Filtering by Category: Road Trip,Kids Bites

Visions of Gingerbread @ The Stamford Museum

Kids Bites Education Events Stamford kids activity Kid Friendly Opening

Sarah Green November 11, 2009

Every year, I buy one of those boxed gingerbread house kits and my kids and I go at it. We glop it together with that glue-like petroleum by-product substance that they call icing, we decorate with the stale jelly beans and mini gum balls they provide, and we call it a day. It’s fun and the kids enjoy it. Do yours? If so, head to the Stamford Museum and Nature Center (SM and NC) this month and next to see how the pros do it. “Visions of Gingerbread: The Sweetest Architects” is the name of the exhibition that the museum is presenting as both a showcase for local bakers and as a fundraiser for the SM and NC.

What's in Your Lunchbox? Do-it-Yourself Pizza Dippers

Kids Bites Ask Chef Nicole What's in your Lunchbox? kids activity Recipe Kid Friendly

Nicole Straight November 04, 2009

What snack food is more universal and beloved than pizza? As a play on this perennial favorite we thought we would create a deconstructed pizza that kids could have fun assembling at their desks. Instead of standard pizza crust, we are using tortillas for their flexibility and wrap-ability. Sure, you could cut up some handmade triangled pizza crust, or even pita bread for this one. Build them any way you want.

You will need a few small containers for proper travel, but your children will be the envy of the classroom.

Turkey pepperoni, shredded cheese and tortilla “pizza dippers”

It's Always a Party @ Sugar & Olives, Norwalk

Kids Bites Restaurant Catering Cooking Classes Education Going Green Holiday Norwalk healthy Lunch

Sarah Green October 28, 2009

Wish you could throw a party in your own home, where people could meander from room to room to avoid that stuffy, restaurant feel? Hate being stuck at some long, rectangular table where the only person you are speaking to is the one right next to you? (You know, the one that you had been trying NOT to get stuck with.) Want to be relaxed and enjoy the food with your guests while someone else prepares, serves, and cleans up? Want to stop worrying about the red wine spilling on your white sofas? Tired of stressing about the fancy gadgets in your medicine cabinet that people might discover while they “powder” and snoop? Have your (organic) cake and eat it too at Jennifer Balin’s eclectic and fabulous “space” in Norwalk. SUGAR and OLIVES is the name and quirky and sensational is the game!

Halloween Recipes: Screamin’ Meanie Pulled Pork Bites

Kids Bites Features Ask Chef Nicole Holiday Recipe Kid Friendly

Nicole Straight October 24, 2009

Here is yet another fun and tasty party pleaser. We have listed two techniques for the creation of this delicious dish. Your selected preparation will depend on your expendable time, and your desire for home made fare vs. store bought ingredient assembly. We made these both ways over the weekend, and you will be happy with the results either way.

If you are not a regular pulled pork eater, try it. The sweetness of the BBQ sauce, and the tenderness of the slow cooked pork makes this a real treat.

Technique #1 I'm short on time:

Screamin’ Meanie Pulled Pork Bites (Mini corn bread and pulled pork sandwiches)

Easy Halloween Party Recipes Part 1: Bloody Fingers

Kids Bites Features Ask Chef Nicole Holiday Recipe Kid Friendly

Nicole Straight October 24, 2009

Halloween is around the corner, and this week, in honor of this ghoulish holiday, CT Bites will feature a daily recipe to help you plan the perfect Halloween party. These dishes are both adult and kid-friendly, and are simple time-saving delicious meals that will leave you plenty of time for dress-up. This is the first in our series, and really... what defines the real joy of Halloween more perfectly than eatable severed body parts?

These "Bloody Fingers" are an updated version of a perennial favorite, pigs in a blanket. I like to use chorizo, but you could substitute chicken apple sausage or Portuguese linguica.

Bloody Fingers in a Blanket (AKA chorizo in puff pastry)

Jones Family Farms: Pumpkin Picking at its Best

Kids Bites kids activity Farm Fresh Kid Friendly

Stephanie Webster October 17, 2009

Did Fairfield County seem unusually quiet last weekend as if everybody had gone somewhere? Were you wondering where the party was? I can tell you with absolute certainty that Fairfield County residents were indeed out, but there were no cocktails involved (although now that I think of it....) This was a family friendly affair...Everybody was out picking pumpkins at Jones Family Farms in Shelton CT.

We drove up to Jones on a beautiful Sunday afternoon (of course the weather has taken a turn for the worse since then) and as we pulled into the parking lot, my heart sank. I couldn’t believe there could be this many people on a single farm. It looked like Silverman’s (and not in a good way). But all was not lost. As we left the cars in their neat rows and strolled towards the actual farm, something beautiful was revealed. The vista opened to picturesque rolling hills in the distance and what seemed like acres of pumpkin fields. And these were no half-rate pumpkins. We are talking perfect pumpkins..thousands of them. We were on Pumkinseed Hill, the Fall outpost of the Jones Family Farms.

Halloween Party Recipes Part 2: Caramel Popcorn Balls

Kids Bites Features Ask Chef Nicole Holiday kids activity Kid Friendly Dessert

Nicole Straight October 14, 2009

What's a party without the popcorn? These sweet and salty treats are always a favorite (remove spiders before eating). This recipe lends itself nicely to child participation...as long as they don't mind getting a little sticky.

To amp up the gruesomeness, melt some white chocolate in the microwave or over a double broiler and add 2-3 drops of red food coloring. Then drip the "blood" over the finished popcorn balls.

For a more savory snack, try adding a pinch of cayenne pepper to the caramel.

Caramel Popcorn Balls

What's in Your Lunchbox...Wanna Trade?

Kids Bites Ask Chef Nicole What's in your Lunchbox? Kid Friendly

Stephanie Webster October 07, 2009

It's 11pm. You want to go to bed, but your kids' lunch boxes are all sitting empty on the counter. What can you pack them for school that is good enough to not come back uneaten (as is generally the case in my house), but also healthy enough to get them through the day?

CTbites is happy to introduce a new column geared towards helping parents solve the age old question. What to pack in those darn snack bags? Chef Nicole has been gathering data on this for some years now, and has a bevy of great ideas for you and your family. Here is post #1 of What's in Your Lunchbox?

Packing School Lunch: Get on the Plastic "BAN" Wagon

Kids Bites Going Green Kid Friendly

Deanna Foster August 11, 2009

Photo c/o Kidskonserv.comA few years ago, about 150 days into the 180 days of packing school snacks and lunches, the tedium got to me and I started thinking about all that plastic. Plastic sandwich bags, plastic snack bags, plastic wrap, plastic water bottles, plastic-coated juice boxes. Thrown away. Everyday. By every child in the school, the city, the state, the country. The image of all that plastic sitting in landfills unchanged for thousands of years made me crazy. So crazy, I made a declaration (to myself): No more disposable plastic in the lunchbox!