monster's BLOG
Having a case of the Mondays could make you famous. 
Just as a little reminder for next week, each Monday we have what we call Monster Mondays. That’s the day where yours truly selects one lucky monster to be Facebook Famous! That means your monster could be featured on our Playnormous Facebook page and been seen by all of our members on their Monster Profile page.
Winners also receive a super cool Facebook Famous trophy for their Monster Profile! Perhaps a cool trophy could make having to start back to work or school seem not so bad after all.
To see who’s won each week, simply visit the Playnormous Facebook page and click “Like.” Remember you must be a member of Playnormous to create a monster and submit it into the Monster Gallery.
Hurray for trophies and hurray for Mondays (and Fridays)!
Drum roll please.
Our resident chef, Chef Bleu from Lunch Crunch 2, couldn’t be prouder. We received so many amazing, healthy, kid-friendly recipes for our Recipalooza event, it was really difficult to pick. Thankfully we were able to get input from our Recipalooza partners at The Kids Cook Monday and Children’s Museum of Houston to make a final decision.
Green Monster Soup!
Our first winner is mother of two Allison L, aka monster member Lugaral, from Coventry, Rhode Island. Allison created a split pea soup with a little extra kick called Green Monster Soup. We couldn’t have named it better ourselves.
This recipe is packed with veggies like carrots, split peas, zucchini, squash, and onions. You’ll also find quinoa (pronounced “KEEN-wah“), a tasty whole grain with a texture similar to whole grain rice. It sounds a bit exotic, but both of Allison’s girls love it!
This recipe is advanced so parent help is definitely needed. To try it out at home, simple print out Green Monster Soup as a cute recipe card or text only.
Awesome Low-Fat Blueberry Bran Muffins!
Our second winner is 9-year-old Megan A, aka monster member Binky, from Redmond, Oregon. Megan created an amazingly healthy muffin recipe, appropriately named Awesome Low-Fat Blueberry Bran Muffins. She used whole wheat flour, applesauce, nonfat milk, bran cereal, and tons of blueberries to keep these treats healthy. Oh my goodness those muffins look amazing!
This is great starter recipe for kids who are interested in getting more involved in cooking. Lots of mixing and mashing with a tasty result! This recipe is available in recipe card format or text only.
Learn more about our winners.
To learn more about our winners and what they’ve won as our revered Recipalooza chefs, simply visit the contest winners page and our Playnormous Facebook page. To get copies of these and other healthy recipes, visit our permanent healthy recipes section.
Congratulations to Megan and Allison for their amazing Recipalooza recipes!!
We Recipaloozaed it up! 
This past Monday we did a pilot run of Recipalooza for Homeschool Day at the Children’s Museum of Houston. I have to say that it was a bigger success than we ever could have hoped for! By our count, almost half of the visitors that entered the museum doors came to see the Playnormous Recipalooza booth. As a result, we got some amazing recipes. Determining our two contest winners is going to be tough.
Sunday Sunday, Sunday.
January 30th is the big day. That’s the day that we officially launch Recipalooza for the public! Join us on Sunday at the Children’s Museum of Houston from 12:00 noon to 5:00 pm for some amazing recipe fun. Collect your healthy ingredients and enter them at the Playnormous Recipalooza stations in the PowerScience Lab to get your free apron. Don’t forget that submitting a recipe also gives you a chance to win one of two gift baskets full of goodies from Playnormous and our contest partner The Kids Cook Monday!
Cook to win. 
Playnormous has teamed up with The Kids Cook Monday to bring you Recipalooza, a fun new contest that asks you to play healthy monster chef for a day. We are challenging children all over the country to create healthy recipes at home every Monday to start the week off right.
All during the month of January, we want you to dream up tasty, healthy, kid-friendly recipe masterpieces and share them with us. Simply log on to the contest page at Playnormous.com starting January 5 to enter your recipe using our list of ingredients. All participants receive a virtual chef ribbon for their Monster Profile and the ability to save and print out their recipe so they can prepare it with their family for Monday night’s dinner!
How to enter.
- Go to the contest page on Playnormous.com.
- Log in or sign up for a free monster profile.
- Develop a tasty, healthy, kid-friendly recipe using our list of ingredients.
- Press the submit button.
- Visit your Monster Profile to print out the recipe.
- Cook your creation for a Monday meal and enjoy!
Win prizes.
Only two lucky monster chefs will be selected to win a coveted Revered Recipe Trophy, a gift basket of cool prizes from Playnormous, and a signed copy of Laurie David’s new book The Family Dinner. Both winning recipes will be featured on the Playnormous website and made part of our permanent Playnormous recipe collection.
Join us at the museum. 
You can also join the Playnormous team for some recipe fun at The Children’s Museum of Houston. We will be at the museum on January 24 (homeschool only) and January 30 (open to the public). To participate in Recipalooza At The Museum, find the Playnormous table and collect healthy foods in your grocery basket. Have your mom or dad fill out an online contest form at Playnormous.com to enter your recipe into the competition.
All participants will walk away with a Playnormous apron and virtual participation ribbon. When you get home, print out your foodie creation and prepare it with your family on Monday!
Recipalooza ends February 1 so enter your recipe now for your chance to win!
A couple weeks ago we told you about one of our new Playnormous 2.0 features called the Monster Gallery. This is the place were you can submit your monster to win the super special Beast in Show prize!
Because we’ve had such an amazing response and amazingly large number of monsters entered into the gallery, we’ve done a complete overhaul to accommodate all of your new monster creations.
What’s so new about it?
The new gallery works differently than the one we first launched. What’s so different about it?
- When you register with Playnormous you get to make your very own monster. Once you save your monster it will AUTOMATICALLY be entered into the Monster Gallery. This makes your monster easier to share with everyone!
- Everyone who creates and saves a monster AUTOMATICALLY has a shot at winning the weekly Beast in Show trophy!
- Just like before, if you are a member of Playnormous you can rate monsters in the gallery. Give out 5 stars for amazing or 1 star for not so good.
- Every month we will have new trophies that you can win. You can enter your monster into these contests through your Monster Profile.
- The gallery has been completely reorganized with tabs so you can easily find the newest monsters created and the highest ranked monsters. When you’re logged in you can also sort by your top picks.
- If you click on a monster image thumbnail in the right column, the image will expand to show stats about that monster. You can now see a full body shot of every monster too!
Visit the updated Monster Gallery now to see all these cool new features. Don’t have a monster yet? Become a member to start building one today. It’s FREE!
