Do you have picky eaters, but would like to try the traditional “Corned Beef & Cabbage” St. Patty’s Day meal? 

Make it a Pizza! Here’s how:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of shredded green cabbage
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 purchased pizza crust
• 1/4 pound thinly sliced corned beef
• 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese I also sprinkle on some parmesan.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.
3. In a large skillet, sauté the cabbage in the olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and remove from heat.
5. Place the pizza crust on the baking sheet.
6. Spoon the sautéed cabbage onto the crust and spread it out evenly within half an inch of the edge.
7. Arrange the corned beef slices over the cabbage.
8. Sprinkle the cheese on top of the corned beef.
9. Bake the pizza for 10 to 15 minutes, until the cheese is thoroughly melted and the pizza is nice and hot.
10. Cut into wedges and serve immediately. Serves 4-6

Something fun to do with your entire class!

Leprechaun Pudding Pouches:

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon instant green pudding
• 1/2 Cup Milk
• Ziploc Baggie
• Plastic spoons.

Directions:

• Write students’ names on Baggies.
• Put a tablespoon of pudding mix and 1/2 cup of milk into a Ziploc Baggie.
• Close the Baggies.
• Have students gently squeeze and shake their Baggie ‘til pudding is nice and thick.
• Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
• Open Baggie and eat.

A sweet and easy treat for St. Patty’s Day!

Pot O’ Gold Jell-O Cups:

Ingredients:

• Lemon Jell-O
• Green Dixie Cups
• Plastic Spoons

Directions:

• Follow the directions on the box.
• Slice the Jell-O into square nuggets and put some in each of the green Dixie Cups.
• Students eat with their spoon.

 

St. Patty’s Day Potato Candy:

Ingredients

• 1 large potato
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 to 5 cups confectioners' sugar
• 5 cups sweetened coconut flakes

Directions:

• Peel the potato and boil it in water until soft.
• In a mixing bowl, mash the cooked potato with the salt and butter.
• Let it cool completely, or else it will melt the sugar when you add it.
• Mix in the vanilla extract and 4 cups of sugar.
• At this point, the mixture should be stiff. If it isn't, add more sugar.
• Sprinkle half of the coconut onto a waxed-paper-covered surface and turn the potato mixture onto it.
• Roll the batter until all of the coconut has been mixed in.
• Shape teaspoonfuls into small balls.
• Roll the balls individually in the remaining coconut.
• Chill the finished candies until you're ready to serve them.
• Makes about 4-dozen.

 

Click on the links below to check out these other two fun recipes!

Rainbow Cup Cakes

Clover Cookies:

 

     I’ve added something NEW to the column this month “Tips For The Table” .  Besides a few recipes, I thought I’d throw in some helpful tips that I did with my own children when they were little. Things that preserved my sanity when my “kids were in the kitchen”.  I Hope you find them useful!

 Tips For the Table:

Mystery Dinner:  

Are you tired of dreaming up dinner every night? Are you sick of hearing: “What’s for dinner?” the minute the children walk in the door? Do you need to teach some responsibility to your children? Why not let each child take a day of the week to plan dinner. It can be their “secret”.

The rules: The dinner must be nutritious, The dinner must be within X amount of money for the budget, etc. Design your rules around your family’s likes and dislikes, allergies etc. Haul out the cookbooks or hit the Internet for ideas. This is a great way for them to expand their reading skills as well as develop a new hobby “cooking!” Who knows you may have a budding chef in the family! Then it’s off to the grocery store. Choose one day when you all do the shopping for that week’s meals. No one knows who is making what. Now isn’t that fun instead of boring? 

Having a budget will make them conscious of how difficult the real world is and planning and making dinner will give them an appreciation of all that you do!

A big bonus is that cooking provides an abundance of math skills for your child + mom gets a night or two off depending on how many children you have! If your children are young, they can still get in on the action with your help. It’s still a win-win proposition!

I’ll take mine in a cup to go…  When I’m serving fishy crackers, pretzels, animal crackers etc at school for snack time I put them on an opened napkin. As a mom I put them in a Dixie cup so that my children didn’t spill things; they worked far better than bowls. They could also tote them outside. I’d write their name on the cup with a marker so I knew whose was whose when they’d leave them here and there to go play. This was great for car rides as well.

Pass the Popsicle stick please:  I use tongue depressor - size Popsicle sticks in my classroom for my students to use instead of plastic knives for Play-doh play. You may think that those plastic knives aren’t sharp, but they are, especially in the hands of an excited 4-year-old. They also work great in the kitchen when a young child wants to butter their bread or spread peanut butter or jelly on a sandwich by themselves. If they want to cut up their own vegetables a pumpkin carving knife works great, but I still supervise. I also use a kitchen scissors to cut steak, pizza, French toast etc. because it’s so much faster when you have 3 kids than using a knife!

 Washcloths to the rescue:  I kept soft baby washcloths in my kitchen drawer along with my dishrags for dirty faces and hands. Each of my children had their own color.

 Special cupboard and drawer:  Instead of keeping all of the cleaning stuff that was dangerous under the kitchen sink, I kept the Tupperware there. I showed my children where the “Kid’s off limits stuff” was so that it would not be a tempting mystery cupboard that was up high and out of reach, and they helped me paste a “Mr. Yuk” and poison control sticker on that cupboard. I also gave them their own kitchen drawer with their plastic plates, sippie cups, special folks, spoons, washcloths, place mats, the baby’s bibs etc. in it. They could all reach that and it made them feel helpful when we set the table.

RECIPES

Pumpkin Pancake Cookies:  My grandson Joshua is teething so he will love a tiny pumpkin pancake cookie just the right size for his little hands, and I hope you will too.

Ingredients:

• Pancake Mix + any ingredients they require.
• Cookie sheet
• Cooking Spray
• Orange Food Coloring

Directions:

• Make a batch of pancake batter according to the box directions.
• Add drops of orange food coloring til the batter is orange.
• Drop tablespoons of batter onto a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray, I use Pam™.
• The amount of batter depends on how big you want your cookie. I like to make mine small, about 3”
• Bake at 250º for 15 minutes.
• Flip pancake cookie over and bake another 15 minutes.
• Set aside on paper towel to cool.
• They can be frozen too. Simply put them in a Ziploc baggy.
• If they are too moist when you thaw them out, put them back in the oven at 250º for about 10 minutes.

Pumpkin Cake:

Ingredients:

• Chocolate cake mix + any ingredients they require.
• Orange frosting
• Round cake pan
• Green decorator icing in a tube.
• Black decorator icing in a tube. (optional)

Directions:

• Follow directions on cake mix box to make a single layer round chocolate cake.
• Frost with orange frosting
• Add green decorator icing to make pumpkin leaves
• Add black decorator icing to make a Jack-O-Lantern face

Painted Sugar Cookies

     I enjoy making special cookies by painting them! Your children will have fun making an extra special cookie for someone they love too without a whole lot of fuss!  Here’s how:

Ingredients:

• Pre-made sugar cookie dough
• 1 egg
• Paint brushes
• Food coloring
• Water

Directions:

• Mix paint out of 1 egg yolk and 1/4 teaspoon water + several drops of food coloring (the egg-yolk and water mixture can be divided before adding the food coloring to make lesser amounts of several colors.)
• Paint with a watercolor brush.
• The paint darkens when you bake the cookies. It also turns shiny! It’s fun to add a person’s name if you want.
• For October I add orange food coloring to the dough and then paint faces on my “Jack-o-lanterns”! You can also make green dough and make rectangular shaped cookies and paint on monster faces!

Mud Ball Crunchies:

Ingredients:

• Cheerio’s
• Smooth peanut butter

Directions:

• Spoon 2 cups of peanut butter into a large bowl.
• Pour 2 cups of Cheerios into the bowl.
• Gently fold the Cheerios into the peanut butter being careful not to break the Cheerios.
• Spoon a large dollop of the mixture onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. They should look like a ball of mud.
• Refrigerate. MMMM MMMM good.

 Pumpkin Chex Bread: One of my student’s mommies turned this in for our Classroom Cookbook. In her “About the recipe” section she wrote: “Grama’s fall favorite.”

Ingredients:

• 2 ½ cups flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 medium eggs, beaten
• 1 ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup finely chopped raisins
• 1 cup pureed cooked pumpkin
• ½ cup milk
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 ½ cup Wheat Chex cereal

Directions:

•  Preheat oven to 350°F.
• In a large bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg and cinnamon.

• In another medium sized bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin, milk, sugar and oil; whisk until smooth.
  
• Add to flour mixture and stir. Mix well.  Gently stir in cereal and raisins. Be careful not to break cereal.
• Lightly grease a bread pan and transfer mixture.
• Bake 60 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
• Remove from oven, cool 15 minutes, and remove from pan to cool completely.

     Now that you’ve got some yummy treats, wash them down with these fragrant smelling ciders!

Apple Cranberry Cider:

Ingredients:

• 1 quart apple cider or apple juice
• 2 cups cranberry juice
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 4 whole cloves
• 2 cinnamon sticks (3 inches)

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, combine the cider, cranberry juice and brown sugar. Place cloves and cinnamon sticks on a double thickness of cheesecloth; bring up corners of cloth and tie with kitchen string to form a bag. Add to pan.
2. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes. Discard spice bag before serving.

Apple Cider Wassail

Ingredients

• 2 quarts apple cider
• 1 1/2 cups orange juice
• 3/4 cup pineapple juice
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 cinnamon sticks (3 inches)
• 1 dash ground cloves
• 1 dash ground cinnamon

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, combine all of the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes. Toss out cinnamon sticks. Serve hot in mugs.

     Does Pumpkin Custard with Peppery Pecans sound yummy? Click here for that recipe.

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/pudding/pumpkin-custards-with-peppery-pecans/

     And if you’d like to whip up a batch of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins then click here.

http://www.pastrywiz.com/dailyrecipes/recipes/382.htm

     Finally, I thought what fall dinner would be complete for any child without a meal of Chunky Cat Barf. If you’d like to try this delectable delight click here! Too funny!

http://www.pastrywiz.com/archive/chunky.htm

     Whatever you’re cookin’ up in the kitchen I hope you have a fall-fun-tastic time with your little punkin(s)!

Happy September! I don’t know about you, but one of my big themes this month is APPLES so here are a few fun recipes that I think “KIDS in your KITCHEN” will enjoy! Have fun.

 Apple Jell-O/Pudding Cut Outs:

Ingredients & Directions:

My room-helper Cheryl made these for my Y5’s. They LOVED them!

• 2 large RED boxes of Jell-O
• 2 ½ Cups boiling water
• Mix well
• Let set on counter 30 minutes.
• 1 Large INSTANT Vanilla pudding
• 1 Cup milk
• Whisk until blended.
• Pour into Jell-O
• Beat or Mix well.
• Pour into 9x13 greased pan.
• Let set.
• Cut into squares or with apple cookie cutter.

Apple Parfaits: Core, slice, and peel an apple. Let your child use a plastic knife to cut the apple slices into small pieces. Help them make Apple Parfaits by layering vanilla yogurt, the apple pieces, and granola in clear-plastic cups.

Apple Smiles: Cut apples into quarters. Let your child “frost” them with peanut butter and then push mini marshmallows into the peanut butter so that they look like “teeth”.

Cinnamon Applesauce:

Core, slice, and peel 3-4 sweet apples. Let your child place the apple slices and ½ cup water in a sauce pan. Cover and simmer on low heat until the apples are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from heat. When the apples are cool, let them use a potato masher to mash the cooked apples into applesauce. Stir in sugar and cinnamon to taste.

Cider Splash: Add a scoop of cinnamon ice cream to some hot apple cider and stir with a stick candy.

Apple Gelatin Cups: Mix one packet of unsweetened gelatin with one cup of hot water. Let your child stir the mixture until the gelatin dissolves. Then have your child add one cup of apple juice concentrate and continue stirring. Pour gelatin into small cups and chill.

Apple Rings: Remove the core from an apple. Fill the hole with peanut butter. Chill, then slice the apple horizontally into rings.

(Craft Idea) Apple Crayons:

You will need:

• Broken RED, GREEN, YELLOW crayons
• Apple candy mold
• Heavy-Duty Paper Cups
• Pot holder

Directions:

• Remove paper from crayons
• Put into a heavy paper cup
• Place one cup of crayons in a microwave oven for 30 seconds or more.
• Microwaves vary so start out with the seconds and go from there. 
• Cover with a piece of paper towel.
• Using a pot holder carefully pour the melted wax into the apple candy mold.
• Place the candy mold in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the wax is hard.
• Pop the crayons out and let dry from condensation on a piece of paper towel.
• Since I teach my students that apples come in 3 different colors, you can make red, green and yellow crayon apples.
• Only melt ONE cup at a time. Make sure the glass tray in your microwave is cool before you melt another batch. Be careful not to burn yourself with the hot wax. Make sure your heavy paper cups are microwave safe.

What better thing to go with melted CRAYONS than a KIDS' COLORING COOKBOOK! Click on the link to get some cute pix and recipes.

These next yummy 3 1/2 to 4 1/2  STAR ranked recipes are from the site Eating Well . They advertise "Good Taste Meets Good Health."

Click here for a yummy Apple Muffin recipe.

Click here for an Apple Cupcake with Cinnamon Marshmallow Frosting recipe.

Click here for Baked Apple Cinnamon French Toast

Click here for Maple Cinnamon Applesauce.

This is a fun time to make CARAMELED Apples with your little one.  Click on the link for a good recipe.

Or…

Make a batch of RED, GREEN, & YELLOW Play-Dough so they can make their own pretend apples and apple cookies. Here's how:

(Craft Idea) Dough Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups Flour
• 1 Cup salt
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 red teaspoon food coloring
• ½  teaspoon alcohol
• 2 cups water

Directions:

• Mix ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Stir continuously, until the dough leaves the sides of the pan.
• Take out of pan.
• When cool to the touch, knead for a few minutes.