Keep summer boredom at bay and get kids moving! Promote healthy habits and keep kids engaged with tips from our friends at The Alliance for a Healthier Generation. Try some of their games, activities and strategies to create active and healthful environments for your kids at home, on vacation, at the park or wherever your kids may roam this summer.

“Making healthier choices doesn’t happen overnight and it’s important to be consistent to turn healthy eating and physical activity behaviors intohabits. It’s especially important to stay active and make healthy choices at snack and mealtimes over the summer months so that kids can pick up where they left off when the school year begins. After all, active kids learn better.

Fitness Cards:

Anyone – parents, kids, caregivers or neighbors – can take a time out for fitness with exercises such as push-ups, chair dips and invisible jump rope.

Click here!

Product Calculator for Smart Snacks:

Take the guesswork out of finding healthy snacks. Just enter the product information, answer a few questions and determine whether your beverage or snack is a healthy choice.

Click here!

Task Cards:

Print these cards and use them at home, waiting in line at the store or at summer camp to keep kids moving anytime, anywhere.”

Click here!

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

Feel good about your baked goodies! If you love baked goods, but don’t love feeding your kids refined sugars and trans fats, try these healthful baking swaps from our friends at Cooking Light. Not only do these swaps cut back on sugar and fat, they boost the nutrition in your favorite brownies, cookies, and muffins without compromising on taste. Swap avocado for butter and fruit purees for sugar for added fiber, vitamins, and minerals! For more great healthful baking swaps, view the video below. 

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

Everyday Frittata

“We use evaporated milk here because it has a richness similar to that of sat fat-heavy half-and-half, but with far less fat. Be sure to shake the can vigorously before using. We love the flavor that bacon adds, but if you’d rather omit it, each serving will contain 212 calories, 13.2g total fat (4.4g sat), and 379mg sodium.

Cost for 4: $6.95
Total Time: 20 minutes”

Click here for the recipe!

Smoky Two-Bean Vegetarian Chili

“A wee bit of canned chipotle chiles goes a long way in infusing this hearty chili with rich, smoky flavor and a hint of heat.

Cost for 4: $4.69
Total Time: 28 minutes”

Click here for the recipe!

Beef Chorizo Tacos with Cabbage Slaw

“Each person gets three filling tacos for a satisfying meal full of fresh veggie crunch. Garlic, paprika, cumin, and vinegar turn ground beef into near-instant Mexican-style chorizo, much leaner than the traditional pork version.

Cost for 4: $8.37
Total Time: 25 minutes”

Click here for the recipe!

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

One-Pot Pasta with Spinach and Tomatoes

This pasta dinner is a game changer: You use just enough liquid to cook the pasta—no colander needed.
Cost for 4: $8.43
Total Time: 29 minutes”

Click here for the recipe!

Parmesan Chicken Breast Tenders

This recipe calls for chicken breast tenders here to keep things easy, but you can also use skinless, boneless chicken breasts or thighs (which are less expensive). Just cut each lengthwise into 3 strips.

Cost for 4: $8.61
Total Time: 20 minutes

Click here for the recipe!

Roasted Sweet Potato Wedges with Yogurt Dipping Sauce

A quick two-step process of microwave-steaming then roasting creates golden-brown sweet potato wedges that make for a versatile side dish or snack. Serve with the chicken tenders above for a healthful version of your kids’ favorite fast food meal!

Cost for 4: $2.46
Total Time: 30 minutes

Click here for the recipe!

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

By Katie Auerbach

We know that the more colors that are on your plate, the healthier and more nutritious the meal is! However, sometimes it can be challenging to make colorful and healthful meals for you and your family. Frances Largeman-Roth’s amazing cookbook, Eating in Color: Delicious, Healthy Recipes for You and Your Family, makes healthy eating exciting, easy, AND of course, colorful! Her chapters are separated by colors—like green and red—and each chapter contains mouth watering recipes that use fruits or vegetables in the chapter’s specific color. Her cookbook will get you and your family excited to eat fruits, vegetables, and grains. More importantly, Frances’ cookbook breaks down foods in fun new ways that will get your little ones beside you in the kitchen, excited to eat AND to cook!

From the Mouth of a Kid:

Mom and I choose recipes based on my favorite colors!

From the Eyes of a Parent:

Eating in Color has become my go-to cookbook for convenient, healthy and family-friendly dinners. My kids are as just excited to eat the dishes from the cookbook as I am. It’s a great way to introduce my kids to new fruits and vegetables as well as teach them about familiar fruits and vegetables. The book even includes a kitchen “cheat-sheet” of ingredients that I should always have on hand, which has proved to be unbelievably helpful on days when there’s no time to shop and I need a quick fix for dinner or lunch!

Fascinating Features:

Eating in Color is divided into six color-coded chapters:

• Reds
• Oranges
• Yellows
• Greens
• Blues, Indigos, and Violets
• Blacks and Tans

In addition to Eating in Color, Frances Largeman-Roth has also published other cookbooks such as: The CarbLover’s Diet Cookbook, The CarbLovers Diet: Eat What You Love, Get Slim for Life, and Feed the Belly: The Pregnant Mom’s Healthy Eating Guide.

The Icing on the Cake:

Eating in Color contains 90 color-coded, family-friendly recipes such as Caramelized Red Onion, Fig Pizza, and Cran-Apple Tarte Tatin. Every recipe also contains clear preparation instructions and nutritional information.

In addition, Frances also includes healthy tips for eating and living well, and the benefits of certain foods and colors in Eating in Color.

Mix it Up!

Plan a rainbow-themed dinner for you and your family! Make one recipe from each of the six color-coded chapters. Choose an appetizer, a main dish, three sides, and a dessert! Your kids will love all the colors, and you’ll all benefit from the wide array of nutrients the meal will provide

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

SweetieBeans! ManyCake Cake Mix is versatile, easy to make, and a better for you option than other cake mixes; it’s the perfect cake mix for allergen-restricted and non-allergen-restricted families alike! The Creative Kitchen loves this cake mix because it requires only a touch of oil and uses applesauce to replace the rest of the fat. You can use ManyCake Cake Mix to make simple vanilla cake, or add a few simple ingredients to make SweetieBeans! recipe for Chocolate cake, Pumpkin Crumb Cake, Bluerberry Muffins, and more! (Check out SweetieBeans! website for these recipes and more!) This gluten-free, vegan cake mix uses high-quality ingredients that make it so delicious your friends and family won’t even taste the difference!

From the Mouth of a Kid:

Mmmm! This cake is super yummy and sweet!
 

From the Eyes of a Parent:

It’s great that this mix makes more than one cake and comes in a re-sealable bag. I love that I can make so many different types of cakes with this one mix and that they are all gluten-free for my gluten-sensitive daughter! I’ve finally found a gluten-free cake mix that my whole family can enjoy!

Flavorful Features:

This mix is a great base for making a variety different of cakes. The SweetieBeans! website (SweetieBeans.net) contains over a dozen recipes to make all kinds of cakes and baked goods using this one ManyCake Cake Mix, including Orange Cranberry Muffins, Carrot Cake, Lemon Cake, and many more!
 

The Icing on the Cake:

This cake mix is free of many allergens including wheat, dairy, and nuts! Plus, making the cakes requires no eggs – so it’s great for vegans!

Mix it Up!

Slice fully baked cake and fill it with your favorite fruit jam or jelly to make layered cake!

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

Super Healthy Kids have taken the initiative and created the Healthy Habits Dinner Set that will ensure every meal your kids have is healthful and balanced. The set includes a Healthy Habits Plate, Bowl, and Cup which use ChooseMyPlate food ratios that suggest filling half the plate with colorful fruits and vegetables, and the other half with ¼ grains and ¼ protein. The plate, bowl, and cup even have colorful pictures of food on them so your kids will know exactly what to fill their plates with AND be excited to eat it. The Healthy Habits Dinner Set is sure to make eating simpler, more nutritious, and fun! Thanks Super Healthy Kids!

From the Mouth of a Kid:

I use the plate, bowl, and cup for every meal! They make eating so much fun!
 

From the Eyes of a Parent:

Putting meals on the table is easy, convenient, and fun for the whole family when it comes to Super Healthy Kids Healthy Habits Dinner Set! My kids are excited to help me fill their plate and bowl with colorful fruits and vegetables. They are also excited to learn the different food groups from the pictures on the plate, bowl, and cup. The product has helped me, too! With the dinner set, I know my kids are eating foods that are right for their growing bodies!

Flavorful Features:

Super Healthy Kids: Healthy Habits Dinner Set
• 1 Healthy Habits Plate, to fill with vegetables, grains, and protein
• 1 Healthy Habits Bowl, to fill with fruit
• 1 Cup, to fill with water

 

The Icing on the Cake:

Super Healthy Kids’ products, including the Healthy Habits Dinner Set, are based on the United States Department of Agriculture ChooseMyPlate.gov that suggests filling half the plate filled with fruits and vegetables, ¼ with grains, and ¼ with protein.

Healthy Habits Dinner set is dishwasher safe, BPA free, lead free, and 100% melamine.

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

There’s nothing more smile inducing than Choceur Mini Chocolate Bears! They are sweet in flavor and shaped like cute teddy bears. Their mini-milk chocolate bears are individually to reveal a perfect bite of creamy, rich, milk chocolate – the perfect treat to make any child smile – young and old alike!

From the Mouth of a Kid:

The bears are so cute. I like letting them melt in my mouth!

From the Eyes of a Parent:

A special treat from time to time is always welcomed in our home and chocolate is the go to! These rich milk chocolate bears are the perfect little bite of pure milk chocolate goodness that my children and I love! Their high-quality flavor, affordable price, and adorable aesthetic make them a family favorite! My children loved learning where on the world map the bears came from.

Flavorful Features:

Choceur Mini Milk-Chocolate treats comes three holiday types:

• Mini Bears
• Mini Santas
• Mini Snowmen

Choceur Chocolate also comes in bars in a variety of flavors such as:

• Smooth White Chocolate
• Dark Hazelnut Chocolate
• Rich Almond Milk Chocolate
• Creamy Milk Chocolate
• Fruit and Nut Milk Chocolate
• And more!

The Icing on the Cake:

• No artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors
• Naturally gluten-free
• Made with real milk
• Made in Germany
• All-natural chocolate

Time to Eat?!

For dessert or a special treat.

Good to Go?

Yes, the small teddy bear shaped chocolates are individually wrapped. Note that they must be kept in a cool, dry place.

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

Food is all around us – we’re either buying it, cooking it, or trying to stuff it in our mouths in the middle of a hectic day. In the craziness of our day-to-day lives we forget that though many things are edible, they’re not necessarily food. That is where Food Day comes into play! Food Day is an annual, worldwide event on October 24th in which we celebrate healthy eating and shopping habits and learn about affordable and sustainable food choices.

This year’s primary focus is on food access and justice for food and farm workers. With America’s resources, there’s no excuse for low wages for food and farm workers or inhumane conditions for farm animals. With a little more information and education and a lot more support, we can change the way our food is raised (and the way the very handy people who raise our food are paid)!

Join an Event

Food Day motivates Americans of all ages and nationalities to engage in changing their diet and even on a more national level, changing our food policies. Regardless of your physical location, you can be apart of the revolution! On www.FoodDay.org you can enter your city or zip code and find the closest event near you that is helping to make your family and the world a healthier, happier place.

Celebrate with Us! 

We’ll be celebrating Food Day at our Whole Foods Markets classes on Wednesday, October 22, in Tribeca and Thursday, October 23, in Midtown East. If you’re in the New York City area, join us in making Food Day’s recipe for Quick Citrusy Salad. The recipe follows!

• Toss 8 cups (5 oz.) of loosely packed mixed greens with a dressing made by combining 2 Tbs. minced red onion, 1 Tbs. red wine vinegar, 2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, and ¼ tsp. kosher salt.
• Top with 3 sliced clementines, ½ cup chopped avocado, and 2 Tbs. sunflower seeds.
• Serves 4.

Celebrate with Your Students, Coworkers, or Family:

• Use Food Day as an inspiration to ask your office or employer to participate in a wellness policy or to participate in a community agriculture program.
• Introduce cooking lessons in your school or plant a vegetable garden.
• Start shopping at local farmers markets to support the farmers who work hard to provide you and your family with good, natural food!
• Spread the word, whether on Facebook or Twitter, using the hashtags #FoodDay2014 and #RealFoodJustFood

Mark your calendars and find a way to celebrate Food Day your way, whether you attend an event in your area or host one of your own. Before you know it, you’ll be celebrating it everyday with your better choices!

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.

Here at The Creative Kitchen, everyday is Food Day! On a daily basis, we educate children about and through cooking. However, some children do not get the opportunity to learn about food or to learn which foods are the good foods for our bodies. That is where Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Day comes in! Food Revolution Day is focused on getting kids excited about food and cooking up delicious, nutritious meals from scratch.

With the ever-growing market of highly processed unhealthy foods increasing everyday and the decline in families eating whole or homemade foods, it can be difficult for a child (or an adult!) to determine which foods provide proper nutrients and which “foods” just provide empty calories, sugar, salt, and fat. This is reflected in the large amount of diet-related issues faced by millions worldwide – and especially in the epidemic levels of childhood obesity in the United States. Diet-related disease, including heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, are among the leading causes of death and are generally avoidable with healthful diets of fresh foods and minimally processed products.

Since 1999, The Creative Kitchen’s founder, Cricket Azima, has been supporting food education throughout New York City, teaching children ages two years old and up – and their families too. Cricket works to produce a positive relationship between children and food, while having fun in the kitchen and creating healthy eating habits for life.  Recipes are fruit and vegetable based – and naturally kid-friendly and delicious! Kids learn and practice basic cooking skills as they enhance other traditional disciplines such as reading, mathematics, science, social sciences, nutrition, music, art, history and geography, in age-appropriate And FUN ways. In addition, children strengthen their motor skills, self-esteem, socialization, cultural understanding, teamwork, independence and personal responsibility.

In addition to classes and events, The Creative Kitchen also produces the Kids Food Festival, a series of food events, programmed with the assistance of the James Beard Foundation, that educates families on how to make balanced food choices. Cricket also developed Everybody Can Cook, a curricula featuring adaptations for special needs children with various physical and developmental abilities. She works with a variety of food companies, offering services including spokesperson, recipe development and testing, freelance writing, teaching, family outreach, blogging, creating webisodes, special events, and consulting.

Since 2002, renowned chef Jaime Oliver has been encouraging families and schools to get back to the basics and cook meals full of fresh local produce instead of relying on heavily processed fast foods. This year, his global day of action Food Revolution Day is on Friday, May 16. It is being celebrated all around the globe, with 100 countries and over 105,000 participants taking part in the movement! You can get involved too by visiting the official website and adding you name to the growing list of Food Revolution Day participants!

Join the Food Revolution celebratory events!  If you’re in New York City, come cook with Cricket Azima and The Creative Kitchen’s team at Whole Foods Market, Tribeca location (second floor café space) from 3:30pm to 4:30pm.  Bring your family and have fun learning to make (and eat!) Jamie Oliver’s Rainbow Salad Wrap.  Register in advance by calling (718) 406-7506 or email Events@TheCreativeKitchen.com.

Can’t make it to the class?  Watch Jamie’s LIVE cooking lesson and cook along with his Rainbow Salad Wrap recipe. Food Revolution Day is all about having fun with food, eating delicious creations cooked by you, and spreading the word about real food!

Tag #FRD2014 in your pictures and social media posts to be featured on the Food Day Revolution Website!

The Creative Kitchen™, LLC, teaches children about food and how to cook in a fun, safe, and educational manner. Targeting families with children ages two to teen, the company focuses on teaching, writing creative content and curriculum, special events, recipe development, spokesperson work, webisode production and consulting to present educational and entertaining content through food-related activities. The founder, Cricket Azima, is an expert in cooking for and with children. She inspires kids to express themselves creatively through food and cooking, while complementing lessons with traditional educational material such as social studies, math, arts, science, and more. Visit www.thecreativekitchen.com for more information.