muffin tin mom

at our last well-baby appointment, my pediatrician and i started talking about food. mainly, i asked for her advice on getting them to try new things. she has 3 girls and i value her opinion. her advice was muffin tins. different colored ones. different shaped ones. different sized ones. just buy them anytime i find them and use them to create a fun experience. i loved the idea and it seems that there's already a muffin tin crowd that does as well. in fact, there's a muffin tin mom and i kinda have a girl crush on her. look at the fun she created a hallowen muffin tin monday...

her blog, http://michellesjournalcorner.blogspot.com , is full of ideas and examples so make sure to spend a few minutes checking it out. i'll be on the lookout for cute muffin tin suppliers and will let you know what i find...

Favorite Foods Friday - Sept. 24

my friend cameron did a fantastic job hosting the second Favorite Foods Friday last month. i provided her with simple blue & green invitations and she went out of her way to make sure that the theme was carried on and that the kids knew this was a special lunch...


we had veggie meatballs, sneaky chef chicken fingers, apple sausage rolls, carrot fries and more. i'll be sure to share some recipes later this week...

we had a great time despite the fact that georgia was not happy when her juice box ran dry. we're gearing up for a halloween themed Favorite Foods Friday next week. i'll make sure it doesn't take me a month to get that one posted.

until then, let me know if you'd like some info on how to throw a Favorite Foods Friday lunch in your neighborhood.

since we're talking about magazines....

i was doing some digging on the www when i came across this magazine. i can hardly wait to head over to whole foods this weekend to grab a copy. from the blurb online this is what chop chop is about...

Chop Chop is a quarterly food magazine and website for kids and their families. Chop Chop's mission is to educate kids to cook and be nutritionally literate, empower them to actively participate as health partners with their families and help establish and support better eating habits for a lifetime of good nutrition. The magazine is filled with nutritious, great-tasting, ethnically diverse and inexpensive recipes, as well as interesting and little-known food facts, Q&A's and games.

the recipe that made me stop and take notice of the magazine is their 'not-your-grandma's-fried-chicken' dish. you can find that recipe here:

http://momsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/09/chop-chop.html

i'll give you full reviews after i read the mag. if you don't have a whole foods or earthfare near you, then you can visit their website for a subscription at www.chopchopmag.com

real simple family special issue

real simple is one of my favorite national publications. it's not often that i have 30 minutes to sit and enjoy thumbing through pages but when i do real simple always satisfies and encourages. all that to say that when i found the special issue of real simple family i immediately picked it up. of course the first thing that caught my eye was the cover promising fast, kid-friendly dinner recipes. um, yes please. so i searched the article and found a recipe that will be on our menu for this week. sausage & apple kabobs. georiga loves sausage. loves maple syrup {which the pieces of apple and sausage are brushed with} and well, hopefully she'll love the apples too. i'll report back. hopefully she'll love it and it will make my recipe bringing a lot easier next week for our next favorite foods friday gathering. if you're interested in making these yourself here is the direct link to the recipe on the real simple website:

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/sausage-apple-kebabs-potatoes-peas-00000000039148/index.html

the lunch sack dilemma

tomorrow starts mother's day out for lots of us. and while there are so many positive things that come from that...one of the things that i consider a negative is the loss of lunchtime control. i mean that loosely of course because we are packing their lunch, but we lose so many options for serving healthy options when no refrigeration or heating can be counted on for meal time. so i'm looking for suggestions from you. what tips/tricks have you found to be helpful in getting nutrition into the lunch sack of your kid???

here's some of my thoughts so far:
*pretzels & hummus or avocado
*veggie straws from costco
*sliced ham rollup
*any fruit cup that doesn't have fruit in syrup
*organic turkey hotdogs w/ tomato sauce {or ketchup she thinks}
*pimento cheese sandwich
*homemade granola bars

what else am i missing? leave some comments so we can share ideas...

{ oh and speaking of lunch sacks...the one above is the cute one i found for georgia at buybuy baby. all of their lunchsacks use vintage fabric and are insulated. and for 12.99. good buy i'd say... }

favorite foods friday on fox...

introducing...

since the Favorite Foods Friday event was such a success {so much so that my friends have decided that want to do it each month} i've decided to make it easy for anyone with the desire to host one their neighborhood. much of the hesitation i hear is that moms don' t have the time to pull all the pieces together. well....here you go. everything you'll need can be delivered to your doorstep. except the friends, food & fun of course. i'm super excited about this and i'll be on the local Fox station in the morning talking about it as well.

to get your own favorite foods friday party set {which is so doesn't have to be on a friday} click on the link in the right sidebar. it will take you to etsy for the full description. be back soon....

the Sneaky chef

one of the recipes we had at our last Favorite Foods Friday get together were the 'health-by-chocolate' cookies. they were of course chocolate cookies but they had something called purple puree added. when i looked a little closer at the recipe i found out that purple puree is a mixture of blueberries and spinach! in the chocolate cookies! even better was the fact that they were so yum. anyway, they came from the Sneaky chef cookbook. if you aren't familair with this series of cookbooks you should be. simple, healthful recipes that incorporate all kinds of fruits and vegetables into ordinary everyday meals that our kids already eat. you can order the books from amazon or barnes & noble. and if you come across something you love, make sure to email us and share!

health-by-chocolate cookies
by the sneaky chef

2 cups Organic Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
16 tbsp Butter, Unsalted
2 egg
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Lite Brown Sugar
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
2 cups Chocolate Chips, Real Semi-sweet

Purple Puree from Sneaky Chef:
1 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup Spinach Leaves


Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Remove butter from refrigerator to let soften.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars until creamy. Beat in egg, vanilla and Purple Puree. Mix in dry ingredients on low speed. Stir in chocolate chips (and walnuts or dried berries, optional. Make two-bite cookies by dropping rounded half-teaspoonfuls, spaced 2 inches apart, onto nonstick or parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on a metal rack.

Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

welcome...

i'm so glad you've found your way to the favorite foods friday blog. what started as a small get together with my daughter has now become a mission of mine. i am anxious to share recipes, ideas, humor, eye candy and just plain conversation here with other moms on the same mission. that is to raise healthy kids, inside and out. i plan on being here often to share, encourage and inspire. i hope you'll join in as well.

if you have any questions, feel free to contact me at favoritefoodsfriday@gmail.com

happy friday friends. be back soon...