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Amanda says:

Hi Spatulatta crew! 

I just wanted to comment on the breakfast on the go
bars, how did you get yours to stay together? Me and my mom tried twice and both
times it crumbles. Like major crumble. so when we took it out it looked good, and
then we let it cool and then cut it, and then we tried to take it out, and it all
fell apart!  It was like sugary granola with dried cranberries in it, but it was
still yummy! Please if you can help me, please send me and email. Thank you so
much! Oh and I have this really good recipe that my friend Joan gave me and that
she learned it from her camp, im still perfecting it to make it healthier, and their
called haystacks, go figure! 

Thanks again! Bye!

Dear Amanda,

You're right the Go Bars were a little crumbly for us too but held
together in the bar shape rather than turning into granola. We may have
used an extra large egg. We were trying to keep the fat content down but
maybe we went too far.

Eggs are the glue that holds lots of culinary concoctions together. I'd
suggest trying 2 eggs medium eggs or better yet the equivalent of Egg
Beaters.

Let us know how they came out and we'll update the recipe on the website.

Thanks!
Team Spatulatta

Labels: breakfast, egg beaters, eggs, Go Bars, granola, kids in the kitchen, recipe, spatulatta

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Christina writes:

I love to experiment with new recipes at lunch time. This is one that I
thought was awsome. 
 
Melt 2 table spoons of butter in a shallow sauce pan. Drop 3/4 of a cup of spinach
leaves. Make sure it is packed really tightly. Rip or chop thin slices of deli ham
into small strips. put both spinach and ham into the pan before the butter starts to
burn. Then take 2 small handfuls of cheese and melt it over the spinach and ham
mixture. When the spinach is soggy and some what dark, remove from heat and serve
while it is still warm. 

By the way, this was a recipe I made up.

Spatulatta replies:

Hey Christina, thanks for your creative recipe!  We love spinach and ham.  
This is a great way to use holiday leftovers.

Keep cookin!

Labels: Cooking with Kids, goat cheese, ham, Spat Blog, spatulatta, spinach

Roasted chestnuts are such a traditional winter treat that there's a song about them - sing along as you roast your own chestnuts.

Labels: baking, Christmas recipe, Cooking with Kids, holiday, holiday treats, Roasted Chestnuts, snack, spatulatta, winter

Hi, my name is Nakima [Na-ke-ma].  I am 12 years old and I love making sandwiches
especially a moldy sandwich.  This sandwich is good for an April Fool's snack.

You will need: 

• 2 tablespoons of peanutbutter
• 1 package mixed food coloring
• 2 slices of bread
• 1 teaspoon of powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon of jelly
  

• 1 dull kitchen knife
• 2 small bowls.

• Use the knife to mix peanut butter and 4 drops of blue food coloring in a bowl. Combining these ingredients will turn the mixture green.
• Put aside two thirds of green peanut butter for the sandwich filling.

• First use the knife to lightly dab green peanut butter patches on top of one slice of the bread.
• Next, sprinkle a little of the powdered sugar on some of the patches and tap it in with your finger. The sugar will take on a gauzy look.
• Combine 2 drops from each color of food coloring in the second bowl. Dab the mixture on or near the green areas to create blotches that look like black mold spores.

• Use the other slice of bread, the jelly and the remaining 2/3 of the green peanut butter to make a sandwich.
• Make it a little sloppy so that some goo drips over the sides of the bread.

• Wrap sandwich in plastic.
• Put it n your lunch bag and get ready for some stares during LUNCH TIME or AT HOME.
• LET YOUR PARENTS OR FRIENDS know that it is just a prank so they won't get too worried.

Labels: April Fools recipe, food coloring, kids in the kitchen, Lunch Box, moldy sandwich, peanut butter sandwich, prank, sandwich, spatulatta

• 2 eggs
• 1 small onion
• 2 slices of bread
• Ham
• Salt & pepper
  

Labels: breakfast, eggs, ham, Ham St. Paul, kids cooking, MissOandFriends.com, recipes, spatulatta

Ingredients:

• 2 T raspberry vinegar

• 1 c fresh raspberries

• 2 T raspberry jam

• 2 large kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced thin

• 1/2 c vegetable oil

• 1 small can mandarin oranges, drained juice from drained mandarin oranges
• 3/4 lb. fresh spinach leaves
• 3/4 c whole toasted pecan halves
  

Directions:

1. Whisk or blend vinegar and jam.
   
2. Add oil and orange juice; blend well. Set aside.
3. Combine spinach, half of nuts, raspberries, oranges, and all of the dressing in a large bowl.
4. Toss and then top the salad with kiwi and the remaining nuts.
   
5. Chill about an hour.
   

Spatulatta says:

Wow, now this is a salad everyone's sure to enjoy over the holiday. Definitely a healthy
and easy recipe to make. :)

Thanks for sharing, Gael! 
-Team Spatulatta

Labels: Christmas recipe, fruit salad, healthy eating, holiday, salad, spatulatta, spinach salad

Labels: apple juice, banana, beverage, Cooking for kids, funky, pear, Smoothie, spatulatta, yogurt

Belle & Liv with Top Chef contestants: Dale (Season 3)
and Stephanie (Season 4 Winner)
With Executive Chef, Jackie Shen, of Redlight

Labels: 2008 Chicago Gourmet, Jackie Shen, Kids Restaurant Week, Redlight, Roy Yamaguchi, Roy's, spatulatta, Top Chef, Top Chef contestant, Top Chef winner

ingredints:               preparations: 
  
cherry tomatoes       make the cherry tomatoes  
                     hollow on the inside then 
goat cheese          chop up olives and stuff it 
                     into the tomatoes then  
olives(optional)     stuff goat cheese and 
                     for the final touch       
parsley              add the garnish (parsley)


Spatulatta responds:

Mmmm, these sound great!  
Thanks for passing on your recipe, Tori.
-Team Spatulatta

Labels: goat cheese, olives, spatulatta, stuffed tomatoes

I LOVE spatulatta.com! I have a recipe you could do.
I have more cool recipes but my favorite recipe are cocoa rounds, the ingredients are,   

• 1 2/3 cups flour
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cocoa
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cups soft butter
• 1 egg

Combine all the ingredients in a medium bowl.
Chill for 10 min. and bake at 375 f for 8-10 min.  

we like to roll them in powdered sugar after they're done.   

Love, 
Sophie ;-)

Spatulatta responds:
Hey Sophie, Thanks for your sweet recipe.  This could make a great treat during holidays.
Spatulatta loves you too!

-Team Spatulatta

Labels: baking, Cocoa, Cooking with Kids, holiday treats, spatulatta

Cookin' live with Liv & Belle

With two new fans :)

Labels: 2008 Chicago Gourmet, Chicago chefs, Liv and Belle, Live Cooking Demo, Millennium Park, spatulatta

Click Photos to Enlarge

Labels: Costume Contest, doggy costume, Halloween, Liv and Belle, Mona Lisa, Queen of Hearts, spatulatta, witch

Click Photos to Enlarge

Labels: 2008 Chicago Gourmet, CBS, Cooking with Kids, Halloween, Jumbotron, Liv and Belle, Live Cooking Demo, Monster Hands, spatulatta, Spider Sandwiches

Check out Briah's dish for Egg Fried Rice.  Briah and her Dad sure make a dynamic duo!  

Thanks Briah!
-Team Spatulatta

EGG FRIED RICE  INGREDIENTS 

• a pot of cooked rice
• 3 eggs
• 7 strips of bacon
• a half of onion
• 5 table spoons of oil
• salt
• pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. heat the oil in a skillet . 
2. chop your onion and bacon.
3. put the onion and bacon in the skillet. 
4. after the bacon and onion gets a little cooked add the eggs salt and pepper. 
5. let the eggs cook then add the rice. 
6. last let the rice get a little brown then serve.

Briah adds:
"You can add shrimp and make it shrimp fried rice.  My daddy always teaches me recipes."

Labels: eggs, fried rice, kids cooking, kids in the kitchen, kids recipes, Spat Blog, spatulatta

Mummy's Goblins and Ghouls Scrapbook Contest

Send in photos of your little trick or treaters
from November 1 - November 10, 2008

Three cash prizes will be awarded.
1. $100 Grand Prize
2. $50 runner up
3. $50 most original costume idea

Paypal account required to receive prize.

Winners will be chosen based on votes, comments and a bizymoms.com
management panel.

Contest URL: http://bizymoms.com/halloween/

Labels: BizyMoms.com, Cash Prizes, Contest, Costume Contest, Halloween, Scrapbook, spatulatta

Thanks for sending us your delicious recipe, Briah!
- Team Spatulatta

Macaroni Noodles

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground beef or turkey
1 tablespoon of onion powder
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 tablespoon of salt
1 tablespoon of pepper
5 cups of tomato sauce
5 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. boil your macaroni noodles until soft.
2. brown ground beef in a skillet.
4. add garlic powder,onion powder,salt,and pepper.
5. take the browned meat of of heat.
6. drain macaroni noodles in shrainer and put back in the pot.
7. turn heat up to hi add the browned meat to the macaroni.
8. then add tomato sauce and let it come to a boil.
9. final add cheddar cheese let the cheese melt in and serve. 

Labels: Cooking with Kids, healthy eating, Macaroni, noodle, pasta, spatulatta

• Use Coconut milk with the water to make the sushi rice, usually 1/2 to 1/2 to 1.
  Meaning 1/2 cup of water 1/2 cup of coconut milk & 1 cup of sushi rice
  

• Cook the rice like you would sushi, then instead of adding vinegar you add coco, Lopez coconut cream, a little cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg, not to much.

• For the wrapper I use a little cocoa in a crepe batter to make chocolate crepe and that's the nori wrap.
  

• For the fillings you can reconstitute some figs, dried cranberries etc, and for the wasabi fine ground pistachios until the were like peanut butter.
  

• Serve on a bed of sugar raked to look like a Japanese cloud garden with a few chunks of chocolate to be the mountain tops and there you go.

Labels: Cooking with Kids, dessert, kids in the kitchen, Spat Blog, spatulatta, Sweet Sushi

Labels: 2008 Chicago Gourmet, Chicago chefs, downtown chicago, Liv and Belle, Live Cooking Demo, Millenium Park, spatulatta, Spatulatta Girls

Labels: 2008 James Beard Awards, Cooking for kids, spatulatta

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup blue corn meal for tortillas or for atole
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Labels: baking, blue corn, blue corn muffins, breakfast, Cooking for kids, Jalepeno Cafe, muffins, snack, spatulatta

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Chloe's sandwich is eggggg-cellent!
Thanks Chloe!
-Team Spatulatta

Ingridients:  
Egg (hard boiled)
Mayo (or mustard) 
Lettuce 
Tomato 
Sub Bread 
Pickle (optional) 
Salt and Pepper 
 
Take a knife and cut your egg into 4 parts. If wanted, use another egg too. 

Place 4 (or 8) slices of egg on one half of sub bread. 
Cover with mayo.

Take 4 pieces of lettuce and pat them into the mayo. Put a dollop of mayo on the
lettuce. 

Cut tomato into 4 parts. Place tomato onto mayo level 2. Sprikle salt and pepper
over tomato. 

Last, take pickle and cut into 4 pieces, and put on top of tomato. Spread mayo onto
pickles. Put sub bread on the sandwhich. Then, put sandwich in microwave for 24
seconds. 

Yum!

Spatulatta Adds:
To hard boil egg(s), place egg(s) in a pot and cover with cold water by a 1/2-inch or so.
Bring to a gentle boil. 

Now turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for 7 minutes. 

Have a bowl of ice water ready and when eggs are done cooking place them
in the ice bath for about 3 minutes - long enough to stop the cooking.

Labels: Egg Salad Sandwich, kids cooking, Spat Blog, spatulatta

----------------
Original Email:

My  dear friends:
Today I want to tell you something about Chinese food.
You know that in China we always eat jiaozi during Spring festival.
Ok,let me show you how to make jiaozi: Chive shrimp dumplings stuffed

Zhuliao: Shrimp 150 grams, 150 grams of lean pork, fresh leeks 150 grams
Accessory: ginger adequate, appropriate condiments approach: lean pork cut 0.4
centimeters around the small, plus mirin, soy sauce adequate system of submerged
more than 20 minutes, Shrimp from shrimp lines and cut the meat with a small
amount of soy sauce Dingjia, mirin submerged system 20 minutes (meat Laochou,
shrimp-sheng pumping oh). Leek Qiemo will add ginger, salt, monosodium glutamate,
Wu Xiangfen a small, peanut oil modest, a small amount of sesame oil, submerged
good meat and shrimp stir evenly. . He! As simple as just filling the dumplings,
by the incomparably delicious dumplings taste ah
I wish that you can enjoy making jiaozi.

Yours,
Yun

---------------
Spatulatta's Interpretation:

My dear friends:  

Today I want to tell you something about Chinese food.  You know
that in China we always eat jiaozi during Spring festival.

Ok, let me show you how to make jiaozi (stuffed chive shrimp dumplings)

PREP TIME: 40 min.  

INGREDIENTS FOR 30-40 DUMPLINGS  

WRAPPERS: 
Fresh or Frozen dumpling wrappers from your local Asian grocery store.
*Be sure to buy dumpling wrappers, not wonton wrappers.

FILLING: 
5 oz. shrimp 
5 oz. lean ground pork
5 oz. fresh leeks (thinly sliced) 
1 inch ginger, scraped or chopped
3 tbsp mirin 
3 tbsp soy sauce 
1/2 tsp salt   

DIRECTIONS: 
Peel shrimp, clear veins if necessary and chop into tiny pieces. 
Combine all ingredients and marinate for 20 min.

After 20 min, add 3 tbsp peanut oil and 1/2 tsp sesame oil in frying pan and cook ingredients until done.  
Drain access liquid from pan.

STUFFING DUMPLINGS: 
First: Fill dumpling wrapper with 1 tsp of stuffing.
Secondly: Taking your index finger brush a small amount of warm water on far edge of wrapper opposite you.
Lastly: Fold wrapper over your fingers and seal to finish.   

STEAMING DUMPLINGS:
Steam Dumplings in a steamer until they're translucent.
You will see the stuffing showing through the wrapper!  

Hey! As simple as just filling the dumplings, by the incomparably delicious dumplings taste - ahhhhhh!
I wish that you can enjoy making jiaozi.                                            
 
Yours,
Yun

Labels: chinese cooking, chinese food, Cooking with Kids, jiaozi, jiaozie recipe, kids in the kitchen, Spat Blog, spatulatta

To make the "Crust"

To make the cookie, prepare one package of Miss Robens or Cherry Brook Kitchens Sugar Cookie Mix. Form mix into a ball and press into a large circle on your cookie sheet. Leave at least an inch all around as the cookie will expand as it cooks. Increase baking time by about 10 minutes or until cookie is thoroughly baked.

For the "sauce"

Melt one package of Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips and spread over the pizza leaving the "crust" visible. Allow to set. An alternative is to use 3/4 cup of organic strawberry preserves.

Add "Green Peppers"

Sprinkle about a dozen green Mike & Ikes or Divvies green jelly beans.

For the "cheese"

Prepare one package of Cherrybrook kitchen vanilla icing and mix with a half package of dairy free white chocolate chips, melted. When the mixture is thin enough to swirl around but stay intact, drizzle it around on top of the dark chocolate (or strawberry preserves) to look like melted cheese.

Top with "Pepperoni"

Top with a safe round gummy candy, or red gumballs cut in half. Try Farley Hot Cinnamon dollars, Double Bubble large gumballs or Divvies Gumballs.

Fun Extras:

Buy a large pizza box from the grocery store or local pizza parlor. This is a great way to transport the cookie. How fun it is to walk into a party or celebration and have a safe treat that all of the kids fuss over!

Buy "Guest Checks" from your local Wal-Mart or office supply store. You can include a birthday message or use them as place cards for a kid's party.

Sprinkle "parmesan cheese" on top with grated safe white chocolate.

Buy a hot pepper shaker at the Dollar Store and fill it with safe chocolate or red sprinkles for the kids to shake on their slices. They get a real kick out of this!

Cut and serve like pizza slices on white paper plates and Enjoy!

Labels: Allergic, AllergyMoms.com, dairy free, Food Allergies, Gluten free, kids cooking, Pizza Cookie, Spat Blog, spatulatta

Our new pal, Yun, from China writes:

This is a good site and I am a chinese girl. The site not only teaches me
how to cook, but also practice my English.  And I think you can try to cook some
Chinese food, it is also very interesting!

Spatulatta replies:

Yun, thank you for emailing us!  We're glad Spatulatta is helping you in the 
kitchen and with your English.

We're eager to learn more about Chinese cooking!  What are your favorite foods?
If you have any recipes to share, please email them to info@spatulatta.com

We love featuring recipes from all around the world :)

Keep Cookin!
Team Spatulatta

Labels: chinese cooking, chinese food, kids cooking, Spat Blog, spatulatta

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