Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D.

To celebrate my name, today I'm only going to eat foods that start with the same letter as my first name. For breakfast I'll eat muesli with milk. Lunch will be macaroni and cheese, melon salad, and mango nectar. Meatballs in marinara sauce and spaghetti with mushroom salad will make a nice dinner especially if I drink some mint tea with it.

Did you guess my name starts with the letter "M?"

What will you eat today? Can you think of a lot of foods that begin with the first letter of your name? If your name starts with "Q," or "V" or even "Z," you might find only one food that would work. That's okay.

What if you can't find any food that starts with your initial? Aren't you lucky. You can name your favorite food after yourself. My dad's name begins with "V." He couldn't think of any food so I named his favorite breakfast after him -- "Vin's Peanut Butter on Toast." Now he is happy.

Muskmelon and Mint Salad
Ingredients
1 tablespoon marshmallow creme*
1/2 teaspoon milk *
1 teaspoon minced fresh mint
1/2 cup muskmelon balls (In the United States, muskmelon is called cantaloupe)
1/4 cup mango, cut in chunks

Mix the marshmallow creme and milk together. Stir in the mint. Put the muskmelon and mango in a bowl. Add the marshmallow creme. Gently stir to combine.

*This tastes just a good without the marshmallow creme and milk.

Makes 1 serving

Mary Ann Dames, ©2010

For fun visit Behind the Name to learn more about your name. You'll learn its history as well as if there are famous people with the same name.

Did you know this week is Celebrate Your Name Week? Well it is.
Chrysanthemum had the perfect name. At least she thought so until Victoria started teasing her about being named after a flower. The teasing doesn't stop even when Chrysanthemum tells her classmates that she was named after her grandmother. Chrysanthemum wilts under all the teasing until she learns a wonderful secret in Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes.

Rene Has Two Last Names / Rene tiene dos apellidos and is proud of them. His classmates in the United States don't understand their importance. When René gets to do a family tree for a school assignment, he gets to explain why each of his last names is special and how they help him remember the special things about his grandparents. Author René Colato Lainez was born in El Salvador. Bilingual book.

Dr. Seuss I'm not but I had fun with alliteration and rhyme in the five minute write. That's the point, isn't it? To have fun.

Beetles bang and bop
Bop and bang
Flutter and fly as they bang and bop to music unseen.
Fluttery, flying banging, bopping beetles.

What a sight late at night
beetles banged and bopped
sang and stomped
all nonstop

With the light they took flight
coming back another night
Beetles bang and bop

Pull out all the stops today. Write while rolling on the floor with laughter. Write between your giggles. Sharpen the pencils or computer keys and write tongue twisters a la Dr. Seuss. Rhyme and alliteration and absurdity can be your muses. Need inspiration? Read Dr. Seuss's Fox in Socks (Beginner Books). Recall the tongue twisters of Sue sewing whose socks and my favorite of beetles who battle with their paddles.

Does it have to make sense? Heck, no. That is part of the fun. Use real words or make them up.

Can you write a tongue twister? Or do you have a favorite one to share? I'll try and let you see my efforts tomorrow.

Do you think the Cat in the Hat is tired of his same old hat? Maybe he'd like one of these? How would you make it? Or maybe you have a favorite hat you'd like the cat to wear.

Or maybe you're tired of tuna salad. What else could you use to make the cat's head? I thought of Chicken Salad. Can you think of something else?

Cats like tuna so let's make a Cat-in-the-Hat Tuna Salad.

Ingredients for each Cat-in-the-Hat Tuna Salad
1/4 cup tuna salad from the deli or your favorite recipe
1 tablespoon cream cheese at room temperature
1 ripe olive
1 tomato
2 stick pretzels
1 triangle tortilla chip

Mound the tuna salad on a plate.

Cut two round slices from the ripe olive. These will be the eyes. Cut another small piece of olive for the nose.

Cut the tomato in thirds, except this really depends on the size of the tomato. Scoop out the insides of one third and trim it to look like the cat's top hat. Cut a small piece of tomato for the cat's smile.

Divide the cream cheese into two parts and roll them into "snakes." Decorate the hat with the stripes.

Break each of the pretzels in half. The Cat-in-the-Hat has to have whiskers, doesn't he?

Break off two corners of the tortilla chips. These are the cat's small ears.

Assemble the face so it looks something like the photo. Your cat will look different from mine but it will taste even yummier because you made it.

To make this gluten free and/or vegetarian, check the labels.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

Wendie Old, a librarian in Maryland, posted this video link on Wendie's Wanderings. Ocoee Middle School in Ocoee, Florida, partnered with Full Sail to make this 5 minute music video to inspire kids to read. Just imagine getting a whole school in sync!

Dr. Seuss may not have been the name Theodore Seuss Geissel was born with on March 2, 1904. He may not have been a medical doctor but he has been a doctor of fun and laughter for many generations.

My kids loved getting their grandpa to read Fox in Socks (Beginner Books)
. They'd giggle nonstop as Grandpa stumbled through beetle battles and poodle puddles, jumbling the words left and right.

One of my favorites is Green Eggs and Ham (I Can Read It All by Myself Beginner Books). The story bounces along and is something a picky eater can appreciate.

A much beloved favorite is The Cat in the Hat. Be sure to come back on Recipe Wednesday for the Cat in the Hat Salad recipe.

All three of the books mentioned as well as two others can be found in Dr. Seuss's Beginner Book Collection (Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish, Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, Fox in Socks).

Holi is a celebration of good over evil in Hindu mythology. How to celebrate? One way is by throwing colored powders made from flowers.

Read more about it at Holi - The Hindu Festival of Colors. To see some really amazing photographs visit the site of photojournalist Poras Chaudhary. Breathtaking!