Whew! It’s been a while… A very long while since our last Toddler Food post. Realistically, here’s some of what Miss G ate a month or two ago. ☺
Breakfast // Cinnamon french toast made with wholewheat shepherd’s bread, stewed blueberries, and chia. Orange slices.
Breakfast // Coconut chia pudding with strawberry slices and raw sliced almonds.
Breakfast // Oatmeal with raw sliced almonds, chia, hemp hearts, and frozen blueberries. Orange pepper slices.
Breakfast // Organic brown rice cereal with sliced almonds, hemp hearts, loads of cinnamon (she’s obsessed!), and almond milk.
Breakfast // Toasted squarely bread, colby cheese, and a scrambled egg.
Breakfast // Plain organic yogurt, homemade granola, freeze-dried strawberries and blueberries.
Breakfast // Old-fashioned oats with granny smith apples, almond butter, and cinnamon.
Breakfast // Star-shpaed scrambled organic egg. All-natural peanut butter and old-fashioned oat banana bites.
Green smoothie // Banana, old-fashioned oats, all-natural peanut butter, coconut milk, vanilla, and spinach.
Green smoothie (though not actually green) // Banana, apple, avocado, kale, frozen blueberries, frozen raspberries, chia, and water.
Smoothie // Banana, pear, apple, frozen blueberries, steamed beets, chia seeds, and water.
Snack // Homemade apple carrot pear fruit leather.
Snack // Homemade wholewheat cheddar crackers.
Snacks & Lunch {on the go} // Baby carrots. Orange chunks. Homemade banana berry fruit leather. Cashew pieces. Avocado. Hard-boiled organic egg. Orzo with feta.
Lunch {on the go} // Mixed fruit. Homemade banana berry fruit leather. Homemade wholewheat cheddar crackers. Raw almonds. Avocado, cucumber, and cream cheese roll-ups.
Lunch // Tuna and avocado on wholewheat rye. Baby carrots.
Lunch // Red lentil pasta and cheese. Baby peas and corn with dill.
Lunch // Grilled all-natural peanut butter and no-sugar-added jam sandwich (an oddly delicious favourite from my childhood).
Lunch // Curried tuna apple salad on a wholewheat croissant. Strawberry chunks. Grapes.
Lunch {on the go} // Red pepper slices. Cucumber slices. Grapes. Strawberries. Avocado. Edamame crackers with organic cheddar.
Dinner // Personal turkey meatloaf. Mashed potatoes. Roasted carrots. Roasted Brussels sprouts.
Dinner // Homemade chicken tenders. Steamed carrots and snap peas with fresh herbs. Roasted baby potatoes. Homemade honey mustard sauce.
Dinner // Wholewheat fusilli with fresh spinach and all-natural chicken sausage in a clear sauce.
Dinner // Harvest grains, edamame, steamed carrots and snap peas with grilled prawns.
Dinner // Homemade mulligatawny with granny smith cubes.
Dinner // Wholewheat couscous. Mini chickpea/veggie patties. Hummus.
Dinner // Spinach tortellini with carrots, broccoli, edamame, onions, and fresh parmesan.
Dinner // Potato and leek soup with chickpeas and feta. Grilled cheese on wholewheat shepherd’s bread.
Dinner // White bean chicken chili with colby jack, avocado, and fresh cilantro.
See all of our Toddler Food posts here.
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Though our little miss is normally a rockstar sleeper, Grandma Charlotte is staying with us right now and sleep is difficult when excitement levels are running this high. After a tough time getting to sleep last night, today’s nap didn’t happen. And a skipped nap in this house is not just an ‘oh well’… This little lady needs her naps. Desperately. Our coping mechanism to get through the afternoon as gracefully as possible? Getting outside and soaking in some fresh air and sunshine. It just so happens that today it was in the {yet to be planted} garden in pajamas. White ones.
Homemade granola is somewhat of a staple in our house… Gracen and I usually made a big batch once a month or so, jar it up, and eat it as a cereal, serve it with yogurt, sprinkle it on nut butter toast, or use it as a smoothie topper.
Though it can be full of sugar and not-good-for-you fats when purchased in stores, we jam pack ours full of nutrient-rich nuts and seeds, use a good pure maple syrup to sweeten it, and include a relatively small amount of oil, so I can feel good about giving it to Grae {and eating it myself}.
While I’ve posted about our 
This morning was my favourite kind. Gracen woke up just past 7, we snuggled in bed until we were good and ready to start the day, and we made our way to the kitchen. She sat on her toddler bench gobbling up wholewheat pancakes with peanut butter, and I threw a mix of green veggies and frozen fruit into the blender with a splash of cold water. After breakfast, we gathered a blanket, a book, our smoothies and headed off for an adventure in the wagon. I snuck in some exercise by choosing the hilliest routes and made sure to pass by a park so Grae could have a good long play. Afterwards we made our way to a local coffee shop where Grae slurped up a warm milk and I enjoyed my first iced coffee of the year. Before heading home, I pulled the wagon {and my little love} through our local market and we filled it up with fresh fruits and veggies. She helped herself to bananas and clementines on the way home, and I enjoyed the sunshine, cool wind, and cherry blossoms overhead. It was a good day.
Last month, I had the absolute pleasure of attending a green cleaners workshop at 
The first cleaner we made is the only one we haven’t yet fully put to the test… Not because we haven’t wanted to, but because it’s a dishwasher detergent and we don’t have a dishwasher (much to my dismay!) But because I’m not willing to let it sit unused, I’ve put it to the test as a kitchen sink scrub and a toilet scrub, and I’m happy to say that it’s worked great as both. 
Here’s what you’ll need to make your own lemon mint dishwashing detergent… Washing soda (different than baking soda and found in grocery store laundry aisles), Borax, peppermint and lemon essential oils (you can really use any kind you like – last time we used a combination or sweet orange and rosemary and it smelled wonderfully), and a large mason jar.
To make this one, Gracen simply added a 1/2 a cup of washing soda and a 1/2 cup of Borax to our jar, added a few drops of lemon essential oil, then another round of washing soda and Borax, and one drop of peppermint essential oil. We shook everything up, then repeated the entire process again.
Voila! Dishwasher detergent made of 3 natural ingredients. To put it to use, all you have to do is add a scoop to your detergent compartment along with a squeeze of castile soap (we like 
Next up, Gracen and I made one of my favourites… A citrusy bathroom scrub that makes getting rid of soap scum nearly effortless. It also makes tiles, toilets, and sinks sparkle and leaves them smelling fresh too.
In the line-up for our lemon grapefruit bathroom scrub… Baking soda, washing soda, Borax, salt, lemon and grapefruit essential oils (again, you could switch up the scents), and a medium-sized mason jar.
For this one, Grae added all of our dry ingredients to the jar, dropped the essential oils on top, and shook it all up. Easy as that. The only thing about this recipe is that it does fill a medium-sized mason jar right to the tippy top, so mixing it in a bowl or larger jar would make it easier.
To clean tiles and other flat surfaces with this scrub, I simply shake a little on a wet, textured sponge, give the surface a scrub, and rinse it with running water or a wet cloth. Toilets are even easier – all you have to do is sprinkle some straight into the toilet bowl, let it sit a moment, and scrub with a toilet brush as usual. And for soap scum (the nasty, stubborn stuff), I like to spray the surface with plain white vinegar first, let it sit 5 to 10 minutes, sprinkle the scrub on top, and scrub it off with a textured sponge (you’ll be amazed by how well this works!)
The last cleaner Gracen and I made may just be my very favourite of the 3… The recipe is ridiculously simple, and it works pretty much everywhere. I use it all over our kitchen as a basic surface cleaner, plus I use it while dusting our main living space, and while cleaning up sticky messes on the floor. The best part though, is that it works as a glass cleaner too and leaves mirrors and windows just as spotless and streak-free as specialized glass cleaners do. And window crayons? They literally melt off.
Here’s what you’ll need to whip up a batch of your own… Some hydrogen peroxide, some water, some freshly-squeezed lemon juice, and a spray bottle.
We juiced our lemon, added everything to the spray bottle, and shook it up {while singing with our eyes closed apparently}.
And that’s it. Paired with a damp cloth, it makes a great surface cleaner, and paired with a dry cloth, it makes a great glass cleaner.
With these three cleaners, we’re able to keep our entire house sparkling clean. Plus they’re inexpensive, all-natural, homemade, and you can feel good about using them around munchkins. 
After our 
Once we cut it in half, she told me that it was ‘veeeeeeery’ seedy, that the seeds could be eaten just like those of the kiwi, and that it felt wet. 
We peeled the skin off and Miss G got straight to the taste test portion of her investigation. The conclusion? It tasted like strawberries (though I think she often uses “strawberries” because she associates them with tasting and smelling good…she also tells me that her toes smell like strawberries!)
It’s amazing how quickly kids pick things up, isn’t it? We’ve only done this once before and she is already using her sense of sight, smell, taste, and touch to make conclusions about a new fruit. I love this little weekly tradition we have going on and I’m excited to see what she chooses next week.
Oh. my. goodness. Does our little lady ever love to sing! For the last few weeks, she’s been grabbing wooden blocks, carrots, and whatever else she can find to use as stand-in microphones for performances of ‘We Are Young’, ‘This Girl is on Fire’, ‘Trouble’, and other favourites. The thing is, she’s very serious about it all. She has to be in a certain spot, she has to have a microphone of some sort, and it has to be a song she knows well. Her vocals are accompanied by emotion, hand gestures, and dance moves that prove she’s been studying the artists closely while watching their music videos.
A ridiculous love of ‘Papa socks’.
One of Miss G’s favourite things ever is visiting Papa at school. We went to pick him up from work tonight, and after playing in the woods for a while, Grae and Bradley took ‘the secret way’ out. Up on the regular path, I spied this. 
Last spring, I bought a multi-pack of wooden spoons in order to make a bird feeder similar to 
To get us started, I put out some coloured Sharpies, some felt strips, ribbon pieces, pieces of yarn, googly eyes, sequins, buttons, gems, some glitter glue, and some craft glue.
We started off by attaching some googly eyes to the back of our spoons with craft glue, and then I encouraged Gracen to add the other details as she pleased.
Here’s her first puppet person.
After creating a few girls, it was time to create a boy. She asked me to cut out some ‘Papa hair’, a moustache, and tie for him, and then put him together, adding buttons down his front because ‘that’s how Papa’s shirts are for work’.
Here’s our completed wooden spoon puppet people family… From left to right, Daddy, Dah-fat, Fadeen, and my personal favourite, Fafee Cacus. (Oh, the names things are given right now…)
Later on, once dry, Gracen disappeared into her room with the puppets and I found her acting out a playground scene and making the mommy and daddy puppets kiss. ☺
a pretty little envelope // headed to the store (panda hat required)
This may very well be the easiest activity to throw together ever, but Gracen thoroughly enjoyed it. All you need is a couple of paper plates (ours are made of styrofoam, which I absolutely despise, but they, along with many other party supplies, were in the cupboard when we moved into this house, so I don’t feel quite as badly about using them), 2 large popsicle sticks, some masking tape, and a balloon. To create simple racquets, all you have to do is tape popsicle stick handles onto the bottom sides of the plates… Then you’re ready to play! Partner pass, keep it up, and distance contests are all fun.
This is a perfect activity for a rainy day and great for helping your toddler burn off some energy if getting outside isn’t an option. The other perk is that it is relatively quiet (especially when played independently), so it could make a good quiet activity for an older sibling whose little brother or sister is napping.
