"Like" My New Page And Enter To Win A New SodaStream

Celebrate the launch of Chef Jen's Facebook page!

Enter the Chef Jen Carden Facebook Sweepstakes and you could win a grand prize — a fancy new SodaStream soda maker. The SodaStream turns tap water into sparkling water in under 30 seconds! It's one my favorite kitchen gadgets.

The contest ends on June 27 and we will be contacting the winner via email and also announcing it here on my blog. I will be closing down the old Toddler Café Facebook Group soon, so thank you for joining me on my new official Facebook Page.

Tool Talk

As a busy working mom I am always looking for ways to cut my meal preparation down.  Even though I am a chef and I love to cook, after a long day of standing around in the kitchen the last thing I want to do for dinner is chop, mince, and  zest. 

These three kitchen helpers are things I love and use almost everyday and make my life easier.

Narrow Measuring Spoons: I love these because they fit into small spice jars easily.  They stay nice looking after lots of uses and nest well.  Trying to get a round spoon into a small jar is not something I need to be wasting my time on.  before I got these, I seemed as if I tried all of my toddler spoons trying to get the spices freed from their jars, not anymore!

Safety Chopper: When my friend Michelle over at What's Cooking suggested this tool for our kids cooking classes I was sceptical. Well, never say never I love this tool!  I distinctly remember saying, "Oh I have knife skills I will never use this in my kitchen." (eating words) Now I use it all the time, not just with my 5 year old but on my own for nuts, onions and so on. The kids do get a kick out of using it and it gives them confidence.  I tell them to wind up and hit it with all their might, the silliness gets everyone laughing and having a good time.

Micro Grater: I use this for everything!!!  This particular one has a long slender surface with small grater holes. Its ordinary purpose is for things like zest or grating Parmesan cheese but I like to use it for things like apples to make "applesauce," and finely grated carrots.  The thing I  love it for the most is grating frozen ginger. I keep chunks of ginger in the freezer for adding to tea and stir fries, it glides easily along the grater when frozen.  I just take the frozen ginger and grate the desired amount right into the bowl or pot give it a bang and all the ginger I need is deposited!!  

When someone in our house is sick they get ginger tea here is how I make it:

Spicy Feel Better Tea

1 mug hot tea temperature water

A few shaves of ginger root (frozen)

2 T honey

1 good squeeze lemon

1 pinch Cayenne pepper (for the grown ups)

Mix and drink.

"I Can Make Can Cakes, Can You?"

I never thought I would, really I didn't. Should I tell you?  OK, while browsing the isles of Whole Foods as I do (really it is for work I just have to spend long hours wandering around the grocery store.) How do you think I get most of my ideas?  Mostly I just walk around in a daze while my brain and eyes take in the plethora of ingredients.

I saw a new product called Batter Blaster, at first I walked on by ignoring it's draw.  It's shiny yellow label, it's tall canister filled with pre- mixed organic pancake batter. My better half knows this is over packaged and that mixing up pancake batter takes all of about... 3 minutes. But on the other hand we are planning to go camping and a spray batter would be so easy!   See where I am going here I really wanted it, and I bought it, and....the family loves it.

I don't think I'd buy it all the time, but for once in a while convince food, I can see it. I do love the idea that kidlet wants to make her own breakfast and with this and some supervision she can. She has named them Can Cakes, I can't decide if that is cute or scary, as long as she knows where the ingredients came from I am OK!

It really is the perfect camping breakfast, you only need a pan, some butter and a spatula to make them.  It would be so great if they could come out with a Gluten Free version so mommy can enjoy them too.

Pros:

These are very easy to make

The batter tastes really good, not overly sweet

The cap and bottle are recyclable

The ingredients are all organic

You can draw cute shapes with it

It makes waffles too

The price is right @ 3.99 for 28 pancakes

Cons:

A bit over packaged

Cakes are pretty light, very airy and less hearty than other cakes.

I have to go to Whole Foods or Costco to get them.

Letter Ice, it's Cool

We have been working on numbers and letters in our house these days, brushing up before Kindergarten starts next week. (yikes)

The stars must have been aligned, because recently I was asked to review a cool new product called Letter Ice, gladly I accepted. The website says you can bake them freeze them and basically make anything in them. I thought this would be a perfect way to get her to practice without making it all academic, you know the creative way. Since our whole world revolves around creative thinking and eating, and well, both at the same time this product was perfect for us.

Last week was a bit busy so I decided rather than wait I would start freezing whatever we had around. First we took a banana pudding we had and put it in the numbers mold. I put the pudding in a Ziploc and cut off the tip and squeezed it into the molds. I tapped them down and tossed them in the freezer, taking care to lay it flat.
When we took them out they easily popped out of the molds but looked bland and pale, that needed fixing. I figured that this was kind of a treat, although not quite ice cream, so I added a pool of chocolate sauce to stand the numbers up in. They still needed something and my daughter suggested sprinkles, how could I refuse. We put about 6 numbers standing up on a long narrow plate and it was adorable. Everyone took one or two and the plate was cleaned in minutes.




Now for experiment number two. My husband and I had been shooting Mojitos for a client that day and had lots of mint leftover. I tore up the mint and added them to plain water to make minty ice. I also had some rapidly aging blueberries so we tossed in the frozen minty letters and as they melted Claire ate her letter fruit, and loved it!

The molds are tough and durable, dishwasher friendly and all around great. They are a nice addition to any kitchen and a great way to use up leftover ingredients.
The verdict, we love them, from ice to cake to chalk or crayons, these molds rock!

For more information go to Sillycone inc.
Letters retail for 19.95$
Numbers retail for 9.95$

Munchlers - Lunch Bags

I just have to tell you about these adorable lunch bags called Munchlers. I saw them while shopping yesterday and thought they were cute but I really want a bento box for daughter so I didn't stop to look at them. Tonight I was bouncing around on line and there they were again. I saw that they unfold to make a place mat, I love that. I don't know about your kids but mine ends up putting her food on the not so clean tables. With this lunch mat she would have a destination for that half eaten sandwich free of creepy crawleys. Most lunch bags have dark corners for crumbs and goop to collect in but because these flaten out cleaning them is a snap.
At around 10 dollars a pop you can't beat the design or functionality.

From Built
In our quest for a lunchbox that would captivate every kid, or kid at heart, we developed a concept that incorporates whimsical fun with practicality. We collaborated with the award-winning children’s book illustrator, Stephen Savage, to take on the project of creating zoo animals for the design of the lunchboxes. After all, what good is a lunchbox that doesn't look good?

MADE FROM POLYPROPYLENE
TESTED LEAD AND FOOD SAFE
INSULATES FOOD AND BEVERAGE
SMALL HANDLES FOR SMALL HANDS
SAVES HUNDREDS OF BAGS OVER THE
COURSE OF A YEAR
UNZIP TO A PLACE MAT (STORES FLAT)

The Toddler Café Tips and Tricks Contest

How many times have parents worked hard to make a new dish for their toddler only to have them throw it on the ground or refuse to eat it? Every mom has been there, and they all want to know how to get their kids to develop into healthy eaters that actually enjoy their time at the table. While there is no easy answer to this question, author Jennifer Carden and her photographer husband Matthew have created a cookbook to get parents started in the right direction. They learned with their own daughter that creativity, involvement, and fun are the keys to keeping kids curious about food.



The Toddler Café
By Jennifer Carden :: Photography by Matthew Carden

Check out the Toddler Café video to learn more about
their philosophy for feeding toddlers.
http://www.bookvideos.tv/2008/02/toddler-cafe.html



So now, we’re asking parents:

What are your favorite tips or tricks to get your toddler to eat?

Some tips Jennifer and Matthew Carden suggest are:
Putting the food in creative containers, like brown paper bags, an ice cream cone, or a teacup
Create creative dish names and stories when introducing new ingredients. For example, pasta with a creamy pea sauce is now Monster Mash and your little ‘monster’ can gobble it right up to get monster strength!

THE CONTEST

Chronicle Books and Boon, Inc. are sponsoring a CONTEST to find the best ideas for getting kids to eat. Whether it’s trying new foods or just getting them to sit still at the table, what works for you?

WHO WINS?: From your entries, author Jennifer Carden will choose the top TEN entries, who will all receive a signed copy of the book and a Boon Inc. feeding utensil for their child. Plus, will post all TEN winning tips here so everyone benefits from their brilliant tips.

Of the TEN, a GRAND PRIZE winner will receive a full line of the Boon Inc feeding utensils and dishes and the super-popular Animal Bag, along with several best-selling parenting books from Chronicle and the signed copy of The Toddler Café.

TO ENTER: Send an email to author Jennifer Carden at toddlercafe@gmail.com

WHEN: The contest lasts from April 1 until April 30! Winners will be announced on Mother’s Day!!! How appropriate!

Daily Candy Sweet on Boon Kids Products

Daily Candy has picked up on how cool Boon kids products are, and I am really happy about this.
Boon is a great company and has amazinly cool kids dishes.
We love them because kids can move around the cute little side dishes. You can fill them with small amounts of yummy cheese and other small food items that will keep a childs interest in the meal.

We have the Boon Animal Bag in oval and love it. Getting the kids to clean up is fun when they can toss all the stuffed animals in to it and zip it up.
It is storage and a seat all in one.

We also love the Boon Bath Frog Pod, makes cleaning up the bath toys a cinch.