Jessica Alba a Regular Mom: SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD.

SPY KIDS:  ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD IN 4D In theaters August 19th 

When we are in the kitchen we smell everything, I always ask the kids to tell me to describe the ingredients to me. We pick basil and rosemary and take big sniffs to get our creative juices flowing.  The new movie Spy Kids, All The Time In The World is in 4D has smell-a-vision or Aroma Scope, which means we get to smell what the actors are smelling! When you get to the theater you will get a scratch and sniff card, I know my generation will be excited. (I speak for all of us when I say we loved our scratch and sniff stickers)
 

Joel McHale, Jessica Alba, Mason Cook and Rowan Blanchard in "Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D"

Jessica Alba star of Spy Kids All The Time In The World was as sweet over the phone as she seems to be on the big screen. She is very down to earth and seems like a regular gal who has made quite a name for herself in Hollywood. She has a 3 year old girl and had her second daughter on August 13th and is absolutely thrilled. Although she says she can't imagine having them grow up or be teenagers, she says that gives her a panic attack!  I was invited in on a call where a number of Bloggers got to ask her a few questions about her new movie, SPY KIDS: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD.  

 

There were some great questions about how she balances her time between family and work, what her favorite scene was and my question about feeding her toddler of course!

Chef Jen's question: Your new movie is called Spy Kids All The Time In The World. I am pretty sure that you don't feel like you have all the time in the world! Being a mom I want to know what your best go to snack is for your daughter? 

Jessica:

Although her daughter is picky at times she is a good eater. Her go to snack is fruit (I loved hearing this) 

On the run she grabs grapes. She says her daughter is all about being a big girl so when she gets a whole apple she is thrilled. Her daughter knows not to eat the seeds in the middle too.  She loves to eat peaches, mom says even though they are messy it's a big girl fruit that keeps her occupied!

JESSICA ALBA as Marissa Cortez Wilson in "Spy Kids: All the Time in the World in 4D"

My friend Amy of the The Family Chef 

asked Jessica, "what is your family's favorite meal?" Jessica replied with some of our family favorites like rice, veggies and she says her husband makes great tacos. She also said her daughter changes her mind 40 times a night, sounds like a typical 3 year old to me! Her daughter is good eater even though she can be picky, again, a typical 3 year old. 

Although many would describe her as an exotic beauty, Alba was raised in a traditional hardworking American family in California. She said she and her brother were always made to feel like they were number one. Although her mom sometimes held 3 jobs she made time to make them feel important and took the time to check in and remind them they are a priority. Jessica talked about working less these days and prioritizing time to spend with her family, I like this idea, and I think I will try it.

So if you are looking for something to do on a hot summer day, cool off with this cool new movie.

Spy Kids All The Time In The World

Synopsis
On the surface, Marissa Cortez Wilson (Jessica Alba) has it all...married to a famous spy hunting television reporter, a new baby and intelligent twin step kids.  But in reality, trying to mother Rebecca (Rowan Blanchard) and Cecil (Mason Cook), who clearly don’t want her around, is her toughest challenge yet.  Also, her husband, Wilbur (Joel McHale), wouldn’t know a spy if he lived with one which is exactly the case - Marissa’s a retired secret agent...

(All images courtesy of the Weinstein Company)

Harmony from Hominy...A light meal during the holiday frenzy

With Hanukkah swiftly approaching I thought I'd get out my oil and start frying! I figured my kitchen would smell like oil for the next few days so what is one more day? With all the preparations going on sometimes we just need something quick and  easy.  We love soup, the flavorful brothy kind the best when you are sick or cold kind. 

I talk a lot about texture for kids, I think it is important to teach them about different textures. This is a perfect soup for that, crisp tortillas, soft beans, chewy hominy and zucchini, makes a perfect warm meal. The flavors are mild and simple,  when your kids decide they like it,  you can add more ingredients the next time you make it.

I did not write a recipe for this but here is what I did:

Add about 1 inch of vegetable oil to a straight sided pot or skillet. Heat on high until it shimmers, reduce to medium high.

Stack about 5 corn tortillas and cut them into strips. Drop one in the oil to test, it should sizzle and cook quickly. When you fry, the faster the food cooks the less oil it sucks up, the better it will taste.

Drain them on a paper towel and set aside.

This is a quick soup so,  I started with canned chicken broth and added some ground chicken and onions to improve the flavor. Adding ground chicken will give you great chicken flavor in a flash. After the chicken is fully cooked strain it out and save it to use in hash or something else. You can leave the meat in but some kids find the texture strange.

Canned broth can be salty so taste before you add salt.

Add drained Great Northern beans, a can of drained Hominy and  a few diced zucchini.  

Cook it on medium until the zucchini is tender but still holds it's shape about 10 minutes.

Serve with a handful of tortilla strips and a sprinkle of dry cheese if you want.

Cookbook Publishers Try to Think Small

By KIM SEVERSON
Published: May 14, 2008



At a time when 2-year-olds take cooking classes, trick-or-treaters turn up in chef’s whites and a personalized child’s size spatula costs $20, it is no surprise that the children’s cookbook genre is enjoying a new life.

Not that it had much of a life before.
Children’s cookbooks have long been among the tiniest of literary niches. Rarely taken seriously or invited to the adult cookbook party, they usually end up stuck on the bottom shelf of the children’s activity section in the bookstore. With a couple of notable exceptions in the 1980s and 1990s, children’s cookbooks have made little impact, either in sales or attention.

But that is changing, as parents who have a keen interest in cooking encourage their young children to spend time in the kitchen and new titles take a more sophisticated approach to children’s food. Although no one tracks overall sales of cookbooks aimed at children, some retailers say that sales have shot up. Readers too young to drive don’t yet have their own “Joy of Cooking,” but publishers are looking everywhere for it. And a number of cooking celebrities have joined in, too.

“It’s not like the books didn’t exist five years ago, but they were very introductory, very dessert driven, or very one-size-fits-all,” said Melanie Rhodes, a children’s book buyer for Borders, where sales of children’s cookbooks have jumped by a third in the past year. “What we’re seeing now are publishers who are a little more tuned into the real food audience.”

In the last few years, the children’s cookbook market has moved beyond all-encompassing tomes from Betty Crocker or Better Homes and Gardens. Increasingly customized by age, books now teach toddlers to make lettuce wraps and older children to make entire meals. Some predict that cookbooks for teenagers will be the next break-out category.

The subject matter has been expanding, too. Nursery-school staples like macaroni and cheese, cupcakes and eggs on a raft are still going strong. But the new cookbooks reflect a trend toward better nutrition and health and toward ethnic dishes like sushi or bibimbop. Local and sustainable food are having their moments, too.

If there is a flaw in all this expansion, it’s that some cookbook authors have swung from the simple to the complex.

“We’re seeing some books that are trying to do too much,” said Gillian Engberg, an editor who specializes in books for young people at Booklist, the journal of the American Library Association. She said that some books contain so much information about nutrition or gardening that they might try the already limited patience of young cooks.

But she isn’t too critical of overly ambitious books, because they represent a return to the kitchen. “We are seeing more of these because people are growing more knowledgeable about food,” she said. “Cooking together represents a pause, a chance for families to come together.”

There are also less cozy motives, like money. Children’s cooking gear sells well, as Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table have discovered. Television cooking shows seem to have a magic hold over children, and children’s cooking Web sites continue to pop up. All of that has book editors looking for the genre’s pot of gold. But a breakaway hit remains elusive.

“It’s an area publishers aren’t steady on the ground with yet,” said Bill LeBlond, the editorial director for food and wine at Chronicle Books. “We all have the sense that the audience is out there, but we just can’t figure it out.”

Chronicle recently published “Kitchen Playdates” by Lauren Bank Deen and “The Toddler Café” by Jennifer Carden, which hopes to inspire toddlers to eat more adventurously by teaching them to crimp the edges of an empanada.




Mr. LeBlond also has high hopes for “Cook It in a Cup!” by Julia Myall, which came out in March and is packaged with silicone rubber baking cups.



Celebrity chefs have been prodigious writers of adult cookbooks, and this year two Food Network stars have leapt into the children’s market.
Read more

Lisa Quinn Living the Creative Life

Lisa Quinn designer extrodroniere and mom of two, has a great blog, check it out at
thequinntessentials.blogspot.com


She is a super creative person and that always gets me excited. She is a Chic, over-worked, under-appreciated Mom. She is blogging on life including the latest in home decor, entertaining, kids' stuff, time management, and mental health. Her blog has great reading suggestions, design tips and mommy speak too!

Check out her book, $500 Room Makeovers.
Her site is: http://www.lisaquinninc.com/