Unprocessed with kids: Make-your-own ambrosia

The little guy's class has been having a visitor from our local co-op every couple of weeks. The guest teacher talks to the kids about real foods and healthy choices; she shares a recipe, and the kids get to make and eat a snack made with whole foods. I absolutely love that our messages about food are being re-affirmed in school.

Today, the little guy bounced out of school, gripping this paper in his fingers. He could not wait to tell me: they made ambrosia!

The guest teacher's topic today was long energy sweets and short energy sweets...foods that make you feel good for only a few minutes and foods that give you energy for the day. He compared the short energy sweets to our red foods. :) And then they made ambrosia. He read the recipe to me, and I assured him that we had all of the ingredients in our house. He explained that the pictures at the top were long energy treats: a pear, an apple, a banana, and a pea.

When we came home, the kids immediately washed their hands and got out their kitchen stools. We talked about the fact that we were low on plain yogurt (Mommy uses it in her oatmeal each morning), so we were going to "break the recipe into three," as the little guy put it.

Both kids put 1/2 cup plain yogurt into their bowls. We had a little incident when the little girl tried to add her "dashes" of cinnamon...the cinnamon dashed fairly explosively and I had to scrape a bunch of it out of her bowl. Then they both added a teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of maple syrup. ("The grown-up has to pour it into the spoon because it's so sticky.")

The kids brought their snack to the table, stirred vigorously, and gobbled up the entire bowlful. This is especially exciting because, along with cereal, flavored yogurts are a favorite that I have found impossible to get out of our house. I was shocked when I first read that flavored yogurts are one of the biggest unprocessed offenders, with lots of added sugar and ingredients that I certainly wouldn't have in my kitchen. I've tried adding homemade fruit jams, vanilla, and honey to plain yogurt, but to no success. Apparently when they make it themselves, it's somehow different...they loved it!

Slaying the dragon

I'm not sure how it's possible (parents always start birthday posts that way, don't they?), but my baby girl turned five this weekend. My little girl is a warrior princess: she loves everything princessy, pink, and sparkly, but her favorite princesses are Eowyn (Lord of the Rings), Leia (Star Wars), and Merida (Brave). While dressed in fancy princess dresses, she climbs trees, shoots bows and arrows, and runs from Darth Vader.

When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she first said princesses (she loves looking at the Disney princess cakes at the big grocery stores). Then she wanted a castle. And finally, she settled on a red dragon. (Smaug - from the Hobbit - is her favorite and has been her Halloween costume for the past two years.)

There are many pictures of dragon cakes out there, and many seem to follow the same basic pattern. I followed this set of instructions. The birthday girl requested "vanilla cake," which I took to mean yellow. I asked on Twitter for a good, sturdy, yummy yellow cake, and my friend Rebecca recommended Rosie's golden cake (recipe can be found here). I used my 9" rounds, and although the recipe said to bake them for 35 minutes, by 32 minutes, they were already very done. Didn't matter; the cake was moist and delicious. And (most importantly for me!) very sturdy.

I used the same ATK 7-minute frosting that I used for the little guy. It makes a ton and the kids love the marshmallowy flavor. Despite a lot of red gel food coloring, the frosting never got darker than a deep pink. It's okay; the little girl loves pink, and she easily adjusted her expectations.

The girl and her daddy were in charge of decorating design. She picked the colors for all of the pieces, and she helped Daddy design the flames and wings. Given our recent unprocessed journey, I was quite distressed to spend so much time in the snack aisle looking for decorations: luckily, I didn't have to buy too much. I found a multi-colored fruit slice pack, which I used for the claws, eyes, and eye brows. The chocolate-covered graham cookies were perfect for the spikes. And I found a multi-pack of fruit roll-ups and fruit-by-the-foot, which became the wings and flames. We already had chocolate chips (eye balls) and kisses (nostrils).

The cake was a huge hit; it was definitely my biggest cake-decorating success. The guests all loved the dragon, and the kids had fun requesting body parts, starting with the birthday girl, who wanted the head. And I'm happy to have a new no-fail cake-building yellow cake to add to my chocolate cake and frosting. Happy birthday, sweet girl!

Colorful parenting

In the car last week, the kids were asking about going out for ice cream this week (after our unprocessed month was over). That was one of the hardest things of this month for them: our favorite little corner ice cream shop opened this month, and we couldn't go get our first cones. Anyway, I asked them, "Once our unprocessed month is over, does that mean we should go back to eating whatever we want, lots of processed foods?" They both said, "No!! We'll still eat mostly green foods, but we can have red foods sometimes as special treats."

A couple of weeks ago, on 100 Days of Real Food, they posted a guide on how to talk to kids about food. They provide a great conversation starter, using the analogy of race cars needing the right kinds of fuel. The article ends with this idea of thinking of foods in terms of a traffic light: GREEN foods are those that are the best for our body, whole foods, unprocessed, make your body feel and work the best. YELLOW foods are those that are okay to eat sometimes, but you don't want to eat too much or too many. RED foods are those you want to avoid as much as possible (I like that they don't say that you can NEVER have them, since never never works). Red foods have bad ingredients like artificial food
dyes, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and things you can't even pronounce.

The kids jumped on board. We grabbed a sheet of white paper and three crayons and started brainstorming foods from each category. Of course water and vegetables and fruits went into green. The little girl was thrilled that milk was a green food. Then we moved on to yellow, things that aren't the best for us, but it's okay to enjoy sometimes: mommy-made cookies and cakes, ice cream, packaged crackers. We actually pulled a few boxes out of the cupboards to check ingredient lists. Finally, we listed red foods...the kids were sad to see their favorite icee-pops, fruit snacks, gummy bears on this list, but they had fun thinking of things to add. They were more excited by how many of their favorites made the green and yellow lists.

I suggested hanging the sign in the kitchen, but my little guy grabbed it out of my hands: "No! I need to hang it in our room so we can look at it all the time and remember!"

The kids ask all the time now what color foods are. We've even made up some variations...the little girl's favorite almond crackers, for example, we called yellowish green, because they have more than five ingredients on the package, but they're all healthy. On the other side are mommy-made brownies, made with white flour...they're closer to yellowy-red (or orange). This has been such a great teaching tool for us.

Unprocessed parenting, week one reflections

We decided to tackle the unprocessed/real food challenge to improve our family's health, but to be honest, it was mainly about refocusing our (the grownups') crappy eating habits. But the more I read, the more I become convinced that eating this way is better for all of us. We are not being super strict with the kids: obviously their dinners are unprocessed because they're eating with us (with the exception of their mini-yogurts), and they're eating more unprocessed snacks and breakfasts at home. The little guy's lunch box has been mostly unprocessed, with the exception of an occasional "jammy sammy" to round out his lunch. But during the week, when they're at their grandpa's or at preschool or kindergarten, they're still eating the way they always have. It has been interesting to watch their response to these conversations.

My friend Rebecca pointed out this article to me; in it, Mark Bittman writes about the excessively over-processed nature of most of the foods we eat. One of the biggest processed foods is store-bought cereal; it made me feel guilty that my kids eat so much of it. We use cereal for breakfast, for after-school snacks, and even for after-dinner snacks. I mentioned it at dinner the other day, and my kids both got a panicked look on their faces: Was I going to take away their cereal?! But I reminded them that their daddy and I were not going to *make* them do anything...I just wanted them to be aware of what they were eating. I'm trying to figure out other, more "real," snacks that I can offer instead of cereal.

Another of the kids' favorite foods, mini Yoplait or Dannon yogurts, were on a list of the least healthy/most added crap children's food. Again, the kids looked panicked when I brought it up. Instead of replacing their mini-yogurts with the suggested plain yogurt flavored with fruit syrup (we've tried in the past, and it hasn't gone over well), we purchased a couple of the "best" versions (most healthy/least added crap) for them to try: they both responded positively to the new brands.

Some of the unprocessed versions of food are taking some getting used to. My little girl, whose favorite dinner food in the whole world is noodles, decided that she didn't like Mommy-made noodles the first time we had them. I explained that that was fine, but that those were the only noodles we were going to have this month. She finally started to eat them. The next time they were on the menu, she pitched a complete fit; then she headed to the table, where she took one bite and said, "I LOVE these!" and has since requested Mommy-made noodles twice. The same could not be said of Mommy-made tortillas, which neither kid liked, although they both did give it a good try.

At the grocery store, the kids asked for their usual kids'-cookie that many stores now give out to make the shopping experience more pleasant for kids and parents. When I explained that the store-bought cookies weren't unprocessed, we had two very upset kiddos on our hands. I comforted them with the idea of a mommy-made treat when we got home, and they were super excited to have some of the birthday cake and whipped cream that I was making for a friend. Not exactly a healthy treat, but at least one where I knew what all of the ingredients were.

Even after a week, eating real, unprocessed foods has definitely become the norm. On Sunday night, we had chili, and the little guy asked if there were any tortilla chips. I explained that no, store-bought chips were some of the worst foods for our bodies. Without skipping a beat, he said, "Well, Mom, can't you go make us some tortilla chips?!" I'm working on it.....

A final sign that this has become the new norm for the kids: While walking to the car after kindergarten the other day, the little guy said, "Let's catch rain drops on our tongues...they're unprocessed!" :)

Wordless Wednesday: Unprocessed kids

Guess the kids are on board with the whole unprocessed idea. Without any mention of yesterday's discussion, the little guy walked in the door from school, pulled all of the kids' cookbooks off the shelf, and said, "Let's get started finding some good non-store-bought foods to make at home!"

What did she want to do as soon as she walked in the door?

Make more of these.

Cooking with kids: pigs in a blanket

In my final Mellow Bakers' post, I talked about how excited I was to be finished with my bread baking challenge(s). Finally, I'd have time to experiment! To bake on a whim. Hubby noticed tonight that I've been doing just that: making fun little desserts again, baking a spontaneous batch of rolls for a quick lunch, cooking for fun.

So, on a whim, yesterday I picked up a package of beef lil' smokies. When we got home from our museum adventures today, I mixed up a half-batch of PR's BBA white bread (with a little white whole wheat thrown in). Because it was already 3:00, I helped the dough a bit by letting it rise in my slightly warm oven.

Once doubled, I measured out 9 two-ounce portions which I rolled into balls. I used my rolling pin to roll out the rest of the dough into a big sheet of dough, about 1/8" thick. I used my pizza cutter to cut out one-inch strips, and then trimmed them to about 1 1/2". And this is where the kiddos came in: they rolled each strip of dough around one of the lil' smokies. As they rolled, they talked to their sausages, "Good night, little piggie. Time to go to sleep! I'm rolling you up into your little blanket!" And then they sang good night songs. Good times were had by all.

I let the pigs in a blanket (and the rolls) rest on their baking sheet for another 45 minutes or so, and then baked them in a 350º oven for fifteen minutes. Because I was brushing the rolls with melted butter, I brushed the piggies, too.

These were a huge hit! And unlike many bread baking projects, they actually had a pretty quick turn-around time. They're so tiny that they only needed to cool for about three minutes before the kiddos (and hubby) started gobbling them up.

Donna Hay's rainbow whoopie pies (Twitter avatar fun)

Our first chef-of-the-month for 2012 is Donna Hay, chosen by Kayte. I'd never heard of Donna Hay, but apparently she is a very famous and prolific Australian cookbook author. I spent quite an enjoyable amount of time browsing her site and checking out recipes. She has a kids' section, which especially appealed to me.

Baby girl and I picked the rainbow whoopie pies...baking them together was a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning! I've heard a lot about whoopie pies on the blogosphere over the past year, but had yet to try any. We still have a counter-full of holiday cookies that hubby's mom left for us when she visited last week, so I knew we didn't need a lot more sweets, so I just made a third of the recipe.

The cookies were easy and the little girl had fun dumping ingredients into the bowl and using the scale to make sure we had the right amount. DH says the dough is wet (which it is) and difficult to form into balls, but we used one of my cookie scoops, which worked just fine. I actually got 16 cookies from the 1/3 batch, and they were perfectly done in 15 minutes. While they baked, I made the filling with marshmallows, butter, and a little white chocolate. Unsurprisingly, the taste and texture was very similar to a rice crispie bar. I'm a little confused about the amounts; I made over 1/3 of the filling recipe, and yet it was only enough to fill the three sandwiches you see in the picture above. So we had ten plain chocolate cookies leftover (unfortunately, I'm out of marshmallows so I couldn't make more filling).

These were delicious little treats! Hubby especially enjoyed his with his coffee, although I'm not sure they technically count as a healthy breakfast treat. :) And the leftover cookies made perfect ice cream sandwiches for dessert. ;)

Donna Hay's rainbow whoopie pies
scaled from Donna Hay
makes 8 or 9 whoopie pies (this is 1/3 of the cookie recipe and 2/3 of the filling recipe)

83 g unsalted butter, softened
60 g light brown sugar
55 g superfine sugar
1 egg
125 g all-purpose flour
17 g cocoa
scant 1/2 tsp baking powder
100 g marshmallows
20 g unsalted butter
40 g white chocolate (chips or chopped bar)
rainbow sprinkles

1. Preheat oven to 300º.
2. Beat butter and sugars together in a large mixing bowl until pale and creamy.
3. Add egg and beat until combined.
4. Sift flour, cocoa, and baking powder on top of the wet ingredients and stir until combined.
5. Use a cookie scoop to portion cookie balls onto parchment-lined baking sheet.
6. Bake cookies for 15 minutes, until baked through. Cool on wire rack.
7.While cookies are baking, make filling: combine marshmallows and 20 g butter in a small saucepan and cook over low, stirring constantly, until smooth. Off heat, add chocolate and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool. (It will get firm and sticky instantly, so I transferred it quickly to a bowl to cool.)
8. Match cookies up by size. Put filling on one side, put another cookie on top, and sprinkle the sprinkles around the outside.

I get by with a little help from my friends

I just love reading about other people's culinary adventures. In fact, it amazes me how many hours I can spend reading other food blogs, salivating over marvelous pictures, chuckling at misadventures that remind me of my own, and gathering helpful hints about how to approach various breads or improve various baked goods.

One of my favorite things about being a part of this community is all of the delicious new dishes to try, especially when we're getting a little bored with the usual fare at home. My try-this! list has at least a bajillion recipes on it from other sites. Case in point: the past 24 hours.

Sally posted this recipe (from the Splendid Table) for Sweet Roasted Butternut Squash and Greens over Pasta a couple of weeks ago, which I immediately bookmarked and knew I had to try. That was dinner tonight: such unusual flavor combinations, with the sweetness of the squash, the bite of the lettuce, the saltiness of the cheese. Yum!

The first comment to Sally's post was from Anne Marie, with another link to the Splendid Table, and a recipe for Rainbow Peanut Noodles. I made that one last night for dinner. Oh my, was this recipe ever good! I'm a little sad that I only thought about getting it into my tummy and didn't think about grabbing the camera, because it was absolutely gorgeous with all of the bright summer colors. But only a little sad because it was so, so very tasty; I am positive it will be a weekly regular at our house from now on. And today at lunch, I forgot it was a cold salad and accidentally warmed my lunch portion in the microwave; it was awesome that way, too!

Finally, two days ago, Renee wrote a post about baking with her adorable daughter and making Aggression Cookies. Just had to try these with the little ones after work today. So much fun! And the cookies (and cookie dough) were quite a tasty treat! Hubby, the kiddos, and I all ate more than our fair share. We will be making these again (although this time I halved the recipe and gave each kiddo half of a half; next time, I'll quarter the recipe, and I still think it will be plenty!).

Our mise-en-place (notice two of everything: flour, oatmeal, softened butter, baking soda, and brown sugar):

Thanks, friends!