While buying play-doh is not terribly expensive (just a few dollars for 4 colors), it does seem slightly wasteful to keep dishing out money for something that you could so easily make at home. Besides, your kids will love making their own playdough, and creating their own colors too. Plus, if your toddler decides to take a bite of that playdough pizza you just made, the ingredients are perfectly safe (although not too tasty)!

This easy recipe is from iVillage. We tried it at home yesterday and it worked perfectly! (Our food-coloring was kind of weak, so see if you can pick up some real strong colors next time you go to the grocery store! But we do have some nice pastel-colored playdough now.)

Ingredients:

You know how much I love Dr. Sears, and once again he’s sharing some great ideas to make the  holidays not just fun and delicious, but safe and nutritious too!

Here’s a reminder list of a few healthy ideas to make your Thanksgiving day just a bit healthier. Of course, it IS Thanksgiving and a little overindulgence is OK. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

1. Use whole wheat or whole grain bread for your stuffing instead of white bread.

2. Make homemade cranberries instead of the jellied cranberries in a can. See our recipe: http://www.askdrsears.com/news/thanksgiving.asp#1

3. Buy an all natural hormone-free Turkey for the main event.

4. Substitute Omega-3 enriched oil-based spread instead of butter, margarine or shortening.

5. Offer more healthy vegetable dishes to balance out all the starches like stuffing and potatoes.

6. Bake your dishes instead of frying when possible.

7. Keep the skin on. Encourage eating the skin of your sweet potatoes and leave the skin on your mashed potatoes. Potato skin is loaded with vitamins.

8. Use whole wheat pie-crust on one or more of your pies for a healthier alternative.

9. Use fresh all-natural ingredients whenever possible, they are always healthier than something out of a can or a box.

10. Watch the salt! Most recipes already contain enough salt and don’t need more once they are on your plate.

We hope this inspires you to try a healthier (yet still delicious) version of Thanksgiving dinner. While you are preparing your dinner, you will probably come up with some of your own healthy ideas. Once again, Happy Thanksgiving!!

Click here for more healthy Thanksgiving tips and recipes.

Keeping Your Family Safe in the Kitchen on Thanksgiving

According to the National Fire Protection Association, fires are more likely to occur on Thanksgiving Day than any other day of the year. Kitchen fires from cooking are the number one cause of home fires and home fire injuries. In fact, the number of structure fires that occur on Thanksgiving Day is three times higher than the daily average of structure fires in the US.

Here are a few tips to prevent home fires this Thanksgiving:

• Keep your stove clear. 12% of all fires occur because something that could catch fire was too close to the stove; dish towels, pot holders, food packaging and even wooden utensils.

• Stay in the kitchen. Don’t leave your stove unattended while cooking, if you have to step away, even for a short time, turn off the stove. Unattended cooking is the leading cause of Thanksgiving Day home fires.

• Set a timer. Aside from the obvious, not burning the turkey or pies, etc, this helps to keep track of food that requires extended cooking times as well as keeping your ears from hearing the piercing sound of the smoke alarm or worse.

• Keep children out of the kitchen. Be sure to keep all pot handles turned in so they are not accessible to little hands. Cook on the back burner as much as possible.

• Wear short or close fitting sleeves when cooking.

Even with the best preparation accidents can happen.

Click here to read Dr. Sears’ guide to treating burns; what to do immediately following a burn, how to treat the burn and whether or not you should page your doctor or take your child to the ER.