Kids Cook Monday - Contest

Want some new tools, tips, and recipes for cooking with your kids. Check out the Sweet Potato Chronicles Kids Cook Contest.

I'm going to have to think about what our favorite recipe just might be - cause a few of these books look awesome!

Kids Cook Monday - Food just for kids...

I have been loving my Facebook posts of Our Best Bites lately. A few days back they did a guest post over at Make It and Love It that I thought was so much fun. It was a whole set of cute ideas on serving up fun food your kids will love. Even better if you can get them to help you make it :)

This week the girls and I had a lot of fun mixing up cut up fruit for a fruit salad and singing the "fruit salad salsa" song by Laure Berkner. It wasn't exactly kids in the kitchen cooking - more like getting food ready for school breakfast fun. Still - we sang it all the way to school on a chilly day and at least my older ate it right up.

So for fun and for our kids - here is this weeks Kids Cook Monday.

Cloth vs Disposable

I saw this article floating around this week and thought it was such a realistic (well, closer to it than most articles on the subject in my mind) look at the diapering choices out there. I always see the big savings $$ numbers on cloth websites and yes, you can certainly save money, but it does take work. Easier than disposables... we'll I don't think so personally... but HARD - no not at all, just more to think about and plan for and well, if you have kids that is just something you are doing any way (at least that is how I look at it).

It has just become a natural part of how we parent. Like making food - we meal plan now - something we didn't do when we were kid free and had lots of time. FYI there are also lots of resource out there to practice very early potty training (elimination communication)... it isn't all or nothing for me and so I liked the fact that they interviewed families that have done both cloth and disposable and gave reasonable pros and cons for both. I use both (yes, I admit to an occasional 'sposie' as they call them)... it works for us. I like to share my love and passion (and my cost savings). But I also like to get real.

Speaking of love of cloth, I need to get a few more cloth posts up here... look for a post about cloth at daycare coming soon!

Meatless Monday

Last Week Oprah went sent her staff a vegan challenge. I'm not usually an Oprah fan nor am I even home to watch it but I'm a fan of Michael Pollen and so I taped the show. I was surprised to find that I enjoyed most of the episode and was excited to see the Meatless Monday Campaign highlighted. The only thing I wasn't so into was the shopping trip with the family trying to go vegan for the challenge. I know they were trying to help the family make the least radical change they could - but the cart ended up full of fake meat and processed foods. I think you can cook great vegan meals with whole foods that the average family will love - with fewer processed foods than they had...but again, that is a family choice.

We've been working towards a less meat consumption diet for quite some time and though we struggle - especially eating out, the campaign is a great resource. Episodes like this give the every day person a great set of ideas to start down the path. Health, earth, or whatever your reasons for the average person there are parts of the food isle that are just plain strange. I remember not knowing anything about tofu, quinoa, soy milk, or almond butter (seriously - never know this stuff existed or even why you would buy it) and it takes a lot of experimentation and some helpful friends and websites to even begin to make a move.

If you are thinking about eating less meat here are a few other blogs that I have been enjoying lately:

• Mark Bittman
• Cook with what you have
• Everything is homemade
• Feed our families
• Vegan Dad

Would love to hear about more great sites - not just with recipes but with tips and ways to get past your fear of new foods and get your family on board with a healthy life!

Kids Cook Monday

As I said last Monday, My husband has been cooking up a storm with my older daughter. A few weeks back she helped him cut mushrooms and then fell in love with them - awesome right?

Then, I read the Frugal Living NW blog series on beans. It was fate and time to cook up some beans and mushrooms. My genius husband came up with turkey chili and cornbread. They must have been in the kitchen an hour with my older cutting mushrooms and taste testing - then we all gobbled the entire pot down. It was awesome!

Meatless Monday - UnChicken Noodle Soup

I follow a blog titled Everything Is Homemade and I'm enjoying Amy's posts. A while back she had a great recipe for UnChicken Noodle Soup which I thought would make a great meatless monday

Looks super yummy and I love the idea of chick peas in the soup... she posted a lot of notes about how she would change things up the next time she made it so read all the way down :)

I'm out of town for MM this week so this will have to be it for now.

Girl Power

Maybe it is all the talk about strict vs. relaxed mothering, or the talk about what the princess complex does to girls - but lately I have had more of in interest in - well, girl power.

A while back I bookmarked this list from Non-Toxic Kids - 4 Books to Empower Young Girls
Then recently, a friend of mine posted an article and then I heard an NPR piece by Peggy Orenstein who recently released a book titled "Cinderella Ate My Daughter"
And just today I was listening to this piece on NPR about Tunisian women and their role in the revolution (which literally had me crying I was so empowered by the story).

I wonder nearly daily if my daughters will feel the same way I do now? Will they see any glass ceilings, will they feel differently about math or science, will they have a professional sport to play or team to route for? I really hope to keep encouraging them so that they just might!