The first few weeks of summer break were great… The kids had all kinds of things they wanted to do and were also quite content to just do nothing for a while. Slowly that changed though and I was hearing “Mom, I’m bored” more and more often. I’m sure you’re in the same boat. After wracking my brain for a while to come up with various crafts and activities, it finally hit me… this is the perfect time to get them more involved in the kitchen. Of course it would have to be fun to make sure they stick around, but you just can’t beat keeping them busy and entertained while also teaching them some valuable life skills (proper food preparation for example).

Ready to get your kids interested in food and cooking? Then keep an eye on this blog. Over the next few weeks my team and I will share quite a few fun activities for you and the kids in the kitchen. We try to come up with something for just about any age group of kids and different skill levels.

Let’s start with something simple for the little ones.

Cereal Necklaces

This is super simple and you probably have everything you need in the house right now. Grab a box of “doughnut shaped” cereal (like fruit loops or cheerios) and some string or yarn. Pour the cereal in a box and hand each child a piece of yarn and have them thread the cereal pieces on the yarn to make edible necklaces.

I like to use fruit loop type cereal for this because of the different colors of the cereal pieces which makes them feel more like colorful beads.

Give it a try and see how much fun your kids have with this… plus you are feeding them a snack at the same time. Believe me, quite a bit of the cereal will find it’s way into their mouth while they work on the necklaces.

Stay tuned for more fun with food on this blog tomorrow.

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This is a yummy, nutritious recipe and the kids will gobble it up! Keep it on hand for those times when you need to get dinner on the table quickly.

Barbeque Black Beans And Sweet Potato

Serves 4-6, depending on their ages and appetites
Preheat oven to 400.

Ingredients:
3 Sweet potatoes, sliced
Olive oil
Salt
Garlic powder

1 can black beans, drained
1 cup BBQ sauce

Slice the sweet potatoes into 1/4″ slices and mix in a bowl with enough olive oil to cover. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Lightly sprinkle with salt. Sprinkle on garlic powder to your liking (I like it heavy!).

Bake sweet potatoes until they are soft on the inside and somewhat crispy on the outside, about 20 minutes. (Test with a fork for doneness.) Meanwhile mix the BBQ sauce with the black beans.

Pour the sauce and black bean mix over the baked sweet potatoes and serve.

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This recipe comes from our good friend Carrie Lauth at www.NaturalMomsRecipes.com. It’s a great dish to use when introducing whole wheat pasta to your family. It’s been a big hit in our house and I’m going to fix it quite regularly. I serve it with a big salad or some steamed veggies for a healthy Italian dinner.

Whole Grain Baked Spaghetti

Preheat oven to 350.

1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 12 oz. container cottage cheese
8 ounces ground turkey
1 cup sliced mushrooms
one half small onion, diced
half small green pepper, chopped
2 teaspoons diced garlic
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasonings
dash salt
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook whole grain spaghetti according to package directions, drain and set aside. Spray a deep pie plate with olive oil cooking spray. In a medium bowl, beat 1 egg with Parmesan cheese and olive oil. Add noodles to egg mixture, stir gently and place in pie plate.

In a small bowl, mix 1 egg with the cottage cheese. Spread onto the noodles.

Cook ground turkey along with the vegetables until meat is thoroughly browned. Stir in tomato sauce and seasonings. Then spoon on top of noodle/cheese mixture in the pie plate.

Bake 25-30 minutes then stop with mozzarella cheese. Return to oven and bake until cheese melts.

For more tasty and healthy whole foods recipes for families, visit www.NaturalMomsRecipes.com

Are you running out of ideas for snacks to make for your kids after they get home from school? By the way, these are great for just about anyone who needs a little something to keep hunger at bay before it’s time for dinner.

Fruits, Veggies And Dip

Keep some cut up veggies and fruits ready in the fridge. Offer them alongside a fun dip. Ranch dressing or sour cream seasoned with some fresh herbs are always popular choices for raw or lightly steamed veggies. If your kids (or you) enjoy spicy food, set out a small bowl of salsa for dipping.

When you’re serving fruit and want to add a dip, try some flavored yogurt, or plain yogurt sweetened  with honey for a yummy treat.

Meat, Cheese and Crackers

This is an old favorite in our house. Grab some lunch meat and cheese and cut it into small pieces. Serve them with crackers and let the kids make their own cracker sandwiches.

If you have leftover chicken, turn it into chicken salad and serve with crackers. Of course you can do the same with canned tuna.

Peanut butter and jelly or banana slices on crackers make for some fun mini-sandwiches.

Smoothies

Get out your blender and trow in some frozen fruit, along with some yogurt and/ or milk for a quick healthy snack. By varying the fruits and yogurt flavors you can make almost endless variations of these cool treats.

In A Hurry

When you’re in a hurry, pour a bowl of cereal, or grab some portable fruit (like apples or bananas). It’s also a good idea to make up a batch of trail mix with mini pretzels, dry cereal and various dried fruits and nuts. It’s great to take along in the car or for after-school activities. Add some water or juice and the kids are ready to go.

We’ve had a great time on Saturday coloring a bunch of Easter Eggs. I usually keep them in the fridge and we end up eating them for the next few days. Here are some of the things we like to do with hard boiled eggs.

• Put them on Salads
• Make Egg Salad and serve it on bread, tortillas or bagels
• Make Potato Salad and add them
• Add them to wraps and sandwiches
• Serve them with a little mayo on a biscuit for breaksfast
• Just by themselves with a little salt on them for a snack
• Make deviled eggs

I’m sure there are more, but that’s about all I can think of right now

How about you? What do you make with those hard boiled Easter eggs?

Decorating Easter Eggs with the Kids (or just by yourself) is a lot of fun, but before you can start dying, painting and adding stickers to those eggs, you have to boil them first.

The perfect boiled easter egg has a nice fluffy yolk that is the perfect shade of yellow. What you don’t want is an egg whose inside starts to look green - Yuck.

Here’s my no-fail method of getting those perfectly yellow eggs.

Put eggs in a large pot, in a single layer and cover with COLD water. Turn on the heat under the eggs and as soon as they come to a full boil, remove them from the heat and let them sit in the hot water for about 15-20 minutes.

Take them out and let them cool completely before you start to decorate them.

Enjoy!

A few days ago, I shared some tips on how to store herbs. Today I’d like to propose another alternative. How about growing herbs right on your kitchen counter, or the window sill? It’s a lot easier than you may think and there just isn’t a way to get fresher herbs
1.Get to know your location
Where are you planning to have your little indoor garden? Take a look at the windows that you can reasonably use and consider how much exposure to sunlight your herbs will get. Unless there is something specifically blocking the way, southern and eastern exposures tend to have the best light. You can decide what to grow based on what light you have. For instance, basil, thyme, tarragon, rosemary and oregano all need regular full sunlight, while chervil, mint and lemon balm do best in shadier conditions.

2.Give them a good start
Some herbs do quite well if you start them out before you put them in the soil. Take some time, and wet a paper towel before putting your seeds into it. Keep the paper towel moist, but not soaking wet, and you’ll soon some sprouts. This is a great way to start herbs off and give them a better chance to grow towards maturity.

3.Soil
There are a lot of different opinions out there on the best soil to be found. Probably by far and away the best to use is something from your compost heap. If you don’t have a compost heap, you can start with simple potting soil. Many people like a mixture that is two parts clean potting soil to 1 part perlite. Remember to line to the bottom of your containers with gravel to ensure good drainage.

4.Watering
Over-watering is a mistake that many novices make, and it can be just as detrimental as not watering at all. Make sure that the water is drained out of the bottom of your pots and that you know how much each herb needs; they will have varying needs and issues, so check them daily for yellow leaves Similarly, make sure that the water you give them stands at about room temperature. Sudden changes in water temperature can be detrimental to plants, especially young ones.

5.Maintenance
There are a few tasks that should be undertaken on a regular basis in order to keep your indoor herb garden running all year round. Remember to repot your herbs annually, renew the annuals and make sure that the plants do not become overgrown. Regular pruning will do wonders, as will occasionally rotating your setup out of doors.

We love to cook with fresh herbs. It just gives almost any dish a fresh and delicious taste. Of course the most perfect solution for getting fresh herbs would be to grow them in your garden or on your window sill, but that’s not always possible or practical. The next best option is to get them at the store or market and then store them properly to keep them fresh and usable for as long as possible.

To keep herbs fresh longer, loosely wrap them in a damp paper towel, place in a plastic bag and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. If you can’t use all of them up within a few days, you may want to consider freezing them. We use two different ways depending on what we will use the herbs in later. For herbs to use in soups, stews and sauces, just  chop the herbs and add them along with a little water to ice cube trays and freeze. When you’re ready to season your dish with the fresh herb, just plop  the herb ice cube in the cooking liquid.

The second option is to clean the herbs, put them in small freezer bags and then throw them in the freezer. We like to use enough herbs for one recipe or dish per bag. That way you can take one out and use it today and another one a few weeks from now.

Both of these freezing techniques work  great whenever you buy or grow more herbs than you can use right away and it ensures that you have fresh seasonings all year long.