Kids Cooking and Cookbook Blog Site

I just came back from the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences (AAFCS) meeting in Cleveland. One of the highlights of the meeting was hearing Michael F. Roizen, M.D. talk about living every day to the fullest through a healthy lifestyle. He and Dr. Oz host a show on Oprah and Friends radio where they discuss healing techniques, preventative medicine and the latest in health news. They also share a daily syndicated newspaper column. He is currently chief wellness officer and chair of the Wellness Institute at the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr. Roizen pointed out 4 areas of choices we make that impact our longevity and quality of life. They are:
tobacco
food choices and portion size
physical activity
stress

“No smoking” campaigns have greatly lessened the tobacco usage in the US, but smoking is on the rise again, according to his statements.

Here is information from Dr. Roizen about food choices and portion size:

Eliminate or limit saturated fat and trans fats. These kinds of fats are found mostly in meats, luncheon meats, full-fat dairy products, baked goods, fried fast foods, and palm and coconut oils.
Avoid simple sugars, including syrup (corn, malt, rice, maple).
Stay away from most white, processed food.
Use a smaller sized plate, such as a 9-inch rather than the more traditional larger sizes.

I was especially interested in his comment: “Teach cooking!” By preparing food in the home we can make a much more direct effect on our health.

Concerning physical activity, Dr. Roizen said to walk 30 minutes every day. Using a pedometer is helpful.

Five minutes of meditation morning and evening would help with stress control.

These were only some of the highlights that I wanted to share with you today.

Lee Jackson, CFCS
Home and Family Living Coach

Soup is a good hearty meal, or part of a meal, in most any season. However, when the wind is blowing and the snow is falling, as it is today, I like to make soup and enjoy its comfort and warmth.

Here is a soup from Amy Houts’ new cookbook for children, Cooking Around the Country With Kids: USA Regional Recipes and Fun Activities. In her book, Amy concentrates on food from each region of the US. It is a cookbook that lets children really engage in the history of the United States through the food of a particular region.

This recipe, Beef-Barley Soup, comes from the Mountain States section. Amy writes: “The Mount States grow barley, a wonderful addition to vegetable soup.”

Beef-Barley Soup

1 pound lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
6 cups water
1 cup medium barley
1 (16 oz.) chopped tomatoes, with juice
1 teaspoon dried parsley
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

In a large (4-quart) pot, cook ground beef over medium heat; drain grease. Add onion, carrot, and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.

Children can measure water and barley, parsley, salt and pepper. Adult can this to pot. Bring to a boil over high heat. Turn down heat to low, cover and simmer about an hour.
Serves 6-8

For more information about this book and other books for children, see: http://www.imagesunlimitedpub.com. Thanks!

Lee Jackson
Family and Consumer Living Coach

I promised you I would post my favorite Peach Cobbler. There is nothing like this classic blending of cobbler topping and sweet, fresh peaches for a superbly simple late summer dessert.

You will want to choose ripe yet firm peaches. These hold their shape better while baking. Like most fruit, peaches vary in their juiciness. Sometimes you almost have to stand over the sink to eat them because they are so juicy and the juice runs down your arm, and other times, their rather dry, leathery interior will cry for more juiciness.

For this recipe, you will need about 4-5 good sized peaches. You will need to peel them for the cobbler. If you are cooking with children, this is the part you need to do yourself because it is too dangerous for children to handle.

To peel fresh peaches bring a pot of water to boil. Place peaches in boiling water (enough to cover peaches) for approximately one minute (less if they are really soft). Then immediately plunge them in a bowl full of ice water. After the peaches cool off, this is when children can begin their work in helping you make

Fresh Peach Cobbler

The skins of peaches should slip right off. (If they are too hard you will have to peel them with a pairing knife.) Cut peaches in half and remove pit. Some peaches will have a dark red flesh that surrounds the pit. Take a spoon and scoop this out and discard as it can cause the peaches to have a bitter taste. Slice each half into 4 wedges. Gently toss peaches with 1/2 – 1 cup sugar in a large bowl and let stand for 30 minutes to allow juice to form. Then continue with the following:

1 stick butter
1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup milk

Melt butter in 12 x 7 1/2 x 2 inch baking pan (2 quart) in 325 degrees F oven. While butter is melting, combine rest of ingredients in a medium size bowl and stir to blend. Drop evenly over melted butter; do not stir. Spoon peaches with their juice over the top of batter. Do not stir. Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour, or until golden brown and baked throughout.

Most of the peaches will sink to the bottom where they will form a thick, rich sauce. I like to serve this cobbler warm and upside down on a plate with a scoop of ice cream.

You and your family will enjoy it. Easy, too!

Best to you,

Lee Jackson
Helping promote family well-being through knowledge and skills

http://www.ImagesUnlimitedPublishing.com

Will these tight economic times make people’s waistlines bigger? Is there a correlation between the two?

People on tight budgets sometimes choose take- out or quick-order meals rather than preparing food at home. This may mean they are eating higher calorie foods and even quite possibly eating more food than is necessary since many servings are super-sized.

Some think it is much cheaper and quicker to go out to catch a bite to eat. Then when they do, it is only a matter of “filling up” or eating to be satisfied rather than savoring the food. Eating out may, or may not be cheaper and quicker. It may, however, impact health, and waistlines.

Many families just haven’t learned how to cook a basic meal. if you grew up making food or helping prepare food for the family, this may sound unbelievable, but it is true. That is why I started this blog. I knew that in order to stay healthy, people need to know how to prepare nutritious meals. I was a family and consumer sciences teacher and realized first hand the need for young people to know simple basic skills in the kitchen, such as:

• How to prepare fruits and vegetables, eggs, and meats.

• How to boil, bake, roast, fry, broil, saute,  etc.

• How to plan meals for the whole day.

• How to shop for food.

• How to store food properly.

• How to keep the food preparation area clean.

• How to organize work and use time management .

Young people really want to know how to do this. Lots of young kids watch the TV cooking shows.

If a family wants to eat healthy, someone is going to have to spend some serious time in the kitchen. Eating fast-food or pre-packaged foods may be contributing to not only an expanded waistline but other health complications as well.

Image via Wikipedia

Before you go grocery shopping, think of foods your family would like for quick “pick-me-up” snacks. This could be your family’s “fast food”.

Raw fruits and vegetables are great to include. You might consider fruit such as grapes, apples, oranges, bananas, strawberries or other berries. Add some veggies like carrots, cut up cauliflower, celery stick and others. And you might want to have on hand non-sweetened cereals, granola bars, yogurt, dried fruits, cheese, whole grain crackers, and nuts.

Especially now when children are home from school for the summer, it’s good to have nutritious grab-and-go foods available.

Here’s to happy and healthy snacking.

Lee Jackson

I have been involved in a very exciting publishing project. Amy Houts, one of our authors, has a new children’s book coming out this summer and I am really looking forward to seeing the finished product.

This new cookbook, “Cooking Around the Country With Kids: USA Regional Recipes and Fun Activities” makes cooking with kids come alive! It has an American heritage flavor that helps children experience our country’s vast cultural diversity through food.

Children learn about regional food differences by preparing authentic recipes from various parts of our country. Amy has woven together fun activities along with a little food history and geography of each region showing where our food comes from.

Now I want to share just a bit of my excitement over this new book by sending you a FRe e Recipe Sampler from Amy’s new book.

If you want to be on the cutting edge of discovering this treasure trove of regional recipes, sign up below for her FRe e Recipe Sampler. You will be glad you did because it has one complete chapter from the book. This is the first sneak peak at what she has written to get kids excited about cooking across America.

Click here on SnaptailBooks to get the Fre e Recipe Sampler activated.

Image via Wikipedia

We live in a hurried world. “Hurry, get ready”. “Hurry, we’re late” are words we may often hear or say.  Sometimes we zip through meals. We eat in cars. We go through drive-ins to grab something to eat.

But eating is serious business as it nourishes our body. We often lose track of the big picture and only think about “now”.

Consider thoughtfully what and how you eat.

Do you allow enough time to eat, and to eat slowly? if you eat slowly you give the body time to feel full. This helps you keep from over-eating.

Do you eat too many BIG meals when more smaller meals would satisfy you?  Big meals tend to cause the body to work harder to digest the food.

Do you tend to skip meals? Skipping meals is not a good habit to get into. This can make you much too hungry when you eat again and then any food looks good.

Snacking is good, but make sure you eat the right snacks. What are some healthy snacks, you ask?

You might try some of the following for those between meal “hungries”:

fresh fruit
dried fruit such as raisins, apples, peaches and others
carrots
celery with peanut butter
raw cauliflower
real cheese
plain yogurt
pretzels
popcorn

This is a start. Can you think of other healthy snacks?

To your health and healthy eating,

Chef Crombie

Image via Wikipedia

Here is another breakfast hint – have a Breakfast Drawer for an instant meal.

In this Breakfast Drawer you can have foods that are easy and fast to prepare. That way you don’t have to think, or worry, what you will eat for breakfast.

This list of quick foods will take you through the morning with a smile!

Single serving cereal boxes
Instant oatmeal packets
Cereal bars
Whole grain crackers
Dried fruit
Nuts
Vegetable and tomatoe canned juices
Fruit juices in small cans
Small cans of fruit

This is a quick and easy solution to the morning rush.

Yours for better breakfasts,
Chef Crombie

Image via Wikipedia

Is what you eat really “food”? If you eat it, does that make it “natural food”?

A diet high in “natural food” or “real food” and low in food products (or those heavily processed foods) is a much healthier choice. But how can you tell the difference?

One way to generally tell whether the food you eat is considered “natural food”, or “real food”, is to check on the following:

• Is the food grown and does it have a close connection to the land? (Considered the best is if the food is grown locally).

• Does the food go bad quickly? (Does it spoil easily)?

• Does the quality of the food vary? (Some may be more ripe, more colorful, or shaped differently).

• Does it require any preparation before you eat it? (Do you have to cook it? Peel it? Change it’s form?)

• Are the colors bright and rich?

Many food products have questionable health benefits. These types of “foods” are the ones that:

• Keep forever

• Are artifically flavored

• Are artifically colored

• Form never varies

• Are heavily processed

• Contain hydrogenated fats

• Contain high fructose corn syrup

• Are not grown but are manufactured

It is best to read labels and choose real food for you and your family.

Image via Wikipedia

Today, let’s take a look at some categories of foods or common words and phrases found on food labels. I would like you to divide these up into two columns. On one side, place all the words or phrases that are considered “good words”, or those that promote health, and on the other side write the “bad words”, or those that drain our health.

Select from the following list:
hydrogenated fats
fruits
whole food
whole wheat pasta
organic
whole grain
white rice
artificial flavoring
whole grain oatmeal
colas
eggs
corn syrup
refined flours
high fructose
frosting
natural
vegetables
artificial dyes
plain organic yogurt
refined – white bread
brown rice

Tomorrow we’ll compare our lists. Making wise food choices helps us stay healthy. Do you believe that what you eat helps determine how you feel and perform in school and at home? Chef Crombie wants you to be fit and healthy.