Kids Helping in the Kitchen

 I was breezing down the information highway looking for an easy dessert for the girls to make while I cook dinner tomorrow. I had only a few requirements. No heat. Something with fruit. Something that would keep them occupied for about 20 to 30 minutes. Then I saw Cookie Salad. Doubtful that it contained fruit, I looked anyway. Then my curiosity peaked again. Fudge striped cookies and fruit cocktail. Who came up with this?



A trip to Wikipedia to learn the origin:

Cookie salad is a dessert salad from the U.S. state of Minnesota made with buttermilk, vanilla pudding, Cool Whip, mandarin oranges, and fudge stripe shortbread cookies. It is popular with children and for potlucks. Berries can also be added.

They even sell it in the grocery. See below picture.


Huh, who knew? I added buttermilk to my shopping list. Here is the recipe that I used.

Cookie Salad

Ingredients:  

6 oz instant vanilla pudding mix

2 cups buttermilk

9 oz prepared whipped topping

16 oz fruit cocktail, drained well

11 oz miniature oranges, drained well

2 cups pineapple, drained well

12 oz package of fudge striped cookies

3 oz walnuts, optional (not included in our house due to allergies.)

8 oz maraschino cherries, drained

In a large bowl, combine the instant pudding mix with the buttermilk. Mix well. Add in the whipped topping. Fold in the drained fruit cocktail, miniature oranges and pineapple. Add the walnuts if desired. Break the fudge striped cookies into small bits. Fold into the salad. Cover and refrigerate. Chill the salad at least 1 hour before serving. Top each serving with a maraschino cherry.

M was in charge of making the pudding. She can read directions and a measuring cup.
I opened and drained the cans of fruit for B.
B mixed all the fruits together while pudding was being made.
 mixed the pudding and the whipped topping and folded in B’s fruit.
B smashed cookies into bits while M folded. (Thinking that those cookies should not be crumbs but it IS their dessert.)
M folded the cookies into the rest and we chilled for after dinner to eat while playing UNO.

School, Lunches and Being Green

I pack three separate “meals” for M on a daily basis during the week.  She spends her breakfast at the neighbors, has snack time during a recess, and of course the lunch box.  So how do I stop the plastic baggie monster?  I am not willing to put in a bunch of money on containers for a seven-year old that has not proven herself responsible enough to bring home containers, with the exception of her lunch box containers.  What is a mom to do to help save the planet? 

First, the good.  Her lunchbox never has a plastic baggie.  She has three sandwich containers that get rotated out throughout the week.  She has two snack containers for carrots and crackers.  Of course the loveliness of bananas and apples is that they come in their own container.  Lunch containers ALWAYS make it back home.  This meal is a no brainer.

Breakfast.  Breakfast varies from week to week.  Zbars are my favorite of her choices.  Easy peasy.  Throw a pre-wrapped bar into her backpack.  Trash is thrown away, and we are not out a container.   Bagels with cream cheese and strawberries and breakfast sandwiches  fit nicely into a sandwich container.  This container inevitably has to be picked up that afternoon at the neighbor’s house.  Not the most convenient but at least we still have our containers.

This brings us to snack, the most difficult of our meals.  I buy a variety of snack foods in bulk at our local Spouts market:  sesame sticks, oriental mix, vegetable chips, banana chips, corn nuts, yogurt raisins and pretzels.  The initial purchase is pretty green.  I take my own bags every time.  The divvying out becomes not so green.  Snack baggies.  We easily could go through a package of 50 every 2 weeks.  I have sent her with containers.  They get left on the playground and are never seen again.  This is not very green either. 

I wanted something that she could shove in her pocket when she was done to ensure its safe return home.  Something that she could easily eat her snacks from.  Something that would seal, so nothing crumbled in the bottom of her backpack.   Something I could put apple slices in and would not leak juice onto everything.  I needed a baggie. 

Looking online I found pretty much what I wanted:  Reusable snack and sandwich bags.  I was, however, unwilling to pay 8 dollars a back for a snack bag which would, more likely than not, get left on the playground.  Hello tutorials and let’s see if I can make these puppies.  I did not want to get too extravagant until M proved herself reliable.  I found this baggie tutorial from Heidi over on Dabbled (dot) org.  Best of all they do not cost much and are easy to make.

Green Ideas for the Kids

M’s journal requirement a couple of weeks ago was to write 10 things that she can do to be greener. The things she came up with were relatively easy and are things any family can do.


Don’t let the water go down the drain.

• Turn off the water when brushing your teeth.
• Set the timer when you take your shower. Don’t take more than 5 minutes.

Use your paper twice or even not at all.

• Use both sides of the paper when you color and draw.
• Use the white board to work you homework problems.

Do not take any trash to school.

• Pack lunch in reusable containers.
• Use reusable water bottles.

Wear the same clothes all day.

• With M in a uniform at school this one was adapted to: Wear the same afterschool clothes all week.

Donate what we no longer use or need.

• Go through clothes and toys we do not use. Donate them to a shelter. (Women’s shelters are especially in need of children’s clothes and toys. Most women who use these shelters do not have the opportunity prepare their departure and leave a lot behind.)

Eat more vegetables.

• Buy your vegetables using locally grown farmers.

Don’t kill spiders and insects.

• Insects pollinate, produce things we use and eat harmful insects.

 

Those were our ten. What others can your family think of?