New Online Cooking Show For Tweens: Food Star by SweetyHigh

Sweety High is an online social networking community for tweens and tweens. Like the ones before it (Everloop, Imbee, etc.), the site is COPPA-compliant and heavily monitored. What makes this social network different from the others out there is that they create online shows using girls from their network. "Food Star" is one such show: it features a sister duo of Sophie and Emily Everhard who were members of Sweety High.

Our tweens seem to watch Food Network and Cupcake Wars as much as Disney Channel, so it's not surprising that media companies are catching on to the tween-foodie market. "Food Star" features the sisters cooking recipes with tween and teenage celebrities; it's sort of a mash-up between a talk show (think "Ellen") and "Rachel Ray". I especially love that the episodes include kitchen safety tips in addition to the recipes, and that the stars of the show are two real-life kids.

One must be a member of Sweety High to view any content (part of the site's safety protocols), and membership is free. Parents are also part of the process: parental permission is required to register for the site, and there's also a group of parents serving as an advisory board to the site's management.

Our tweens loved it - let us know what yours thought of the new show!

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Tween Foodies Can Meet Cupcake Wars Chef

Our tweens are huge Food Network fans and know their celebrity chefs. Sprinkles was one of the first cupcake-only places, and chef/owner Candace Nelson will be in Washington today to host the First Annual Congressional Cupcake Wars. This unique cupcake battle will feature seven bakery teams competing to create stars-and-stripes-themed cupcakes and will benefit military families at Fisher House. More details on this fun event are here.

Our tweens met Candace at the opening of the Sprinkles DC store this spring, and she graciously gave our girls a hands-on tutorial of how to frost cupcakes the Sprinkles way - details here.

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A Royal Wedding Pajama and Tiara Party With Tweens

Our tweens are getting up early to watch the Royal Wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William this Friday morning, and we'll celebrate by having a traditional British tea for breakfast (the wedding will be at 11am London time which will be 6am here in Washington). An event with this much (literal!) pomp and circumstance does not happen everyday, and the spectacle of the event has piqued all of our tweens' curiosity.

On the menu: scones, clotted cream, raspberry jam, lemon curd, strawberries with cream, and (of course!) English Breakfast tea. We are definitely not morning people, so to make things easier the tweens will mix the dry ingredients for the scones the night before. When the alarm clock rings, we'll take the cold scone mix out of the fridge, add the eggs and buttermilk and then bake them off (these scones will turn out extra light and flakey as a result of the overnight chilling). Scones are easy to make with tweens because the dough requires so little handling - and in fact turns out better the less it is mixed - and this last step can be done while still groggy. Our favorite recipe for scones is from Martha Stewart.

We'll watch the Royal Wedding and have breakfast in bed before school on Friday morning. The tweens will be in their pajamas and wearing any tiaras we find in their old dress-up bin. Your tween could also make a pipe cleaner tiara and ring just for the event with pipe cleaners and beads - bonus points for using a red, white and blue theme.

Should you have the energy at 6am to decorate, check out this funky Rule Britannia party theme for a Royal Wedding Viewing Party from Bird's Party:

In doing research on what to serve at a Royal Wedding viewing party, we came across a company that makes "jellies" (the American version is Jell-O): Bompas and Parr. This company is run by two young British guys who are on a mission to bring Jell-O back into style. They've done jelly art installations at the SFMOMA and are known for making fantastic flavor combinations and architectural interesting jellies. They've made a special jelly mold of Buckingham Palace in honor of the wedding, and here's their piece from The Today Show earlier this week:

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Reaching Out to Japan With Tweens: A Fun and Thoughtful Project

Our tweens' Girl Scout troops are making 1000 origami cranes to send to a sister Girl Scout troop in Japan as a show of support and friendship in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami. The significance of the origami cranes comes from the story of Sadako Sasaki, a young girl who was a victim of the Hiroshima atomic attack and suffered from leukemia as a result of the nuclear fallout. Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds 1000 cranes will be granted a wish by a crane such as long life or being cured of a disease. Sadako died when she was only 12 years old from the disease and folded 644 cranes before her death. Her classmates folded the remaining amount after she died as a sign of their love and support. There is a statue in Sadako's memory in Hiroshima, and the tradition of sending 1000 origami cranes is recognized today as a symbol of world peace and solidarity.

Our project began with a local librarian attending our troop meeting and showing the girls how to fold these beautiful animals out of colorful origami paper. Particularly for younger tweens, this took some doing, but all of the girls got the hang of it after a while. This is a complicated origami project to do as an introduction to origami, and it is a testament to the librarian's patience that all of the girls in the troop were able to successfully make their cranes. Each girl went home with origami paper, an instruction sheet, and an empty shoe box and will return to our next troop meeting with the shoe boxes full of origami cranes to mail to our sister troop in Japan.

To help sustain the girls' efforts, our tweens made candy sushi as a snack for the troop. This was a fun but sticky project involving Rice Krispy treats, Fruit Roll-Ups, and Swedish Fish.  You can find recipes for candy sushi fairly easily online, but here are our tips:

• Make a batch of Rice Krispy treats, but add a few more marshmallows than usual (you want a pliable rather than crisp treat).
• While one tween makes the Rice Krispy Treats, have another tween unwrap and unroll one package of Fruit Roll-Ups. Our local market was out of the green kind, so we used dark purple instead (we liked that the color scheme reminded us of Cherry Blossom season here in Washington). I've also seen tie-dye or rainbow ones used to great effect.
• Press a flat layer of Rice Krispy treats onto each Fruit Roll-Up roll leaving about a half-inch plain.
• Lay a double row of mini Swedish Fish length-wise down the cereal treats and then roll up the "sushi" roll ending and sealing with the plain half-inch. You could also use sour straws, gummy worms or fruit licorice instead of the Swedish Fish
• Use a sharp knife to slice the "sushi" into pieces. We served ours in cupcake liners.

We found that one batch of Rice Krispy Treats and one box of Fruit Roll-Ups made enough "sushi" for 15 hungry tweens as a mid-afternoon treat. (Orthodontists: beware!)

The troop has decided to host a bake sale to raise funds for the Red Cross to accompany these origami cranes, and I think our tweens will make another batch of candy sushi to sell at the fundraiser. We may try to make a more professional looking nigri-style sushi like these from not Martha for the bake sale.

Has your tween taken part in any efforts to help Japan after the earthquake? Please share what they're doing below!

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A St. Patrick's Day Recipe for Tweens

We were looking for a cool project to do with our tweens to celebrate St. Patricks Day, and we found it: rainbow cupcakes!

The girls were able to make it on their own with some minimal supervision (bonus!) - here's what we did:

1. We divided a plain white cake batter evenly into six bowls (a cake mix will work just fine; just make sure it's plain white cake - so one made without egg yolks) and then tinted each bowl with A LOT of food coloring - about 12 drops in each bowl.

2. We spooned about 1 teaspoon of each color into cupcake tins. Be warned: this step takes the most time, so plan accordingly. Then bake for 20 minutes - voila!

3. Peel off the paper wrappers before serving - and the best part is, no icing is needed - these cupcakes look fabulous on their own!

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MsTwixt's List of 2011 Tween's New Year's Resolutions

Here's the complete list from our series of New Year's Resolutions for Tweens in 2011. Did you try any of these? Please add your suggestions and comments below.

• Get up for school on time
• Write thank you notes
• Pack the right gear
• Connect with mom - try a Mother-Daughter journal
• Make family dinners fun
• Unplug more - use Facebook and text in moderation
• Cook as a family
• Role model healthy living for our daughters

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Perfect Idea for a Snow Day With Tweens: A S'Mores Stand

Here's a great idea for an entrepreneurial tween on a snow day: a s'mores and hot chocolate stand. The idea is the same as the classic summer lemonade stand but extended to your favorite neighborhood sledding spot.

Here's how:

• Make a batch of s'mores at home (see our recipe here) and wrap each in tin foil
• Whip up some hot chocolate and pour it into a big thermos (the kind that you lug to soccer games will work perfectly)
• Draw a colorful sign that lists what you're selling and how much it costs (e.g. $0.50/s'more). Bonus points for deciding to donate your proceeds to your favorite charity - be sure your sign tells everyone which organization you're supporting! Need a list of great causes for tweens? Here are some ideas: 
• The F.E.E.D. Foundation
• Kidz Helping Kids
• VH1's Save Our Music
• U.N.I.C.E.F.
• Milk and Bookies
  
• Load a sled with a basket of the foil-wrapped s'mores, the thermos, a stack of napkins, a sleeve of cups, and a bowl of extra marshmallows and bring it with you to your neighborhood park/slope/hill
• Watch the crowds of hungry sledders swarm your sled!

Thermos from Pylones, $44

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Tween's New Year Resolution: Cook As a Family

Truthfully, this resolution is more for me, the mom, than the tweens. They would all gladly cook more. It's me, the control-freak, who has a fit every time the milk spills, flour gets on the floor, eggshell bits fall in the bowl, etc.

Well, I need to get over myself, so this year I resolve to ease up on the tweens in the kitchen and let them help cook. There are articles galore about the link between cooking and making better food choices, so there's incentive enough.

Our list of fave blogs to help us get dinner on the table:

• The Family Dinner - you may remember their Treasure Bowl idea we blogged about earlier
• Dash and Bella - an irreverent blog about the trials and tribulations of raising young foodies
• Dinner A Love Story - AMAZING blog from a real working mom and how she gets dinner on the table every night
• No Take Out- a dinner recipe emailed to you every morning with directions and a shopping list to feed a family in 30 minutes - genius!

Does cooking with tweens make you want to pull your hair out? Or are you more Zen than me? Please share your tips!

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