nablopomo, I need your help..

I keep writing down things I want to post here, and I have tons of pictures in my files of recipes that I want to share, and ideas I had, but I've noticed they aren't actually getting here. Perhaps it's my perfectionism that's keeping me from doing it right away. So, this month I am posting every single day. Or I'm going to try at least and who cares if it's on the right day, or a summer recipe, right?

I'm also going to take this time to repost some things I've had up before, but with more specific categories and directions, so they are more user friendly.

If there is anything you'd like to see, let me know.

So check back often, because I've got a lot of backed up stuff to write about.

What to do for a child with a weight problem

I was talking this weekend to a dad who was concerned about his little 3 year old girl being too big for her age, And by big, we mean fat. Granted she's got some extra on her, as do many kids these days, but she's pretty and tall for her age too and she doesn't look like she's in danger yet.

Anyway, he was talking about taking away her plate and limiting how much she eats, and my response was, don't watch how much she eats, watch what she eats. She will not develop a complex if you just make sure the food she eats all the time is good healthy food.

I was all impressed with myself and my wisdom, or ability to coin a phrase anyway, so I'm passing it along.

The only thing I watch to see how much my children eat is sugar, and crackers near to a meal time. I give them small portions of those and let them have all the fruit, vegetables and whole grain foods they want, oh and beans. My kids are so skinny that the pants in their height fall off their little waists. My 3 year old still fits into a pair of jeans I bought her when she was a baby, they look like capris now. Only I know that they have a tag that reads 6 months on the inside. So, it works for my bottomless pit children anyway.

Edible Construction

We do this for Sukkot, the holiday of booth building. The kids get to build their own out of graham crackers and icing and candy. The green licorice is a nice substitute for leaves. You could adapt this for Christmas or whatever else you want.

My children can't believe I'm letting them handle all this sugar, but it's a holiday, and I am not a grinch.
The object of course is to figure out how to pile as much candy as you possibly can onto you booth, because you will get to eat it all. After dinner.


You will need,

Graham crackers

Candy (licorice tape, colored balls, whatever you want really)

Icing.

I don't usually bother with making royal icing with the egg whites. It is the strongest by far but this recipe works just fine, tastes better, and holds things together well enough to look at for a while before eating.

Ingredients

Icing sugar, lots

1/4 lb butter

water less than 1/2 a cup

paper plates

Cream together butter and sugar, add enough sugar so that the mixture is very dry. Slowly add a little bit of water until it reaches the consistency of a thick paste. If it's too thin, add more icing sugar. (This is very scientific.)

Then you can put it in ziplock bags and cut a little piece of the corner off to make and icing bag. Kids can squeeze their own icing out and use it to cement together the graham crackers into little boxes. For younger kids you can give them a small scoop of icing on their plate and they can dip the candies into it before gluing them to the sides top floor, whatever.

This is a lot of fun, you will want to jump in and make one yourself, and of course if you tell them that they can eat it after dinner for several days, they are less likely to gorge themselves all in one night. Mine don't ask for candy again for a looong time. They usually feel ill, which is fine with me, it may help them learn moderation.