Hi there!
In Sifaka World your avatars get to eat some really great foods, so we thought it would be fun for us to start giving you recipes for some of them here so you can make them at home (with an adult of course!).
At the North Pole my character, Chef Holmes, is handing out some yummy treats, including Hot Chocolate, so this week I got together with some of my real world friends and we made a video for you about how to make hot chocolate. This recipe has a twist to it--we've added cinnamon and a little chili powder to give it a Southwestern flair, but if you're not feeling adventurous you can just leave those things out and you'll still have a really great cup of homemade hot chocolate ready to go in just a few minutes!
Here's the video!
Here's the recipe:
Southwestern Hot Chocolate
4 cups milk (make it skim if you're using whipped cream as a topping)
2 Tablespoons agave syrup
4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
Garnish
1/2 cup whipped cream
grated milk chocolate
1. Combine milk and agave syrup in a saucepan and heat on the stove (get an adult to help you!)until hot, but not boiling. Remove from heat.
2. Add chopped chocolate and allow it to sit for a minute before stirring.
3. Add cinnamon and chili powder and whisk until the mixture is bubbly.
4. Ladle hot chocolate into mugs and top with a small amount of whipped cream and grated milk chocolate OR marshmallows.
Enjoy!!
Note: If you're not a fan of chili powder just leave it out of the recipe.
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Make Time for Breakfast!
Getting ready in the morning is hard some days, isn’t it? It seems like we’re all rushing around trying to make it to the bus and school on time and boy does it get hectic! I bet some of you hastily grab something not so healthy on the way out the door and a few of you probably even head out with empty bellies because you run out of time. Or maybe you’re just not a morning person and don’t feel like eating much before you head off to school.
Breakfast is so important! You should never skip breakfast. Your body has been without nutrition all night and you need to eat to give your body (and brain!) the fuel it needs to get going and do some effective learning while you’re in class before lunch. Lots of really good studies have been done and they all say that kids who eat breakfast do better in school. Wouldn’t you love to do better just by eating a good meal in the morning? It’s so easy to do and doesn’t require any extra studying!
When things get crazy around here and I don’t have time to cook for my kids, we like to make some tasty, filling smoothies in the morning. They’re quick, easy, and you can even drink one on the go if you have to.
Here are two of our favorites (look for another one in Sifaka World soon!). Give them a try, but experiment with your own combinations and amounts too. Make them your own and be sure to get an adult to help you with the blender.
For both of these recipes all you have to do is put all the ingredients in the blender and process until smooth.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
(Serves 4)
If you like chocolate and peanut butter you’ll love this one!
2 cups chocolate soy milk (or fat free milk)
2 bananas
1 cup ice
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
1 squeeze of honey
Dash of cinnamon
Acai Bluraspberry Smoothie
(Serves 4)
Okay, you’re right! There’s no such thing as a Bluraspberry it's just a silly way of combining blueberries and raspberries. Although I do think a bluraspberry would be a very cool-looking fruit! There are such things as Acai berries, though. They are the fruit of the Acai Palm tree, which grows in Central and South America.
Acai is thought to help with digestion, heart trouble, and cholesterol levels. It is high in antioxidants, which are believed to prevent and fight cancer. In the past couple of years Acai has become popular and these days we can find its juice in the supermarket. Best of all, it’s super tasty!
2 /3 cup frozen blueberries
¼ cup frozen raspberries
1 cup acai berry juice
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
ENJOY!
Breakfast is so important! You should never skip breakfast. Your body has been without nutrition all night and you need to eat to give your body (and brain!) the fuel it needs to get going and do some effective learning while you’re in class before lunch. Lots of really good studies have been done and they all say that kids who eat breakfast do better in school. Wouldn’t you love to do better just by eating a good meal in the morning? It’s so easy to do and doesn’t require any extra studying!
When things get crazy around here and I don’t have time to cook for my kids, we like to make some tasty, filling smoothies in the morning. They’re quick, easy, and you can even drink one on the go if you have to.
Here are two of our favorites (look for another one in Sifaka World soon!). Give them a try, but experiment with your own combinations and amounts too. Make them your own and be sure to get an adult to help you with the blender.
For both of these recipes all you have to do is put all the ingredients in the blender and process until smooth.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie
(Serves 4)
If you like chocolate and peanut butter you’ll love this one!
2 cups chocolate soy milk (or fat free milk)
2 bananas
1 cup ice
2 Tablespoons peanut butter
1 squeeze of honey
Dash of cinnamon
Acai Bluraspberry Smoothie
(Serves 4)
Okay, you’re right! There’s no such thing as a Bluraspberry it's just a silly way of combining blueberries and raspberries. Although I do think a bluraspberry would be a very cool-looking fruit! There are such things as Acai berries, though. They are the fruit of the Acai Palm tree, which grows in Central and South America.
Acai is thought to help with digestion, heart trouble, and cholesterol levels. It is high in antioxidants, which are believed to prevent and fight cancer. In the past couple of years Acai has become popular and these days we can find its juice in the supermarket. Best of all, it’s super tasty!
2 /3 cup frozen blueberries
¼ cup frozen raspberries
1 cup acai berry juice
1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
ENJOY!
Backyard Eats
When I was a little girl I used to sit on the back stoop with my great-grandmother and shuck corn or shell peas in the summer. They were usually gifts from neighbors’ gardens—a bounty too large for them to consume on their own, so they shared. And what they shared tasted so much better than anything we could get in the grocery store. I think that’s probably truer today than it was back then.
Big farms tend to grow fruits and vegetables that travel well because they have to be trucked across the country, or even from one country to another, and they’re often picked before they get ripe so they won’t go bad before they get to us. Fruits and vegetables ripened by the sun taste better than ones that aren’t—just try some and you’ll see!
Right n
ow there’s snow on the ground, so growing something green and tasty in the back yard is a little trickier than it is in the spring and summer, but our chickens, which we got at the end of the summer last year, are flourishing and are laying eggs at an awe-inspiring rate in spite of the low temperatures and lack of daylight.
And I have to tell you, those eggs taste better than any eggs we’ve ever had before! They’re smaller than what we’re used to getting in the grocery store, but wow are they full of flavor! Just look at this picture and you’ll see the difference. The egg from our backyard chicken is the one with the dark orange yolk.
They’re pretty entertaining too. One of our chickens likes the buttons on my jacket and pecks away at them while I rummage around for eggs or fill their feeding troughs. They also talk to us a lot, clucking loudly when they want us to visit with them or give them some food.
Have you ever grown food in your back yard? If so, how did it taste?
Big farms tend to grow fruits and vegetables that travel well because they have to be trucked across the country, or even from one country to another, and they’re often picked before they get ripe so they won’t go bad before they get to us. Fruits and vegetables ripened by the sun taste better than ones that aren’t—just try some and you’ll see!
Right n
ow there’s snow on the ground, so growing something green and tasty in the back yard is a little trickier than it is in the spring and summer, but our chickens, which we got at the end of the summer last year, are flourishing and are laying eggs at an awe-inspiring rate in spite of the low temperatures and lack of daylight.
And I have to tell you, those eggs taste better than any eggs we’ve ever had before! They’re smaller than what we’re used to getting in the grocery store, but wow are they full of flavor! Just look at this picture and you’ll see the difference. The egg from our backyard chicken is the one with the dark orange yolk.
Our chickens (we have four—Wiggles, Chickadee, Peeps-a-Lot, and Gladys) have a two-story coop, with their nesting boxes upstairs, and we let them roam during the day, which gives them the opportunity to vary their diets the natural way. They love to eat bugs! Their shells are thicker than the eggs we get in the grocery store, and they’re as fresh as can be. The eggs they lay are better for us and our chickens lead a much better life than chickens raised for laying supermarket eggs.
They’re pretty entertaining too. One of our chickens likes the buttons on my jacket and pecks away at them while I rummage around for eggs or fill their feeding troughs. They also talk to us a lot, clucking loudly when they want us to visit with them or give them some food.
Have you ever grown food in your back yard? If so, how did it taste?
Visions of Sugarplums
Thanks to the Nutcracker, you've probably all had visions of sugarplums dancing in your heads, but I'd be willing to guess you're not even really sure what a sugar plum is. Is it a plum? Some kind of candied fruit? I'm pretty sure that as a child, I assumed that sugar plums were a kind of candy because I couldn't imagine why anyone would have visions of fruits dancing in their heads—it had to be candy! In fact, I wasn't far off. Popular during the 17th to 19th centuries, sugar plums were a type of candy made from sugar-coat
ed nuts or seeds that were roughly the size of plums. They had wire stems for hanging, and often had caraway at the center because caraway was thought to have breath-freshening properties. Other spices, like anise, were also popular. Traditional sugar plums had a hardened candy shell.
I've developed a Sugar Plum recipe that is more like a no-bake cookie, but is filled with healthy dried fruits and nuts and it has received rave reviews from family and friends. I think this one makes a great year round snack for kids and adults. These Sugar Plums are decidedly not candy, but they sure disappeared like candy!
Feel free to vary the recipe with different types of dried fruits and nuts.
Sugar Plums
Makes about 2 dozen
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup finely chopped almonds
1 cup finely chopped dates
1/3 cup finely chopped dried apricots
1/3 cup finely chopped figs
½ teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of cloves
1 teaspoon orange zest
3 Tablespoons honey
Powdered sugar, as needed
- Kids should be sure to have a grown up present when making this recipe.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Spread walnuts out on a sheet pan and bake, turning, frequently, until lightly toasted—be careful not to burn these. If they burn they'll be bitter. Remove the walnuts from the oven and allow them to cool before finely chopping them. You can use a food processor, but be careful not to go too far or you'll make nut butter! Place chopped walnuts in a mixing bowl.
- Finely chop the almonds and add to the bowl with the walnuts.
- Finely chop the dates, apricots, and figs and mix them in with the nuts, making sure the nuts and dried fruit are evenly distributed.
- Add the cinnamon, cloves, and orange zest and mix well to combine.
- Add the honey and mix well again.
- Roll the mixture into 1-inch balls and set them, in a single layer, on a plate. After you have finished rolling all the sugarplums dust them lightly with powdered sugar and transfer to a pretty plate or serving platter.
Scones to Sugarplums!
Hi everyone, and welcome to the Sifaka World Blog!
I'm your culinary host and over the next couple of weeks I'm going to be posting a series of recipes that will bring some serious holiday yum to your tables. Each recipe is kid-friendly and will be completely from scratch. I know what you're thinking! "Wha? Kid-friendly? From scratch?! But, but..this crazy rabbit chef can't be serious!"Oh, I'm serious alright. Cooking is easy, really. Anyone can do it. Craig Claiborne, one of America's greatest chefs, said, "Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love." I've always loved that quote. Mostly because it's entirely true.
Before we start, you should know that all of my recipes have been tested and approved by kids. Even the ones you might think are weird. Some recipes are guaranteed crowd pleasers. Others are what I like to call challenge foods, but all of them have been given the seal of approval by a large group of kids.
To make mixing and handling easier for small hands, I've scaled the recipes to one or two servings.
For kids, as with all my recipes, the first ingredient is a grown up to help with anything hot, sharp, or just plain too difficult. So make sure you have an adult with you before you start cooking.
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 /4 cup nonfat buttermilk
2 Tablespoons chopped, dried cranberries
2 Tablespoons chopped walnuts
How It's Made
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a medium-sized bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Use a whisk to lightly blend.
3. Add the butter and orange zest, and using your fingertips only*, blend the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse corn meal.
4. Add the buttermilk and mix using a fork until the dough forms a shaggy mass.
5. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Add the cranberries and walnuts and gently knead the dough until the berries and walnuts are incorporated (the less time you spend doing this the better because the more you handle dough the tougher it gets).
6. Flatten dough with your hands until it is about 3/4-inch thick and cut into desired shapes. (I like triangles or squares because there's no re-kneading involved, which results in a more tender dough than circles or other shapes that leave lots of scraps.)
7. Place scones on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until the tops are golden brown.
*The reason for using only your fingertips while cutting the butter into the dry ingredients is that we want to keep the butter from melting and your fingertips are the coldest parts of your hand. If you use the palms of your hands you're likely to end up with a dough ball when what you really want (before adding the liquid ingredients) is a bowl full of crumbly crumbs.
I'm your culinary host and over the next couple of weeks I'm going to be posting a series of recipes that will bring some serious holiday yum to your tables. Each recipe is kid-friendly and will be completely from scratch. I know what you're thinking! "Wha? Kid-friendly? From scratch?! But, but..this crazy rabbit chef can't be serious!"Oh, I'm serious alright. Cooking is easy, really. Anyone can do it. Craig Claiborne, one of America's greatest chefs, said, "Cooking is at once child's play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love." I've always loved that quote. Mostly because it's entirely true.
Before we start, you should know that all of my recipes have been tested and approved by kids. Even the ones you might think are weird. Some recipes are guaranteed crowd pleasers. Others are what I like to call challenge foods, but all of them have been given the seal of approval by a large group of kids.
To make mixing and handling easier for small hands, I've scaled the recipes to one or two servings.
For kids, as with all my recipes, the first ingredient is a grown up to help with anything hot, sharp, or just plain too difficult. So make sure you have an adult with you before you start cooking.
Cranberry Orange Walnut Scones
Today's recipe is a favorite of all the kids who have taken my real world classes over the past couple of years. My little friend Sarah makes them at home with her mom all the time! Maybe, if we're lucky, she'll pop in here and leave a comment--perhaps a cooking tip or an idea for a recipe variation?
Ingredients
Ingredients
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1 /4 cup nonfat buttermilk
2 Tablespoons chopped, dried cranberries
2 Tablespoons chopped walnuts
How It's Made
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a medium-sized bowl combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Use a whisk to lightly blend.
3. Add the butter and orange zest, and using your fingertips only*, blend the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse corn meal.
4. Add the buttermilk and mix using a fork until the dough forms a shaggy mass.
5. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface. Add the cranberries and walnuts and gently knead the dough until the berries and walnuts are incorporated (the less time you spend doing this the better because the more you handle dough the tougher it gets).
6. Flatten dough with your hands until it is about 3/4-inch thick and cut into desired shapes. (I like triangles or squares because there's no re-kneading involved, which results in a more tender dough than circles or other shapes that leave lots of scraps.)
7. Place scones on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until the tops are golden brown.
*The reason for using only your fingertips while cutting the butter into the dry ingredients is that we want to keep the butter from melting and your fingertips are the coldest parts of your hand. If you use the palms of your hands you're likely to end up with a dough ball when what you really want (before adding the liquid ingredients) is a bowl full of crumbly crumbs.
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