A delicious recipe, great for party snack food!

half a cup of white butter
2 tbsps of honey
4 tablespoons of cocoa powdere
225g of semi-sweet biscuits, perhaps digestives
a handful of raisins
a handful of chopped nuts

Here are a couple of great birthday cake recipes, which you can cook up to ensure that, when the day comes, you’ll have plenty of great food to fill all those hungry mouths!

Simple Birthday Cake

You will need…

You’re ready… your princess has invited the belles of the ball to the finest Princess Birthday Party of the year. You’ve purchased decorations, planned a few games and have some lovely take home gifts for your guests. Now it’s time to plan the finest menu for your royal princess and her court. Let’s make it so fabulous that the girls will remember this day when they’re planning their future daughter’s parties and one that will make your princess throw her hands around your neck and say, “Oh mom! You’re the best ever!”

What follows are 5 tips for you in creating the menu of the decade for your princess birthday party.

(note : for our British visitors, we’re pretty sure “Jello” is just the same as our standard Jelly, which can be purchased in solid cubic form from any good supermarket!)

Everything goes better with Jello.

I think I remember an advertising slogan that said something like that. And our favorite gelatin really does go well with all kinds of dishes. Jello has got to be one of the most versatile foods ever invented.

It’s that time of year again when we all get together and share good conversation, merriment, and great food. Here’s a quick and easy recipe for an eggnog milkshake.

This recipe is delicious and an alternative to traditional eggnog. To cut down on the calories you can use skimmed milk or low fat milk and low fat ice cream.

I love strawberries!

Do you? If so, then you’ll love this recipe for making a strawberry milkshake.

What child doesn’t grow up with Dr. Seuss books? We have quite a few of them lying around the house. The kids love the silly characters and the rhymes. The Dr. Seuss inspired recipes that I’m about to share with you have been a great hit in my house.

Of course the famous green eggs and ham are included, but there are also quite a few other snack and meal ideas. Create a fun Dr. Seuss inspired afternoon with some of these recipes and of course don’t forget to read a few of the books with your kids. (If you don’t own any, enjoy a trip to your local library.)

Being a parent isn’t the easiest job in the world, and it certainly gets even more difficult at meal times. What can you give your kids nutrition wise that they will eat? These days it’s come to being an almost impossible decision what with all the advertisements for fast foods that kids are bombarded with on an almost minute by minute basis. How can you compete with a greasy burger and fries accompanied by the latest must have toy included free?

I tell you it’s almost impossible and I had all but given up where my kids nutrition was concerned. It was so much easier when they were smaller and they had to eat what I set in front of them. At least then they got some nutritious food into their bodies. These days, it’s more along the lines of a battle field. I set a plate of delicious home cooked baked chicken in front of them and they just stare at it in disgust and tell me they want fried chicken!

Are you planning a birthday party for your preschool age child? Consider hosting a cooking party. These parties are unique, interactive and entertaining for young children.

Party stores and Internet based retailers offer wonderful invitations for a cooking party. Invitations display pictures of baking tools, recipe cards or aprons. Custom invitations however, can be expensive and may require a significant amount of wait time for printing and shipping. If you have time or budget constraints, visit your local arts and crafts store for paper stock and then design and print your own party invitations. Let your guests know that you are cooking up fun and that you want them to join you for an exciting event.

What parent doesn’t want their kids to eat healthier? We’ve all had to bribe, cajole, threaten and manipulate our children at least once, but wouldn’t it be nice if we didn’t have to stoop to such heavy handed tactics? Here are some tips to help you out.

Start early! Don’t wait until it’s too late and your child’s already ruined by sweets and treats. Once they’ve tasted ice cream, it’s harder to get them to eat broccoli. And if you’ve waited too long then you’ll just have to be strong and realize your kids might not like you for a few days.

Make sure you have a good variety of healthy foods available to your children. This prevents them from latching on to one food or one food group. Sure they’ll still have their favorites, but a variety of vegetables and fruits will help them to get used to all of their varied tastes.

Try combing foods they like with foods they don’t. For example, stir-frying onions with zucchini, broccoli, carrots, and snow peas isn’t as bad as sitting down to a whole plate of broccoli. It also helps to make sure the pieces are small enough so your child gets some carrots with her zucchini.

Be Strong!

This is very important for teaching a child to eat what’s good for them. Tell them that this is what we’re having for dinner and there’s nothing else for them to eat. They’ll get hungry enough to eat what’s served them if there are no other options available.

Which reminds me. Don’t bring any food in the house that isn’t part of a healthy food plan. That’s right! No snacks, cookies, sweetened cereals, pastries, treats - whatever - are permitted. This might seem harsh, but you have to decide who you’re raising; healthy, smart kids who don’t get sick or fat or sick kids with learning disabilities who grow up to suffer degenerative diseases.

Stay away from people hell-bent on corrupting your children with candy and treats. It’s amazing to me how so many well-meaning people like a bank teller or a relative offer my children lollipops or cookies. Teach your children to smile and politely say,
“No thank you.” And if it’s a relative that’s always offering your child a treat, then ask them to stop or stop visiting them (a third option is to make them take care of your kid during his sugar buzz and subsequent crash - they’ll never do it again).

Advertising - The Bane of Healthy Eating

Here’s another free tip for kids and healthy eating that might fall into the harsh category, but if you think about it seriously you’ll see how important it is. Don’t let your kids watch commercial TV. Yes! You read this correctly. The majority of the ads on TV are about food and getting your children to eat these unhealthy foods. TV commercials are the nutritional education for 95% of the population and virtually nothing advertised on TV has any nutrition in it. You’ll see a huge decrease in your child’s food cravings when you turn off the tube.

And finally, the most important tip of all is for you to set a great example. How can you expect your children to eat fish, vegetables and whole wheat bread when you don’t? How can you get them to give up ice cream when you won’t? They look to you as a role model so you might as well live like one because if you don’t, then you have no right to complain about their poor eating habits, obesity, ADHD and the time you have to take off work to care for a sick child.

About the Author:

Michael Byrd has over 18 years of education and experience in the fields of physical therapy, health, fitness and nutrition. To get Michael’s recommendation on fish oil supplements and the true benefits of fish oil, visit him at http://www.squidoo.com/fishoilsupplements.