Edible Antics - Having Fun With Food

Pilgrim Speed Squash - Healthy Sidedish So Easy It Can Cook On A Campfire and Feed A Thanksgiving Party

Brilliance Flashes! Mother Necessity Invents Pilgrim Speed Squash! A vegetable sidedish:

• so easy I put it together in 2 minutes!
• so healthy because it has no fat!
• so nutritious because it combines pumpkin, corn, and apples
• so yummy that kids (even my kids) like it!
• so colorful it looks pretty on a Thanksgiving party table
• so loved by harried cooks because it will cook almost anywhere at any heat for any length of time

Plus, Pilgrim Speed Squash has historical significance! -The Pilgrims surely had all of the ingredients at their first Thanksgiving. If I'd been on that Plymouth Rock, you can be sure I would have been cooking up Pilgrim speed squash on a campfire.

Here's the history of Pilgrim Speed Squash. Last Tuesday afternoon was sunny and warm. Meteorologists throughout Wisconsin were sounding warnings of winter doom to come Friday. I had one last chance to cook on a campfire. All summer I'd intended to cook a meal in our backyard fire pit. And all summer I'd done other things instead.

So when the kids got home from school I announced that dinner would be roasted hot dogs over a campfire. Lauren (9) and Dave (5) were excited to help me get the fire going. Since the yard had so many leaves and sticks I didn't need the charcoal and newspaper. (I'm not very good at building campfires - I cheat often.) The dry leaves got burning fast, and soon we had a blaze. I was so impressed by my success, I started telling the kids that this was just like the Pilgrims would have done it. (I left out the part about the Pilgrims not having a half pack of matches.) Yes, I told the kids, we were going to cook a meal like the Pilgrims would have cooked.

"They had hot dogs, Mommy?" questioned Dave.

"Venison strips," I replied. "Same thing."

Once the fire burned down a bit I put a large potato wrapped in foil into a pocket of embers.

"They didn't have foil either, Mom," said Lauren. "And their potato wasn't from Korea." Lauren is at that endearing age which relishes facts rather than romance.

Of course, a regular sweet potato could cook in the fire, but I had just bought a Korean sweet potato from Lee's Oriental shop. My good friend from South Korea, Kyong A, turned me on to Korean sweet potatoes. They have thin, reddish skins and yellow flesh. They are so tasty that they are best enjoyed without butter, or salt, or pepper, - (condiments I always put on regular potatoes). Plus the kids like them better than all other potatoes too!

After the potato had cooked awhile, it was time to get the hot dogs. The kids had been having such a great time poking the fire and throwing sticks on it that I didn't dare leave them alone with it. I insisted they come inside with me to get the hot dogs. They did, but I wasn't fast enough. Minutes later the kids ran outside. I called after them not to go near the fire. They went to the swing set on the other side of the yard. I had some time, but not much. The lure of the fire was too strong for prolonged resistance.

I'd already gotten the hot dogs on to a tray but realized that our meal lacked a healthy vegetable. What did I have that could be cooked on a campfire, and I could put together fast?!!! I checked outside, they were still on the swing set. What?!!! Plus, I'd foolishly been turning this meal into a history lesson. What did I have that the Pilgrims would have eaten?!!!

Change Everyday Meat and Potatoes Meal Into Fun Election Party Dinner!

Next Tuesday is election day! Who will move to the White House?

We've borne nearly two years of presidential campaigning. But after next week, campaign TV ads, speeches, phone calls, and yard signs will evaporate. Yesterday, one political reviewer wondered aloud to her radio audience how she will fill her time. Time? Time to celebrate!

And somewhat more than half of all Americans will be pleased with the election outcome. Which Americans will throw celebratory parties and which will throw commiserating parties is still in suspense. But regardless of outcome, election night in the U.S. is party time!

However, for must of us it's also a work-night, school-night, and in-every-other-way-ordinary Tuesday night. Got to feed the kids and get them to bed. So how will we - the folks on Main Street -celebrate?

A patriotic cake with red, white, and blue frosting always works. But do you have time to make one? We have to make nutritious dinners regardless of current events. So here's an idea for suping up the mainstay of Main Street, that classic of American, middle class tables - the United States of America meat loaf! You all know how to make one, so I won't bother giving a recipe. (In case you want to try a new recipe however, here's a link to a wonderful meatloaf recipe.) So here's how to change meatloaf into an election-party centerpiece.

It's all in the hands. Yes, it's gross, but effective. Mix up your favorite meatloaf recipe. Oil a baking sheet. Put the meat on the sheet then mold it into the shape of the political party that you want to win the election. I thought the molding would be difficult, but it was really easy. I made donkey and elephant-shaped loaves amazingly fast. Raw meat is a surprisingly easy medium to sculpt in. Really, you can shape these in no time.

To keep the appendages from over-cooking, I covered them with foil. I baked them without sauce on top because I didn't want the elephant and donkey to look bloody. After cooking and picture-taking, then I put on the kids' favorite meatloaf sauce, Cranberry Topping.

While the meatloaf baked, I made mashed potatoes and broccoli spears. These were for making the White House. Again, use your hands to form the mashed potatoes into the White House shape. (Mashed potatoes, being slightly sticky, are a bit more resistant to sculpting than meatloaf, but still workable and you're kids will think it's cool.) The bonus comes from the broccoli shrubbery. Kids are much more willing to eat broccoli if they think it's inedible trees and bushes.

Eyeball Cupcakes in Red Jello Cauldron Scare Halloween Party Children

Our Halloween party is the weekend before Halloween when friends come to carve jack-o-lantern pumpkins, dress-up in Halloween costumes, and eat fun, Halloween party food.  Our children think that Halloween party food should be SCARY! not beautiful. So this year we created eyeball cupcakes in a cauldron of red jello and gummy worms. 

It was easy to make, and a lot of fun to eat. I got the recipe for the cupcakes from the blog Sweet and Simple Bakes. And I'm entering these eyeball cupcakes in their Spooktacular Halloween Cupcake round-up. The recipe is for an easy-to-make white sponge cake that tastes delicious. I used half the cupcake batter to make 12 mini-muffins. 9-year-old Lauren used the rest to make a single-layer pumpkin cake.

I used Rombauer and Becker's Joy of Cooking (1976) recipe for Boiled White Icing. This icing looks shiny - just like eyeballs. I bought red, brown, and blue gel icing for the eyes. I should have used black gel icing too, but used black frosting for the eye pupils. Lauren wanted the black frosting to decorate her Halloween pumpkin cake.

While we were baking and icing the cakes, our red jello was setting in a cast-iron pot the 'fridge. Before it was completely firm, we took it out and stirred it to look like blood. We added gummy worms to make it look extra disgusting. I placed the iced cupcakes in the jello, then drew on the irises, pupils, and blood lines.

Crock Pot Cooking Wins Race To Feed Hungry Children; Beats Pretty Snack Foods

It's 6:00 p.m. The white van pulls into the garage. The motor stops. The RACE IS ON!

Mother and two children leap from car. Jockeying to lead, the three race to the door. Who will be first to get it unlocked? Who ever's first will have the future advantage.

Oh NO! 5-year-old Dave unlocked the door letting 9-year-old Lauren slip pass into the kitchen! One-handed, she swings open the cupboard door and begins searching for snack food.

Frantic mom overtakes her and races to crock pot! She cries," Look dinner's here! It's ready! It's ready NOW!"

Lauren is pulling out packaged granola bars. Dave's grabbing Ritz crackers.

Mom cries, "Put those back! Dinner will be on the table as soon as your hands are washed!"

Disbelieving children scrutinize their mother's sincerity. "Can she really serve dinner before I can open this flavorful, pre-packaged snack?" They consider their options. Ingest pre-packaged snacks and get full belly, happy tongue, and Mother's wrath. Or put down snack food and wash hands to prepare for unknown meal from crock pot. Heavy decisions for ones so young.

Spectators might wager that the pre-packaged, pretty snack foods have the advantage in this race to feed hungry children. Children already know how delicious the snacks are; they've eaten them before. These snacks are packed with chemical ingredients scientifically-shown to tantalize the tongue. And they are encased in pretty packaging designed by Ph. D. psychologists to induce selection. In a beauty contest, the snacks are hands-down winners. The children also know that anything could be in that crock pot.

But the crock pot has a secret weapon: flavorful aroma. Mother knows that smell triggers salivation faster than sight. As soon as that kitchen door bursts open, the aroma from the crock pot invades the nostrils like marines storming beaches.

But the next move is Mom's. Can she do it? Can she dish up dinner as fast as the children can wash their hands? They're washing speed is increasing as they age. Mom will have to go for the burn.

YES! SHE DOES IT! Crock-pot BBQ chicken is served before a snack is consumed. Healthy eating wins!!!!

This family's contest is similar to the World Series, but worse. It's not best out of 5; it's best out of 18 years.

Click on "Continue reading..." for an easy crock pot recipe for barbecue chicken that will help you win the race.

Get Ready For Kindergarten! - Mom Teaches the Alphabet with Recipes for Baked Yams and Roasted Yellow Zucchini!

Tomorrow - Day 1 of Kindergarten. Is pre-schooler Dave ready? Does he know his alphabet? Did doting mother and helpful big sister carry through on their months-long endeavor to teach Dave the shapes and sounds of the 26 letters? Did the weekly collection of toys into the cardboard alphabet box help, - an airplane for 'a'-week, bears for 'b'-week, puzzles for 'p'-week, and a rocket for 'r'-week? We hope so. But none-the-less, our family ate lots of yummy treats in the process - baked cinnamon Apples, Cranberry Cookies, King Lingonberry coffee cake, spiced N-O-se cake, and the grand Volcano cake for V. But now, 24 hours before the big day, have we done it - have ALL the letters received their honorary celebration?

We proudly answer, YES! In fact, the grand alphabet game was completed with days to spare. That's right, last Thursday we finished off letters W,X,Y and Z with a one-day flurry of cooking and eating. No, I did not bake cakes in the shape of a yak playing the xylophone and a zebra eating watermelon as 8-year-old sister Lauren had suggested. Instead, I made Jello wigglers.

The recipe for the wigglers is on the back of the Jello boxes. (Just note that the same recipe, meaning identical proportions, are printed on boxes of different sizes. If you make Jello wigglers with a small, 3 ounce box of Jello, it's best to halve the proportions in the wiggler recipe.) After the Jello set, Dave and Lauren set to cutting out letters W,X,Y, and Z with letter-shaped cookie cutters. We also used an O-shaped cutter and then put our letters together to spell ZOO, YO-YO, OX, and OW. 

That night we further honored the letters at dinner by enjoying baked Yams, roasted Yello Zucchini, and sliced Watermelon. These accompanied sauerkraut and X-tra special grilled bratwursts. Click on the link for the X-tra special bratwurst recipe. Click on "continue reading... for the baked Yam and Yello Zucchini recipes.

Recipe for Roasted Cheese-Stuffed Peppers: A Low-Carb, High-Protein Healthy Snack Kids Like

Roasted cheese-stuffed peppers is a happy, healthy way to stuff protein and a vegetable into kids who'd rather eat sugar. The recipe comes from the cookbook From Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce. Here's the recipe:

• bell peppers
• low-fat cheese

"Using tongs or long-handled fork, hold whole pepper over open flame, turning occasionally, until skin blisters all around. Cool and peel off skin. Open pepper from top carefully; remove seeds and core. Fill with low-fat cheese, and pop in low oven until cheese melts and conforms to shape of pepper. Chill overnight. Slice pepper; serve with other vegetables or use in a sandwich. Makes any number of servings."

Roasting the peppers over a campfire or on a grill makes a fun party activity, but it's easier to roast them on a flat pan in the oven under the broiler. Set the broiler heat to high. Turn the peppers when the skin turns brown to black - after about 10 minutes. Continue to turn until the whole pepper is brown. Let the peppers cool. It's hard to remove the skin on a warm pepper. In fact, some people claim the skin comes off easiest if you freeze the peppers first.

I could only get one of the four peppers to keep its cylindrical shape when I removed the skin, stem, and seeds. But whether the pepper is shaped like a bowl or a plate makes no difference in taste.

I filled the peppers with my kids' favorite cheese: a combo of cheddar and Monterey jack. My kids also like brick cheese because of its mild flavor. The adult version of this recipe calls for a much spicier pepper, say a poblano, serrano, or jalapeno, and perhaps a cheese with more of a punch, say a pepper jack, blue cheese, or asiago.

It is helpful, although not critical, to let the cooked roasted cheese-stuffed peppers cool in the 'fridge overnight. They slice up easily after being chilled.

Hiking With Kids - Fun Picnic Foods That Travel Well!

So, you want to hike in a beautiful park on a gorgeous summer day. Your kids want to hang around the house irritating each other. Your enthusiastic rally of "Let's go for a hike!" slams hard against groan walls. What to do? When in doubt, turn to food.

Yes, once again, the simplest solution is to make the food fun. Yummy, extra-special treat food enjoyed on a hike is not exactly a bribe. I think of it as a reward. After all, your kids are correct. That two hour-long hike uphill through a mosquito-infested, poison-ivy carpeted woods on a hot, sticky, breeze-less afternoon is a bit of a physical endurance challenge. And your exuberant declarations about fresh-air, woodland marvels, and good exercise make the hike all the more of an ordeal for your children. In such circumstances, it's best to keep your revelry to yourself and your knapsack full of foods your kids love. Here's what works for us.

#1: PIZZA! My kids' love cold pizza. And cheese pizza packs surprisingly well. It doesn't squish like peanut butter and jelly. It doesn't spoil like sandwiches lubricated with mayo. Plus, it looks appetizing over the long haul. Pizza sustains its integrity and appeal when the ordinary picnic fare of sandwiches disappoints.

#2: Naturally-wrapped fruit. Most kids like fruit, except when it is discolored or squished. A peach or plum with torn skin and sweet, oozing pulp that you and I might enjoy disgusts them. So it's safest to hike with fruits encased in their own tough skins. Grapefruit, oranges, and even apples fit the bill, but by the time summer comes, we Wisconsinites are sick of eating them. Bananas have a higher, year-round appeal, plus fairly tough skins. True, they can split and squish, but if packed on top of the rest of the food, they usually travel well.

In fact, squishing fruit isn't so much of a problem for us. Our difficulty lay with preventing melted ice water from saturating our lunch. You see, to get to that idyllic park, we have to pack our food in a cooler in the car and drive for an hour or so. Nothing is less appetizing after a long car ride than soggy snacks. Sure, we could invest in water-proof food containers, but we're a Ziploc family. Sometimes we double-bag as an extra precaution. But back to bananas, bananas are so well encased in their own protective skin, that they can be submerged in cool water for hours with no ill effects. Hooray for bananas.

Melons do well underwater too. Perhaps you don't want to hike uphill with a watermelon. Cantaloupes are smaller, honeydew, mid-range. I'm just saying, it's possible to happily hike with a cantaloupe in your backpack. After all, you're the exuberant one who needs extra exercise, right? Of course, you could slice the melon before hand into a Tupperware container. You could even toss in berries. The container keeps the fruit safe from water and squishing. But then consider how appetizing it will be for all of you to stick your dirty hands into the same container to fetch out the fruit. You know where your kids' hands have been, do you really want to eat fruit they've touched? Individual containers, spoons, bowls, -all are too cumbersome on a happy hike. No, better to just haul one melon and one Swiss army knife. Every one gets a slice at the top. Kids love to eat with their fingers and let juice dribble down their chins. This is fun to them. And they're eating fruit so it's O.K. with you.

But on to the secret weapon of hike-inducing foods, #3: Forbidden foods.

Raspberry Muffin Saves Woman! - 'R' Is For Recipe

"Don't shoot!" she cried. "I have them inside. They're fresh, warm and sweet, a raspberry treat. Just please lay that handgun aside."

He glared, "But I've come fer yer money, not yer raspberry dough, honey. Muffins are muffins like all others I've tried."

"But no, not so!" she wept as she crept to the kitchen where her muffins did lay. "Please, please, come see, and then you will know. You're far richer with these than with Uncle Sam's dough."

"Ha, ha!" he scoffed, as she held them aloft, they're sweet scent wafting up to his nose.

"Just one," she pleaded. The brute, he conceded, and bit a raspberry muffin in two.

His eyes miraculously softened. His jaw instantly slackened. The handgun dropped to the floor. "My, God! I'm reformed! I'm no longer torn between the law and an outlaw's passions. This muffin has shown me the right road before me. Oh, please give me one muffin more."

The sweet woman did, not a muffin she hid, but then she did sooo much more. With a bowl, tin and fork, she put him to work making raspberry muffins galore.

Know someone who needs reforming? Click on "continue reading..." for the recipe.

Notice: These raspberry muffins were produced in honor of "R-day". The letter 'R' has now been celebrated with rrrrroaring righteousness in our "teach-a-preschooler-his-alphabet" game. Furthermore, let it be known that "Q-day" quietly occurred with the boiling of quinoa pasta.

Chef's Challenge: Cook The Same Meal For 4 People Who Like Different Foods

Picture this: 4 people (call them A,B,C, and D) sit down at a table.

A and B like spicy food; C and D like bland.

B and D like fatty meats, such as ribs and brisket, A prefers lean meats like chicken, C does not like meat.

A loves vegetables, B will eat most vegetables, D will eat some vegetables, and C gags on vegetables.

C savors starch such as pasta, rice, and potatoes, B and D eat them moderately, A equates eating them with lobbing lead into the stomach.

The chef's challenge: cook the same, healthy meal for all 4 people. The meal must be enjoyed such that everyone eats, and no one complains or sneaks handfuls to the dog.

If you can cook one meal for these 4 people, (and you probably do if you are a parent of young children) you can join Cristie's Cooks Club where our motto is: Can we cook it? YES WE CAN!

So, have club members found a perfect food that pleases all palettes, or a particular combo of tastes that pacifies the picky? Or perhaps there are ways to disguise questionable foods and slip them incognito on to the plate? Maybe, but I haven't found them yet.

I win by fudging the rules of the chef's challenge. I stretch the requirement of the "same meal". To please a spouse who insists the kids should "eat what we eat" and "not be made different dinners," I broadly interpret the boundaries of "sameness".

For example, last night our "same meal" was a "spaghetti dinner". Now, the creative cook realizes that spaghetti appears in multiple forms. Obviously, spaghetti is that long, starchy pasta. But it also is a football-sized, yellow squash - the spaghetti squash, found in most supermarkets. I'm not kidding - its sticker even says "spaghetti squash" and tells you how to cook it.

The crafty cook also knows that spaghetti is still spaghetti regardless if it is covered by a tomato-based veggie sauce, a meat sauce, a pesto sauce, a creamy Alfredo sauce, or even just butter seasoned with salt, basil and garlic. All variations qualify.

Armed with this breadth of possibilities, Super Chef whips up the winning spaghetti dinner in what could have been a half hour, but because of interference from the sidelines, takes 45 minutes. Click on "continue reading...: for the play-by-play recipe.

Chocolate Volcano Cake with Dinosaurs: How to Make a Fun, Easy, Inexpensive, and Edible Centerpiece for a Kids Birthday Party!

Outsourcing your kid's birthday party to a party center is fun and easy, until you get the bill. So you're looking for an inexpensive alternative, but your kid keeps talking about gigantic inflatables, build-a-bear extravaganzas, and water parks. "What ever happened to musical chairs and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey?" you ask. Your child looks up at you blankly. OK! You are determined to take a day-trip to the past. You'll teach your child about real fun! You'll throw that birthday party at home! But still, that nagging, "don't want to disappoint my child" worry repeats in your head.  The solution? - Make the food fun!

Make the birthday cake an edible centerpiece - and even let it be an interactive toy!

"Right," you smirk. But no, it's not as hard as it looks - and it's a whole lot cheaper!

For example, I have a 5-year-old who loves dinosaurs. Last year his birthday party had a dinosaur theme. This year it may again. But unlike last year, this year I'm prepared because yesterday I figured out how to make a chocolate volcano cake with erupting pudding lava into which plastic dinosaurs either fall or flee.

Here's the picture. Click on 'Continue reading...' for the easy instructions.