Kids are invited to Prosecco Cafe in Palm Beach Gardens on Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m., to decorate two cookies to be entered in the contest. The contest is free, but participants are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy to be distributed to the Parent-Child Center’s Child Life Program at St. Mary’s Medical Center, for kids who are hospitalized over the holiday.

On Sunday, the contest is repeated at Saquella Cafe in Boca Raton.

The owner of both restaurants, Avi Sekerel, will provide the baked cookies, icing, and all candy decorations for the cookies. Cash prizes are $25, $50 and $75.

To register online, go to either proseccocafe.com or saquellacafe.com. Registration also will be accepted the day of at each restaurant.

Cookie Decorating Contest

• 3-5 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 17 – Prosecco Cafe, 4580 PGA Blvd. (in PGA Commons), Palm Beach Gardens; 561-622-3222; proseccocafe.com
• 3-5 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 18 – Saquella Cafe, 410 Via De Palmas (in Royal Palm Place), Boca Raton; 561-338-8840; saquellacafe.com

Kids cooking in camp /photo courtesy ChefStart

Every week, a different cuisine is the focus. Students will cook appetizers, salads, entrees and desserts from Italy, the Mediterrean, and beyond. They’ll compile a recipe book, and bring home ideas to expand on the techniques they learn by doing – and eating.

They learn to identify ingredients and navigate a kitchen, plan, cook and serve an entire meal.

Professional chefs are the teachers for the six hour class weekdays.

Classes are $265 per week, with discounts for additional children. Weekly camp classes begin June 6.

For information and registration, go to their website.

ChefStart

3822 Northlake Blvd. (in the Home Depot Shopping Center), Palm Beach Gardens

561-676-7076; www.chefstart.com

The recipe is courtesy of Paul Muldoon, chef at B’Stro on the Beach – the in-house restaurant of B Ocean in Fort Lauderdale.

B Ocean at Fort Lauderdale beach

This is a stunner of a property (hmm – not a bad idea to book a night for mom here to escape) with 240 rooms to choose from, directly overlooking the beach. It’s on the corner of Sunrise Blvd. and S.R. A1A – a completely redone Holiday Inn. Guest rooms include master suites, enhanced junior suites with living areas, and “curve rooms”  – all with views of the beach and Birch State Park across the street.

Fort Lauderdale beach viewed from B Ocean Hotel

All have the luxurious uber mattresses new hotels have thankfully adopted, and wifi in the rooms, throughout the hotel and at the cute pool with cabanas. Spa services are coming soon.

Pool and cabanas at B Ocean

I was one of the media given a preview of the modern hotel when it first opened. We were treated to food from SAIA, their Thai-sushi restaurant (also very good), an overnight stay (we were drinking and didn’t want to drive) and a breakfast in B’Stro on the Beach – from whence came these fabulous pancakes.

Chef Holli Ugalde

Chef Holli Ugalde, a Hell’s Kitchen winner, is chef-consultant to the hotel’s restaurant. She’ll be coming in quarterly for cooking lessons – check the hotel’s schedule of events to see when she appears.

Pancakes a hit all around

Breakfast was terrific in all aspects, but these pancakes stole the show. Chef Muldoon explains the sour milk and baking soda give them the fluffiness that made them light as a feather. I like a lot of pecans, so increased the amount, but you can leave them off or fold them into the batter, too.

B Ocean Lemon pancakes with toasted pecans

• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• zest of 1 lemon, grated
• 1 egg, beaten
  
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• cooking spray

For pecans:

• 2/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans
  
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup

Combine milk with vinegar in a medium bowl and set aside for 5 minutes to “sour.”

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl. Whisk egg and melted butter into soured milk. Pour the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and whisk until most of the lumps are gone.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat, and coat with cooking spray. Pour 1/4 cupful of batter onto the skillet, and cook until bubbles appear over all  the surface. Flip with a spatula, and cook until browned on the other side.

In a small bowl, drizzle the pecans with syrup and mix well. Spread nuts on a baking sheet and bake in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes or until toasted. Note: Watch carefully to prevent burning.

Serve pancakes with a pat of butter and toasted pecans scattered over top, with maple syrup or a dusting of powdered sugar, as desired.

Makes 4 pancakes.

McDonald's Happy Meal tied to the Bee Movie

The New York City Council is about to take up a bill that would ban toys from fast-food offerings.

They’re talking about taking the happy out of the Happy Meal, for many kids, the free toy is, after all, the reason they order what they do when they go to a fast-food spot.

Or is it?

The toys are intended for kids ages 3 to 8, basically. Few of those kids walk into a McDonald’s or drive through a Sonic on their own and ask for a burger and fries with their free toy.

No – they’re strong-arming someone, usually an adult in tow.

Not Big Apple’s First Ban

New York’s big on deciding how and what diners should do and not do in restaurants (smoke, read nutrition on every menu), and ingredients they can use or not (trans fat, foie gras are but two that come to mind). Smokers affected the enjoyment of  meals for others, so banning smoking indoors was seen as a public service, more or less. The rest – still up for debate.

Wendy's Kids Meal

It’s a lot grayer an area when foods or in this case, toys that seemingly harm no one, are totally banned.

They’re not the first city to do this, however. San Francisco’s board of supervisors voted in November 2010 to ban toys with meals that have certain high levels of fat, sugar and calories. The ban takes effect this December. Restaurants or fast-food companies can include a toy with a meal if the food and drink combined contain fewer than 600 calories and if less than 35 percent of the calories come from fat. Also, all meals for kids that contain toys must offer fruits and vegetables as part of the meal.

Childhood health at stake

In both major cities, the reasoning for the toy ban is to attack a growing problem of childhood obesity. If you make fast foods unattractive to kids, would they eat so much of it?

Since not all fast food and certainly not all so-called junk food comes with toys, this is going to single out certain companies.

Toys aren’t new food lures

100 Years of Disney from McDonald's

The first McDonald’s Happy Meal came out in 1979. However, food chains were giving out paper crowns and hats and masks – fake tattoos, all kinds of favors long before Happy Meals.

Fast food companies don’t have a lock on kid-lure, either. CrackerJacks advertise their toy prize inside, bubblegum is wrapped in a free comic, cereal boxes touted decoder rings in trade for box tops, and even banks  hand out lollipops through their drive-thrus. There’s the grocery store-layout artist who has got down pat the way to get kids to throw more foods in the adult-driven cart is to put bright colors on low shelves -  they’re in it to win kids and by default, the kids’ parents.

Parent or child

Legislating diet isn’t new, either – thought the USDA has for decades put out some sort of “suggestion” for correct foods for our diets – despite it being one-size-fits-all, and it subsidizes farmers who produce milk, wheat and sugar. Draw your own conclusions.

Will it prevent childhood obesity?

Raising awareness of the childhood obesity rates isn’t being argued by most. Pediatricians, politicians and parents are on the same page. The road forks widely when it comes to solutions. Schools continue to see funding cuts and phys ed seems to be a lost cause. School lunch programs have little to work with. Nutrition isn’t on any curricular. There’s little adult education for it, either.

Most will argue it’s personal choice – but really, is a child equipped to choose, especially when there’s a toy, however minor, tipping the scales?

Comments are welcome below.

Adam Steinhoff and new son Graham Louis

Meredith, Nicolas and Robbie

Babies are popping out all over. Cousin Meredith Sundbye and her hubby Rob brought Nicholas into our family at the tail end of 2010. Friends Adam and Carly Steinhoff are the very new parents of Graham, born at the late end of Valentine’s Day. Several friends report new nieces and nephews or grandkids.

A back-to-the-earth movement has many new parents looking into making homemade baby food rather than going the commercial route. The benefits are remarkable — not even counting substantial cash savings.

Read on…

Experience with this

I know what of I speak: My son never was fed commercial baby food – I made every bite he ate, even getting his grandmother into the act, cooking for him when I couldn’t.

Fresh vegetables and fruits were so simple to make, first steamed then pureed in a blender, it made me wonder why other mothers didn’t take just an hour a week to cook enough for quintuplets.

The right blender

What spurred all this was an email about an interesting appliance Sur la Table is offering. It’s an all-in-one gadget, the Baby Gourmet Baby Food Maker, that intrigues me – makes me wish I had a baby just to make baby food for. It steams the food, processes it and does everything but serve it up. This model also sterilizes pacifiers, bottle nipples and probably, teething toys – a good multitasker for a parent.

Of course, there’s still the blender – but use one with a glass container. I like and still have the Oster 8-Speed Blender; a half-pint size commercial canning jar (Ball or Mason) fits their blender blade-cap mechanism – you can blend in small amounts and so store in glass, too. Glass Mason jars will go nicely into the freezer as well, and can go into a pot of water for quick-thawing. This helps minimize exposure to BPA-containing plastics.

Foods fit for babes

Not all foods should be cooked and pureed for a tot – certainly not from the beginning stages of solid food (typically 6 months or older).

You may think avocado, banana and sweet potatoes are odd choices, but they all contain nutrients that are key to a baby’s growth. Texture and taste also please infants – who knew?

More common are peeled apples, pears and other stone fruits but take care with mangos, passion fruit and some others that may cause allergies. Fruits can cause diarrhea as well and should be measured. Certain grains can be problematic – including wheat. Watch fresh or canned fish for toddlers – mercury is a concern in infants and children.

Never introduce more than one new food at a time – allergies will show up immediately and you can rule them out quickly. Also make sure your baby is ready for solids – don’t rush them and don’t overfeed them, either.

Good resources for baby food makers

At the website wholesomebabyfood.com, there’s an excellent chart showing when and what to introduce to babies. Also there, find recipes and more information about homemade baby foods.

Check out these books, Super Baby Food, Cooking for Baby: Wholesome, Homemade, Delicious Foods for 6 to 18 Months, and The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet.

Across the Americas and Europe, baking sweet treats for Christmas is a tradition. Most of the cookies we Americans make are variations on cookies handed down through the decades, adapted to today’s ovens and technology, and ingredients.

Everyone seems to have a story to go with the recipes, too – these are among my favorite things. I’ll be featuring cookie recipes till Christmas – share yours!

Ginger molasses cookies from Montana cousin

These big, soft cookies come from my Pensacola cousin Joan Hatler’s recipe file. They were given to her by her mother-in-law, Fran Hatler, who made them for her two sons and two daughters growing up in Havre, Montana.

“We didn’t have much coming up,” said Larry Hatler, Joan’s spouse. “It was a little town on the prairie. You farmed or you worked the railroad – that’s what my dad did.”

Wheat and dairy farms and cattle ranching are big in this area, 30 miles south of the Alberta, Canada, border. The Rockies stand tall in the distance, but it’s flat and dry in and around Havre. “We didn’t cut any Christmas trees – there were none to cut,” Larry said. “A few cottonwoods here and there – but otherwise, there weren’t many trees around.”

Most Christmases were white – and bitter cold. “We ice skated — a lot,” he said. On a recent visit back at Christmastime, the deep snow prompted a sleigh ride in a horse-drawn sleigh. The riders carolled their way through the town, “We were bundled to the teeth,” Joan recalls. “It was so cold, but it really was special.”

Fran Hatler was frugal with food, Joan says. “It was how they grew up – every last morsel of leftovers was eaten or reused. But she always baked for Larry when we would go back. She had cookies made, frozen ahead of time, when we got there.”

Fran Hatler’s Ginger Molasses Cookies

• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 tablespoons molasses
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• granulated sugar for dipping

Cream the shortening and sugar in a large mixing bowl, first at medium then gradually to high speed. Add beaten egg, then molasses. Sift remaining ingredients (except granulated sugar) together into a small bowl; gradually add to wet mixture on medium speed. Mix on medium speed until combined, scraping sides frequently.

Form dough into 2-inch balls; roll in granulated sugar and place on greased cookie sheet spaced 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes; cookies should be still soft, but cooked through.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies. Dough and cookies freeze well.

Chocolate krinkle cookies

Joan also shared with me the following recipe for Chocolate Crinkle cookies – the secret ingredient is cottage cheese – you won’t know it’s there, however, so if you are not a cottage cheese fan, no worries.

These originated from Anita Powers, friend of a friend, who was entering them in the California State Fair. We don’t know whether she won – but she shared the extra cookies with Joan and her friends – and all agreed they should win.

These are soft, crack open as they bake and form the telltale white crevasses filled with powdered sugar that give them their name — so moist – and so unusual. Great for packing, too.

Cottage Cheese Crinkle Cookies

• 1-1/3 cup shortening
• 3-1/2 cup sugar
• 4 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 5-1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups cottage cheese
• 4 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• powdered sugar, for rolling out cookies
  

Use a wooden spoon and large mixing bowl to combine shortening, sugar and eggs, beating till creamy. Sift together baking powder, cocoa, baking soda, salt and flour. Add flour mixture in thirds to bowl, beating with spoon till combined. Add cottage cheese and vanilla, mixing well. Stir in walnuts.
Chill mixture for 2 hours or overnight. Roll 1 teaspoon of dough into a ball, then roll in powdered sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Cookies will crack; they should be removed while on the soft side of done. Remove to a rack to cool; cookies will fall slightly.

Makes 10 to 12 dozen cookies. Dough and cookies freeze well.

Both cookies above can be made by kids!

The program – bring the kids and grandkids – is called Growing Green Communities: Sprouting Ideas for a Green Table.

It’s a full day of learning about growing fruits and vegetables, getting the community involved in town gardens, teaching kids about gardens and how to get them involved and excited about  growing their own foods.

A buffet lunch provided by Whole Foods is part of the bargain – tickets to this event are only $10 or $5 for young kids. (Must get tickets in advance.)

Vegetable gardens, bees, soil, rare fruits and more

Gardening seminars include four lectures on various elements of gardening, including talks on gardening in small spaces, best soil or growing mediums, bees and their importance to food, and rain barrels – how they work and how to use them in the garden.

A special kids’ area will include a hands-on planting table, storytelling and more. Panel discussions will focus on Slow Food in the Schools, and Why Buy Local.

Exhibitors will be showing and offering samples of tropical and heirloom fruits, heritage poultry and bees. Cooking demos will be given by chefs Michael Wagner of Lola’s on Harrison, Hollywood, and Daniel Ramos of Market 17, Fort Lauderdale.

Guided walks and talks in the Pine Jog forest, and tours of green-certified buildings are available.

Growing Green Community Event

• When: Saturday, Sept. 25, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
• Where: Pine Jog Environmental Education Center, 6301 Summit Blvd, West Palm Beach
• Cost: Adults – $10; children under 12 – $5. To ensure entry, tickets must be purchased in advance
• Information and to buy tickets: SlowFoodGladesToCoast.com

Mini Ice Cream Cookie Cups /photo courtesy Pillsbury

A recipe for Mini Ice Cream Cookie Cups won for Sue Compton of New Jersey the $1 million prize in the 44th Pillsbury Bake-Off contest, held in Orlando this past week. This year, the prize was announced today, two days afer the actual Bake-Off, on the Oprah show.

The recipe is so easy, kids can do it. (Mother’s Day is coming up, kids!!)

Compton said she’d keep doing her job as a mortgage loan processor.

Here’s the winning recipe:

Mini Ice Cream Cookie Cups

Prep Time: 20 Min

Total Time: 45 Min

• 1 package (16 oz) Pillsbury® Ready to Bake!™ refrigerated sugar cookies (24 cookies)
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1/3 cup Fisher® Chef’s Naturals® Chopped Walnuts, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup Hershey’s® semi-sweet chocolate baking chips
• 1/4 cup Smucker’s® Seedless Red Raspberry Jam
• 1 1/2 cups vanilla bean ice cream, softened
• 24 fresh raspberries

 Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 24 mini muffin cups with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray. Place 1 cookie dough round in each muffin cup. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Place 2 teaspoons of the sugar in small bowl. Dip end of wooden spoon handle in sugar; carefully press into center of each cookie to make 1-inch-wide indentation. Cool completely in pan, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix walnuts and remaining 2 teaspoons sugar; set aside. In small microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips uncovered on High 30 to 60 seconds, stirring after 30 seconds, until smooth.

Run knife around edges of cups to loosen; gently remove from pan. Dip rim of each cup into melted chocolate, then into walnut mixture. Place walnut side up on cookie sheet with sides.

In another small microwavable bowl, microwave jam uncovered on High about 15 seconds until melted. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon jam into each cup. Freeze cups about 5 minutes or until chocolate is set.

Spoon ice cream into cups, using small cookie scoop or measuring tablespoon. Top each cup with fresh raspberry. Store in freezer; let stand at room temperature 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 24 mini ice cream cups.

(Recipe created by Sue Compton, Delanco, NJ)

NUTRITION INFORMATION (Provided by Pillsbury)

1 Tartlet: Calories 150 (Calories from Fat 70); Total Fat 7g (Saturated Fat 2 1/2g, Trans Fat 1 1/2g); Cholesterol 0mg; Sodium 60mg; Total Carbohydrate 19g (Dietary Fiber 0g, Sugars 12g); Protein 1g Percent Daily Value*: Vitamin A 0%; Vitamin C 0%; Calcium 0%; Iron 2% Exchanges: 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 1 1/2 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 1

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Easter Bunny Cake /photo courtesy Andreasrecipes.com

I can’t remember when these cakes became wildly popular – the ’40s and ’50s most likely, but Baker’s Coconut – once upon a time the only brand of shredded coconut available to home cooks, produced these cake patterns for Easter.

Adorable, simple – made from two 9-inch cake rounds strategically cut and decorated - they always make kids smile. You can make them any flavor you like – a deep chocolate makes them taste like a Mounds candy bar, kinda; German chocolate, lemon or good old yellow cakes work, of course.

This is a great kids’ cooking project – they are terrific at decorating – even littlest ones can sprinkle on coconut and place the mouth and jellybeans.

Tips for bunny cake making

The cake is cut from two 9-inch layers. (See patterns right, and below.) I think it looks best if the cake is made 2-layers deep, so you’ll need to bake four 9-inch layers (two boxes if you’re making from boxed mix) and double the frosting below.

• If you’re making a chocolate cake, remember to brush off the crumbs then brush on a sugar-syrup before icing (thin out a little corn syrup with water to the consistency of thin pancake syrup and paint on with a small paintbrush), so the black crumbs don’t migrate to the pristine white frosting.
• Good luck finding licorice whips for whiskers, but you can snip your own from Twizzlers sticks, or pipe some black or other colored icing on the cake instead.
• Chicklet gum pieces make great rabbit teeth.
• Color the coconut by putting the coconut in a bowl; use a few drops of paste or powder food coloring and toss well with two forks to get the desired shade. Divide coconut into small bowls for coloring small amounts and take it easy on food coloring.
• Give the bunny “cheeks,” as the baby bunny cake at right, with a round circle of pink coconut.
  

  Created by Melissa at Sillybeeschickadees blog

• Part of the fun is all the jellybeans – so make lots of “grass” with the green-tinted coconut so you can “hide” the beans or little foil-wrapped chocolate eggs along the edge under the cake. The kids love it.

Sticky frosting to make the coconut stay

Check below for the 7-minute frosting recipe you’ll need – and a warning: It’s very sticky stuff. This is one frosting where you do NOT lift the beaters to spin off the excess, unless you just want to hose down your kitchen with hot water. Don’t use buttercream – please! I’ll let you cheat and use a box mix, but Seven-minute (also called White Mountain) frosting is just The Right Thing to Do!

7-Minute Frosting

• 1 -1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar or 1 tablespoon white corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 extra-large egg whites at room temperature
• 1 -1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Put sugar, cream of tartar or corn syrup, salt, water, and egg whites in the top of a double boiler. Beat with a handheld electric mixer for 1 minute. Place top pan over boiling water, being sure that the boiling water does not touch the bottom of the top pan. (If this happens, it could cause your frosting to become grainy).

Beat constantly on high speed with electric mixer, making sure to beat to the bottom of pan, for 7 minutes, or until peaks are glossy and hold stiff peaks. Remove from heat.  Beat in vanilla.

Spread on cakes. (Pat or sprinkle the coconut on using fingertips full of coconut while icing is still sticky.) Cover icing with a damp paper towel if leaving it stand for a while or it will begin to set up.

Makes enough for two 9-inch cake layers or about 18 cupcakes. If you double the icing, make sure you use a large mixing bowl to hold the volume of icing that results; otherwise, make it in two separate batches.

Tips: To spread on a cake, first crumb the cake well. Use a basting brush to coat the cake layers with a little corn syrup thinned with water to the consistency of thin syrup; this sets the crumbs. Use a spoon to dollop mounds of icing around the cake and spread using smooth strokes without lifting spatula. Dip the spatula in hot water to smooth the icing and prevent sticking. The iced cakes freeze well.

Chefs John Carlino and Allan Doherty, both professional chefs, teach youngsters kitchen basics, including safe food handling and sanitation, basic prep and cooking techniques and making healthy food choices. Popular cuisines are the focal points – Italian, American, Mexican and French.

Kids learn to make a three-course meal (and have lunch each day), with the week culminating in a Graduation Lunch for them and a guest.

Classes are $250 per child, and begin on Mondays, with Aug. 10 the last week of classes.

Cooks Institute for Young Chefs

• Cook’s Inc.,  1209 Main St. (in Abacoa), Jupiter
• Cost: $250 per week per child; ages 8-14 accepted
• Classes held Monday-Friday, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Registration required; class size limited
• Contact information and class calendar: phone 561-429-8020; web site, www.abacoacooks.com