Bubble Water
1 pkg frozen organic cranberries
1 latex glove
1 cauldron

1. Pour water into a latex glove. Tie the end, and put it the freezer (be sure to store it flat, so that it retains the shape you want).
2. When frozen, remove from the freezer and peel off the glove.
3. Combine juices and bubbly water in a cauldron
4. Add the frozen “hand” to complete the brew

Worms and Eyeballs

1 small onion, grated 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 large egg 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs 3 Tbs ketchup 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves 1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp ground black pepper 1 lb ground dark turkey meat 3 Tbs olive oil marinara sauce 1 can black olives, pitted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add the onion, garlic, egg, bread crumbs, ketchup, parsley, Parmesan, Pecorino, salt and pepper to a large bowl and blend. Mix in the turkey.
3. Shape the turkey mixture into 1 1/4-inch-diameter meatballs.
4. Place on baking sheet.
5. Use an egg slicer to slice the olives into rings.
6. Place one olive ring on top of each meatball, pressing lightly. This makes it look more like an eyeball!
7. Bake 15-20 minutes or until the inside is no longer pink and the juices run clear.

CALL THE KIDS:

Peel paper off the garlic cloves. Crack egg. Squeeze ketchup Grate and measure cheese Pick parsley leaves from the stem and tear into small pieces.

With clean hands, combine all of the ingredients and shape into balls Wash hands afterwards Slice black olives and press onto meatballs Wash hands again.

Strawberry Monsters

Strawberries
4″ sucker sticks
Candy Melts (your color choice)
Black decorating gel

1. Insert lollipop stick into strawberries and place them in the freezer for about 15 minutes, until they are cold.
2. While the berries are chilling, heat one cup of candy melts, in a double-boiler, stirring constantly until completely melted.
3. Remove the berries from the freezer and dip them lightly in the melted candy for a thin coating.
4. To get a Mummy look, swirl them a bit to look like layers of white wrapped around it. Ghosts can be dunked to make a little twisted peak on top. Frankenstein can be dunked and a spoon used to flatten the candy on top.
5. Set on a baking sheet lined with parchment to cool and harden. You can refrigerate them if you would like to speed this up.
6. After they harden, you can add faces. Using black decorating gel and a toothpick (as your brush), draw a spooky face.

Tips

Use green melts for Frankenstein, Orange for Jack-O-Lanterns & white for ghosts and mummies

As seen on View From The Bay, (Healthy School Lunches segment) on October 3, 2007

Everyone would make their own granola if they knew how simple and inexpensive it was! The sky is the limit on the variations you can do with this recipe. Simply follow the basic formula and let your imagination do the rest. Don’t forget to Call the Kids into the kitchen to help you with this culinary creation.

Ingredients
4 cups oats (not quick cooking)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbs sesame seeds

Optional Ingredients:
1/3 cup Dried Fruit, such as cranberries, raisins or currants
1/4 cup sunflower seeds (without shells)
1/4 cup Pumpkin seeds
3 Tbs flax seeds
1/4 cup dried and shredded coconut
1/2 cup nuts: chopped almonds, walnuts, pecans or cashews

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees
2. In a large bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.
3. If using, add shredded coconut, nuts, sunflower or pumpkin seeds and flax seeds.
4. In a separate bowl, combine honey, oil and vanilla.
5. Pour honey mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine.
6. Pour the granola mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet and place in the oven.
7. Bake at 300 degrees for 30-40 minutes, stirring gently every 10 minutes, so that the mixture doesn’t burn.
8. After the mixture comes out of the oven, add any dried fruit of your choice: currants, raisins, or cranberries
9. Once the mixture has cooled, store in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

Cooking Tips

• Flax seeds, sunflower seeds, walnuts and dried fruits can both be purchased in small quantities in the bulk section of many grocery stores. They are much less expensive this way.
• Flax seeds and walnuts are high in Omega-3 Fatty Acids which play a crucial role in brain function as well as growth and development.
• By making your own granola, you are saving lots of money. Granola and granola bars can be expensive. Plus, there are no wrappers to dispose of!

Call The Kids:

• Measure oats, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon.
• If using coconut, sesame seeds, flax seeds, sunflower or pumpkin seeds, have the kids measure these too.
• Measure oil, vanilla and honey and stir to combine
• Using clean hands, mix wet and dry ingredients together in a large bowl
• Spread granola onto a rimmed baking sheet
• Add dried fruit to cooled granola and stir to combine

Recipe Source: What’s Cooking (www.whatscooking.info)

Michelle, owner of What’s Cooking, will be doing a Healthy School Lunches cooking demonstration with her two children.

Details: Wednesday, October 3
Time: 3-4 p.m.
Show: View From The Bay on ABC

Click on the logo above to be linked to the segment, online. Let us know what you think!
Check out our Store to see the products featured on the show.

Yesterday after school, we had my daughter’s friend, Emma, over for a play date. Like most multi-tasking mothers, I started getting ingredients for dinner ready while they were playing. Emma kept coming into the kitchen to stare at my ingredients and to ask questions. When I told her that we were making Asian Lettuce Wraps, she wanted to know why I liked to make foods from other countries. I happily explained how fun it is to try new foods. She leaned over the steaming pot of pad thai noodles and loved that they were almost invisible…I am so lucky to have a career that sparks such enthusiasm in kids!

When I found out that her mother was running late, Emma ran to the table to eat dinner with my kids. After the first bite, she asked, “do you always make such nice dinners?” I looked at the table and had to laugh. It was simple and took less than 30 minutes to prepare. But it made me realize that before I began meal planning, I made the same things over and over again. Emma explained that she was tired of the foods she got for dinner, and asked me if I could tell her mom what I did to the food to make it taste so good.

When her mother came to pick her up, her stood wide-eyed as the kids asked for seconds…and thirds, and ate their asian broccoli slaw! She admitted that until she saw Emma eating with such gusto, she hadn’t realized that she was in such a food rut. She started asking questions about What’s Cooking Weekly, my online meal planning service for families, and decided that she would give it a try. Even if she just tried a few of my menus, or simply added some of my sides to her existing repertoire, she said it was still a good value. She was also excited that she would start saving money on groceries, since she would go into the market knowing what she was looking for.

She nearly had to drag her daughter away from the table when I said that I had to save the rest of the food for my husband, who hadn’t arrived home from work yet.

So, what was that simple menu that caused such a sensation?

Asian Broccoli Slaw:
1 bag broccoli slaw mix from Trader Joe’s
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 Tbs. sesame oil
2 Tbs. sesame seeds

Combine dressing mix and pour on salad, to taste.
Yes, that’s it!

Pad Thai:
This is embarassing – I used a package from Trader Joe’s that was in the back of my cabinet for 6 months. The kids loved it, and it was so easy that I’ll use it again. Next time, I might add some scrambled egg, tofu and maybe some julienned bell peppers or carrots.

Asian Lettuce Wraps:
1 pound ground turkey
1 can water chestnuts
1 small red onion
2 Tbs. oyster sauce
2 Tbs. hoisin sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
Juice from 2 limes
1 Tbs. brown sugar
Large lettuce leaves (bibb lettuce works well)

1. Dice water chestnuts and red onion. Combine in a bowl, along with the oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, salt, lime juice and brown sugar.
2. In a large skillet, begin to brown the ground turkey. After 3 minutes, add red onion mixture.
3. Cook until the turkey is done.
4. Serve by putting the turkey mixture on top of a lettuce leaf. You can wrap them like a burrito, or like a taco. Either way, be prepared for some of the filling to fall out. The kids loved the fun and challenge of eating their food like this!
5. Serve with Asian broccoli slaw, pad thai noodles or steamed brown rice.

Yesterday was the first of my new After School Cooking Class series for Kids. Our class was called: Science In The Kitchen. After teaching high school biology years ago, it was fun to bring the laboratory into the kitchen!

What was on the Agenda?
We made popovers, invisible ink, sorbet in a bag and expanded marshmallows in the microwave.

Popovers

4 eggs
2 cups milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
Butter, jam, syrup or honey, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Grease 12 large muffin tin cups or 12 custard cups.
3. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat well.
4. Add the milk, flour, and salt, and beat until just blended.
5. Fill the muffin tin cups or custard cups 3/4 full with the batter.
6. Place the pan on the center rack in the oven.
7. Bake for 30 minutes without opening the oven door.
8. Serve the popovers hot with butter, jam, syrup, or honey.

What Makes Popovers “Pop”?

Steam is released from the liquids in the batter as they heat. It is confined in the oven (don’t open the door!), and gets trapped inside the gluten from flour proteins, starch, and protein from eggs. The popover literally ‘pops’ with steam, but the steam doesn’t escape because the stretchy protein holds it inside the batter.

You have been working all day, either at home with your kids or at the office.  At the end of the day, you are ready for someone else to step up and take care of you for a change.   But instead of throwing yourself on the sofa with your feet up, reality sets in and you have to think about dinner.  The simplest option, of course, is going out to eat or getting take-out.  But for some reason after doing it habitually, we feel guilty, as if we are cheating, or doing something unhealthy.  Here are some tips for enjoying restaurant food without the guilt.

• Drink a glass of water when you arrive at a restaurant.  Sometimes people confuse thirst for hunger.
• Skip the soda and save your sugar intake for something really special (did anyone say chocolate?!)
• Eat Smart.  Did you know that while super-sized options save you money, they nearly double your fat and calories?
• Get your dressing on the side, so you can use what you need without drowning your food.
• Order appetizer portions instead of entrees.  By controlling your portion size, you can prevent yourself from over eating.  Or, if you order an entrée, ask for a “to-go” box and pack up half the meal before you start eating.  Out of sight, out of mind.
• Remember – restaurant food tastes good for a reason…lots of butter and salt!  With that in mind, consider avoiding cream sauces and gravies if you are watching your waist-line.
• Choose healthy carbs, such as whole grain bread, brown rice or whole wheat pasta.
• Your mama always told you to eat your veggies.  Well, she’s right (of course)!
• Look beyond the Kid’s Menu.  Appetizers from the “regular menu” should have plenty of delicious options for kids that will expand their palates and help them to eat healthier.
• Your kids are watching what you eat.  Be sure to set a good example.

If you are feeling guilty for eating out so much, give yourself a break.  You are not alone. The average family eats out 29% of the time, where they spend 44% of their food budget.  Cut yourself some slack.  Go ahead and eat out, just make good choices.
 

Michelle Stern owns What’s Cooking, a Certified Green business that offers healthy cooking classes and birthday parties to children in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her online shop contains unique sustainable gifts and party favors as well as What’s Cooking Weekly, their online meal planning service offering recipes, grocery lists and tips on making cooking with your kids fun and simple.

Fast Food: Friend or Foe?

You are in the car, shaking and cranky with hunger, as you taxi your children around town…A whiff of food comes through the window, and you find yourself steering towards the fast food drive through. Such convenience!

But is it really possible to make healthy choices at a fast food restaurant? Here is what the experts at the Mayo Clinic have to say…

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Can fast food be part of a weight-loss or healthy diet plan? You might not think so. In fact, you might even think that you can’t have a meal that’s both quick and healthy.
But this isn’t necessarily so. An occasional stop at a fast-food restaurant can fit into a healthy diet plan. The key is to choose wisely.

1. Keep portion sizes small. If the fast-food restaurant offers several sandwich sizes, pick the smallest or order half a sandwich, if available. Bypass hamburgers with two or three beef patties, which can pack more than 1,000 calories and 70 grams of fat. Instead, choose a regular- or children’s-sized hamburger, which has about 250 to 300 calories. Also, skip the large serving of french fries or onion rings and ask for a small serving instead. This switch alone saves about 300 calories. Or better yet, select a lower calorie option.
2. Choose a healthier side dish. Take advantage of healthy side dishes offered at many fast-food restaurants. For example, instead of french fries choose a side salad with low-fat dressing or a baked potato. Or add a fruit bowl or a fruit and yogurt option to your meal. Other healthy choices include apple or orange slices, corn on the cob, steamed rice, or baked potato chips.
3. Go for the greens. Choose a large entree salad with grilled chicken, shrimp or garden vegetables with fat-free or low-fat dressing on the side, rather than regular salad dressing, which can have 300 or more calories per packet. Watch out for high-calorie salads, such as those with deep-fried shells or those topped with breaded chicken or other fried toppings. Also, skip salad extras such as cheese, bacon bits, croutons and fried chips, which quickly increase your calorie count.
4. Opt for grilled items. Fried and breaded foods, such as crispy chicken sandwiches and breaded fish fillets, are high in fat and calories. Select grilled or roasted lean meats — such as turkey or chicken breast, lean ham, or lean roast beef.
5. Have it your way. Don’t settle for what comes with your sandwich or meal. Ask for healthier options and substitutions. For example, ask for reduced-fat mayonnaise or mustard on your sandwich. Or at a fast-food Mexican restaurant, request salsa with your meal instead of shredded cheese and nacho cheese sauce. Try to avoid special dressings, tartar sauce, sour cream and other high-calorie condiments.
6. Watch what you drink. Many beverages contain a large number of calories. For example, a large soda (32 ounces) has about 400 calories. Instead, order diet soda, water, unsweetened iced tea, sparkling water or mineral water. Also, skip the shakes and other ice-cream drinks, which can contain more than 1,000 calories and all of your saturated fat allotment for the day.

You can eat healthy away from home, even at fast-food restaurants. The bottom line: Be choosy. Make wise menu choices and focus on portion control.