Anyone who knows me knows that I rarely take the easy route. Croutons? Why waste the money when homemade croutons are so easily and cheaply made with leftover bread? Salad dressing? I love the freshness and the complex flavors of a good homemade dressing. And cakes? I can bake up a cake with the best of them …

But when it came time to make cupcakes for a recent gathering, I knew I wanted to do something wild and kid-centric, so I decided to do my own riff on the trendy rainbow cake that has been making its way across the internet.  But really, when you are going to be mixing and dividing and dividing again, do you really need the added complication of baking from scratch? For once, I decided that I didn’t … so I took the easiest route and used a box of cake mix.

Hey, it worked for this. And when I make these again — and I will make these again –I will do it again in a heartbeat. These are such a fun dessert, especially when kids are involved. Go bold and bright with the colors, and be sure to start with white cake mix for the best hues.

Continue reading…

The folks over at Kaboose have teamed up with Mott’s to offer an exciting contest this fall. The Back to School Secret Sauce Sweepstakes has a grandprize of $3,000. How sweet is that?

All you need to do to enter is to fill out a simple form at the Kaboose website. You can also join the discussion about using applesauce as your “secret sauce” in recipes on the Kaboose message boards.

You have until September 14, 2009 to enter. Click here to go to the entry form.

Hi! I’m Meagan Francis, a mom-about-town of five: Jacob, 11, Isaac, 9, William, 5, Owen, 3, and baby Clara, who was born in March. I’m author of two books, most recently Table for Eight: Raising a Large Family in a Small-Family World. I also have a few blogs: The Happiest Mom, where I write about finding satisfaction and happiness with my life as a mother; LargerFamilies.com, where a cast of moms of many and I write about raising larger-than-average families; and at my website MeaganFrancis.com, where I write about a mix of issues from my professional life to my kids.

I also write about family life, motherhood, and travel for a variety of magazines and websites including Parents, Parenting, Family.com and Away.com, where I’m a Family Travel Expert. As you might guess, I love being on the go with my family, which can pose some challenges. For instance, how do I prepare for all the possible emergencies that might befall us when I’m out with a potty-training preschooler, a baby and three big kids? How do I choose healthy, whole snacks that are easy to prepare and get out the door? And how on earth do I hold a baby and two sets of hands while crossing the street?

I’ll be blogging about all of it here on the Mott’s More To the Core blog, and I hope you’ll follow our adventures as we seek out adventure in our backyard and beyond.

As if having a picky eater isn’t tough enough, I also have to be more label conscious when packing snacks and lunches for school since my son’s kindergarten class is officially a “peanut-free environment.” While some parents find it annoying to be prohibited from putting PB&J sandwiches into the rotation, I have no problem doing my part. I had the chance to meet the mom whose severely allergic son will be in J.J.’s class this year, and I truly feel for her.

Imagine having to send an EpiPen to school with your child? Or worry every time someone sends cupcakes into class, or there’s a school bake sale, that your child will take a bite and have an anaphylactic reaction?

Good tip: My mom-friend keeps peanut-free baked goods in her freezer to send to school with her son when there’s a class party.

The thing is, it’s not just peanut butter sandwiches that’ll cause harm. There are so many processed foods that are made with peanut oil, and many others that are simply not on our radar as possibly having nut products in them. Cereal bars, granola bars, some cake mixes, chocolate candy, and even some packaged pretzels are surprising culprits.

Having an allergy-free child is something most of us take for granted. I recently read about a minor league baseball team that had a “peanut free” game night to raise awareness. For one family in attendance, it was the very first time they were able to attend a ball game without being afraid of sitting next to someone tossing peanut shells.

These are things most parents never have to worry about (on top of all our other worries). So. if taking five seconds to check a label to make sure it doesn’t say “may contain peanuts” will keep my friend’s son safe, then I’m on board. Plus, it’ll encourage me to avoid all of the processed chips and snack cake options, and include healthy fruit cups, applesauce, cut-up veggies, and string cheese instead. We’ll just make PB&J an after-school treat. Food for thought…

Moms: What’s your take on peanut-free environments? Share in the comments below!

-Dawn Papandrea

There is a song in the Nick Jr. show Ni Hao, Kai Lan that encourages children to give unfamiliar things a shot. I absolutely love that song, and the show, because it’s encouraged my son to be very openminded:

When you are scared of something new and you don’t know what to do, just try it! Try it! Try it! Because you might like it! – Ni Hao, Kai Lan

Is that not the best message ever or what??

In that spirit, when I heard a farmer talking about these pole beans at a recent farmers market, I was intrigued. Pole beans are longer and thicker than green beans, so they hold up well to cooking directly on the grill. Be sure to marinate them in a good vinaigrette first — something with a lot of tang and flavor.

Could these be an alternative to oven baked fries and sweet potato fries (which my family loves, but honestly can take a bit of effort to make)? Yes. When I make these we all pick them up with our fingers and eat them like fries. No need for dipping sauce here though — the marinated beans cooked up packed with flavor. And yes, the kids love them.

A healthy vegetable as a finger food? Excellent. Continue reading…

New York Times bestselling author Allison Winn Scotch gives us a peak into her life this week on Real Moms Guide. Turns out that this mom love Napster, craves the ability to sleep like she used to and cherishes watching her children’s minds expand.

Here’s a snippet:

RMG: What was your favorite part of pregnancy?
Allison: Um, well, I guess the second trimester: I was terribly sick the first trimesters with both of them, and by the third, I was ready to explode. Oh, also the bigger boobs! :) To be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of pregnancy – as my doctor often told me, it was a means to an end, but hey, those boobs were FABULOUS!

RMG: Favorite part of being a mom?
Allison: My favorite part is probably watching their minds grow, and then, watching everything else grow – their curiosity, their confidence, their ability to problem solve and ask questions of the world – along with it. Both of my kids are really engaged learners, and I love, love, love that I’m teaching them about all of these various aspects of life.

For example, right now, my son is obsessed with democracy and American history, which was sparked with the whole situation in Iran, and we took trips to Philadelphia and Boston to get more hands-on experiences. And for both car rides (there and back to both cities), he was chalk-full of non-stop questions. And yeah, it got a little tiresome after, oh, hour four, of answering them, but I think it is THE BEST to be expanding his mind like this. And of course, I’d say that at least a third of the time, he’ll ask me a question that I don’t even know the answer to, so we’ll look it up online, and I’ll learn something too!

Read the full interview on Real Moms Guide.

Sometimes, I feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day for all the things that I would like to do with my kids. Like most families, my husband and I juggle work responsibilities with home responsibilities and caring for our two young children and two dogs. In the fall, school gets added back into the mix too, and that can get even hairier. So, I try to multi-task so that we can do as much as possible.

For instance, on sunny summer days, I unplug my laptop and set up shop on the porch or in our backyard so our children can play while I work. One of the big perks of being a freelance writer is that my kids can also tag along when I am researching locations for a travel or dining piece or checking out local foods for a cooking piece.

But one of our favorite multitasking activities is the rolling picnic that we frequently have when it’s warm and sunny. This one has little to do with writing and instead is more focused around fitting exercise into my day, eating lunch and spending quality time together.

So, what is this rolling picnic? Well, I pack up a lunch in individual portions and we head off to a nearby park with walking trails. The kids get situated in their double stroller and I hand out food — one baggie each at a time, and they can’t move onto the next part of the meal until they are both done. Then we walk through these beautiful wooded trails while they eat.

Sometimes, like earlier this week, we catch glimpses of wildlife in their natural habitat like a deer and her fawn or a pheasant and her (six!) chicks. My son gets so excited when we see animals along our walk and quietly points them out, so as not to scare them. And for both, the fresh air is a wonderful start of a summer afternoon.

What kinds of foods work for a rolling picnic? Here are some that we like:

• Sandwiches that are stuck together like peanut butter and jelly, cream cheese and jelly or grilled cheese
• Meat rollups — take one slice of luncheon meat and roll it with one slice of cheese. These make great finger foods.
• Crackers
• Cut up fruit in bite sized pieces like strawberries, grapes and melon. Blueberries are also a favorite. Mott’s makes some wonderful individually packaged sliced apples that are good fingerfoods too. These are also good with a small container of dipping sauce like a creamy mix of yogurt and marshmallow fluff or caramel sauce
• Fresh popcorn tossed with parmesan and salt or cocoa and sugar
• Sippy cups filled with water or juice, like Mott’s for Tots Juice or Mott’s Organic juice.

Can you remember being a kid and getting excited about school supply shopping at the end of August — ya know, right before school started? After enjoying almost a full summer of not thinking about school, spending endless hours playing freeze tag and punchball outside, and waiting for the ice cream truck to pass by, something strange would happen. We’d actually start looking forward to seeing our classmates again, meeting our new teachers, and heck, even cracking open those fresh sweet-smelling marble notebooks. What we couldn’t fathom in June, and wouldn’t dare admit in July, we’d come to confess in August — we couldn’t wait to go back to school. So why don’t we give our kids the same opportunity to look forward to September?

That notion is why I’m rebelling against this year’s sense of urgency with regard to Back-to-School shopping season. I hit a toy store in late June to pick up some sunscreen, pool floaties, and other summertime gear, and I could barely navigate my shopping cart without bumping into some early bird parent with a shopping list and a cell phone, trying to find out if little Molly needed a three-subject notebook with folder pockets or without. I actually found myself perusing the backpacks and lunchboxes, and could not believe that they were completely picked through with items thrown all about. Did I mention that this was in June?! Are we as a consumer society losing our collective minds?

I’m not saying to ignore all things academic over the summer. I did my share of reading and learning to keep my brains fresh over the summer, and now I’m making sure my son is doing the same. I’m just not harping on the idea that school is right around the corner, or that summer is halfway over. He’s having way too much fun, and I’m not going to wish the weeks away by stocking up on loose leaf and protractors.

So here is it, already August, and I still haven’t gone shopping. I took a peek in the supermarket the other day, and I noticed that the seasonal school supply section was a lot smaller than it was a month ago. After all, they have to make room for the Halloween candy. Apparently, it’s never too early to buy candy for holiday goodie bags even if said holiday is three months away!

Nevertheless, I’ve decided to enjoy what’s left of the lazy, hazy days of summer, and go school supply shopping right before school starts. Hopefully I’ll be able to find all of the items on my list. And maybe while I’m there, since the Halloween candy will be almost gone, I can pick up a string of Christmas lights.

Moms, do you think we rush too quickly into shopping seasons?

Have you cooked with your kids lately?

To some people, the idea of having children in the kitchen is a horrifying one. Danger lurks everywhere between the sharp knives used, the hot surfaces and ovens and the potential to fall from chairs. To me, those are just safety issues that you instruct the kids to avoid and then trust that they will (and, in my experience, they do).

It’s a magical experience to be a child helping in the kitchen. The child might not be the one actually slaving at the stove, but they can assist with mixing, grating and even measuring. These skills are so much more important than the actions themselves. They promote dexterity, concentration and more. And, imparting the sense of tradition (as in, this is how our family makes these things) and practical knowledge of how to cook is a wonderful thing. For the children, there is also a sense of accomplishment.

I mentioned in my introduction that when I was a child, my aunt and I would cook together on Sundays. One dish we often make was potato pancakes from scratch. It was a glorious experience, grating waxy potatoes with a box grater, mixing up the batter and then cooking them in a hot pan at the stove. I was very young, so I don’t remember much of the cooking aspect, but I do remember how exciting it was to be allowed to help, to contribute, to create. And I followed the rules set forth for me: stay away from the stove, do what was asked and pay attention.

Even now, more than 25 years later, I can still remember the taste of fresh, hot potato pancakes just off the stove and dipped in chilled applesauce. Amazing. Nothing compares to the taste of freshly made, home-cooked potato pancakes. Nothing.

I don’t have the recipe my aunt and I used, but there are some fabulous recipes for potato pancakes, also known as latkes, out there. Don’t forget to serve up with some tasty applesauce and smooth sour cream.

• Potato pancakes (with mashed potatoes) at Retro Food.
• Potato pancakes (with grated potatoes) at The Perfect Pantry.
• Baked sweet potato latkes at Erin Cooks.
• Oven baked latkes at Baking Bites.

Bad Mothers Need Juice, Too

Oh, hey, hi!

I’m Catherine. I’m kinda known as a bad mother, probably because I call myself that at my blogs, Her Bad Mother and Their Bad Mother. It’s mostly tongue-in-cheek, but also a little bit not, because I am totally the kind of mom who struggles with little things like, say, cooking. I am not the mom who harvested her own heirloom apple trees and boiled the fruit down to make organic compote. I am not the mom who will ever bake fruit pies from scratch. And never, ever ask whether I squeeze fresh juice for my kids. I’m just not that mom.

I’m the mom who needs all the help she can get in pretty much every department of parenthood other than the ‘Let’s Have Some Fun’ and Hugs & Laughs departments (I have those covered) and I’m going to be writing here about my efforts to at least fake being an Apple Pie Mom. And I may or may not checking up on more famous Apple Pie Moms (because, seriously, do any of us really believe that Gwyneth purees her own organic fruit sauces? And if she really does, can we not just pretend that maybe she doesn’t?) You know, for fun.

Hopefully I won’t get applesauce on my face in the process (*insert-pie-tossing-joke-here*), but if I do, at least it’ll be funny. For you, anyway.