Kids Cooking and Cookbook Blog

What do you serve drop-in family and friends when they stop by your house this season? Here is an easy entertaining idea that is sure to please your guests. It is one of my favorite breads to have on hand during the fall season and on into the holidays. Pumpkin Bread has been my mainsty for a number of years. It combines the mellow pumpkin flavor with cinnamon and nuts, plus, it freezes well. You can make it into smaller miniature loaves for gift
giving if you want. Children like to make it into cupcakes. Simply pour the batter into muffin tins about two-thirds
full.

The pumpkin, when carved into a jack o’ lantern, is a symbol of Halloween. We are about to celebrate that day on October 31, the eve of All Saints Day.

Children enjoy picking out pumpkins in anticipation of the holiday. Once they have selected one, you may suggest  they draw pictures of pumpkins with different emotions, such as happy, sad, angry, and scared jack o’ lanterns and then talk about feelings. Drawing different expressions on paper can  help them decide on the design for their creation.

This past week I’ve zeroed in on “self” and making a difference. Today I want to share with you 15 ways I believe we can help others, which will make a huge difference in the world.

I’ve been doing a series on making a difference, to spotlight Make a Difference Day on October 23.

Today I want to highlight another aspect of making a difference. This time I want to relate this to our search for happiness and how it makes a difference in our life and the lives of those we love.

People search for happiness in many places. Often times others, such as mass media, the internet, and those with whom we associate, influence us into thinking that possessions, places, or things will make us happy.

Questions here point to:

In his circle of peers, one Mukie in the book, Mukies and Their Character Building Adventures, is a different color. He and his father were the only purple Mukies in the community of brown individuals.  Can you imagine the thoughts and feelings of the single young purple Mukie among a large peer group of brown Mukies?  Or of the large brown group and the single purple one?

This story examines racial bias before it becomes a prejudice. The purple colored Mukie’s identity is first one of curiosity, then distrust, and finally indifference.

Here are questions from one of the stories in the character skills book, Listening to the Mukies and Their Character Building Adventures:

Do you think one individual can make a difference and influence a community?

How can rumors create conflict?

What are alternatives to violence and war?

Why do you think the Mukies were able to live without conflicts?

One of the characters in the book expressed the beliefs and hopes of St. Francis of Assisi in his prayer:

This will be a day of helping others and doing good deeds. Projects for helping people will be organized and recognition given for their work.

A special day for this is important but we know that doing good for others and making a difference is an ongoing effort.

The Mukies have been making a difference for many years. These children‘s fictional creatures in a character building book show kids how to live in peace and harmony with each other. They make a difference by the way they treat others.

For those mornings when you have just a bit more time (that does happen sometimes?) get your kids to help you make this coffee cake together. It uses prepared biscuits so it’s a snap to make.

Peeling the apples may take the longest, but this recipe only requires 2 apples. Can you peel the whole apple in one long piece?

As one “long-ago apple saying” goes: If you close your eyes and toss the long peel to the floor, whatever alphabet shape it most represents is the  first initial of the person you will marry!

We have a guest post today, especially for those of you with children “leaving the nest”. Read some of the recommendations given by Edina Jones, our guest blogger for today.

Are you wondering how your grown child will get along living on his or her own? He or she may be at college now or away working at a job. You remember how they depended on you; how they asked you for favors; how they could never do a thing without your help. You hope you have given them a good foundation and taught them basic skills, including how to cook. However, once your son or daughter leaves home, you start fretting about him/her.

I call this recipe an Apple Betty. But the earlier versions use browned bread cubes and brown sugar layered with apples. I’m guessing someone named Betty had some leftover bread and combined it with apples. Voila, Apple Betty!

I love this recipe for two reasons:
1) it tastes absolutely delicious and
2) you don’t have to grease the pan! I don’t know why, but that is a real plus for me.

Favorite Apple Betty

4 cups cooking apples, peeled and sliced
1/4  cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4  cup water