Make-A-Meal Mondays: Valentine’s Day Special

Posted on February 14, 2011 by viviankirkfield

Esther Howland Valentine, circa 1850: "We...

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Do you remember your first Valentine’s Day card? Was it from a relative or a best-friend? How about your first “love interest” Valentine? Do you remember crafting Valentines when you were a child…cutting the red construction paper into heart shapes and gluing bits of ribbon or lace onto the handmade card?

The history of Valentine’s Day is clouded by various legends, but its roots are in the ancient Roman festival of Lupercalia, a fertility celebration. Pope Gelasius I made this pagan festival into a Christian feast day in 496 and he declared February 14 to be Saint Valentine’s Day.

However, it wasn’t until the 14^th Century that Chaucer linked St. Valentine’s Day with romance. In 1381, he composed a poem in honor of the engagement of Richard II of England and Anne of Bohemia. “The Parliament of Fowls” spoke of the royal engagement, the mating of fowls and St. Valentine’s Day.

By the 18^th Century, gift-giving and the exchange of handmade cards had become a tradition in England. However, it wasn’t until the 1850’s that the tradition of Valentine’s cards became widespread in the United States when Esther Howland, a native of Worcester, Massachusetts and a graduate of Mt. Holyoke, began to mass produce Valentine’s Day cards.

Do you still make your Valentine’s Day cards by hand?

A lot of people do try to make something special to celebrate this day of love. If you pass a bakery or candy shop, you will, no doubt, see windows and shelves filled with cakes, cookies, cupcakes and elegant confections in the shape of hearts, bows, and cupids.

For a healthier take on Valentine’s Day food, why not try this lovely HEARTS OF MOZZARELLA SALAD. This recipe is from the SHOW ME HOW! book, which provides 100 child-friendly healthful cooking activities. You can try it for lunch today or as a side salad for dinner.

HEARTS OF MOZZARELLA SALAD

You will need: 1 chunk of mozzarella cheese (about 1 lb), 2 Roma tomatoes, 1 Tb basis (dry or fresh), several leaves of romaine lettuce, 1 Tb balsamic vinegar, 1 Tb olive oil and 1 Tb Parmesan cheese.

1. Cut mozzarella into 8 slices, each about ¼ inch thick. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter or a knife to cut each slice into a heart shape. Put the excess cheese in a plastic bag in the fridge to save for topping on pizza, etc.

2. Slice each tomato into 4 slices and place a tomato slice on top of each cheese heart.

3. Arrange on a platter of lettuce leaves and sprinkle each serving with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil and Parmesan cheese.

I hope you’ll stop by tomorrow for a bunch of wonderful love quotations in Quotable Timeless Tuesday.

May you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day…filled with Sunshine (even if it is raining) and Love.

MAKE-A-MEAL MONDAYS

Posted on February 7, 2011 by viviankirkfield

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Do you notice how lots of people who blog have catchy titles for different days.

Mailbox Monday

Wordless Wednesday

Follow Me Fridays

So, from now on, I’m going to be doing Make-A-Meal Mondays.

Every Monday, I’ll post a recipe that is a favorite of ours…and one that your child can help you prepare…I’m a big fan of kids in the kitchen! Encouraging your child to participate with meal planning and preparation is important because:

Children master skills and tasks when helping in the kitchen…which builds their self-esteem.
Fussy eaters are more likely to eat meals they have helped prepare.
Children learn about where food comes from when they help shop for ingredients and use those ingredients in making the final product.
The time you spend participating positively with your child helps create a life-long parent-child bond.
You can utilize the shopping experience to develop pre-literacy skills…make the list with your child and draw a picture of each item next to each word…then let your child hold the list and check off each item as he or she helps you put it in the shopping cart.

The last few weeks, most of the country has been hit with severe weather…icy rains, blizzards and freezing cold temperatures. I think a cup of hot soup would be a welcome addition to any meal this week, so here is a favorite of ours and one of the recipes that appears in SHOW ME HOW! BUILD YOUR CHILD’S SELF-ESTEEM THROUGH READING, CRAFTING AND COOKING.

The soup commercial on television says it all…eager smiling children sitting around the table in the cozy kitchen, mother wearing an apron, stirring a big pot on the stove. The only thing missing is the delicious aroma of homemade soup. With this recipe, you and your child can make that happen in your home.

ALPHABET CHICKEN VEGETABLE SOUP

You will need: 1 quart chicken broth, 2 Tb diced onion, ¼ cup dry alphabet noodles, 1 cup diced cooked chicken, ½ cup sliced carrots, ½ cup cut green beans, ¼ cup corn kernels, parsley (optional), and a large pot with a cover.

1. In a large pot, mix the broth, onions and noodles and bring to a boil.

2. Lower heat to simmer and add chicken, carrots, beans and corn.

3. Simmer on low with the cover on for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Garnish each serving with parsley, if desired.

5. Makes about 4-5 cups of soup. You can refrigerate or freeze the leftovers.

6. TIP: You can substitute other vegetables if you like…peas, lima beans, zucchini…use your imagination…or whatever you have available. J

7. You can season with salt and pepper if you wish…but go easy…as a nation, we tend to use too much salt which has been shown to create all kinds of health problems.

And just to remind you…this is the last day of the SHARE THE LOVE BOOK BOGO EVENT going on right now on my website

You can grab a copy of the book that contains 100 EASY CHILD-FRIENDLY HEALTHFUL COOKING ACTIVITIES AND 100 SIMPLE ECO-FRIENDLY CRAFT PROJECTS at the regular cover price and you will RECEIVE ANOTHER COPY FREE!

Head on over to my website to get all the details…but please hurry…this SHARE THE LOVE BOGO BOOK EVENT goes away at 11:59pm on Monday night.

Please stop by tomorrow for TIMELESS TUESDAYS…I’ll be sharing some of my favorite quotations.

The Fourth Lesson of Nanny McPhee: BE BRAVE!

Posted on February 5, 2011 by viviankirkfield

A grandfather teaches his granddaughter to use...

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The dictionary defines bravery as:

“Courage in the face of danger, difficulty or pain…a quality of spirit that enables you to face danger, difficulty or pain without showing fear.”

We often think that brave people are without fear…but this is not what bravery is all about. In fact, in interviews with soldiers who have won medals for bravery, they often admit to having been afraid during their action of courage.

And perhaps that is the true meaning of bravery…when we proceed and follow through danger, pain or difficulties, even though WE ARE AFRAID. There are brave people all around us, dealing with all sorts of problems, but continuing on.

Nanny McPhee’s fourth lesson to the children is to BE BRAVE.

Why, you may ask, do young children need to be brave. Aren’t we there to protect them and watch out for them…and most of the time all they do is play, right? 🙂

Honestly, I think sometimes young children are the bravest of us all…so many new situations and experiences, so much to learn in order to navigate their way through those early years.

In addition, many young children have fears about a number of things which they need to acknowledge and overcome. Some of the most common are:

Fear of the dark
Fear of new experiences and new situations
Fear of illness and death
Fear of monsters (the monster may not be real, but your child’s fear is)

Children need to be brave about other things as well. Picture this: You are five years old and your entire family is crazy about sports….Mom and Dad play on an adult volleyball team and all your older and younger brothers and sisters love football, baseball and hockey. You, however, love music and want to learn to play the violin or the piano.

It takes a lot of courage for a young child to follow his own muse if it differs from that of his family or peers!

There are many children’s picture books that address this issue. One of my favorite stories is OLIVER BUTTON IS A SISSY by Tomie de Paola. In the story, Oliver Button wants to be a dancer and even though Oliver’s father would rather have him playing football with the other boys, he lets Oliver attend dance classes. Oliver stays true to his goal, even though his classmates tease him. When there is a talent show, everyone is impressed with Oliver’s great dancing, and his father and classmates are very proud of him.

In my my new parenting book, you will find a simple eco-friendly craft project and an easy child-friendly healthful cooking activity to help you extend the learning experience after you read OLIVER BUTTON with your child.

On that note, I want to let everyone know about an EXCITING PRE-VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL on my website.

It’s called SHARE THE LOVE

and it will go from 12:01am SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 5^th TO MONDAY, FEBRUARY 7th AT 11:59pm.

If you buy one copy of SHOW ME HOW! at the regular cover price of $44.95, you will get a second copy for FREE!

If you have been thinking about getting a copy for yourself, but were hesitating at the $35.00 website sale price, NOW IS THE TIME TO GRAB YOUR COPY AND HAVE A COPY TO GIVE TO:

YOUR BFF OR ANYONE ELSE YOU LOVE WHO DESERVES IT AND NEEDS IT.
YOUR CHILD’S DAYCARE PROVIDER OR PRESCHOOL TEACHER.
A FRIEND OR RELATIVE WHO IS HAVING A BABY SOON.
A GRANDPARENT WHO TAKES CARE OF YOUR PRESCHOOLER AND WOULD APPRECIATE THIS SHORTCUT TO STORY RECOMMENDATIONS AND EDUCATIONAL FUN-FILLED ACTIVITIES THAT BUILD SELF-ESTEEM.

At the BOGO price, you are paying $22.50 for a BRAND-NEW FRESH-OUT-OF-THE-BOX SIGNED-BY-THE-AUTHOR COPY (some sellers on Amazon and Alibris are charging over $40 for a USED copy).

I’m posting the sale now so you will be able to order it in time for Valentine’s Day. The SHARE THE LOVE BOGO EVENT will only be available, ON MY WEBSITE, by clicking on the PayPal button. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the Nanny McPhee lessons…stop by tomorrow for the last lesson: HAVE FAITH!