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Fun Sweet “Sushi” to Make for Kids

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009

Fun Sushi to Make for Kids

Yuta, Yoji and Miki made this awesome “sushi” for a school birthday party. It’s made out of homemade rice crispy treats, gummy fish and fruit roll-ups. How cute and cool!

The one question everyone’s asking is: How did they get the rice crispy treats to be soooo pure white? Any ideas? If so, please let us know in the comments below! (I also wonder where you get the faux lacquer boxes?)

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Canada, Cooking with Kids, Countries & Cultures, Cuisine, Desserts, Food Sculptures, Japan, Japanese Cuisine, Kids Sushi, Mama Lisa, Miscellaneous, Parenting, Questions, Recipes of the World, Sushi, USA | 6 Comments »

Chocolate Hershey Kiss Pretzel Sandwich Candy a.k.a. "Grids"

Monday, March 16th, 2009

Here’s a yummy recipe given to me by Corrine Lewack. Corrine pointed out that it’s a good “math” teaching recipe to make with kids, since it involves counting out candy kisses and then doubling the amount of pretzels per kiss to make “sandwiches”.

What you will need:
25 Hershey Kisses (Plain)
50 Snyder’s of Hanover Pretzel Snaps (they are little 3 square x 4 square rectangular pretzels)
1 large sheet pan
Aluminum Foil or Parchment Paper (to cover the sheet pan… who wants to clean? LOL)

Math: You will need 2 unbroken pretzel snaps for every 1 kiss. You will probably want to make more. (This is good for the kiddies, they can count out the kisses and double the amount of pretzels per kiss).

What to do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Unwrap the kisses. Foil is not tasty.
Place parchment paper or aluminum foil on the sheet pan.
Place pretzel snaps on the sheet pan.
Place a Hershey Kiss in the center of each snap. (See Photo 1)
Put kiss/pretzel in the oven for only TWO MINUTES… NO MORE! Remove from oven.
Place a Pretzel snap on top of melted kiss, push down slightly to make a sandwich. (See Photo 2)
Allow Grids to cool… or place in the refrigerator for quick cooling.

Getting ready for their quick melt in the oven. (They will retain there kiss shape but will be soft).

Voila! These are soo good… perfect for those salty/sweet moments!

Corrine wrote, “I must thank my wonderful sister-in-law, Jenny for bringing this recipe into our lives… Enjoy! xo xo”

Here are some variations to the recipe given by Corrine’s friends:

Cindy Roter wrote: “How clever! I can so see topping those little babies with peanut butter… Thanks for the share. Cindy”

Chelle Baldwin wrote: “I can top this one! Same idea but different ingredients. Get the pretzels, top with a rolo. Heat on low in the oven for a few minutes, then take it out and smoosh the rolo down with either a pecan or another pretzel. Super yummy!”

Susan Leonard Evans wrote: “Hahhaa, AWESOME! Thanks for sharing, I’m definitely going to try these. Also, I’ve had similar treats using "pastel-colored" chocolate wafers. Someone made them around Easter – they were yummy AND festive! Just an option :) Thanks again – xo xo xo xo”

Thanks to all of you for the great, yummy ideas!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Chocolate Hershey Kiss Pretzel Sandwich Candy, Cooking with Kids, Countries & Cultures, Desserts, Holidays Around the World, Math, Parenting, Recipes of the World, Teaching, USA | No Comments »

A Five Year Old with a Cooking Show!

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

This is so cute! A 5 year old kid with a cooking show in Portland called “The Big Kitchen With Food”. It may give you ideas about how to cook with kids. Though it shows one kid, Julian Kreusser, cooking a recipe by himself.

Check it out and share it with kids you know….

Enjoy and bon appétit!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Cooking with Kids, Countries & Cultures, Mama Lisa, Movies & TV, Parenting, USA, Video | 3 Comments »

A Cupcake Christmas Tree

Thursday, December 18th, 2008

Corrine Lewack made this wonderful cupcake Christmas tree – that you can see in the photo above – for a party. Here’s what she wrote about it:

“Here’s the cupcake tree.. not as easy as I thought… well it was easy… but had no patience tonight to space the cupcakes properly.. but… I wouldn’t have had enough.. this is 47 cupcakes.. :ahem, I don’t know WHAT could have happened with one of them: lol… probably could have used another 20ish cupcakes to make it more “tight”… and it was messy… maybe next time make cupcakes with a hardened glaze frosting on top? Not sure.. the cupcakes are “stuck” onto an aluminum-foil-wrapped 12″ Styrofoam cone with toothpicks… suggest using the “flat” toothpicks.. cuz those suckers are POINTY…

All suggestions will be gladly accepted… :) .. p.s. dontcha love my dairy cow salt and pepper shakers? xoxo”

I asked Corrine if she used the whipped icing that you can buy in the stores, because that would be softer. She said, “it WAS the whipped type of frosting… never again, lol.” I’d suggest instead using regular icing (i.e. not whipped) so it doesn’t drip off. If anyone has any other suggestions, please let us know in the comments below.

Thanks!

Mama Lisa

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Posted in Christmas, Cooking with Kids, Countries & Cultures, Cupcake Tree, Decorating Cupcakes, Desserts, Holidays Around the World, Mama Lisa, Parenting, Recipes of the World, USA | 2 Comments »

To Avoid Current Day Food Dyes Would You Eat a Bug?

Saturday, December 6th, 2008

I’m trying to work out ways to dye icing that don’t involve food dye. Some of the dyes today are questionable health-wise, but also, I’d like my kids to see that you can do things the old-fashioned way.

Looking back at old cookbooks, I keep noticing that they used a lot of cochineal powder to dye their icing. It comes out red or pink.

I thought about trying to use that method myself, but when I read more I discovered something that made me reconsider: Cochineal powder is made of bugs!

Actually, it comes from insects that live on cactus plants. They’re found largely in Mexico, Peru and Spain.

They were originally introduced to Europe from Mexico in the 16th century. Cochineal insects were likely used in dyes in Mexico as early as the 11th century by the Aztecs.

I like to be adventurous in my eating, but I don’t know if I’m quite ready for that. I think I’ll try to find alternatives to Cochineal in my search for natural food colorings! I’ll post a link here to my results.

(But here’s the dirty secret – don’t read this, unless you have a strong stomach! We’re already eating the equivalent of Cochineal all the time. It’s called Carmine Dye. It’s considered a natural food coloring and it’s used in many different types of food! It’s also used in makeup, girls – even some Burt Bee’s Lip Balm has Carmine in it…)

-Mama Lisa

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Posted in Cooking with Kids, Countries & Cultures, Food & Nutrition, Food Coloring, Food and Nutrition, Mama Lisa, Mexico, Parenting, Peru, Spain, USA | 4 Comments »

Should You Buy Organic for Your Family?

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

Deciding whether or not to buy organic food for your family is a harder question in today’s economic climate, where people are worried about job security.

One answer is to selectively buy organic. Specifically seek out organic produce based on which foods have the highest levels of pesticides on them. The not-for-profit Environmental Working Group did about 43,000 tests on produce between 2000 and 2005.

Here were the 12 worst foods – meaning these you should buy organic:

Peaches (Highest pesticide load)
Apples
Sweet Bell Peppers
Celery
Nectarines
Strawberries
Cherries
Lettuce
Grapes (Imported/Not domestic US)
Pears
Spinach
Potatoes

The 12 best foods, meaning lowest in pesticides:

Eggplant
Broccoli
Cabbage
Bananas
Kiwi
Asparagus
Sweet Peas-Frozen
Mango
Pineapples
Sweet Corn-Frozen
Avocado
Onions (lowest pesticides)

You can go to FoodNews to see the full list.

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Posted in Child Safety, Cooking with Kids, Countries & Cultures, English, Food and Nutrition, Mama Lisa, Organic Food, Parenting, USA | No Comments »

Kids Birthday Party Idea – Decorate Cookies

Wednesday, August 6th, 2008

Kids Love to decorate cookies and cupcakes – I’ve used this as an event at two of my daughter’s birthday parties. When she turned two I had the kids decorate their own cupcakes to eat. This year she turned 7 and the girls at her party decorated cookies as one of the activities.

I made round sugar cookies in advance – two per girl. (If you want to cut down on your work you can buy the pre-made sugar cookie dough in the dairy section of the supermarket.) Then we prepared white icing. We made three pretty pastel colors for them to use – pink, lavender and yellow. (If it’s for a boy’s party I would make more boyish colors.)

Then I had fun toppings available for the kids to use: sprinkles, crystal sugar, M & M’s and chocolate chips.

The activity took about 15 – 20 minutes. We wrapped up the cookies on plates for the kids to take home.

The kids had a ball!

(This doesn’t have to be just for parties or holidays – you can do this on a rainy day just for fun.)

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Posted in Australia, Birthdays, Canada, Cookies, Cooking with Kids, Countries & Cultures, Decorating Cookies, Decorating Cookies, Decorating Cupcakes, Desserts, Great Britain, Holidays Around the World, Kids Parties, Mama Lisa, Parenting, Parties, Recipes of the World, USA | 2 Comments »

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Archive for the 'Cooking with Kids' Category

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Posts

Fun Sweet “Sushi” to Make for Kids

Chocolate Hershey Kiss Pretzel Sandwich Candy a.k.a. "Grids"

A Five Year Old with a Cooking Show!

A Cupcake Christmas Tree

To Avoid Current Day Food Dyes Would You Eat a Bug?

Should You Buy Organic for Your Family?

Kids Birthday Party Idea – Decorate Cookies