I have a bad habit of “starring” links in my Twitter feed to share later, and then never getting back to them. (Surely someone out there could create an app that reads those links and sends you back a cliff notes version, right??) So I thought I’d try sharing a few favorite things with you on Fridays, with the caveat that I may not get to it every Friday. But I hope you find it useful and will share anything interesting you’ve come across during the week, too, okay?

• Health Note of the Week: A new study gives hope that some of the negative effects of exposure to BPA (you know, if you used plastic baby bottles pre-2009, or ever eat food or beverages from a can, or use toilet paper, or … ) may be offset by eating leafy greens and soy. Bring on the miso soup!
• Food FAIL of the Week: New York City schools have decided that kids can buy pre-approved packaged snacks like Doritos and Pop Tarts at school bake sales, but not homemade treats with all those frightening real sugars and non-trans-fats. It would almost be funny if it wasn’t just so flat-out maddening.  Speaking of bake sales, remember to save the date for the National Food Blogger Bake Sale on Saturday, April 17 — coming to a city near you!
  
• Lunch Bite of the Week: Moms are getting fired up for Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move initiative, and particularly for getting healthier food into school lunches. Here’s a great post from Ilina at Dirt and Noise.
  (Have you emailed your Congressman/woman yet?)
• Recipe of the Week: The Jewish festival of Purim is this weekend, and I promised the husband homemade hamantaschen this year. Anyone got a favorite recipe to share?
• Blog Find of the Week: One of my favorite parenting blogs, Simple Mom, has launched a new food site, Simple Bites. Even better, Simple Bites is edited by one of my favorite foodie mamas, Aimée of Under the High Chair. (Why do I love Aimée? Check out the adorable Pat-the-Bunny cake she made for her younger son’s first birthday.) And there’s the new Simple Organic, too. Love.

I find a lot of great new recipe ideas from the foodbloggers I follow on Twitter, and in my daily blog skimming, and instead of just saving them to my own favorites I’ve started a “recipe retweet of the day” to share what I find. For those of you who aren’t on Twitter, here’s what I’ve added to my collection recently:

• Recipe RT @sugarlaws Salmon with Fennel, Olives and Dill, link {looks amazing!}
• RecipeRT @Lelonopo “green alien” smoothies, link. {another way to eat your daily greens!}
• Today’s RecipeRT @RuthDaniels Seared Scallops with Peruvian Parsley Salsa, link {have seafood on the mind!}
• RecipeRT – A variation on the usual curried butternut soup, link.
• RecipeRT @jerseybites whole wheat pasta with salmon in pumpkin sauce, delicious and healthy!!, link.
• RecipeRT @sophiemostly New blog post: Breakfast quinoa with clementines, sour cherries and pecans – Mostly Eating, link.
• And on the cheeseboard this week, Beecher’s Flagship Reserve & Isle of Mull cheddars.

If you enjoy FoodieTots, why not subscribe &/or connect on Facebook. Thanks, and enjoy!

As mentioned yesterday, I was honored to be nominated for the Well Fed Network’s Food Blog Awards in the Best Family/Kids Food Blog category. I want to thank my loyal readers who nominated me, the esteemed judges who selected me as a finalist, and my fellow nominees who are also devoted to raising kids on good, nutritious foods.

If you haven’t already met the other nominees, please take a minute to visit Andrea’s Recipes (a local blogger), Picky Palate, The Barefoot Kitchen Witch, and Under the High Chair.

And check out the other categories to discover more great food blogs. A third DC-based blog, The Bitten Word, garnered a nomination in the Best New Blog category.  Congratulations to all the nominees! (And please vote!)

The fourth installment in our foodie family Holiday Treats series is with Jennifer Carden, of Novato, California, who writes at The Toddler Cafe and has published a book by the same name. You can also follow her on Twitter, where she wrote recently of her daughter,

“Kidlet is frosting my b-day cupcakes scooping out the middles and filling them w/ peanut butter, she IS MY kid!! I love her!” – Chefjen

Clearly, she has passed on a love of cooking to her five-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Claire. (No, being on Twitter wasn’t a prerequisite to being invited to participate in my series, but it helped…) Thanks for sharing some of your favorite recipes with us, Jennifer!

What was your first cooking experience?
I remember making cookies, chocolate chip of course, with my mom. I used to stand on a chair and “help.”

What is your greatest challenge in cooking for your child?
My greatest challenge in cooking for my child is trying to have a balance between our activities; I don’t want her to be in the kitchen all the time!

What is your daughter’s favorite recipe?
Good old Jewish Chicken Soup with “special salt.” I use a salt blend with lavender, poppy seeds and basil.

Is there any food your daughter just will not eat?
Very spicy, she will try anything but we just can’t get her little taste buds to like hot sauce yet!

What is your family’s favorite holiday treat?
Homemade marshmallows, we always make them in December.

Jennifer graciously shared her homemade marshmallow recipe, below. I just tried making marshmallows for the first time this weekend, using a different recipe that didn’t call for egg whites, and they didn’t come out as perfectly as I would have liked. I’ll be trying this recipe next time!

Marshmallows
By Jennifer Carden, The Toddler Cafe

You can make them white or add coloring.  Add color during the final mixing right before they go into the pan. Use clear vanilla to get bright white marshmallows; you can get it at a baking supply store.

Ingredients:

Confectioners’ sugar or more for dusting
2 Tbs plus 2 1/2 teaspoons or 3 1/2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup warm water about 115°F
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg whites
1 tsp vanilla

1. Oil bottom and sides of a 13-by 9-by 2-inch rectangular metal
baking pan and dust bottom and sides with some confectioners’ sugar.

2. In bowl of a standing electric mixer or in a large bowl sprinkle
gelatin over cold water and let stand to soften.

3. In a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, hot
water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until
sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to moderate and boil mixture,
without stirring, until a candy or digital thermometer registers
240°F about 12 minutes. Remove pan from heat and pour sugar mixture
over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

4. With standing or a hand-held electric mixer beat mixture on high
speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about 6
minutes if using standing mixer or about 10 minutes if using hand-held
mixer. In a large bowl with cleaned beaters beat whites (or
Reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat,
whites and vanilla into sugar mixture by hand until just combined. Pour
mixture into baking pan and sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar evenly
over top. Chill marshmallow, uncovered, until firm, at least 3 hours,
and up to 1 day.

5. Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large
cutting board. Lifting up 1 corner of inverted pan, with fingers
loosen marshmallow and let drop onto cutting board. With a large knife
trim edges of marshmallow and cut into small squares.
Shake confectioners sugar over the sticky edges, serve.
Keep them chilled overnight to retain freshness.

Thank you, Jennifer, and happy holidays to you & your family! Here at the FoodieTots’ house, I’m looking forward to spending Christmas Eve doing some holiday baking. Gingerbread trains and snowball cookies are on my list. What’s everyone else baking this week?

Ruth’s Presto Pasta Nights was one of the first foodblogging events I stumbled across when I began my blog, and I am thrilled to now be hosting the holiday edition! One of the great things about the event is getting a peek at how pasta is enjoyed all across the world, and our first submission comes to us from Greece!

Ivy of Kopiaste to Greek Hospitality writes from Athens, Greece, to share Tagliatelle with Chicken and Veggies.

Navita of Zaayeka shares a Spaghetti Americana.

Kitchenette of Got No Milk creates a lactose-free Tetrazzini Reconstructed.

Ferdzy of Seasonal Ontario Food submits an easy weeknight Whote Wheat Noodles with Stir-Fried Vegetables.

Gilli of So So Simple cooks up an Italian Chow passed down from her mother-in-law, for a holiday buffet.

Robin of Made with Love shares Ham & Shells Casserole, with a ziti twist.

City Girl of City Girl Lifestyle adds a Greek twist to Shrimp Scampi Pasta with Feta.

Daphne of More Than Words writes from Perth to share a celebratory Chinese Seafood Mee Sua; stop by and congratulate her on passing her University exams!

And another submission from the South Pacific, Ning of Heart and Hearth in Manila shares Cheezy Beefy Twirls.

Back in the Northern hemisphere, Katie of Thyme for Cooking writes from Lot et Garonne, France, with Chicken with Cauliflower Pasta.

Mary of One Perfect Bite shares Thai Rice Noodles with Beef and Spinach.

And Marye from Baking Delights writes with a dish that combines three of my favorite things, Artichoke & Parmesan Pasta.

Our founder Ruth of Once Upon a Feast received an early gift of Giada’s Kitchen and prepared her Pasta with Shrimp, Arugula & Lemon Oil.

As for me, I’m still enjoying leftovers of the Cherry Coconut Kugel I baked for my son’s daycare holiday potluck.

Thanks everyone for participating and thanks to Ruth for allowing me to host this week! Presto Pasta Nights is now officially on holiday vacation. Visit the archives to get your pasta fix between now and January 9, and submit your latest creations to our founder Ruth of Once Upon a Feast, ruth (at) 4everykitchen (dot) com, by January 8 to be included in the first round-up of 2009. Happy Holidays!!