(Music) Kelsey: Hi there.

Welcome to Ruby's Recipes, where we bring kids into the kitchen and whisk up a passion for preparing healthy foods together.

My name is Kelsey Meyer, and I am the head chef of Ruby's recipes.

Today we are going to be partying it up in the kitchen, making some quick and kid friendly finger food.

Joining me today, I will have three chefs in training Lucy, Emma and Connor.

Lucy will be starting us off with cupcakes, but not the plain vanilla and frosting kind.

We are going to be making a savory pizza cupcakes that just might replace you our Friday pizza nights.

For our second recipe, Emma will help bring color to our kitchen with some fruits and vegetables.

We'll be making some rabbit and squirrel snack cups.

And for our last recipe, we will have Connor show us how to utilize cream cheese.

And something other than a party dip will be making some zesty Italian pinwheels.

Joining us now in the kitchen is Lucy.

Are you ready to turn pizza into a cupcake?

Lucy: Yes.

Kelsey: All right.Let's get started.

So to start off this recipe first, what we've already done is you want to preheat your oven to 375 and then brown some sausage in a skillet, which we've already done ahead of time for about 10 minutes.

So now what we're going to do is we're going to chop up our vegetables and then we're going to throw them in the skillet.

So everybody has their own method for how they cut their green peppers.

But I will show you mine and then I can have you help me chop them up into smaller pieces.

Kelsey: How about that?

Lucy: Yeah.

Kelsey: So how I do mine in the is I usually cut around the top, pull that off and we'll chop that up.

And then you can see you have the heart in the center here that has all the seeds.

And then I just cut that out.

You can see all the seeds are on the heart and we don't have to worry about those anymore.

So let's put that aside here.

And when you're in the kitchen, if you're using any sharp objects, you always want to make sure that you have an adult with you so that you don't accidentally hurt yourself.

Good job.

Yep.

And then you want to cut them into little pieces across.

Now, have you had many peppers before, Lucy?

Lucy: Umm...Yes.

Kelsey: Do you have a favorite pepper?

Some peppers are really hot.

Like jalapeno peppers.

Lucy: Yeah, I like those.

Kelsey: Yeah.

So what are your favorite pizza toppings.

Lucy: Umm, Pepperoni.

Kelsey: Pepperoni.

Nice.

Well, that's perfect, because we're going to have pepperoni on top of these pizza cupcakes.

What do you think about pineapple on pizza?

Lucy: Umm...I like it Kelsey: Uh, it's a very controversial opinion, you know.

Yeah.

And then before we start on our onion, great.

We'll have you put that back.

I'll just start heating this up a little bit here for us.

We you're going to want to make sure we keep our eye on it.

But the next thing we want to do is we want to chop our onion.

Lucy: It's hard.

Kelsey: (laughs) Its hard Yeah.

Perfect.

So what we're going to do is we're going to let the peppers and the onions saute.

This will take about 6 to 8 minutes.

And of course, you want to make sure that you keep your eyes on this.

But as this is starting, what you can do is you can start filling up your cup cakes with the crescent roll dough.

This is the fun part.

Opening the crescent rolls to the point where they pop open.

So let's see here.

I think...push down here.

It pops.

You want to push down with me right there?

(Pops) Yeah.

Perfect.

Good job.

So this should make eight muffins for us.

So what we're going to do is we're going to break these off, and we're going to fill each cup in.

A little trick I found when I was practicing at home as I'll show you and then you can help me feel.

How about that is to kind of twist it around in a circle.

So you want to start on the side and then just twist the edge around like that and then twist the other edges in.

And then you want to make sure the bottom and all the edges are covered.

So you want to help me fill in the rest of the cupcake tin for us.

Here you go.

Or you do that.

I'm also going to check on our vegetables over there and see how those are doing.

(Sizzling) Kelsey: It's really pretty good.

Lucy: Yeah.

Kelsey: And we'll combine it with... our sausages.

(Sizzling) what I'm going to do is I'm going to start scooping it into there.

How about that?

Okay, so you can tell me when you think I've got them all filled up because we still have to add the pizza sauce.

I think that that looks good.

Yeah I think those are pretty full, don't you think?

Lucy: Yep.

Kelsey: All right.

And the next thing we're going to do is over the top of our ingredients that we've chosen.

We're going to ladle our pizza sauce.

I'm going to have you do that for me.

Perfect.

And then we're going to top these off with our toppings.

So we're going to do cheese.

And like you said, you love pepperoni pizza.

So we're going to add some pepperoni is on top here.

So we just have some basic shredded cheese.

You can pick whatever type of cheese you want.

We've got mozzarella cheese.

Now, have you ever had bagel bites?

Lucy: Yeah.

Kelsey: Okay.

See, I wasn't sure a bagel bites were still a thing.

These look way better than bagel bites.

Lucy: Yeah Kelsey: bagel bites or pizza rolls.

Lucy: Yeah.

Kelsey: Looking pretty good.

Nice job.

And once your oven is done, preheating all you need to do is bake in the oven for about 16 to 18 minutes and they're ready.

So since I'm the adult in the kitchen today, I'm going to go over to the oven and load this in there.

(Rack clatters) So I think it's been about 16 or 18 minutes, don't you think, Lucy?

And it's smelling really good in the kitchen.

So let's get our pizza muffins out of the oven and see how they look.

I'm going to make sure I use my trusty oven mitts.

We don't want anyone to get burnt.

They look really good.

Let's play these and see how they look Now those look absolutely delicious.

If you need to opt out, if you need to substitute anything for an allergy or a food preference, you can always substitute for dairy free cheese and you can even leave out the meat and do a veggie option.

These look great.

Thank you so much for your help in the kitchen today.

Lucy.

Up next, we are going to be doing our veggie segment.

So I'm going to be working with our chef Emma and we are going to be making some rabbit and squirrel snack cups.

(Music) Kelly: I hope you have been enjoying Ruby's recipes.

Getting kids into the kitchen as early as possible is the best way to set them up for success when it comes to making healthy eating choices.

My name is Kelly Pheneger and I'm the director of education and outreach at WBGU PBS.

We're here today to show you how fun and educational cooking as a family can be.

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Now let's get back to Ruby's recipes.

(Music) Kelsey: So any time I go to a party I always make sure to have a healthy snack on my plate.

And this next recipe is perfect for any party.

We're going to be making rabbit and squirrel snack cups.

I have Emma with me today.

Kelsey: Emma, what is your favor healthy snack?

Emma: Salad.

Kelsey: Great.

I love salad, too.

And it's a great way to get your vegetables.

And the recipe we're going to be making right now is also another great way to get your healthy vegetables.

We are going to be making our rabbit snack cups.

So the first thing we want to do is start filling up our little cups here.

So I'm going to grab one for you and I'm going to grab one for myself here.

And you want to start filling them up with hummus.

So we'll do a couple scoops of hummus because we just want to fill up the bottom.

So why don't you start with your cup here?

And of course, there are all kinds of different flavors of hummus at the store that you can buy.

There's roasted red pepper hummus.

And I even saw chocolate hummus at the store.

So if you want to make a sweet diversion, you can do that.

But we are doing a healthy veggie version today and just using the basic hummus that you can find.

Good job.

Maybe one more scoop.

Nice.

Perfect.

I'll take that spoon from you after you have your cups full of your hummus.

And you really only want, you know, just the bottom full because you're going to be adding your crackers and your vegetables.

You want to grab two crackers and put them at the back of the cup, almost make them look kind of like bunny ears.

And these are kind of big.

So you can choose whichever crackers that you want to use.

And if you're gluten free, you can always grab a gluten free version of crackers.

So first we have our pre-sliced carrots.

So how about we add a couple of carrots to the front of our little bunny ears here?

Good job.

Yeah.

still need to have some room for some of our other veggies so how about we add our celery sticks and include them with our carrots here in our cups Good job.

Nice.

and then last but not least we are going to be adding our green beans if you're not a fan of green beans you can also grab some snap peas but let's just add these to finish off our veggie cups here and add a couple to the front we'll see how many we can fit in there And the best thing about these is they are portioned by individual sizes.

so you can have a plate of these snack cups and people can just grab one and go and then they don't have to all be keep dipping their veggies and their crackers into the same dip these can be individual servings I think they look pretty good don't you?

This is a really great and easy healthy snack for uhh, parties or on the go but I think next we're going to be making our swirl snack cups and of course you can always choose your own ingredients at home but first we're going to do is we're going to start by scooping our rice checks into our large bowl here and you you want to do about three cups now if I scoop the Now, if I scoop the cup, do you want to put it in for me?

Okay.

All right.

Hand that off to you.

Good job.

There we go.

So we're going to start off with some dried mango.

So how about you take a bow or half a cup or a couple pieces of the dried mango and pour it into our big bowl here.

Yeah, that looks pretty good, don't you think?

Perfect.

And then we will move onto our chocolate covered raisins.

And these are white chocolate covered raisins.

Now, have you ever had white chocolate?

No, it's it's pretty good.

But, you know, some people don't like it as much as other people up at the front here we have our coconut flakes.

And of course, it all depends on your taste.

If you want to do half a cup or a full cup, and then we'll move over to the side here and we will do our dried banana.

You can, of course, choose whatever kind of dried fruit that you prefer, and we'll just do a half a scoop.

the next one we're going to add is our dried apricots and let's do two scoops of those Now, this looks like it's going to make a lot, don't you think?

Emma: Yeah.

Kelsey: Yeah.

So we're going to do one couple of rasins.

Org, were going to scoop some M&Ms in.

here.

You want to stir it for me?

Okay.

(Clanking) okay going to make sure we mix all of Of our ingredients.

That's looking pretty good.

So now we're going to do is we are going to start putting them in our individual snack cups.

Now, these, I think are looking pretty good.

If you are doing a themed party, maybe even an Eleanor wonders why themed party, what you can do is add a little cute toothpicks to your snack cups of all the little characters and serve them at your party.

I think that looks pretty cute.

What do you think?

Okay Emma, Look at all of our hard work.

We have made our squirrel snack cups and our rabbit snack cups.

And I think if we were serving this at a party, I think our guests would really enjoy what we made for them.

Kelsey: Don't you think so?

Emma: Yeah Kelsey:I think so too.

Now, if you want to make these on your own, they're a really healthy and easy recipe to have, either with your kids or for any sort of family get togethers or any sort of holiday parties as well.

In our veggie snack cups, you can also include pretzels instead of crackers.

And with our Chex mix here, you could even omit the Chex Mix and do maybe Fruity Pebbles or something different, a different kind of cereal of your choice.

You could even throw pretzels in there as well.

Next up, I am going to be cooking in the kitchen with Connor and we are going to be making some zesty Italian pinwheels.

(Music) Kelly: Welcome back.

We just love having a chance to invite our kids club members behind the scenes and onto the set of Ruby's recipes.

This show, along with others such as BGSU Brain Game, The Journal, our local documentaries and scenic stops and stories are all brought to you by the generous support of our WVU members.

Here are some of the benefits you could enjoy just for becoming a supporter of WBGU-PBS.

For no cost at all, You can sign your child or grandchild up to become a WBGU birthday club member during the birthday month.

We will send them a card and wish them a happy birthday on air.

You can sign them up at WBGU dot org forward slash frog squad.

We also have some adorable Ruby's frog squad Thank you.

Gifts that we can send you when you make a contribution in support of WBGU's educational and entertaining programing.

When you donate $60 per year to WBGU will send you a plushie frog keychain that your child is sure to love.

Additionally, when you make a yearly contribution of $60 or more, you will also receive Preview our monthly viewer's guide and you'll get access to the PBS streaming service passport as well as that birthday club membership for your child or grandchild with a contribution of $90 per year.

We'll send you the frog keychain and a frog plush, both wearing adorable mini WBGU T-shirts.

And finally, by making a $120 yearly contribution, you'll receive the frog keychain.

An adorable frog plush in a handy frog squad lunch bag.

Make your contribution now by calling one 804 ten 2727 or by going online to WBGU dot org.

Forward slash frog squad.

Now let's get back to Ruby's recipes.

(Music) Now on to our final recipe on this episode of Ruby's Recipes, Zesty Italian Pinwheels.

I had Connor with me here today in the kitchen to help me make this party favorite.

We're going to start off by mixing our cream cheese and our Italian seasoning.

So let's open this up here.

And we already have our cream cheese.

Pretty soft, and you just need one eight ounce pack.

But if you're pulling this right out of the fridge at home, if you want to put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds, that way it's easier to stir.

That makes it super helpful.

So there we go.

And then what we need is one tablespoon of Italian seasoning.

So I'm going to have you help me with that here.

Nice.

All right.

So we're that in here.

Then I'm going to have you do the honors for me, and I want you to mix these two ingredients together.

So now what we want to do is we want to grab our tortillas and we're going to start spreading our cream cheese on top of our tortillas.

I have one for you here.

So have you want to put a dollop and try and spread it across and get it as far across as you can go?

When you're making these at home, you can choose whatever type of tortillas you want.

So they do have spinach tortillas.

They have, I think, dried tomato basil tortillas.

Nice.

Here, let me do mine.

So, Connor, what were you telling me earlier?

Kelsey: Is your favorite subject in school Connor: Math!

Kelsey: Math!

Oh, my gosh.

Can you belive it?

So the next thing we're going to do is we're going to cut our toppings.

So we're going to start with a small tomato, small to medium tomato.

So I'm going to have.

How do you feel about cutting a tomato?

Tomatoes are not easy to cut.

They can be kind of finicky in the kitchen.

Kelsey: Do you want to give it a try?

Connor: Yes Kelsey: Okay.

When you're making your cream cheese at home, you can add your tomato and pepperoncini or banana pepper to your cream cheese mixture.

But today we're just going to add them on top of our cream cheese mixture.

So what is your favorite thing to do in math?

Connor: Um, probably angles.

Kelsey: Angles.

Nice.

So now that we've got our tomatoes chopped up, what we're going to do is we're going to start putting them on top of one of our tortillas here.

So you want to just put maybe about half of them on top of that one for me and spread it across the top.

There.

Good job.

Then what we'll do is we will cut up some of our banana peppers.

Have you ever had banana peppers before?

Yes.

Okay.

Do you like them?

Okay.

Perfect.

Now let's bring our tortillas back and start adding some on top of our tomatoes and our cream cheese sauce.

So we're going to take our lettuce that you've chopped up nicely for us, and we're going to put it on top of our tortillas here just a little bit, because we still have to roll them up and we still have a couple more ingredients to add.

So next in line to add to our tortillas are our meat slices.

So we can choose whatever meat that you like.

We are going to be doing salami, ham and pepperoni as well as some cheese.

So what we want to do is we first want to start layering some cheese across the tortilla.

So let's just start putting some around ours.

And it doesn't have to be in a line.

It can kind of just be all around the circle.

Good job.

We'll do one more each.

How about that?

Okay, perfect.

Next, what we're going to do is we're going to add salami slices so we can do just like we did with the cheese.

And we'll just start layering it around our tortilla.

Nice.

Perfect.

Next, what we'll do on top of the salami is we will arrange our ham.

So let's use our ham slices here.

Nice job.

And last but not least, our pepperoni.

So let's sprinkle.

Some pepperoni is around.

And of course, we want to make sure we cover across the whole tortilla here.

Okay.

Now that we have our pepperoni as it is, the final part of our pinwheels is making them into pinwheels.

So we have to roll them up.

So how about we put ours next to each other here?

And we're going to just take the edges here and we're going to try and tuck it in like this, make sure we keep it in as much as we can and roll it forward.

Yep.

You want to tuck that in like that?

Yup.

Then roll it nice and keep rolling.

Keep rolling.

Perfect.

And then you'll want to set it just like this so it doesn't unfold great.

So what we're going to do is we are going to chilies.

If you are making these ahead of time for a party, you can even chill them overnight and then cut them in the morning for the party.

So why don't we put these in the fridge and let them chill for an hour and then we'll come back and cut them up.

It's been about an hour that we've been letting our pinwheels chill in the fridge.

And how about we take one out to cut it up into slices?

Kelsey: You want to help me with that?

Connor: Yes.

Kelsey: Okay.

So when you're making your pinwheels, of course, the ends you need to just kind of chop off because there's not much left in that area.

So we'll just chop off each and here.

And then you want to have, I don't know, maybe about a half inch and make your slice.

And then you can see it's got a little bit of a wheel there.

So how about you do that to the rest of the pinwheel for me?

How about that?

And now what we're going to do is we already pre cut our other one.

So how about we plate it and we can show everybody how good they look.

See if we have enough room for everything.

Now, these are looking pretty good, don't you think so?

Connor: Mhmm Kelsey: All right, let's add them on here.

You want to help me out over here where we can fit them on here?

Okay.

I think those look pretty good.

Kelsey: Don't you think so, too?

Connor?

Connor: Yes.

Kelsey: Great.

I think we did a wonderful job today in the kitchen making these pinwheels, and they look absolutely delicious.

So thank you so much, Connor, for joining me and helping me out today.

Conor: Welcome Kelsey: Well, that's all we have time for on this episode of Ruby's Recipes, a big shout out to our chefs in training.

Lucy, Emma and Connor, thank you so much for helping me out in the kitchen today.

For those at home, we hope that we have whisked up a passion for preparing healthy foods together.

And we also want to remind you to sign your kids up for our Frogs Squad just by signing up at WBGU dot org, you will get a free birthday card, your child's name on our monthly birthday spot and our free quarterly Ruby's Frog Squad E newsletter.

It's filled with family, fun activities and news about upcoming programs and events.

Now I'm going to have to try one of those pizza cupcakes that I made earlier, as well as one of our pinwheels.

So we will see you next time on Ruby's Recipes.

[Music]