Photo: Beverly Hsu, via Swiss Miss

Check out this week’s Food News, Things I Crave, Green Your Eats, Tips, Tools & Techniques, and Weekly Roundtable (a roundup of the most recent ChowMama posts). Plus, for a little while, I’ll follow the Weekly Roundtable with a quick update on my non-resolutions, you know, to keep me honest.

Food News

• Shifting school schedules to allow for recess before lunch may bring gains at school (via Well Blog-NY Times)
• Obama nominates a new Under Secretary for Food Safety at USDA (via Obama Foodorama)
• State of the Union on School Lunch: Nutrition as National Defense and Fiscal Health (via Civil Eats)
• This might not be news that impacts us (we’d be lucky if it did), but I thought it was worth noting: king of molecular gastronomy, Ferran Adrià, is closing El Bulli in Spain for 2 years to tinker with new ideas (via NY Times)

Things I Crave

• Vinyl wall decals—usually for living rooms and bedrooms—are all the rage and uber hip Hu2 Designs makes super clever ones specifically for the kitchen. Love these!
• Oh so pretty concept tableware pieces. Smart and gorgeous! (via Happy Lady Eats)
• Design meet cookies. Cookies meet design. Helvetica cookie cutters. I. Must. Have. (via Swiss Miss)
• It’s a rolling pin. It’s a calendar. Check out this ingenious World Wide Bakery Calendar (via Black*Eiffel)
• A kitchen table that transforms into a playhouse! Need I say more?! (via Inhabitots)

Green Your Eats

• The GoodGuide, listed in Time mag’s feature on ideas changing the world right now, rates common supermarket products on health, environment & society scales. They also have a handy iPhone app that allows you to scan a product’s barcode to pull up ratings while shopping.

Tips, Tools & Techniques

• I LOVE this post over at Makes and Takes! They tested several EDIBLE play dough recipes and shared the top two. I found our next rainy day activity!
• Need help boiling your egg jusssst right? Eggwatchers to the rescue! Helpful AND hilarious. (via Swiss Miss)
• Two great feeding hacks from the brilliant folks at Parent Hacks: let toddlers feed themselves soup using a medicine dosing cup (much easier than a spoon) AND revive peanut butter with a drop of peanut oil (of course!)
• 7 tips for a home baker! (via Chews Wise)

Weekly Roundtable

• I started the week with an easy weeknight pasta easily adapted for just-developing palates: Spaghetti with Radicchio, Ricotta & Breadcrumbs
• We renewed our love for red lentils with my hearty, veg-filled soup: Red Lentil Soup with Sausage & a Poached Egg
• We talked about changes to a trusted organic cereal and how to make breakfast better: Cascadian Farms O’s Changed for the Worse (+ Healthy Alternatives to Cereal)

Non-Resolutions 2010

• This week was difficult. I’m working really hard at eating well and working out… with no results. Hard to keep your eye on the prize, but I’m trying.
• Eating fish, CHECK. Going to gym 3xs a week, CHECK. Eating more vegetarian, not so great. We only ate one purely vegetarian meal this week. The good news is that the other meals were meat lite and seriously heavy on the veg (eg, a big greek salad with chicken on top). Still… gotta be better about this
• I’m happy to report that I was able to treat myself 2x’s this week. I went shopping one day and got a pedicure another.
• How are you all doing on your (non) resolutions?!

Photo: The Kitchn

Check out this week’s Food News, Things I Crave, Green Your Eats, Tips, Tools & Techniques, and Weekly Roundtable (a roundup of the most recent ChowMama posts). Plus, for a little while, I’ll follow the Weekly Roundtable with a quick update on my non-resolutions. Not that you should care (but maybe you do? I love me support from fellow ChowMamas and ChowPapas!), but it’s a way of keeping me honest.

Food News

• Did you know? Cascadian Farms was purchased by General Mills who changed the Purely O’s formulation. It now contains THREE TIMES the sugar as well as a list of fillers! Learn more, with commentary from Marion Nestle (via Food Politics)
• The first east coast affiliate of the Edible Schoolyard (a program started by restauranteur Alice Waters of Chez Panisse) is set to come to my hometown: BROOKLYN, baby!! (via: NY Times)
• So frustrating! The FDA on BPA: Our Hands Are Tied (via Civil Eats)
• I thought this was super interesting. What do you think? Did you search for one of these last year? The Top 10 Most Googled Recipes of 2009 (via Serious Eats)
• Michelle Obama vows to ‘move the ball’ on kids’ diets (via Grist)
• Has our snacking gotten out of control? When Did Grazing Take Over Our Children? (via NY Times)
• A reporter spends a week in a DC public school and tells us what kids actually eat there. Chews Wise calls this great six part series “cheese-filled.” Read the details here.
• A video for the Gourmet (magazine) nostalgic (via Grist)

Things I Crave

• Pretty tea towel! It’s a replica of an original 1940’s sign (via The Kitchn)
• Form meets function in this high style bakeware designed along side a pastry chef. Beautiful! (via The Kitchn)
• Not sure how I feel about this spice carousel. Honestly, I find it a bit ugly. But it’s cool that it dispenses 1/4 tsp amounts with the turn of a dial. What do you think? (via Serious Eats)

Green Your Eats

• A resource list for starting your own school garden! (via Civil Eats)
• All about whole grains, including a primer and recipes, from NPR (via Cheap Healthy Good)

Tips, Tools & Techniques

• Fish2Fork, a site that ‘names and shames’ restaurants—find out which restaurants are serving sustainable fish… and which aren’t (via Cooking Up a Story)
• A great post describing how to make a basic white sauce and veloute, along with variations including mornay sauce, bechamel and caper sauce (to name just a few) (via Pink of Perfection)
• These are a part of a larger “trim your budget” series on The Simple Dollar: trimming your food at home budget & trimming your eating out budget (via Cheap Healthy Good)
• Snack hack! Create single servings to teach portion control and increase independence (via Parent Hacks)

Weekly Roundtable

• This week was all about party planning! I started with a full menu plan & schedule, plus a one-step side dish that’s perfect for entertaining (or any weeknight): Corn Pudding
• I moved on to the main dish: ChowMama Baked Chicken Fingers
• And no party is complete without cupcakes: Chocolate Chip & Devil’s Food Cupcakes with Chocolate Chip Buttercream

Non-Resolutions 2010

• I’ve gone to the gym 3 times since last week. That was my goal. I achieved it. I hope to do the same next week… even though it hurts (literally).
• I’ve been eating lots of fish—2x’s this week—and making lots of vegetarian meals. (My latest: I’m working on a recipe for stuffed peppers for us. Check it out next week!)
• I’m running into a challenge with my vegetarian meals. Maybe you can help?! I’m trying to cut way down on carbs to help me lose weight, but it’s cutting into my vegetarian meal repertoire. IDEAS PLEASE!!
• I saved the worst for last. I did NOT find any time in the last TWO weeks to do anything nice for myself. No massage. No mani/pedi. A meeting for tomorrow was just cancelled. I’m going to keep the time for myself. I’ll let you know how it works out next week.

1. Fruit salad with avocado. Most any fruit will do, but I especially love avocado with tropical fruits like mango and pineapple. It also goes well with grapefruit and blackberries. Just remember to use age appropriate fruits if feeding early eaters (e.g., no citrus for children under 12-moths.) You can also drizzle with a bit of honey or agave syrup for extra sweetness.
2. Avocado, fennel and orange salad. Delicious and light!
3. Skip or reduce mayo or mustard on your next turkey, ham, club or veggie sandwich. Instead, use ripe avocado for a healthy, creamy spread.
4. Make a chilled avocado soup! Blend 1/2 of an avocado with a seeded cucumber, 1/2 c of yogurt, a clove of garlic, squeeze of lemon (omit if feeding to kids under 12 mos), salt and pepper. Thin with water if desired.
5. Two ways to enjoy avocado, cheese and bread: 1) Make a simple quesadilla with nothing more than grated cheddar and/or monterey jack and avocado. If you want to get fancy, you can add squash, thinly sliced onions, or chicken. 2) Spread avocado on a thick piece of rustic bread that has been brushed with olive oil and grilled or toasted. Top with parmesan shavings.
6. And, of course, guacamole! Check out my recipe. But remember, guac is a personal thing. Don’t get too hung up on exact measurements. Instead, taste your way through the recipe. And don’t be afraid to experiment with other ingredients, like mango.

(Photo: Wusthof Kitchen Shears)

I recently posted a call to organize our kitchens together, and going through our kitchen gadgetry seems the perfect place to start. After all, the family cook’s kitchen may churn out food just as good as any other cook, but we work differently. With little time. With tots nipping at our heels. With the need to whip up one meal that can satisfy the ChowMama and ChowPapa while still accommodating ChowBabies at different eating stages.

With that in mind, the criteria I use to measure my kitchen gadgets are:

• Easy to reach: I can’t be bothered grabbing a step stool or unpacking a cabinet to get something in the way back
• Easy to clean: I can’t be bothered cleaning up a million separate pieces, especially by hand
• Cut down cooking or prep time: flourishes are nice when I decide—and arrange—to take the time but, otherwise, it’s all about saving time

Two tools that best meet these criteria are my kitchen shears and microplane.

I’m not the only one who loves these practical gadgets; two readers reported that these are their faves. Here’s the low down on why you either need to get your hands on these or dust off the ones you own. You won’t be sorry.

Kitchen Shears
These are useful for everything from taking apart a chicken to making bite size pieces of, well, anything! Often times faster than using a knife (and dirtying a cutting board), kitchen shears make cutting everything from soft veggies to a sandwich quicker and easier. They come in a wide price range, starting as low as $5.00.

Microplanes
Ditch the box grater! These powerful tools make perfect zest and grate everything from cheese to nutmeg to veggies. They come in several sizes. I like the thin zest grater (for zest, cheese, spices, ginger) AND wider coarse grater (also for cheese and vegetables). Here are just a few recipes made easier with microplanes:

• Zucchini Orzo Risotto with Feta
• Red Chard & Mushroom Quesadillas
• Zucchini Feta Turkey Burgers with Tzatziki
• Homemade Cheddar Crackers
• Or use them to save burnt-on-the-bottom baked goods

Have other uses for these? Please share! And more favorite family kitchen tools coming soon…

Photo: windy sydney

The other weekend when I was at my parents’ house, my mother asked me to whip up some cupcakes. But where was the baking powder? And the vanilla bean? And the…?  She told me everything I needed was already in the mix. The mix? Ugh.

As far as I’m concerned, cake mixes always taste nasty. Sorry. It’s true. There’s something cloying about every one I’ve ever tried. And I’ve always been convinced that it takes nearly the same amount of time to make a cake from scratch as it does to make a prepared mix. But as my mom reminded me, some people just think a mix is easier.

Since Stacie and I always say that cooking for your family is about cooking with whatever is available, I decided to roll with it and make a few adjustments to the yellow cake mix in my mother’s cupboard. And guess what? These cupcakes (almost) tasted like they were made from scratch!

Lemon Vanilla Yogurt Cake

(for kids 10+ mos)

For the cake

1 box organic yellow cake mix

1 large container organic plain whole milk yogurt

1 stick organic unsalted butter

1 tsp organic alcohol-free vanilla

1 organic lemon

1. Prepare the cake mix according to the directions on the box EXCEPT make the following changes:

• Replace the water with the same amount of yogurt
• Replace the oil with the same amount of melted butter
• Add 1 tsp vanilla
• Add the zest of 1 lemon

Notes: Yep! It’s that easy. And you can experiment with other substitutions as well. No yogurt? Try sour cream. Or applesauce. No lemons? Try an orange or even a grapefruit. This cake can be a layer cake, a loaf cake, or cupcakes.

And don’t you dare go topping these with store-bought frosting! LOL. Use the following cream cheese frosting recipe. Or, if you don’t have time or don’t want to frost, these are so moist that you can eat plain or dust with powdered sugar.

For the frosting

1 8-oz package organic cream cheese, at room temp

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted organic butter, at room temp 

1/2 tsp organic alcohol-free vanilla extract

1 cup organic confectioners (powdered) sugar

1 pinch salt

1. With a handheld electric mixer on medium, blend cream cheese and butter until blended and smooth.

2. Add sugar, vanilla, and salt and mix on high until fluffy and smooth.