Is Deceptively Delicious too Deceptive?

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Creepy Cuisine and Potent Potions

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While preparing for some upcoming kids Halloween Cooking Classes, I realized that you might appreciate a few recipes for Creepy Cuisine and Potent Potions that weren’t quite as sugar and fat laden as the majority of recipes you’ll find online.

Vampire Drool

Red Juice, your choice (cranberry, pomegranate, cherry etc)
Bubble Water
1 pkg frozen organic cranberries
1 latex glove
1 cauldron

1. Pour water into a latex glove. Tie the end, and put it the freezer (be sure to store it flat, so that it retains the shape you want).
2. When frozen, remove from the freezer and peel off the glove.
3. Combine juices and bubbly water in a cauldron
4. Add the frozen “hand” to complete the brew

Worms and Eyeballs

1 small onion, grated 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 large egg 1/4 cup dried bread crumbs 3 Tbs ketchup 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves 1/4 cup grated Parmesan

1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp ground black pepper 1 lb ground dark turkey meat 3 Tbs olive oil marinara sauce 1 can black olives, pitted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add the onion, garlic, egg, bread crumbs, ketchup, parsley, Parmesan, Pecorino, salt and pepper to a large bowl and blend. Mix in the turkey.
3. Shape the turkey mixture into 1 1/4-inch-diameter meatballs.
4. Place on baking sheet.
5. Use an egg slicer to slice the olives into rings.
6. Place one olive ring on top of each meatball, pressing lightly. This makes it look more like an eyeball!
7. Bake 15-20 minutes or until the inside is no longer pink and the juices run clear.

CALL THE KIDS:

Peel paper off the garlic cloves. Crack egg. Squeeze ketchup Grate and measure cheese Pick parsley leaves from the stem and tear into small pieces.

With clean hands, combine all of the ingredients and shape into balls Wash hands afterwards Slice black olives and press onto meatballs Wash hands again.

Strawberry Monsters

Strawberries
4″ sucker sticks
Candy Melts (your color choice)
Black decorating gel

1. Insert lollipop stick into strawberries and place them in the freezer for about 15 minutes, until they are cold.
2. While the berries are chilling, heat one cup of candy melts, in a double-boiler, stirring constantly until completely melted.
3. Remove the berries from the freezer and dip them lightly in the melted candy for a thin coating.
4. To get a Mummy look, swirl them a bit to look like layers of white wrapped around it. Ghosts can be dunked to make a little twisted peak on top. Frankenstein can be dunked and a spoon used to flatten the candy on top.
5. Set on a baking sheet lined with parchment to cool and harden. You can refrigerate them if you would like to speed this up.
6. After they harden, you can add faces. Using black decorating gel and a toothpick (as your brush), draw a spooky face.

Tips

Use green melts for Frankenstein, Orange for Jack-O-Lanterns & white for ghosts and mummies

What’s Cooking Fans from the SF Bay Area…Set Your Tivo!

Michelle, owner of What’s Cooking, will be doing a Healthy School Lunches cooking demonstration with her two children.

Details: Wednesday, October 3
Time: 3-4 p.m.
Show: View From The Bay on ABC

Click on the logo above to be linked to the segment, online. Let us know what you think!
Check out our Store to see the products featured on the show.

Easy, Delicious, and Peanut Free

The What’s Cooking Blog has moved: Please visit us at our new location: whatscookingblog.com

 

Easy and Delicious
Peanut Free Lunch and Snack Ideas for School

Don’t despair! There are lots of peanut-free, tasty and easy lunch and snack choices for your child! Please be sure to check labels carefully since many products may be processed on peanut contaminated lines. Thanks for helping ensure our children have a safe environment at school.

* For more ideas, check this out: Nutritious Lunches with a Sample Peanut-Free Menu

Snack Ideas:

· Yogurt mixed with fruit or with fruit on the side for dipping · Hard boiled egg · Homemade trail mix with cereal, pretzels, raisins · Celery sticks stuffed with soft cheese · Whole grain muffin (make a large batch ahead of time and freeze, so you can pull them out as you need them) · Carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes (or any crunchy veggies) with ranch dressing or a favorite dip · Popcorn

· Mini-pitas stuffed with cheese · Half a bagel with cheese · String cheese and bread sticks · Cheese and crackers · Fresh fruit, fruit salad, mixed dried fruit · Whole grain cereal · Sliced meat wrapped around cheese sticks · Cubes of smoked tofu (some manufacturing plants may have peanut contamination) · Graham or animal crackers

Lunch Ideas:

Sandwiches: · Egg salad on their favorite bread, tortilla, or crackers bagel sandwiches with meat, cheese, tofu · Soy nut butter is a great peanut butter replacement · Tuna salad (with or without pasta added in or as a sandwich) · Cheese sandwich, use pita, whole grain bread, bagel, or crackers · Pita wrap with meat and/or cheese, lettuce and tomato · Leftover meatloaf or chicken on whole grain bread · Leftover pasta or macaroni & cheese · Deli meat and cheese roll-ups · Cottage Cheese with fresh fruit or veggie slices (loads of protein!) · Hearty soup in a thermos (stew or chili are good too)

· Give them separate containers of ingredients so they can assemble their own foods, such as mini pizzas or burritos. Pinwheels · Spread cream cheese, shredded carrots, sliced meat or tofu on a tortilla, roll up and slice into 1-inch pinwheels. · pinwheels with cream cheese and jam, or with soy nut butter and jam · Pasta Salad with meat or cheese · Rice Salad or Couscous with mixed in chopped veggies, meat, cheese or tofu.

Combining a number of fun and healthy lunch and snack ideas makes your child’s school lunch and snack more enjoyable for them… the more fun their food the more likely they’ll eat it!

Interesting fact: One slice of cheese pizza has almost twice the protein of 2 tablespoons of peanut butter!

 

 

For more information about making Healthy School Lunches for Children, visit the

Healthy School Lunches page of the What’s Cooking Website. (http://www.whatscooking.info/pages/HealthySchoolLunches.php)

Luring Your Kids into Eating Healthy School Lunches

The What’s Cooking Blog has moved: Please visit us at our new location: whatscookingblog.com

Our fishing expedition on Flathead Lake this summer was comical. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to catch anything, even though the boat next to us was reeling in fish every time we looked! Clearly, there was something we weren’t doing right. As a man from the next boat yelled over to us, “What kind of bait are you using?” a crazy thought entered into my mind: Feeding children is a lot like fishing – you have to have the right lure, or they won’t bite! Packing desirable school lunches is a lot like the fine art of selecting an appealing lure while fishing. Try some of these stress-free strategies for packing lunches that are healthy for your kids and the environment. They’ll be sure to bite!

• Ask your kids what they will enjoy. Remember that if they don’t like certain foods at home, they won’t like them at school either!
• Ask for their input before loading their lunch box. Just because they liked something today doesn’t mean that they will like it again tomorrow.
• Keep in mind that your children don’t have much time to eat…so pack foods in small portions that are easy to eat, so they have time left to play.
• Don’t be lured into buying prepackaged lunches, which are high in fat, sugar, salt and calories, are much more expensive, and produce tons of unnecessary garbage.
• Let your child help you select a cool lead-free and reusable lunch bag or lunch box. Pick up a few reusable containers that will fit inside – this will prevent food from leaking and getting smashed, and will help you avoid using disposable items like plastic bags and foil.
• Pack a reusable drink container instead of juice boxes, juice pouches, cans, and disposable plastic bottles.
• Instead of packing a paper napkin, use a cloth one (baby wash cloths, or cut up old t-shirts work great for this!)
• Pack stainless-steel utensils instead of using disposable plastics.
• Buy in bulk instead of purchasing pre-packaged items. This will save you money, and you can reuse or recycle the containers at home.
• Whenever possible, pack lunches the night before. Why add more stress to your morning routine?

Here are a variety of ideas for some fun and interesting lunches. Don’t forget to include fruits or vegetables, protein and whole grains every day.

Sandwich Alternatives:

• Instead of sliced bread, try rice or whole grain crackers, whole wheat pita bread, whole grain bagels and tortillas.
• Wrap it Up! Combine a variety of spreads, fillings and wrappers for a sandwich alternative your kids won’t forget. For lots of wrap recipes, please visit the Healthy School Lunches page at What’s Cooking.

Make Ahead…

• Quiches or frittatas are full of protein. Try making a batch in a mini muffin pan – they will be a great size for school lunches and will last in the refrigerator for the whole week. Organic and free range eggs are good choices!
• Whole grain pasta or couscous salad
• You can make several peanut butter and jam sandwiches at a time. Wrap them tightly and store in the freezer. Toss one in a lunch bag and it will be thawed by lunch time! Is peanut butter banned at your school? Try: cashew butter, almond butter, soy nut butter, sunflower seed butter or tahini (sesame seed paste) as alternate spreads
• Many of the thermos treasures below can be made ahead, stored and warmed before packing.

Thermos Treasures…

• Tortellini with pesto
• Spaghetti with marinara sauce
• Noodle Soup
• Fried Rice
• Chili with corn chips on the side for dipping
• Fruit Smoothies…cold, of course!

Container Combinations…for kids to assemble and snack on themselves

• Purchase yogurt in bulk, and serve in a reusable container. On the side, pack some toppings, such as dried fruit, granola or grape nuts.
• Carrots, cucumber or broccoli with dip, such as ranch dressing, plain yogurt with dill, or peanut/almond/cashew/sunflower seed butters
• Nachos: pack containers of ground turkey/tofu, guacamole, grated cheese and tortilla chips
• Whole grain crackers, slices of turkey, ham or tofu, cubes of cheese

Packing an appealing school lunch will lure your children into eating well, help them to be more successful in school, and help the planet, too. Don’t be caught with the wrong bait, or your kids might throw it back!

Michelle Stern owns What’s Cooking, a Certified Green SF Bay Area business that offers cooking classes and gifts to children. Their online service, What’s Cooking Weekly, gives busy families recipes and grocery lists for 5 healthy meals every week, along with tips on how your kids can help in the kitchen.