Getting creative with food is an excellent way to get your kids to try new things, and it can even make an average meal fun again.

This morning in honor of St. Patrick’s day I made for Elle-Girl ‘Green Eggs and Ham a-la Sam I Am’

Ingredients

• 1-2 tablespoons of butter
• 4 slices of Ham
• 8 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• 1-2 drops of green food coloring
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
• *chopped green peppers

Melt a teaspoon of butter in your skillet and add a drop of food coloring to the butter before adding your ham slices. Add your ham and flip over in butter mixture until coated then let fry until edges are brown. Then remove from skillet and wrap in aluminum foil to keep warm, and set aside.

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine eggs, milk,green peppers, salt and pepper. Whisk until frothy and add drops of green food coloring to egg mixture until the desired shade of green is achieved.

Add a table spoon of butter to your frying pan over medium heat until butter sizzles, then add the egg mixture.

Stir the egg mixture until eggs are firm, or make into an omelet if you like!

Then transfer eggs and ham to plates and dress it up a bit with some fresh orange slices, or buttered toast.

This recipe and other fun games and ideas can be found at www.seussville.com

Author’s Note: * I modified this recipe to fit the size of my family as well as adding the green peppers for more flavor and texture.

A 2004 US Stamp honored the imagination of Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss)

The Cat in the Hat. Green Eggs and Ham. And to think I saw it on Mulberry Street.  Dr. Seuss’s ABC. Fox in Socks. Horton Hears a Who. If I Ran the zoo. Lorax.

These staples of children’s literature, created by author  Theodor Seuss Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss), were created in the mid 1950′s as a response to concerns about  literacy in young schoolchildren.

Youngsters can join in a birthday celebration of Dr. Seuss at the W. G. Rhea Public Library in downtown Paris, on Saturdsay, February 28, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.

Here are a few fun facts about Dr. Seuss:

• In 1936 on the way to a vaction in Europe,  he came up with And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was rejected by the first 43 publishers he showed it to. Eventually in 1937 a friend published the book for him, and it went on to at least moderate success.
• In May of 1954, Life (magazine) published a report concerning illiteracy among school children. The report said, among other things, that children were having trouble to read because their books were boring. This inspired Geisel’s publisher, and prompted him to send Geisel a list of 400 words he felt were important, asked him to cut the list to 250 words (the publishers idea of how many words at one time a first grader could absorb), and write a book. Nine months later, Geisel, using 220 of the words given to him published The Cat in the Hat, which went on to instant success.
• In 1960 Bennett Cerf bet Geisel $50 that he couldn’t write an entire book using only fifty words. The result was Green Eggs and Ham. Cerf never paid the $50.

His first wife, Helen Palmer Geisel, died in 1967. Theodor Geisel married Audrey Stone Diamond in 1968.

Theodor Seuss Geisel, who was born on March 2, 1904, died  September 24, 1991.