When I put out a request for stories of people using food as a vehicle to help others, I heard from Karen of Spread the Bread.  Because her reply was so eloquent and inspiring, I thought I would share it with you, directly.
Michelle,
How wonderful that you want to share stories about food that can help [...]

Continue reading → Spread the Bread - Feeding Heroes and the Needy

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that healthy food = healthier kids. So why is it that children on the school lunch program at the majority of US schools get lunches that are over-processed, fatty and salty? It’s time we did something about it!
Get the <a href=”http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/child-nutrition-act” mce_href=”http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/child-nutrition-act”>Child Nutrition Act</a> widget [...]

Continue reading → Kids Deserve Healthy Lunches at School!

It is hard to believe that my trip to Honduras with Heifer International was well over a year ago.  I continue to cherish my experiences there with other teachers on our educator study tour.  We saw the impact of the work that this organization has worked so hard to accomplish.  The gift of an animal [...]

Continue reading → The Gift of a Goat from Heifer International

Once you have forgiven me for the horrible pun in the title of this article, hopefully you will continue to read about a simple way that anyone “can” help the hungry. This, the third article in my series about helping others through food, features some wonderful efforts in my town to feed the hungry [...]

Continue reading → Food Drives - Anyone “Can” Do It!

What’s Cooking teaches cooking classes to children and helps families spend quality time together in the kitchen and around the table. While cooking strengthens family bonds and helps children to develop life skills, there are many other benefits as well. Simply take the fruits of your labor (pardon the pun!) through your front [...]

Continue reading → Food Tidings - Helping you organize meal delivery for the ones you love

On Blog Action Day, I wrote about how wonderful it would be if there were an organization that picked up leftover food from weddings and other special events and delivered it to the needy.  Lo and behold, I found one called Food Runners that operates in San Francisco.
Food Runners picks up excess perishable and prepared [...]

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• Pet Food Supplies Advertising Collectibles

Continue reading → Getting Food to the Needy

The theme for Blog Action Day this year is Poverty. As the date approaches for bloggers all around the world to share their ideas, opinions and action plans to fight poverty, I have been thinking about what I can do…about What’s Cooking can do…about what people everywhere can do…
As the state of our government [...]

Continue reading → Blog Action Day: Fighting Poverty (our way - with food!)

As many of you know, my students and I spent a lot of time working on the Great American Bake Sale this past school year.  What could be a better way to end childhood hunger than to cook with kids?  Well, today, our efforts were recognized!  I just received an e-mail from Share Our Strength [...]

Continue reading → Award Nomination - Community Event Leader!

If you are a regular visitor to my blog, you have probably noticed that I have been spending a considerable portion of my energy lately thinking about kids, food and community service. Sustainability is also very dear to my heart, and when I learn about an organization or project that combines all of these [...]

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• Evening Bags Handbags

Continue reading → Feed 100 Bags

We recently returned home from our annual summer vacation to Montana.  As we ate our dinner at a brewery in the Salt Lake City airport, I overheard a woman commenting to her server as she handed him her empty plate.  “I just always think of those starving people in Africa” she said.   I casually glanced [...]

• Children Patterns Sewing Collectibles
• Deals Lake Placid New York Skiing Vacation
• Deals Park City Utah Skiing Vacation

• Laying the Foundation For Your Child's Future (Healthy Eating Habits) One of the ways that you should be laying the foundation for your child's future is to teach healthy eating and exercise habits young, so that those concepts will carry on until adulthood, and help your children lead healthy, active lifestyles for optimum health and well being. It can be......

Continue reading → Clean Plate Club

It has been just over a year since I went to Honduras on the Educator’s Study Tour with Heifer International, and I am feeling quite nostalgic.  As an ode to our adventure and my life-changing experience, I thought I’d post an article that I wrote at the request of a local magazine.  Soon after I [...]

Continue reading → Cooking Up Ideas for a Sustainable Future

For the past two months, I have been working on a book proposal that combines my passion for getting kids into the kitchen and into their communities to make a difference.
Here are some examples of activities WE are doing with our students to promote community service through food and cooking.

We participated in the Great American [...]

• Funny Animal Golden Age 1938-55 Comics Collectibles

• Man gave names to all the animals, Bob Dylan My kids love this song and will sing along. Karin Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, in the beginning. Man gave names to all the animals In the beginning, long time ago. He saw an animal that liked to growl, Big furry paws and he liked......

Continue reading → Kids, Food and Community Service - Call for Ideas!

As many of you know, I have been working on a project with my students, friends and neighbors to decorate cheerful place mats for children at our local children’s hospital. The project was initially encouraged by the food service staff that I spoke to at the Children’s Hospital in Oakland, so I decided to [...]

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Continue reading → Place Mat Project Dilemma

On the day that we posted our first Recipe For Action, our blog got more hits than ever.  Even though I heard from only a few of you, I am getting some great feedback about this project.
In case you didn’t see the original post, here is a summary of the project in a nut-shell.  We [...]

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Continue reading → Make Your Placemat for kids even BETTER!

Summer is Here and it’s time to think of all the different types of fun things you can do with your family.  We have been thinking a lot about different ways we can help others, mostly through the act of cooking for and feeding others.  But we had a great idea last week for [...]

Continue reading → Recipe for Action - Placemats for kids at Children’s Hospital

I could hardly believe my luck when I found out that some parents from our school were scheduling a music performance around the same time that I was holding one of my Great American Bake Sales. John, the dad I spoke to, suggested we join forces and create a wonderful community event. Nothing [...]

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• Skipper Same-Size Friends Friends Family Barbie Contemporary 1973-Now Dolls Dolls Bears
• Family Guy Animation Characters Animation Art, Characters Collectibles

Continue reading → “Do Something Good”

Last August, I was on ABC’s View From the Bay talking about sustainability and community service in the kitchen. We finally have the video clip - and thought you might like to take a peek.

Continue reading → Sustainability and Service…in the Kitchen

My review copy of Michael Recycle landed on my front porch just in time for an afternoon playdate…and ended up being the topic of conversation for the rest of the afternoon.  The kids, ages 5 through 8, loved the bold coloring of the fantastic illustrations and found the writing to be hilarious!
Michael Recycle is an [...]

Continue reading → Just in Time for Earth Day - Michael Recycle

At our local elementary school, we recently began a program called Cancel-A-Car that encourages families to take action at home to offset carbon emissions from cars. After the school-wide launch assembly, where a mama polar bear and her cub discover that their home is melting, the kids were excited to learn what they could to [...]

• North American Bear Company Bears Dolls Bears
• Polar Bear Animals Collectibles
• Deals Big Bear California Skiing Vacation

Continue reading → Knut - How One Little Polar Bear Captivated The World

My friend at Crunchy Domestic Goddess turned me on to the Earth Hour 2008.  If everyone turned off their lights, even for one hour, that we could reduce greenhouse gases and raise awareness about global warming.  So simple.  So obvious.  Time to mark your calendar:  Sunday, March 29, 2008 is Earth Hour 2008.
During Earth Hour [...]

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Continue reading → Turn Off Your Lights and Make A Difference