Your guide to activities and fun things to do with your preschoolers, toddlers and kids in portland, OR

Best sweet treats around town

June 30, 2009

The Fourth of July weekend is almost upon us and the weather is supposed to heat up! If you're looking for some yummy desserts for your holiday celebrations and want to avoid heating up your kitchen by baking pies or cakes, take a trip to one of these local, independent shops (BUY LOCAL!) Bon appetit and try to stay cool!

Cupcake Jones (307 nw 10th ave) This sweet shop in Portland's Pearl district offers unusual treats with flavors like: Orange Creamsicle, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Pumpkin Pie. Eat lunch at Whole Foods first or spend the afternoon pouring over books in the children's reading room at Powell's. Come to Cupcake Jones for doggie cupcakes, rBST free dairy, and locally sourced ingredients when possible. Kudos to this business for donating leftovers to a homeless agency. (Justify your cupcake consumption by seeing it as supporting a business who gives back.)

Saint Cupcake (two locations:407 nw 17th ave @ flanders or 3300 se belmont @ 33rd) My daughter and I love to take a special trip to Saint Cupcake to pick out a selection of teeny, tiny cupcakes. Choose from dots (mini bite-sized cakes, perfect for teddybear tea parties) or regular sized. The lemon berry (available only in summer) is my absolute favorite, but selections like the Fat Elvis (banana fudge chocolate chip) or Red Velvet (delish!) are fun too. They will be closing early on Saturday to celebrate the 4th but check with them for Americana-themed mini cakes! (Hit the Avalon and Laughing Planet to make a day out of it)


Voodoo Donut (1501 ne davis, portland or 22 sw third ave) This is a fun place to bring out of town visitors, although be warned some donuts may be NSFCOUR (Not Safe for Kids or Uptight Relatives). The menu offers crazy treats like the Grape Ape, the Dirty Snowball, and vegan donuts (yes, you too may indulge in the glaze without any forbidden ingredients). How about a last minute wedding? You can do that too at Voodoo!

Also worth a visit for family-friendly goodies: Acme Donuts (near SE 30th and Powell) Pix Patisserie (3901 N Williams Ave and 3402 SE Division St.), and Petite Provence (15964 Sw Boones Ferry Road, 1824 NE Alberta, and 4834 SE Division).  Read more...

Cooking Once, Cooking Twice, These Cookbooks Make Cooking Nice!

April 27, 2009

Favorite Cookbooks for Kids

My daughter went through a phase when she was around 2.5 where she was obsessed with cookbooks. She liked to pour over them constantly, picking out the thing we would cook next, or use the recipes as a jumping-off point for her own concoctions. Instead of looking at picture books before bed, she wanted to take a stack of cookbooks to read under the covers. We picked up a bunch of cookbooks at the Goodwill Bins, yard sales, and on eBay to round out our collection. A few of these books are still getting a lot of use in our house, the rest (like the BettyCrocker Entertaining Manuals from the 1970s) have slowly been snuck out of the house to be re-donated. In fact, we often give copies of these cookbooks as our "go-to" gift for special friend's birthday gifts!

Pretend Soup and other Real Recipes--Mollie Katzen
This cookbook has sweet illustrations that give straight forward directions that are easy for children to read and follow. The numbered pictures present tasks that are easy for children and help to build confidence in the kitchen. It's especially fun to use food that you've grown yourself to cook and bake with, and MollieKatzen makes this process loads of fun! Using simple, healthy foods (no Cool Whip or licorice noses in these recipes) to make Bagel Faces, Carrot Pennies, or Number Salad means your child gains experience cutting, chopping, and measuring. Pretend Soup is thoughtfully written, it doesn't spend a lot of time with zillions of intricate steps (which may lead to your child getting bored and wandering off or Mama weeping when her elaborate marzipan birds don't turn out right) and one cooking project can be completed in a short time.

Look and Cook--Tina Davis
I find myself picking this cookbook up often just to flip through the fun retro illustrations. It claims to be a cookbook for children, but it is a reliable resource for the yummiest chocolate chip cookies EVER! The recipe for strawberry shortcake gets a lot of use in our house too. There is nothing like fresh strawberries and the joy of splattering whipping cream all around the kitchen to satisfy a toddler! Davis' book offers easy, beginner recipes for cooking basics like french toast, blueberry muffins, split pea soup. What I like about this book is that some recipes can be attempted with little adult intervention, and as your child grows, they can move on to the more complicated (and stove-related) tasks. Super whimsical graphics teach table setting and kitchen safety.

Mom and Me Cookbook--Annabel Karmel
DK makes the best in-depth instructional books and this cookbook will keep you and your kiddo busy! Lots of full color photos and step by step instructions make the tasks fail proof. There is a good variety of snacks, main dishes, and desserts (the book is quite heavy on the sweets, but does offer healthy options like smoothies, and freezer pops) Our favorite recipes were the Avocado Fruit Dip and the Fishy Fruit Dip---great projects to incorporate for your turn for snack day at preschool!

22:15:31

Top 5 Ways to Pack Your Child's Lunch with Extra Love

April 21, 2009

I still remember the brown paper bags that I carried my lunch in (after I graduated from the Super Heroes metal lunchbox and before I was too cool to even bring a lunch and merely existed on....air?) and the drawings my mom did on the front every day. They made me laugh and they helped me carry a little bit of her to school with me every day.

Here are five easy ways to send a virtual hug to school with your child:

1) Involve your child in the preparation and decisions that go into the lunch. Bring your child to the store or farmer's market with you and ask them what they would like to eat this week. Maybe they have an idea based on an educational theme from school or a new treat they want to bake? Have them meal plan with you and prepare the lunch the night before. Children can make sandwiches, chop fruits/vegetables, and package leftovers from family meals. If your child sees that you value their input and are excited about fun, healthy food to fuel their bodies, they will be too!

2) Help your child select components for a zero-waste lunch. Not only can they can pick out reusable drink containers, thermos, and bento boxes that strike their fancy, but you can help them to sew easy cloth napkins or sandwich wraps with fabric they repurpose from around the house. They can use fabric pens to design a Days of the Week set of napkins!

3) Cut out a funny cartoon or picture you download and tuck it in your child's lunch bag. Etsy has a great selection of handmade lunchbox notes or you can write them a note every day telling them something you are proud to see them learn or do. Include a knock-knock joke, or small origami project.

4) We've always tried to stay away from the "sugar as a reward" issue, but a healthy baked goodie that you make with your child is a fun addition to a lunchbox. Let them select a new recipe to try and use the measuring to brush up on math skills. They can count out the cookies into containers for extra numbers practice.

5) Why not pack your own lunch and join your child for a surprise lunch date in the cafeteria if the school allows visitors? I have done this several times this year and my daughter was thrilled to have me squish my adult body onto a narrow bench with twenty-two other kindergarteners!  Whether you are a working parent, stay at home parent, or some combo of the two, you can make time at least once a year to share a meal with your child and see what their world at school is really like!
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Tasty books: Some books that warm my foody soul

by Sarah Gilbert

November 26, 2008

I love kids' books about food, although I have to do my best to set aside my sense of correct practices. (Especially those books that show soup being made; it's always way out of proportion!) Here are some that feature food in a way that is yummy: Pancakes for Breakfast by Tommy dePaola . This wordless book watches as a woman endures obstacle after obstacle while dreaming of pancakes; but I  Read more...