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Too bad this is an old thread because the problem has come up again. Why can't they just make smaller, healthier cupcakes and keep the tradition for goodness sake. They have smaller pans and one lousy cupcake and an extra run around the playground should be good enough. It isn't the cupcakes. It is a whole lot of other things.

I think everyone was in agreement that the school cafeteria needed to go on a diet. But banning cupcakes is tantamount to outlawing one of the last remaining bits of childhood that kids today have left. Merry-go-rounds, walking to school, trick-or-treating, and simply playing outside are now nearly things of the past.

OK, so the cupcake crisis is not exactly up there with global warming. But it is, nonetheless, important to our national heritage (and to our fundraisers), and it doesn’t take a think tank to solve the problem.

It’s apparent that the only way we’re going to have our cupcake and eat it, too, is to build a better one. Americans do it all the time. It’s our nature. Ban it? Why, when we can just improve it.

To be successful, it must be indistinguishable in flavor and texture from the original. Can it be done? It already has been done by hundreds of thousands of parents across America who have risen up (ahem…) and have overcome the cupcake crisis by simply adding a few healthy, and sneaky, ingredients.

As a “sneaky chef,” I discovered that because kids love them so much, cupcakes are the perfect “carrier” to deliver valuable hidden nutrition. How? By simply adding a few hidden ingredients. And what school nutritionist could object to a cupcake invisibly enhanced with pureed blueberries, spinach and whole wheat pastry flour, and with only half the fat and sugar?

With this simple solution–call it a “nutritional compromise”–our kids can enjoy a time honored tradition, and we can relax in the knowledge that they are also getting some much needed nutrition.

Parents, we must unite to save the cupcake, and the bake sale, as one of the last vestiges of childhood innocence and American nostalgia. By adding some sneaky nutrition, we can get cupcakes taken off the endangered species list and back into happy tummies. Let’s start baking again for fundraisers, and keep the fun in childhood and the specialness in birthdays.

It’s time to let ‘em know there’s a new cupcake in town!

Well done.

What's worse?

A) Eating dinner at Jack in the Box with your ex-husband
B) Eating a steak & shrimp dinner with your best friend who slept with your ex-husband?

My answer? C

(For jaf: my answer for what's worse? #2 --- someone who hates cooking)

To the question of raising one's own children (ie, parents being deemed "unfit")...the cupcake thing isn't a question of one's own children, but rather all of the children in that particular class or school. If a parent wishes to send a cupcake with their own kid to school, excellent.

I'm very confused about the notion that not having cupcakes at school is some sort of punishment for children. Certainly parents can organize birthday parties outside of school where they can serve cakes of many varieties.

Maybe instead of "No Child Left Behind" it should be "No Child's Fat Behind."

I just love Robyn's photo titles. Crack me up every time.

As far as the cupcake issue goes, we didn't have cupcakes in school. On the other hand, many students sold chocolate, lollipops and other treats to raise funds for their sports teams or other pursuits during school. Does this stop as well? And, what about Girl Scout Cookies?

O and for the refuses food on principle vs. finicky eater question, I think that people who are so finicky about their food aren't going to be an adventurous eater anyway, so they really aren't any fun

This thing keeps on growing!

Here's my choices:
Well-done steaks
Cheez whiz
High priced bad meal
Someone who refuses to cook
I'm quite used to quick and impersonal service...its not so bad unless the server is blatantly not doing their job. So this one is hard to say which is worse because I don't mind either choice!
Complaining companion, definitely.
Kid's menu...I cringe at the thought...
Cool whip! So artificial! (I think I'm averted to any processed product with "Whip" in the name...)
Giant, filling bad meal

Disappointing entree...I don't usually go for dessert, so if the entree was bad, then it does a lot to ruin the experience as a whole.

Which is worse?
A) Someone who refuses to try food on principle of it (ie: it's the innards of an animal, thus its gross and bad)
B) Someone who, when going out to eat is very finicky and precise about how their food is cooked and presented to them

Good post idea!

I think: well done is worse than A-1, cheeze whiz is worse than velveeta, a disappointing high-priced meal is worse, kids menu is worse than white zinfandel, not tipping is worse than complaining, and the misuse of apostrophes is the worst of anything!

For the restaurant service one, I'm stumped. I hate ingraciousness, but there is a lot to be said for efficiency. I'm going to say the ingracious but efficient is worse though.

My question - For the same price:
1. A tiny unfilling portion of a meal you like
2. A giant and filling portion of a meal you don't like

Hillary
Chew on That

What's worse:

Global warming
Macrame
Coolwhip
The misuse of apostrophes

...not necesssarily in that order

what's worse.
Your date orders a white zinfandel.
Or basically orders off of a kids menu cause she doesnt like nornal grown up food?

I have no comment on the meat issue - if my date ordered a steak in the first place, I'd realize I was in for an uphill battle. Velveeta is way better than Cheez Whiz, for the Ro-Tel dip reason cited above.

And! I would far prefer someone who hates eating out to someone who hates cooking. While I enjoy a meal out once in awhile, I far prefer cooking at home for reasons of taste, health, and cost. Whether or not it's true, I'd probably assume that someone who hates cooking (and therefore only eats meals out) doesn't care about health or economy.

Which is worse? Slow but gracious restaurant service, or efficient and impersonal restaurant service?

I thought the "chef's" on this seasons show were quite under-skilled. I mean, look at the person, Bonnie, who he nearly lost to, she was a nanny! Another finalist, Josh, couldn't cook a crab cake to save his life. A line cook from the waffle house was nearly a finalist. On the palette test, Rock could not even identify venison. He thought it was chicken!