Our latest FoodWorks (Sponsored by Hannaford!) event here at the museum was all about healthy desserts and sweet treats. We had a blast and many of our visitors wanted the recipes for our tasty snacks.

Here’s what was on the menu:

KETTLECORN (Popcorn Indiana brand, in the red bag)

• • Popcorn is a snack that is a healthy whole grain and a good source of fiber

VANILLA GREEK YOGURT with blueberries and mini chocolate chips

• • Vanilla Greek yogurt is a great source of protein and calcium. Blueberries are full of healthy vitamins and a bit of chocolate makes this healthy snack a sweet treat!

COCONUT YOGURT CARAMEL DIP with green apples

• • Caramel, usually made with heavy cream, is replaced with coconut milk yogurt in this recipe—which makes it a healthy alternative without all the fat, calories, corn syrup or artificial ingredients.

NO-BAKE CHOCOLATE AND SUN-BUTTER COOKIE BITES

• • These cookies are a nut-free alternative to popular peanut butter no-bakes but have a similar flavor! The sun butter also makes them a high protein snack—but they are not high in added sugar!

The only two desserts that required any “cooking” effort (and it was very little) were the caramel dip and no-bake cookies. The recipes for those are below.

(Makes about 1 cup)

Ingredients:

1. One container yogurt (We used So Delicious coconut milk yogurt) (170g)
2. 1/8 tsp salt
3. 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
4. ¼ cup brown sugar
5. 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

• Put maple syrup, salt and brown sugar in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high in 10-second intervals until brown sugar starts to dissolve (If you do not have a microwave, heat in a small saucepan until sugar dissolves—or you can skip this step and just add the additional ingredients!)
• Stir in vanilla extract and yogurt
• Allow to cool
• This will get thicker if you leave it in the fridge overnight
• Store leftovers in the fridge up to four days.

Original Source: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2013/10/25/caramel-yogurt-dip/

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup oats
2. ½ cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
3. ½ cup sunflower seed butter
4. 1-2 tbsp milk of choice
5. Mix-ins (optional): tart cherries, dried blueberries, chia seeds, coconut flakes

• Place chocolate in microwave-safe bowl and heat in 30-second intervals, stirring between, to melt (or heat in a saucepan on the stove)
• Stir in sunflower seed butter, milk, oats and other add-ins (if using). Add splash of milk.
• Line a baking sheet with wax paper and drop cookies on using spoons
• Place another sheet of wax paper on top and gently “smush” them down
• Refrigerate at least two hours and then enjoy!

Original Source: http://www.shape.com/healthy-eating/healthy-recipes/no-bake-chocolate-oatmeal-cookies-recipe

Have fun trying these healthy desserts at home!

Kids grow like weeds, but you won’t find any weeds growing in the garden at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire in Dover! You will find lots of young, enthusiastic kid gardeners though, beginning this Saturday, April 16 at 10:15am. Guests of all ages will be working together to plant seeds, watch them grow, and then harvest their hard work all spring and summer.

The “Anyone Can Grow Food” program is led by University of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Leslie Stevens, owner of Sidewalk Farms, and Xanthi Gray, the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire’s Education Coordinator. Working along with guests of the Museum, they turn nine raised garden beds into a thriving vegetable and herb garden.

The program begins with seed starting on Saturday, April 16 at 10:15am. Participants will learn how to start seeds indoors to get a jump-start on the growing season. Mini seed-starting greenhouses will be built where kids can grow their own Sugar Snap pea seedlings. Kids will learn about how and when to start their seeds indoors and when it’s safe to plant their seedlings outside. Everyone who participates will go home with a pack of seeds to try in their own gardens. And of course, Max the bunny will be on hand for friendly pats.

Summer planting starts a little early at CMNH with two “Anyone Can Grow Food” programs on Saturday, June 4. At 10:15am guests will gather to help plant the vegetable and herb garden and learn how to take care of their own plants. Pet Henrietta the chicken and then go home with a pack of seeds, or stick around for another program at 11:45am when visitors will learn how to create a potato tower! Did you know that if you have 6 hours of sunlight and just a 2-foot circle you can plant potatoes that will grow all summer!

To round out the season, come back for the harvest on Saturday, September 24 at 10:15am. Pick a pumpkin, pull up a carrot and dig a potato out of the gardens as staff gets ready to put them to bed for the winter. Kids will learn about composting bins and why worms are so important to keeping gardens healthy. Families will go home with a pumpkin and produce from the garden.

The Anyone Can Grow Food programs are free with Museum admission, but pre-registration is requested to help ensure enough supplies are available for each family. Please call 603-742-2002 to register for these or any programs at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire.

by Marty Kelley

Pizza is dangerous.

I don’t think I’m telling you anything you don’t know here. We, as a people, have been warned since infancy about the myriad dangers of pizza. The warnings are a part of our collective knowledge. Don’t swim for an hour after eating. Don’t play with fire. Look both ways before you cross the street. Stay away from pizza. We know this.

And yet now, I find myself in the unenviable and dangerous position of being a judge at a pizza competition called Pizzafest. They might as well have called it DeathFest!

How can I be expected to survive an ordeal like this? We all know the dangers: hot cheese can jump off the top of a pizza and drop, like molten lava from a volcano, onto your lap. I will wear an asbestos apron, naturally, just like we all do when eating pizza.

What of the cheese that does not fall into your lap, but rather clings to the roof of your mouth searing and scalding your delicate palate until it seethes with angry blisters. I will make sure to dunk the pizza in ice water for at least 45 minutes, as we were all taught to do at our mother’s knee.

The toppings, though? What if a rogue pepperoni slides down my throat the wrong way? There are just so many things that could possibly go wrong. That’s why I’m judging this contest. I’m doing it for you. I’m doing it to protect you. If I judge this contest and eat this pizza, it will keep you safe.

And that’s what I want to do.

You’re welcome.

Marty Kelley, children's book author and illustrator, will be one of three judges at this year's PizzaFest Fundraiser and Online Auction. This is an all-you-can-eat (at your own risk) pizza-tasting fundraiser and all proceeds go to benefit the Children's Museum.

Tomorrow, March 17th, is St. Patrick’s Day. In a horrifying affront to my Irish heritage, I grew up loving the Shamrock Shake at McDonald’s. Irish or not, chances are you’ve tasted the bright green concoction that the fast food giant has been selling annually during the month of March since it was first introduced as the St. Patrick’s Day Shake in 1970 and then changed to the Shamrock Shake in 1978. (I can only speak for the New England area. The Shamrock Shake wasn’t available nationally until 2012!)

I haven’t had a Shamrock Shake since I swore off fast food years ago, but when my son is old enough, can I really deny/insult his Irish heritage by withholding this seasonal mint treat? Yes and no.

Yes, I can absolutely stop him from having one. For several reasons. #1. A large Shamrock Shake is an astronomical 820 calories. That’s equal to almost 2 Big Macs or 3 Egg McMuffins. #2. It contains ingredients that are not good for a young child (let alone an adult), such as High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Heavy Cream #3. It includes ingredients that are so scary I can’t even pronounce them, such as Carrageenan, Monoglycerides, Guar Gum, & Polysorbate 80. In total, the Shamrock Shake has over FIFTY ingredients!

No, I will not deny him the deliciousness of the Shamrock Shake because I’ve found a healthy – but, and here’s the key: still very tasty – Shamrock Shake alternative!

The geniuses at Skinny Kitchen created a Skinny & Fat-Free Shamrock Shake that will quickly become a St. Patrick’s Day tradition in our home and most likely yours. It’s 16 ounces and clocks in at only 184 calories! Quite the difference, no? Plus, it only takes about 10 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients for Shake:

¾ cup fat-free frozen vanilla yogurt

½ cup fat-free milk

⅛ teaspoon peppermint extract or mint extract

5 drops green food coloring

2 packets Truvia, Stevia, Splenda or your favorite sugar substitute

3-4 ice cubes

Ingredients for Topping:

Fat-free or Light whipped cream, optional

Instructions

1. Combine all shake ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed until smooth.  Stop blender and stir with a spoon to help blend everything.

2. Pour into a 16 oz glass. Top with light whipped cream, if desired and enjoy immediately. You really don’t need the whipped cream. It still tastes great without it!

The Skinny Kitchen site has a lot more healthy recipes that the whole family will enjoy.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

ps – Don’t forget to check out this vintage television commercial of Grimace’s “Irish” Uncle O’Grimacey shilling the early Shamrock Shakes!