Ruby’s in The Fridge

The best thing about this time of year in my opinion is the pomegranates.  I love putting them in and on everything I eat.  I saw a great way to remove the seeds while watching Good Eats with Alton Brown and thought want a fun thing for your kids to do to help make an easy snack for themselves to keep the fridge. 

Ingredients:

Pomegranates

Large bowl or bucket of water

Cookie sheet lined with paper towels

Directions:

First cut the pomegranates in half.  Cover the floor or table with newspaper of old towels that you wouldn’t mind getting stained.  Place a bowl or bucket of water on the ground and put the pomegranates half’s in the water.  With your fingers gently push the seeds out of the fruit.  The seeds will sink to the bottom of the bowl and the waxy yellow casing will float and the best part you wont even stain your fingers. Once all the seeds are out, either scoop out the waxy yellow casing with your fingers or with a strainer.  Poor the seeds and water out into a strainer and transfer the wet seeds onto the paper towel lined cookie sheet.  Allow to dry before placing them into a container with a good lid.  In the fridge you can keep these for weeks, if they last that long.  Enjoy in salads, yogurt and my favorite cottage cheese. 

ENJOY!

Danielle

Learning Corner:

Do the pomegranate seeds look like anything else that we have around the house this time of year? Christmas lights or maybe even Rudolf’s nose?

A Fruitful Turkey

This original post can be found at The Family Fun Magazine website.

http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/gobble-me-up-783884/. It will make a great appetizer or even breakfast for you kids to make on your Thanksgiving Day celebration.

Ingredients

Apple

Clementine or navel orange

Pear

Dried apricot

Peanut butter or cream cheese

Mini chocolate chips

Nut (we used a cashew)

Dried cranberry

Directions

Arrange apple and clementine or navel orange slices on a plate as shown. Now cut a pear in half and use a spoon to core out the center, place the pear half on top of the other fruit, this forms the turkey body.

Use scissors to halve a dried apricot, then snip small triangles from each half and tuck them under the pear to form the feet.   Be careful not to cut your fingers.

Finally, use peanut butter or softened cream cheese to attach mini chocolate chip eyes, any form of nut for the beak and a cranberry for the waddle.  And your turkey is done.

ENJOY!

Danielle

Turkey Cookies

http://www.kidactivities.net/category/Holidays-Thanksgiving-Snacks.aspx

This recipe suggests using the premade cookie dough, but here is a recipe for sugar cookies just in case you want to make your own.  The fallowing cookie recipe is from my Betty Crocker cook book. 

Ingredients for Cookies:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1 cup butter or margarine, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 egg

2 1/2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Granulated sugar or colored sugar

Decorating Ingredients: 

Chocolate frosting,

M&M’s or other coated small candy

Orange frosting tube

Candy corn

Directions:

For cookies:  Mix powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, almond extracts and egg in large bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients except granulated sugar. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours. Heat your oven to 375 degrees.  Roll out cookie dough until it is about ¼ inch thick.  With a turkey shaped cookie cutter cut out as many cookies as you can from your dough.  Bake for 7-10 minutes or until edges are golden. 

To decorate:  Use chocolate frosting and make a thin line on the top half of the cookie, attach the candy corn pointed side up for the turkey’s feathers.  To make the turkeys eyes use your favorite color of M&M’s or other coated round candy and adhere to the cookie with a dab of chocolate frosting.  To make the beak and feat use a small tube of store bought orange frosting.  The decorating ideas came from the website at the top of the page. 

Learning Corner:

Why is it that we serve turkey at Thanksgiving, do a little research with your kids and find out the history of the great family holiday. 

Bread Cornucopia Center Piece

This is a great way for your child to make a very impressive contribution to this year’s Thanksgiving table. 

Ingredients:

Frozen bread dough
1 egg white
Aluminum foil, pizza pan or heavy duty foil

Make a cone shape out of aluminum foil the size of the cornucopia you want, twist the end of the cone to make it look like a horn.  Spray both the cone and the cookie sheet you will use for baking with nonstick spray.

Roll bread dough out into large rectangle. Cut into strips about 1½ inch wide. Start at end of cone shape and wrap bread strips around and pinch ends together, ending on what you want to be the bottom of the cone.  Make sure to overlap the strips of dough just a little so that no foil shows.  Repeat this until you have covered the entire cone.  You can jazz up your cone by adding a decorative braid to the opening if you like.

Brush egg white all over bread. Let rise for 20 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Cover with foil and bake 20 minutes longer, making sure the bread is golden brown. Allow to cool and remove foil. Fill your cornucopia with your choice of decorations, like fruit, veggies, fall leaves and pinecones from our beautiful parks.

Read more and see the original recipe and others at: http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/kids-Thanksgiving-recipes.html#ixzz1dFmF0OjQ

Learning Corner:

Do a little research together and find out what the orignal cornucopia’s were used for, and where they came from?

Kale Chips

Kale is a great fresh green that is easily found this time of year.  If you are looking for a way to chips out of your food closet and more veggies into you family, then this is the recipe for you.  I found the orignal on foodnetwork.com under chef Giada De Laurentiis.  They may seem strange but believe me their are delicious. 

Ingredients:

1 punch of kale

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

Directions:

Cut Kale along the tough center stems, and chop the leaves into 1 and half to 2 inch pieces.  Place the kale onto a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil (enough to lightly coat all the kale).  With your hands mix kale and olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  Place the baking sheet into a 350 degree oven for 10-12 mins or until the edges are just turning brown and the kale is crispy. 

You will be suprized about how crispy the kale gets, and how light and tasty your homemade chips are. 

Learning Corner:

Would these chips make a good addition to your families Thanksgiving table?  Treat your family and friends to a great snack your kids can make all by themselves.