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

I made Handy Pasta Salad again. This time I used gluten free elbow macaroni. I didn't have any green pepper but I did have mushrooms so I sliced one up to replace the missing ingredient. I also discovered I was out of mayonnaise. What to do? I used fat-free plain yogurt instead. Because yogurt is a little bit more tart than mayonnaise, I didn't use the vinegar. I must have done something right because we ate up all the Handy Pasta Salad. I'm sad. There is none left for my lunch tomorrow.

The new recipe is at the end of this post.

If you were making Handy Pasta Salad, how might you change it? Here are some ideas.

It would look pretty with spinach noodles or tri-color fusilli pasta. Visit Natonal Pasta Association to see more shapes.

If you look at the photo closely, you'll see I used shredded carrots instead of sliced carrots. For other vegetables I might try a bit of green onion. I wouldn't use too much because it has a strong taste. Maybe I would use a bit of leftover cooked corn. I could add some fresh green beans or sliced radishes because I like their snappy taste.

Handy Pasta Salad - Take Two
Ingredients
3 tablespoons fat-free sour cream
3 tablespoons fat-free plain yogurt
2 cups cold leftover cooked noodles or macaroni,gluten-free
3 tablespoons chopped celery
3 tablespoons shredded carrots
1 medium sized mushroom, sliced
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine sour cream and yogurt. Add the cold cooked noodles, chopped celery, shredded carrots, and sliced mushrooms. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Makes about 3 cups.
Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

Making Micro-Mini S'Mores is quick and easy. But it takes a lot of those tiny treats to make a mouth full.

The original S'More uses chocolate candy bar piece and a marshmallow toasted over a campfire sandwiched between two squares of graham crackers. You can do this in the microwave oven by putting one large marshmallow on one graham cracker square on a microwave safe plate and microwaving it until the marshmallow starts to puff. Have an adult take it out of the microwave. Place a piece of chocolate candy bar on top and the other graham cracker square. It's almost the real deal.

How would you change this salad?

I'm thinking I could add chopped cucumber or zucchini to it. Maybe I'd add a bit of chopped green bell pepper to give the salad a bit more color?

What might you add to make this different?

Today, if you made the This-Is-My-Face-Today Pizza, how would it look the same?

How would you change your pizza? I might use a cherry tomato slice for the mouth. I might use a bit of shredded carrot or thinly sliced ham for hair.

What would you do?

Smoothies are filling and refreshing. They can be made so many different ways.

If you don't have fresh apricots, you could use canned apricots. If you don't have apricots, what other fruits would you like to try?

I froze the leftovers in a shallow pan. After it was frozen, let it thaw about 10-15 minutes. You might have to break it up with a fork, but you can eat it instead of ice cream.

What other vegetables do you like in your salad? Do they grow up? Down? Or Around? I had special help from Joel. He lives in India so he knows a lot of different up, down, and around vegetables, some of which I didn't know.

His mother writes "He has been helping me garden of late . . . We planted roots like tumeric, garlic and mango ginger(type of ginger). There's more we are planning to do....Here we are fond of "raitas" A type of yoghurt salad. I cube cucumber, add pomegranate and dill with yoghurt, great tasting. Jerkins we prepare like a side dish with grated coconut, I guess you can't call it a salad, but a side-dish"" She also sent me a great link to Enriching Your Kid with an explanation of amaranth and other ways to use it besides in salads. She also wrote

Again, a big thank you to Joel for his help!

Up vegetables
amaranth leaves
bell peppers
broccoli
celery
corn
fennel
fenugreek leaves
leeks
mushrooms
peppers of all kinds
spinach

Down vegetables
beets
carrots
garlic
garlic
jicama
onion
potatoes (cooked)
radishes
turnip
yams and sweet potatoes

Around vegetables
chayote
cucumber
garbanzo beans
green beans
green peas
jerkins
lima beans
cucumber
jerkins
snow peas
tomatoes


I bet you can think of a lot more. Let me know which other ones you think of.

Can you imagine being a pioneer and having to bake biscuits and fry bacon over a fire? I don't think I'd have liked the job of collecting cow chips? How about you? That was the job of the children. There weren't many cows on the Oregon Trail so buffalo chips were used.

Today, making biscuits is simple. How many different easier ways can you think of get make or get a biscuit without making the recipe from yesterday?

1. Use a biscuit mix. Add water or milk. Mix. Roll out. Put on a baking sheet. Bake. Clean up your mess and wash the dishes.

2. Buy a roll of refrigerated biscuits. Pop the roll open. Put on a baking sheet. Bake. Throw out the package.

3. Buy a bag of frozen biscuits. Open the bag. Put on a baking sheet. Bake. Close up the bag and put it back in the freezer.

4. Go the a restaurant to buy breakfast made with biscuits.

Can you think of simpler ways? I can. Ask my mom to make them.

In Eve Bunting's Dandelions, the family traveled from Illinois to Nebraska in a covered wagon pulled by oxen. For fun, I decided the family was traveling from Springfield, Illinois, to Lincoln, Nebraska. That is 465 miles by car, on the shortest route. According to MapQuest, it would take 6 hours and 55 minutes to drive between the two cities. Most people sleep longer than that.

Now imagine you were driving the oxen. Most days they went 12 miles or less. Can you figure out how long that would take? Guess before you look below.

While you working out the math problem, did you know that there were usually 4 oxen. The father would drive the wagon. The children would walk beside it. Do you think you could walk 12 miles a day, every day that it took you to get to your new home?

Did you guess 39 days? Or 5 1/2 weeks. That is more days than there are between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Although making a Fourth of July Star is fun, it is also a bit of work. What can you do to make it easier?

When I'm busy, I leave the rind on the watermelon and serve in slices to eat "out of hand." After all, the hot days of July nothing tastes better than cold watermelon when the juices can run down your chin and drip onto the ground. Splat!

Yesterday's Dog Biscuits are yummy for your tummy. They are yummy for your doggie's tummy, too, if you don't feed your special pal more than one or two Dog Biscuits a day.

What other foods could you use instead of carrots? If you want to feed them to your dog, do not use onions, garlic, mushrooms, grapes, raisins, macadamia nuts, or chocolate.

For a slide show on what foods a dog should not eat, got to WebMD for a slide show of Foods Your Dog Should Never Eat.

The dog biscuit recipe from Wednesday has some salt but not enough to be a problem. The same is true for the amount of milk powder unless your dog is super sensitive.

Sandwiches are fun to make because you can make them so many different ways. How could you change up the Blue Cheese and Roast Beef Sandwich to make it your own. There are so many ways to change it.

Instead of a roll you could put everything on a slice of bread or stuff them into a pita pocket.

Instead of making a blue cheese sauce, you could buy one,leave it off completely, or use mayonnaise and mustard.

Instead of Swiss cheese, what kind could you use? Cheddar? American? Pepper Jack?

You don't want to use roast beef? Try sliced turkey or ham or chicken or tuna salad.

Along with or instead of the tomato and spinach you could use sliced red onion and lettuce.

Make it the way your family likes it best.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

Can you think of other fish you could use in Aquarium Dip instead of salmon?

What about a small can of water-packed tuna? Or maybe you would use shellfish such as shrimp or crab. You can buy those in cans or at the fish counter.

Block Party Punch is simple to make with only 3 ingredients. I thought how I could change it up. To test new flavors I would make a small sample by stirring 1/2 cup juice, 1/3 cup soda, and 1 1/2 teaspoons lime juice into a glass. Then I'd add ice and taste. I'd ask someone else to taste, too.

Here's what I thought:
Instead of a lemon-lime soda, I could use club soda. If I did that, I might reduce the amount of lime juice since club soda doesn't taste as sweet.

Instead of apple juice, I could use orange juice or even a berry juice. Before I would add the lime juice, I'd taste the combination of soda and juice. Then I would decide if I needed the lime juice or maybe I'd want to use lemon juice.

If I used a berry juice, I would try a cherry or strawberry soda. If I used orange juice, I could use orange soda.

What combination would you like. I bet you can think of other ideas.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D. ©2010

The beans you used in the Corny Bean Salad are also called legumes. You can find them dried in bags and bins. You might use these dried beans in craft projects. Some of the legumes come canned. A few are even cooked and frozen.

Do you know how many different kinds of legumes there are? I don't. How many can you name? I can name a few.

Adzuki beans
Appaloosa beans
Black beans
Black-eyed peas
Cannellini beans
Chickpea or garbanzo beans or cici beans
Cranberry beans
Fava beans
Great Northern beans
Kidney beans
Lima beans
Mung beans
Pinto beans
Soybean

You can visit the Idaho Bean Commission site to see pictures of some of the beans.

When you were helping do the shopping, did you see other kids of blintzes in the freezer case? My grocery store has blueberry blintzes, cherry blintzes, and potato blintzes. What kind does your grocery store have?

I made the Easy Blintz Souffle with cherry blintzes last year. It was yummy. What is your favorite flavor blintz? Do you think it would work in this recipe?

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I keep thinking about how I could use waffles instead of French toast. I tried sticking raspberries in the holes of the waffles to make a heart but they were too big. I really wanted to make a heart design so I didn't try other things. I really wanted the heart to be red so didn't try other things. I could have tried strawberry jelly to fill the holes but I wanted to use fruit.

But, as soon as I let go of heart and red and fruit, I can think of all sorts of things I could use in a waffle: strawberry jam, blueberries, almond butter, or cream cheese came to mind. The design could be my mother's initials. Or a cat or flower. It could be almost any color food that would work. I bet you can think of all sorts of yummy foods to make a design.

And it wouldn't have to be put on a waffle either, would it? I could do any of these on French toast or regular toast.

A tisket and tasket, other kinds of baskets.

Watermelons make great baskets but it takes a lot of people to eat up all the fruit you could put inside. I tried hollowing out an orange but it was messy. It looked pretty filled with fruit but I decided it was too much work.

I tried filling an empty tomato with a cold mixed vegetable salad. I made the handle from a slice of carrot. It was fun.

Yesterday we made Macaroni and Trees. Do you think broccoli trees are fun to eat?

Do you know what else looks like trees to me? Cauliflower!

What would you put in and what would you pretend they are? I also thought about using worms and pill bugs. Oh, I mean shredded carrots and peas.

The Breakfast-for-Lunch Sandwich has only three ingredients. Which ones could you change to make it different?

I thought about using frozen French toast instead of the frozen waffle. Yesterday, D.M. commented, thinking about making this with pancakes.

Maybe I'd use a different kind of cheese.

Instead of ham, what meat would you like to use? Remember, it would have to be already cooked. Or maybe you wouldn't use any meat.

Maybe you'd like to have the Breakfast-for-Lunch Sandwich for breakfast.

You can make a whole family of Beetle Bops. Use a canned apricot half instead of a peach half for babies.

Can you think of something else to use for legs? Pocky Sticks? A skinny carrot stick? A piece of celery.

What kind of beetle would it be if you put pretzel twists under the peach half for legs?

Could you stick raisins or dried cranberries on top of the whipped cream cheese dots?

I just discovered Ladybug, Ladybug: And Other Favorite Poems. How would you change Beetle Bop Salad to make it a Ladybug Salad?

Did you enjoy eating the Egg Salad in a Nest? I sat in the backyard to eat mine. What other foods could you use to make a nest for the egg salad? How about scooping out the inside of a roll to make a nest? You could hollow a tomato out and put the egg salad in it.

That made me think of other things such as putting fruit salad in a hollowed out orange. I bet you can think of a lot more ways than I have. Let me know your ideas.

How many foods can you think of that you eat on a stick? If I count (which I do) dipping carrot sticks in peanut butter for a snack, I have a whole lot -- more than I can eat in one day.

We've already named toasting marshmallows on a stick. Then there was the Hidden Stick-Stick-Stick "Sandwich" earlier this week. I'm going to see how many I can name in 2 minutes. I'll say a stick can be made of wood, plastic, or anything edible. If you want to play along, stop reading now. Make your own list and then compare.

Corn dogs
Satay
Popsicle
Lollipop
Cotton Candy
Corn on the Cob on a Stick
Shish Kabob
Tofu Kabob
Tempura Shrimp
Tootsie Pop
Frozen Chocolate Covered Banana
Caramel Apples
Mini-hot dog appetizers
Ice Cream Push-up

Can you think of some other things you might want to use on top of the crackers with the seeds? What could you sprinkle over the unbaked pie crust to make Italiano crackers to eat with minestrone soup? I'm thinking maybe oregano and a bit of garlic powder.

What if you wanted to make Mexican style crackers? Or Greek or Indian flavored ones?

There are all sorts of herbs and spices you could try. Hmmm. I just thought about using cinnamon and sugar instead of the seeds.

Did you know some foods look like letters? Well they do. Sometimes you have to use your imagination. I took a few pictures to get you started. After you look at them, look at the foods in the refrigerator or pantry. Can you find any letters? What were they?

What a funny looking pretzel.

This piece of ginger root looks like an strange three legged elephant, doesn't it? When I look carefully, I can see the letter "M." Can you?

Ohh, my. Do you know what this is? It is a cantaloupe or muskmelon.

Look at these mushrooms I found in the Korean market! What letter do you see?

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?

Can you imagine how long Buckaroo Beans would take if you started with dried beans? Dried beans lasted a long time in a chuck wagon and didn't take up as much room as canned beans. The cook had to soak the beans overnight to make sure they were soft enough. You can use dried beans but be sure to follow the label directions for cooking them before you use them in this recipe.

What other canned beans could you use instead of pinto beans? Next time you go to the grocery story, count how many different kinds canned beans you can find. Next, look at the bags of dried beans. How many different kinds are there? Are they the same kinds as the canned beans or are there different ones?

Learn more about beans from the Idaho Bean Commission.

What other dried fruits might you use instead of the ones in the Recipe? Looking in my cupboard, I have dried apples, raisins, cranberries, dried pineapple, dried figs, and dried strawberries. Can you think of other ones to try? Maybe you'd want to use all the same kind of fruit.

I might use cashews, hazelnuts or even pistachios. Would you like peanuts? I think they might get soggy while the pudding cools. I might try that someday to see if I'm right.

This time I made the pudding with regular rice, dried blueberries, and almonds. I made a design on top and stirred the blueberries and nuts into the rice instead of layering them. Before I put the mold in the refrigerator, I put a piece of wax paper on top of the rice and then an unopened can of beans to act as a weight. If you look closely at the photograph and compare it to yesterday's, you can see the today's rice isn't as tightly together. It tastes good even if it looks funny.

Do you have a favorite fruit you'd like to use in this salad instead of cherries? My husband likes me to use canned mandarin oranges sometimes because they are a bit tart. I think I'll try fresh strawberries when they are in season. Then I'd use strawberry nectar instead of the cherry juice. Hmm. I can hardly wait.

In the United States, yams and sweet potatoes are usually used the same way. For the Not-too-Spicy Sweet Potato Hummus, canned yams are used but you could use fresh, boiled sweet potatoes. To learn more about them click here.

What other orange vegetable can you think of that you might be able to use into instead? I'm thinking of the one Bugs Bunny likes. Do you know which one that is? I like to use them because I can buy them fresh, frozen or canned, making the recipe very easy to make.

I could also use leftover cooked butternut squash or banana squash. In fact, I started with cooked banana squash but decided to use sweet potatoes because of the extra vitamin A.

My favorite cheese is cheddar cheese. What kind of cheese might you use to make this sandwich? What do you think this would taste like if you used one of the foods mentioned yesterday (dates, pomegranates, grapes, or olives) instead of figs?

Do you think this recipe could be made with other nuts? What would it taste like with walnuts or almonds instead of pecans? Could you use a purchased pie crust dough and pressing it into the pan instead of making your own crust? I don't know but it is something to think about.

Keep little fingers busy making Parmesan Cheese Toast Fingers. Then snuggle up to read Busy Fingers by C.W. Bowie. C.W. Bowie is a team of writers made up of Wendie Old, Mary Bowman-Kruhm, and Claudine Wirths.

Parmesan Cheese Toast Fingers
Ingredients
1 slice of sandwich bread or gluten free bread
Soft tub margarine
Grated Parmesan cheese

Toast the bread. Let it stand until it is cool enough for a child to handle. Let the child spread a thin layer of tub margarine on the bread using a table knife or a plastic picnic knife. Shake, shake, shake some grated Parmesan cheese over the top. Then gently pat, pat, pat the cheese onto the toast so it doesn’t fall off.

Using a table knife or a plastic picnic knife, an adult or a child under adult supervision can cut the toast into “fingers.”

© Mary Ann Dames, MS, RD 2010

To Think About for Kids of All Ages
When would you eat these? They would be yummy as a snack. I dip them into Vegetable Soup. What kind of soup would you dip them into? What else would these taste good with?

I'm off to a children's writer's retreat. We all bring goodies to share so I made Lime Snowballs. I got the inspiration after collecting windfall limes this week.

Lime Snowballs
Makes about 3 dozen

1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 teaspoons lime zest, divided
2 cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, cream together 1 cup powdered sugar and the butter. Add lime juice, 3 teaspoons lime zest, flour, salt, and 1 cup flaked coconut.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until bottoms are golden and cookies are puffed. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare topping. Whirl remaining 1/2 cup flaked coconut in blender until the coconut looks like bread crumbs. Combine coconut “crumbs” with remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and remaining 1 teaspoon lime rind. Roll warm cookies in the topping.

Store in air tight container.

© Mary Ann Dames, MS, RD 2010

To Think About for Kids of All Ages
What other fruit flavors might you use? Orange? Lemon? Grapefruit? Would apples work or do you think the skin is too soft and the flavor too mild?

Here in southern California we enjoyed 72 degree weather for the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game. A tad windy where I live but still a great beginning to 2010. Now that house guests are gone, I’m using up what I find in the refrigerator. Tonight, my challenge was what to do with a handful of dried up dates and Rome apples.

I kept things simple by coring the apples and stuffing them with as many pitted dates as I could mush in. Before putting the apples in individual microwave safe bowls, I scored their tops in eighths. After the apples were in their bowls but before I covered them with plastic wrap, I sprinkled about 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice over each one. (The spice was from a blend I made for Thanksgiving: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger.) Into the microwave oven they went. I used the SensorCook on my oven but timed it for you. The apples were done in less than 5 minutes at 100% power. Your oven, the size of apples, or even he number of apples will change the cooking time. The apples are done when soft.

We ate our apples piping hot for dessert. Sometimes we top with ice cream or whipped cream. But in the spirit of New Year’s resolution to eat healthier, we ate ours plain…no added fats or sugars. Yummy. Filling. And feeling a bit decadent as it tasted rich and the smoothness of the almost applesaucy interior warmed our mouths.

To Think About for Kids of All Ages: What other fillings would work in a baked apple? Could you try a different dried fruit or even some cut up chopped fresh ones. Can you think of a healthy topping to replace the whipped cream or ice cream I sometimes use?

Here is a last minute appetizer using ingredients many of us have on hand. Kids can prepare the Tortilla Bites and place them in the pan for baking. Or these can be served cold.

If your kids aren't adventurous with horseradish, use half the amount or substitute prepared mustard.

Ingredients
1/4 cup margarine, softened
1 tablespoon prepared horseradish
6 (7-inch) flour tortillas
1 package (about 3 ounces) dried beef

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray an 8x8-inch square pan with vegetable spray. Cut a piece of foil large enough to cover the pan.

Combine softened margarine and prepared horseradish. Spread one side of each tortilla with the horseradish butter; top with slices of beef. Roll the tortillas into "cigars" and place them seam side down in the pan. Cover the pan with foil. Heat in oven for about 10 minutes or until warm.

To serve
The tortillas can be served as is or cut into thirds or even quarters as appetizers.

To Think About
Ask your child what other meats he might like to use instead of beef. Can he think of a different spread? How about spinach flavored tortillas instead of wheat ones? For a kid's party, try peanut butter and jelly roll ups.

Mary Ann Dames, M.S., R.D., ©2009