Tag: food fun
This is a great way to inaugurate a blog on a fun food day. I love my job, I get to cook, eat, learn fun facts and talk all about food. Plus, when food is involved there’s always something to celebrate.
Who doesn’t love Halloween and pumpkins? It gives us adults an excuse to pretend and have fun!
Scary Carved Pumpkins
What my Family Did for Halloween:
When my children were little, this season was all about the family trip to the pumpkin patch and finding that perfect Halloween costume.
As the kids became “too cool” for Trick or Treating, they turned their attention to scaring the neighborhood kids with our haunted hallway. The whole family got in on the fun. When the doorbell rang, the spooky music started, the hallway was foggy from a cauldron of dry ice and strobe lights flashed to complete the eerie feel. The children still got to dress up to hand out the goodies!
Then as the children grew even older and time more scarce, we planned one night together to carve an elaborate jack-o-lantern. Soon our pumpkins became the talk of the neighborhood.
Ideas to Celebrate Halloween and National Pumpkin Day:
- Printable pumpkin carving stencils:Stencils help those of us who cannot really draw a scary face. We love black cats.For scary printable pumpkin carving stencils click here .
- Child Friendly Pumpkin Decorating:For little ones, who you don’t want to arm with a knife or other carving implement –there’s an equally fun alternative. One of my favorite home movie moments is of my daughter, Laura, age 4, decorating the pumpkins, armed with toothpicks and a farmer’s market full of vegetables. With spinach hair, radish eyes, cucumber ears, a carrot nose and black olive teeth she learned about vegetables, ate and laughed for about an hour. Then that pumpkin was ready to turn heads! Show off their proud creation right on your front doorstep. These were done at a local fall fair.
Kid Friendly Pumpkin Decorations
3. Pumpkin Muffin Recipe:For a pre or post Trick or Treat pick–me–up, you can make some delicious pumpkin muffins. Check out how to make our great pumpkin muffin recipe from TSG Apple cake.
4. Pumpkin Roll Recipe:For those feeling more creative, prepare a delicious pumpkin roll
5.Heat up some cider laced with cinnamon and have a warm October evening full of memories that will be sure to give you goose bumps!
One of my favorite sources for quirky facts and the history of food is the Nibble, an online magazine, where I found today’s cause for celebration–National Pumpkin Day!
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October 26, 2009
Anyone Can Cook – if they want
Ok, well that’s not really me, but it was my Mom when she was first married. I honestly think that between us, we would have made one great housewife – I cook and she cleans. My father-in-law would have shriveled up without a microwave, and some surprisingly astute business women I know claim kitchen disability as well. But I think the truth is that they don’t want to cook – not that they can’t.
Now I confess that learning to cook can have it’s ups and downs. (We will not talk about the inedible disasters that have graced my garbage can.) I know for a fact that my son learned how to cook before he left home, but the first time he prepared dinner in his college room, he turned the burner on high, threw in the chicken breast, and set off the fire alarm – then he didn’t try again for a year.
Dinner Disaster
Worst case, anyone can boil some water in the microwave, add instant rice and slice pre-cooked chicken on top, open a jar of apple sauce for a side – and voila!. Just don’t try to get me to eat it. That might count as instant dorm food, but not dinner.
How to Bake Like a Pro
Right out of the starting gate you can impress everyone by baking – dare I say with a little TSG beer bread (just add beverage). You can even go to the website and download one sheet with over 15 variations, and you’ll be a master chef right away. Branch out –steam some fresh vegetables and spring with Tearless Onion and Chives – then you can add the precooked chicken breast – and you’ve come a long way in one day.
Learn How to Cook
To learn to cook, I recommend you find a friend who knows you well and start simple – like spaghetti
1. For entertainment as well as ideas you can go to You tube and watch “how to co
ok for men” videos on a step by step to make ramen spaghetti
2. A drier series from Howcookingworks.com - competent but not entertainment
3. You can also bone up on you skills from online sites so you look like like a pro when your mother-in-law arrives.
4. There are lots of food shows on TV that can help, like Semi Home Made with Sandra Lee. This is sort of an updated Campbell’s soup approach mixing some cooking with already prepared foods for a polished look that will help you gain confidence .
Personally, I’d go buy a book, – but sooner or later you just have to take the plunge and start !
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October 26, 2009
Ok, so we have all been there. Picking up the last minute items for dinner, rushing to get home and get cooking, only to find “rush hour traffic” at the grocery store check out lane.
Now what? You cast and eye a basket content, checker speed, presence of children and then shoulders slump, and you grudgingly place your bet.
My experience has been that 8 times out of 10 I pick the wrong line. Just like in a traffic jam, I watch the baskets in the other lanes whiz past me!. I’ve even tried the self-check out lane – I’m a whiz at bagging, but there’s always some item that doesn’t scan! In some stores in the Northeast they even have a scanner you take with you while you shop – if you scan as you go, you get special offers and are ready to plug in at check out! (although my first couple of times were slow, because I didn’t read the rest of the directions….) But that doesn’t help with the others in the line.
finding the fast grocery lane
So of course, someone, somewhere, paid good money to study this problem and found it’s the number of people in the line, not the contents of the basket that makes the difference – so go for the shortest line! See for yourself! Even so, I’m still not convinced!
Of course you can solve the problem by always keeping some TSG in the cupboard for last minute inspiration!
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October 26, 2009
Most nights I think we all secretly wish that someone would come take over the kitchen detail for us. And then when it happens, I think we are all a little sorry, because…….
My husband loves to cook, and fortunately, he’s very good at it. He does have some specialties though – anything that can be cooked on top of a barbeque (yes, even in the winter). In the 30+years we’ve been married, I can probably count on two hands the number of times I have had to cook on a weekend. Not bad, you say, but it does come with some caveats:
- It’s most frequently some form of beef and potatoes (although in the last few years with the advent of planks, we have a lot of fish too!)
- Someone has to go to the store for some ingredient.
- All dishes are in the sink at the end of the meal.
- There’s a lot of crispy crust involved.
All in all, this isn’t a bad list of details, it’s just the result of what happens when someone enters what is typically “MY” domain, the kitchen. I am, after all, a creature of habit – mine not his.
1. Husbands can learn how to grill fish with planks.
Grilling Planked Salmon
Barbequing with a plank is a great way to tackle more delicate foods and add flavor. At almost any grocery store, or store that sells barbeque equipment will have them. Just soak the plank in water for a couple of hours, and place the fish (usually) on the plank to add flavor while it cooks. The fish won’t have to be touched until done – meaning it will stay in one piece. Here are some easy steps to follow. (more…)
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October 26, 2009
Last weekend it was a familiar scene, Laura packed most of her worldly belongings in the car and headed back for her Junior year. By now I now longer have the early parent fears about her getting settled, studying, having a social life, but the older she gets, the smaller the meal program becomes and the more responsibility she has to feed herself.
Laura and Deb on Campus - before cooking
Just before Parent’s weekend, she sent me a text saying, “the H1N1 virus has hit my school!” After last spring’s media frenzy, she is worried about getting this virus. For my advice, I retreated to a standard “Mom formula” – eat healthy and get plenty of sleep. But who am I kidding? In college, no way!
If I’m lucky, she gets one nutritious meal per day in the dining hall usually consisting of salad or pasta. There’s a hefty amount of branded coffee in her diet too, which by the way means the same calorie content as milkshakes. Many schools are trying to prepare healthier dining hall meals, but that doesn’t affect the students eating habits!
How to Cook with Just a Microwave and a Refrigerator:
This got me thinking, how can you eat healthy with an electric kettle, a microwave and a refrigerator (without the freezer mind you)? Gratefully, food choices have improved since I was faced with the same problem years ago in my college days. I’m sure guys will resort to ramen noodles, but that gets old after a while. And I would say girls are more particular so I asked my daughter to brainstorm some ideas.
Dorm Room Cooking Essentials:
Here are my daughter’s staples:
- Tuna packets (with salt, pepper, and olive oil)
- Microwavable steamed vegetables (both frozen and non frozen brands)
- Cereal
- Oranges and bananas (no mess or dishes to clean up)
- Smart-ones frozen dinners
- Yogurts (The yogurts in the bottles are really good on the way to class because no spoon)
- In the university dining hall, I’ll get a wrap and put a salad in it from the salad bar along with some deli meat, just as healthy but way more interesting than plain salad
-
Tea!
Easy Recipes:No Cooking
They can track down the pre-packaged and pre-cooked aisles in the grocery store. Get a bag of pre–packaged salad, followed by pre-cooked chicken. Sprinkle grated cheese on the chicken and top it all off with your favorite dressing. Voilá you have a great meal! (Add a dash of TSG Outrageously Garlic or Tearless Onion and Chives on everything!)
As for the rest of staying healthy, I suggest:
- Bottle of hand sanitizer
- Tea mixed with honey and lemon
- Chicken noodle soup
- Vitamin C
And if all else fails – call home to mom.
If you want a teen’s perspective on what’s healthy and what they like, check out this post from Radical Parenting
For dorm room cooking 101, click here
College Student Holiday gift ideas:
- Everything College Cookbook by Rhonda Parkinson
- Healthy College Cookbook by Alexandra Nimetz
- Complete Idiots Guide to the College Diet by Shelly Vaughan James
- Cooking Outside the Pizza Box by Jean Patterson
Get involved! Click here and read how colleges can participate in local sustainable food projects.
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October 26, 2009
It’s time for parent’s weekend at my daughter, Laura’s campus, which also happens to be my husband, Rick’s, alma mater. It will be a fun filled weekend of school spirit, orange and blue spirit that is, and overall collegiate good cheer.
When Rick attended this beautiful campus, the football team’s record was something to brag about. Although, the stats have changed–win or lose the tailgating begins!
Our annual tradition kicks off Saturday with friends, sun, fall foliage and plenty of noise. I’m looking forward to a reunion with family friends whose children also attend Laura’s school. I love seeing both generations enjoying each other more than ever. It really is a made for TV moment.
Tailgating without Cooking – Easy Meal Ideas
This year we have to pack light because we are flying into Pennsylvania. Our usual tailgating gear definitely won’t be fitting into our little rental car. Despite this minor setback, I’m ready to go!
(more…)
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October 23, 2009
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