The fun for kids using their Piggy Platter is that they can put whatever they want underneath. When Patagonia catalogs come in the mail with extreme skiers on them, we rip out the pages and place them underneath my sons’ Platter. When greeting cards or photos from their recent visit come in the mail from Grandpa we’ll put them underneath for the boys to fondly retell their adventures while eating at the table.

The sky’s the limit on what fun, exciting and educational material can go underneath the Piggy Platter!

toddler placemat

One of the challenges we all face with curious kiddos is keeping items in their place… the same is true for the Piggy Platter. While we made it with an anti-slip plastic gasket around the bottom of the rim so our kids couldn’t shove it across the table with food on it (like they did with the laminated placemats), we realize that strong little ones can move it around.

Hence! The Piggy Platter is not without a little child training. We actually produced it to be a training tool for the table: the large surface and rim give the kids their “make a mess here” boundary. We tell out kids that just like a plate full of food, we need to keep our placemats on the table until we take them to the sink for cleaning.

We did consider suction cups, but not for long! Any suction cup product we purchased didn’t work on our wood table, nor, on a different surface, beyond two uses after putting them in the dishwasher. We wanted to be sure and give parents the option of cleaning their Piggy Platter in the dishwasher!

We welcome additional discussion and tips on how you encourage your kids to keep the Piggy Platter on the table.

toddler placemat

1 lb. cleaned, unpeeled zucchini
2 T. shallots (or onions or leeks)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T. butter or margarine
1 tsp. Curry powder
1 3/4 C. chicken broth or three bouillon cubes dissolved in 1 3/4 C. water
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 C. half-and-half
Croutons, optional
Chopped chives, optional

Chop unpeeled zucchini, shallots and garlic. Melt butter in a heavy frying pan. Add chopped vegetables. Cook for 10-20 minutes (stir to keep from burning, you don’t want it brown).

Put cooked vegetables, curry powder, chicken broth and salt into blender and blend. Add half-and-half, blend.

Either heat until just piping hot, then serve with croutons or chill and serve cold with chopped chives. Makes 6-8 servings

Thanks to Barbara, Houston, TX.

2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups canned pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
dash salt
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Beat sugar and eggs with a mixer until smooth and creamy. Beat in the oil
and pumpkin and blend well. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt,
spices. Add these to the pumpkin mixture ( I never sift anything, I just
add them all right into the mixture) and stir until thoroughly combined.
Pour into a lightly greased tube pan. Bake at 350° for 55 to 60 minutes.

Frosting
3 ounces cream cheese
3/4 pound powdered sugar
1 stick butter
1teaspoon vanilla
2 to 3 teaspoons brandy.

Blend ingredients and spread over cake. This cake is better if made a couple days ahead of time as flaver improves with standing.

From Aunt DeeDee, Kirkland, WA

2c. brown sugar
2 cubes butter
1/2 c light corn syrup (karo)
1t. salt
1t. vanilla
1/2t. soda

Mix in saucepan: Brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt. Boil 5 minutes. Remove from heat stir in soda and vanilla. Pour over 7 quarts (28 cups) popped corn, mix thoroughly in large pan. Bake at 250° for 1 hour. Stir every 15 minutes. Put on waxed paper and separate into bite size pieces.

Thanks to Grandma Button from Bellevue, WA

3/4c butter or margarine
1t. vanilla
1T. water
1t. salt
1/3c sugar
2c flour
6 oz. chocolate chips

Blend first 5 ingredients and blend well. Stir in flour stir in chocolate chips. Form 1 inch balls. Bake at 300° for 30 minutes. Roll in sugar while warm.

Thanks to Grandma Slichter from Spokane, WA

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon grated orange peel
3/4 cup orange juice
1 1/2 cups light raisins
1 1/2 cup fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda into a large bowl. cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add egg, orange peel and orange juice all at once; stir just until mixture is evenly moist. Fold in raisins and cranberries.

Spoon into a greased 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan; cool on a wire rack.

If you choose, you may substitute cranberries for the raisins to have an all cranberry bread. If so, only add 1 additional cup of cranberries.

From the book Cranberry Thanksgiving by Harry Devlin

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
18 ounce pumpkin pie mix (solid pack)
2 c. powder sugar
1/2-1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4-1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Beat cream cheese in a mixing bowl until smooth, add pumpkin pie mix, beat well. Add sugar, cinnamon and ginger. Beat until smooth. Serve with molasses cookies. Store leftovers in refrigerator.

Thanks to Karina from Bend, Oregon

There are times when are kids are just not hungry for dinner. If we’re sure they’re just not trying to get out of eating something new (our rule is they have to try one bite of what’s on their plate), then we invite them to stay at the table to enjoy each other’s company.

If they’d rather get down, we don’t allow them to play but instead they must sit quietly on the couch until most of the family is finished eating. This is a relatively new rule, but we instituted it with the hopes of preserving family mealtime and so far it’s working.

Cook 3/4 lb. of penne pasta (or similar) al dente, drain, sprinkle with olive oil and set aside.

Push 2-3 lbs. of chicken sausage out of its casing into a skillet, cook and set aside.

Clean and chop 1 bunch of asparagus into 2-inch pieces. Steam cook for just 3-5 minutes — be careful not to over-cook! Set aside.

Mix 8-10 oz. of goat cheese with a jar of alfredo sauce over medium heat until cheese is fully disolved.

Combine all of the above ingrediants with 2 cups of Parmesan cheese in a casserole dish and bake for 20 minutes at 350°. Ingredients can be prepared and combined in casserole dish the night before. Makes 6-8 servings.

A favorite in the Bartell home, Portland, OR