Cooking Kids

Rolos Peanut Butter Cookies by Pam!! Congratulations Pam! You have a $10 Walmart gift card coming your way.

Here’s the winning recipe for Rolos Peanut Butter Cookies

1 package of peanut butter cookie dough
1 package of Rolos
Sugar to roll the cookies in
Open the pack of peanut butter cookie dough. Tear off a chunk and roll a Rolo into the middle of it. Roll the ball into sugar and bake at 350*, until lightly browned. About 10 minutes for us.

This cookie won because of its simplicity, taste and the ability to work as an everyday cookie or a holiday cookie. The kids made this 100% by themselves. The only thing I did was preheat the oven for them. They both had a blast making these and rolling the Rolos in the dough and rolling the dough in sugar. We decided that when we make our Santa cookies, we’ll roll these in red and green sugars instead of white.

Even though Pam’s cookie won, all the cookies were delicious. The super simple peanut butter cookie with the chocolate star in the middle was our runner-up. The kids had a really hard time deciding between the two, and fighting over who got the last bite. If you love peanut butter, then the super simple peanut butter cookie is for you.

The chocolate chip, peanut butter, and sugar cookie recipes are all traditional favorites of ours, and we enjoyed trying each recipe. We have the leftovers frozen to make our Santa cookies with. The no-bake cookie reminded my son of a Snicker’s for some reason, and he gobbled lots of those down.

The oatmeal chocolate chip cookie was a hearty cookie, and will probably become a new holiday favorite for gift giving. The reindeer chow was fun and simple to make, but we had quite a discussion on whether or not it could be called a cookie. In the end we decided it was a different form of cookie and my daughter shared them with her playgroup yesterday at their Christmas party. The snowball cookies went fast, and that was largely due to me and my husband fighting over them. The kids tried them, but they had a little trouble getting won over because of the nuts. They loved rolling them in powdered sugar though.

The last three entries are posted on yesterday’s blog. So if you missed seeing your cookie, check the blog from yesterday. Thanks everyone for entering the christmas cookie contest. We had a lot of fun baking and trying all the cookies. It’s always a pleasure when I can get my son into the kitchen for more than just eating. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Well we got a handful of the cookies baked yesterday, but I still have three more to go. We’ll get those baked up tonight, eat a sample of each one again, and decide on a winner. I will post the last few contestants, including the winner, tomorrow. Considering how many recipes came in at the last minute, I think we did pretty good getting them all baked up and tested. The cookies we did yesterday include the chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, reindeer chow and no bake cookies. I’ve now added the last three cookies to this blog. The picture is below. Those three are the oatmeal chocolate chip, rollo cookies and a peanut butter cookie that is a compeltely different recipe than the first peanut butter cookie. See you guys back here tomorrow for the winner….probably around noon time.

Well we had a busy morning and afternoon, so I only got two cookies baked today. Tomorrow we have plans to spend most of the day baking, so I’m hoping to get them all done by tomorrow night. As with the last contest, I will post the name and picture of the cookie(s) but no opinions yet. The first two we tried were the Snowball Cookies and one of the peanut butter cookies. The peanut butter cookie didn’t have an actual name posted in the comments, so I’ll call it the Super Simple Peanut Butter Christmas Cookie. The picture shows the snowball cookies in the middle and the peanut butter cookies on the outside. This is what we’re actually going to give to my daughter’s gymnastics teacher tomorrow for a christmas gift.  Look for more cookie entrants throughout the week. Thanks for entering!

Wow! My inbox blew up with comments to moderate for the cookie contest. I know the contest rules say a winner announced by the 10th, but with so many new recipes, it may not be until the 11th or 12th before I announce a winner. I will do my best though to get the cookies made in the next 3 days. My son had the flu last week and even missed some school, so there wasn’t much chance for me to bake last week anyway. But I’m stopping to pick up the gift card tomorrow and will bake and post as I get them done. Good luck to all entrants! They all sound great, and some definitely seem extra fun for kids.

This is the last week to enter the christmas cookie recipe contest. All you need to do is visit This Blog Post and type your recipe into the comments section. Right now there is only one recipe entered, so lets get some competition going. The winner gets a $10 Walmart gift card.

Speaking of cookies, this month will have lots of cookie recipes to help you and your kids have a yummy time in the kitchen this holiday season. I have a cookie exchange coming up this weekend, so I’ll be trying plenty of new recipes and scoping out which ones are kid friendly. It’s time to get your cookie on!!

After having a fairly good response to my no-bake cookie contest a few months ago, it’s time for the Christmas Cookie Contest. Since it’s holiday time and everyone needs a few extra dollars, the winner of the Christmas Cookie Contest will get a $10.00 Wal-mart gift card. Here are the rules:

The Christmas Cookie Contest runs from Tuesday, November 18th to Monday December 8th. Enter any kid-friendly christmas cookie recipe by December 8th to be eligible for the prize. Put your cookie recipe into the comments section. The kids and I will be trying the cookie recipes as they roll in, taking a picture and posting each to the blog. We are judging based on taste and texture, but overall we’re looking for something that is fun for kids to make. Overly complicated Christmas cookies aren’t what we’re looking for. Please make sure the recipe you enter isn’t already entered. If there are duplicate recipes, the first person to submit will be chosen and the other posters can submit a different recipe, if they like.

The winner will be announced on or around December 10th, unless there are no last minute cookie recipes, in which case the winner will be announced on December 9th. I will contact the winner and mail the $10.00 Walmart gift card ASAP, so you have it in time for last-minute holiday shopping. Make sure you have a valid email address associated with your recipe comment so you don’t miss out.

I hope you’ll enter. I look forward to trying some great Christmas cookies aimed at kids.

This giveaway/contest is being run by the independent writer of Cookingkids.today.com and has not been reviewed or endorsed by the webhost, Today.com

Here’s the food joke for the week with a Thanksgiving twist. If you’ve tired of the traditional giving thanks before the meal, try some of these tips:

1. At the end of the meal, turn to your mom and say, “See mom, I told you they wouldn’t notice that the turkey was six months past the expiration date. You were worried for nothing.”

2. When everyone says what they are thankful for, say, “I’m thankful no one ever found the body” and refuse to say anything more.

3. Fill your plate, then take it to the kitchen, toss it all in the blender, and take your “shake” back to the table.

4. Prepare a 30-minute speech to give when asked about your thankfulness. If necessary, insist that no one leave or eat until you have finished the speech.

5. Invite a friend that only talks about the tragic and abusive conditions known to exist at turkey farms. Request that he or she bring photos or a news article.

6. Seem relieved that the orange brown color of the pumpkin pie masks the fact that you cut your finger and were bleeding everywhere while making it.
 

7. Come to the table dressed as a pilgrim. Half way through dinner, change your clothes and return to the table dressed like an Indian.

I don’t know how many of you have seen the newer high fructose corn syrup commercials. You know those commercials that tout the good qualities of high fructose corn syrup? I guess it was only a matter of time before the Corn Refiners Assoc. started fighting back. There’s a lot of money to be lost if people start demanding that their foods be sweetened with natural sugar, rather than a combination of genetically modified enzymes.

We are not for HFCS in this house. That doesn’t mean we don’t buy products with HFCS, but it does mean I make a conscious effort when shopping to avoid the stuff. If I do buy it, I try to buy products where HFCS is listed from the 5th ingredient on. I look for products sweetened with honey, sugar, brown sugar or cane juice. I don’t care what those commercials say; I’ll never believe that a genetically modified sweetener is just as good for my family as plain old table sugar.

The line in the commercials that really gets me is when they have the person, who is enjoying his or her high fructose corn syrup treat, say that high fructose corn syrup is just fine in moderation. I always laugh at that part because of the word moderation. Considering how many products contain HFCS, I know that families who aren’t conscious of the ingredient are definitely not ingesting it in moderation. It’s in most juice boxes, punches, peanut butters, jellies, candies, breads, sodas and boxed dessert snacks. For a family not conscious of its HFCS consumption, a child’s lunchbox could be nothing but a HFCS goldmine.

So what’s so wrong with high fructose corn syrup? Experts say the jury is still out and there is conflicting evidence of the detriments of HFCS. However, my proof is in the pudding. I used to be an avid Coke drinker. I’m talking at least 6 a day. They never made me full. That’s why I could drink them all day long and continue getting a little bigger each year. When I stopped drinking sodas last year, I switched to sweet tea I make at home. I noticed a huge difference in how I felt. While the sodas did not fill me up, a large glass of sweet tea made with real sugar did. While the sugar isn’t any better in the long run, it does show that ingesting items with real sugar gives your body something to process, hence making it feel full. HFCS lets you just eat and eat or drink and drink to excess because your body isn’t processing it the same way.

If you’re confused about high fructose corn syrup, do a little research and see what’s best for your family. Don’t just believe these new commercials, put out by the people who stand to lose the most $$$$$$ if people stop buying products with HFCS.

Thought I’d end the month with the food joke of the week. I’ve got a fun joke for the kids and then some unconventional ways to determine food spoilage. Enjoy!

 Sammy: Daddy, are caterpillars good to eat?

Daddy: I’ve told you we don’t talk about things like that during dinner.

Mommy: Why would you ask that anyway?
Sammy: Because I saw one on the lettuce daddy ate, but now it’s gone.

Food Spoilage Table

THE GAG TEST-Courtesy of e-cookbooks.com
Anything that makes you gag is spoiled (except for leftovers
from what you cooked for yourself last night).

EGGS
When something starts pecking its way out of the shell, the
egg is probably past its prime.

MEAT
If opening the refrigerator door causes stray animals from
a three-block radius to congregate outside your house,
the meat is spoiled.

CANNED GOODS
Any canned goods that have become the size or shape of a
basketball should be disposed of. Carefully.

WINE
It should not taste like salad dressing.

POTATOES
Fresh potatoes do not have roots, branches, or dense,
leafy undergrowth.

GENERAL RULE OF THUMB:
Most food cannot be kept longer than the average life span
of a hamster. Keep a hamster in your refrigerator to gauge this.

A nutritionist was once addressing a large audience in New York. “The substances we put into our stomachs is enough to have killed most of us sitting here, years ago.
Red meat is awful. Soft drinks erode your stomach lining. Chinese food is loaded with MSG. Vegetables can be disastrous, and none of us realizes the long-term harm caused by the germs in our drinking water.

But there is one thing that is the most dangerous of all and we all have, or will, eat it. Can anyone here tell me what food it is that causes the most grief and suffering for years after eating it?”

A 75-year-old man in the front row stood up and said, “Wedding cake.”