Damaris Santos-Palmer

Damaris is a freelance writer and recipe developer, and a lover of photography and design. She blogs regularly at Kitchen Corners - about food and design and her adventures living in Bahia Brazil with her husband and two kids. Damaris' work has been featured on Latina Magazine, HOUZZ, the Santa Cruz Sentinel, and Moovision. When she's not writing she's dancing in her kitchen, swimming with her kids, or jogging on the beach. You can find her on twitter, Fabecook, and Pinterest.
Damaris Santos-Palmer

HOW TO: Make Vegan Banana Bread with Chocolate Chunks

by , 02/22/12
 
 
How often do you serve dessert at your house? I'm a little embarrassed to say that we have dessert almost every single day. While it is possible to serve healthy desserts if you're serving plain fruit, or at most plain fruit with plain yogurt, sometimes you just want something warm and gooey - sometimes you just want chocolate. I believe in moderation and not in deprivation, so when I crave something a little more elaborate than sliced apples I go to my kitchen and I start baking. I realized that just as quickly as you can whip up cookie dough you can whip up banana bread, or vegan pumpkin chocolate chip muffin cupcakes, or if you'd rather use carob instead of chocolate you could easily make gooey vegan carob pudding. Today I'm going to show you how to make vegan banana bread with chocolate chunks, a nice warm gooey dessert with a little more substance than plain chocolate chip cookies and a little more satisfying than sliced fruit.
 

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HOW TO: Make Cooked Yucca for a Snack

by , 02/20/12
 
 
It's not that I am against cheese crackers as a snack. I think there is a time and a place for cheese crackers, whatever their shape might be (goldfish, bunny, etc). Usually the place is in my car and usually the time is when I'm driving somewhere and I'm late. My kids have had their fair share of cheese crackers and I judge no one for feeding them to their kids. However, when I'm in no rush to go anywhere I make sure to give them a different kind of healthy snack, usually cut up carrots, a banana, or cooked yucca. Yucca, also known as manioc or cassava, is a root vegetable and a very delicious one at that. In the U.S. yucca is used to make tapioca flour and tapioca balls. In Brazil, we also use tapioca flour, but we also like to eat the root itself, either cooked or fried. Consequently one of my daughter Maria's favorite snack is cooked yucca, with butter and salt on top. I've been seeing yucca more and more in the U.S. In some supermarkets you can buy the root which looks like this. In other places you can find peeled and cut up yucca in the frozen section. Next time you see it in your supermarket pick some up, it makes for a wonderful snack or a side dish.
 

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Science Project for Toddlers Teaches Them About Color

by , 01/19/12
 
 
Recently we started homeschooling our 5 year old, which means that our 2 year old also feels like she needs to be home schooled. We always include 2-year-old Maria in our activities but usually she just tags along to whatever subject our son is learning, which is usually over her head. This week, I decided to do an activity geared for our toddler to help her learn her colors. This is a very simple experiment that only uses three ingredients that you most likely have in your house already. And what's best is that even the older siblings will enjoy this project.
 

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HOW TO: Make Homemade Organic Yogurt

by , 01/04/12
 
 
Recently, I shared a healthy granola recipe, and today I get to share an organic yogurt recipe to go along with your granola. Yogurt and granola is not only a great, quick, and healthy breakfast it is also a quick and healthy snack, or even a quick and healthy dessert. Once you know how to make yogurt you'll be well on your way to make yogurt cheese and creamy frozen yogurt, imagine that. Yogurt is a great source of protein, specially for vegetarian tots. And the best part is that homemade yogurt is easy to make.
 

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5 Favorite Cookbooks for Kids

5 Favorite Cookbooks for Kids

 
 
If you're the type of parent that likes to cook, chances are your children are curious about cooking as well. Cooking with kids is not always easy, in fact it's almost always hard, especially if you're trying to get dinner done, the kids fed, the dishes washed, and the kids in bed. My bookshelves are packed to the brim with cookbooks and more than once I've caught my kids sitting down with a heavy cookbook on their laps, looking through pages and pages of recipes. Then I decided to get my son his first cookbook, Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook, as a Christmas present and he loved it. He was so excited to have his own cookbook. I decided to make it a point to have him cook, with my help of course, once a week using recipes he wanted to try. We plan ahead, we start early, and we have fun. Since last Christmas we've added a couple of other kids' cookbooks to our collection. Here are our five favorites, maybe some your own children will enjoy.
 

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HOW TO: Make Healthy Homemade Granola

HOW TO: Make Healthy Homemade Granola

 
 
We are a granola family for sure. Everyone from Dad to 2-year-old Maria loves granola - on top of plain yogurt in the morning, mixed in with açai after a couple hours on the beach, or even just as a little snack while watching a movie. Homemade snacks are always a win, and granola is a a great homemade snack, easy to make with your kids. I find that buying my own ingredients and making granola at home is always more cost efficient than buying from the store. Not to mention how so much of store bought granola is loaded with sugar, additives, and sometimes even high fructose corn syrup. My husband is the baker in the family and he was always experimenting with different granola recipes, modifying here and there until he created his granola masterpiece. Making granola at home is easy, the only hard part is making sure that the granola doesn't burn. This recipe that I'm going to share does a good job at making sure the granola is moist before putting it in the oven, and if you check on the granola every 10 minutes while it's baking you'll prevent it from burning. I promise you, you'll have a hard time going back to the store bought kind. And if I need to convince you further then think about all of the homemade jam and marmalade that's gifted as holiday presents in glass jars this time of year. Well, homemade granola also looks cute in a glass jar and can be a great holiday gift.
 

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5 Eco-Friendly Holiday Gifts for Little Foodies

5 Eco-Friendly Holiday Gifts for Little Foodies

 
 
Food is fun, and kids know it. It seems like children are natural born foodies. Babies enjoy getting food on their little hands and faces and big kids enjoy using their imagination to create smily faces on their plates with their spaghetti. If You have a little foodie in your home then this is the perfect time of year to give them something that encourages their love for food and for fun. Here are five gift ideas your little foodie will love.
 

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5 Ideas for Memorable Non-Store-Bought Gifts

5 Ideas for Memorable Non-Store-Bought Gifts

 
 
As a parent I've come to realize that the the gifts my children appreciate the most are the ones where we get to spend time together. This can be anything from a fun new board game to a handmade coupon for a mommy-and-daughter date. Over the years I've decided to not overwhelm my kids with too many gifts. From personal experience, I found that less is more, specially with gift giving. Usually my husband and I decide on one store bought gift, something durable, eco-friendly, and that will give us the opportunity to spend time with our kids - books for example are a great gift. This year Inhabitat created a detailed Green Holiday Gift Guide which features fun and educational toys for toddlers, boys, and girls. The gifts curated in the Green holiday Gift Guide, are eco-friendly, well crafted, and timeless, a great resource to look at if you want to give a quality store-bought gift. As for the non-store-bought gifts, we try to give our kids at least one of these every year. Here are some ideas for memorable, untraditional presents your children might enjoy.
 

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HOW TO: Make a Seasonal Side Dish Using Beets

HOW TO: Make a Seasonal Side Dish Using Beets

 
 
Do beets always show up in your CSA bag every week? At home we always find ourselves with more beets than we know what to do with. Usually I just grate them, put them in a bowl and sprinkle some sea salt and lemon juice on top and call it a salad. My kids love carrots and because beets are similar to carrots, crunchy and slightly sweet, they'll usually eat my quick raw beet salad. However, lately the kids are asking for variety. No, they don't say "mom please give us variety" they just say "mom please" in that tone that sounds like a "puh-lease" as in "yeah, no way am I eating that again." Kids have the strange ability to love something and then immediately un-love something, especially if that something is related to food. So I decided it was time to create a new beet dish, one that has oranges, and a touch of brown sugar to help caramelize the beets. What you end up with is a simple warm side dish that's perfect for the winter months and happy kids.
 

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LOTS MORE GREAT GREEN DESIGN STORIES HERE... KEEP READING!