Summertime Treats

I like to find the beauty in each season, but I have to admit that the older I become, the less I like the summertime. Well that was until I received a beautiful message from someone today describing his take on Summer. He said that it is a time to slow down and reflect on our lives. To lay in the grass and watch the clouds go by or just to enjoy long evenings on a front porch. I thought that was a very lovely way of looking at it. Inspired by his words, I thought that I would come up with a couple of my favorite summertime treats.

Kids are notoriously bored and hungry in the summer months. As parents we have to be super creative in order to keep our little ones from becoming stagnant and hyped up on junk food. These recipes are sure to please your entire family.

Cheers!

Watermelon and goat cheese salad: 

• One seedless watermelon cubed
• One cup of goat cheese
• Sprig of mint 

Toss into a bowl and serve. 

Mango pops: 

• Three mangoes cut from their rind and quartered 
• 1/2 cup of good orange juice 
• 1/4 cup of lime juice
• Two tbsp of honey for sweetness 

Blend till perfectly smooth and place into either ice trays with a stick in each cube or if you have popsicle trays go ahead and use that. Freeze for about an hour or two and serve on a hot and sticky day. The vitamin c in the mango helps restore antioxidants lost in the heat. 

Black bean sliders: 

• One can of black beans, drained and rinsed of the sodium. 
• 1/2 cup of carrots that have been shredded finely.
• 1/2 cup of bread crumbs
• Salt and pepper to taste
• A dash of hot sauce

Placing all ingredients in a large bowl, stir it together until well incorporated. Then with your masher start working the mix. When everything has been well mashed together, then start making your patties. About two inches a piece. Bring a skillet to a high heat with oil or butter and then grill for 4-5 minutes on each side. Serve on slider buns or dinner rolls with your favorite burger toppings. I personally like pepper jack cheese and grilled onions. 

I hope these recipes help with summer time snacking and avoiding the pitfalls of typical summer junk. 

Cooking class for kids (DETAILS)

I wrote a few days ago how I will be teaching a cooking class for kids this summer. I want to share with you the details of the six week course for kids and their parents.

The Art of Cooking

Teaching a child to cook, love food and have personal responsibility in the kitchen is one of the best gifts we can give to our future generation. My six week course is dedicated to the art of cooking and the love of food.

Studies show that children who learn to cook have a lower obesity rate as well as excel in math and science. However, that is just the beginning. Cooking with our children and sitting down to the dinner table bonds the family unit and gives way to more open and honest conversation. As well as the reward of having your children try new and interesting cuisine because they help prepare it.

Yet, the best reward of all will be the day that you as the parent get to come home from work or a long day to a meal that your child skillfully prepared for you!

The course will be offered from June 14- July 22 

One day a week for six weeks. Each week will explore proper food prep, safe knife skills, food in nature, making our own breads and sodas, with a field trip to the famer’s market. Each student gets their own food journal and measuring spoons.

Week One: Proper food prep, sanitation and knife skills. Teaching our children the fundamentals of kitchen work and safe food preparation.

Week Two: Color Theory. Most children would never identify brown as their favorite color, but yet that is the color of the majority of food we are feeding our kids these days. We will explore colors in foods and come up with recipes based on color.

Week Three: Handmade bread and pastas. Learning how to follow a recipe and proper measurements in order to have a finished product.

Week Four: Making our own sodas and drinks with colors found in nature, not a chemical source.

Week Five: Lunches and snacks made from scratch. We will learn how to plan out our lunches for the week and how to make our own delicious snacks.

Week Six: Budget, plan and grocery list your week. The kids will have made a list of groceries to find at our local farmer’s market, as well as a budget and dinner plan. We will take our lists and bags to the famer’s market and pick out our produce. Come back to the kitchen and prepare our big family dinner. All parents and friends welcome to the dinner that the kids prepare.

Classes are available as follows:

Mondays from 12-2PM

Wednesdays from 10AM-12PM

Fridays from 12-2PM

Full tuition is $150.00 plus $25 supply fee OR you can pay by the class and take as many of as few as you like. $35/class with same supply fee applying. 

Limited to three kids per class ages 5-12 years old.

If you are interested in attending this fun and interactive cooking class, please contact Elizabeth Lownes at 901.413.6983 or eelownes@gmail.com

All classes will be held in my home in our newly remodeled state of the art kitchen. Parents are encouraged to stay with their children and be a part of the classroom as well.

Also, if you have smaller children you would like to bring, we have a fully equipped nursery and playroom that the parents are welcomed to use. 

Cooking class for kids

I wanted to let you know, that I am currently in the works of putting together a curriculum, menu and schedule for an eight week cooking class this summer for kids and their parents. 

Some of the things we will be covering: measurements, safe knife skills, local produce, international cuisine and even how to make your own soda ! If you are interested, I will have the full schedule up and ready by next weekend. I hope you will be interested in signing up with your little ones. It will be fun, educational and the best part of all, you get to eat your homework! 

Stay tuned for sign-up! 

Cheers! 

Keep it Fresh

A few weeks ago I wrote about how to save your famer's market produce from a quick death on your counter. After all, you did get up and go to the market early in the morning on a Saturday, so you might as well enjoy your produce for as long as possible.

These are my beautiful snap peas that I got for a steal, washed and ready to be prepped. One thing that I really really really love about this spring veggie is that it can be eaten raw. It is slightly sweet and has a nice crunch to it, so it is great to grab some for work or on the go for you and your kids. Full of vitamin C and fiber. These little green veggies will keep you full until your next meal.

If you snap the tops then they will stay fresher longer. Keep them in a plastic container in your fridge and they will last up to a week, maybe a few days longer.

Oooh, my beautiful strawberries. Last week, I got to the market too late to buy these sweet and delicious fruit. And since strawberry season will be coming to an end soon, keeping them fresh as long as possible is so important.  Always keep some fruit and veggie wash around for best results.

Cut the tops off and slice in halves and you will be able to save much longer in your fridge.

Finally, this was our dinner tonight. The greens you see here were bought last week and you can see they are bright and green. If you get greens, rinse and clean and store in a ziplock in your crisper. They will be fresher so much longer.

Recipe for the salad above:

• Red leaf salad greens
• Sliced olives
• 1 cucumber sliced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoon  of olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar 
• Toss and serve

I hope these simple tips help you enjoy your local food longer. After all, we are all in this together! Let your children help with the produce prep and reap the rewards of having a child interested in their food. 

It's Party Time

May is a very exciting month for me. My wedding anniversary, my father's birthday, Cinco De Mayo, Memphis in May and most importantly, it is my sweet baby girl's birthday. With all these events, parties are a must in our household.

Most people will tell you throwing parties are hard work, expensive and complicated. I guess this can be true depending on the scope of the party you are throwing, but as far as a child's birthday party it does not have to be the giant headache that people fear.

Since my daughter is about to turn two, I have decided to write about the party we are planning for the big day. Millie's birthday is on May 30th which happens to be Memorial Day this year. In honor of this traditional outdoor bbq holiday, I have decided to go with a similar theme.

Last year we did it BIG! We had her first birthday on the patio of the Brooks Museum of Art in our beautiful and historic Overton Park. I had a fancy cake AND cupcakes with purple icing, champagne and a sit down brunch. The guest list was huge and it took a truck to get her gifts home. It was almost like a wedding reception and totally my vision for her first birthday.

I was thinking this year we would scale it back just a tad. :-)

We are going to get all our food from the local farmer's market, the party favors are handmade and presented in reusable bags and the cake is going to be made by me this year, not a fancy bake shop. We will have all the little kids running around and being silly, with the grown ups sipping on homemade pink lemonade. I can't wait for my darling's party and with that, here is the menu and party favor ideas I want to share.

The idea here, is low-stress but beautiful and cost-efficient. The last thing a little kid needs on their birthday is a stressed out parent. You should enjoy the day too. After all, their birthday would not exist without you!

Party Favors: 

Recycled crayons:
You know all those broken crayons laying around your house? They are underneath couches and behind dressers. Well, go and collect all of them and make new crayons!

• Pick a shape or several shapes with small cookie cutter molds.
• Collect all the broken or unused crayons, remove their paper and chop or crumble into small pieces. You almost want them to be sprinkle size. 
• Place on a baking sheet wax paper to keep the crayons from molding to your bake ware. 
• Place your tiny molds (I suggest stars and hearts, because they have points) and then sprinkle the crayon piece in. 
• Bake at a low heat of no more than 300 F for about 10 minutes. 
• Remove the molds and let stand for a minute. Voila! You now have beautiful multi-colored crayons that look cool and are now usable again. 

Individual granola bags:

If you buy your granola, no one needs to know. However, here is a recipe for homemade granola that will be less sugar than store-bought. 

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup of chopped almonds
• 1/4 cup of dried raisins or cranberries
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of good cinnamon
• 1/4 cup of local honey (helps prevent allergies if it is local)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar 
• 1/4 cup pecan oil (any nut oil is good, but pecan is just so darn tasty)

Place all dry ingredients and mix well. Add the brown sugar, oil and honey to the dry mix stir will until the entire mixture is coated. Place on a baking sheet and cook at 350 F bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool and then start assembling the granola into cute little party bags. 

To encourage our little ones to reuse instead of throwing trash in the garbage, do cloth grocery bags as the party favor bags. They come in all sorts of colors, designs and sizes now. You don't have to have large bags with store names on it. This also gives a child a sense of personal accountability when they have their own bag, instead of just using moms. 

Menu: 

• Fresh fruit and veggies, sliced and placed perfectly on reusable platters. Served with humus and smashed avocado. 
• BBQ pasta salad
• Pink lemonade
• Veggie burgers with local cheese and caramelized onions. 
• Spinach and Italian cheese pinwheels, made with whole grain tortillas
• Big pink cake! 

The menu is super easy to prepare a head of time, tasty and healthy. I will report back after the party with pictures and how things turned out. Pray for sun !

Cheers! 

The Love of a Mother

Motherhood has been the most life-changing experience for me. I know a lot of people say things like that, but for me it is most certainly true. I was living my life out of a suitcase, campaign to campaign, state to state and candidate to candidate. My life revolved around winning! Must win! I hated loosing and it very very very rarely happened to me. I even started to look at Election Day as a time to party, because I just knew I would win. I was obsessed with my self-image and did not care who I ignored and let go in my life. 

Hard things to admit out loud for sure. 

What I mean that motherhood has changed my life, is that no longer can I do for myself only. Gone are the days of being selfish and self-centered. I even tried last year to work for two different campaigns and found myself hating every single minute of it. Partly because the egotistical men that were running, did not give a flip that I had family obligations. I found myself so stressed in those days that I wound up in the hospital ER for exhaustion and stress. This is no way to live by example for my daughter. 

On November 2, 2010 I decided that would be my last Election Day for a while. Shortly after I started writing this little blog. The idea of making a career out of food education, writing and living was to me a foreign concept. However through this blog, I found myself doing just that. A change of lifestyle so my daughter would have a happy mommy, thus having a happy life. 

I write all this on Mother's Day because I think we take for granted all the mothers out there that have given up a life in order to have and take care of their children. To live more lovingly and full of joy. To me that is the life change of well... a lifetime! 

Amelia Nancy my beautiful daughter has blessed me with so many wonderful things and for that I am most grateful. I salute all the mothers out there who love, care and treasure their children. Giving the world, a happy, healthy and productive member of society makes the world a better place and I salute all those who put the work in to make this happen. 

Cheers and Happy Mother's Day! 

The Love of a Mother

Motherhood has been the most life-changing experience for me. I know a lot of people say things like that, but for me it is most certainly true. I was living my life out of a suitcase, campaign to campaign, state to state and candidate to candidate. My life revolved around winning! Must win! I hated loosing and it very very very rarely happened to me. I even started to look at Election Day as a time to party, because I just knew I would win. I was obsessed with my self-image and did not care who I ignored and let go in my life. 

Hard things to admit out loud for sure. 

What I mean that motherhood has changed my life, is that no longer can I do for myself only. Gone are the days of being selfish and self-centered. I even tried last year to work for two different campaigns and found myself hating every single minute of it. Partly because the egotistical men that were running, did not give a flip that I had family obligations. I found myself so stressed in those days that I wound up in the hospital ER for exhaustion and stress. This is no way to live by example for my daughter. 

On November 2, 2010 I decided that would be my last Election Day for a while. Shortly after I started writing this little blog. The idea of making a career out of food education, writing and living was to me a foreign concept. However through this blog, I found myself doing just that. A change of lifestyle so my daughter would have a happy mommy, thus having a happy life. 

I write all this on Mother's Day because I think we take for granted all the mothers out there that have given up a life in order to have and take care of their children. To live more lovingly and full of joy. To me that is the life change of well... a lifetime! 

Amelia Nancy my beautiful daughter has blessed me with so many wonderful things and for that I am most grateful. I salute all the mothers out there who love, care and treasure their children. Giving the world, a happy, healthy and productive member of society makes the world a better place and I salute all those who put the work in to make this happen. 

Cheers and Happy Mother's Day! 

Summer Travel

With summer fast approaching it may be time to sit down with your family and discuss some options for a vacation. With this economy being so depressing, gas and grocery prices soaring and the overall worry of how to even pick the right destination, I can see how it may be challenging to approach this subject.

I want my daughter to grow up with as many interesting experiences as I can possibly provide for her. However, with these challenging times, it can be tough to come up with that special dream trip. Maybe you can't afford to have a two week stay in France touring fine wineries and eating beautiful triple creme cheese. But I bet you can afford to go through Illinois for a taste of their amazing wine region followed by a trip to Wisconsin for a cheese tour. That trip to China may just be way too expensive, but going to Chinatown in DC, San Francisco or NYC may fit right into your budget. 

This economy while very hard to deal with sometimes, can give way a path to rediscover food, creativity and interesting neighborhoods that may have been overlooked for a more notable location. The people that live in our beautiful cities have stories and recipes to share. Even in some smaller cities and states, like Nebraska or Indiana there can be such amazing food and culture to discover. 

When I was working for Senator Clinton's campaign in Iowa, I discovered that there was quite a wine region there. Who knew? Discovering new places to visit with your kids can be such a wonderful bonding moment for the entire family to share. And may I suggest taking a train. You see so much more of our country that way, while saving quite a bit on gas and food stops. Whenever I can, I try and take a train. You can sit in the observation deck with your kids and discover a whole new America that way!  

I would like to share my favorite places to visit with children:

1. Washington DC: This city has it all for the family. History, art, culture and an amazing food scene! You can do your tour of Capital Hill in the daytime and enjoy international cuisine by night fall. There is everything here, from Ethiopian to true Spanish  tapas. And don't forget to sample some of the local Maryland crab cakes. Helpful hint: call your local congressman and schedule a private tour of the Capital. You will not have to stand in a huge line and you will have a much more personal and educational experience with your little ones. 
2. Chicago, IL: The amazing architecture, beautiful shore on Lake Michigan and of course the all the cool and eclectic neighborhoods. Each one boasting a unique food experience. My favorite neighborhoods in Chicago are Wicker Park/Bucktown, Logan Square and Little Village. It is said, that Little Village has the highest concentration of immigrants in the US. So you know there are some great eats there! 
3. Iowa City, IA: Okay sure, you may find this one strange, but once you visit this extremely family-friendly progressive city, you will want to move there! In the summer time, IC has a jazz concert festival, writers workshops and some really cool nightlife. 
4. Nashville, TN: This city is way beyond the old honky tonks on Broadway (which are cool don't get me wrong). There is an emerging food culture in Nashville that is imaginative, creative and very delicious! For parents that are raising their kids meat-free like me, there are great vegan-inspired bistros all over East Nashville. This trip will be good on your wallet as well as your stomachs.
5. Pittsburgh, PA: French fries ON your sandwich... say what? Pittsburgh is known for their several Super Bowl and Stanley Cup wins and unique way of say you guys "yinz going to the game" is what you will hear there. However, it is a very affordable city to visit and has a tone of things for kids to do there. While I find that every city that I get to visit has some challenges and Pittsburgh has many, it also has a great way of showing off their food. You will find that Western PA cheese is all around and some of the tastiest I have ever had. 

I hope that the summer brings great travel, bonding, and of course eating for everyone. Cheers!