One particularly good low-cost way to escape the “same old, same old” of modern life is to dig out a box of food coloring from the recesses of your kitchen cabinet. Most people have a box of the stuff somewhere, but it’s usually only used to color cookie frosting around the holidays. Rather than sitting forgotten in a pantry, we believe its rightful place might be right next to the salt and pepper shakers that get used every day.

I fell in love with the stuff during my first ever attempt at the Escape Plan. I made myself some green eggs (thanks for the inspiration, Dr. Seuss!), red orange juice, and enjoyed Capn Crunch in some blue milk. I can’t think of anything that made me feel like a five-year-old faster than mixing in a few green drops to the eggs I was whisking. 

Kids love stuff like that, and your inner child still does, too! Some people get weirded out by food that comes in strange colors, but considering that the taste is left unchanged, we think that any apprehension might just be Adultitis talking.

So here are some ideas to make food coloring more of a staple in your home:

1) Celebrate holidays. Think green yogurt smoothies for St. Patrick’s Day, pink pancakes for Valentine’s Day, or orange eggs for Halloween. (Read more…)

These days we’re busier than ever. Unfortunately, all this busyness tends to pull us away from regular family dinners, which are terribly important to the health and happiness of your family. 

You may be one of the scores of people who are struggling to find the time (and the money) to cook good, easy meals for your family. I’m happy to share with you a brand new web site called BudgetFriendlyCooking.com.

Katie is an everyday chef who cooks on a budget. She shares recipes and demonstrates her technique in a series of weekly videos. Her ideas are sure to save you time and her recipes will save you money, which will certainly go a long way to cutting down the stress and Adultitis in your life. Check out this episode on making tacos:

Learn more at BudgetFriendlyCooking.com!

Nothing goes together quite like movies and popcorn — one wouldn’t be complete without the other. There’s just something that feels right about chomping down on the buttery fluffy stuff while watching a big-budget summer blockbuster. Buttered popcorn is an undeniable classic, but as they say, variety is the spice of life. So here are a few alternative popcorn recipes that can put a fresh spin on your next movie night. You might even want to choose your recipe based on the theme of the movie! [Hat tip to recipegoldmine.com for the awesome recipes.]

Bacon Cheese Popcorn

• 4 quarts popped popcorn
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
• 1/2 teaspoon hickory-smoked salt
• 1/2 cup American cheese, grated
• 1/3 cup bacon bits

Pour freshly popped corn into large bowl. Combine butter with hickory-smoked salt. Pour over popcorn; toss well to coat. Sprinkle with cheese and bacon bits. Toss again and serve while warm.

Colored Popcorn

• Popcorn
• Food paste (any color desired - from a craft or cake decorating supply store)
• Butter, melted

Add food coloring to a pan of melting butter. When the colored butter is melted, pour it over the popcorn as usual.

French Fried Popcorn

• 8 cups vegetable or peanut oil
• 1 package popcorn
• 1 teaspoon salt

Heat oil and, using a long handled spoon, lower corn into hot oil. Fry until kernels pop and rise to top. Remove and put on paper toweling to drain. Sprinkle with salt.

Garlic and Parmesan Popcorn

• 2 tablespoons corn oil
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, split
• 3/4 cup popping corn
• Salt
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• Dash cayenne pepper

In a large heavy pot, heat corn oil and olive oil over high heat until the oil smokes. Add 1 kernel popping corn and heat until kernel pops. Add split garlic cloves and rest of popping corn, cover pot, and shake gently until corn starts to pop. Shake vigorously until popping subsides. Remove from heat. Remove garlic and toss popcorn with Parmesan, minced garlic, cayenne and salt. Yields 6 servings.

Jalapeno Popcorn

• 1/2 cup canned sliced jalapeno peppers with juice
• Popcorn
• Vegetable oil

Pour small amount of oil in bottom of large pan. Add peppers and juice. Heat and add popcorn kernels. Pop like regular popcorn. Salt to taste.

Lemon Popcorn

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup popping corn
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

In a large heavy pot, heat oil over high heat until the oil smokes. Add 1 kernel popping corn and heat until kernel pops. Add rest of popping corn, cover pot, and shake gently until corn starts to pop. Shake vigorously until popping subsides. Remove from heat.

Mix lemon juice with melted butter. Toss popcorn with lemon zest, salt, and butter/lemon juice.

Simon and Garfunkel Popcorn

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed dried parsley flakes
• Pinch of powdered sage
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed dried thyme leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 quarts popped popcorn
• Salt to taste

Melt butter over low heat. Stir herbs and lemon juices into the melting butter. Drizzle over popcorn. Add salt to taste.

Nacho Popcorn

• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, melted
• 10 cups warm popped popcorn
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a small bowl, stir paprika, red pepper, and cumin into melted butter or margarine. Gently toss butter mixture with popcorn, coating evenly. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and toss till coated.

Amaretto Popcorn

• 3 quarts popped popcorn
• 1 cup unblanched whole almonds
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup Amaretto

Heat oven to 250 degrees F. Arrange popcorn on 2 jellyroll pans; sprinkle almonds over popcorn.

In small saucepan, melt butter over low heat; stir in the brown sugar and amaretto. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Boil 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Pour over popcorn; toss until thoroughly coated. Bake at 200 degrees F for 1 hour; spread on foil or wax paper to cool. Store in loosely covered container.

Butter Crunch

• 1 1/2 cups pecan halves, toasted
• 10 cups popped unsalted popcorn
• 1 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Grease a 15 x 10 x 1-inch jellyroll pan; set aside. Grease a large bowl.

Toss together pecans and popcorn in prepared bowl. Combine sugar, butter, corn syrup and maple syrup in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly until mixture reaches 225 degrees F on a candy thermometer. Pour over popcorn mixture, stirring to coat. Spread on prepared jellyroll pan. Cool completely. Break into pieces.

Chocolate Popcorn

• 12 cup air popped popcorn
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 cups milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup corn syrup

Spray a large roasting pan with cooking spray. Put popped popcorn into pan. In a large saucepan, combine butter, chocolate chips and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Pour over popcorn and gently stir to coat. Bake at 300 degrees F for 45 minutes stirring frequently. Cool completely. Break into pieces and store in airtight container if you have any left. Enjoy!!!

Peanut Butter Popcorn

• 2 quarts popped popcorn
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Bring sugar and corn syrup to rolling boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla extract. Pour over popcorn and stir quickly to coat.

In our recent tournament, chocolate chip cookies were declared the All Time Greatest Childhood Food. Of course, you want to enjoy these treats as adults, but they are not so friendly on the waist line. I guess we aren’t burning as many calories now, compared to when we were seven years old. Give this healthy recipe a try and don’t forget to dip ‘em in milk.

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup butter or trans fat-free margarine, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup quick oats
1/2 cup bran flakes
1/2 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat. Or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Stir together the flour, baking soda and baking powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter until creamy with an electric mixer. Beat in the sugars. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture until well combined. Stir in the oats, bran flakes and chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoonsful onto prepared cookie sheet approximately 1 inch apart. Bake 12 to 14 minutes. Cook on wire racks. Serve warm or store in a tightly-covered container for up to three days.

[Hat tip to kidscooking.about.com]

Banana splits were a real treat from childhood. They certainly weren’t an everyday snack. Turn them into smoothies, however, and you can have one every day and it transforms into a healthy choice. Woo hoo!

Ingredients:
• 2 bananas
• 8 oz. crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 1/4 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened strawberries  (frozen or fresh)
• 2 tbs. honey
• 6 ice cubes

Garnish
whipped topping
chocolate syrup
maraschino cherries

Preparation
Combine bananas, pineapple, milk, strawberries and honey in a blender. Blend until smooth, no lumps. Start adding ice slowly and blending until slushy. Pour into large glasses, preferably chilled then garnish with whipped topping, chocolate syrup, and maraschino cherries. The perfect banana split in a glass.

[Hat tip to smoothieweb.com]

I’ll admit, I’m not known for being “the chef” in our household. Jason is much more of the creative type in the kitchen. Don’t get me wrong, I can make a mean grilled cheese and a fabulous box of mac ‘n cheese, but when it comes to recipes, Jason is much more interested. One of our mutually favorite channels, though, is The Food Network. It has some great shows, but in my opinion it’s missing out on a interesting niche – non-edible recipes. It’s still cooking, but with a very childlike slant. So, in an attempt to fill the void, I have compiled fifteen of my favorite recipes to resurrect your childlike spirit and leave Adultitis in the dust. Happy cooking!

––>Download (449 KB)

According to its website, Grace Before Meals is centered on one fundamental concept: the simple act of creating and sharing a meal can strengthen all kinds of relationships. Founded by Fr. Leo Patalinghug in 2003, Grace Before Meals has grown from a simple idea to a worldwide movement, producing a book, blog and even a pilot for a TV show endorsed by PBS.

Research shows that having frequent family dinners can reduce the susceptibility of teens to risks like teen pregnancy, smoking, drug use and depression. And these benefits don’t just apply to traditional families or people with kids. Stronger families foster stronger communities, and that’s the goal we’re striving for–one meal at a time.

We sat down with Fr. Leo to learn more about where his love for cooking came from and what inspired him to start Grace Before Meals. In this candid and humorous interview, Fr. Leo also shares why it’s so important to have regular family dinners and gives advice to people who are having a hard time fitting it into an increasingly busy schedule.

Run Time: 20 minutes, 39 seconds | Subscribe with iTunes

• Visit the website - www.GraceBeforeMeals.com
• Watch the videos - www.GraceBeforeMeals.com/videos.php
• Read the book - Grace Before Meals: Recipes for Family Life

So this dude known only to us as “Gil” sent us a video with some tips for escaping adulthood this Thanksgiving. He mostly focuses on saving money, which is certainly a cause of great stress for many people these days. While we don’t endorse all of his ideas, we can certainly get behind his desire to help you remember what’s really important this Thanksgiving. Let us know what you think of Gil’s tips.

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In this episode of the Escape Adulthood Show, brought to you from studio 315 in Madison, Wisconsin, we share 10 awesome tips for spicing up family dinners and making fun memories that will last a lifetime. We also talk about peanuts, share a poem written by a member, and give an update on our effort to crown the All-Time Greatest Childhood Food. Just click “Play” to listen to the show, or you can subscribe to the show with iTunes…

Show Notes…

• Check out Gourmet Mom on-the-Go for even more fun ideas!

• Did you miss our eBook of Gross and Gruesome Halloween Treats? Download it here!

• Don’t forget to vote for your favorites in the All-Time Greatest Childhood Food Tournament!

• Cool Thing: Pick Your Nose Cups

• Show Music: Coyote Sleeps by Ethan Elkind

• Show Length: 30 minutes, 49 seconds

• Shout Outs: Thanks to Jenny for sharing her “Kitty Litter” story, and the Judy for the awesome poem!

• Feedback: What’s your favorite tip for spicing up family dinner? We’d love to hear your thoughts! Add a comment below, e-mail us, or give us a jingle via the exclusive Club K&J Hotline at 608-554-0803.

In the the last hundred years or so, we’ve seen technology bring about more advancements than the rest of human history combined. We’ve come a long way, baby.

For the most part, these advancements have served us well. We’re able to produce more food, travel longer distances in less time, eradicate once-deadly diseases, and improve the length and quality of our lives.

Some negative consequences, such as increased pollution and more dangerous weapons, have been ushered in as well. But I think the most dangerous side effect is that we find the promise of what the future holds so compelling, we’re willing to throw the wisdom of the ages right out the window. We are so eager to reach for the new and improved that we discard the traditions of the past as old-fashioned and out of touch.

And boy, are we paying the price.

One such tradition that seems to be going the way of the dodo bird is the family dinner. With so many things going on these days, who has time to gather together all at once? Why, it would be a scheduling miracle of epic proportions! Long work days. Day care pickups. Soccer practice. Dance recitals. Evening meetings. With such full plates, family dinner is the first to go. The rise of fast food joints and microwave ovens make it seem an easy sacrifice.

Unfortunately, the very thing you’re sacrificing is the health, intimacy, and future of your family.

As Miriam Weinstein wrote in her book, The Surprising Power of Family Meals, “We’ve perfected the segmentation of the family. Nobody has to eat the same food, watch the same show, listen to the same song, let alone sing it. We love to imagine the French with their lush tables, or the Italians with their big families, but we prefer to gobble our take-out, our home delivery, our single-serve microwave, on the run, in front of the TV, in the food court, or in the car, while we dream of quality time, of family vacations, of someplace far away.”

If you care about your family at all, you may want to reconsider the importance of family dinners in your life. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University did a study that divided teenagers into two groups. The first group had dinner with their family five times a week or more. The second group had dinner together with their family two times a week or less. The results were astounding.

They discovered that the kids who ate dinner more often with their families were up to 45% less likely to smoke, drink, use drugs, be suspended from school, or have sex at young ages. They are twice as likely to receive A’s in school. Kids who frequently eat dinner with their families are likelier to confide in their parents and are at a lower risk for thoughts of suicide. Other studies from a wide variety of divergent fields have found equally surprising results. Regular family dinners discourage obesity and eating disorders and make kindergartners better equipped to read (even more so than getting read to!)

Isn’t it amazing to think how much depends on dinner?

Please note, we’re not talking gourmet dinners here. The study didn’t mention anything about preparing meals that would make Bobby Flay jealous. And the conversation? That doesn’t have to be all that engaging, either.

Heck, in my house growing up, a typical dinner conversation often included my Dad farting and blaming it on a duck under the table. Which resulted in giggles from me and my two brothers and an icy glare from my Mom (which usually was concealing a nearly undetectable smirk.)

Oh, and my Dad also had a penchant for asking the same, stupid, boring question every single night: “How was school today?”

Naturally, we’d respond with the same stupid answer: “Fine.”

But the thing is, if by some freak occurrence, something actually did happen at school that I wanted to talk about, I knew my Dad (and Mom) would be there to ask the question. That shared time together, that calm amidst the storm that we call life, is so vitally important. In a world that often seems like it has gone crazy, the best thing you can do for the health and sanity of your family is to step off the hamster wheel once a day and share a simple meal together. The conversations that do occur help parents to learn more about their children’s lives and help them to better understand the day-to-day challenges their kids face.

Maybe a regular family dinnertime really is tough to swing. Well, who says you can’t make breakfast your regular meal time? If all parents knew how important eating dinner together as a family was to their children — something that used to be an unquestioned element of family life in this country — I think we’d see a lot more people doing it. If you struggle finding time to corral the troops for mealtime on a regular basis, I encourage you — no, I beg you — to try harder. Not only is it a pretty good way to escape the hustle and bustle of the outside world for a few moments each day, the benefits it provides your children are priceless. And if family dinners are already part of your regular routine, why not give it even more attention, intention, and fun?

Life is fast, and technology is making it even faster. Don’t get so sucked into the promise of the future that you abandon a time-tested ritual that our ancestors knew to be vital. Bring the tradition of eating dinner together back into the fabric of your life. The health and happiness of your family depends on it.

*Bonus Feature*

Watch this 3-minute video of me creating the artwork for this column from beginning to end! (It’s been sped up to avoid making you fall asleep.)

Also, the original painting is available for purchase for just $100. If you’re interested in owning it, e-mail me. First come, first serve.

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