snacks Archives - Happy Healthy Kids

Real Snow Slushies and Snowcones

January 27, 2020 by Kelley Leave a Comment

I’ve found a cure for cabin fever: real snow slushies and snowcones.

Typically, when the kids get squirrelly, I bundle them up and send them outside for a good, long while. But in blizzard conditions like the ones we’re experiencing outside of Boston today, you need to find some indoor fun, too. And so we brought the snow inside.

My kids have always been enchanted by that book, Carolyn Buehner’s Snowmen at Christmas: specifically, the page in which the snow mothers make snow treats for their snow children. I must admit, the spread that these domestic-goddess snow moms lay out is pretty mouthwatering:

So we decided to make some fruity snow treats in our house. It takes, literally, about 10 minutes, and you’re almost certain to have everything you need on hand (especially fresh snow).

Here’s what you need:

One small, clean bucket

Clean, freshly fallen snow

One game child (to collect the snow)

Your favorite juicy fruits (like lemon, orange, watermelon, strawberries, grapefruit)

A citrus squeezer (in a pinch, your hands and a fine mesh strainer will do)

One cup sugar

One cup water

How to make:

Combine water and sugar in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium and cook until the mixture resembles a syrup consistency. Set aside to cool (put in fridge or freezer for a few minutes to speed up the process if desired).

Set out a row of small glasses or containers, and squeeze the fruits into them with a citrus squeezer or through a fine mesh strainer (keep the pulp out if your kids like smooth consistencies, like mine). In individual glasses I squeezed: one whole lemon; one whole orange; handful of strawberries; and some maraschino cherries (with a touch of the juice from the jar), because that’s what I had on hand. Fruit juice would be fine too, but in that case, reduce the amount of sugar you use for the simple syrup by one-third.

When syrup is cooled, top fruit juices with syrup.

Scoop snow into small cups, glasses or, if you really want to get fancy, paper cones. Though you can buy snow cone wrappers like these on Amazon (200 for $14 should get you through parenthood), that would take some advance preparation, and given that I didn’t even have D-sized flashlight batteries this morning in anticipation of a record-breaking blizzard, lord knows I didn’t have wrappers for snow treats. But they are easy to make: layer a sheet of tin foil on top of a piece of construction paper, roll into a cone shape, tape the ends together, and snip off the open top to make an even opening.

Top cones or slushie glasses with a scoop or two of fresh snow and fruit syrup (less for cones, more for slushies). It’s a great, refreshing treat after an indoor dance party or some rigorous outdoor snow playing or fort-building. Even my husband and I had a slushie. Save extra syrup in small containers in the ‘fridge—it will last for weeks (certainly until the next snowfall).

Why We Should Cook with Our Kids

January 16, 2017 by Kelley 2 Comments

This is a guest post by Cassie Phillips, a freelance writer from Ohio. For more on Cassie, see below.

There’s no better time to get your children involved in cooking than winter—we’re all forced to be inside more, and there’s something cozy about being in the kitchen together. So why not just break out the board games and order a pizza? Solid research—as well as nutrition gurus like Michael Pollan—have convinced us that kids who are exposed to cooking eat more healthfully and try new things. And the benefits aren’t only health-related either; teaching your children cooking basics can boost their confidence, inspire conversation, strengthen math skills, and foster independent thinking.

Ready to shake images of accidents and messes, and get your kids in the kitchen? Follow these steps to get started.

Start Small

It’s important to begin one step at a time and first determine what sorts of cooking tasks your children can safely and confidently complete. Giving them too many tough tasks too quickly can set the stage for disaster. To keep you and them organized, establish firm roles at the start of meal prep, and give them just a job or two to focus on.

Preschoolers have limited dexterity, so should be given tasks that involve less fine motor work. Think:
-finding and fetching ingredients from the fridge and pantry,
-tearing leafy greens or fresh herbs
-stirring and mixing ingredients together
-mashing potatoes, yams, or turnips
-garnishing dishes with spices (or baked goods with sprinkles). Just be sure to measure out ingredients for them in advance if you want them to decorate or garnish anything!

Kindergarteners and young elementary-schoolers love to get their hands into things. Put them to work by:
-Washing and cleaning dishes; fill up a sink with soapy water and let them have at it
-Scooping, kneading or forming dough
-Preparing pans or bakeware by oiling, greasing or lining
-Spreading jams, peanut butter, or frosting
-Squeezing or juicing citrus and pouring ingredients into mixing bowls.

Older children can be given the tougher tasks as they get better and more comfortable in the kitchen. Teach them to:
-Chop and slice carefully. It might sound counterintuitive to hand children knives, but they can be taught to respect and be proficient with them by the age 7 or 8.
-Measure ingredients. Older kids can begin learning and remembering recipes.
-Use food processors and electric mixers. Close supervision is essential, but once they get the hang of these appliances, it will really make them feel like a chef.

Find Kid-Friendly Recipes

A lot of the food that will catch a child’s eye might not be practical to make. Obviously, it may not be a good idea to start out by baking something complicated like a triple-layer cake or macarons, as pretty as they are. You want them to be excited to eat what they cook, though, so picking a stew, if your child is meat- and veg-averse, may not be a good idea either. Children need time to pick up the basics, so you should start by researching some kid-friendly recipes, and your kids will love. One nice recipe to start with is a healthy, simple afterschool snack like these easy apple rings.

YouTube has a great lineup of different cooking channels with age-appropriate recipes. Some of my family’s personal favorites include Cook with Amber and Nerdy Nummies. Cook with Amber is hosted by a kid—which children love—and has a great mix of both healthy recipes and desserts. Nerdy Nummies is unique because it focuses on fun food that references our favorite fantasy worlds.

Get Cooking!

As there are so many benefits to cooking with your kids, there’s really no reason not to get started right away. It may even help improve your health if you’ve traditionally avoided spending much time in the kitchen.

What kinds of dishes are you looking forward to cooking with your children? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

About the Author: Cassie is a health and technology blogger for eHealth Informer as well as Secure Thoughts and Culture Coverage. When not writing about her experiences and passions, she enjoys preparing healthy, delicious meals with her family.

School Morning Doughnuts

August 23, 2016 by Kelley 2 Comments

Hear me out.

Like lemonade, ice cream, and Fruit Ninja, doughnuts appeal to just about every kid. Of course, doughnuts are the epitome of a breakfast that you grab in a moment of weakness and regret when your child is hyperactive and hungry 20 minutes later. I’m pretty sure that if you want your child to bomb a test, your contribution to the effort would be to offer him a rainbow-sprinkled on his way out the door.

That said, what is a doughnut, technically, other than a fluffy, puffy, ring-shaped pastry? (Yes, I realize that connoisseurs would balk at this—including Pennsylvania Dutch grandparents, professional bakers who made, by all accounts, delicious fastnachts, yeast doughnuts traditionally fried in lard.) But with the whole wheat croissants at my favorite New York City coffee shop, Via Quadronno, in mind, it occurred to me that one could fortify the simple “cake” doughnut, even just a little bit, and have them still be appealing to kids. Having not seen whole grain doughnuts in the wild, I turned to my friend the Internet, and found and tweaked a couple of recipes (thanks to eatgood4life for getting me started). With some milk and fruit for good measure, these are two school-morning-worthy treats kids—and you—can get behind.

(A few things that seem key, here: A nonstick doughnut pan (I got two of these Wilton doughnut pans from Amazon); whole wheat pastry flour (pastry flour makes baked goods more tender, important for cake doughnuts); and some really good flavorings. Inspired by Ina Garten’s bookmark-worthy list of favorite pantry staples and a few free samples from the company itself, I’ve become pretty devoted to Nielsen-Massey’s vanilla and chocolate extracts. (At the risk of sounding like a really annoying baking purist, in simple baked goods, especially, quality extracts do make a difference.)

Whole Wheat Cinnamon-Sugar Doughnuts
Makes 6-8

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
(For topping:)
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Cooking or baking spray oil (I use Coconut Oil spray for most baked goods)

Steps
Preheat oven to 350 and lightly spray doughnut pan with cooking spray. Sift together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) in small bowl and set aside. In medium or large bowl, whisk together sugar, milk, yogurt, egg and vanilla until smooth. Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Distribute into doughnut pan holes, taking care to not overfill (about 3/4 full is just right). Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until doughnuts spring back slightly at a light touch. Cool completely. While cooling, in a shallow dish, mix melted butter and sugar and cinnamon for topping. Dip cooled doughnuts into butter and sugar mixture, coating on all sides.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Doughnuts
Makes 6-8

Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup white flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (my favorite is Ghiradelli’s cocoa powder)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons of milk
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons canola, sunflower or coconut oil
1 teaspoon chocolate extract
(For topping:)
1 cup white chocolate chips or white baking chips
Cooking or baking spray oil (I use Coconut Oil spray for most baked goods)

Steps
Preheat oven to 325 and lightly spray doughnut pan with cooking spray. Sift together dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa and salt) in small bowl and set aside. In medium or large bowl, whisk together sugar, milk, eggs, oil, and chocolate extract until smooth. Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients. Distribute into doughnut pan holes, taking care to not overfill (about 3/4 full is just right). Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until doughnuts spring back slightly at a light touch. Cool completely. While cooling, in a shallow dish, melt white chocolate chips in the microwave at 30 seconds intervals, stirring each time you take it out, until smooth. (Should take at most 2 rounds for a total of 60 seconds. Don’t overheat. Spoon melted chips into snack or quart sized plastic bag. Snip tiny corner off of end. Pipe onto cooled doughnuts in any design you like.

5 Kids’ Health News Stories of 2015

December 23, 2015 by Kelley Leave a Comment

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that 2015 was packed with big, debate shaping events, both here and abroad. In the global grand scheme of things, everyday kids’ health news may seem relatively unimportant, but to parents, good pediatric research—especially when paired with good, actionable advice—can lead to life altering positive changes. (Which is why I created this blog in the first place!) Here, I’m sharing the five, kids’ health headlines from 2015 that most fascinated—and in some cases, inspired—me.

1. Measles isn’t going away.

What started with a bout of measles among kids at Disneyland in December ballooned into a multi-state outbreak, affecting more than 100 kids in January alone. The CDC is “very concerned” about the possibility of an even larger outbreak down the road, says Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Besides being seriously dangerous, potentially leading to pneumonia, encephalitis, and even death, the problem with measles is that its one of the most contagious viruses there is. Measles spreads through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes, and 90% of the people around an infected person will catch it if they aren’t protected, according to the CDC. So, talk to your pediatrician to make sure your children’s shots are completely up-to-date, and if your infant is too young for a vaccine, make sure he or she doesn’t come into contact with infected children.

2. Pets make for healthier kids.

In case your kids needed any more fodder for their case for a fluffy new friend: Mounting research shows that having animals in or around the house can lead to big health benefits for growing immune systems and developing brains. In November, Swedish scientists published data on one million children that found that dog exposure during infancy was associated with a 13% lower risk of asthma in school-age children, while farm animal exposure was linked to a 52% risk reduction. Separately, CDC-funded researchers discovered that kids with dogs, specifically, were less anxious than their peers, even after controlling for family income, age, gender, and other variables. Pets may be hard work, but it appears they give back more than companionship.

3. Big kids are seriously sleep deprived.

Think you’re tired? In August, the CDC revealed that 2 out of 3 high school students get less than the recommended eight hours of sleep per night for their age group. Too-early school start times are partially to blame: The average start for middle and high schools is 8:03, which many sleep experts believe is out of sync with adolescent sleep cycles. But screen-based gadgets may be the worst culprit: A Norwegian study of 10,000 teens found that more than 90 percent of girls and 80 percent of boys use a cell phone in the hour before bed, a practice that’s been strongly linked in recent research to thwarted sleep (the blue light can trick the brain into thinking it’s daytime). If your children own gadgets, consider putting the phones and pads to sleep in a different room than them, and be sure to revisit the National Sleep Foundation’s guidelines on how long children of different ages should snooze: it’s 10 to 13 hours per day for preschoolers, nine to 11 for kids between ages 6 and 13, and eight to 10 hours for teens.

4. Cutting back on a little sugar goes a long way.

If you had to choose just one healthier habit to adopt for your family this year, clearing the kitchen of too-sweet snacks may be your best bet. Endocrinologists at the USCF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco showed that lowering overweight kids’ sugar intake dramatically boosted their health—in just 10 days. Even without changing the amount of calories they were consuming or exercise they were doing, children who cut out almost all sweetened foods were able to improve their levels of blood sugar, cholesterol, fasting glucose and insulin (all markers for diabetes). They also reported feeling less hungry. Need inspiration? Print out these easy ways to cut back on sugar from nutritionist Dana White, R.D., here and post on the ‘fridge.

5. Beware of “overvaluing” kids.

It seems intuitive to tell kids how special they are, but a new study adds to growing evidence that this could do more harm than good. In the first prospective study of its kind, scientists from Ohio State University and the University of Amsterdam surveyed families four times over one-and-a-half years to see if they could identify which factors led children to have inflated views of themselves. They found that kids of parents who “overvalued” them—thought they were more special than others—developed narcissistic behaviors later on. (The full report is an interesting read: In order to measure parental overvaluation, researchers asked parents, among other questions, whether their 8- to 12-year-olds are familiar with not only real historic people, like Neil Armstrong, but also fictional ones, like “Queen Alberta.” As you might have guessed, quite a few parents held firm that their little Einsteins knew all about “Queen Alberta.”)

Rather than convincing yourself and your kids’ of their greatness, researchers recommend greater “parental warmth”: simply letting kids know, often, how much you love them. This leads to high levels of much healthier self-esteem, without the narcissism. The difference? “People with high self-esteem think they’re as good as others, whereas narcissists think they’re better than others,” says study co-author Brad Bushman, Ph.D.

Easy Ways to Cut Back on Sugar

November 11, 2015 by Kelley 2 Comments

Is a calorie just a calorie? Maybe not, especially when it comes to kids’ health. An eye-opening new study led by endocrinologists at the USCF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco showed that lowering overweight kids’ sugar intake, specifically, dramatically boosted their health—in just 10 days. Even without changing the amount of calories they were consuming or exercise they were doing, children who cut out almost all sweetened foods were able to improve their levels of blood sugar, cholesterol, fasting glucose and insulin (all markers for diabetes). They also reported feeling less hungry.

“This study definitively shows that sugar is metabolically harmful not because of its calories or its effects on weight; rather sugar is metabolically harmful because it’s sugar,” said lead author Robert Lustig, MD. “This internally controlled intervention study is a solid indication that sugar contributes to metabolic syndrome, and is the strongest evidence to date that the negative effects of sugar are not because of calories or obesity.”

A lot of us would say our kids don’t really have a “sugar problem,” because they don’t drink a lot of soda or eat too much candy, except for special occasions. But a lot of seemingly innocuous common kid foods are full of “sneaky” sugars that can really add up, says Dana White, R.D., Happy Healthy Kids’ nutrition advisor and author of First Bites: Superfoods for Babies and Toddlers. White gives these simple tips, along with some of her favorite recipes, that can help you cut potentially dozens of teaspoons of sugar out of your kids’ diets per day. And here’s the kicker: They might not even notice.

Load up on fruit. Fruit can satisfy a sweet tooth, especially if it’s presented to kids in a fun way. Frozen bananas make amazing treats with zero added sugar.

Bake with natural sweeteners. Applesauce or apple butter, bananas and honey can replace a lot of simple sugar in baked goods. White’s kids love these banana-chocolate chip muffins.

Be choosier about cereal. Even many “healthy” or “organic” cereals are full of added sugar, and that’s especially true for choices marketed to kids—they contain around 40% more sugar than “adult” versions. Stick to cereals like these that have 10 grams of sugar per serving or less (plain Cheerios, dressed up with berries, are hard to beat), or try White’s DIY Granola recipe.

Pay closer attention to packaged food labels. Candy, sweetened drinks, and baked goods are obvious offenders, but much of kids’ sugar intake comes from sneakier places, like condiments, bagged snacks, and flavored yogurts. Read labels carefully and take inventory of how much total sugar kids are taking in. The American Heart Association recommends that kids consume no more than 12 grams (young preschoolers) to 32 grams (teens) of added sugar per day.To put that in perspective: One small cup of Trix brand kids’ yogurt contains 13 grams of sugar.

Don’t take sweets off the table completely. Instead of demonizing sugar in your house, use it as an opportunity for everyone to learn about making wise choices most days, and saving (and savoring) sweets for special occasions. Most important, says White: Make sure mom and dad are leading by example and cutting back on sugar intake as well.

Recipe credits: Foodnetwork.com

Photo credit: Picture via Photo Pin, license cc

5 Strategies for a Healthy Halloween

October 28, 2015 by Kelley Leave a Comment

Lest you assume from this post title that I’m going as Debbie Downer this Halloween, rest assured, I’m all for sweets and excitement on Saturday night. Some of my most cherished childhood memories involve running through the dark, gown or tail trailing perilously through the leaves, collecting enough Reese’s Peanut Butter cups to last me through Easter. But years of writing health columns and scouring E.R. data for various publications have taught me that the spookiest night of the year can pose some pretty real health challenges that can’t be fixed by just some extra tooth-brushing. Here, five quick tips to keep in mind as the sun goes down on Halloween 2016.

Teach kids to stick to lawns and sidewalks, not streets, when trick-or-treating. The scary truth: Halloween is ranked as the No. 1 day of the year for child-pedestrian accidents and fatalities. The majority of these fatalities occur during the peak trick-or-treating hours: 5 pm and 9 pm, with the deadliest hour of all being from 6 pm to 7 pm. The stimulus and crowds make it hard for drivers—think excited teenagers, or parents rushing home from work to join their kids—to navigate. So push these simple rules: Stick to lawns or sidewalks on one side of the street while trick-or-treating. Cross carefully, and only when necessary. Children under 12 should stick closely to parents, and older kids should travel with a large group of children.

Make sure trick-or-treaters know your cell phone number, or have it written on their hand or on a visible place on their costumes. My youngest son’s favorite book right now is Angelina’s Halloween, but for me, it’s terrifying: In it, little Polly mouse gets lost in the trick-or-treat shuffle, only to be found by her big sister on a doorstep hours later. Eek. Fact is, even experienced caregivers can lose sight of their ghosts and goblins. Make sure your child wears reflective tape or a glow stick necklace (grab 25 for just $10 on Amazon) in a color you’ve noted and identified, and teach or label them with your cell phone number before you set out for the night. If your older child is heading out with friends, pack a cell phone in their treat bag, and keep track of his or her whereabouts with a handy family-member locator app.

Keep sensitive kids shielded from too-scary imagery. While scary movies, haunted houses and the like may seem in the spirit of the season, be cognizant of how they might trigger your child’s fears. NYU researchers have that little kids who watch violent movies, including Halloween horror films, television shows or video games, may be more likely to develop anxiety, sleep disorders, and aggressive and self-endangering behaviors.

Monitor your child eating his or her candy. Of course, you’ll want to confiscate a few of your own faves as a price for your chaperoning efforts, but there are other reasons for hanging out while your child sorts through his plunder. Thankfully, razor blades and poisonous chemicals planted in candy are an overblown threat to kids, but allergens aren’t. Even if your child hasn’t been diagnosed with an allergy, he or she can develop one at anytime—especially young childhood—and many candy bars contain the most common and dangerous allergen: nuts. If there are any signs of rash, oral or throat itchiness, trouble breathing, or a bellyache that can’t be explained by a few too many Hershey’s miniatures, contact a healthcare provider immediately (or 911 for respiratory distress), and administer a dose of Benadryl while you monitor the situation. (If your child has a diagnosed food allergy, look for houses with teal-colored pumpkins—parents there have pledged to dole out only non-food treats.) Also, make sure children under 3 don’t get into treats like Gobstoppers, gumballs, or stiff taffy, all of which are choking hazards.

Make a dinner and bedtime plan. This year’s Halloween presents a perfect storm of routine-wrecking possibilities. Not only is the holiday on a Saturday night, theoretically giving kids more freedom to stay out late, the next morning we turn the clocks back, giving everyone (save for the millions of us with small children who wake up with the sun) an extra hour of sleep. But as tempting as it is to allow children to trick-or-treat well past their bedtime—the childhood equivalent of a late-night bender—experts advise against it. In his child sleep blog, Dr. Craig Canapari recommends allowing kids to stay up just a half-hour later than their usual bedtime in the three nights before DST ends (that includes Halloween), and then switching back to the “regular” schedule on November 1. As for dinner: set aside a time for kids to have a real, filling meal so they don’t load up later on candy: There is a real uptick in hospital visits for abdominal pain and diarrhea related to candy consumed on Halloween.

Be safe and enjoy!

Make-Your-Own Apple Rings

October 8, 2015 by Kelley Leave a Comment

When my oldest son was an only and I still had the time, energy, and inclination to do daily, enriching projects with him (sorry, little sibs), we made a “fruit chart,” with his faves at the top and the ones he disliked at the bottom. Number one was strawberries (still is). Last: blueberries (all it takes is one shriveled, sour one to turn a kid off forever.)

Last week, the U.S. Department of Health unveiled a much more scientific poll evaluating the fruits most commonly consumed by American kids, and the winner, by a landslide: the humble apple. Turns out, one-fifth of children eat an apple a day. Which is great news: They’re full of fiber, a good source of vitamin c, and only about 90 calories.

Kids' Daily Fruit Intake
Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2011-2012
Apples (20%)
Fruit Juice (10%)
Melons (6%)
Other Fruit/Fruit Salad (5%)

Apples are big in our house too, especially this time of year, when they are plentiful, cheap and at their peak of crunchy, sweet deliciousness. As millions of U.S. children apparently know, an apple is terrific as is, but I recently came across a pretty fun snack that makes them more “treat-like.” A little like the Make-Your-Own Trail Mix I wrote about a while back, the genius of this snack is that it lets kids in on the prep process, allowing them to customize their own apple rings as they would a pizza or cookies. I don’t know about your kids, but in our house, agency=greater acceptance when it comes to new foods.

Make-Your-Own Apple Rings

Ingredients

2-3 large, round apples
A variety of toppings (here are some ideas):
-1-2 kinds of nut or seed butter (peanut, almond, or Nutella)
-Cream cheese
-Peanuts
-Sunflower seeds
-Chocolate chips
-Raisins or Craisins
-Mini marshmallows
-Shredded coconut
-Crumbled pretzels or chopped pretzel sticks

Instructions

Core and thinly slice apples width-wise to make 1/4 wide rings.
Serve the rest of toppings in small bowls and let kids decorate their own rings. Have them start by spreading each ring with a nut or seed butter or cream cheese to help the rest of the toppings stick.

https://www.happyhealthykids.com/make-your-own-apple-rings/

3 Summer Cookie Recipes

July 14, 2015 by Kelley Leave a Comment

When it comes to summertime treats, cookies are hard to beat. They’re easy to pack for picnics, camp lunches, and road trips, and they can withstand hot temps and grabby hands in a way that most other desserts can’t.

And yet, a “summer cookie” search on the Internet yields mainly big, hard sugar cookies professionally frosted to look like hot-day doodads—flip-flops and what not—that are as impossible to make as they are unpleasant to eat (believe me, I’ve tried).

Over the past few summers, I keep coming back to three cookie recipes that are easy to make and perfect for warm summer days: S’more Cookies, Lemonade Cookies, and Flower Jam Thumbprints. They aren’t the healthiest snacks in the world, but that’s why we reserve them as “treats.” With a big glass of lemonade or a cold cup of milk at a BBQ or after a long day of sports camp, they really hit the spot.

S’MORES COOKIES

There are many ways to make these spinoffs of the campfire treat, but this is our favorite. The ground graham crackers disappear into the cookie, and adding the marshmallows at the end of baking prevents them from melting and making the cookies sticky and over-chewy. Makes about 24 cookies.

Ingredients
1 stick slightly softened butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup finely crushed graham crackers
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini marshmallows
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. In large bowl, cream butter and sugars, and add egg and vanilla. In separate bowl, stir together flour, crushed graham crackers, salt, and baking soda. Add dry ingredients into wet and mix until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough in bowl for half hour or freeze for 10-15 minutes until stiff but still workable. Drop rounded, heaping teaspoons on baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Take cookie sheets out, and gently push 2-3 mini marshmallows into the top each cookie. Bake for 4-5 more minutes until cookies are just golden on edges and marshmallows are just softened a bit. Don’t overbake.

LEMONADE COOKIES
With just six ingredients, these couldn’t be easier. Just like a sugar cookie, only softer than most and more refreshing. Makes 28-30 cookies.
Ingredients
2 sticks slightly softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup thawed frozen lemonade concentrate
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400. In large bowl, cream butter and sugar, and add egg. In separate bowl, stir together flour and baking soda. Add dry ingredients into wet, alternating with lemonade, and mix until smooth. Refrigerate dough in bowl for half hour or freeze for 10-15 minutes until stiff but still workable. Drop rounded teaspoons onto baking sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes. They will stay lightly colored. Don’t overbake.

Our (edible!) garden nasturtiums.

FLOWER JAM THUMBPRINT COOKIES
Inspired by a recipe over at Butter, Sugar, Flowers, these are just basic, delicious thumbprint cookies, with the added fun of mixing edible, just-slightly spicy nasturtium flowers into your favorite jam or preserves. (Nasturtiums are one of my favorite garden plants to grow on a windowsill or garden. You can also buy them at most farmer’s markets or specialty grocery stores.) Feel free to omit the flowers. They’re still great tasting and fun to make with kids. Makes 24 cookies.
Ingredients
2 sticks slightly softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)
1/4 cup favorite preserves (I used raspberry, but apricot is great, too)
5-6 nasturtium flowers
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons fruit juice (orange, cranberry, lemon, etc.)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325. In large bowl, cream butter and granulated sugar, and mix in flour and salt until smooth. Refrigerate dough in bowl for half hour or freeze for 10-15 minutes until stiff but still workable. While dough is chilling, mince flower petals into tiny pieces. In small, separate bowl, stir together jam and minced flower. Drop rounded teaspoons onto baking sheet. Push thumb tip or finger tip just slightly into top of cookie to make an indent. Drop a quarter teaspoon of jam mixture into each well. Bake for about 18 minutes, until edges of cookie are just golden. While cookies are baking, mix powdered sugar and fruit juice until smooth. Put mixture into plastic bag, snip tiny hole in corner, and squeeze gently to drizzle over completely cooled cookies.

Have a Healthier Bake Sale

May 22, 2015 by Kelley Leave a Comment

Following the lead of many schools around the country, our local high school is right now considering a ban on bake sales, citing recent federal guidelines that limit high-fat, high-calorie foods served during school hours.

I’m not alone in my view that banning bake sales is ineffectual, and perhaps even counter-productive, in the fight against childhood obesity. Forget the fact that bake sales are a major source of revenue for many school groups. Bake sales encourage people to make food at home, which is at least half the battle toward getting people to eat better. Home-baked goods tend to be far less processed, and contain fewer unhealthy fats, than the packaged goods that many kids would otherwise pick up at the corner mart or vending machine after school.

But that doesn’t mean that we can’t do better when it comes to bake sales. I recently read a thought-provoking blog post about school sweet bans by Claire McCarthy, M.D., a Boston Children’s Hospital pediatrician. As a mom who’d regularly sent cupcakes into school for her kids’ birthdays, she initially thought their school was crazy to disallow celebratory sweets. But then she considered the fact that “there’s something to be said for setting standards—and an example.” Kids get “35 to 40 percent of their daily calories at school,” she says, citing American Academy of Pediatrics’ research. “It’s not only important that the food they get in school be as healthy as possible, it’s important to use the opportunity (any opportunity, these days) to teach children and families about eating healthy.”

And then I recalled that the last treat I’d made for the kids’ school was Pokemon cupcakes—made from a box mix, since all the time I had the evening before was devoted to painstakingly decorating the cupcake tops into “poke-balls” (if you have a boy between the ages of 6 and 9, you might know what that means). Suffice it to say, the frosting contained enough red dye #40 to merit a case study into the effects of food coloring on kids’ behavior. The truth is, while I’m a passionate home baker, and make wholesome quick breads and muffins weekly, when I’m presenting treats for a birthday or bake sale, I’m a shameless crowd-pleaser. The more fat, sugar, sprinkles, and colors, the more likely kids are to gobble them up.

It got me thinking that instead of banning bake sales, schools should consider using them as an opportunity to get kids excited about slightly better-for-you sweets. I’m not talking about carrot sticks; think carrot muffins, maybe, with heart-healthier canola or coconut oil replacing butter. The goal is for slightly less sugar and fat, and maybe a few more nutrients, than your average Betty Crocker whip-up. Many of us have some healthier baked good recipes up our sleeve, and a growing number of cookbooks and websites are devoted to making treats more wholesome. Kids might balk at first, to see a table devoid of gummy-worm-topped cupcakes and jumbo frosted brownies, but I’m sure between a healthier bake sale and no bake sale at all, they’ll choose the former.

Here are a few recipes that have been kid-tested and approved among my kids’ neighborhood pals (this was an extra-fun week of blog research), and a link to more, below. *Note that two recipes contain tree nuts, and substitutions should be made in schools with tree-nut-allergic children.*

Brown Rice Krispy Treats

Would you believe that Rice Krispy treats that contain whole grains and zero dairy butter can actually taste delicious? I was a skeptic; no longer. (I tried substituting different natural syrups for the marshmallows, but the effect just isn’t the same; and kids can tell.) Cut into squares to fit into decorative cupcake liners to serve. Makes about 20 2-3-inch squares.

2 cup marshmallows
1/4 cup almond butter
3 tablespoons canola, sunflower, or coconut oil (I prefer coconut oil here)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 cups brown rice cereal

Heat marshmallows over low-medium eat, stirring with wooden spoon or silicone spatula until melted smooth. Add oil and almond butter to warm mixture, until smooth and creamy, and turn off heat. Add vanilla and salt, and then fold in cereal. Using hands coated with a little oil, press mixture into square or small rectangular baking dish. Let cool and set before slicing.

Fresh Strawberry Cupcakes

It’s the perfect time of year for these delectable treats, which taste a lot like strawberry ice cream. The pale pink color in the frosting comes from strawberry puree. Thanks to Jen and Emily from Layers of Happiness for the recipe. It contains more sugar, butter, and white flour than might considered “heart healthy,” but we love the addition of the fresh fruit and extra egg whites to the recipe. Makes 12.

(Cupcakes)
1 1/2 cups whole fresh strawberries
1 1/2 cups flour, sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg whites

(Frosting)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
pinch of salt
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 and put cupcake liners in a 12-cup muffin pan. Sift dry ingredients and set aside. Remove green tops from strawberries and pulse them in food processor or blender until pureed smooth. In a small bowl, combine milk, vanilla, and 2/3 cup of the strawberry puree. In third, large bowl, cream butter and sugar with a mixer until fluffy, and then add eggs and whites. Slowly add dry ingredients, alternating with milk-strawberry mixture, until combined. Scoop batter into muffin cups and bake for 23-24 minutes. While baking, make frosting: Cream butter, salt and sugar until fluffy. Add vanilla and 1/4 cup of strawberry puree. Don’t over mix or frosting will be too fluffy; aim for an ice-cream-like consistency. When cupcakes are cooled, spread with room temperature icing. Top with strawberry slice if desired.

Pumpkin Muffins

Even kids who hate squash—dare I say, most?—tend to love pumpkin muffins. A muffin junkie, I’ve experimented with several recipes, and really like this one, which I adapted from a Food Network recipe created by Dana White, R.D., Happy Healthy Kids’ nutrition advisor and author of First Bites: Superfoods for Babies and Toddlers. Makes 18 regular sized or 36 mini muffins.

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup canola, sunflower, or coconut oil
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 can of pumpkin puree
optional: Pumpkin seeds for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 375. Put cupcake liners in muffin pan. In large bowl,mix brown sugar, egg, oil, milk, vanilla, and pumpkin. In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients and sift with fork. Slowly mix dry ingredients into wet ones, taking care not to over mix. Fill muffin cups with batter and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds if desired. Bake for 25 minutes (for regular sized muffins) or 12-14 minutes (for mini muffins).

Zucchini Chocolate-Chip Bread

No one says no to this bread, and it’s as good for breakfast as it is for after school. Chocolate chips are optional but pair so nicely with the herby zucchini, I think they’re a must. Serve individual slices in decorative, labeled bags or pretty paper plates.

3/4 cup canola, sunflower, or coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated zucchini
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and butter and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan or 2-3 mini loaf pans. In large bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, honey, vanilla, and lastly, the beaten eggs. In separate bowl, mix together dry ingredients with a fork. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until combined and smooth; don’t over mix. Fold in zucchini, and then chocolate chips. Bake 50-60 minutes until bread is slightly golden on edges and toothpick comes out dry (a few moist crumbs are okay).

Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut “Nutella” Bark

Dana White introduced me to this antioxidant-packed recipe, which she created for the Food Network. Keep it in the freezer in between nibbles, and package in cellophane or ziplock baggies (with tops cut off and tied with ribbon).

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
16 ounces dark chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup brown rice cereal

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat and set aside. In a double boiler or microwave, slowly melt chocolate. Stir gently with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until smooth, and fold in cereal. Spread in a rectangular shape to 1/4 inch depth on baking sheet (doesn’t have to be perfect). Sprinkle nuts over evenly and press gently into surface. Let cool at room temperature for 1-2 hours or in the ‘fridge for 30-45 minutes. Break into pieces.

Fruit Flower Skewers

As the folks at Edible Arrangements found out long ago, fruit seems to just taste better when it’s cut into pretty shapes and put on a stick. Purchase short skewers at your hardware store, supermarket or here, and spring for these adorable flower shapes cookie cutters, which you can repurpose for cookies, Play-Doh, and other projects for years to come. Chill until just before selling; you can arrange in a flower pot, spearing the ends into a piece of styrofoam or floral foam tucked in the bottom, just like the pros do, or on a chilled plate.

1 watermelon
1 cantaloupe or honeydew melon
1 bunch grapes, halved
1 pint strawberries

Slice melons width-wise, scraping away seeds at center. Use flower shapes to cut various size blooms. Layer on stick, with halved grapes between to look like flower centers. Top with hulled strawberries.

For more ideas, check out the Martha Stewart article, Better (For You) Bake Sale, and this Cooking Light Bake Sale post.

It’s important to get other parents on board with a plan for healthier bake sales at the beginning of the school year. (Buckle up for some blowback!) Present the idea to the school principal and at a parent association meeting, and offer to “test drive” a sale before making it a regular feature of the school year. Here are other tips, some mine, and some from a helpful PTO article on the subject.

How to Hold a Healthier Bake Sale
Tips adapted from ptotoday.com
Look at traditional recipes and figure out ways to make them more health-conscious. In most recipes, the fat or sugar can be reduced by one-fourth to one-third without changing the texture. If you reduce both the fat and the sugar too dramatically, however, you will alter the texture. Always test drive recipes once or twice before serving them at a sale.
To further reduce the fat content, substitute applesauce or yogurt for up to half the oil or fat in the recipe.
Add seasonal fruit or veggies whenever possible. Berries, carrots, bananas, pumpkin, and zucchini add mild flavor that kids tend to like.
Make recipes healthier by boosting the fiber content. Adding oatmeal or nuts will help. In many recipes, particularly bread and muffins, you can substitute whole wheat flour for up to half the all-purpose flour and end up with the same yummy baked treats.
Ask parents to try to steer clear of store-bought treats and baked goods made from a mix.
Offer some treats for adults and children who are allergic. A gluten-free brownie, for example, can be made with black beans instead of flour. The Celiac Sprue Association has a list of gluten-free dessert recipes; you can also find recipes for many other specialized diets online, including ideas for diabetes-friendly or lactose-free sweets.
Offer the great health beverage of choice: water.
Make it easy for parents to find healthy recipes to prepare before the sale, and learn to make them at home after. Assign a baking-savvy parent to gather and print or email out a simple "cookbook."

Can Cereal be Saved?

March 5, 2015 by Kelley Leave a Comment

BusinessWeek just reported that Kellogg’s cereal profits have fallen for the seventh quarter in a row. Driven by concerns about sugar and gluten-free trends, Americans are less apt to eat cereal these days than to grab a nutritional bar, yogurt, or egg wrap, often on the go.

You’d never know that cereal was in trouble if you came to our house. My youngest two sons would happily eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks if given the choice. They came by their fondness for cereal naturally. In college, while everyone else was digging into eggs and pasta, I regularly ate Grape Nuts sprinkled with raisins for breakfast, and often lunch, too. It’s quick, easy, and satisfying. And at one point, I also thought it was super good-for-me.

Cereal was invented and popularized, by J.H. Kellogg and others in the late 1800s, as a health food. But after more than a decade of reporting on health and nutrition, it’s clear to me that cereal, by and large, deserves its comeuppance. Many have good amounts of fiber and B vitamins that are important to our diet. But many are high in sugar and refined carbohydrates, and even more are low in protein. Some, like many virtuous-seeming granolas, are high in saturated fat.

Now, I try to buy lower sugar options and serve it with healthy sides, but there are certainly some days when my kids’ primary sustenance for at least one meal comes from a few scoops of sweetened flakes. I wanted to see what I could do to keep cereal on the menu without sacrificing nutrition. I scoped around and talked to my dietitian sources for ideas, and here’s what I’m hearing time and again. Turns out you can have your cereal and eat it, too; just make a few adjustments to what you serve, and how much.

Be choosy about what cereal you buy.. HHK advisory board member Dana White, R.D., a mom and author of the forthcoming First Bites: Superfood for Babies and Toddlers, looks for brands and flavors with the least amount of added sugar per serving—5 to 10 grams max. This may force you to look beyond the neon-colored boxes, since on average, cereals marketed to kids contain 40 percent more sugar than others on the shelf. (Buying cereals the whole family, not just kids, will enjoy also happens to be more budget-friendly.)

White likes cereals made by Nature’s Path. Last spring, the Environmental Working Group studied kids’ cereals and gave kudos to the following:

LEAST SUGARY KIDS CEREALS
Source: Environmental Working Group, 2014
Rice Krispies, Gluten-Free (Kellogg's)
123 Sesame Street, C is for Cereal (Post)
Cheerios (General Mills)
Corn Flakes (Kellogg's)
Crispix (Kellogg's)
Rice Krispies (Kellogg's)

Pour some milk over it (or alongside it). This seems like a no-brainer to some, but with the advent of individual cereal portions, many kids have gotten used to the idea that cereal can be eaten by the handful, not the spoonful. One of the virtues of cereal has always been the calcium, vitamin D, and protein in the milk traditionally added to it. Just one cup of low-fat milk contains 29 percent of the recommended daily value of calcium as well as 8 grams of protein.

Don’t serve it alone. Think of cereal as an accompaniment, not the main attraction, of breakfast. “Always add plenty of fresh fruit—on top of the cereal, or next to it,” says White. And think outside the berry crate: If your child prefers grapes or melon or apple chunks sprinkled with a little cinnamon-sugar, those fruits pair well with cereal, too. And adding protein is also crucial to a healthy breakfast. Some great sources aside from milk include a sprinkle of nuts or Chia seeds (2 grams protein per 2 tablespoons along with healthy Omega-3 fats)m; a side of yogurt, sausage, or a hard-boiled egg.

Photo credit: Mike Mozart and Jeepers CreepersMedia via Photo Pin, cc