kids and family
Here’s my Half-the-Meat Tamale Pie recipe. Unlike other similar casseroles, this one uses only a half-pound of meat (either beef or turkey is fine) plus two cups of whole beans. This makes it not only more heart healthy, but also incredibly inexpensive. The entire dinner for four to six people costs about $10 to make and includes fresh vegetables like Anaheim peppers and whole kernels of corn. It’s also a dish my children love, and I have to say that although I wouldn’t have made this dish in my 20s, I am rather fond of it now.
You wouldn’t think that something as mundane as making a sandwich for my daughters on a weekend afternoon would be loaded with controversy, but it is. You see, my daughters love tuna fish sandwiches. Easy enough, right? We all grew up on sandwiches made of canned white tuna mixed with mayonnaise and served with a pickle. Yet although this quintessential American lunch may seem benign, it’s something I refuse to serve my children. The tuna fish sandwich we all grew up on is now too controversial, and potentially dangerous, for my daughters to eat.
Lunch Love Community, a series of short, shareable films documenting the Berkeley Unified School District’s school food makeover premieres on Sunday at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley.
At the annual EcoFarm Conference at Asilomar in Pacific Grove on Friday Moore, who teaches cooking and gardening to Berkeley youth, moderated a panel where young city dwellers received top billing to showcase some of the positive programs they’re helping to run in their communities.
So if you love enchiladas, but aren’t crazy about making them; or if you simply crave an easy-to-make hearty one-dish meal that will please your entire family, here is my recipe for Cheesy Enchilada Casserole. The main recipe uses chicken but I’ve also included a vegetarian alternative that uses butternut or acorn squash at the end. Both are great choices for an easy and hearty dinner at home.
“Elmo loves wasabi,” said an unmistakable voice over the phone. “Do you know what wasabi is?”
Taking an invisible squeegee to the brain, we realized that this conversation was actually taking place. Elmo was on the other end of the line, explaining the difference between sometime foods and anytime foods, one of the big lessons of Sesame Street’s new initiative Food For Thought: Eating Well on a Budget.
I know plenty of parents who simply don’t serve the vegetables their kids dislike, while others hide the vegetables in the food. I have to say that I think these ideas are a mistake.
If the kleig lights circling out front didn’t show you the way to the Contra Costa Festival of Greek Food & Wine at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Concord, the smell of spit-roasting lamb surely would. Baklava recipe included.
So last week, when my family and I were in Kauai, I tried to seek out some food love on the Garden Island, Yelping, Chowhounding and asking around to find some alternate food opportunities that would allow me to feed my kids (and myself) a variety of local and fresh food that didn’t break the bank. View a list of my top finds.
This year’s 18th Street Block party happens on Saturday, August 28, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. Mogannam said, “We want to create some fun energy and bring people together. That’s what we’re all about.” The uniting factor will be food, as well as beverages of all stripes. Regalito will offer suckling pig carnitas, and Delfina will have porcetta pork loin for sale; no whole hog to ogle this time.
The key to this pie is fresh blueberries. It can be made with frozen berries, but I recommend making it now while the fruit is firm and plump, deliciously sweet with a slightly tart burst. Cooked in a prebaked pie crust, the pastry is buttery and crisp and sits firmly beneath the berry filling (instead of getting soggy). I then top the pie with a traditional fruit crisp topping of oatmeal, flour, sugar and butter.
Every Monday, Marin Organic’s Glean Team, an all-ages group of volunteers, meets up at a local farm. Their task is simple: go through already-harvested rows and pick the best of what’s left. By the next day, this organic and local bounty will be on the plates of Marin kids in schools and camps all across the county.
Avocado (for dry skin), tomato (for those dreadful oily patches), and lime (for flavor and eye-irritation). Both the girls enjoyed mashing the ingredients together.
Zelly was game for smearing the mush on her face, but India would have none of it.
“But India, it’ll make your skin soft and beautiful,” coaxed Zelly.
“I already have soft, beautiful skin,” countered her sister.
I was about to explain that it would do her a world of good by making her look years younger until I realized that a five year-old might end up looking like a newborn and therefore wouldn’t find that appealing in the least. I let the matter drop.
After a few trips to some yogurt shops where four servings cost around $20 — because let’s face it, the new frozen yogurt chains are more expensive than the old ones — I decided to try making my own concoctions.
Bay Area Bites (BAB), KQED's public media food blog, feeds you visually compelling food-related stories, news, recipes and reviews from the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond. Enter your email address to receive updates each time we publish new posts.
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