Kool for Momz N Dadz

If you live in new New York City or Westchester County, you have to spend a few hours biking, jogging, roller blading or just plain walking, the North County Trailway. It runs mainly uninterrupted from Elmsford, north to the town of Somers, in Westchester County (in New York).

The trail was once a rail road that carried New Yorkers to summer cottages around the many lakes in Westchester and Putnam Counties. Today you can enjoy more than 20 miles of paved fitness and bicycle trail. More than 40 miles, if you include the South County Trailway.

The railway was abandoned for many years, then paved, marked and is now well maintained by Westchester County. Wikipedia has a detailed description of the now defunct New York and Putnam Railroad.

If you don’t have a bike, rent one. Closest to me, in Yorktown, is Yorktown Cycles @ (914) 245-5504. They service, sell, and rent bikes. Besides having a very thorough website, they carry just about all the bicycle gear you’ll need.

Here are some great bicycle route and biking trail map resources to get you started…

New York City Bike Maps. Nice because they use Google Maps to show you convenient access points to the biking trails.
Bikely. This site also uses Google Maps and is interactive.
Westchester.gov Maps The “official” source of the North County Trailway bicycling maps (PDF).

Take a trip to the farm…

Fall is such a great opportunity to get together with family and friends for a little family fun.  One of our favorite activities is an annual trip to a local farm for pumpkin and apple picking.  We have a few favorite spots located in Westchester, Putnam, and Dutchess counties in New York State… [Ed. ~1 hour from NYC]

Wilkens Fruit and Fir Farm
1335 White Hill Road
Yorktown Heights, NY 10598
Website: http://www.wilkensfarm.com/
Directions
This is a great family-run and friendly place in Northern Westchester.  My daughter and I went on an elementary school trip there several years ago and we really enjoyed it.  The visit included a short lesson on growing apples and a discussion about the many different types.  Each child had the opportunity to pick apples and take one home with them.

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Outhouse Orchard
Hardscrabble Road
Croton Falls, NY 10519
Directions
Located in Putnam County, this farm is also a great spot for kids.  Ours have always enjoyed the pony and hay rides they offer.  We have also taken some great pictures in front of an enormous blow up pumpkin set up in the field.  They also have a terrific country shop featuring an assortment of jellies, jams, and pies.

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Barton Orchards
63 Apple Tree Lane
Poughquag, NY 12570
Website: www.bartonorchards.com
Directions
A little further north, in Dutchess County, Barton Orchards offers a wide variety of fun farm activites for the entire family.  This place is huge, with expansive grounds.  In addition to apple orchards and pumpkin patches, they also grow several other types of seasonal fruits.  Additionally, they have pony and hay rides, a bouncy castle/recreation area for kids, a haunted house, petting zoo and lots of yummy goodies for sale.  I seem to remember fresh donuts and lemonade being the big favorites.

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At-home fun for after the farm visit…After picking the fresh apples and an assortment of pumpkins varying in size, we look forward to plenty of activities at home.  There are so many things that can be done with the harvest!  But first, we like to pop some spooky Halloween music into our CD player to set the mood.

Pumpkin Fun

It is always fun to use pumpkins that vary in size.  We’ve come up with some fun ideas for activities though the possibilities are endless here.

• Predict which ones will weigh more or less.
• Guess the weights, weigh them and compare results.
• Make charts representing the difference in guessed and actual weights.
• Paint the pumpkins.
• Carve the pumpkins and make jack-o-lanterns.
• Play hot potato with the small pumpkins.

Apple Fun

• Go Apple Bobbing: Set up a shallow bowl or tub with water on the bottom.  Everyone takes a turn trying to bite into an apple to pick it up - No hands allowed!
• Pass the Apple: Here’s the tricky part.  Place the apple between your chin and neck.  Then, pass it to the next person in between his/her chin and neck.  Try setting up teams and see which team can finish passing the apple to each of its players first.
• Try a great and easy applesauce recipe.

12 apples

(I like MacIntosh but you can substitute Gala, Empire or Romes if you like.)

Steam the apples for about 10-12 minutes.  When they pierce easily, they are cooked.  Set apples aside and reserve liquid to cool.  Once cooled, peel off skin, remove seeds and core, and chop the apple.  Puree the fruit, adding reserve liquid as needed to adjust consistency.  Enjoy!

By: Toni Ann Malandruccolo

So often we are inundated with news of America’s ever-expanding waistline. We now understand how important diet and exercise are. As adults, we know the relationship between what foods we chose to eat and the amount of weight we gain or lose. We have learned that choosing a sedentary lifestyle can be detrimental to our overall health and well-being.

As adults we have the freedom to make choices. We can stop at a fast food joint on the way home from work, or choose to go home and make a nutritious meal. We can choose to sit in front of the television or go out for a jog around the block. But the children in this country rely on adults to help them make good choices. They eat what an adult chooses to prepare, or not prepare, for them. They often must be driven or supervised if they would like to take a walk or play at a playground.

A recent study from UT Southwestern has found that toddlers, ages 1-3, who do not attend daycare and those from lower income families tend to weigh more than their counterparts. By putting on extra pounds, the study found that 20% of overweight toddlers were iron deficient. What does that mean? These children can expect impaired bone marrow and muscle function in addition to behavioral and cognitive delays, including impaired learning, decreased school achievement, and lower scores on tests of mental and motor development.

Children who are not at daycare often stay at home with a parent or caregiver. That might mean watching television and playing video games for long periods of time. They may not eat healthy meals and may eat more while sitting in front of a television or computer. Children at daycare tend to be active for most of the day. Most schools do not even have televisions in the classrooms. In addition, most daycare toddlers eat less. They are usually served healthy meals and snacks. They are also frequently exposed to new and different foods.

The article addresses the Hispanic population. The UT Southwestern researchers believe that these often lower income families tend to rely on breastmilk for longer periods of time. Children, in turn, consume unhealthy amounts of milk and juice throughout their childhood. This leads to a decreased appetite for healthy solid foods.

Childhood obesity is not going to decrease unless we take the proper steps to provide a healthy lifestyle for the children in this country. Education, funding, and support should be available to all parents and caregivers, no matter what their economic standing or race may be.

Copyright © 2007

The beginning of each school year, like most new starts, brings about many joys as well as challenges. In addition to the various discussions about teachers, classmates, bus routes, sports schedules, etc., my children express a good deal of concern about the contents of their lunch boxes. As a mom, I like to include healthy selections, but know that this kind of planning has a way of usurping the precious time needed for homework, after-school activities, and down time with our family.

Determined to get this done quickly and nutritiously, I am beginning the school year prepared to plan ahead. I’ve outlined a few helpful hints below entitled “The Busy Mom’s Guide to Making Lunch Preparation Easier” and I created a recipe for pasta salad with all of my kid’s favorite ingredients in it. This recipe has been kid tested and approved by my children - (although I must admit, my daughter picks out the beans). It was prepared in less than 20 minutes and yielded enough for several lunches for three children (plus a snack for my husband as well).

Mom’s Guide for Making Lunch Preparation Easier

• When cooking a dinner favorite, make extra. Leftovers make great lunches. My kids especially like leftover chicken cutlets and meatball sandwiches.
• Keep your pantry stocked with items that don’t spoil quickly. This includes things like

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A new report on medpagetoday.com tells of a person who came down with a disease called “Popcorn Lung.” You may have read or heard about it a few months ago.  Back then it focused on factory workers at plants packaging the microwave popcorn, who were coming down with a serious lung ailment with the scientific name bronchiolitis obliterans. In this case its a one of us, a popcorn consumer, who has come down with the illness.?

I am usually not an alarmist, no formal studies have been done, but I’m throwing out all of my microwaveable popcorn. No need to risk this one.  I’ll run out to the supermarket and pick up some plain popcorn in a jar, some oil and salt to ease my fix.?

What’s scarier still, does that same chemical called diacetyl, live on my shelves in other butter flavored products? Here’s what the Baltimore Sun reports

…no other government agency has calculated the hazard, if any, to consumers who use microwave popcorn or cook with other products containing diacetyl. The butter-flavoring agent is used in margarine, faux butters, cooking oil, lard and, according to food scientists, in thousands of frozen products.

THOUSANDS OF FROZEN PRODUCTS!

So until the jury verdict is in, no butter-flavored products for us.