I'm working on something for the lab and I'm curious, how did you introduce fruits and veggies to your kids? Do you have a simple favorite recipe or family favorite? I'm looking for fun to make, simple and healthy snacks appropriate for 3-9 year olds. I have my favorites but I thought this community might have some fun ideas I haven't tried. @Gwen Roach, @Andrew Brooks, @Jenny Rader-Bakos, @Varsha Mistry tagging you for your culinary expertise.

Back to coloring book land, feedback please. Would your kid think this was fun or beneath them? What about you as the adult? Does this spark interest or meh?

Getting ready to get the ingredients prepped and the experiment started. Over at @Henry Hunter's Crust and Crumb Academy, bakers are in full force today making this delicious sounding Special Round Challah. If you happened to catch Chef Henry's presentation during the Unplug & Play summit, he shared a bit about his introduction to Challah and the special memories it holds. Complicated breads are not my strong suit but I'm willing to get my hands dirty and try something new. Have you ever made a Challah? If yes, what tips do you have and if no, do you bake bread? What's your favorite. Stay tuned, I'll be sharing pictures of the adventure as I proceed.

I’m loving the story you’re creating and thought, hmm, what else could make this fun. Then in my pre-morning tea creative burst, I thought, a baking challenge. Now, for those of you new to the community, I’m a fan of reality cooking shows, in a former career, I taught Hotel/Restaurant management classes to college students and chef’s apprentices so shows like the Great British Baking Show (Bake-Off, to the rest of the world), fascinate me. Since time in the kitchen with kids is also the #1 reply on our survey, I thought we’d help our adventure trio have some fun in the kitchen. Argh! I’m super wordy today. Ok, your challenge, if you choose to except. Use your skills to bake a batch of cookies for Barnaby and crew. You have until Sunday to share your bake picture. Best bake as voted by the judges, will receive an all-access pass to the culinary sessions from the Unplug & Play summit. Let’s go! Welcome bakers, to your Technical Challenge! For this round, you are flying blind. You have been provided with the exact ingredients you need, but the instructions have been... edited. You will need to rely on your baking instincts. We are looking for an even bake, uniform size, and perfectly golden cookies. On your marks, get set... BAKE! The Ingredients: 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon baking powder 1 cup butter, softened 1 ½ cups white sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract The Instructions: 1. Prepare your oven and baking sheets. 2. Combine your dry ingredients. 3. Make the cookie dough. 4. Shape the dough into uniformly sized balls and place them on the sheets. 5. Bake until perfectly golden. 6. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. To complete the challenge: Post a photo of your finished cookies in the comments below, along with a note telling us what oven temperature and bake time you ended up using!

Most Saturday’s you’ll find me over in @Henry Hunter’s community where he hosts a Saturday bake along. What we will be baking is posted early each week along with how-to’s and common questions. Then, on Saturday morning, bakers from around the world join together to bake. This week, the community was baking Banh Mi, but not me. I opted for a quick bake and made Blackberry scones. The recipe is in the Recipe Pantry or visit #Bread as Science with Chef Henry for ideas to bake with your kids and a link to the free recipe pantry. If bread isn’t your thing, @Elliott Robertson shared some creative ideas in his presentation on ways to make kitchen time a fun family time by setting aside one night a week as “date night” and experimenting with your food. You can get more ideas here #Playing in the Kitchen with Elliott