Breakfast Smoothie Kids Will Love!

We're back! I have been away for a while, but I have plenty of fun posts planned for summer.

My four year old saw a smoothie at a restaurant one day, and was immediately hooked. My blender had been sitting in the cabinet for the past four years, but I took it out the next morning, and we have been making smoothies every day since! It took a few days to find a good recipe that gave a good consistency, but we have settled on the recipe below which everyone loves. I am so happy that they are getting some nutrition at breakfast time, and I love that I can hide things in the smoothie like flax seeds and probiotics.

Here is our go to recipe:

• 1 cup of skim or 2% milk
• 3-4 ice cubes
• 4-5 strawberries
• Half a banana 
• Handful of frozen mango and/or peaches
• Small handful of frozen blueberries
• 2-3 spoonfuls of canned pineapple tidbits 
• Sprinkle of flax seeds on top

On my KitchenAid blender, I use the crush ice feature for 20-30 seconds, followed by the puree setting, and then finally the liquify setting for a minute or two.

I have substituted other random fruits when we were running low, and the smoothie still tastes delicious.

Smoothie Time!

We love starting our mornings with smoothies! What's your favorite smoothie recipe?

Salad in a Jar!

On Purim, it is customary to give friends and family baskets of food. I wanted to do something easy and healthy, so I decided to layer salad ingredients in pint size mason jars. I used lettuce, carrot slices, canned corn, red peppers, and croutons. It was very quick and easy to assemble and it looked pretty too! I tied each jar with some colorful ribbon, and attached the cards that my toddler helped make.

For the cards, I asked my 3 year old to paint a couple pieces of paper. He decided to use dot paints, and went to town painting the sheets of paper. I printed the text for our card, cut them up, and glued onto the painted pages. The text of the note was very short, so I was able to fit 10 copies on each piece of paper that had been painted. I then cut them out again, and laminated. It was a lot of fun, and my son loved participating!

3rd Birthday Blondies!

I originally had grand plans for Munchkin's 3rd birthday party. Eventually I realized that all he really wanted was to sing happy birthday and eat cake, so that's what we did. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, I got lots of answers including: "a square cake", "an ABC cake", "a chocolate chip cake", and "a mickey cake". The only detail he was really consistent about, was that he did not want any frosting.

I have been eyeing some cake mixes at Trader Joes, so I decided to try to the chocolate chip blondie mix. I liked that it has all natural ingredients, and that it does most of the work for me! I decided to use applesauce instead of butter, and it still came out great.

Here's what you need:

1 box of TJ blondie mix
1 egg
1/2 cup of applesauce

Pour into an 8x8 and bake at 350 for 28-30 minutes.

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Cooking Fun

     A is 2.5, and loves to help me cook and bake. It is a great opportunity to spend quality time together and to learn something too!

I've been trying out different kid friendly muffin recipes lately, and I really like this one from the Homemade Baby Food Recipes website. I have made these a few times with carrots, sweet potatoes, and squash purees (either on their own, or in combination). They are so good, and my husband and I love to snack on them as well.

Sweet Potato Muffins
4 oz (1 cup) rolled oats
4 oz (1 cup) whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp cinnamon
8 oz (1 cup) mashed, cooked sweet potato
4 oz (1/2 cup) dark brown sugar
3 tbsp canola oil
2 tbsp dried cranberries 
2 fl oz (1/4 cup) milk (I use water or soy milk also)
1 egg

I just mix everything together in one bowl, and spoon into a regular muffin tin, or mini muffin tin.

A loves to help me measure, pour, and stir. There are many opportunities to practice counting and work on our motor skills. 

I usually have A stand on a chair, but I'm always nervous that he's going to fall. I have looked into getting the learning tower, but it takes up a lot of space, and we have a small kitchen. 

Here are some tips to remember when cooking with kids in the kitchen:

• Get out all your ingredients, bowls, and spoons out before starting. You don't want to have to turn your back while your toddler has access to the bowl of batter.

• Give your toddler an easy job that he can work on, while you do other tasks (stirring, sorting, etc.)

• Make sure your toddler is safely out of the way when opening the oven or handling sharp knives.

Happy Baking!

From Homemade Baby Food Recipe website. All ours get eaten before I remember to take a picture!