Healthy Cooking for Kids: Free Cooking Class at Williams Sonoma

William Sonoma is offering a free "Healthy Cooking for Kids" class on Sunday, March 25 at 12:00 noon.  To attend, simply sign up ahead of time at your local Williams Sonoma store.  Kids are welcome to attend the class with a grown up.  I signed up myself and WP!  When I signed up, they told me that:

• they will show techniques and tips for involving kids in the cooking process
• they will be making Cauliflower & Cheese as a healthy alternative to Mac & Cheese
• they will be using the juicer to make fresh juice
• the day of the class, attendees get 10% off a store purchase 

Williams Sonoma has a neat little 'kids' section of the store with lots of tools that make food and cooking very kid-friendly.  I recently got the mini/kid version of these veggie scrubbing gloves so that WP can help me wash veggies! 

FYI - I am not paid by Williams Sonoma to say any of this... I just thought our readers would like to know! 

Really. Terrible. Cupcakes.

I made Gluten Free Beet Cupcakes, and they were terrible. Really terrible.

I was actually disappointed because I had very high hopes for them. What causes an other-wise-sane person to think Gluten Free Beet Cupcakes would be tasty? Maybe it was the stunning pictures of Aran's Gluten-Free Beet Poppyseed Muffins on Cannelle et Vanille. How could something so pretty taste so bad?! Maybe it was these delicious looking Beet Almond Cookies from Cookie Underground (they supposedly taste great too!) Maybe it's because I recently had lunch with my sweet friend Celani of Melanger... and I was hoping some of her baking skills rubbed off on me, allowing me to turn gluten-free flour mix and beets into cupcake goodness.

For the record, I was wrong on all above accounts. I made up the recipe for the really terrible cupcakes... so I'm only insulting myself here. I honestly think this was the worst thing I ever made (even though the icing was a pretty color!) And I will never share the recipe. Just know, KidEats readers, that for every good recipe we deem worthy of posting on the blog, there are 3 or 4 bad recipes that didn't make the cut.  Like Gluten Free Beet Cupcakes. Blech.

From now on, I will leave the beet-baking to more talented bakers!

Love, Lauren

Repurpose Baby Spoons

Do these plastic baby spoons accumulate in your house like they do in mine?  If your kid is starting to outgrow them, but you aren't ready to throw them out, you can repurpose them:

1. As tasting spoons. (This one is my favorite - I do it all the time. I am constantly tasting what I cook.) 
2. For eating Fage yogurt (I love this stuff, but a regular spoon won't fit in the tiny compartment with the fruit topping. Actually, I've started to use these baby spoons with any yogurt or ice cream. Taking lots of tiny bites helps the snack last longer and feel like more!)
3. Alongside shot-glass desserts (I'm so glad restaurants like P.F. Chang's now offer 'mini' desserts - often served in tiny glasses.  I recently used these spoons with my Peanut Butter Parfait recipe.) 
4. As serving spoons for condiments (the plastic ones would be cute for a BBQ cookout or kid's party and silver baby spoons would be great for a shower - to serve nuts, candy, etc...)

I wanted to have a nice, round number of ideas, but couldn't think of a 5th. Can you?

How to Chop an Onion

Learning this technique made me feel like a chef- fo' real. My eyes are always on fire when I cut onions but this is so fast that I can usually get by without wincing.  I use this method even when I'm doing a thicker dice.  It's just so much faster and you get a more uniform sized dice.

Other helpful tips are to keep your onion in the fridge and to use a sharp knife.  My grandma always put tissue in her nose, which helps.  I wore swimming goggles in college, which helped. I've also heard that holding a match between your teeth while chopping helps . . .

THE TECHNIQUE:

Basically, you cut an onion in half, splitting the root.  Cut off the other end and peel off the outer layers.  Using the tip of your knife pointed at the root, make thin parallel slices, being careful not to go through or past the root. Hold the slices together and make a few cuts perpendicular to the ones you just made.  Now, slice your onion.  Genius! Watch this short instructional video.

Arsenic in our Juice?!

UPDATE-
This article listed brands they tested with the least amount of arsenic-

Welch's Pourable Concentrate 100% Apple Juice, America's Choice Apple; Tropicana 100% Apple; and Red Jacket Orchards 100% Apple.

America's Choice is listed below too.  I'm not sure what that means. . . Also, if the arsenic is coming from the ground, why aren't they testing the fresh produce.  Is it safe?? What about other products that contain these fruits? 

A friend just sent me this link.  

http://health.yahoo.net/articles/nutrition/arsenic-in-juice

Please read this article.  Arsenic is a known carcinogen and is also found in baby foods and rice cereal! I am emptying my juice bottles until I can find a safe alternative. 

Here is an excerpt-

Our study, including tests of apple and grape juice, a scientific analysis of federal health data, a consumer poll, and interviews with doctors and other experts, finds the following:

Oh, Daylight Savings Time . . .

These pictures were taken at 6:15 pm.  My boys aren't the best sleepers.  I think they have potential but between traveling and visitors, I don't feel like we give them a fair chance to excel in this aspect of their lives!  As of mid-October, we officially have no travel or visitors planned and the boys were starting to do alright.  Then . . . DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME! I decided to do some research since I really didn't understand why we did it.  I've always heard that it was for the farmers but learned that farmers are actually against it!

 Here is a summary of what I learned about Daylight Savings Time on Wikipedia:

Turning 'Yuck' into 'Yum' for Picky Eaters

Studies show that 30-50% of parents of preschool age children say they have picky eaters.  I guess that every-parent-I-know is a poor sample size, because I would've guessed the percentages to be even higher, say, 100%!  Either way,  this is a wonderful podcast on picky eaters, featuring Kayla Boyse, R.N. from the University of Michigan.  It is free on iTunesU, and certainly worth the time to download and listen to. 

Here are the highlights: 

• Pickiness often starts along with walking and may be a human defense mechanism (so that your one year old doesn't eat the poisonous berries.)  The good news: pickiness often fades around age 4 or 5 or 6. 
• The principle of repeated exposure says that the more times you are exposed to something, the more you start to like it. Most kids must taste (not just see) a food about 10 times before they start to like it.  Unfortunately, parents usually give up after 3 or 4 times. 
• When it comes to modeling good eating habits, other kids (or even admired cartoon characters) are more effective than Mom & Dad.
• The more you use food as a reward (e.g.: if you eat your dinner, you can have ice cream), the more kids learn to like it.   

The bottom line: Parents are responsible for WHAT goes on the plate, and the child is responsible for HOW MUCH gets eaten. Good to remember!