Getting the Green: Kids & Salad

When I was little, I was pegged as a 'picky eater' and I hated salad - because I hated salad dressing. My mother served gloppy Russian dressing, a mixture of my two least favorite ingredients, mayo & ketchup.

Then I discovered blue cheese. I loved blue cheese dressing, or blue cheese crumbled into salad, with lemon squeezed on top.

So it didn't surprise me that my youngest daughter hated salad. But a vegetarian who won't eat salad? Then she tasted Just Salad's balsamic vinaigrette. Although I make my own vinaigrette, she prefers this commercial version, but hey, if she's eating salad...

The other day, I sampled a chocolate hazelnut vinaigrette, developed by the chef at The Hotel Hershey (of course). The dressing was served over a roasted beet and orange salad - and I actually have a kid who loves beets.

The hotel's version also has arugula and radicchio, but she doesn't like those bitter greens. So I used a milder mesclun mix and the salad was a huge hit.

Make the dressing with your kids - and use it on any salad greens. When they add the Hershey's syrup, they are guaranteed to at least try the salad.

Note: I received the information about The Hotel Hershey and the recipe for the roasted beet and orange salad from The Hershey Company. Opinions are my own.

School Lunches: One Month In

As the school year gets under way, I have already fallen into a lunch rut. My youngest daughter, who is now 15, so no longer content with her daily peanut butter sandwich, and being vegetarian further limits our options.

So Weelicious Lunches is a timely addition. Catherine McCord, founder of weelicous.com has put together over 160 lunches and is truly thinking outside the box.

She even improved on the classic PB &J.

This sandwich can’t be taken to school, alas, but it can be savored by hungry adult peanut butter fiends. You simply make the sandwich – she recommends natural peanut butter – and finish it in a waffle iron. It gets crunchy and melted and is truly inspired.

Another great recipe is for veggie meatballs, made from white beans. The recipe makes a ton, so you can have pasta with ‘meatballs’ and use extra meatballs for a veggie hero.

And even if your kid is in a (veggie) salami and cheese, phase, there are other great choices. Fiber-rich (and peanut-free) sunflower bran muffins and healthy (!) double chocolate whole wheat brownies?

Yes, please.

Rolling with the Baby - through Brooklyn

When my kids were babies, I resorted to many bizarre tactics to get them to sleep through the night.

Luvs may have come up with one of the most innovative.

Luvs and the Double Duty Divas, who are sending me product for this post (but not for my opinion – that is my own) is offering sleep-deprived Brooklyn parents free taxi rides on October 10th and 11^th.

Since so many of us in Brooklyn are car-free, but baby-blessed, this is the perfect place to offer the nocturnal rides. They are available from 6pm-12am, and can be summoned by tweeting tweet @Luvs with the hashtag #LullabyLift.

Of course, the taxis have car seats and parents get a pack of the new Luvs with Nightlock, so once your baby falls asleep, she won’t wake up from a wet diaper.

I vacuumed with a baby strapped in a front carrier, walked the streets for an hour or more to lull my daughters to sleep and even held one in a car seat over my (running) washing machine.

In Luvs newest commercial parents try different and unusual ways to get their babies to sleep.  What did you try?

Brooklyn Bourbon: Widow Jane

For the most part, I take my bourbon neat. It seems a shame to muck up great bourbon with anything else.

Especially when that bourbon is Red Hook’s Widow Jane.

But the guys at Cacao Prieto have come up with an intriguing variation on the classic cocktail, Blood In The Sand.

This drink is usually equal parts Scotch, cherry brandy, sweet vermouth, and orange juice.

In the version to be served at Brooklyn Shaken & Stirred, the drink will be made with Punt e Mes vermouth, OJ, orange zest and an outlier, Gran Classico.

This Italian bitter, similar to Campari, (one of my favorite drinks) should add just the right bitter note to the cocktail.

Hey, we’re New Yorkers. We live in small homes and have rats in our playgrounds. We have the right to be bitter.

And if the drink overwhelms the bourbon, I think they are also offering unadorned tastes.

First Birthday: smash a cake in style

Along with push presents, smash cakes didn’t exist when my kids were babies. These are the cakes you give your precious darling when she turns one, and let her smush, crush and mash into her face and hair.

I just baked my girls regular cakes.

But I love the idea of making the first birthday party extra special by giving your child her own cake and letting her go to town. I still remember giving my oldest (she’s now 22) a piece of her first birthday cake. It was her first experience of real sugar and she was ecstatic.

Of course, by my the 2^nd and 3^rd children, cakes were nothing new. Once one kid goes down that rabbit hole, strictures against white sugar and white flour often go by the wayside.

Betty Crocker has a bunch of recipes for interesting, easy to make cakes, using their mixes as a base. My fave is the Peas & Carrot cake, which adds bananas to the cake mix.

The frosting is cram cheese, yogurt and carrot baby food and the decorations – frozen peas! No, it's not health food, but some fruit and veggies in a cake are a cool addition.

Of course, I think one year olds would love any cake.

Here’s  pic of my niece with her over-the-top bat mitzvah cake.

Check out all the cakes on Betty Crocker’s Pinterest page.

Note: this is a sponsored post and I received a gift card in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own

Brooklyn Fun: local cocktails

My love of travel and passion for locavore cuisine are seemingly at odds, but I figure it's a way to encourage people to travel to Brooklyn.

Even Manhattanites are sometimes reluctant to cross the water. Despite national magazine touting Brooklyn's renaissance - and, to some, its superiority - we in Brooklyn can feel like second class citizens.

But then there's an event like Brooklyn Shaken & Stirred, a celebration of local spirits and mixologists that should make dyed-in-the-wool Manhattanites jealous.

The 2nd annual event, Tuesday, October 8, offers attendees a huge variety of drinks and food to sample.

One that sounds particularly intriguing is the Brooklyn Carousel, which I guess could leave you spinning.

The drink is made with hand crafted Brooklyn Gin, a gorgeous gin (in a super cool bottle) that uses fresh fruit and botanicals.

Here's their description of the Brooklyn Carousel:
A vibrant blend of Brooklyn Gin, fresh lemon juice, and triple sec, with a touch of brightness from Peychaud's aromatic bitters. 

You'll just have to go the event to see how it tastes.

Colonial Cocktails: Old Stone House

Bars that tout their classic cocktails are often serving well-crafted Manhattans and martinis, drinks that were popular in the 1920s.

But Old Stone House in Park Slope, Brooklyn, goes much further back. This history museum, site of the Battle of Brooklyn in the Revolutionary War, served Colonial cocktails to drum up support for its planned interactive exhibit.

The beguiling cocktail, a ‘shrubb,’ is a bourbon based drink with apple cider vinegar. It reminded me of the ‘drinking vinegars’ served at Pok Pok, which proves that good things come around.

The Old Stone House, part of the Historic House Trust of New York City, anchors Washington Park. The park has a fabulous playground, a turf field and a host of family and adult programming.

Shrubb Cocktail – serves 2  

3 oz   Apple Brandy

2 oz   Bourbon 

3 oz   Dark Amber Maple Syrup

1 oz   Apple Cider Vinegar

A few dashes of bitters 

The Old Stone House served these cold, with a twist of orange peel, so the drinks looked like Negronis. If you have an old fashioned cocktail coupe, shake the drink with ice in a martini shaker and serve in the coupe.