Kids in the Kitchen.

Kids love to get in on the action in the kitchen. Let them get their hands a little dirty, measuring ingredients, cracking eggs and stirring up pots of tasty, nutritious food and they'll appreciate their meals more and more each time. Teach them how to prepare healthy lunches and after-school snacks now and they'll be stirring up their own crazy California Ripe Olive concoctions and other radical recipes before you know it. Just think, once they get the hang of it, you may never have to cook again! Fat chance, right?

California Ripe Pizza Pockets
1 package Prepared dinner roll dough
1 (41/4oz) can Chopped California Ripe Olives
3/4 cup Pizza sauce
1 cup Grated reduced fat mozzarella cheese water
1 egg, beaten

Flatten dinner roll dough into 5-inch discs and line up on a parchment lined baking sheet. Combine California Ripe Olives, pizza sauce and cheese in a small bowl. Spoon 1 heaping Tablespoon of the California Ripe Olive mixture into the center of each dough disc. Brush around the edges with water and fold into half moon shapes to enclose filling. Brush tops with beaten egg and bake in a 375 degree oven for 13-15 minutes until golden.
Makes 8. Eat a few right out of the oven and toss the rest in the freezer, then nuke 'em when you're ready for the next batch.

Kids In the Kitchen Redux

    * Use California Ripe Olives to make smiley faces on pizzas and open-faced quesadillas. And why stop there? Eggs, cheese melts, potato pancakes and a variety of other kids friendly foods become even more appealing with a few circles in all the right spots.

    * Get everyone into the cookin'  At your next BBQ have a "make your own kebab" party. Cut up chunks of your kids' favorite veggies, including whole, pitted California Ripe Olives of course, and meats. Everyone can skewer them (with adult supervision) themselves and hand 'em over to mom or dad to hit the flames.

    * Have a "Stuff 'em Silly" dinner. Give your kids a whole bunch of jumbo California Ripe Olives and a variety of foods to stuff inside. Your little gourmets will have fun making up different combos from chicken salad stuffed olives to hummus stuffed olives to guacamole stuffed olives. Let them dig in and they'll be powered up for the next busy day.