Animal Chips via Family Fun

FIRST: I didn’t look specifically for organic recipes. At this point, I’ll say what you’ve heard me say a million times; almost any recipe can be altered from conventional to organic. When looking for good green recipes to make with kids, look for ones that can be easily altered to make them healthier. Also keep in mind that you don’t have to cook entirely organic, but I suggest making sure you do cook organic when the recipe calls for food items known to be the most toxic.

Fun cooking with kid recipe links:

29 Gross (But Fun!) recipes – really gross, not for the faint of heart. I’m not sure I could make any of them, but then, I’m a food wimp.

Fruit Pizza

Lily Pad Cookies

The Very Tasty Caterpillar

Breakfast Rockets

Spaghetti Bolognaise Face

Zoom has all kinds of fun stuff, such as…

• Alphabet Pretzels
• Fruit Flowers
• Simple Fruit Kabobs
• Granola Bars
• And more.

And just for pure fun - edible birthday cards.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

One of the easiest places to get kids going green is in the kitchen. Kids like most kinds of cooking fun, especially the really fun stuff like baking, blending, and freezing.

If you want to introduce your kids to both green living and cooking skills, here are some easy tips you can follow…

1. Talk about organics: Kids don’t always get organic vs. conventional foods. I’ve been talking about the term organic with my son forever, and I’m pretty sure that now, at age 7, he’s just really getting it. At the store, he’ll ask for organics over non organic now.

To discuss organic choices with a child, my best advice is to keep it simple. Say something like, “Organic means healthier for your body” – “Organic foods don’t have icky chemicals or pesticides in them that can make you sick” – “Organic foods are a smart choice for the planet, like turning off the lights.” These are things that have worked with my son. To explain terms like chemicals and pesticides I’ll say something like, “They’re like really bad germs” which yeah, they’re not, but my son gets germs, so it works. As he’s gotten older, we talk about pesticides and chemicals in a more real manner.

2. Use green cooking tools: Using items like silicone muffin cups, reusable ice pop molds, and food storage containers over plastic wrap provides you with a conversation topic. My son sometimes fights against homemade ice pops, because he wants those shiny boxes of pre-wrapped store treats (badly). We just talk about why homemade is better; less waste, more flavor choices, etc.  Green is sometimes about making hard choices and with my son, homemade ice pops are a hard choice when he wants the store pops so bad, but it’s a good lesson in green.

3. Make it fun and if possible, nature based: Start with the fun green food choices, such as…

• Make some fun candied flowers
• Organic veggie & fruit shapes made with cookie cutters
• Organic smiley bread faces
• Gather non-toxic leaves and make homemade organic chocolate leaves
• Make adorable organic buggy cakes
• 32 Unique Homemade Popsicle Recipes & Ideas

4. Encourage meatless meals: Kids who are given veggies from a young age really do love them and meatless meals are better for the environment. My son was raised vegetarian and he’d rather eat a bowl full of broccoli, a red pepper, or sliced apples than cookies – and I’m seriously not kidding. Tofu is an easy ingredient to work with, and kids like to squish it around. Try some tofu recipes for kids.

5. Grab a good green kid-friendly cookbook

6. Follow basic green cooking practices: Recycle packaging, compost, use the food up, turn the oven off early, and be invested in other basic green kitchen habits. Your child is watching you carefully, make sure he’s seeing you be green.

Have any other great green cooking with kids tips? Tell me in the comments.

[image - Fruitcakes-1 via Flickr]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

And if you missed the Meatless Meals posts, here they are in the eco cooking category.

Plus, did you know that you can make chocolate zucchini bread? Here’s a recipe from All Recipes. Try it out.

Photo courtesy of Lisa Solonynko.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

1. Many tofu recipes that I come across contain honey. That smoothie above does. Don’t forget that babies under the age of one year, cannot have honey. It’s not safe.

2. I also don’t think that sites promoting tricky tofu ideas are a good deal. Part of respecting our kids is NOT tricking them. Plus, being sneaky is so weird. It makes tofu a “weird food” to kids if you act like hiding it in other food is normal. My suggestion is to be honest with kids right from the start. If they ask, say it’s tofu, and that’s what’s for dinner.

It’s better, of course if you start when they’re young. Cedar’s been a vegetarian his whole life. To him stuff like tofu and veggies is just food, not odd food. This kid asked for celery instead of cake at his birthday, eats tofu and brown rice happily, and wants whole red bell peppers for breakfast – so introducing kids to healthy foods at a young age works. No tricks necessary.

Don’t forget – you could get a pair of tickets for the First Eco Wedding & Lifestyle Show in Canada!

Click to learn more.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Later this week I know that Peggy has some cool meatless posts planned, so I figured I’d work that in to our kid day.

So, how come tofu is so green? The main point is that it’s not meat. Meat, unlike tofu, is extremely bad for the environment.

• EarthWorks Press has noted that just one meat eater uses as much land to produce food as 20 vegetarians.
• It can take more than 15 times the amount of energy to produce pork (per pound) than it does to produce grains, veggies, and fruits (per pound).
• The Rainforest Action Network relates that producing one small hamburger is like chopping off about 55 square feet of a tropical rainforest.

There are more reasons to eat less meat – or no meat at all. But for this post, we’ll concentrate on tofu eating for the littles (and adults).

The Enchanted Broccoli Forest has one of the better kid tofu recipes – Tofu-Nut Balls. It’s a good intro for kids who haven’t been raised on tofu.

You gather:

1. 1/2 cup brown rice – uncooked
2. 1 cup water
3. dash of soy sauce (I’ve made it without soy sauce though, it was fine).
4. 1/2 pound firm organic tofu – mashed up
5. 1/2 cup ground almonds
6. 1/2 cup fine whole wheat bread crumbs

To make:

1. Mix rice and water in saucepan, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, cook until mushy. Way mushier than normal rice should be.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Put soy sauce, 3/4 of the cooked rice, and 1/2 of the tofu in a blender and blend into a thick paste.
4. Mix the paste in a large bowl with every single ingredient you have left.
5. Form little balls with your hands (about 36) and bake for 30 minutes.

Cedar likes his with organic ketchup. The book suggests on top of pasta or veggies or as party appetizers.

Peanut, broccoli, tofu for babies.

When Cedar was little I made most of his baby food, and this one dish he loved. I’d steam broccoli until super soft, and cut that into small baby bites. Then, I’d mix a little organic peanut butter in a sauce pan with some apple juice or breast milk – until sauce-like. You toss the broccoli into a bowl with some heated medium-firm tofu squares (baby bites!). Then you drizzle the sauce over it.

For more kid-tofu fun try:

The In A Vegetarian Kitchen website – they have a great kid tofu section with items like…

• “Chicken”-Style Tofu Fajitas
• Baked Tofu Nuggets
• Macaroni and Cheese with a Secret Silken Tofu Sauce
• Creamy Corn Chowder
• Miniature Chocolate Pudding Pies

Creamy tofu pumpkin pie

Fruity tofu smoothie

A great video of the making of tofu that kids will like. You can’t let them watch the making of a hamburger for fun, now can you?

Post from: Tree Hugging Family