Eat Their Words

Cooking with Henry and Elliebelly - Raspberry-peanut butter-marshmallow waffles

2011-02-15T16:46:00.000-08:00

One of the activities my two boys (ages 5 and 7) and their 2 year old cousin all love to do together is play with the play kitchen at my parents' house. There's just something about pretending to cook that appeals to kids. For a long time, before we had our own play kitchen set up in our home, it was one of the things my kids were most drawn to at children's museums and friends' houses. Come to think of it, my sister and I are four years apart and rarely played together growing up but my sister's Little Tikes kitchen was one thing that we both enjoyed.

Me and my sister, circa 1986.

Carolyn Parkhurst's Cooking with Henry and Elliebelly (illustrated by Dan Yaccarino) perfectly captures young childrens' fascination with cooking and creating. We are introduced to siblings Henry and Elliebelly via their cooking "show". Henry, the older sibling, has his own vision of how their show should proceed. As Henry tries to instruct his "viewers" in the finer points of making raspberry-peanut butter-marshmallow waffles, the toddler Elliebelly wreaks havoc and frustrates Henry with her very toddlerlike demands. First she insists she be allowed to help. Then she orders Henry to wear a pirate hat. Frustrated but undeterred, Henry gamely works around his dervish of a sister until their play is interrupted by their (offstage) mother's offer of real waffles.

One of the things I love most about this book is that the author clearly gets how kids play, and how easily older siblings become frustrated with their younger siblings. Reading the interactions between Henry and Elliebelly is a lot like listening in on my own kids as they play in one room while I'm in another. It was a nice touch to have their mother's offstage responses to their bickering presented in quote bubbles. Henry and his little sister are a bit younger than my own kids but their personalities are remarkably similar. It's not a stretch to accept that Elliebelly insists Henry wear a pirate hat while they do their "show" because I have a son who likes to wear a Batman cape while doing just about anything.

We decided to make Henry's raspberry-peanut butter-marshmallow waffles, with one caveat: we didn't follow Henry's recipe. His recipe calls for "Seventeen cups of imported flour from Kansas," and duck eggs. And that is before Elliebelly decides to add pizza and "Baby Anne" to the mix. Yeah. I think we'll stick with a more traditional approach. If you can even call raspberry-peanut butter-marshmallow waffles traditional. We whipped these up for an after school snack.

Raspberry-peanut butter-marshmallow waffles

Ingredients:

2 large eggs
1 cup Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons peanut butter (more if you desire a more peanut buttery taste)
mini marshmallows
raspberry fruit spread

Additional equipment: waffle iron.

1. Prepare base waffle batter. Mix together eggs, Pamela's mix, water and oil. Stir until combined.

2. Stir 2 tablespoons peanut butter into batter.

3. Fold in 1 or 2 handfuls of marshmallows.

4. Pour batter into heated waffle iron. This was exactly enough for 4 waffles.

Avoid this.

5. When cooked through (1 - 2 minutes) carefully remove waffles from iron. Top with raspberry fruit spread.

These were easy to throw together and made for a sweet snack. They had a light peanut buttery taste and the raspberry spread was a nice complement. Watch, my kids will probably ask me to make these all the time now.

* As an Amazon affiliate I receive a small commission when items are purchased via links on this blog. Thank you for supporting Eat Their Words!

George and Martha - Split Pea Soup

2011-02-09T09:14:00.000-08:00

"Martha was very fond of making split pea soup Sometimes she made it all day long. Pots and pots of split pea soup." - James Marshall, George and Martha

I love soup. During the winter months I make soup a minimum of once a week. I'd make soup every night if I thought I could get away with it but I suspect that would result in my family surreptitiously trying to dispose of their leftovers in their shoes. Like George does in George and Martha, James Marshall's sweet and funny book (the first in a series) about two best friends.

In Marshall's very short chapters (or vignettes, if you will) we are introduced to George and Martha, two best friends who occasionally get on each other's nerves and aren't afraid to put each other in their proper places. They are a bit like Frog and Toad, or Bert and Ernie. Despite misunderstandings, their friendship is what holds them together.

It doesn't hurt that the stories have a lot of kid appeal. In one story, Martha chews George out for being a peeping tom (this comes off as hilarious, not creepy). In another, George breaks his "favorite" tooth and must have it replaced with a gold tooth (I was fascinated by this when I was a kid). And then there is the infamous split pea soup story. In it, Martha repeatedly serves George her homemade split pea soup. George, too polite to tell Martha he hates split pea soup, quietly puts up with it until one day he can stand it no longer and dumps his bowl (his tenth of the day!) in his shoe. Unfortunately Martha has seen the whole thing. Instead of being offended, she gently suggests he tell her the truth next time . . . and confesses that she, too, hates split pea soup. She just likes making it.

I have to thank my friend Jess for reminding me about the split pea soup chapter in this book. I thought George and Martha were hilarious when I was growing up so I'm not sure why it took me so long to introduce them to my boys. At five and seven, my boys are just the right ages to find the stories absolutely hilarious. We have George and Martha: The Complete Stories of Two Best Friends (you can get the books individually but trust me, you won't be able to stop at just one so save yourself the time and look for the compilation) out from the library right now and they can't get enough of the short and hilarious vignettes. "Just one more!" they beg. It is especially sweet to hear them giggle together as the seven year old reads them aloud to the five year old.

Anyway, coincidentally or not, I had been going through my Ina Garten cookbooks for soup recipes and the split pea soup recipe was beckoning. . .

Parker's Split Pea Soup (courtesy of Ina Garten and The Food Network; a version of this recipe also appears in The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped yellow onions
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 cup good olive oil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups medium-diced carrots (3 to 4 carrots)
1 cup medium-diced red boiling potatoes, unpeeled (3 small)
1 pound dried split green peas
8 cups chicken stock or water

1. In a stock pot, saute onions, garlic, oregano, salt and pepper for about 15 minutes, or until onions are translucent.

2. Add carrots, potatoes, 1/2 pound of split peas and stock/water.

3. Bring to a boil then simmer, uncovered, for 40 minutes.

4. Add remaining peas and simmer for another 40 minutes, or until peas are soft. Stir often to prevent soup from burning on the bottom of the pot. (Note: I had to simmer mine--on medium heat---well over 40 minutes and add extra liquid.)

Somewhat shockingly, both of my kids actually liked this soup. I thought it had a good flavor too. My husband wasn't a fan but it worked for 3/4 of the household so I consider it a victory. Note that this makes a good meat-free meal, and can be vegetarian if you use water instead of chicken broth.

*As an Amazon affiliate, I receive a small commission from purchases made via links found on this site. Thank you for supporting Eat Their Words!

Cookbook Review - Babycakes

2011-01-24T12:12:00.000-08:00

You would think that after the holiday season--which included baking 50 snowman-shaped sugar cookies for the second grade classes at my son's school (that's 3 batches) and a batch for my own family--I would be all baked out. I admit, it did take me a little while to recover from my Christmas bakeapalooza and now we've got Valentine's Day class parties on the horizon. This past weekend, though, I felt like making bread. Not the sandwich bread I make every week in my bread maker but a nice, sweet quick bread. I pulled out a Christmas gift, Erin McKenna's Babycakes, to look for inspiration.

Here's the thing about Babycakes, which features recipes used in McKenna's hugely popular New York City bakery: all of the recipes are vegan and mostly gluten- and (refined) sugar-free. I say 'mostly' because that's what the book's subtitle says. But really, if you have celiac disease or a gluten allergy you will want to read the recipes carefully because some of them do call for spelt flour. Anyway, because the recipes are vegan/gluten-free/sugar-free (and kosher) they call for ingredients like Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all-purpose baking flour, coconut oil, dairy-free milks and agave nectar. Most people don't happen to have these sitting around in their kitchens and they can be hard to come by (though they are becoming more mainstream--I've seen them at Target!). However, once you have McKenna's favored ingredients on hand you can use them for almost any recipe in the book.

Back in October, when I had this book from the library, McKenna's pumpkin spice muffins were my first attempt at baking the Babycakes way and I can't say it was my most successful baking attempt. It had nothing to do with the recipe itself and everything to do with the user: I had gotten it into my head that I wanted pumpkin bread, and nothing else would do. The thing never cooked through, even after leaving it in the oven well over the cook time. This time I knew better and the only modification I made to the recipe for banana chocolate chip bread was to use non-fat cow's milk in place of rice milk. All told, I could have baked it a little longer because the very middle was a little undercooked but the top was nicely browned and the toothpick I inserted came out clean. Maybe I have been eating gluten-free for too long, but I wouldn't have known the bread doesn't contain gluten. My kids ate it up and asked me to put slices in their lunch boxes for their snack today.

My five year old, mashing the bananas.

Banana chocolate chip bread, fresh from the oven.

While not specifically a kid cookbook, the recipes in Babycakes appeal to the whole family and offer peace of mind to families who are concerned about food intolerances and/or healthy ingredients. In the section on tools and ingredients McKenna explains why she uses things like evaporated cane juice, agave nectar and coconut oil in place of more common ingredients. My five year old helped me make the banana bread and was most enthusiastic about mashing the bananas.

My family's main concern is gluten-free recipes but I appreciate this book's focus on vegan and sugar-free ingredients as well. I have been known to bake for my sons' class parties and there are other kids who have dairy and/or sugar intolerances. I like that, in many cases, one recipe can meet all three dietary needs. My only criticism of the book is that there is no way to tell, without reading the entire ingredient list, which needs each recipe targets. A simple key at the top of each indicating whether it meets vegan, gluten-free and/or sugar free standards would be helpful for at-a-glance browsing.

Babycakes is published by Clarkson Potter, the same group that publishes Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa cookbooks, and like Garten's books it is printed on thick, glossy paper and features stunning full color photography. These are among my favorite cookbooks in my collection because they are well-designed and fun to look at (and they look good on my bookshelf). Good cookbook design makes the recipes look all the more appetizing. In an age where home cooks are turning to the Internet for recipes (I'll admit, I've got the Epicurious app on my iPad and I use it all the time) it's nice that publishers are still producing gorgeous cookbooks that appeal to all the senses.

Get this book: if you are gluten- or dairy-intolerant, vegan, or want to cut back on refined sugar but still enjoy baked goods from time to time.

Disclosure: As an Amazon.com affiliate I earn a small commission on products purchased via links featured on this site. Thank you for supporting Eat Their Words!

Cookbook Review- Tiana's Cookbook

2011-01-06T17:09:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I am left scratching my head at movie tie-in books. Sometimes publishers get it right. I love the way Disney/Pixar and Little Golden Books have collaborated to produce faithful and cooly illustrated adaptations of popular Disney/Pixar films. Other times I just wonder, what was the point? I've seen a few cookbooks based on random licensed properties but the recent ones based on Disney and Disney/Pixar films The Princess and the Frog (Tiana's Cookbook: Recipes for Kids) and Ratatouille (What's Cooking?: A Cookbook for Kids--which appears to be out of print but was available at my local library) get it right. Primarily because the central characters in these films have culinary aspirations. What better way to get kids involved in the kitchen than with a cookbook that features favorite characters and meals they might eat? Even better is when the recipes are for things you'd actually want to eat.

I wasn't particularly impressed with the Ratatouille cookbook. The recipes looked good and I think my older son would have enjoyed preparing some of them. However, most of the recipes relied on gluten-containing ingredients and just were not practical for the unique dietary needs of two of the four members of our household. It's not much of a kid-friendly cookbook if I have to take the additional step of adapting the recipes. However, the New Orleans-inspired recipes in Tiana's Cookbook were more celiac-friendly so it gets my wholehearted approval.

Full of New Orleans-inspired fare, Tiana's Cookbook is divided into sections for breakfasts, lunches, dinners, breads/sides/drinks and--most kids' favorite--desserts. I love that the New Orleans/cajun theme is carried throughout. How many kids' cookbooks have recipes for beignets or po' boy sandwiches? Obviously, the beignets don't work for us (without significant tweaking) but the sandwiches are doable if we use our gluten-free bread. The most useful section is the dinner section. Recipes for jambalaya and red beans and rice are easy for my seven year old to follow. Some steps (sauteing veggies in oil, chopping veggies) require my supervision but it's a step beyond assembling sandwiches. Each recipe includes a brief description (in the form of a "note" from Tiana) and photo. Illustrations of characters from the movie appear every few pages. I particularly like that there is a lot of healthier fare here: fruit salad, oven-baked fish, green beans, smoothies, oven-baled potato wedges . . . the healthier recipes provide a nice counter balance for things like mud pie and macaroni and cheese.

As far as the princess theme of the book goes . . . well, I have two boys. They will only grudgingly watch Disney princess movies with me (I am still waiting for them to acknowledge the artistic genius of Sleeping Beauty, my favorite animated Disney movie. I don't see it happening.) They saw The Princess and the Frog when it was in the theater and they enjoyed it but not enough to see it again. That's okay; my seven year old is still enthusiastic about taking responsibility for making some of our meals and to him, a recipe is a recipe, even if it's illustrated with flowers and princesses. Though I'm sure my boys would prefer a Batman cookbook.

Get this book: if you want a childrens' cookbook that offers something more than typical "kid" food or you have a princess-obsessed child. How fun would it be to create a Princess and the Frog themed dinner to be followed by a viewing of the movie?

Arthur's Christmas Cookies - Salt Dough Ornaments

2010-12-20T17:52:00.000-08:00

"'Maybe I could still use my cookies,' said Arthur. 'Maybe I could paint them all different colors.'" - Arthur's Christmas Cookies, Lillian Hoban

There are a lot of seasonal treats I enjoy (Gingerbread latte, anyone?) this time of year but if I could choose only one Christmas treat to indulge in it would have to be, without a doubt, the frosted sugar cookie. Oh, you can keep your peanut butter kisses and candy cane twists. When I think Christmas cookies, I think sugar cookies (thanks, Aunt Sue). There is just no other acceptable choice.

Arthur's Christmas Cookies is not a book about sugar cookies though, not really. While it starts out that way it actually ends up being a book about a recipe gone wrong and the surprising result. Arthur is frustrated because he's trying to make Christmas presents for his parents but nothing is turning out. Finally, he decides to make Christmas cookies in his sister Violet's Bake-E-Z oven. What initially begins as a solo effort turns into mass chaos as his friends and sister get involved. Once the cookies have been baked and they are about to snack on a few, they realize that Arthur hasn't made sugar cookies. Due to a mixup, he's used salt instead of sugar and he's actually made clay cookies. At first Arthur is upset that yet another present has been ruined . . . until he realizes he can paint his clay cookies and give them to his parents as ornaments.

One of the things I like about this book is that it acknowledges that mistakes in the kitchen do happen, and that it's okay. We might not always be able to salvage our mistakes the way Arthur does, but it's nice to know that we aren't alone when we put too much salt in the cookie dough (or baking soda, as the case may be--not that my 14-year old self would know anything about that).

Arthur's Christmas Cookies is written and illustrated by Lillian Hoban, half of the duo responsible for the popular Frances books. There are a lot of similarities here, not just in the illustrations but in the storyline and even the writing style. I remember reading the Arthur books as a child and though my kids are big fans of Frances I had kind of forgotten about Arthur. Picking this book up was like being reunited with an old friend. My kids enjoyed it too; even though it was published in 1972 it still feels fresh and relevant. Salt dough ornaments are still a great Christmas craft.

Salt Dough Ornaments

Ingredients:

1 cup salt
1 1/4 cups warm water
3 cups flour*

*Because we were not eating these ornaments, I made them using regular old all-purpose flour.

1. Dissolve salt in warm water.

2. Add flour to the salt water.

3. Mix flour and water thoroughly and knead for several minutes. This will help work out air bubbles.

4. Roll dough out and cut shapes out using cookie cutters.

5. Bake dough in a 200* oven for 1,5 to 2.5 hours, or however long it takes to bake out all of the moisture. If your dough is thicker it will take longer. (I lined my cookie sheets with parchment paper.)

6. When ornaments are completely cool, paint using acrylic paints. After the last coat of paint dries, "seal" using varnish (we used a paint-on varnish).

My rocket.

Some finished ornaments some lucky friends and relatives will receive as gifts.

My kids enjoyed this craft a lot. However, at 5 and 7 they haven't quite developed the patience necessary for a project that involves waiting for various coats of paint to dry. If you plan on using several colors and layers, it can be an all day project (especially if you paint both sides of the ornament). What they lack in patience, though, they make up for in creativity. I was impressed with the way they chose their colors and executed their artistic visions. On this level, it was far more successful than the first time we tried this three years ago. We definitely plan to do it again next year, perhaps getting a little more creative with the shapes we choose.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Roast Beast

2010-12-09T12:15:00.000-08:00

"They would feat on Who-pudding, and rare Who-roast-beast
Which was something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least!" - How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss

That's right. I made a roast. I really had to ask myself: does the novelty of making something called "roast beast" make up for the fact that making it is an elaborate and time consuming affair? And the answer is yes. I make a roast like twice a year so I might as well make it now.

I hope everyone is familiar with Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. If you aren't familiar with the book then surely you are familiar with the animated cartoon version that airs on television every year around this time. It's a holiday classic. But if you need a refresher...

The Grinch is a surly kind of guy who hates Christmas and all of the happy citizens in Who-ville who love it. (Clearly, he is just lonely and misunderstood and only acts out to mask his pain.) While grousing about how much he hates the season he is struck with inspiration: he will prevent Christmas from coming! He puts his plan into action and soon is sneaking into each home on Christmas Eve to make off with all of the Christmas trappings. But something goes wrong. As the Grinch is congratulating himself on Christmas morning, he realizes he can hear singing coming from Who-ville. Despite his best efforts, he hasn't ruined Christmas at all. The Whos may not have presents or decorations but they have each other and the Grinch is stunned to realize spirit of Christmas comes from within. He begins to have second thoughts about what he has done. Filled with the Christmas spirit, his heart grows "three sizes" and he returns to town to return all of the things he has stolen. He even presides over Christmas dinner, where he carves the roast beast. Awwww.

Obviously, we had to make roast beast in honor of the Grinch. Knowing Dr. Seuss the roast beast is probably some sort of moose or mammoth or something (the picture leaves it open to interpretation) but for our purposes I decided it was beef.

Roast Beast (really Ina Garten's Company Pot Roast)
(I did not follow Ina's recipe to the letter. What follows is my interpretation of the original recipe.)

(Ignore the tomato paste--I purchased it for a different meal and it somehow ended up in the picture)

Ingredients:

3 lb. (the recipe recommends 4-5 pounds) boneless beef chuck roast
Kosher salt and black pepper
flour (Pamela's gluten-free bread mix/flour blend)
olive oil
2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped yellow onion
2 cups chopped leeks
5 large garlic cloves, crushed
2 cups red wine
2 tablespoons brandy
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
1 chicken bouillon cube, or equivalent
3 branches fresh thyme
2 branches fresh rosemary
a tablespoon unsalted butter, at room temperature

Additional equipment: French oven (sometimes called a Dutch oven), immersion blender (or food processor).

The first thing you should know is that this is a fairly elaborate undertaking. Be prepared to spend some time in the kitchen. The cook time alone is 2+ hours. Fortunately, once you have everything in the oven you can ignore it for awhile.

1. Preheat oven to 325*. While oven is heating chop your vegetables. I always chop mine and throw them in a large bowl, then set aside for later.

2. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Dredge in flour (making sure all sides are covered).

3. On the stovetop, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in the French oven. Sear meat on all sides, then remove and set aside.

The meat, mid-sear

4. Add 2 more tablespoons oil to the French oven. Add vegetables and garlic and cook until softened.

5. Add wine, brandy, tomatoes (with liquid), chicken stock, bouillon, rosemary, and thyme. Once boiling, place the meat in the French oven. Cover, remove from stovetop and place inside oven for about 2.5 hours, or until meat is fork tender. About an hour into the cook time turn heat down to 250*.

6. When meat is finished cooking, remove from oven. Place meat on a separate plate. Remove the herbs and discard. Remove about half of the liquid and veggies and place in a separate bowl. Puree using an immersion blender (or food processor) and return to French oven. Place on the stovetop and let simmer on low heat. While simmering, mix butter and 2 tablespoons of flour together and add to pot. Let sauce simmer until thickened.

7. Serve meat with sauce and veggies on top. I served toasted garlic parmesan bread alongside the meat.

This meal takes a long time to cook but the results are well worth it. While it was in the oven my kids complained that they just wanted something else for dinner, but as the aroma permeated the house they began to get excited about the "roast beast". I think they set a new record for the number of times "roast beast" can be uttered in one evening. "The roast beast smells good." "I can't wait to try the roast beast." Obviously, changing the name of an old dish somehow makes it taste better; I can't imagine they would have been so excited over plain old pot roast.

And really, this is much better than plain old pot roast. The addition of the wine and adding the puree at the end really classes it up and gives it a rich, velvety flavor. I don't think I can go back to making pot roast in my crock pot after having it this way. Even if it does require a little more effort.

The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming - Sweet Potato Latkes

2010-12-01T19:19:00.000-08:00

"'I'm not part of Christmas!' cried the latke. 'It's a totally different thing!'" - The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming, Lemony Snicket

I like the holidays. They may be my favorite time of year. I love holiday treats, holiday music and favorite holiday specials. I love the smell of California mornings on cold (but not too cold) days in December and all the ways my husband and I plot to surprise our kids on Christmas morning. As we head into December I plan to feature many of my favorite holiday books here on the blog. At this time of year "holidays" are usually synonymous with "Christmas" so yes, I will be writing about Christmas (as well as general winter) books. But tonight is the first night of Hanukah, so I find it only appropriate to acknowledge the holiday with one of the funniest holiday books I have ever read: The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming.

The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming is written by Lemony Snicket (illustrated by Lisa Brown). If you are at all familiar with his Series of Unfortunate Events books, you know that this isn't going to be your typical heartwarming holiday yarn. If you were totally turned off by Pierre and Monsters Eat Whiny Children in my last post, this may not be the book for you. If you dig slightly deranged holiday tales, read on.

A latke is a potato pancake made from shredded potatoes and cooked in oil. It is commonly served as a part of Hanukah celebrations. As a holiday symbol, it is not as flashy as Christmas lights or as sweet as candy canes. And our titular latke, who has jumped out of a pan of boiling oil and run away, is frustrated--because none of the other holiday symbols he meets really understand what he is or how he fits into Christmas. He explains to each one, as he meets them, that he is not "hash browns" and not a part of Christmas. And that what he is a part of--Hanukah--is not Christmas. He relates the story of Hanukah to the Christmas lights, a candy cane and a pine tree as he encounters them (all the while growing increasingly--and hilariously--angry that they don't really get it). Finally, after he has slumped under a pine tree in frustration, he is found by a family. A Jewish family who recognize him immediately and want to make him a part of their Hanukah dinner.

This book is great because it works on two levels. I have Jewish friends who really do feel the way the latke does during the Christmas season: frustrated with the constant barrage of Christmas and the ignorance of some people who really don't understand that Hanukah isn't "Jewish Christmas" simply because it is celebrated during the same time of year. But it's also a book for those who want to learn more about Hanukah and understand, through the latke, why their Jewish friends might be so frustrated during this time of year.

Our angry latke, as illustrated by Lisa Brown

After reading the book together my kids, of course, wanted to make latkes. Which had always been my plan.

Sweet Potato Latkes with Applesauce and Eggs

Brown's illustrated latke-making instructions

This meal went through several revisions before it became what you see in the pictures. At first I had planned to make my latkes using frozen shredded potatoes. Not because I wanted to take the easy way out but because my husband is of the opinion that frozen potatoes fry up better than fresh. And I usually defer to him because he is the more skilled cook. Then my seven year old asked if I could make sweet potato latkes instead (he has a friend at school whose family makes them this way). I had not considered this at all. However, my seven year old has a deep hatred of shredded potato products. To the point that two nights ago he got himself so worked up over the apparent horror of tater tot casserole that he actually vomited. In my kitchen. Not wanting a repeat of this scenario, I acquiesced and resigned myself to the fact that I would be making sweet potato latkes from scratch. Though I did add in some frozen shredded potatoes to balance out the sweetness of the sweet potato.

Then I ran into the problem of what to serve with the latkes. Finally, buried deep on the third or fourth page of Google results (search term: "what to serve with latkes") was a Smitten Kitchen post in which fried or poached eggs were offered as a suggestion. Having just purchased eggs, I decided this sounded like a fabulous idea.

"But can we use the Mickey Mouse egg molds?" my seven year old asked.

So there you have it. Sweet potato latkes with applesauce and Mickey Mouse shaped fried eggs. I'm still not sure what Mickey Mouse has to do with Hanukah but seeing as how we aren't even Jewish to begin with I guess we'll let it go.

Ingredients:

shredded sweet potatoes
shredded frozen potatoes
shredded yellow onion
olive oil for frying
applesauce
fresh eggs
4 tablespoons flour (I used a gluten-free flour blend)
pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of salt

1. Peel your sweet potatoes and grate using a box grater. I started with three potatoes and used two. Wrap shredded potatoes in paper towel to wring out the moisture. Put the shredded sweet potatoes in a large mixing bowl.

2. Add frozen shredded potatoes to the mixing bowl. About 2/3 of my mixture was sweet potato and 1/3 was the regular potatoes. Mix together.

3. Using the grater, grate the onion into the mixing bowl. Add two eggs, salt, cayenne pepper and flour and combine with the potatoes.

4. Heat your olive oil in (preferably) an iron skillet. When the oil is hot drop small scoops of potato mixture in the skillet. Use the back of a spatula to flatten the latkes. Let cook on medium heat for 5 minutes on each side. I got better at this with each batch. The first ones were kind of fell apart because I didn't cook them long enough.

5. As you remove your latkes from the skillet, place on paper towels to absorb the excess oil. I made stacks with paper towels in between each latke layer.

6. Either simultaneously or after the latkes are finished cooking, make the eggs. I had to wait until the latkes were done because we only have one iron skillet and the egg molds don't work well in our other pans.

7. Serve your latkes and eggs with applesauce and/or sour cream.

I thought my sweet potato latkes were delicious (my husband thought they were too sweet and would have preferred using regular potatoes) and I take it as a good sign that my kids asked if they could take the leftovers to school for lunch.

Happy Hanukah, to those of you who are celebrating tonight!

Cautionary Tales for Disobedient Children

2010-11-22T20:14:00.000-08:00

Oh, subervsive cautionary tales in the guise of children's books--how I love you. Really, I do. Maybe it's because when I was a child my cousin and I would spend the night at my Poppa's house; if we didn't go to sleep right away he would sneak outside and bang on the window with a stick and yell that he was the Boogeyman, there to "get" us. (You have to understand, my grandfather was not a traditional grandparent in any sense of the word.) So maybe my love for books like Pierre and Monsters Eat Whiny Children is just in my genes. To be sure, these books aren't for everyone--some may claim they're too scary or dark or inappropriate for young children. To those naysayers I say: I don't care.

First up, Maurice Sendak's classic Pierre. Pierre isn't a bad child, exactly. It's more that he's disengaged and refuses to show any emotion or react to his parents' proclamations, suggestions and threats with anything other than a bored, "I don't care." Pierre just doesn't care. About anything, apparently, not even the fact that he is pouring syrup on his hair. Finally, fed up, Pierre's parents leave the house without him. Soon a lion comes to the door. Predictably, Pierre is unmoved so the lion announces he will eat him. "I don't care," says Pierre, which is all the invitation the lion needs. When Pierre's parents return, horrified to find their son has become somebody's meal, they take him to a doctor who makes quick work of rescuing Pierre. Who finally cares.

Because I love Pierre so very much, I was very interested in checking out the Monsters Eat Whiny Children, which has received a lot of positive buzz this fall. Written and illustrated by New Yorker cartoonist Bruce Eric Kaplan, it is another book in which disobedient children finally get their comeuppance. Henry and Eve whine. A lot. Their father tells them that monsters eat whiny children but they don't believe him--they continue their whiny ways until a monster kidnaps them and takes them home (in a sack!) to make his supper. To hilarious results. My kids were howling with laughter as the monster tried to make a salad out of the children ("I don't like sitting on lettuce," Henry whined.) and argued with his wife ("I hate cilantro!" she screamed.) and friends over how best to prepare and serve them. The story is told in a very contemporary, conversational style ("When they told him, the neighbor totally freaked out.") and lends itself to great opportunities to do silly voices. After much arguing, the monsters decide the perfect meal is whiny-child cucumber sandwiches. It should be noted that the monsters aren't angels either, and it's their indecisiveness and constant bickering that allows Henry and Eve to make their escape. The monsters still end up eating cucumber sandwiches, which, while delicious, aren't quite as tasty as those with whiny children inside. This might be my favorite children's book of the year. It's become one of my kids' favorites too.

The illustration style will be familiar to those who have seen Kaplan's work in the New Yorker. Of special note are the endpapers, which feature a "map" of important landmarks in Henry and Eve's lives. With often hilarious captions, it reads like an inside joke/love letter to the real Henry and Eve (to whom the book is dedicated).

As much as I thought my babies were truly edible (in that weird way that may only make sense to new moms) I cannot in good conscience post a recipe for children. Instead, taking a cue from the monsters in Monsters Eat Whiny Children, we made cucumber sandwiches for dinner.

Cucumber Sandwiches

Ingredients:

cucumbers
sandwich bread
cream cheese
sea salt

1. Slice bread (if necessary). Spread a layer of cream cheese on each side.

2. Slice cucumber. Layer cucumbers on one side of bread.

3. Sprinkle with sea salt.

4. Top with second slice of bread.

We had initially planned to make these as snacks for the car trip down to see family for Thanksgiving. In a funny case of life imitating art, though, tonight we were all sitting around tonight wondering what to have for dinner. Nobody really wanted butternut squash soup. (Or wanted to make it, anyway.) One of my kids suggested pizza. Nobody wanted pizza. They both insisted they would be fine with cereal. Finally, in desperation, I said, "What about the cucumber sandwiches?" And it was perfection. (Does anyone else think of Friends when something is described as "perfection"?) We were as happy as the monsters in the book. Maybe cucumber sandwiches are magical or something. My kids even asked if I would put them in their lunches sometime.

We checked Monsters Eat Whiny Children out from our library but I'll be ordering a personal copy to put under the Christmas tree. I can't imagine not having this book in my life on a permanent basis.

*Disclosure: As an Amazon.com affiliate, I earn a small commission when you purchase books via the Amazon links on this site. Thank you for supporting Eat Their Words!

Three Scoops and a Fig - Fig Tree Sundae

2010-11-18T19:57:00.000-08:00

"Sofia dumped the little pear-shaped figs into a bowl on the table. She dished out more helpings of gelato, each with three scoops and a fig. " - Three Scoops and a Fig, Sara Laux Akin

I grew up in a town that was once covered in fig orchards (now many of those orchards have become housing developments and shopping malls), but I have to be honest, I don't think I'd actually eaten a fresh fig until sometime last year. I feel embarrassed to even admit this but its true. I wasn't sure what to do with them so I sliced them and put them in yogurt for the kids. That seemed about right.

Sara Laux Akin's Three Scoops and a Fig presents a similar but tastier option for those looking to use up a fig surplus. Sofia, Akins' young protagonist, comes from a family of cooks. Her family owns an Italian restaurant and her older siblings contribute their own specialties to the family dinner table. On the occasion of her grandparents' anniversary, Sofia just wants to help her family as their prepare a special dinner but she keeps getting in the way. Unnoticed by her busy family, Sofia decides to slip away with a bowl of gelato for breakfast. When an errant fig from the fig tree drops into Sofia's bowl she discovers a new treat--and a way to contribute to the family dinner. Illustrator Susan Kathleen Hartung's muted colors and depiction of a close knit, multi-generational family infuse the story with warmth.

Three Scoops and a Fig includes extras--a recipe for an "Italian Flag Sundae" and a glossary of Italian words and phrases used in the story. Although the Italian Flag Sundae sounded delicious, I decided to stick with Sofia's original recipe.

Sofia's Fig Tree Sundae

Ingredients:

vanilla ice cream
figs (fresh if you can find them)

1. Scoop ice cream into bowls. In order to stay true to the book I used three (small) scoops in each child's bowl.

2. Slice your figs. I must confess, I used dried figs for this particular recipe. I had been sitting on this review until after Halloween and by the time I was ready to post it I couldn't find fresh figs anywhere. Fig season, apparently, is very short (I feel this is something I should have known, having grown up in Fresno). Dried figs, however, were easy to find at the grocery store.

Serve and eat quickly, before your seven-year old can complain that it's melting!

I know my posting here has been spotty lately. Beginning with this recipe, though, I am looking forward to getting back on track as we head into the holiday season!

*Disclosure: A review copy of Three Scoops and Fig was provided by Peachtree Publishers for the purpose of this review.

When a book is more than just a story - Part II

2010-11-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

A few months ago I shared some of our favorite "non-story" picture books that we enjoy reading on long trips or rainy days. Since that post we have come across a couple of standout titles that I can't help but rave about.

Meanwhile by Jason Shiga

Jason Shiga's Meanwhile is like nothing I've ever seen. We saw it on display in our local bookstore last spring and I immediately knew that it would become a birthday present for my older son. It's a narrative in the style of the classic Choose Your Own Adventure books but in graphic novel form. At key points in the story the reader is asked to choose a path (represented by maze-like pipes) to take. This determines the outcome of the story. There are many paths and many stories but only one "happy" ending. Did I mention there's a time machine? If there's one thing that is guaranteed to pique my interest, it's a time machine. The recommended age is for upper elementary school aged kids but my 7 year old and I read it together first so he could get the hang of the mechanics (and the graphic novel style) and he is now able to read it on his own. The first time we read this we spent at least an hour together on the couch, never once achieving the "correct" ending.

Around the World with Mouk by Marc Boutavant

Another birthday gift (this time for my 5 year old), Around the World with Mouk reminds me of the classic Richard Scarry books. Mouk, a small bear, is going on an around the world journey. In "letters" he sends to his friends back home we are able to look in on his travels. As in Scarry's books, there is much to see, with plenty to read (and learn) in the form of characters' thought bubbles. The thing that sets Mouk apart from other books, though, are the reusable static cling stickers that come with the book. Remember Colorforms? That's basically what these are. Masks, animals and objects representing the regions Mouk visits can be placed on the characters or in the scenes depicted on each page. My kids like to experiment with the unexpected: they'll put a snow hat on a character surfing on the Australian beach, or a Chinese dragon mask on a character in the Finnish winter scene.

In the Town All Year 'Round by Rotraut Susanne Berner

This mostly wordless picture book rewards those who pay close attention. The book is divided into four parts, each part representing a different season in the same town. The same scenes are present in each season but you can track the changes in the town and its citizens--and the storyline--throughout the book. There are also "hidden" objects (cats, birds, etc.) to find on each page.

I am always looking for recommendations for new and unique books like these. What are your family's favorites?

*Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate I receive a small commission when you make a purchase via the links on this blog. Thank you for supporting Eat Their Words!

Book Mail!

2010-11-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

I love getting mail. I'm not kidding when I say one of the highlights of my day is checking the mail, even when it's Tuesday and I know it will only be the grocery store circulars. It's already been established that I love books (by the mere fact that I have a blog . . . about books . . . ). So when Zoe announced her international book swap over on Playing by the Book, I knew we would take part. Books in the mail? Sign me up!

Kidding aside, I knew it would be fun to take part in a book exchange and perhaps learn a little about another family's favorite books, or even--in the event that we were matched with an international family--their culture. When I was younger, beginning around the fifth grade, I had a penpal. We were actually matched up through an ad in the back of a book. A lot of times those youthful "virtual" (I guess that's what you'd call it now) friendships fizzle out but my penpal and I stayed in touch for many years, until sometime in high school when, sadly, we lost contact with each other (on the off chance that Kathlynn is reading this--drop me an email!). One of the things I most enjoyed about having a penpal was the anticipation that something might be waiting for me every time I opened the mail box. And so it was with the book exchange: every day I opened my mailbox I thought, This could be the day.

I was matched with Artnavy, who blogs at About Time Now and is a contributor to Saffron Tree. Although I had specified when I signed up that I was open to a book exchange with anybody, I was thrilled that we were matched with a family in a different country. Artnavy and her family live in India. We decided to send her and her children a copy of The Monster Who Ate Darkness (the subject of my first post on this blog, and an all-time favorite in this house). My kids were upset about this until I told them we were sending them their own copy, not the one that belongs to us, and that we would also be receiving a new book in the mail.

Artnavy sent us Little Vinayak, by Shobha Viswanath and illustrated by Shilpa Ranade. As a special bonus, the book contained a wonderful CD audiobook read by Vidya Balan and with music by 3 Brothers & A Violin. Little Vinayak is the story of a small elephant who is frustrated because he constantly trips over his trunk. His friends and other jungle inhabitants try to help him fix his problem until a wise old elephant, Tembo, teaches him how to walk and swing his trunk so it doesn't get in his way. It's a book that is about learning to be comfortable in your own skin, a message I think we all (yes, even adults!) need to be reminded of once in awhile.

My kids liked the humorous story of Little Vinayak and especially loved the bright illustrations. Entirely on their own, they got into a discussion about which medium the illustrator had used--one boy thought crayons, the other thought oil pastels. My younger son was still talking about Little Vinayak the next day and asked if he could take it to share with his kindergarten class at school.

Little Vinayak reminded me of a few other books we enjoy here. It would make a good companion for Giraffes Can't Dance and The Saggy Baggy Elephant -- both of which also feature animals who come to accept and appreciate their unique physical characteristics.

In addition to Little Vinayak, Artnavy also sent us a copy of The Hare and the Tortoise (Again!) and a small illustrated book on how to make roti, a traditional Indian flat bread. I have not made the roti yet, as it calls for wheat, but I have been looking at gluten-free roti recipes and look forward to trying it the next time we have a meal that calls for flat bread.

Thank you again, Artnavy, for the books! And a big thanks to Zoe for coordinating this book swap. Be sure to check out her excellent blog, Playing by the Book, for more of her excellent ideas and reviews!

Halloween Treats

2010-10-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

With Halloween around the corner, you may have stocked up on canned pumpkin to make pumpkin fudge...or pumpkin pies...or pumpkin scones (you get the idea). What to do when you have half a can of pumpkin left? You can do what we do and whip up a quick and easy snack: pumpkin yogurt.

I started making pumpkin yogurt when my kids were very young. Back then, I could easily trick them into thinking pumpkin was a delicious snack. I don't know why, but one day I mixed some pumpkin with some plain yogurt and a new treat was born. My kids still enjoy it but it's not something I make all the time. I tend to save it for the fall, when canned pumpkin is easy to find in the grocery stores.

Pumpkin Yogurt

Ingredients:

canned pumpkin
plain or vanilla yogurt
cinnamon (optional)

This is so easy I don't know why I am bothering with directions, but here we go...

1. Combine equal parts pumpkin and yogurt. Stir together.

2. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

It's that easy. I like that it's both a taste of fall and a way to serve a fruit that we don't often eat.

With Halloween in just a few days, we've been making pumpkin yogurt and enjoying our stash of Halloween books. I am really not sure how we ended up with so many Halloween books, but over the years we've acquired quite the collection. Some of the ones my kids particularly enjoy:

Goodnight Goon by Michael Rex

As evidenced by the title, Goodnight Goon is a parody of the classic Goodnight Moon. One of my sons received this as a birthday gift last year. We get a kick out of it, especially the various monsters that wreak havoc in the little werewolf's room.

Happy Halloween, Little Critter! by Mercer Mayer

This is really a sentimental favorite in our house. After my second son was born, my husband took my older son (then two) to the bookstore to pick out a new book. This is the book he chose. It is a simple story about Little Critter greeting his costumed friends on Halloween. Flaps that open to reveal the friends underneath their costumes made this a hit with my kids when they were younger.

Haunted Castle on Hallow's Eve by Mary Pope Osborne

My older son has recently started reading the Magic Treehouse books out loud for his nightly reading homework. This one follows the typical storyline of siblings Jack and Annie on a magic mission for Merlin but the haunted castle at the heart of the story's mission gives this one a Halloween flair. We picked this one up at my son's school book fair last week.

Popcorn by Frank Asch

I have a full review of this book here but it is definitely a Halloween favorite around here. All of the action happens at a Halloween costume party.

Dick and Jane and Vampires by Laura Marchesani

Um, okay. So I kind of think the whole vampire thing is a bit played out. I will admit right here that I am a huge Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan but I really did not gravitate toward Twilight (I tried and couldn't get through the first book) and the others that have followed. However, I saw this book in the bookstore and I couldn't resist buying it for my prereader for his birthday. The juxtaposition of these kids from yesteryear (maybe it's because I've been watching a lot of Mad Men and have been on a retro kick) with vampires just makes it so random and hilarious. I mean, there are pages with Vampire lurking behind bushes and under beds and it sounds vaguely sinister but it is really really funny. Over the course of several very simple chapters (like the original Dick and Jane books, this is an early reader meant for kids who are beginning to read aloud) Vampire reveals himself to be a nice guy who jumps rope with Dick and Jane and wears bonnets Mother makes for him. And, in the end, he finds a very special soulmate when Dick and Jane introduce him to a lady vampire. And everyone is happy happy. Awwww.

What are your favorite Halloween books?

Ghosts in the House! - Marshmallow Ghost Pops

2010-10-14T14:48:00.000-07:00

"Then she went to the kitchen . . . and put them all in the washing machine." - Ghosts in the House!, Kazuno Kohara

Halloween is just around the corner. There's a chill in the air, Halloween costumes are being planned and seasonal decorations are beginning to adorn everything from my kids' classrooms to Disneyland (we were there last week). Okay, so here in the Bay Area the first part of that statement doesn't hold true (it was 94 degrees today!) but that hasn't stopped my thoughts from turning to Halloween. And so, naturally, it's time to feature some seasonally appropriate books and recipes on this blog.

Last week when we were in Disneyland we ran across some very cute chocolate covered marshmallows in the candy shops. My younger son and I are fans of their marshmallows anyway (they're gluten-free!) but he was especially taken with these, as they were covered in white chocolate and decorated to look like ghosts:

We really liked them (he chose it for his treat two days in a row) and I thought it would be fun to recreate them at home.

Marshmallow Ghost Pops

Ingredients:

1 bag large marshmallows
1 bag of caramel candies (11 oz.)
1box of white Baker's chocolate (this covered about 3 marshmallow pops)
Black cake decorating gel (if gluten is an issue, be sure to read labels carefully!)
lollypop sticks (available at craft stores like Michael's)

1. Place three or four marshmallows on the end of a stick. Make sure you don't poke the stick all the way through the top marshmallow.

2. Melt your caramels--along with 2 tablespoons of milk--in a double boiler. (The milk will prevent the caramel from taking on the consistency of cement once it cools.) Stir together until melted.

3. Working quickly, dip your marshmallows in the caramel. I found I was able to get the best coverage by using the spatula to drizzle the caramel over the marshmallows.

4. Place caramel covered marshmallow pops on a baking sheet lined with NON-STICK foil. Put in the fridge to cool.

5. (I took my caramel covered marshmallows out of the fridge after about an hour.) Melt the white chocolate. The instructions on my box of Baker's Chocolate said to use the microwave but I found that the double boiler worked fine. Be very careful not to overheat the white chocolate or it will harden and smell weird. Not that I would know anything about that...

6. When the white chocolate is melted, dip caramel covered marshmallows. Once again, I used a spatula to spread the white chocolate around to make sure it covered the visible surfaces and all of the caramel covered areas.

7. Return candy to the fridge.

8. Before serving, pipe on faces using chocolate or edible gel. It's easy to find black tubes of edible gel during this time of year. (Though the faces on the Disneyland ones were made from piped on chocolate.)

Not quite as nice as the professional ones but not bad. Still tasty.

Wondering which book to pair these cute ghost marshmallow pops with? There is an abundance of Halloween/ghost themed kidlit available at this time of year, but my current favorite ghost book is Kazuno Kohara's Ghosts in the House! (originally published as The Haunted House in the UK).

Ghosts in the House! is a cute story about a little girl who moves into a haunted house. Fortunately, the little girl happens to be a witch so she knows exactly how to handle those ghosts! First she traps them, then she washes them, then she finds new household uses for them. Ghosts become curtains, table cloths and sheets. It's a sweet, not-scary Halloween story that is perfect for young preschoolers but the pictures are interesting enough for older children to enjoy. I love them so much! The pages are orange with only two colors--black and white--used in the illustrations. The white ghosts are nearly transparent; a very cool effect. It almost looks as through they're done in chalk or sponge paint. I really enjoy books that incorporate unusual or unexpected design techniques, and the orange pages really work for this story.

Coincidentally, the very day I chose to blog about this book was the day my younger son happened to bring a picture of a haunted house home from school. The house is made out of orange construction paper and his ghosts are drawn with . . . chalk! This would be a fun and easy project to do at home after reading this book. It makes a great Halloween decoration.

Other books by Kazuno Kohara:
Here Comes Jack Frost
Little Wizard

The Lorax - Truffula Trees with Dipping Sauces

2010-09-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

"UNLESS someone like you
cares a whole awful lot,
nothing is going to get better.
It's not," - The Lorax, Dr. Seuss

So. It's Banned Books Week and we're talking banned and challenged books. I thought long and hard about which book I wanted to feature this week. At first I had another title chosen but it was a book that my kids don't particularly enjoy. They really, really like Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, though, and guess what--this book was once banned. Really? Dr. Seuss? What about this book, with its peaceful message of environmentalism and sustainability (perhaps more relevant now than when it was published in 1971) could be cause for concern?

Uh, apparently that very message. Way back in 1989 some parents in the Laytonville (CA) Unified School District decided the book "criminalized the forestry industry" and had an "anti-logging message"; they attempted to get it removed from the elementary school's reading list. While their attempt to ban the book was unsuccessful, it goes to show that people can and will get upset about anything. We're used to hearing about books that are challenged due to profanity or their depictions of violence, sexuality, race or class relations. . . you get the idea. But attempting to ban a gentle children's story about the importance of respecting our environment? Now, Laytonville does happen to be a logging town (I'm highly amused by the idea of a bunch of burly loggers getting all up in arms over a Dr. Seuss book) so I can understand the concern but does that warrant restricting access to a book? Shouldn't kids--especially kids growing up in this industry--be exposed to the very real consequences of deforestation? Even if you didn't know that I send my son to the hippy dippiest kindergarten you can imagine (you do now!), the fact that I am writing a post speaking out against the censorship of books should tell you my thoughts on the subject.

As far as the story itself goes, The Lorax is a cautionary tale told by the Once-ler, a character who once found fame and fortune by chopping down Truffula Trees and making Thneeds from their tufts. There is such a demand for Thneeds that he brings in more workers, and machines, and builds factories. All the while he must deal with The Lorax, a nuisance of a guy who "speak[s] for the trees" and keeps popping up to tell him that cutting down the trees is wrong and that he's slowly poisoning the area. There is no more Truffula Fruit to feed the Bar-ba-loots and the polluted waters can't sustain the Humming-Fish population. Eventually, the Once-ler relates, there is no life left where the Truffula Trees once grew abundant. The last tree has been felled and the native wildlife has been driven away. As has The Lorax. The pictures, once vibrant oranges, purples, greens and pinks take on a grayish, nightmarish tone. The only hope, the Once-ler cautions, is for you (the reader) to care "a whole awful lot." Then, when the trees are replanted and life returns, The Lorax might come back.

As I type this I can't help but wonder if Wall-E was at least partially inspired by The Lorax.

The Lorax is a subtly powerful book and a wonderful way to introduce kids to the concepts of environmentalism and green living. Even though, admittedly, my kids weren't interested in pursuing that line of conversation right after we finished reading. Maybe it's enough that they're slowly absorbing the message each time we read it, and they don't even know it.

When I am choosing books and recipes to feature here I don't always have a plan. Sometimes I get the idea for a recipe as we're reading the book. Other times I choose a book and craft a recipe to fit the book. Or I choose a recipe and find a book that works. This time I chose the book well before I had any food ideas. I was struck with inspiration as I meandered through my local produce market and came face to face with a display of colored cauliflower. Is it just me or do the green, purple and orange crucifers look particularly Seussian? They became the inspiration for today's snack:

Truffula Trees with Dipping Sauces

Ingredients:

Brightly hued cauliflower
Dipping sauces (we used hummus, raspberry dressing and garlic-Caesar dressing)

1. My plan, initially, was to simply serve the cauliflower alongside the dipping sauces and let the boys go to town. However, they were very insistent that we make the actual trees. My older son was the one to come up with a suggestion as to how we could make them: "Use celery!" We tried to attach the cauliflower to celery stalks using peanut butter as glue but the celery really couldn't support the weight of the cauliflower and the peanut butter was not the most effective glue so we settled for a pretty picture of what the trees would have looked like:

Here's the original:

2. What I actually ended up doing was putting the celery and cauliflower in a bowl and preparing small cups of our dipping "sauces."

I do realize it's a little ironic that this book is about conservation and I've chosen to prepare a snack that is supposed to represent the very trees that were being cut down. Personally, I consider it a victory that I got my children excited about eating vegetables as an after school snack.

This book is part of a Banned Books Week roundup hosted by Nikki of Are you there youth? It's me Nikki. Check out her blog on October 2 for links to other Banned Books Week posts from around the blogosphere. Her Banned Books Week review of the Harry Potter series can be found here.

Happy Banned Books Week!

2010-09-27T16:01:00.000-07:00

(i read banned books shirt, available through my Zazzle store)

Since 1982, the last week of September has been designated as Banned Books Week. According to the American Library Association, it is a time to draw attention to "the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States." Books in our local libraries, schools and bookstores are challenged all the time, usually by people who object to the book's content or message and want to prevent others from having access to the materials they find so offensive. As an avid reader, a writer and a mother, I have a problem with the few who attempt to take something away from everybody just because it does not gel with their moral code.

This is just a partial list of books I love, books that have been challenged at one time or another:

-Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume
-A Wrinkle in Time - Madeline L'Engle
-The Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
-To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
-Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
-The Color Purple - Alice Walker
-The Kite Runner - Khaled Hossieni
-His Dark Materials Trilogy - Phillip Pullman
-Deenie - Judy Blume
-Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
-Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry - Mildred D. Taylor

With the exception of the more recent titles (Harry Potter, The Kite Runner, His Dark Materials), the above are all books I was required to read in class or that I found on my own in the library. I cannot imagine going through childhood without Are You There, God? It's Me Margaret or A Wrinkle in Time, books I found at my public and elementary school libraries, respectively. I was one of those kids who read everything she could get her hands on and I am very fortunate that my parents did not screen my reading material. I mean, maybe they did but if they did they didn't do a very great job of it, considering I read Are You There, God? It's Me Margaret when I was seven years old. I have a seven year old. I cannot imagine letting him read that book right now. (Not that it matters. I am quite sure he would have no interest in it.) And that's just the thing. You might say that I am a hypocrite, writing about freedom of speech and in the next breath saying I won't let my son read a certain book. That's not what I'm saying at all. As a parent, I have a responsibility to make sure the my kids' reading material is age and reading level appropriate. That's very different than wanting to keep the book out of my son's school library altogether.

As my kids get older they will no doubt choose (or be required) to read books that have received challenges. I hope that when the time comes we'll actually be able to talk about not just the stories, but the reasons people felt threatened by them and why it's important that these books continue to remain available. And should one of their teachers ever come under fire for a book that he or she chooses to introduce in the classroom, I plan to be the mom who leads the charge to defend that teacher and that book.

Later this week I will be posting my own review (complete with recipe, of course) of a challenged book. For more information about Banned Books Week, please visit the American Library Association's page
on the topic. While there you can check out the list of the top 100 challenged books of the past decade (2000 - 2009).

Cookbook Review: Bean Appetit

2010-09-22T15:53:00.000-07:00

I picked Bean Appetit: Hip and Healthy Ways to Have Fun with Food off the New Arrivals shelf at our (new, state of the art!) library and boy, am I glad I did. As a kids' cookbook, this one does pretty much everything right. From the creative recipes to the full color, glossy pages to the games and activities (I would actually call it a cookbook/activity book), it's designed to appeal to kid chefs and it does. It appeals to my kid chefs, anyway.

The premise behind this book by Shannon Payette Seip and Kelly Parthen (who co-founded Bean Sprouts, a kids' cafe/cooking school in Wisconsin) is that cooking should be fun and creative. Thus we get recipes with names like Pear Penguins, Starry Night Bites and Bug Bites. The book gives equal time to games and activities families can play together in the kitchen or at the dinner table. One activity suggests playing Jenga using carrot sticks. Another has instructions for making a homemade memory game out of repurposed metal lids. "Table Talk" questions and food facts throughout the book are designed to get families talking. My husband and kids spent an evening going through the Table Talk questions while I was at a PTA meeting.

One of the things I look for in a cookbook--especially a cookbook aimed at kids--is recipes that are gluten-free or that can easily be converted to gluten-free. One of my children has to adhere to a gluten-free diet; a cookbook that he can't enjoy would not be practical at all. Fortunately, many of the recipes in this book call for gluten-free ingredients like fresh fruits and veggies, beans, rice and chocolate. There are also a number of recipes that call for a special flour blend. This flour blend (instructions are provided in the introduction) is not gluten-free. While we skipped those recipes, I do think my older son would enjoy them. (Or, I could do a little work and come up with a proper substitute flour blend.)

Most of the recipes in the book are snacks, side dishes and desserts--perfect for kids who are just delving into cooking. The recipes are geared toward children who are able to read and follow directions but even younger children will find these recipes easy to follow with the help of an adult. The instructions clearly indicate when an older caregiver's assistance is required (like when using appliances or slicing fruit).

While my kids were at school today I purchased the ingredients to make one of the recipes in the book: Pear Penguins. (If you remember my post about penguin books, you know we are big penguin fans in this house) After homework we went to town:

Quite often I check out kid cookbooks at the library and return them before we have a chance to make anything either because 1) the recipes are too involved and/or require ingredients we don't have on hand or 2) the recipes rely on gluten-containing ingredients. I am happy to say that this book will be staying with us for the entire three weeks we have it; the kids have already identified other recipes they want to try. This is a kids' cookbook that does everything right.

Disclosure: As an Amazon.com affiliate, I earn a small commission when purchases are made via Amazon links on this site. Thank you for helping to support Eat Their Words!

Harold and the Purple Crayon - Chocolate Pie

2010-09-16T08:55:00.000-07:00

"But there were all nine kinds of pie that Harold liked best" - Harold and the Purple Crayon, Crockett Johnson

Well hi there. Long time no blog, right? I have no excuse, other than a combination of laziness/busyness. In the weeks between my older son beginning school and my younger son finally starting (he's doing kindergarten at a private school) things were kind of chaotic. It was a combination of wanting to spend some one on one time with my youngest before he headed off to full-day kindergarten, dealing with some health issues, helping my second grader adjust to the new school year, school meetings and general blogging apathy. I needed a break. My youngest started school last week, just in time for a weekend of house guests. I am finally getting it together again and dipping my toe back into the Kidlitosphere.

This doesn't mean that we weren't spending a lot of time reading and visiting our library and the bookstore. One of the things that we enjoyed during my blogging hiatus was the Crockett Johnson classic Harold and the Purple Crayon. My younger son picked it out on a recent trip to the bookstore and he is now hooked on the Harold series. My older son enjoys them too but it's the little one who carries his books around with him and asks to read them multiple times a day. He had the book mostly memorized on the second evening it was in our home.

I remember checking Harold and the Purple Crayon out from the library as a child and I find it just as enchanting now as I did then. Harold is an imaginative little boy who uses his purple crayon to create entire worlds for himself. One night, Harold decides to take a walk in the moonlight, so he draws a moon . . . and a sidewalk . . . and eventually a forest, the ocean, a city . . . until he finds his way back home to his own bed. It's all very cleverly done, with a subtle sense of humor and a lot of whimsy. Other than the brown outline of Harold, the only colors in the book are the white background and the purple outline of Harold's drawings. I love the purple and the brown, I love Harold's pointy turned up nose, I love that Johnson uses turns of phrase like "a hungry moose and a deserving porcupine."

The moose and porcupine in question are the recipients of the pie feast Harold has to abandon as he travels on his way. Nine kinds of pie. Maybe someday we'll make all nine kinds of pie; that would make an interesting ongoing feature on this blog, wouldn't it? But today we only made one kind of pie. Since the book did not specify "all nine kinds of pie that Harold liked best" I had to take some liberties and assume that one of those kinds of pie would be chocolate. Who doesn't like chocolate pie, right?

Chocolate Pie

Ingredients:

1 package chocolate sandwich cookies (we used gluten-free K-Toos)
2 ounces melted butter
1 (large) package chocolate instant pudding

This is a gluten-free version of a simple dessert my mother-in-law makes. If you don't have to worry about the gluten thing then it's even simpler, as you can buy a premade Oreo cookie crust. But we are gluten-free so we make our crust. The cookies are available at Whole Foods, some Targets (ours has a newly expanded grocery section) and Amazon.com. I used one package but my crust was a little small--I recommend using a package and a half.

1. Carefully twist the cookies apart and scrape the creme filling out using a knife. Set the filling aside, eat it as you go, whatever. It's of no importance to this recipe.

2. Place the cookies in a plastic zip-top bag and smash the heck out of them with a rolling pin. Or grind in a food processor. My boys wanted to go the rolling pin route:

3. While the boys were mashing the cookies I prepared the pudding according to the directions on the box. I used the instructions for pie filling.

4. Place cookie crumbs in small bowl and add the melted butter:

5. Use a fork to blend the cookies with the butter. You'll have a crumbly, slightly dry mixture:

6. Press cookie crumbs into pie pan. As you can see, my crust doesn't quite go all the way up the sides of the pan. This is why I recommend using one and a half packages of cookies.

7. With a spatula, scrape the pudding into the pie crust. Let set in fridge for several hours before serving.

This turned out really well. The only thing I would do differently is spray the bottom of the pie plate with a little more non-stick spray. I used a little but the crust still stuck a bit. As far as the flavor goes, I had a hard time telling I had used gluten-free sandwich cookies in place of Oreos. It had a rich chocolatey flavor and none of the "grit" that some gluten-free cookies tend to have. This was a winner. Now that I know how easy it is to make the gluten-free cookie crust I'll have to experiment with other types of pie.

Other Harold books we have enjoyed these past two weeks: Harold at the North Pole, Harold's Trip to the Sky (I LOVE the section with purple line drawings on the dark brown background) and A Picture for Harold's Room (this last one being an easy reader my older son read last year).

Disclosure: As an Amazon.com affiliate, I earn a small commission when purchases are made via Amazon links on this site. Thank you for helping to support Eat Their Words!

Two weeks is a long time...

2010-08-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

I didn't intentionally neglect this blog for two weeks. As the end of summer vacation approached my kids and I spent a lot of time seeing movies, scheduling playdates with friends, taking some day trips and preparing to go back to school. My older son started the second grade today so things should begin to slow down and I will soon return to my regular posting schedule.

In the meantime, a little of what we've been reading:

Me:

Mockingjay

My seven year old:

Dinosaurs Before Dark (Magic Tree House, No. 1)

(he's currently reading this aloud for his nightly homework)

My four year old:

Toy Story 2 Read-Along Storybook and CD

(Yes, we are still in a Toy Story phase right now.)

Happy Belly, Happy Smile - Fried Rice

2010-08-10T17:24:00.000-07:00

"On Fridays I have dinner with Grandpa Sam. He owns a restaurant in Chinatown." - Happy Belly, Happy Smile, Rachel Isadora

I have reviewed books about families cooking and eating together for this blog, but I don't believe I have ever reviewed a book about a family dining together in a restaurant. Enter Rachel Isadora's Happy Belly, Happy Smile, a sweet picture book told from the point of view of a little boy who is visiting his grandfather's Chinese restaurant.

Happy Belly, Happy Smile isn't just a book about food or a book about families, it's a book about the experience of visiting a restaurant and seeing how things work from a child's perspective. Every Friday Louie visits his grandfather's restaurant in Chinatown. A frequent visitor, he knows the waiters, chefs and other restaurant staff by name and he gets an insider's view of what goes down in a working restaurant. He watches the chefs roll egg rolls and chop vegetables and the waiters bustle from table to table. When it's finally time to eat Louie and Grandpa Sam enjoy an assortment of Chinese dishes: rice, dumplings, egg rolls, spare ribs, shrimp chow mein--even fish and crabs. And a fortune cookie, of course. The book's title comes from the message inside the cookie: "Happy food, happy belly, happy smile."

Isadora's collage and oil illustrations are a treat. Scraps of paper from what appear to be real Chinese restaurant menus and are incorporated into the collages, a nice touch.

Of course, this book makes me think of Chinese food. Since converting to a gluten-free diet over a year ago, I haven't had much occasion to eat Chinese takeout. Between the wheat-based sauces, noodle dishes (my favorite) and fried foods, it just isn't the best choice. If I really want plain steamed rice and vegetables I'll get them at home. That's not what most people go to Chinese restaurants for! Fortunately, we have been able to replicate some of our favorite Chinese takeout at home. It's not quite the same but I have received high praise for my fried rice. Some would say it's even better than Chinese takeout!

Fried Rice

2 - 3 cups cooked rice (I prefer Calrose, or "sticky" rice, but anything will do)
cooked lean protein (chicken, beef strips, tofu, etc.)
2 - 3 eggs
3 - 4 strips of bacon (optional)
1 and 1/2 cups diced fresh or frozen veggies (we use peas and carrots)
1/3 - 1/2 cup soy sauce
white vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar
sesame seeds (to taste)
black pepper (to taste)
red pepper flakes (to taste)
3 cloves fresh garlic
butter (optional)

Additional equipment: Large pan or wok.

1. Cook your rice. Ideally, the rice should be cold so you may want to cook it ahead of time. Or use leftover rice. I've never tried to make fried rice using the pre-cooked rice I have recently started to see in grocery stores but if you've tried it let me know!

2. If you are using bacon, cook it in the pan/wok. We started putting bacon in our fried rice because one of our favorite Japanese teppanyaki restaurants does this with their fried rice and it is unbelievably good. (I am of the opinion that bacon makes everything better.) When the bacon is cooked through, carefully remove from pan and set aside. Do not drain the pan of the bacon grease! You'll use this instead of cooking oil for the stir fry part. (Sounds gross, I know. Trust me though.)

3. Crack eggs into the pan. Stir fry the eggs with garlic and black pepper until they are no longer runny. Add your lean protein and continue to stir fry.

4. When eggs and meat are cooked through (don't worry about overcooking the egg), add the veggies; let cook another two to three minutes.

5. Now it's time to add the rice. Slowly add rice by spoonfuls. Mix well.

6. Add red pepper flakes, brown sugar, sesame seeds and splash of vinegar. Add soy sauce and a small amount of butter (the butter is optional but it does enhance the flavor--I use a tiny bit). Mix well.

7. Turn up the heat and let cook until the sauce begins to caramelize. The rice on the bottom should stick a little but it shouldn't burn or fuse to the pan.

This recipe serves the four of us and provides a lot of leftovers. (I used the same amount to serve five adults and three kids a few weeks ago.) However, if you want to go all out and make a few Chinese takeout-style dishes to serve family style, I have a few suggestions:

CrockPot Broccoli Beef and CrockPot Sweet and Sour Tofu from A Year of Slow Cooking
Szechwan Beef Stir Fry from Better Homes and Gardens
General Tso's Chicken from Tyler Florence and the Food Network

These are some other great books to get you in the mood for Chinese food:

Dim Sum for Everyone! by Grace Lin
Yum Yum Dim Sum by Amy Wilson Sanger

*Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small percentage of the purchase price of items purchased through the Amazon.com links on this site. Thank you for helping to support Eat Their Words!

Blueberries for Sal - Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

2010-08-03T20:40:00.000-07:00

It's August and friends of mine in other areas of the country have been enjoying blueberry picking. I know this because I see their status updates and pictures on Facebook. While my family did recently enjoy picking strawberries and blackberries, we unfortunately don't live in an area that is very conducive to blueberry growth. We have to buy ours at the store. Even so, with blueberry season in full swing we're able to find inexpensive fresh berries in our local stores.

There's only one book I can think of to pair with blueberry picking (or eating, as the case may be): Robert McCloskey's 1948 classic Caldecott Honor winner, Blueberries for Sal. It is the story of Sal and her mother and the day they spend picking berries to can for the winter (I had to explain canning to my kids). Like many small children, Sal is more interested in wandering and eating the berries rather than paying attention to her mother. This is how she inadvertently ends up following a mama bear--whose own distracted cub has been following Sal's mother. In the end everyone gets sorted out and Sal and her mother return home with their blueberries, nobody worse for the wear. (The lovely endpapers, which show Sal and her mother canning their harvest, are a nice touch.)

My kids laughed out loud when Sal took more interest in eating the berries than in following her mother, and again when the mother bear realized she was being followed by a human child rather than her own cub. My favorite part of the book? The pen and ink illustrations, which are blue and white rather than the traditional black and white. Love that blue! It's simple and effective and, well, just pretty.

If you are looking for ways to use up some blueberries this summer, I've got just the recipe for you! This is one of our family favorites and my husband shares equal credit for creating it. I may have made the first batch of frozen yogurt in our ice cream maker years ago but he is the one who perfected and embellished it until it became...

Blueberry Frozen Yogurt with Blueberry Truffles

Ingredients

Vanilla yogurt (in a 32 ounce container--I prefer Dannon Naturals or Stonyfield Farms; we've used fat-free but low-fat tends to have a nicer texture)
1 cup blueberries (I've found frozen berries work a little better but use fresh if you have them!)
6 blueberry truffles OR a handful of chocolate chips
Splash of milk

Additional equipment: Electric ice cream maker. If you don't have one, you can make the recipe as directed and stick in the freezer for a little while to give it a "frozen" consistency.

Note on the truffles: The first several times we made this frozen yogurt we used chocolate chips. At some point we decided to chop up some See's blueberry truffles we had on hand and throw those in instead. It has become our preferred way to make this yogurt but don't worry if you don't have truffles (since See's is mostly a regional California thing)! They do give it an extra blueberry kick but it is just as good with chocolate chips.

1. Pour yogurt into a mixing bowl. I usually use 1/2 to 3/4 of the container.

2. Chop truffles into small pieces and add to yogurt. If you're using chocolate chips you can chop them finely (my husband's way) or dump them in whole (my way--I am lazy and afraid of chopping off a finger...and I also like the large chunks of chocolate in my yogurt).

3. Add blueberries

4. Stir yogurt, blueberries and chocolate together. Pour into ice cream maker. Add a small splash of milk. Let churn for a half hour, or until the yogurt has the right consistency.

Here's video of what it looks like when first put in the machine:

This video was taken about ten minutes in:

About 25 minutes after the yogurt went into the machine. Ready to eat.

This recipe is easily adapted--we've made peach frozen yogurt and we've also made our own vanilla using plain Greek-style yogurt and adding sugar and vanilla. If you're trying to cut back on sugar or prefer your yogurt with more of a "bite" try making this recipe with plain yogurt instead of vanilla flavored yogurt. However you choose to make it, it's an easy and tasty dessert.

For additional activities to go along with Blueberries for Sal, see Scholastic's Blueberries for Sal page. Here you'll find some math activities and questions for discussion.

*Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small percentage of the purchase price of items purchased through the Amazon.com links on this site. Thank you for helping to support Eat Their Words!

Saturdays and Teacakes - Teacakes

2010-07-26T08:04:00.000-07:00

"She opened the over door and the kitchen filled with a smell sweeter than summer gardenias--the smell of teacakes." - Saturdays and Teacakes, Lester L. Laminack

When I was growing up I had a very close relationship with my grandfather. Due to the early deaths of my other three grandparents he was the only one I was really knew and he was, in a way, like a third parent to me and my sister. Some of my favorite memories are of going on walks together, eating cheese and crackers in front of The Young and the Restless and--when I was in upper elementary school--getting involved in stamp collecting together. My grandpa adored all of his grandchildren and bonded with all of us in different ways. For those of us who lived near him, he never missed a dance recital, concert, big sporting event or graduation. He also made it a priority to visit his other grandchildren who lived across the country. I miss him every day and think about him often--especially when I see my boys enjoying things he would have enjoyed, like getting excited about planting flowers in our garden or playing an instrument.

(Me and Poppa, circa 1981)

Saturdays and Teacakes by Lester Laminack is the story of a boy and his grandmother (Mammaw) and the special relationship between a child and a grandparent. Their standing Saturday date is a ritual that begins with the main character setting off on his bike and riding through town until he reaches her home. Their day includes sharing breakfast, doing yardwork, eating lunch (with fresh tomatoes from the garden) and--finally--making and eating Mammaw's special teacakes. Chris Soentpiet's lovely, Rockwell-inspired watercolor illustrations firmly place the story in a not-so-distant past and evoke feelings of nostalgia for a bygone era--a time when little kids really did ride their bikes through town (without helmets!) and gas station attendants wore spiffy uniforms. Despite the setting, the story is one all who have a special bond with a grandparent can relate to.

Laminack's publisher, Peachtree Publishers, has a recipe for "Mammaw Thompson's Teacakes" on their website. I adapted it to be gluten-free.

Teacakes (adapted from "Mammaw Thompson's Teacakes", Lester L. Laminack)

Ingredients:

2 sticks butter (I used Smart Balance Butter Blend)
3.5 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla

Note: I halved the recipe--the last time we made cookies (and these are, despite the name, cookies) for this blog we didn't end up eating all of them. I used slightly less sugar than the recipe called for because the flour blend I used already has sugar in it. If you aren't following a gluten-free diet and are interested in making these cookies you'll definitely want to check out the original recipe on Peachtree's site rather than use the one I've provided.

1. In mixing bowl, cream softened butter and sugar.

2. Beat eggs and vanilla together. Add to butter and sugar and mix well.

3. Add flour, mix well until all ingredients are combined.

4. The original recipe says to roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter or the rim of a glass to cut into circles. I really didn't want to mess with that; I made drop cookies instead. Normally I abhor those Airbake cookie sheets but I recently read that they work well with gluten-free baked goods. Since I was at my mom's house while making these I decided to give the Airbake sheet a try.

5. Bake at 375* for about 15 minutes.

(The boys and my nephew, enjoying their teacakes after lunch.)

To be very honest, I don't think these cookies are all that different from the moon and star cookies I made last month (I'm thinking of mixing up some ganache icing to give them a different flavor). However, the cookie itself isn't the point. This book is about a special tradition shared between a grandparent and her grandchild, and the important thing is the love and the memories centered around this special recipe, not the recipe itself. It could have just as easily been called Saturdays and Tacos or Saturdays and Tofu. In my case, it might have been called 11:00 a.m. and Cheese and Crackers. I will never be able to pass the refrigerated spreadable cheese section in the grocery store without thinking of my Poppa and all of the special times we shared while spreading cheese on crackers and watching the lives of Victor Newman, Jack Abbott and the other denizens of Genoa City unfold. My parents and inlaws don't cook with my kids. They don't watch wildly inappropriate soap operas with them either. But when my dad shares ice cream bars with the boys after dinner or my mother-in-law gives them silly nicknames I see their own traditions beginning to take root.

*As an Amazon affiliate I earn a small commission when purchases are made via the Amazon links on this site. Thank you for supporting Eat Their Words!

Maisy Makes Lemonade - Lemonade

2010-07-19T07:54:00.000-07:00

"It's hot today. Maisy is having a nice cold drink. Mmmm. Lemonade." - Maisy Makes Lemonade, Lucy Cousins

You may have noticed that lately the recipes on my blog have tied into the season--summer is the time for sweet, refreshing delights like fruit salad and strawberry shortcake. Another quintessential summer treat? Lemonade. What's more, it's easy to prepare. Even very young children can get involved.

Maisy Makes Lemonade was a library find. My four year old is in a stage where he still enjoys simple and comforting books like Cousins' Maisy books just as much as he enjoys more mature fare such as Batman versus the Joker. He was quite taken with both on a recent library trip and while neither would have necessarily been what I'd have chosen for him, I do think it's important to give my kids the ability to choose their own books at the library.

So I was going through the stack of library books to read one more time before our beach vacation and as I picked up Maisy Makes Lemonade I thought, Well, there's a good topic for the blog.

For those not familiar with Maisy (though if you have a toddler/preschooler, you should be), she's a mouse who--along with her various animal friends--experiences things that most kids are familiar with. In addition to making lemonade there are Maisy books about going to bed, going shopping, and going to places like the dentist or on vacation. They're told simply with a minimal amount of text on each page and cute, colorful illustrations. The storyline in Maisy Makes Lemonade is simple and predictable (to adults): Maisy shares her lemonade with her friend Eddie (an elephant) and they run out. They decide to make another pitcher. They pick lemons from Maisy's tree and make their lemonade, step by step. Then they enjoy their refreshing beverage. My kids wanted to make their own lemonade after reading it. If you have a small child, it's a good opportunity to suggest making lemonade "just like Maisy."

Lemonade

Ingredients:

6 lemons (or, enough to yield 1 cup of lemon juice)
1/2 cup sugar (I used a combination of regular and raw sugar)
5 cups water

1. Slice lemons in half and juice them. We don't have a citrus juicer so I let the boys do it by hand. You need one cup of juice for this recipe.

2. Pour juice through a strainer (into the pitcher you'll be using) to separate juice from seeds.

3. Add sugar and water. Stir everything together. Lemonade is ready to serve, unless you'd like to chill it first.

It was 90* the day we made this! We waited until it cooled off a little and drank it outside.

Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate I earn a small commission from Amazon purchases via the links and search tools on this site. Thank you for supporting Eat Their Words!

The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Salad

2010-07-12T13:29:00.000-07:00

"On Monday he ate through one apple. But he was still hungry." - The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle

Is there a parent or teacher on the planet who isn't familiar with Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar? We've had our well-loved (board book) copy since my older son's first birthday and it's still a book my four and seven year olds occasionally enjoy. The great thing about it is that it can enjoyed on various levels. For babies and toddlers it's a good introduction to colors, counting, and the names of fruits. With older children it can be used to spark conversation about the caterpillar/butterfly lifecycle. Its unique design also appeals to kids. I remember being absolutely fascinated by this book as a child--there was always a long waitlist for Eric Carle books at my elementary school's library.

Do I even need to bother with a summary for this book? In short, the newborn caterpillar hatches from his egg and spends a week eating various foods before spinning his cocoon and eventually emerging as a "beautiful butterfly." It's illustrated in Carle's trademark style and the pages with the fruits he eats are staggered in size with die cut holes in the fruits to represent the caterpillar's bites.

The board book version we have is especially sturdy and has held up to years of use.

Our recipe for this week is simple and comes straight from the book: Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Salad. It uses as its ingredients the very foods the titular caterpillar ate during the week before building his cocoon. My kids and I enjoy making fruit salad in the summer; there is such an abundance of great, fresh, summery fruit. This was a perfect "cooking" project and snack for a summer day.

Hungry Caterpillar Fruit Salad

In addition to the fruits mentioned in the book, I like my fruit salad to include bananas, blueberries, cherries and whatever else happens to be in season (never any melon though). However, I wanted to stick as close to the amounts in the story as possible. I made an exception for the orange. Five oranges? That's a lot of oranges. Might have been doable if clementines were in season but they're not. Thus, one really large orange as a stand in for the five mini oranges. Were I making this in the winter (but then, strawberries and plums would be out of season) I would use five clementines.

Ingredients:

1 apple
2 pears
3 plums
4 strawberries
5 oranges (5 clementines, or 1 large orange)

1. Wash fruit.

2. Peel, slice and/or cut fruit as necessary. I cut everything into bitesized chunks. My seven year old helped with the strawberries.

3. Place sliced fruit in bowl and toss to mix. I added a splash of lemon juice to prevent browning.

I served this with lunch; it would also make a good dessert. Or breakfast, if paired with yogurt.

Eric Carle has a great website with his bio, lists of his books, FAQs, games, coloring sheets and more. There are even instructions on how to make a collage in his signature style. His blog can be found here.

Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small commission from Amazon purchases made through the links and search tool on this site.

The Beatles in Popular Culture

2010-07-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

Before we conclude this week--and because I have no other place to put this so it may as well go on my blog--I have two examples of the Beatles in popular culture that I ran across this week. If you pay close enough attention (and know what you're looking for) you will start to find their influence everywhere. In these two particular examples, they're used in advertising.

Exhibit A:

"All you need is loaf" button from Tillamook Cheese. (Sorry for the blurry quality.) A play, obviously, on the Beatles lyric "All You Need is Love." We received these from Tillamook reps who were promoting their products at a local grocery store earlier this week.

Exhibit B:

Bag from Lucky Brand Jeans store. Upon receiving it I thought, That looks like it was inspired by the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band cover.

Then I turned the bag on its side and saw that it was designed by Sir Peter Blake. Who is most famous for designing the Sgt. Pepper cover. So there you go.

Beatles Activities for Kids

2010-07-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

This week has been all about learning more about one of our favorite bands, the Beatles. Earlier in the week we made strawberry shortcake (to go with "Strawberry Fields Forever") and drew pictures inspired by the music of the Beatles. Here are some of the other things we've been doing:

Watching (bits and pieces of) The Beatles Anthology DVDs. Specifically, we watched the part that includes discussion of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane". The Anthology DVDs include "promotional films" the Beatles made for the songs, which are really very early examples of music videos and, in my opinion, pretty sophisticated for the era. Watching these videos opened up more discussion about the Beatles but my four year old is still a little young for them, I think. He lost interest fairly early on. My seven year old was very interested and probably would enjoy watching more of the Anthology DVDs at another time.

Playing Beatles Rock Band on XBox. The Rock Band video games (games in general, actually) are something we enjoy as an entire family. If you're not familiar with the concept of this series of video games, you basically use color coded "cues" on the screen to "play" the songs on the instruments that come with the game. My older son likes singing (he does particularly well on "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds") and playing the guitar. My younger son plays the drums, though he usually needs help. I think this game is a great way to introduce the younger generation to the music of the Beatles. (Especially since their music is not yet available on iTunes, which seems to be where so many kids get their music these days.) The graphics are exceptionally well done. The opening sequence (view it here) is amazing. And yes, I know that there is a big difference between playing games like Rock Band and playing real instruments, but this game has paved the way for my boys' interest in learning to play real instruments. Now, I'm not advocating going out and buying a gaming system just so you can play this game, but if you already have one it is worth at least renting (can you still rent video games?) or borrowing from a friend.

Playing The Beatles Games from the National Museums Liverpool. I helped my boys take the quiz to determine which Beatle they are most like. Despite their very different answers they both got John Lennon.

I probably would not have been as inspired to teach my kids about the Beatles--beyond simply playing the music--if I had not had a Beatles background to use as a jumping off point. In addition to the Anthology DVDs (which I saw when it originally aired as a television documentary/mini-series many years ago), there are a few other resources I recommend to any fan who wants to learn more. The very first Beatles biography I read was Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation by Philip Norman and I still think it is one of the very best Beatle biographies out there. It would be great for teens who have an interest in the Beatles. The Beatles Anthology (book) is basically a rehashing of the documentary but it is (like much of the documentary) in the Beatles' own words and contains amazing pictures. (My only complaint is the size--it's large and difficult to look at when I have kids on my lap. Hence my desire for a Beatles book for kids.) Backbeat is a 1994 movie about the Beatles' first bass player, Stu Sutcliffe, and the early days of the Beatles. Again, this is suitable for teens but not for young kids like mine due to its R rating.

Are you and your kids fans of the Beatles? I want to know about Beatles activities other families have enjoyed. Please leave your ideas in the comments section!

Beatles Artwork

2010-07-06T14:33:00.000-07:00

It wasn't difficult for me to decide to spend a week immersed in the Beatles, especially after the boys indicated they wanted to learn more about them. I've been an amateur Beatles historian since the age of 16, when I wrote about them for an AP US History assignment. It goes beyond the CD collection; I have biographies and the Beatles Anthology DVD set and--oh yes--Beatles Trivial Pursuit.

It's hard for me to describe exactly what the Beatles mean to me. I suspect every fan has their own story and their own reasons. My mom was a fan growing up so I was always aware of them, but I truly became a fan during my junior year of high school, after watching The Beatles Anthology when it first aired on TV. That was the 1995/96 school year. Which was, up until 2003 (the year my son was born), the best year of my life. It was the year I discovered running as an outlet for my anxious energy. It was the year I began to discover more about myself as a writer--both with the help and encouragement of teachers I had and on my own. I grew closer to a few friends who are still dear friends to this day. I met my husband. The Beatles were the constant soundtrack to all of that, and it touched me in a way that's hard to describe. Their music is alive to me. Even today, hearing these songs decades after they were recorded, I can almost feel the energy and love that was poured into their making. And isn't that the point of art? To make you feel something? These songs were also vitally important in helping me discover who I am as a writer and how I choose to express myself. I'm a bit of a pacifist and can be on the granola crunchy side (I do live in the Bay Area) and that, too, is in part due to the Beatles' influence. So I want to share the Beatles with my kids. I want them to be as inspired as I've been inspired.

With that in mind, I chose an art project that would allow them to fuse the Beatles' words with their own inspiration. I had them do stream of consciousness drawings as we listened to Beatles music. I randomized all of the Beatles songs in my iTunes, although the boys did make a few requests. I told them to draw what they felt, so the results were not always exactly what one might expect. The songs served as a jumping off point to unlock their own creativity.

Part of our Beatles playlist:

"Here Comes the Sun" by seven year old M: "It's a man taking a picture of apples falling off a tree."

"Strawberry Fields Forever" by four year old J:

Inspired by the line "No one I think is in my tree" from "Strawberry Fields Forever." By J.

This one is interesting. M kind of fused "Strawberry Fields Forever" with "I am the Walrus." Except instead of drawing an Egg Man he drew a "Chip Man." Wearing "a cheese hat with a propeller on it."

M's interpretation of "Revolution." He drew an electric guitar--most likely inspired by the prominence of the electric guitar (and guitar feedback) in this song. M is a big fan of electric guitars.

J's "Yellow Submarine":

The boys enjoyed this activity and as they got into it their drawings became more elaborate and fanciful. Next we're going to go beyond listening to the Beatles and watch some videos. I'll report on that, along with our other Beatles activities, later this week (tomorrow or Thursday).

Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields...

2010-07-05T10:20:00.000-07:00

Some of you may notice the title of this post also happens to be the beginning of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever." What does this song have to do with this post? Everything.

For a bit of a change this week, I'm not presenting my recipe with a book. I'm presenting my recipe with Beatles songs. The Beatles as kidlit. Or kid poetry. Or something.

Before school ended I asked my kids what they wanted to learn about this summer. One of the things they both mentioned was the Beatles. I looked for a picture book with awesome illustrations that introduces the Beatles in a fun, engaging manner. Something along the lines of The Day-Glo Brothers, Racing Against the Odds or The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau (three biographies my kids have recently enjoyed). Such a thing does not seem to exist. (Perhaps this is my cue to write such a thing?) So, spending a week learning about the Beatles and their songs was the best I could do. Which is not really a problem because we happen to be big Beatles fans around here.

We'll start with a recipe though. There are a number of Beatles songs that mention food. We've got the songs "Glass Onion" and "Mean Mister Mustard." "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" has "marmalade skies" and "marshmallow pies." But for me, there is only one song that worked as inspiration for this week's recipe.

"Strawberry Fields Forever" is my all time favorite song. Strawberries are my all time favorite food. Of course we had to make strawberry shortcake to kick off our Beatles week.

"Strawberry Fields Forever" is not literally about strawberry fields; rather, Strawberry Field was the name of a Salvation Army orphanage near John Lennon's childhood home. The song appears on the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour (alternate versions are found on their Anthology 2 album and there's a mashup version of it on Love). It's one of those polarizing Beatles songs that people tend to love or hate. If you're only a fan of early Beatles, this isn't the song for you. If you prefer Paul McCartney's (usually) more straightforward, lighthearted lyrics, this isn't the song for you. If you like surrealism, stream of consciousness (one of my personal favorite literary devices) and psychedelia with a dose of melancholy--hurrah!--this may be the song for you.

It is extremely difficult to find samples of Beatles music that I can legally share here. That's just the way things are with the Beatles and their rights. So, if you'd like to get a taste of the song I'll direct you to some covers done by other artists (but I really recommend checking out the original):

Strawberry Fields Forever cover by Jim Sturgess, from the movie Across the Universe

Strawberry Fields Forever cover by Ben Harper

One of the things my older son enjoys doing is listening to all my versions of "Strawberry Fields Forever" and comparing them. The three variants found on Anthology 2 and the version the Beatles finally released on Magical Mystery Tour are a mini-lesson in how a song (or any creative work) can undergo multiple revisions before resulting in a final product. We've also talked about Ringo's drumming in this song. My seven year old once pointed out that he "goes absolutely crazy" at the end. I in turn pointed out that it's a controlled kind of crazy that came only after years and years of practice (it's brilliant, really). (My hope was that this would encourage him to practice the piano without complaining.)

Before we made our strawberry shortcake we had to get some berries. This is how things work in our family: I mentioned we were going to make strawberry shortcake. My husband suggested we pick our own strawberries. I pondered that for like two seconds and began Googling pick-your-own berry farms. I found one not too far away and we went out there on Saturday morning. Berry season is coming to an end but we were still able to get an abundance of fresh, ripe strawberries straight from the fields. Fun! And delicious.

My preferred way to eat strawberries is plain. But this wouldn't be much of a recipe blog if all I do is tell you to wash your berries and eat them while listening to some Beatles music. So, strawberry shortcake.

Strawberry Shortcake (adapted from the Bisquick strawberry shortcake recipe)

I've made a few different types of shortcakes in my time (including chocolate shortcake) but lately I've gone back to the Bisquick method, using Pamela's Baking Mix instead of Bisquick. They are similar products and quite honestly, it's easier for me to stick with a tried and true method rather than mess with blending flours and figuring out measurements. On my husband's suggestion, I did tweak the recipe a bit--I cut the butter in instead of using melted butter according to the Bisquick instructions.

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix
3 T butter
1/2 cup milk
3 T sugar
4 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
whipped cream (optional)

1. Pour baking mix in medium mixing bowl. Cut in butter until it is incorporated into the mix.

2. Add milk and 3 T sugar, mix together. If mix is too dry, add another splash of milk and continue to mix. (I have never, ever made this--with Bisquick or Pamela's--and not had to add extra milk.)

3. Using an ice cream scoop, drop batter onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or nonstick foil. Bake at 425* F for 10 minutes.

4. While shortcakes are baking, clean and slice strawberries. Place in small mixing bowl. (Putting the sliced berries in the bowl as they piled up on my cutting board was my four year old's job.)

5. Add 1/4 cup sugar.

6. Stir strawberries and sugar. Add a small splash of water. Cover and refrigerate. The sugar and juices will combine with the water to make a light syrup.

7. Remove shortcakes from oven, let cool (unless you like to eat them still warm).

8. To serve, slice a shortcake in half. Top with berries and whipped cream:

My boys inhaled these shortcakes. No leftovers here!

What else do we have planned for this, our Week of Beatles? Tomorrow I will post about some of the ways we're getting creative with the music and story of the Beatles, and later in the week I'll share other ways I bring the story of the Beatles alive for my kids. And that's not all. On Saturday evening my husband, sister, brother-in-law and mom are going to see Paul McCartney in concert! What a great thing to look forward to this week as my kids learn more about my favorite band.

*I'm an Amazon.com affiliate; I earn a small commission for any purchases made through the Amazon links on this blog.

Back in Action

2010-07-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed my regular Monday post was missing this week. This is because we have spent very little time at home in the past two weeks. Two weekends ago we were traveling for my cousin's wedding--my last post on Archie and the Pirates had actually been prepared the week before that family event. We returned home last Tuesday evening only to engage in marathon party prep for my older son's seventh birthday (we took the boys and six of my older son's friends to see Toy Story 3). On Saturday my mom and the boys took the train back to her house and my husband and I left for a shortish trip to Seattle. We returned home yesterday (Wednesday). Given that I was also working on some freelance projects, my schedule didn't exactly allow for cooking and blogging.

I will be back next week with some new posts, recipes and projects related to next week's chosen topic. What is it? It's a surprise! But it's something both of my kids have an interest in and they both requested to learn more about it this summer. (Any guesses?) Until then, I'll share some of my boys' current favorite books:

Toy Story 3

My younger son loves all things Toy Story, which I think is so, so sweet because he plays with his toys the way Andy plays with his toys in the movies. My older son has always been more into building toys rather than imaginative play. He wanted the Toy Story 3 book from the moment we saw it in the bookstore but I made him wait until after he'd seen the movie. I didn't want to spoil it! I love the retro-style illustrations in the Little Golden Books based on Disney and Pixar movies.

A Book About Color: A Clear and Simple Guide for Young Artists by Mark Gonyea

A library book. Both of the boys are fascinated by this book that clearly explains basics about colors, such as how primary colors combine to make seconday colors. It also defines terms like complementary colors and saturation. The pictures clearly illustrate the concepts as they are introduced.

Happy Birthday, Bad Kitty by Nick Bruel

The seven year old loves the Bad Kitty series. He bought this book with some birthday money. These books are perfectly suited to his independent reading level and combine a mixture of traditional text and graphic novel/picture book elements. There is plenty of humor too

Pigs Make Me Sneeze! by Mo Willems

We are big fans of Mo in our house. Both boys love the humor in the Elephant and Piggie series. They were among the first books my seven year old read independently and while they are very easy reading in comparison to other books he has been reading, he still enjoys them. He also enjoys reading them to his brother. This is another book he picked out with his birthday money.

And me? I've somehow, despite being so busy, found time to read too! When not reading work-related stuff, I've been reading One Day, The Boneshaker, Cat's Eye (purchased for $1 at my library's Friends of the Library sale!) and short stories from the New Yorker's Summer Fiction issue.

What are you enjoying reading this summer?

Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small commission when books are purchased through the posted links.

Archie and the Pirates - Fish and Coconut Soup

2010-06-21T08:29:00.000-07:00

"Archie cooks his specialty: fish and coconut soup. They have a wonderful meal, with fried bananas for dessert." - Archie and the Pirates, Marc Rosenthal

I had a totally different book picked out for this week. My kids, though, found a new book in the library and fell under its spell and insisted I write about it instead. I capitulated because, well, I was completely smitten too. The world Marc Rosenthal creates in Archie and the Pirates is quirky and amusing and charming. It's a world in which a monkey manages to assimilate to his new island life and, with the help of a bird and a tiger, run a ragtag bunch of pirates off their island. What's not to like?

I'll admit, on first glance I saw the Curious George-ish monkey on the cover and I thought it might be a poorly written knockoff. DO NOT JUDGE THIS BOOK BY ITS COVER. It quickly becomes clear that while author/illustrator Rosenthal may have been inspired by H.A. Rey, Jean de Brunhoff (of Babar fame) and other illustrators of their era, his book stands on its own. The story begins as the tale of a marooned monkey, Archie. We aren't sure how or why he washed up on the island (it happened in his sleep...he just drifted off while in his bed) but in short order he manages to find food, build a new home and make friends with an ibis named Clarice. A menacing tiger named Beatrice turns out to be another friend. The three have a party to celebrate their new friendship but, unbeknownst to them, pirates are on their way to the island. When the pirates kidnap Beatrice, Archie and Clarice take action to rescue her, thwart the pirates and scare them away. They and the other island creatures rejoice and Archie invites everyone to build homes near his since they are now friends.

This is a fun, quirky story with subtle humor that merits more than one reading. Close observations of the pictures reveal the pirates' impending arrival (their ship is seen through Archie's window as he sleeps) long before the animals see them. In one picture, before Archie meets Beatrice, she is seen lurking below his tree (again, with the pirate ship in the background). My kids love these little details and giggle over them every time we read the book. They also love the final illustration, of all the animals in their new homes. ("Which one is your favorite, Mommy? I like...") Rosenthal's writing style is straightforward, kind of quirky, and makes me and my kids laugh. Sample: "At the pirate camp, Captain Pequod has set First Mate LaFaargh to keep watch while they sleep, partly because he likes saying his name (LA FAAAARGH!), but mainly because LaFaargh has trouble sleeping." I know this is one of those books that, if we don't buy it, will be one my kids look for every time we go to the library.

When my kids asked me to put this book on the blog I had a brief moment of panic. What should I cook to go with a book about pirates and anthropomorphic jungle animals? Then I remembered that Archie cooks his favorite meal for Clarice and Beatrice to celebrate their new friendship. The meal? Fish and coconut soup (with fried bananas for dessert).

Fish Soup with Coconut Milk (adapted from Vatapa Fish Soup with Coconut Milk, courtesy of Food Network)

I am nowhere near skilled enough to make up my own recipe for fish soup. I found a recipe on the Food Network's website and modified it quite a bit. I eliminated the shellfish because I am allergic and I used the cooking oil I had on hand. You can compare my recipe to the original to see the other changes I have made.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons cooking oil (original recipe recommends dende oil)
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
dash of ginger (dried)
2 large jalapeno peppers, stemmed, seeded and finely chopped
6 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped
juice of 2 limes
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 cups chicken stock/broth
2 cups light coconut milk
1/2 bunch of cilantro, leaves only, finely chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
dash of Tabasco
2 lbs. fish fillets (I used cod), bones and skin removed, cut into cubes

1. In large pot, heat oil and add onion, garlic, ginger and jalapenos. Cook for 10 minutes, or until softened.

2. Add tomatoes, lime juice and peanut butter. Stir for one minute.

3. Add chicken stock, 1/2 cup at a time, while stirring. Add coconut milk, cilantro, salt and Tabasco.

4. When ready to serve, brush a deep skillet or saucepan with oil and add fish. When fish begins to cook slowly and carefully pour the broth mixture into the saucepan. The original recipe says to cook for 8 minutes, or until fish is opaque. The broth is also opaque which makes it really hard to see the fish. I recommend making sure the fish is near cooked before adding the broth. I determined that it was ready to serve when I was able to get the fish to flake apart when I applied pressure with the back of a spoon.

5. Serve soup in bowls.

*Apparently, the pictures of the finished soup have disappeared. They never transferred from the memory card to my computer. It's an old card; I think maybe it's time we retire it...*

{Imagine my smiling kids taking bites of soup here!}

The soup had a nice, peanutty/coconutty flavor with a little bit of a kick to it from the spices. I'm not sure if the flavor profile was changed significantly because I omitted the shrimp but it tasted good to me. I really enjoyed it just because it was different than anything we've ever had. I'm always looking for new ways to prepare fish (beyond fish tacos and poached salmon) so this will be a good recipe to keep in mind. It really didn't take very long to prepare either. The kids liked it too, although my six year old complained that I should not be serving soup in June. However, they were happy that I made the soup Archie and his friends enjoyed. I promised I would make fried bananas soon.

Outer Space Activities

2010-06-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

This week my kids and I have been reading about the moon, stars and outer space. Since school is out and we have more time at home, we've been doing additional space-themed activities as time permits. Here are a few:

Sending our names to Mars: Fill out the form on NASA's website to have your name included on a microchip on the Mars Space Laboratory rover that is being sent to Mars next year. You can also check out the US and world participation maps to see how your state or country ranks. As my six year old said, "We're going to Mars!" After registering they were able to print out cool participation certificates.

(Mars, image courtesy of NASA)

Drawing pictures of the sky: This was my four year old's idea. He wanted me to help him draw stars after reading How to Catch a Star (reviewed by me here).

Making Star Finders: Another activity from NASA, this allows you to make a star finder to help identify constellations in the night sky.

(Quintuplet Cluster, image courtesy of NASA)

Checking EarthSky for information on the evening's sky. Tonight, for example, Mars will be visible just north of the crescent moon. We haven't done this (or the above activity) yet because with it being so close to the June solstice, the kids are in bed long before the stars are visible. However, we are going to a wedding this weekend and the boys will surely be up well past their bedtimes so we'll try some stargazing then.

Looking at NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, which features a new picture daily, along with commentary from professional astronomers. I really love the image and activity from June 15, which happened to be my birthday:

Starry Night Scavenger Hunt
Credit & Copyright : Original Painting: Vincent van Gogh; Digital Collage: Ronnie Warner

NASA's website has loads of activities, games, information and photos for curious kids (and adults!) You can find age appropriate activities for children in their "students" section.

*As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small commission from purchases made through the Amazon.com links on this blog.

Space Books - Some of Our Favorites

2010-06-16T07:14:00.000-07:00

On Monday I shared about two of my boys' current favorite books: How to Catch a Star and When the Moon Forgot. These whimsical stories speak to a common childhood fantasy of being able to capture a piece of the sky. My younger son, especially, is still at the age where he really wants to believe (even though he knows better) that he can have a star or the moon as a friend.

Those fictional stories are a good jumping off point for further discussions about the night sky and outer space. My kids have been fascinated with outer space for a long time. Last year my six year old even had an outer space themed birthday party at the local science center. My kids enjoy perusing the outer space/astronomy section of our local library and checking out books about planets and space exploration. Since this is a frequently read about topic in our household, I've decided to share some of our family's favorite non-fiction outer space books.

My Book of Space by Ian Graham

Though a bit out of date (this book was published in 2001) this book provides a good overview of the solar system, the phases of the moon and space exploration.

Our Solar System by Seymour Simon

If you have children who, like mine, love non-fiction and you haven't seen Seymour Simon's books, you must check them out immediately. Simon's books are notable for the magnificent photographs and accessible information. They can be a little long as read alouds--we often have to read them over two or three reading sessions--but can be enjoyed for the pictures alone. Our Solar System is the book that kicked off my six year old's interest in outer space. Simon has many, many books (including easy readers) out there about outer space and the individual planets (and the sun and the moon). My kids like all of them.

The aforementioned Our Solar System also kicked off my older son's obsession with Pluto. The first time we read this book it was the original edition from our old library in the Chicago suburbs. While reading through the updated (2007) edition he checked out of our current library, he was shocked and dismayed to discover--gasp!--Pluto was missing. Shock. Outrage. "What happened to PLUTO!" he bellowed from the back of the car. Thus I was tasked with explaining what had happened to Pluto to result in its demotion as a planet. Fortunately, my mother-in-law heard about the crisis and sent a helpful book to help explain it to him...

The Planet Hunter: The Story Behind What Happened to Pluto by Elizabeth Rusch

Hands down one of the best non-fiction picture books we own, The Planet Hunter: The Story Behind What Happened to Pluto is (like The Day-Glo Brothers) a non-fiction book presented in story form. It's the story of astronomer Mike Brown, his childhood interest in outer space and his discovery that led to the reclassification of Pluto. The choice to begin the story in Browns' early childhood makes it especially accessible to young readers, who may recognize themselves in the space-obsessed young boy.

In one of those cases where my child's interest in something piqued my own curiosity, I purchased a book about Pluto for myself. It was an entirely unexpected purchase, as I had not read about space for my own edification since taking an astronomy course in college. (Full disclosure: I first heard about the book on The Daily Show.) Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson's The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet is a great book for non-scientists. Never overwhelming in its science-y talk, it tells the story of Pluto from its discovery to its eventual demotion. Humorous anecdotes, photographs, cartoons and poems about Pluto are also included. While it definitely does contain some decidedly adult humor and language, I have read sections of this book aloud to my six year old. He actually very much enjoyed it and wasn't bored at all, which says a lot about the author's style and accessibility. Also: he Twitters.

Here's his Daily Show interview with Jon Stewart. How can you not want to read about Pluto after listening to this guy? (Parental advisory: This is The Daily Show. There is a bleeped out word near the very end of the interview. I mean, it's bleeped, but since this is a family-friendly blog I thought I'd put that out there so there are no surprises if you're watching this with your kids.)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Neil deGrasse Tyson

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor

Tea Party

Boy, Were We Wrong About the Solar System by Kathleen V. Kudlinski

This is a great overview of how the way we see the world changes as science becomes more sophisticated. As the book says, "...it took a long time and a lot of wrong guesses to learn what we know today." Yes, Pluto gets a shoutout, as do gravity and the configuration of the solar system. The text--though a bit lengthy (I was surprised my four year old was able to sit still for the entire book)--is conversational and playful.

The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole

My kids love The Magic School Bus series. I love that they present science in a fun and engaging manner. I do not love reading every single caption, sidebar and dialogue bubble in these books. And there are several. On every page. Even so, you can't deny that the format of factual information contained within the fantastical fictional story appeals to kids. As the young students and their teacher, Miss Frizzle, travel from planet to planet in their spaceshipified school bus we learn about each planet's properties and position in the solar system. Much to my six year old's consternation, this book has not been updated to reflect current information about Pluto. Nonetheless, it is a library favorite--and not, apparently, just of my kids. According to our county library's online database, their 31 (system-wide) copies have been checked out a total of 2006 times.

***UPDATE 7/4/2010*** Apparently they have updated this book to include Pluto's new status. I saw the more recent copy in a museum gift shop last week.

Stargazers by Gail Gibbons

Gail Gibbons is another of those extremely prolific authors who has covered just about every non-fiction topic out there, it seems. Stargazers is an introduction to stars and the night sky. We learn about what stars are and how astronomers study them. Some discussion is given to constellations. Gibbons' prose is straightforward and informative, perfect for young readers.

These are but a few of the many non-fiction books about outer space written for a juvenile audience. Check the shelves of your local library or bookstore and you are sure to find more titles worthy of inclusion on this list. What are your kids' favorite books about space? Please share in the comments. I'm sure my kids would love some new title recommendations.

*Disclosure: As an Amazon Affiliate, I receive a small commission when books are purchased via the links in this post.

...like the moon and the stars and the sun...

2010-06-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

"Look--the moon can still shine even when the night is darkest." - When the Moon Forgot, Jimmy Liao

This week I am trying something a bit different on this blog. Instead of the typical book + recipe post, I am going to expand my theme throughout the week to include other books and projects we do that relate to our featured books (yes, two today) and recipe. With school being out we have a lot more time to spend with our books, and more hours of the day to fill with activities.

One of my boys' favorite topics--a subject we return to time and again--is outer space. They are fascinated by our solar system and space exploration. Over the years we've built up quite the collection of space books, from non-fiction to easy readers to fictional picture books. Kids are just fascinated with the moon and stars, even from a very early age.

To begin our week I chose two books that complement each other in tone and theme: Oliver Jeffers' How to Catch a Star and Jimmy Liao's When the Moon Forgot. I simply could not choose one over the other because they read so well together.

How to Catch a Star and When the Moon Forgot are both tender, somewhat melancholy (yet ultimately hopeful) books that have several common elements. In How to Catch a Star the young male protagonist (the same boy from Lost and Found), who is a bit lonely, wishes for a star of his very own. He devises various (humorous and improbable) ways to catch his star and bring it home but none are successful until, by accident, he finds a star (or is it a starfish?) washed up on the beach. The last image in the book is of the boy reading a story to his star.

When the Moon Forgot takes an almost opposite approach: when the moon falls from the sky he is found by a young (also a bit lonely) boy. While the rest of the world is thrown into disarray with the disappearance of the moon, the boy nurtures it and nurses it back to health. They become fast friends but the boy knows he can't keep the moon forever. Their separation is devastating but ends on a happy note, with the boy's dreams "always filled with moonlight." Liao's artwork is quite distinctive and one of the things that led me to seek out his other books. While Jeffers' world is sparse and airy (the boy, with his large head and wispy legs, looks like he could simply float into the sky to catch his star) Liaos' world is dense, lush and grounded. His pages are filled with color. Just look (and marvel) at his cityscapes and open fields. This book was originally published in Liao's native Taiwan--where he is one of their most popular author/illustrators--and intended for an adult audience, though his American publisher (Little, Brown) catalogues it in their children's category.

Neither of these books are what I would call shiny, happy stories. Despite their ultimately satisfying endings they both have a melancholic undercurrent that may be off-putting to some. My children, however, are very drawn to them. I think something about the idea of being able to capture a piece of the sky, or have the moon or a star as a friend, really appeals to them. My four year old has asked to read When the Moon Forgot every day for the past week. Because it is a new-to-us book we have enjoyed talking about it and discussing our own theories about why the moon fell to the ground ("It was sick. It shrank. Its gravity couldn't hold it up anymore so it fell." -- Six Year Old "It was sad and scared." -- Four Year Old) and how the boy felt at different times in the story.

We were familiar with both Jeffers' and Liao's works prior to reading these two books. Jeffers' The Incredible Book-Eating Boy is one of my older son's favorite books. I bought How to Catch a Star for my younger son for Easter because I thought he would enjoy it--something about its tone reminded me of one of his other favorites, The Monster Who Ate Darkness (reviewed by me here)--which, coincidentally, was illustrated by Liao. Last month we quite randomly found Liao's Sound of Colors at our library and after enjoying that as well I began researching his other books. At this point I learned of When the Moon Forgot, and thought it would be a good companion read for How to Catch a Star. I absolutely recommend seeking out both of these authors' other works.

Because we have been reading about the moon and stars, of course we had to think of some way to incorporate both into this week's recipe...

Moon and Star Cookies

First, I owe you a bit of an explanation. My kids have random made-up names for certain things. They refer to giraffes as goofs. And cashews have always been moon nuts, due to their crescent moon-like appearance. I challenged myself to come up with a recipe using "moon nuts" that also incorporated stars. I hit upon the idea of making star-shaped cashew cookies. I based my recipe on the roll-out cookie recipe on the Pamela's Products website.

Ingredients:

3.5 cups Pamela's gluten-free bread mix
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter (I used a combination of butter and Smart Balance spread)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 3/4 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
handful of cashews

Additional equipment: star shaped cookie cutter(s)

1. Soften butter in mixer. Add sugar and cream together. Add eggs and cream well. Add extracts.

2. Add salt. While blending add bread mix, 1 cup at a time. Blend together.

4. Chill dough for one hour.

5. Preheat oven to 350*. Dust dough and rolling surface with flour because the dough will be sticky. (I used brown rice flour.) Roll dough out on parchment paper and use cookie cutters to cut out star shapes.

6. Carefully remove star shapes and place on baking sheet.

7. Bake for 10 -12 minutes, or until edges begin to brown.

We are only just beginning our week of learning about the night sky. Please join us here on Wednesday when I will post some of my boys' favorite non-fiction books about the moon, stars and outer space. And on Thursday I will be sharing some of the star-related art and science activities we have been doing this week.

*Disclosure: I received a review copy of When the Moon Forgot from the publisher, Little, Brown.

**I am an Amazon.com Affiliate. As an Affiliate I earn a small commission when books are purchased via the links on this site. Thank you for helping support Eat Their Words.

School's Out!

2010-06-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well, almost out. In just a few short hours I will head over to pick up my six year old from his last day of first grade. My four year old still has a few more weeks of preschool but his attendance will be sporadic, as we will be out of town for a family wedding and celebrating my older son's birthday during those last weeks. Now that school is out I can breathe a little easier knowing that we don't have to be up and ready by a certain hour and that we don't have nightly homework hanging over our heads.

I enjoy the summers with my kids because it allows me to continue teaching them at home. I am the first to admit that homeschooling would never work for us, but I do like the idea of exploring the boys' interests--interests they don't necessarily get to explore in a traditional classroom setting. I also think it's important to keep their minds active during the break from school. I've purchased a couple of reading guides to use with the boys to help further develop their skills. I'll be using Week-by-week Homework For Building Reading Comprehension & Fluency (Grades 2-3) with my older son. This book was recommended by his first grade teacher. I purchased The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading to use with my four year old. It's an introduction to phonics-based reading, and came recommended by a friend who is using it with her son (my four year old's best friend). Right now the plan is spend a half hour of one-on-one time with each boy--while I'm working with one the other will be allowed to play (parent-approved) computer games. My boys love using the computer but don't spend a lot of time on it so I need to make a conscious effort to make sure they are learning the skills they'll soon need (typing, using the mouse, etc.). I still need to find some math workbooks so they can practice math skills.

No school means being able to devote more time to projects that will be featured here on the blog as well. My main focus here will always be the book/recipe combo but we now have time to do other projects that pertain to the books we're reading and the recipes we are making. So you can expect to see some of those on here as well.

We've picked out some new (to the boys) read alouds for the summer: The Indian in the Cupboard and By the Shores of Silver Lake. Our county library system and some local bookstores have some summer reading programs that they can participate in for prizes. I plan to enroll both of them in lessons of some sort--we'll continue with my older son's piano lessons and probably do swim lessons for both of them. My older son is interested in tennis and the younger in soccer but those may have to wait until fall. We don't have (or belong to) a pool but my parents do and we want them to be comfortable in the water when we visit them and when they go to the pool with friends.

Lest you think I am some hardcore dictator mom who must schedule every minute of the summer, let me assure you that is not the case. If anything, I tend to be a little on the flighty side and resist all forms of scheduling. The loose schedule and goals/projects are simply meant to ensure the days don't get away from us. (Writing it out here further holds me accountable.) There will be plenty of time for games and free play (the boys are at an age where they play well together unsupervised) and, yes, even video games and television. I love books, I do, but--true confession here--I also love TV (I love any good story, really) so I don't mind letting the boys watch it in moderation. I might start watching the (new) Doctor Who series with them. I think the six (almost seven) year old will enjoy it, anyway. My four year old got upset watching the first Harry Potter movie and How to Train Your Dragon so I'm not sure how he'll take to the monsters/Big Bads of Doctor Who. Mostly, I am tired of watching the same old kid shows (except Phineas and Ferb--that never gets old) and train documentaries they favor and want to get them started on something else. They really enjoyed the Back to the Future trilogy so Doctor Who seems like a good next step.

Of course, it being summer vacation and all, we do have a few trips planned: we will be spending a week on the coast with my husband's extended family and another week in our hometown using my parents' house as our home base (they have a pool--and central air!) The boys are looking forward to these trips because they enjoy their grandparents and the change of scenery.

What are your summer plans? Any new books you're looking forward to reading? Do you have any special projects planned with your kids? Please share in the comments!

*Disclosure: As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small percentage of any purchase made through the product links in this post.

The Good Humor Man - Fun Valley Smash Frozen Pops

2010-06-07T08:31:00.000-07:00

"'There are lemonade licks
And syrupy sticks,
Raspberry rockets
And pineapple pockets.
And my special flavor for today
Is Fun Valley Smash:
Raspberry-strawberry-marshmallow mash.'
Oh, my they did taste good." - The Good Humor Man, Kathleen N. Daly

When I was pregnant with my oldest son a co-worker gave me a set of reissued classic Little Golden Books as part of a shower gift. One of the books in the set was The Good Humor Man, a book I had overlooked (or perhaps it had been out of print) during my own childhood of reading and collecting Little Golden Books (perhaps someday I will write a post about the profound influence these books had on my life as a reader). I have very vivid memories of sitting on the floor in the nursery reading aloud to my infant son while he did tummy time on a blanket beside me. Later, this ended up being the book we would throw in a backpack or carryon to take on airplanes or day trips into the city. Simply put, this book with its sweet story and 60s era charm is a family favorite.

Kathleen N. Daly's story about a neighborhood ice cream man who brings treats to families in a typical 60s suburban neighborhood seems almost outdated. When is the last time you saw an ice cream man? I am pretty sure that my kids know about ice cream men only from this book, although the ice cream truck was a fixture in the California neighborhood I grew up in. In the book we see the Good Humor man make his rounds in his white truck, selling "raspberry rockets" and "pineapple pockets" to the families on his route. One of his customers is a lonely boy named Johnny. Another customer, who lives way up on a hill outside of town, is an older woman who has a visiting grandson, Dick: he's also lonely. The next day, when the Good Humor man notices Johnny is without his puppy, he learns the dog is lost. But hooray! Dick and Granny have found the puppy! This inspires the Good Humor man to play matchmaker--Johnny gets his puppy back and, in the process, he and Dick become friends.

Tibor Gergeley's original illustrations are perfectly paired with Daly's text, perhaps more now than when the book was published in 1964. The retro look (which is, of course, "retro" only by present day 2010's standards) perfectly complements this story of a bygone era--when the highlight of a family's summer day might well have been the ice cream man's visit.

Drawing inspiration from the Good Humor man's flavors, we made some ice pops on this first weekend in June.

Fun Valley Smash

"Fun Valley Smash" is the Good Humor man's special flavor of the day. He describes it as being "raspberry-strawberry-marshmallow mash."

Ingredients:

raspberries
strawberries
marshmallow creme
vanilla yogurt

Additional equipment: Stick blender, ice pop mold (mine was $2.00 at Target)

1. Wash fruit. Chop stems off strawberries and cut into smaller pieces. Place in blender cup.

2. Use stick blender to puree fruit. Children should be supervised during this process.

3. Pour fruit puree into larger mixing bowl. Add a couple of dollops of marshmallow creme.

4. Add a spoonful or two of the vanilla yogurt. I chose to add vanilla yogurt for a creamier consistency; you could certainly stay true to the book and just use the fruit and marshmallow.

5. Stir the fruit, marshmallow and yogurt together. The yogurt will blend easily. The marshmallow will not. At best, I got it to separate into smaller chunks (by mashing it with the back of the spoon) which worked fine.

6. Carefully pour the mixture into your molds. Leave room for the sticks.

7. Place molds in freezer and let freeze for several hours.

The finished product:

These frozen treats were a huge hit, easy to make and reasonably healthy. The boys enjoyed them after a run through the sprinklers (hence the crazy hair).

The Good Humor Company has quite an interesting history. Check out their web page for information on the treats, trucks and ice cream men that inspired Daly's fictional story. The company still exists and their ice cream confections are available nationwide.

And since we are on the topic of ice cream men and this book and my six (almost seven!) year old's infancy, I will always associate the song in this Kohl's commercial with that time. More than any other song (except maybe John Lennon's "Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)"), this song takes me back to the summer of 2003. The commercial played constantly for a couple of weeks (I was nursing a newborn. I spent a lot of time in front of the TV.), to the point that I will never think of ice cream men without thinking of this commercial and that time in my life.

Kohls - Ice Cream Man (2003) - 0:30 (USA)

Cora Cooks Pancit - Pancit

2010-05-31T12:17:00.000-07:00

"She saw a large bowl of pancit. The thick noodles and vegetables curled and swirled in a dance party. Mmmm." - Cora Cooks Pancit, Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore

Cora Cooks Pancit was a serendipitious discovery, for a number of reasons. I was shown the book on a recent visit to Fresno, my hometown in the Central Valley of California. I knew immediately (sometimes you can judge a book by its cover) that it was a perfect fit for my blog. Further research led me to discover that the author, Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore, makes her home in Fresno. And she was born and raised in Chicago, where my husband and I lived for eight years. And her publisher, Shen's Books, is based in my current hometown. If that isn't serendipitous, I don't know what is.

The book alone would have made me want to feature it on my blog. But the local connection was icing on the cake. I like to support hometown authors. (One might not think of the Fresno as being a hotbed of literary activity, but a number of notable authors and poets--including William Saroyan, Gary Soto and Philip Levine--have called it home. And I like to promote that because the main thing Fresno seems to be known for is, uh, crime.). I also like to support independent publishers (once upon a time, I worked for an independent publisher). I am thrilled that I have an opportunity to review a book that I have a personal connection to, even if that connection only extends to the Fresno connection the author and I share.

In Cora Cooks Pancit, Gilmore's title character is the youngest of five children. She's used to being given the "kid" jobs in the kitchen while her older sisters and brother get the more involved tasks. But one day, when all of her siblings are off doing other things, Cora asks her mother to teach her to cook pancit, a traditional Filipino dish their family enjoys. Cora's mother teaches her to make pancit according to her grandfather's recipe. She helps soak the noodles and shred the chicken while Mama chops the vegetables. As in Tallulah in the Kitchen, we get a few reminders of basic kitchen safety within the narrrative--wash your hands, be careful near the stove. There are a few mishaps along the way but Mama reassures Cora that it's okay. When dinner is served Cora's siblings are surprised and impressed that Cora has helped cook such a grown up meal. Everybody loves it, and Cora is overjoyed at her accomplishment. The final illustration, of Cora wearing her mother's red apron and basking in the praise of her family, says it all.

Kristi Valiant's illustrations perfectly complement Gilmore's story. Although we never know exactly how old Cora is, her true-to-life expressions brought to mind my own four year old. The final illustration, of Cora's family enjoying the meal she has helped prepare, is a delight. In Nutmeg we also saw a family sitting down to enjoy a meal together but I think young kids will be better able to relate to Valiant's more realistic looking characters, which might in turn remind them of their own family meal times.

Pancit (recipe courtesy of Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore)

Pancit is a traditional Filipino noodle dish. In my research I discovered many ways to make it--some variations called for wheat noodles, or for shellfish or pork. I decided to stick to the recipe included in the book, with a few modifications.

Ingredients:

2 - 3 boneless chicken breasts plus 1/2 cup chicken broth and 1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 (8 oz) package of rice stick pancit noodles (the rice noodles pictured above were the closest I could find--I used half the box)
1 (8 oz.) package dried shitake mushrooms (I could only find fresh)
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, finely chopped (I used dried)
2 tablespoons plus 1/4 cup soy sauce
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
vegetable or olive oil
1/2 head cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, thinly sliced (I used 3)
3 celery stalks, sliced
1 (8 oz.) can water chestnuts, sliced
1 (8 oz.) can bamboo shoots, sliced (did not use these)
1 (8 oz.) can baby corn, diced (did not use this either)
1.5 cups water
3 eggs, hard boiled and sliced
5 green onions, sliced lengthwise and cut into 3-inch strips (optional)
salt and pepper

1. Cook chicken and boil eggs in advance. The recipe in the book actually suggests two methods for chicken cooking--the first involves steamed, boned chicken. I went for the second method, which was cooking the chicken, along with the chicken broth and a teaspoon of soy sauce, in a slow cooker. I cooked on high for three hours, at which point the chicken was cooked through and easy to shred. I love my slow cooker.

2. Soak noodles in warm water for a half hour. While noodles are soaking, chop veggies. If you are using dried mushrooms, soak those in a separate bowl of warm water. Otherwise, slice the fresh mushrooms.

3. Heat shredded chicken, mushrooms, yellow onion and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce in a non-stick skillet (I swirled a bit of olive oil in my iron skillet and cooked them in there). Stir in garlic and ginger, add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in large, shallow pot. Add other vegetables, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook briefly, making sure carrots and cabbage don't overcook.

5. Add chicken and mushroom mixture:

6. Strain noodles. In separate pot, bring 1.5 cups water, 1/4 cup oil, 1/4 cup soy sauce and sprinkle of salt to light boil. Add noodles and stir. Cook 5 minutes. Pour noodles on chicken and veggie mixture. Mix everything together and cook on low for an additional 5 minutes. (Confession: I totally messed up this part. I cooked the noodles according to the package directions and then drained the noodles. So I put the noodles in the pan, then added the water and soy sauce and tossed together.)

7. Serve in bowls. Garnish with sliced egg and green onions.

Despite my mishap with the noodles this dish turned out really, really well. Remember a few weeks ago when I said the noodles with browned butter and Parmesan was the best thing we've ever made for this blog? This gives it a run for its money. It had a nice, light flavor and the crisp, fresh veggies really made it a perfect dish to have on a spring evening. My husband thought it was a little bland--that could be because I used a reduced-sodium soy sauce (actually, tamari). One boy loved it and one just thought it was okay but I think he was just being picky. I will definitely make this again.

*Disclosure: Cora Cooks Pancit was provided for review by the publisher, Shen's Books.

When I am Quiet on Maui - Lava Flow Smoothies and Roasted Pineapple with Ice Cream

2010-05-24T10:08:00.000-07:00

"When you are quiet, what do you hear?" - When I am Quiet on Maui, Judi Riley

It's been an unseasonably cool spring in the Bay Area. I am a warm weather kind of girl. I long for the warm sun. We can't control the weather but we can escape to a warmer place via our books.

A few years ago, when my boys were very young (not-quite-three and seven months), we spent a week in Maui. Although I don't necessarily recommend taking kids that young to Maui if you're expecting a restful and relaxing vacation, it is a favorite family memory of that time in our lives. When we want to remind the boys of our trip we watch videos and look at pictures or we read When I am Quiet on Maui, a book my husband and I brought back from a solo Maui trip a couple of years later.

Judi Riley's When I am Quiet on Maui is a peaceful book, a perfect reflection of the laid back island lifestyle. The first two pages, in fact, are just two questions (one per page) on a white background: "When you are quiet, what do you hear? When you are still, what do you feel?" With this we are brought into the book, which takes us through a child's day on the island of Maui. We learn about the island through sights and sounds. Each spread shows an illustration on the left with a single statement on the opposite page--a painting of koi and plumeria flowers in a pond is accompanied by, "When I am quiet in Wailea long before lunch, I hear the plumeria cascade into the koi pond." This is not a book to turn to if you're looking for excitement or a story where something happens. It is more like poetry: calm meditations just right for settling into a calm state of mind (perhaps right before naptime). It reminds us of the beauty of nature (found in a specific place) and the importance of slowing down and taking note of the world around us. It also introduces Hawaiian vocabulary, with proper pronunciations and definitions in footnotes at the bottom of the pages. (Crucial for parents who stumble over the word humuhumunukunukuapua'a.)

We made two different treats to get us into the Hawaiian spirit (they also went well with our Lost series finale viewing after the boys were in bed).

Lava Flow Smoothies

Ingredients:

2 oz. coconut cream
2 oz. unsweetened pineapple juice
4 large strawberries (or handful of frozen strawberries)
1 small, ripe banana
ice

Additional equipment: Blender, paper umbrella (optional)

1. Puree the strawberries in blender.

2. Pour strawberry puree in glass.

3. Puree pineapple juice, coconut cream and banana in blender with crushed ice. Blend until smooth.

4. Pour pineapple/coconut/banana mixture into glass. The strawberry puree should rise to the top, like a lava flow.

Roasted Pineapple with Ice Cream (recipe courtesy of Runner's World magazine, April 2010)

Ingredients:

1 pineapple, cut and sliced
dark brown sugar
butter
vanilla ice cream

1. Brush melted butter on both sides of the pineapple slices (the original recipe recommends cutting the pineapple into rings).

2. Sprinkle brown sugar over both sides of the pineapple.

3. Roast pineapple in oven at 400* for 18 minutes. Flip halfway through.

5. Serve in bowls. Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

These refreshing treats did bring a little bit of that Hawaiian feeling into our home, which is nice since it's far more practical than jumping on a plane every time we want to escape to Hawaii.

Still in a Hawaiian state of mind? Check out Riley's other book, When I am Quiet on Oahu.

My kids also love Disney's animated film Lilo and Stitch, which has a Hawaiian setting.

Finally, if you do happen to have a trip to Hawaii planned, I highly recommend Andrew Doughty's "Ultimate" guidebook series. We have used The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook: Kauai Revealed and Maui Revealed: The Ultimate Guidebook on our trips and found them to be, hands down, the best resources for sightseeing, snorkeling and dining information.

My New Gig

2010-05-20T11:00:00.002-07:00

I'm happy to announce that I am the new gluten-free living blogger for the Bay Area edition of Today's Mama, a national parenting website with local affiliates in select markets. If you are looking for information about gluten-free issues, product and restaurant reviews, recipes, parenting gluten-free kids, or gluten-free resources, please check me out at my other online home!

Direct link to my introductory post

Bay Area Mama main page

SteamPotVille Giveaway Winner

2010-05-20T10:52:00.000-07:00

The winner of my SteamPotVille book giveaway is Jenimal. Jenimal, I will forward your information to the publisher and they will ship the book directly to you. Thank you to everyone who entered!

Nutmeg - String and Sawdust

2010-05-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

"There was always cardboard for breakfast. There was always string for lunch. There was always sawdust for supper." - Nutmeg, David Lucas

Since starting this blog I have been introduced to a number of wonderful kidlit blogs written by like-minded folks, and I've discovered lots of new reads through the recommendations of others. I became intrigued with author/illustrator David Lucas after reading reviews of Cake Girl and Halibut Jackson on Playing by the Book. After a quick Amazon search I discovered he'd also written a book called Nutmeg--and the cover art, featuring a little girl and various cooking implements, tipped me off that it might be a good fit for my blog. I searched my library's online catalog, placed a hold and had the book in my hand a few days later. (Aren't libraries wonderful?)

Nutmeg is a young girl who lives with her uncle and cousin in a dilapidated house on what amounts to a beachfront property junkyard. We don't know how their living situation came to be or why they are stuck eating bland cardboard, string and sawdust (depicted as looking suspiciously like toast, spaghetti and rice) but it's immediately evident that Nutmeg is fed up with the status quo. One day she decides to go for a walk--she's not sure why but Lucas' illustrations deftly capture her frustration and yearning for something new (it would be interesting to pair this book with A Penguin Story, which I reviewed here). While on the beach she finds a bright bottle that, when opened, releases a genie. The genie grants her three wishes: Nutmeg wishes for something different for breakfast, something different for lunch and something different for dinner. The genie gives her a magic spoon and disappears. This sets off a chain of events that changes the lives of Nutmeg and her small family.

When she returns home, the spoon whips up a fabulous, colorful dinner--the best meal Nutmeg and her uncle and cousin have ever eaten. Later that night, though, the spoon stirs up the entire house and creates quite the ruckus. It stirs up the land and sea and stars and transforms the house into a boat. Which Nutmeg and her family sail to a new land, where a new breakfast awaits. After breakfast they return to their boat, presumably in search of more new and different places and foods.

Nutmeg contains elements found in so many great magical stories, including Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz. The shift from the drab, dull colors in the book's opening pages to a brighter palette when Nutmeg meets the genie especially recall the film version of The Wizard of Oz. The shift in colors illustrates her culinary awakening. There is more out there than the same old stuff she's been given every day, and it's good. Like Edna in A Penguin Story, Nutmeg's realization that there is more out there inspires her to sail on, looking for the new and different.

Instead of making the delicious foods Nutmeg and her family tried after the arrival of the magic spoon, we decided to make "string and sawdust" (yes, to be eaten at one meal instead of separately at lunch and dinner). It was easy to figure out what to do for the string (spaghetti). But what to do about the sawdust... I thought about rice (too many carbs; you can't have a meal of just rice and noodles) and then got to thinking about what sawdust looks like...kind of like pencil shavings. What is a food that goes well with pasta that you can "shave"?

Parmesan cheese. When grated with a fine, sharp grater, it looks like a pile of sawdust. I knew I was onto something when I told my six-year old my idea and he excitedly pointed to the picture and exclaimed, "Yes! That looks exactly like parmesan cheese!"

String and Sawdust (Spaghetti with Parmesan and browned butter)

Ingredients:

Spaghetti (I used a half bag to serve one adult and two kids)
block of Parmesan cheese
1 stick of butter plus 1/8 stick of butter (again, enough for three people)

Additional equipment: Cheese grater. Preferably a Microplane zester/grater. This is one of my most indespensable kitchen tools. It is absolutely essential for grating hard cheeses or garlic, zesting citrus, grating chocolate...I would be lost without this little tool. I am actually on my second one because my original disappeared sometime after Thanksgiving.

This recipe was inspired by a dish served at The Old Spaghetti Factory, a restaurant chain with locations throughout the United States (mostly West Coast). One of their most popular dishes is spaghetti with mizithra cheese and browned butter. Mizithra is a hard cheese and can be difficult to find. Fortunately Parmesan is similar in taste and texture and works just fine for this recipe.

Given its high butter and cheese content, this is not an "every day" or even a "once in awhile" meal. At least not in our house. It is more palatable than boxed macaroni and cheese (which I have always, even as a child, found particularly vile) though so if you prefer you can think of it that way.

1. Cook pasta according to package instructions.

2. While pasta is cooking, grate the cheese. This was a task I happily handed off to the boys so I could get the butter started.

Behold, sawdust:

3. In a small saucepan, brown the butter over medium heat. Be careful not to scald it. It will start to bubble like this:

Stir the butter continually during this time. After about five minutes it will begin to turn a more golden/caramel color and you'll begin to see sediment accumulate in the bottom of the pan. At this point, cook just a little longer, until it gives of a caramelized, burnt butter (but not burned) aroma.

4. Serve the pasta with one or two spoonfuls of butter (we ended up with a lot of leftover butter) and some cheese on top:

This meal was an all around winner. (I made the boys each eat a carrot to go with their bowls of pasta.) It is quite possibly my favorite thing I've made for this blog to date. Far more delicious, I am sure, than the string and sawdust Nutmeg ate. My kids certainly didn't complain about it. We have made this at home in the past but renaming it "string and sawdust" has made it an instant new favorite in the eyes of my kids and I know that in the future they'll request it by the new name.

SteamPotVille - Review and Giveaway

2010-05-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

This contest is now closed. Thank you to everybody who entered.

I was recently given the opportunity to review Steve Ouch's SteamPotVille, which was just published by Running Press Kids. It came at the perfect time because I had already planned my feature on interactive books and SteamPotVille fits in nicely with that group.

Illustrated using photographs and digital photography, Ouch has created a dreamlike town in which nothing is as it is expected to be. The animal inhabitants live in tea kettles. Cats wear hats. Birds say "buzz" and bees live underground. It's like a weird mashup of Graeme Base's Animalia (another worthy title I left out of Monday's review) and Alice in Wonderland. The note at the beginning indicates that SteamPotVille is a place found in the imagination, and that by continuing to imagine and explore the young reader can prevent his or her "SteamPotVille" from getting "soggy or wet."

This sets us off on a journey through SteamPotVille, where strange things are happening to the animal residents. A brief story is told in rhymed verse. I thought this was the weakest part of the book; there are times when the rhymes feel forced or clunky and places where I feel the author could have exercised better word choice. However, this was of little consequence to my children, who fell in love with the bright, crisp illustrations. This is where the book really shines and Ouch's true talent lies. Looking at the detail within each spread, it's clear that he spent quite a bit of time creating and manipulating the images to serve his story's purposes.

When we come to the end of the book we are shown a spread with pictures of different animals and are asked to go back through the book and find them. But what my kids were most eager to do was go back through the pages and talk about what they saw: they discussed why the cats might be wearing hats and how the bee had gotten underground. It really opens up the door to creativity and storytelling. School aged children might enjoy taking this a step further and creating their own picture collages, either digitally or with photographs and magazine pictures. The storytelling possibilities can be executed on many levels and I can see this book being used as a teaching aid in elementary school-level writer's workshops or art classes, or even in digital media classes for the junior high/high school set.

I am giving away one copy of SteamPotVille, courtesy of Running Press. If you would like to enter the giveaway, please leave a comment with your email address (to avoid spammers, please spell it out: you at youremailaddress dot com) by midnight on Tuesday, May 18). I will draw one winner at random and contact you via email to coordinate shipment of the book. One entry per person, please.

For more information about SteamPotVille and Steve Ouch, please visit SteamPotVille online!

*Disclosure: Running Press has provided me with a review copy of SteamPotVille and will handle shipment of the book to the winning entrant. I have not received monetary compensation in exchange for this review and any opinions expressed in this review are my own.