What’s Cooking Blog

You won’t catch me filling the landfill with by-products from my kids’ school lunches this year…at least most of the time. While it is hard to resist the convenience of the individually wrapped cheese stick or fruit leather, most of the foods that we pack for our lunches this year will be stored in reusable containers.

While most families struggle with an alternative to the plastic sandwich baggie - we have a solution that works well for us. The wrap-n-mat is a PEVA-lined fabric wrapper that seals shut with a strip of velcro. Just put the sandwich inside, wrap it up and voila! It even serves as a place mat when it is open!

The type of lunch bag or lunch box to use often puts parents in a quandry, as well. Some lunch boxes, while adorable and perfectly designed to meet the marketing “needs” of our children, contain lead and other toxic chemicals. Our personal preference is for the Lunchbug, made by Mimi The Sardine. They offer loads of patterns, some suitable for the parents and some for the kids. They are made from special fabric that is certified to be free of over 100 chemicals. You can see some of their styles here. After two years of daily use, regular laundering (in the washer and even the dryer!), we are finally picking new patterns for this school year. My son loves the Jungle pattern and my daughter adores the Fleur bag.

Oh yes, and what about drinks? I usually go against the grain here, too. Instead of buying sugar-laden juice products, all natural juice boxes and capri-suns, I opt for SIGG or Klean Kanteen water bottles. They are durable, washable, reusable and recyclable (when we eventually dispose of them in 10+ years!). I forgot to mention how cute these are, too! Not only do they come in bottles sized and designed for the younger crowd, they also have ones that are hip enough for teens and parents, too.
What about you? What will your family be doing to keep your lunch packaging out of the landfill at lunch time?

I am in love!  It’s not very often that a product for kids catches my attention enough that I become certain that I HAVE to carry it in my online shop.  But when I first set my eyes upon the Vintage Styled Aprons from Beansoup, I was done for.  While I LOVE all of the patterns I ordered for the What’s Cooking shop, here are some of my favorites.

Whether your child is an aspiring chef or a budding artist, this modern take on the 1940’s Cobbler’s apron is sure to inspire creativity and envy. With the Beansoup Cobbler’s Apron, we guarantee your child will be the most stylish mess maker around.  This apron is durable and machine washable. Adjustable back ties and 3 double stitched pockets make this apron one of our favorites!

These Chef’s Aprons are made from machine washable 100% cotton and reinforced with double stitched binding.  All of these aprons are made in the USA.

What better symbol of the creative and the hardworking than the classic overall? This stylish Beansoup Apron is a must have for the seriously inventive. There is no other apron out there quite like this one, so buckle up and make your best mess!

Surf’s Up! If you happen to be a guy or gal with some serious creating to do then this surf inspired overall apron is for you. This heavy duty apron comes equipt with 3 pockets for tools and heavy duty straps that crisscross in the back to hook in front just like that old pair of your favorite overalls but seriously cool!
All of our Beansoup aprons would make fantastic gifts for the young chefs in your life!  Shop early for the holidays - I am certain that my inventory will not last long!

If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you have probably noticed that I have been spending a considerable portion of my energy lately thinking about kids, food and community service. Sustainability is also very dear to my heart, and when I learn about an organization or project that combines all of these concepts, I simply feel the need to share.

The Feed 100 Bag is made from organic cotton in a fair trade factory. The sales of each bag yield enough funding to provide free school lunches to 100 students in Rwanda. Not only does the use of these cloth bags prevent the addition of plastic bags to our landfills, but the proceeds allow hungry children to be fed. And as you probably know, if you have ever tried to concentrate when you are hungry, it usually isn’t very productive. These children are now more productive students…and that means that they can rise to their full potential and improve their own lives and those of their community members as well.

Talk with your kids about how you can help others. Do something simple, such as buying one of these bags, or participate in a larger project, like the Great American Bake Sale. Either way, be proud that you are spending quality time together with your kids to make a difference.

We recently returned home from our annual summer vacation to Montana.  As we ate our dinner at a brewery in the Salt Lake City airport, I overheard a woman commenting to her server as she handed him her empty plate.  “I just always think of those starving people in Africa” she said.   I casually glanced behind me and saw her grin and then ask for the dessert menu.

I have learned a lot about healthy eating habits since I formed my business, What’s Cooking, nearly 5 years ago.  For one, it has become increasingly obvious that children form their eating habits early…and mostly learn them from watching and listening to their parents.  When parents make a big deal about how much food a child should consume, eating frequently turns into a life-long issue.  My husband grew up in a household with a “clean plate club” policy and has managed to avoid this excessive behavior in his adulthood.  Instead of eating all of the food on his plate (”cleaning it”), he stops when he is full.  He does not waste food, however, since he usually takes fairly small portions and then returns if he wants more.

I remember hearing comments about the starving children of the world when I was a child, and was always surprised to see how they were nearly always brought up during mealtime.  It was as if I should be made to feel guilty for having a meal when others were less fortunate.  While I agree that comments like this might be intended to remind children to appreciate the fact that they have food, it doesn’t teach them a larger lesson.  We can’t actually send people in Africa or China the leftover food from our plates - there are simply too many practical barriers for that to be useful.  People in those countries can’t even enjoy most of the foods that aren’t used in our grocery stores for the same reasons.

However, there are lots of other ways that we can empower our children to help others, without burdening them with guilt over what other people lack.  First, we can teach our children to collaborate with each other and discuss issues that are important to them.  What do they care about in the world and how can they help?  I can hardly think of a more valuable family bonding experience than to work together to help others….even if the cause you all select IS to help the hungry children in Africa.

It has been just over a year since I went to Honduras on the Educator’s Study Tour with Heifer International, and I am feeling quite nostalgic.  As an ode to our adventure and my life-changing experience, I thought I’d post an article that I wrote at the request of a local magazine.  Soon after I submitted the article, they ceased to run that particular section, and it has gone unprinted.  It is time for it to be unveiled and shared…

A single cricket chirped outside, and I could hear the murmur of teachers in the next room. The sound of trucks, shifting their gears along the Pan American Highway, along with the anticipation for what lay ahead, made sleep difficult.  Earlier that day, our airplane flew carefully between two mountains and made a steep turn before an abrupt and hard landing on the short runway. The jolt was an appropriate welcome to what would be an adventure of a lifetime.

Over breakfast and a cup of rich shade grown organic coffee, we learned about the schedule for our week in Honduras.  We were on an educator study tour with Heifer International, an organization that works with communities all over the world to end hunger and poverty and to care for the earth.  Heifer gives families a source of food, rather than short-term relief.  Living Gifts, such as cows, chickens, bees, goats and sheep, provide recipients a sustainable source of nutrition and income through the consumption or sale of products such as milk, eggs, cheese, honey and wool.   One of Heifer’s key strategies is for these recipients to “pass on the gift.”  As people share their animals’ offspring with others - along with their knowledge, resources and skills - an expanding network of hope, dignity and self-reliance is created that reaches around the globe.  This simple idea of giving families a source of food rather than short-term relief caught on and has continued for over 60 years. Since 1944, Heifer has helped 8.5 million people in more than 125 countries.

During the next 7 days, we nearly lived on our bus as we traveled to projects all over the country.  Each community had its own story of how their lives had been transformed through their involvement with Heifer International.  Women told us about the school uniforms and food they were able to purchase from the sale of their piglets. One mom earned enough money build an enclosed kitchen with a fuel efficient stove for her family, and another was able to buy furniture for her home for the first time. At a bee cooperative, a young woman said that she was grateful to have a business so that she was no longer considered “just a housewife.”  Just like working mothers here, she was excited to get out of the house, meet other people and have something besides her home to give her pride.  Another woman beamed with delight as she declared that she had become an expert at breeding chickens, and was a mentor for all other families in the region.  A man named Jorge told us about the milk that his cow provides for his children, and how the protein is improving their performance in school; he then sang us a song to express his gratitude.

After several days of hearing their stories, we were surprised when we were asked why we wanted to be involved.  Already raw with emotion from Jorge’s song, I could hardly speak through my tears when I was asked to share my story.  I described my healthy cooking classes for children and my work to teach families how to cook and eat well together. By participating in this study tour with Heifer International, I hoped to collect personal accounts that would help me motivate my students to use food and cooking as a way of helping others within our local and global communities.  I also wanted to learn more from Heifer about how people work together to make sustainable food choices and protect the environment.

It was hard to avoid feeling the socio-economic chasm between our group, laden with cameras, sunglasses, insect repellant and raingear, and the families we visited.  At the same time, the similarity between all of us, regardless of location or financial status, was undeniable.  I watched as children sat with pride at the feet of their mothers and listened to stories of how their communities worked together to succeed.  I considered the impact that I have on my own children, as I work to grow my business while promoting sustainability at home.  My 7 year old daughter said that even though she missed me, she was proud of me for wanting to go to Honduras to learn how to help people, and she reminded me of the big event we did earlier this year to benefit families living in an emergency homeless shelter in San Rafael. I am excited about using my experiences with Heifer to further my work here in Marin County.

Michelle Stern is a mother of two and the founder of What’s Cooking (www.whatscooking.info), a certified green business that offers healthy and seasonal cooking classes and birthday parties to kids in the San Francisco Bay Area. In her online shop you’ll find unique sustainable gifts and party favors that encourage families to spend time together in the kitchen.

After being contacted by two journalists and a television show for interviews about Back to School Lunches, I though I would re-publish this article from last year.

Our fishing expedition on Flathead Lake this summer was comical. Despite our best efforts, we were unable to catch anything, even though the boat next to us was reeling in fish every time we looked! Clearly, there was something we weren’t doing right. As a man from the next boat yelled over to us, “What kind of bait are you using?” a crazy thought entered into my mind: Feeding children is a lot like fishing – you have to have the right lure, or they won’t bite! Packing desirable school lunches is a lot like the fine art of selecting an appealing lure while fishing. Try some of these stress-free strategies for packing lunches that are healthy for your kids and the environment. They’ll be sure to bite!

• Ask your kids what they will enjoy. Remember that if they don’t like certain foods at home, they won’t like them at school either!
• Ask for their input before loading their lunch box. Just because they liked something today doesn’t mean that they will like it again tomorrow.
• Keep in mind that your children don’t have much time to eat…so pack foods in small portions that are easy to eat, so they have time left to play.
• Don’t be lured into buying prepackaged lunches, which are high in fat, sugar, salt and calories, are much more expensive, and produce tons of unnecessary garbage.
• Let your child help you select a cool lead-free and reusable lunch bag or lunch box. Pick up a few reusable containers that will fit inside – this will prevent food from leaking and getting smashed, and will help you avoid using disposable items like plastic bags and foil.
• Pack a reusable drink container instead of juice boxes, juice pouches, cans, and disposable plastic bottles.
• Instead of packing a paper napkin, use a cloth one (baby wash cloths, or cut up old t-shirts work great for this!)
• Pack stainless-steel utensils instead of using disposable plastics.
• Buy in bulk instead of purchasing pre-packaged items. This will save you money, and you can reuse or recycle the containers at home.
• Whenever possible, pack lunches the night before. Why add more stress to your morning routine?

Here are a variety of ideas for some fun and interesting lunches. Don’t forget to include fruits or vegetables, protein and whole grains every day.

Sandwich Alternatives:

• Instead of sliced bread, try rice or whole grain crackers, whole wheat pita bread, whole grain bagels and tortillas.
• Wrap it Up! Combine a variety of spreads, fillings and wrappers for a sandwich alternative your kids won’t forget. For lots of wrap recipes, please visit the Healthy School Lunches page at What’s Cooking.

Make Ahead…

• Quiches or frittatas are full of protein. Try making a batch in a mini muffin pan – they will be a great size for school lunches and will last in the refrigerator for the whole week. Organic and free range eggs are good choices!
• Whole grain pasta or couscous salad
• You can make several peanut butter and jam sandwiches at a time. Wrap them tightly and store in the freezer. Toss one in a lunch bag and it will be thawed by lunch time! Is peanut butter banned at your school? Try: cashew butter, almond butter, soy nut butter, sunflower seed butter or tahini (sesame seed paste) as alternate spreads
• Many of the thermos treasures below can be made ahead, stored and warmed before packing.

Thermos Treasures…

• Tortellini with pesto
• Spaghetti with marinara sauce
• Noodle Soup
• Fried Rice
• Chili with corn chips on the side for dipping
• Fruit Smoothies…cold, of course!

Container Combinations…for kids to assemble and snack on themselves

• Purchase yogurt in bulk, and serve in a reusable container. On the side, pack some toppings, such as dried fruit, granola or grape nuts.
• Carrots, cucumber or broccoli with dip, such as ranch dressing, plain yogurt with dill, or peanut/almond/cashew/sunflower seed butters
• Nachos: pack containers of ground turkey/tofu, guacamole, grated cheese and tortilla chips
• Whole grain crackers, slices of turkey, ham or tofu, cubes of cheese

Packing an appealing school lunch will lure your children into eating well, help them to be more successful in school, and help the planet, too. Don’t be caught with the wrong bait, or your kids might throw it back!

Michelle Stern owns What’s Cooking, a Certified Green SF Bay Area business that offers cooking classes and gifts to children. Her classes encourage students and their families to use cooking as a way to spend quality time together in their own kitchens and out in the community where they can help those less fortunate.

For the past two months, I have been working on a book proposal that combines my passion for getting kids into the kitchen and into their communities to make a difference.

Here are some examples of activities WE are doing with our students to promote community service through food and cooking.

• We participated in the Great American Bake sale, sponsored by Share Our Strength, in an effort to raise funds for hungry children in America.
• We are spending time with Humane Society Day Campers to cook animal treats for cats and dogs currently living in our local animal shelter.  Since the animals don’t have families yet, we are giving them some extra love with our home made treats.

What are people doing in your neck of the woods to combine kids, food, cooking and community service? We would love to learn about organizations that work together to improve their communities by using food and cooking.  Is there a wonderful community garden that grows food for the hungry?  Are there at-risk kids learning to cook for the homeless?  Are there kids learning about sustainable farming or fishing practices, so that they can protect our environment?

Please share with us - we might include these organizations in our book!

Thanks!!!