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

Children’s Author and Registered Dietitian

The kid-friendly recipes on this page were inspired by books written by my friends. There's no better way I could think of to celebrate their successes than to create a recipe for each of them.

Watch the recipe list grow as we write more and more books.

If you click on the link after each recipe, you will go to each author's web site. There you can learn more about them and their other books.

Ingredients

1/2 cup fresh or frozen and thawed blackberries plus
     6 whole ones*
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 oatmeal raisin granola bar

Put the 1/2 cup blackberries in a small bowl. Using the back of a fork, crush the berries.

Add the yogurt and stir together.

Spoon half of the blackberry-yogurt mixture into a small dessert bowl. Put the other half into a second dessert bowl.

Divide the granola bar in half. Crumble each half over a serving of Bear's Crunchy Blackberry Treat. Decorate each with three whole blackberries.

*Wash the fresh blackberries just before using them. Drain on a paper towel.

Makes 2 servings.

©2008 Mary Ann Dames, M.S.,R.D.

Do you want more blackberry recipes? Check out Blackberry Smoothie in
Blackberry Banquet by Terry Pierce as well as even more recipes on her blog.

Ingredients

1 16-ounce roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
60-80 drops yellow food coloring
24 green gumdrops*

Preheat oven to 350F degrees F.

In a bowl, combine and knead the cookie dough, flour and food coloring until well mixed.

To shape the cookies, divide the dough into 24 pieces. For each cookie, divide one of the larger pieces into 4 smaller pieces. Roll each of these small pieces into a ball. Hint: If the dough becomes too sticky to easily work with, refrigerate it for 30-60 minutes.

On an ungreased cookie sheet, put 4 small balls together to make a flower with four petals. Press a gumdrop firmly onto the center of the flower. Continue making flowers until all the cookie dough is used up.

Bake cookies at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool for 2 minutes. Place the cookies on a cooling rack.

*After the cookies have cooled for 30 minutes, and if you didn't use the candies, you can put a dab of green food coloring in the middle of the cookie flower.

Makes 24 cookies.

© 2007 Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D.

View Carol Heyer's art and learn how to order Humphrey's First Christmas.

Put the Italian strawberry ice or ice cream in a 12 ounce drinking glass. Pour the strawberry soda and the lemon-lime soda over the strawberry ice/ice cream. Mix gently to combine. Serve with a spoon so you can get all the delicious flavors out of the glass.

Makes 1 serving

© 2007 Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D.

Visit Judy Enderle and Stephanie Gordon's website, authors of Smile, Principessa!   You can also order their book.

Ingredients

½ cup butter, melted
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup chopped pecans
10-12 individually wrapped caramel candies
     (about ¾ cup), cut into quarters
½ cup thick caramel syrup such as Mrs. Richardson’s
     Fat Free Caramel Topping
¾ cup condensed milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 13x9x2-inch pan with vegetable spray.

Layer the ingredients in the order given. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbly and a deep golden brown.

Cool for about 30 minutes. Cut into bars.

Makes about 48 bars.

© 2007 Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D.

To learn more about Mary Cassatt: Impressionist Painter by Lois Harris or to order the book, click here.

If you've ever smelled the lavender fields of Provence, France, or slept on a lavender filled pillow, you know what these melt-in-your mouth cookies taste like.

You can buy edible dried lavender flowers at a herb store, farmer's market or on-line. Do not use lavender flowers from a craft store as they have been sprayed or fumigated.

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon crushed dried lavender flowers
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 teaspoon crushed dried mint
1 cup butter at room temperature
2 cup granulated sugar

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, salt, lavender buds, lemon zest and mint. Set aside.

In another large mixing bowl, combine room temperature butter and ½ cup granulated sugar. Beat together until light and fluffy. Slowly add flour mixture. Stir just until combined.

Cover and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet. Shape cookie dough into walnut size balls; place two inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies barely start to brown.

Remove from oven and cool for 2 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Makes about 36 tea cakes.

© 2007 Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D.

If you'd like, you can roll the cooled tea cakes in Lavender Sugar.

Recipe for Lavender Sugar from "Lavender's Blue" by Lois Harris.