Today we just want to share a recipe that we recently tried from one of our favorite Party Supply sites – Birthday in a Box! We actually demonstrate the recipe in our October 15th Halloween episode, but we wanted to let you know about it early cuz it’s perfect for the upcoming holiday.

The recipe is called Martian Mallows,and from the picture with our results you can see why. Aren’t they adorable? Ours don’t look quite as fancy as the one’s at the Birthday In a Box site, but they were fun to make and eat.

My one recommendation for this recipe is this: if you can, use chocolate specially designed for melting and candy making. If you can’t find it, you’re probably going to have to add extra oil to your melted chocolate to get it to the right consistency. That’s what we had to do, but it turned out perfect.

Check out the recipe and let us know what you think with a comment!

I go through stages of efficiency. Some weeks I am like Super Mom, everything organized, menu’s planned, to-dos written and sorted by day with contingency plans. Some weeks I am not. Whether or not I am super mom or unorganized mom for the week, though, doesn’t change the fact that we must eat dinner every night.

When we have a plan for the week, Alex and Soph have usually picked out one or two of the menu items and are excited to help cook and eat dinner. Our menu plans are sometimes detailed with a specific meal for each day of the week. Other times they are more focused around after-school activities and what days we’ll have time to cook and eat together. Then there are those times when we just open the cupboards and figure out supper on the fly.

Spontaneous cooking is fun for me. I love taking ingredients I have on hand and figuring out the best way to put them together. I usually do this kind of cooking without the assistance of the kids, mainly because I’m not always sure what I’m cooking and how they can help. Sophia has started assisting once in a while when I am ‘inventing’ and Alex likes to experiment with various types of recipes by himself, too. I guess all that ‘cooking by the book’ they do when following recipes with me is influencing them to venture out on there own–which, as a mom, makes me smile

What about you, do you do a weekly menu plan that includes family cooking time? Or do you prefer spontaneous cooking? Let us know with a comment!

We’ll be demonstrating just how we make this spooky beverage in one of our upcoming Halloween episodes, but we couldn’t wait to share it.

P.S. If you like the recipe, please give us a ‘+1′ !

This week Alex and Soph share a recipe from Birthday in a Box! Our favorite party supply website filled with not just party supplies, but also tons of party ideas and recipes. The one we’re sharing today is simple, healthy and fun–Animals on a Log.

You’ll see we had lots of fun with this recipe and hope you enjoy!

Happy Family Cooking Everyone!

Kelly, Alex and Sophia

P.S. If you like the show, please give us a +1, Thanks!

Alex, now that he’s in 7th grade, thinks school lunch is awesome. Last year, in 6th grade, he brought his lunch nearly every day. Not because of the nutritional value of lunches in elementary school, but because apparently they taste much worse. Now, the 7th grade he attends is in the same district, so I assume ingredients, recipes, etc. are all the same. For him, however, there is a distinguishable difference. For me, there is not. Most of the food at their school is not what I would call extraordinarily delicious or healthy. I hate to admit it, though, but I’m good with him finding school lunch ‘ok’ this year. I know that as a ‘foodie’ I should be concerned by the nutritional value and offerings; And, I am, I love the movements to improve the quality of school meals. I am 100% behind those actively working to make sure the meals served to our children while they are at school not only fill their bellies, but also provide nutrition.

But, here’s the thing: If my kids want to eat lunch at school, it’s fine with me. I’ve taught them about making healthy food choices. Yeah, I know when I’m not there, they don’t and won’t always, but sometimes they will. As they get older my ‘remindings’ will come to the forefront of their minds and they’ll make healthy choices…Maybe I’m delusional.

What are your thoughts on school lunches? How are your kid’s school’s lunches and do they eat them? Please let us know with a comment!

So, the reason I’m asking and pondering on this question is because Amy over at one of our favorite family foods sites, Super Healthy Kids, posted a question on Facebook about kids and breakfast. It got me thinking about how Alex doesn’t like to eat breakfast and how Sophie does, but her preferred breakfast is pancakes, which to me is like starting the day with a sugar fix. I usually am able to convince Alex to eat something—berries with half & half, toast with jelly, pudding, something. Sophia always eats breakfast, but sometimes getting her mind off of pancakes or sneaking a ‘breakfast cookie’ can be a challenge.

How am I meeting this challenge?

Well, with Alex (age 12), knowledge is power. Although he doesn’t always believe my claims of breakfast being good for you, or that eating breakfast helps you learn and that people who eat breakfast are generally leaner, if I have him read these facts from other respected sources (i.e. not mom) he will usually decide I must have a point. When he does eat breakfast, his favorites are blueberries, bananas with half and half, and toast with jelly.

With Sophia (age 8 ) we have a daily routine. She asks what we have, I tell her, she claims she doesn’t like any of it and asks for cake, or cookie–any dessert item that is clearly not breakfast. I then proceed to tell her no and she usually ends up eating a cheese stick, cherry tomatoes, cottage cheese, toast or fruit of some sort.

I guess most of the time they both end up with something half-way healthy in their bellies each morning. I admit, however, there are busy days when a 1/2 a cheese stick and a cookie end up being what Soph calls breakfast while Alex has chocolate pudding cup. We’re still a breakfast work in progress.

How about you, what do your kids eat for breakfast? Please let us know with a comment!

Every night before Alex and Soph head off to bed they MUST have a bed-time snack. Now, I wish I could say that these snacks are always nutritionally optimized, but I cannot. Most of the time bed-time snacks are ice cream or something sweet. This is why our Orange Cream Smoothie is a popular bed-time snack, it’s sweet and cold and ice cream like.  And, since it’s made from Orange Juice, Milk, Yogurt and Ice, it’s not too shabby on the nutrition side either.

On this week’s show, the kiddies share this healthy bed-time snack recipe that is quick, easy and it does taste orange creamsicle-ish–which in my opinion means tasty!

We hope you enjoy the show and give the recipe a try.

Happy Family Cooking Everyone, Alex, Soph and Kelly

P.S. Make sure to sign up for our email list…we’re going to be doing some give-aways in October and if you’re on the list, you’ll get the details first!