Great Classroom Treat!

Need a quick, but tasty treat for the classroom party this week?  Try a stuffed cupcake!  And, for added fun make them in an Easter Egg shaped cupcake tin that you can typically find in your local craft store baking section. 

http://www.pricechopper.com/Recipes/Detail/6912

Healthy Dinner Option...

Get in the mood for the upcoming holiday or just simply have fun in the kitchen and try Bunny Food for Dinner!  It's a great way to get kids to try vegetables...

Grab the recipe by visiting:
http://www.pricechopper.com/Recipes/Detail/6914

Health Fair

I spent the day at the Price Chopper Health Fair, which took place at one of the Price Chopper locations in Colonie.  It was a great event and I met a lot of people.  I ended up making over 200 Mini Flower Pots with visitors at the event.  The kids loved the treat!  It's a great healthy dessert alternative for kids of all ages...

3 oz. Price Chopper Strawberry low fat/fat free yogurt

3 oz. Price Chopper Blueberry low fat/fat free yogurt

3 oz. Price Chopper fat free whipped topping

Strawberries

Blueberries

Mini fillo dough

Simply mix the yogurts and whipped topping together gently.  Fill each fillo dough 1/2 full.  Cut the strawberries into strips and place three of them into the fillo dough as flower pedals and one blueberry in the center.  Whola...fun and delicious!

This recipe is great for classroom parties, birthdays or any time.

Dinner time..

I came home after a VERY long day, so everyone pitched in and played a role in helping to prep dinner.  Cooking together is my favorite way to create a meal, because it gives me a few quality moments during the craziness of everyone's schedules and as they get older, it surprisingly goes much quicker. 

We had chicken fajitas, which is a quick and easy staple in my home.  I can squeeze in a little of everything in one main dish; protein, dairy, whole grain and vegetables! 

My youngest was in charge of shredding the cheese and I love using this self contained shredder for little hands...it avoids any knuckles meeting the grater.  We used the Monterey cheese with jalapeno peppers mixed throughout to add a little spice of flavor.

My almost 13 year old is now old enought to wash and slice the peppers.  WAHOO!

I broiled the chicken, sautéed the peppers with sweet onions and a little olive oil, warmed the whole grain wraps and set up everything buffet style on the counter.  Everyone loves making their own!  We served salad with the fajitas and were good to go. 

I do believe the more they cook, the more they try and the healthier they eat!

Healthy Kids...

Today the Price Chopper Kids Cooking Club launched a Healthy Kid Initiative. As a part of our program we visited a public school and spent the day with 450 students. We started the day with an assembly that featured 'Cook Your Way through a Healthy Day!', which the kids enjoyed and then...

I spent the afternoon making a healthy snack with students, which they loved!  We made my Mini Flower Pots which is a great recipe to demonstrate how much they can do themselves and

we talked about healthy dessert alternatives.

We teamed up with Registered Dietitian Dianne Fagan who taught the kids all about the importance of nutrition, played games with them and shared the Price Chopper NuVal system and how it can help the students make better choices when they are shopping with their parents.

Kids Club on the Road...

Friday, March 19

4 - 7 pm

Clay Price Chopper

3863 State St.

Liverpool, NY

 

Saturday, March 20

10am - 1 pm

Erie Blvd. Price Chopper

2515 Erie Blvd.

Syracuse, NY

Saturday, March 27

Noon - 4 pm

Health and Wellness Open House

Colonie Price Chopper

1892 Central Ave.

Albany, NY

GREEN EGGS AND HAM...

Well, we don't celebrate with the typical St. Patrick's Day tradition of Corned Beef and Cabbage, but I try to incorporate a little green.  I had an entire plan to serve Green Eggs and Ham, but with a teenager and a tweenager in the house I forgot ...if it's in the frig, cupboards or pantry it's free game unless otherwise noted....

So, happily getting ready to prep dinner on a busy night I suddenly found that there was no ham to cooked! YIKES...NO HAM!  So, plan B went into action....I pulled out the eggs, the cheese (a miracle that was still available), red peppers, asparagus and whole wheat toast.  I became a short order cook and made omelets to order....

Yes, even asparagus made an appearance.  Believe it or not, my youngest will only eat asparagus with eggs and eggs with asparagus...so green was still a focus on St. Patrick's Day and Sam I am should have tried a little bit of green asparagus vs. food dye!

The Leprechaun's did visit...

Every year we set traps to catch the leprechauns and every year they dismantle them and have fun playing tricks on us...

They took all of the coins we used to coax them into the traps; they weren't fooled!  They did leave a note and some chocolate coins in place of the real ones.  I guess they added our coins to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. 

At breakfast they didn't turn the entire container of milk green, but they did magically turn the white milk green as it mixed with the cereal...HMMMM!  Those little leprechauns are very tricky.  Some how they got into the food coloring.  I wonder how big they really are?!?!?!?!

Maybe we'll have better luck catching them next year....

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Film Day Fun....Fast Forward to Mother's Day!

Mother's Day will be here before we know it!  We filmed yesterday and it felt like Mother's Day...the temperature hit 63 degrees and the sky was a gorgeous bright blue!  But, while the yards are still muddy, we enjoyed filming easy, but delicious breakfasts that kids can make for mom...

Breakfast Fruit Pizza....

Eggs on the Run...

Blueberry Blaster Smoothie

And, we did it all without a stove and without sharp knives keeping it all safe and fun.  Stay tuned for May's release! http://www2.pricechopper.com/kids/

Magically Fun Cupcake Recipe

I’m always creating and combining to get the biggest ‘wow’ possible out of a boxed mix while keeping it as simple as can be! Why? Because, although my intentions are always right on when I sign up for all of the school parties at the beginning of the school year, it’s inevitable, that by time they roll around that our schedules are jammed full with activities sending us in several directions at once.


However, baking an easy recipe in the middle of a crazy week or cooking dinner together allows for a few stolen moments in the middle of a chaotic schedule. When we were mixing and playing, these cupcakes started out in one direction and then became magically fun all on their own. You will see that they begin layered, change during the baking process and create their own marbleized design that’s fun and tasty!

Magically Fun Cupcakes make for an easy quick fix to add to the Leprechaun Magic for the kids in your life this year!

Magically Fun Cupcakes

1 box Price Chopper white cake mix
Green Food Coloring
1.75 oz. rainbow sprinkles
12 oz. white chocolate morsels
Cupcake liners

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the cake mix as directed. Divide the batter evenly into two bowls. Add approximately ten drops of food coloring into one bowl of batter and stir until the color has been evenly distributed. Add the rainbow sprinkles to the other batter and stir until the sprinkles have been evenly distributed.

In a lined cupcake pan, evenly distribute the green batter to create the first layer in the cupcake liner. For the second layer, add one tablespoon of white chocolate morsels on top of the green batter. And finally, evenly distribute the rainbow batter into the cupcake liners to create the top layer.

Bake as directed.

Makes approximately 18 cupcakes.


White Chocolate Frosting

3 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup butter, softened
¼ cup milk
6 oz. white chocolate morsels
Green food coloring (optional)
Green sugar crystals (optional)

Mix the confectioner’s sugar, extract, butter and milk until smooth. Add in the food coloring, approximately 5 to seven drops, and mix until the color is even distributed.

In a glass bowl, melt the white chocolate on high in the microwave for one minute. Stir the chocolate to thoroughly melt the morsels. Add the white chocolate to the frosting and mix.

Frost the cupcakes and top with the sugar crystals.

Blarney Stones

St. Patrick’s Day has always been a fun and fanciful time for our children. It’s a ‘lucky day’ when those mischievous little leprechaun’s visit our house and sometimes the classrooms leaving upheaval in their path and prankster tricks along the way. We have tried for years to capture one of those little guys with our kids, but the only success we’ve had was to find a very tiny note or a piece or some threads from their clothing.

This year we are going to try to entice them with some BLARNEY STONES. What’s a blarney stone? In reality, there is a castle in Ireland called a Blarney Castle and there are legends about kissing the Blarney Stone. After a little homework, I have no intentions of ever hanging upside down hundreds of feet in the air to reach and kiss the blarney stone with no safety net below and yet tourists do it every year. However, that being said, if you are braver than I, apparently if you do kiss the blarney stone you might get some sweet talking bestowed upon you.

Well with the luck of the Irish, I think I’ll stick with this sweet talking recipe I created and have a little fun in the kitchen where no safety net is needed and magically try to catch the leprechaun who visits us each year with my youngest who is still in search of capturing ‘Lucky the Leprechaun’.

Blarney Stones
By Jodie Fitz

8 oz. Price Chopper cream cheese softened
3 ½ cups Price Chopper confectioner’s sugar
½ teaspoon peppermint extract
Green food coloring
12 oz. Price Chopper milk chocolate morsels

Mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar and extract together; approximately 8 – 10 minutes. Do not add milk, the ingredients will appear dry at first and then will cream together. Add in three to five drops of food coloring and mix until the color is evenly distributed.

Spoon small clumps, approximately two inches apart onto a waxed surface (baking sheet) and refrigerate at least an hour. After the refrigeration, roll the cream cheese clumps into balls and slightly flatten. Return them to the refrigerator while melting the morsels.

In a glass bowl melt the chocolate morsels in a microwave on high for one minute. Even if they do not look melted, stir them before re-microwaving. Often the morsels will melt in the stirring process. If you have to place them back into the microwave, use 30 second intervals followed by stirring.

Dip each cream cheese mixture into the chocolate and cover completely. Return the ‘blarney stones’ back to the wax covered baking sheet and refrigerate again. Once the chocolate has hardened you can move them to a large snap and seal bag for storage or other air tight container. Keep them refrigerated until they have all magically disappeared.

NOTE: Recipe yields approximately 55 – 60 blarney stones depending on your clump size.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from our kitchen to yours and may the luck of the Irish be with you!

Counting Down to St. Patrick's Day!

We are counting down with St. Patrick's Day Fun and launching off with Lucky Leprechaun Bites.  These fun little snacks barely made it out of the kitchen on film day with little fingers sneaking bites every chance they had!  

It's definitely a little bite with a big taste; perfect for fooling Leprechaun's!

Grab the recipe by visiting;

http://www.pricechopper.com/Recipes/Detail/6913/Leprechaun_Bites/

Definitely worth a try....

Okay, this one is definitely worth a try on a snow day or any day before the snow melts.  So, grab a little snow from what's left, pack it down good into a clean bucket/dish and get ready to try taffied syrup.

Ingredients Needed:

Pure Maple Syrup

Snow

Candy themometer

Place the maple syrup in a pan on the stove, and stirring consistently, boil the syrup until it reaches 235 degrees on the candy themometer.  Pour it onto a clean, hard packed snow surface.  As the syrup cools it forms into a taffied state.  Break a piece that is hard and let it melt in your mouth.  Definitely a fun experiment we learned while visiting a Maple Festival yesterday.  We all sampled a lot of different products made with maple sugar and got a sneak peek at the the trees being tapped and the latest syrup collection process.

Did you know?!?!

* Canada is the largest Maple Syrup maker in North America

* Vermont produces the most Maple Syrup in the United States

Tiger Tails

Finally, the Tiger Tails were rolled, twisted, forked on the ends and baked.

A funny thing happens in my house, while cooling on the baking rack the Tiger Tails continue to disappear.  Any ideas on where the crumbs might lead? 

Well, it's been a little bit of a crazy week. So, I will admit to celebrate Chinese New Year it was all about ordering Chinese Food; YUM.  There are some things worth ordering....vs....making.  But, we still squeazed in making our version of a Chinese Lanterns and whipped up our Tiger Tail dough, which now sits in the refrigerator, covered and waiting for tomorrow's tail twisting fun!

Here's to the Year of the Tiger!

Magical Find while experimenting...

We were working on a new recipe and magically found, what I have named, Magically Fun Cupcakes.  I have given it the name because it was a total unexpected response to what we had planned.  And, accidental finds are always so much more fun!  They are perfect for St. Patrick's Day and so I just finished up an article for Saratoga Today and after it releases next week I will put the recipe up on my blog.  Thumbs Up for fun and taste!  We're counting down until the Leprechaun's visit!

The Year of the Tiger!

The Chinese New Year Celebration started on February 15th this year and ended 15 days later, which meant wrapping up yesterday; March 2nd!

We have a busy household with three kids involved in different activities; so, we aren't always right on target.  But, it doesn't mean we won't throw in a little fun here and there and still learn along the way.  This coming weekend we will have our own mini lantern celebration and make some Tiger Tail cookies; a recipe I created several years ago before we even knew the Year of the Tiger was on its way.

I'm not fully certain what the year of the tiger means, but red envelopes with well wishes, lanterns and cookies are a great combination to whip up some fun in the kitchen over the weekend!

Tiger Tails


Cookie Dough:

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 ½ cup powdered sugar
2 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon orange extract
4 ½ cups flour
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon salt
Orange food coloring

Cream together the butter and sugars. Add in the eggs; mix. Add the vegetable oil and mix. Add flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; mix. Separate the mixture into two equal parts, placing them in separate bowls.

In one half of the dough mixture, add the cocoa powder and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. In the other half of the dough mixture, add the orange extract and orange food color. Cover and let the dough’s set in the refrigerator for at least three hours.

After the dough has refrigerated, take a small amount of the chocolate mixture and roll it like a play dough snake, set aside. Take a small amount of the orange dough and do the same. Take the two colors and twist them together, repeating until all of the dough has been used.

Place the cookies on an un-greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 8 – 10 minutes. Let cool completely and glaze.

Glaze Recipe

1 cup confectioner's sugar
4 teaspoon water

Mix confectioner's sugar and water together and spread on the cookies with a pastry brush or drizzle over the top using a spoon. Let set and serve.

What's Happening in My Kitchen Today

We are currently experimenting with soft baked pretzels...we will keep you posted on our progress!  The kids aren't minding this taste testing experience and I am putting my spin on an oldie, but goodie that makes for great family fun.

In the meantime, we are enjoying a very good after school snack that's healthy too!

MINI BITES
http://www.pricechopper.com/Recipes/Detail/6850/Mini_Bites/_SS_43FT9RC19110758P79e259FENspN6L5k4F664F%7C2517%7C1003011541%7C%7C%7C