Kids Food / On the Go / Sweet Treats

Holiday Cookie Month – My LA Times Food Bake-Off Winning Recipe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you hear that?  Are they Santa’s bells?  Is it the excited squeals of children opening gifts?  No, it’s me – whooping it up at my computer as I type this.  When you think of a holiday cookie bake-off do you think of health?  Nutrition?  The LA Times did!  This year, my Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies were chosen as one of the ten winners of their Holiday Cookie Bake-Off!  After LA Times readers (and I know many of you were amongst them – thank you!) narrowed down the recipes from over 200, the 50 top recipes were brought to Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School where they were baked up and judged on flavor, texture, richness, visual appearance and holiday spirit.  I am thrilled to say that my Healthier Cranberry Thumbprint Cookies made with Whole Wheat flour, raw sugar and flax meal met those stringent requirements and then exceeded them!  Here’s to health, nutrition…and cookies!  Cheers! (more…)

3 Comments
12/18/2011
Holiday Cookie Month: Lemon & Olive Oil Cookies
Kids Food / Lunch Box / On the Go / Sweet Treats

Holiday Cookie Month: Lemon & Olive Oil Cookies

As I was planning Out of the Box Food’s Holiday Cookie Month, I was reminded of a recipe I developed last year which makes a deliciously crunchy, heart healthy lemon cookie.  These cookies bake up crisp and delicate and are made with olive oil instead of butter which means that in addition to being easier on the waistline, they’re Vegan friendly too.  Plus, if you eat Gluten Free, the Whole Wheat Pastry Flour can be evenly substituted with Gluten-Free Baking Flour for a wheat-free treat. Oh, and did I mention they’re quick and easy? (more…)

3 Comments
12/11/2011
Kids Food / Sweet Treats

Kicking Off Out of the Box Food’s Holiday Cookie Month!

I love the holidays.  The air gets cold and crisp, colored lights twinkle from trees, the kids get excited and I get to bake! There is just something magical that happens when the kitchen is warm from the oven and the house is filled with the sweet smell of vanilla and cinnamon.  But do the crisp cookies and sumptuous cakes need to be unhealthy?  Not at all!  With a few simple adjustments, our holiday treats can be both delicious and nutritious. (more…)

5 Comments
12/04/2011
Kids Food

A Natural Progression…

Skin and Haircare products we put on our bodies should really be as natural as the food we are putting in.  Speaking to this point, I have one last personal story to conclude our Peter Lamas series.

As many of you know, I have twin boys.  One son’s negative reaction to Chicken McNuggets was the catalyst for beginning this Out of the Box Food journey.  His aggression and anger within the hour after consuming the Chicken McNuggets caused me to look harder into what I fed my family.  My other son didn’t outwardly react as strong to the food, but  has always reacted strongly to diaper creams, lotions, sunscreens and other skin care products.  In fact, when I consider all the products that have caused rash after rash on my son’s sensitive skin and what I’ve learned from Peter Lamas and my new research into the ingredients in these products, I can now see the correlation between the rashes and the chemicals in the products. (more…)

0 Comments
11/20/2011
The Food Network’s Communal Table – Pull Up a Chair
Kids Food / Sweet Treats

The Food Network’s Communal Table – Pull Up a Chair

Happy Thanksgiving!  I know, I know…it’s not quite Thanksgiving.  I won’t rush it.  But how many of us start scouring the internet, cookbooks and magazines mid-October, planning out our Thanksgiving meals?  I certainly do and the Food Network knows there are people like myself out there, looking for new, inspired recipes this holiday season.  This year they’ve come up with a way to bring the recipes and ideas to one place with a Virtual Thanksgiving table.  This gathering, dubbed  The Communal Table, was created to bring food bloggers and writers together to share some of their favorite Thanksgiving dishes with the Food Network community. (more…)

27 Comments
11/16/2011
Kids Food

The Hidden Cost of Beauty – A Guest Post by Peter Lamas

Written by: Peter Lamas

There are hundreds of face creams, shampoos, lipsticks and other beauty products that line the aisles of a store’s beauty section, each product claiming to help make you more beautiful. But at what cost? Many of today’s products are loaded with harsh chemicals that can irritate or damage your hair and skin. In fact, some ingredients are so toxic, they are considered carcinogenic – cancer-causing. (more…)

0 Comments
11/13/2011
Kids Food

Taking Shampoo Out of the Box – Plus GIVEAWAY!

As I was pouring shampoo onto my children’s hair a few weeks ago, I decided to take a look at the shampoo’s label…after all, I read all food product labels, why shouldn’t I check out what’s in the products we put on the most porous organ of our body…the skin.  Turns out that “Baby” shampoo we use is filled with artificial colors, carcinogenic Formaldehyde (see article) and chemicals I couldn’t even pronounce.  Scary.  So I began to wonder: Is there is a difference between ingesting artificial colors and chemicals and having them absorbed by the skin? Take a look at the ingredients in a bottle of Johnson’s Baby Shampoo: (more…)

45 Comments
11/05/2011
Kids Food

Trick-or-Treating – Sweet Dreams or Nightmare?

With Halloween coming, we are faced with the horror, yes horror, of processed trick-or-treat candy.  With ingredients like TBHQ (a form of Butane), L-Cysteine (made from duck feathers and/or human hair), artificial colors, Genetically Modified sugar and even Lead (see article), in the piles of treats they bring home, it’s incredibly challenging to keep our kids healthy around this holiday.  So what do we do?  I for one, am not willing to be “That Mom” who won’t let her child trick-or-treat with their friends.  And I also won’t be the mom to yank the bucket from them right after trick-or-treating.  So what is a parent to do? (more…)

2 Comments
10/29/2011
Dinner Table / Kids Food

Soup’s On – Vegetable Beef

This soup recipe came to be on our first rainy fall afternoon.  Craving the warmth and comfort of a good, rich, soup, I found myself at the butcher counter with a couple of short ribs, a small beef shank and some stew meat.  With the veggies I had from the farmers market, we were in business.

After making the broth, feel free to toss in any add in’s you might have stashed in the fridge & pantry.  The beauty is the broth makes itself, so there is no need to buy prepackaged broth or stock.  Just add water. (more…)

8 Comments
10/23/2011