I’ve already given thanks for Reading is Fundamental (RIF) for their work in encouraging kids to read by getting books into their hands. I also love them for the family reading activities ideas on their website. I especially like this month’s Family Cookbook project since it’s a terrific way to spend time with your kids, while recording family memories. This makes a great holiday gift for everyone who contributed, too!

For children ages 9 and up (though younger ones can participate) help your children gather up favorite recipes from family members. With holidays like Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year’s coming up this is the perfect time of year to do this.

First, have children solicit the recipes. Have them call up (or email) grandparents, aunts, uncles, godparents, and adult cousins to request a copy of their favorite holiday recipes. Photocopies can be mailed to your children or recipes can be emailed as well.

Have your children sort the recipes by menu categories: appetizers, soups, main dishes, side dishes, desserts, snacks, and so on. (Younger ones can help here.) After organizing the recipes, older children can check spellings on the ingredients lists, clarify any confusing directions, and credit the contributors.

Assembling the Recipes
There are many ways to assemble the recipes into a book: You can volunteer to type up the collection on your computer. Older children who know how to use a word processing program can help organize and edit the recipes.

Children with good handwriting can copy the recipes neatly on sheets of notebook paper. (Do this for shorter recipes. It could be a daunting task for long, complicated ones.) You can scan this or photocopy it later.

Don’t forget to create a table of contents.

Artwork Ideas
Younger children help create the artwork. Have them draw something that goes with the recipe, like apples for an apple pie, if drawing the dish is too hard. They could also create a collage from magazine photos. If you’re really ambitious, make a few of the recipes and take a photo to use in the cookbook. (Family photos can be used too, especially those ones around the holiday table.) Scan the artwork and put it in your computer document.

Finally, have the children create art for the cover.

Copying Options
DIY on your home color ink jet printer If you’re only making a few copies. Otherwise, print out (in color if possible) or take the file(s) to your local copy store, and have enough copies made to make a booklet for each person who contributed a recipe.

Binding Ideas
Your copy store can collate the booklets and bind them in several different ways depending on the thickness of the book. Have them give you a quote first so there’s no sticker shock.

Or you can put two pages (front and back) into a plastic sheet protector and put them in a three-ring binder (use a view binder to display the cover art). This may be more expensive than the copier store option (and more pricey to mail out). However, the advantage is that you can continue adding to this collection year after year.

Other Options
If you’re a scrapbooker, you may want to make this into a scrapbooking project. However, since the point of this project is to share it with all the family member who participated, be prepared to make several books if you go this route.

Finally, there are several online services that can print cookbooks for you. (They’re usually used for community, family reunion, or fundraising cookbooks.) If you have a large family and lots of contributors, this may be the way to go. PLEASE check out prices, terms, obligations, etc. before signing up.

• Your Own Cookbook
• The Great Family Cookbook Project
• The Cook’s Palate
• The Cookbook Company
• The Cookbook Maker

Technorati tags: giving thanks, cookbooks, family activities, recipes

Yesterday’s post got me thinking about gardening. Do you garden with your children? What do you grow?

Obviosly, some parents are because there are a slew of great websites on gardening with your kids:

• Gardening with Children from Colorado State University
• KidsGardening.com – a great gardening resource for educators, including grant information and an online teacher’s course. There is also a detailed parent’s primer showing how you can share gardening with your children.
• Eatheasy’s Gardening with Children – lots of tips and links to other online resources
• Kinder Garden – giving ideas on how children can interact with plants outdoors

Paul’s the one with the green thumb who takes manic pride in how green his grass is compared to everyone else’s on the block. Somehow I get roped into his gardening projects, whether it’s picking berries, drying hops, or finding ways to cook all those veggies.

Four years ago he had a huge bumper crop of tomatoes. I was pregnant with Lucie and the idea of eating tomotoes completely grossed me out. Too bad he’s cut down his tomato production in favor of berries and herbs since the idea of making homemade tomato sauce or gazpacho appeals to me lately.

Here are two recipes that’ll help you use up all of your homegrown tomatoes:

Tomato-Cucumber Gazpacho
recipe and photo courtesy of Sunset magazine
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Makes 8 servings

This simplified version of Spanish gazpacho is a light, refreshing way to use the very ripest (almost too ripe) tomatoes. Children can help by washing and cutting up the vegetables and measuring the ingredients. You may be able to get them to eat it since cold soup is rather novel. Just don’t tell them that it’s good for them.

Ingredients:

1. 2 pounds very ripe tomatoes, seeded and roughly chopped
2. 1 seedless cucumber or 1 pound Persian cucumbers, peeled and roughly chopped
3. 1 red bell pepper, roughly chopped
4. 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
5. 1 tablespoon salt
6. 1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
7. 1/4 cup diced red onion, rinsed in cold water and patted dry with paper towels (optional)

Directions:

1. In a blender or Cuisinart, whirl tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, olive oil, salt, and vinegar until smooth. (You may need to blend in batches.)
2. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste.
3. Garnish with red onion, if desired.

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Since it’s been in the triple digits all week, I’ve had frozen treats on the brain. Yes, I could hit the Safeway and stock up on gallons of ice cream, but that would be too easy. After attending an ice cream social at Paul’s work – and tasting a most marvelous strawberry sorbet – I thought maybe I could make some up myself. After all, I have bowls of berries lying around waiting for me to do something with them.

Bowls of berries, huh? I obviously haven’t told you about Paul’s gardening. (He’s the gentleman farmer, not me.) Besides the hops taking over the deck (we use them for home brew) we have blackberries, blueberries and strawberries.

This year our raspberries are out of control. The four scrawny raspberry plants (more like sticks) we got via mail order six years ago took over the entire garden next to where they were planted. They’re also coming up through the middle of the side lawn. And they’ve grown under the fence into our neighbor’s yard, which they’re very happy about considering that on sale, 6 ounces of raspberries costs a dollar.

Every time Paul and the kids go out there, they fill up a medium sized mixing bowl with berries. It’s gotten to the point where I’m inviting people over to do some berry picking, an activity we used to pay to do a local organic farm. Paul has threatened to make jam, which I’m having no part of since I don’t feel like stocking up on mason jars, pectin, and learning how to can. So sorbets, sherbet, and ice cream may be the way to go.

First, Cooking with Whine posted some easy sherbet recipes last month that you can make without having to buy an ice cream maker. They’re so simple that the kids can help out. Becki also posted some wonderful ice cream recipes and recommends a Cuisinart ice cream maker. (I’m guessing it’s the Cuisinart 1 1/2 Quart Ice Cream Maker that goes for $47 at Amazon. The red model is $2 more.) Gosh, Becki, I’m really, really tempted….

Wondering about the seeds, maybe this recipe for a raspberry granita e-how.com would be better. Granita is an ice dessert similar to sorbet, but it has a more granular texture because you scrape it up yourself. This recipe makes about 2 cups.

Raspberry Granita

Ingredients:

1. 1/3 c. water
2. 1/2 c. sugar
3. 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
4. 1 1/2 c. fresh raspberries

Directions:

1. Heat the water and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Avoid letting it come to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and add the lemon juice.
3. Puree the raspberries and strain them into the sugar mixture. If they’re very soft, you can simply place them in the strainer and force them through.
4. Stir the mixture together and place in a shallow container.
5. Place the container in the freezer and freeze for several hours.
6. Stir with a fork as the mixture freezes, every 20 minutes or so, breaking up any frozen surfaces and crushing any lumps. This creates granita’s texture.
7. Serve when the granita is almost completely frozen and can be scraped up into a ball.

If you need more ideas, try ice-cream-recipes.com, the ultimate guide to ice cream maker recipes.

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The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) created Family Day – A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children™ in 2001, as a national effort to promote family dinners as an effective way to reduce substance abuse among children and teens. Family Day is celebrated on the fourth Monday in September. But why wait? Long summer days and no homework make it easier to eat four or more nights together. (And summer reruns means you can eat with the TV off, too.)

Yes, we’re all busy, but did you know that children and teens who have frequent family dinners:

• are at half the risk for substance abuse compared to teens who dine with their families infrequently
• are less likely to have friends or classmates who use illicit drugs or abuse prescription drugs
• have lower levels of tension and stress at home
• are more likely to say that their parents are proud of them
• are likelier to say they can confide in their parents
• are likelier to get better grades in school
• are more likely to be emotionally content and have positive peer relationships • have healthier eating habits (it’s easier to detect an eating disorder, too)
• are at lower risk for thoughts of suicide
• are less likely to try marijuana or have friends who use marijuana

According to Time magazine’s June 4, 2006 article, "The Magic of the Family Meal", which covered the CASA study, families who make meals a priority also tend to spend more time on reading for pleasure and homework.

Here are some tools to help you get started:

• TV Land’s Family Table with ideas on conversation starters and fun activities you can do at the table during dinner. (While you’re there, sign up to take the pledge to Get Together on Family Day on September 25!)
• The Surprising Power of Family Meals: How Eating Together Makes Us Smarter, Stronger, Healthier, and Happier – Author Miriam Weinstein shows you how to make regular family meals work for you, and how to encourage conversation with your love ones. She also gives tips on how to cook the way you want to and use family meal times to prepare your children for the real world.
• Saving Dinner: The Menus, Recipes, and Shopping Lists to Bring Your Family Back to the Table – Also known as the FlyLady, Leanne Ely’s cookbook is perfect for busy parents who would love to have their family sitting around the dinner table enjoying a nutritious meal and good conversation. Divided up by the season, each section features six weeks of menus including recipes, side dish suggestions, and an itemized grocery list. She features a lot of crock pot and soup recipes. (If you like the book, you may want to sign up at SavingDinner.com for a menu mailer service.)

Finally, why not make reading a part of your family meal? When we go out to eat, we love to linger over dessert and coffee. Even if it’s cookies, herbal tea, and milked warmed up in the microwave, you can create a similar feeling at home. The older kids can read to the parents, maybe from a book assigned at school or the newspaper. For the younger ones, read to them while the kids enjoy their warm milk. It’s a great way to get them sleepy, and ready for bath and bedtime.

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A friend was telling me about the 16 novels her son will be reading in his 9th grade AP (advanced placement) classes this fall. (He’s been assigned to read Watership Down over the summer.) Since the parents are required to read the books as well, she’s pretty stressed out about keeping up.

I suggested that she enlist the teacher’s help in forming a parent-child book club and study group to help the students and parents find time to discuss and study the books. It would be a great way to offer each family support and show the kids that their parents care enough to take the time. Plus, families could share in babysitting duties of the younger kids, giving the older students some quiet time to read and study.

But book clubs are not just for adults and teenagers, younger children (3rd through 8th grade) can benefit as well. As Martha C.Z. Baylisswrites at Scholastic.com, "Making the book club a priority will help make reading at home a priority as well."

Besides giving tips for getting started, she says that a parent-child book group can help you:

• get closer to your child
• share different aspects of his life
• expand your conversations beyond "How was school today?"
• provide insight into your child, her peers, and how they think

A terrific book that tells you how to start a mother-daughter book club is The Mother-Daughter Book Club: How Ten Busy Mothers and Daughters Came Together to Talk, Laugh and Learn Through Their Love of Reading. It’s the story of a group of mothers and their daughters and how their relationships were strengthened and changed by starting a monthly reading club. It’s also a practical step-by-step book, filled with stories, anecdotes and reading lists, that will inspire parents to start reading clubs of their own.

Here are some more tips on starting a mother-daughter book club and a parent-child book club. Even the PTA has some advice.

If you’re Interested in starting a parent-child book club, enter to win the Scholastic Parent-Child Book Club Kit Giveaway at Women’s Day magazine. Start your own parent-child book club with this kit, including two copies each of A Dog’s Life : The Autobiography Of A Stray, Out Standing In My Field, and Ghosthunters And The Incredibly Revolting Ghost, all published by Scholastic. Enter to win between July 11 and August 8.

Don’t have time for a book club? Try a magazine club instead, writes Denver Post entertainment columnist, Bill Husted.