Fun Food For All

Smores Stackable Fish

2009-11-04T10:42:00.000-08:00

In our house, there is an entire section of the kitchen devoted to nothing else but, the infamous junk food. What can I say? Sometimes you just crave something a little sweet, or a little salty, crunchy, chewy, or even fun! I found this new snack this past weekend. It's fun, the chocolate and graham fishes have a good flavor, but the marshmallow is similar in texture to the ones found in Lucky Charms cereal. Nevertheless, they were cute enough for me to share with you. Everything in moderation as they say~

Fruit Sushi from Make Magazine

2009-04-16T13:19:00.000-07:00

I recently saw these cute fruit sushi in Make magazine and thought I would share them with you.
The mango banana rolls look particularly good. Check it out!
http://www.make-digital.com/craft/vol10/?pg=60
To see my ideas on sushi check out my older blog: Marshmallow & Fruit Sushi

Sweet Breams Taiyaki

2008-09-05T08:51:00.000-07:00

When I was small, my Auntie Law used to take me around 24th street in Noe Valley. We would go to this cheese store and sample gourmet cheeses and deli meats. She is one of the reasons I enjoy eating and trying new foods so much. Whenever there was something new to try, she would try it first, tell me about it, and then let me sample. I don't remember her ever really disliking anything, so her disposition was always very happy and open, which in turn too made me open and excited to try new foods. She was also the first to introduce me to string cheese. My Auntie Law is famous in our family for her garlicky Caesar salad.To this day her cooking still rocks, and though she's never been a chef in a restaurant, her cooking tastes super professional and delicious.
I recently was in San Mateo and went to check out Sweet Breams Taiyaki Store. Here is their link: http://sweetbreams.com/ and here's a description of what taiyaki is. The first taiyaki I've ever had was from San Francisco's Japantown; my Sister took me there. I used to fear anything Japanese because I was young and new to anything other than Chinese and American. But as I got older, tried new foods, my horizon expanded, and I began to appreciate other cuisines and cultures. My first try of taiyaki was a winner, which then made me want to go back to Japantown, and from there, an eagerness to learn and try more bloomed.
Taiyaki is basically is a waffle batter cooked with some red bean paste in the middle of it, and it's shaped like a fish. The ones from Sweet Breams are tiny, and fun because they are filled with all sorts of unique flavors. The day I went, I ordered a "school of fish" which has 12 pieces. I had 4 red bean, 4 nutella, 4 and 4 special of the day, which was peach pie flavoring. While I prefer my taiyaki crispy, these were fun to eat nonetheless, and I think kids would like them a lot too because they are a cute size. Service there is friendly too, as it is owned by two sisters. If you too like taiyaki crispy, I put the ones I didn't eat on the spot in my toaster oven at home, or maybe you could ask them to leave them on grills longer. Trying new foods is a fun way to explore and not only expand your taste buds, but might be a chance to learn about other cultures too! Have fun, and try everything at least once~

Crazy Fruit

2008-07-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

The world of food never ceases to amaze me. I think that's one of the reasons why I love food culture so much.
Here are some links about two fruits that I hadn't heard of until recently, and I thought it would be fun to share with you.
One, called the Miracle Fruit, once eaten, is known to alter your taste buds so that sour and bitter foods taste sweet!
The other link is to a Watermelon in Japan that is shaped like a square. Wow!

Miracle Berry
Miracle Berry #2

Square Watermelon
How to grow a square Watermelon

Meal in One

2008-07-02T13:40:00.000-07:00

Life can be filled with so many happenings during the day, that for dinner you just don't feel like anything complicated. Just something warm, nourishing, and satisfying is all you need. My boyfriend's brother raved to me once about a soup that they had for dinner one night. He said it was really good, tasty, and pretty easy to make. Then about a month later we got invited over to have that very soup. It was great. It was a pasta and pork sausage soup, and they added spinach for extra oomph and nutrition. It was served with warm sour dough baguette. I was a happy camper. Savored every bit. The flavors were very familiar yet exciting, and it had a little bite from the spicy sausage. The recipe is from the Sunset magazine. Here is the link to the recipe.

Pink Milk

2008-06-24T11:11:00.000-07:00

When I was very small, my Paw Paw made me strawberries mashed into cream. She said that her sister used to like eating strawberries this way. I had one bowl, and loved it so much I had asked her if I could have another. It truly is one of life's simplest pleasures. The act of putting a few fresh and ripe strawberries into a bowl, pouring a little cream on top, and mashing it with the back of a fork is almost ingenious. The strawberries bleed their bright red juice into the cream and not only flavor the milky goodness with strawberry flavor, but turn the white liquid into a pretty pink. One day while shopping for groceries with my Mom I asked her if we could buy the strawberry milk to try. We did, and I was greatly disappointed. It tasted so artificial and unlike what I had with my Paw Paw. Over the years I have adapted my ways and now use a potato masher as opposed to a fork, use just the milk I have in the fridge instead of half and half, and eat a bigger portion than just a rice bowl's worth (heehee). It is still one of my all time favorite ways to eat strawberries.

Pink Milk

Ingredients:

Bowl
A few fresh ripe strawberries rinsed and leaves removed (if you want it less messy cut the strawberries into chunks)
Milk
Potato Masher
Spoon
*optional sprinkling of sugar in case strawberries aren't that sweet

Place strawberries in bowl,
(sprinkle with a little sugar),
pour milk about half way up the sides of the berries,
mash with the masher until strawberries are softened and have released their juices,
enjoy with spoon~

I haven't ever tried this with other berries or fruits, but I bet it would work great with blackberries or nectarines!

Made to Order

2008-05-09T10:44:00.000-07:00

Cooking can often be quite time consuming. But with a bit of creativity and effort, wholesome, delicious, and fun meals can result. Our menu last night was the following: Fresh Tomato, Mozzarella and Basil Pizza, Prosciutto, Asparagus, and Mushroom Pizza, Butternut Apple Squash Soup, and Chopped Romaine Salad with 'leftover' bits of pizza toppings.
The most 'time consuming' part of this meal was the prep of the toppings for the pizza, which depending on your mood, you can simply purchase already chopped varied toppings from the salad bar section of your grocery store. But the prep is so easy and simple, it can be nice to get children involved in the process as well.
The pizza dough part of the pizza was purchased from Trader Joes, and you can use any of their cheese pizzas, but this time around I used their Pizza Margharita one. I have found their pizzas to be very delicious and quite close to fresh, as compared to the standard other brands one might find at any grocery store. I find that the brands at regular grocery stores sometimes taste of preservatives and well, like a frozen pizza.
To enhance that Margharita Pizza I added fresh toppings, and it turned out quite delicious and special, and since we made it ourselves, there is no other pizza out there like it.
I prepared a little too much fresh mozzarella cheese and chopped tomatoes, so I added an avocado and the extra toppings to some chopped romaine and tossed with some dressing.
The butternut apple soup from TJs is great. Their soups are not over salted, and taste very fresh, not like it was out of a can. This meal was prepared very quickly, but satisfied and sustained the whole evening. Have fun!

Fresh Toppings of Choice Pizzas

Directions:

Preheat oven to suggested temperature on box
Prepare toppings of choice
Top pizza with desired toppings
Bake until cheese is bubbly and items are cooked to desired doneness

Notes:
asparagus: was frozen from TJs. There's is nice and thin, and all you have to do is salt and pepper them, and add them in the last few minutes
cheese: I used fresh buffalo mozzarella and s&p
By the way, I am in no way trying to market for Trader Joes, I just happen to really like the products they sell, and feel they are very good quality. :)

New Flavors Yogurt

2008-04-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows that yogurt is good for you.
But it is quite often too sweet or (I'll be honest) boring.
It is great with some fresh fruit or granola.
But sometimes you just don't want to make anything. You just want something tasty and quick.
Lately I have been noticing new flavors of yogurt popping up in the dairy section of the grocery store. Yoplait has three new flavors that are just awesome. And even though they only come in the 99% fat free version, I ate them, and really can't tell that they are. They are delicious. Give em a try!

Here is another recipe from my Kid's Cookbook. I had created it just because those awesome flavors weren't available before.

Tropical Yogurt

Yogurt is very good for you, but can sometimes be too sweet or not the flavor that you like. That is why I usually like to make my own flavors, or lighten on the sweetness by mixing the flavored one with a equal amount of plain flavor. But if that flavor the you crave doesn’t exist here is a cool way to create it yourself.

Ingredients: Plain Yogurt, Tropical Juice Concentrate, Jam of Choice

Directions:

Scoop the plain yogurt into a bowl

Stir in a few teaspoons of the concentrate or jam

Taste to see if it is to your liking and enjoy!

Flavor Ideas

Guava, Passionfruit, Pink Grapefruit, Fig

Combinations of jams, like Raspberry and Apricot

Chewing Gum Art?

2008-03-27T12:34:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon this kit from Urban Outfitters. You can create masterpieces using chewed gum. Sounds like a fun (but sticky) project~ Chew by Numbers Gum Art Kit

Blue Cheese Cupcakes

2008-03-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

I used to eat blueberries a lot when I was a child. I would eat them straight out of the freezer. My fingers would turn dark purple from its juices. I loved its icey texture and sweet and tart flavors. Blueberries are a simple fruit. They really don't have a whole lot of flavor and aren't neccesarily the most appealing lookwise as other fruits. But they are very good for you. To this day I still eat a lot of blueberries. Every morningI put a bunch in my oatmeal. They are also very good with yogurt. This past weekend I decided to try making cupcakes with blueberries as the star component. I didn't want to make a blueberry muffin. I saw someone on tv make a blueberry tart last week, so I thought to incorporate that somehow into my cupcake. Here is what resulted: It is a vanilla cupcake with a blueberry pie filling, and cream cheese frosting. I colored the frosting with a few drops of blue food coloring just for fun. It helped to make the look of it more whimsical. The addition of the multi colored sprinkles is always fun as well. To be honest, the taste of the cupcakes while delicious, weren't how I envisioned them to be. The cupcake's cake part was too intense. To me, it just tasted like a Blueberry Muffin. Perhaps next time I will try using a white cupcake recipe. Enjoy!

Blue Cheese Cupcakes

Martha Stewart Vanilla Cupcake Recipe
Martha Stewart Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

Blueberry Pie Filling:
fresh blueberries
water
pinch of salt few tablespoons of sugar
Cornstarch slurry: cornstarch & water mixed together
lemon juice

Bring the blueberries and a little bit of water to a boil.
Add the sugar and salt and stir.
Add lemon juice and stir. Add slurry and stir.
Let Simmer for a minute or two until thickened.

The amounts of water, sugar and lemon juice are really dependant on how sweet you'd like the filling to be, the lemon juice brings out the blueberry flavor (kind of brightens or freshens the mixture), and the water not only helps the blueberries to cook, but help to make a sauce.

Tea Sandwich Fun

2008-02-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

Here is a link that I stumbled upon with neat pictures plus a pattern, of little tea sandwiches that are knit: Knitted Treats
Enjoy!

Candy Sushi

2007-12-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays! If anyone is wondering, I am still here. I have lots of recipes to post, but no time to take pictures of them to share. I will get my act together soon!
In the meantime, I found this Candy Sushi tutorial on the Safeway grocery store website. Looks like my Marshmallow & Fruit Sushi but way prettier.
Check it out! It is in their "How To" videos section.

First Tea Sandwiches

2007-09-19T14:48:00.000-07:00

I have decided to create a blog exclusively for my ideas for kids and food. It is in many ways, a separate entity, something that I wish to devote specific energy to on its own. My first posting was on my other blog, Dried Sweet Potato. It include ideas for children's games with Pocky cookie sticks, and a fun snack treat Marshmallow Sushi. I have many ideas that kids can use as ways to express and learn through food.

When I was young, I had a toy coffee maker. While it did not
actually brew, it had movable parts for coffee rinds, water, and the
coffee pot. I would use soy sauce as the pretend coffee, and black
pepper as the flavoring. I enjoyed concocting new brews, and would play by myself in the kitchen for hours. While I never actually tasted the stuff, using my imagination was always fun.

Tea parties are a wonderful way to gather with friends, eat small bites, drink new teas, and chat. Children too can join in in the tea party idea, by hosting their own miniature party, with kid friendly flavors and themes. It does not even have to be called a tea party, but a food tasting or party around the table.

Here are some ideas:
Hope everyone enjoys them!

The picture above is a sandwich which I recently served at my Sister's Baby Shower.
It has light sweet flavors with a tiny burst of tart and juiciness from the fresh pears.

Blackberry Cream Cheese & Pear Sandwich

Ingredients:
a couple of tablespoons of jam of choice
whipped cream cheese about 3 to 4 times the amount of jam
whole wheat bread
fresh Bartlett pear, peeled, and sliced
touch of sugar

Mix together jam and cream cheese
Spread onto one slice of bread,
Top with a few slices of pear
Sprinkle pear with a tiny sprinkle of sugar
Top with another slice of bread
Slice to desired shapes or use a cookie cutter

Tea Party Sandwiches: Red & White

Ingredients:
Plain Bread of Choice Like a French Bread or Hallah
Whipped Cream Cheese
Fresh Strawberries

Slice Bread into petite sizes can use cookie cutters
Spread Cream Cheese onto one slice
Slice Strawberries very thin or cut into very tiny chunks
Place strawberries on cream cheese
Top with another slice of bread

Tea Party Sandwiches: Sticky Monkey

Sprinkle some dried cranberries or pieces of dried apricot onto the peanut butter to make this monkey even happier!

Ingredients:
Plain Bread of Choice Like a French Bread or Hallah
Peanut Butter / Almond Butter
Banana

Slice Bread into petite sizes can use cookie cutters
Spread Peanut Butter onto a slice of bread
Cut bananas into very thin slices
Place on top of peanut butter
Top with another slice of bread