ChopChop Magazine

ChopChop: The Fun Cooking Magazine for Families is an award-winning quarterly magazine, published in English and Spanish for over 10 years. Each 48-page issue of the magazine contains delicious, nutritious, culturally diverse, affordable, and easy-to-follow recipes, along with essential kitchen skills, STEAM learning, and loads of fun games, and activities.

RAISE THE SALAD BARRE

THE LEARNING GUIDE TO THIS ISSUE

Orange Slices with Cinnamon

Oatmeal with Apples and Pumpkin Seeds • We love fall flavors, and this warm morning bowlful contains two of them! Because you do most of the work the evening before, this is a great breakfast for a school morning.

AFTERSCHOOL SNACKS • We eat all kinds of snacks: the morning-break kind, the after school kind, and the grab-and go boost-of-energy kind. And whether they’re sweet or salty, we want them to be delicious and nutritious. Since all our snacks are good for you, feel free to mix and match them into a meal! There’s no rule that says dinner can’t be a boiled egg, raw vegetables and dip, and a handful of crisp chickpeas.

BBQ Chickpeas • If what you crave is spicy and salty, then this is the snack for you! These have all of the flavors of our favorite packaged snacks, but they’re homemade, extra-crunchy, and packed with nutrients. They make a great salad-topper too. Kids Advisory Board member Amine added spicy cayenne pepper to her chickpeas and said, “It tasted really good.”

Why does popcorn pop?

Homemade Popcorn • Homemade popcorn is a terrific snack: whole-grain, seasoned the way you like, and inexpensive, too. Our method is easy once you get the hang of it: Just read through the steps before you start, then try to follow them pretty exactly.

Snappy Edamame • Edamame (green soybeans) make a delicious, nutritious, and satisfying snack. To eat them, just pop the beans out of the pods with your hands or teeth (but don’t eat the pod itself). Kids Advisory Board member Sophia tested this recipe and said, “They were really good, everybody in my family loved them! They were the perfect pods for popping!” (Don’t worry if it seems like a lot of salt: Most of it is on the pods, which you don’t end up eating.)

Perfect Boiled Eggs • We like our eggs firmer than soft-boiled but not quite completely hard-boiled: The whites are completely set, and the yolks are firm but still bright and tender. They are perfectly simple and perfectly delicious! Eat them plain, or top them with whatever seasonings you like.

WHAT’S DIFFERENT? • We found 8 changes in the picture on the right.

Instant Ramen Soup • Ramen noodles are inexpensive and fun to make. Just skip the seasoning packet (which has more salt than we like to use) and add your own flavors—plus a few good-for-you ingredients to make your body happy. Kids Advisory Board member Yahmai tested it and said, “My brothers and sisters loved it and we are making it again. It is good for families on a budget.”

Quick Bites

VEGETABLE PREP FOR SNACKING • If you keep vegetables cut up and ready to go in the refrigerator, you will always have a good snacking option! Eat them alone or dip them into hummus, salad dressing, peanut butter, or guacamole.

Ranch Dressing • Ranch is a lot of people’s favorite dressing, and it’s no wonder! It’s creamy, garlicky, and herby—and it’s as good to scoop up with raw vegetables as it is to dress a salad. Kids Advisory Board MemberYahmai tested the recipe and said, “The ranch was better than the store one, and my mom said it was cheaper than buying it.”

Easy Apple Bites • This cute little snack is creamy, crunchy, and satisfying. Plus, it’s fun to make with your friends after school!

Basic Quesadilla • A quesadilla is like a grilled-cheese sandwich, but with tortillas instead of bread. The basic recipe has only two...