Very rarely does Brad ever make meal / recipe suggestions, but this summer he came home from volleyball all jazzed up about trying a new pancake recipe after hearing about it from one of his teammates. They did sound really interesting – they were flour-free, made of whole foods, and totally Miss G friendly, but for some reason or another {most likely the fact that we were packing up our house and moving overseas with a 2 year old in tow at the time}, we didn’t get around to making them.
Grae and I have been making versions of this delicious smoothie since she was a wee little thing, and it remains a favourite. It’s nutritious, filling, and tastes more like a thick and creamy milkshake than a good-for-you smoothie. {Milkshakes for breakfast? Yes please.}
I’ve been making these fun and easy apple sandwiches for Miss G for a long time now (we didn’t follow the usual no nuts until the age of 2 rule) and they’ve always been a total hit. And because we load ours up with all kinds of healthful fillings, they make a perfect breakfast or even lunch!
You certainly don’t need all of these things, but since we almost always have them all on hand and Miss G enjoys the variety, we usually go for it. In today’s lineup was peanut butter, almond butter, and a pink lady apple, plus unsweetened coconut, pumpkin seeds, sliced almonds, old-fashioned oats, sunflower seeds, and hemp hearts. Also needed is a sharp knife and small cookie cutter of some sort (though you can do without if needed).
Apple sandwiches are really so simple to throw together that I’m sure instructions aren’t needed, but this is how we normally make ours… First off, I slice them up quite thinly. We usually get 8 or 9 slices (not including the 2 end pieces) per apple. Then we separate them into two piles – one where the seeds have to be cut out, and the other where there really aren’t any seeds at all.
Next, we use our small heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut the centres out of the seedy slices. You can use an apple corer or a sharp knife to the trick too. These pieces will become the sandwich tops.
On to the bottoms! Since these really don’t have any seeds, there’s no cookie cutter needed. Just slather them with your favourite nut butter…
And have your munchkin sprinkle them with the toppings of his or her choice.
Then pop the tops on and you’ve got a yummy snack or meal ready for your little one (or you!) to gobble up!
♥
For extra fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
The other day, while quickly picking up a couple of craft supplies at the dollar store, Miss G and I stumbled upon these adorable miniature clay pots. We both laid eyes on them at the same time, and just as I was thinking, ‘Oooh! I must have those pots!’, she asked, ‘Mama, can we please take home those baby pots?’ Ummm, yes – we certainly can, baby girl.
At the time of purchase, I really had no idea what we’d use them for – all I knew was that there were tons of possibilities. This morning when I poked my head into the refrigerator to give Gracen some breakfast options, however, I knew exactly what they’d be good for…. Creating tiny edible flower gardens, of course!
To get started, Grae helped me gather up some things – plain organic greek yogurt, homemade granola (muesli would work too), some pineapple and melon slices (about a 1/2 inch thick), some cinnamon, our clay pot, some tiny wooden dowels (short skewers or food picks would work too), and daisy-shaped cookie cutters – then she was off to play dress-up.
While she was busy playing, scrubbed the pot well with hot soapy water. Then I mixed up approximately one part yogurt with one part granola, and scooped it into the pot. Next up, I covered the yogurt mixture with a little bit more granola and generously sprinkled cinnamon on top.
Using a daisy-shaped cookie cutter Miss G got in her Easter basket, I cut little flower shapes out of pineapple, cantaloupe, and watermelon.
Then I carefully speared them onto our tiny wooden dowels. I did contemplate colouring the dowels green beforehand, but I didn’t have any natural green food colouring on hand and didn’t feel comfortable using the real stuff since it would be directly in the food. Oh well! Maybe next time…
To put it all together, I simply placed the ‘flower lollipops’ (as G calls them) into the yogurt mixture. Because of the thickness of Greek yogurt, and the fact that it’s 1/2 granola, the flowers stayed up really well.
Gracen was tickled pink with her edible flower garden, and not only did she request additional flower lollipops during breakfast, but she also requested another flower garden yogurt parfait for afternoon snack. Yay for healthy and fun munchkin meals!
♥
For extra fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
Based on my beginning Toddler Food posts, this breakfast is an old favourite, but for one reason or another, I haven’t made it in a very long time. I guess I kind of forgot about it. But the other day, when Miss G’s breakfast request involved only one stipulation – something with bananas – it was the first thing I thought of. I made her her first breakfast banana split in a long time, and she absolutely gobbled it up. When lunch time rolled around, she requested another and convinced me with a “But Mama, I looooooooved that banana split. You made it soooo yummy.” I finally drew the line at dinnertime when she requested a third, but she’s had it for breakfast several times since.
It’s such a simple morning meal, but it’s healthy, can be made a ton of different ways, and almost tastes like dessert for breakfast. ☺ They change from one time to another, but here’s our usual line up of ingredients… 1/2 a banana cut lengthwise, plain organic greek yogurt (you could use sweetened yogurt if that’s what you’re used to), some almond butter (any nut butter would be delicious), a strawberry sliced up, and something to serve as sprinkles (today we used unsweetened coconut, but we’ve also used chia seeds and hemp hearts).
This morning, I set out the ingredients as a little ‘build your own breakfast’ station and Miss G assembled her own banana split. Just as we’ve done together previously, she laid the banana pieces down first, added a couple of big scoops of greek yogurt, topped them both with almond butter and strawberry slices, then sprinkled the whole thing with coconut.
Breakfast is served!
♥
For extra fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
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 granola making adventures in the past, we’ve tweaked our recipe just a bit and I love the effects it’s been having on finished product. Normally, the one downside to healthy homemade granola is that it’s nearly impossible to make it all clustery like its store bought counterpart… That is, until you add chia (magical little seeds that they are – just look at those clusters!) Now not all of your batch will look like this obviously, but 1/3 to 1/2 of it will, which is good enough for me. ☺
Chia Granola {with clusters!}
Miss G and I continue to start most of our days with a big green smoothie each, and I must say, we’re loving it. It’s become a morning routine for us… Grae retrieves the blender and fresh produce, I grab the freezer ingredients and chop things up, she puts everything into the blender, and together we enjoy our mason jars of green goodness.
I really shouldn’t even say this, but we’ve managed to make it through the season of sickness, with friends and playmates all around us dealing with endless bouts of flu and colds, without getting sick once (*knock on wood*). And I have to say, I think these vitamin/nutrient-packed immune boosters may just have had something to do with it.
Here’s our newest favourite…
Lime Refresher Green Smoothie
Blend on low until everything is combined, then blend on high for an additional 45 seconds. Serves two (plus a wee one if you’re willing to share a little).
Enjoy!
♥
For extra fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
I know that green smoothies may seem a little trendy with all of the New Year’s resolutions happening right now, but the truth is that they’re really easy, really healthy, and pretty much a fool-proof way to start your day.
Grae and I have been making green smoothies for a long while now (and even made one with all green ingredients for last year’s St. Patrick’s Day), but I decided I’d make a habit of making one each morning after slipping into a routine of skipping breakfast for the last couple of months of 2012. So far, we’ve pretty much started each day of the New Year with a green smoothie of some sort (we often just add a couple of giant handfuls of kale or spinach to this trusty standby), but this particular one has quickly become our very favourite.
Here’s the lineup of ingredients… Some cold water, several ice cubes, pure orange juice (or better yet – a fresh squeezed orange), half an apple, a pear, a banana, and a few kale leaves.
To get started, peel the banana, chop up the pear, and peel and chop the apple (as long as you don’t mind some added texture, feel free to leave the apple peel on).
Now pop those things into the blender {while sneaking a few bites of course}.
Next, remove the stems from the kale.
And add it to the blender along with the orange juice, water, and ice cubes.
This part isn’t necessary and certainly doesn’t change the flavour, but we always add a big scoop of chia seeds to our smoothies. The nutritional benefits of chia are amazing and it keeps your smoothie from separating if you store extras in the fridge overnight. Bonus!
Next, blend everything up. We normally start on a low setting until the ingredients are combined, then crank it up and let it blend a while longer so that it doesn’t feel as though you’re drinking a salad. ☺
(If you really don’t like the idea of drinking leaves and want your smoothie to be as smooth as possible, blend just your liquids and leafy greens first, then add in the other ingredients afterwards.)
Now pour into cups and enjoy!
Gracen’s Favourite Green Smoothie
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend for approximately 45 seconds.
Enjoy!
♥
Keep up with all the Mama.Papa.Bubba. fun, like us on Facebook here and find us on Instagram here.
This is a breakfast both Gracen and I love. I love it because super healthy and I can throw all of the ingredients into a mason jar before I go to bed and wake up to an already prepared breakfast. I’m sure she loves it because it’s sweet, creamy, and it feels like you’re having dessert for breakfast. And that’s okay with me. I agree!
If you haven’t yet tried chia seeds, you definitely should. They’re often called the “super seed”, and for good reason. They’re packed with essential fatty acids, fibre, calcium, and a bunch of other vitamins and minerals, plus they can absorb up to 12 times their weight in liquid. Besides using them in puddings, around here we add them to yogurt, muffins, cereal, and smoothies too. In fact, they quickly became my secret smoothie ingredient when I learned that adding a tablespoon of chia to a blender of our favourite smoothie would keep it thick and prevent it from separating (even when kept in the fridge overnight!)
But onto the recipe. Here’s what we use to make our overnight mango coconut chia pudding… Your choice of milk (coconut milk is especially delicious in this recipe), pure maple syrup, chia seeds, pure vanilla, unsweetened coconut, and a mango (not pictured because it isn’t needed until morning).
I like to make this recipe in a mason jar because it seals well and I can give the jar a little shake every now and then, but any sort of bowl or container that has a lid will do.
To get started, add your chia seeds to the milk.
Then add the coconut…
The maple syrup…
And the vanilla.
Give everything a stir…
Pop the lid on and put the jar in the fridge. If you come back to the fridge again that night, give the jar a gentle shake to prevent clumping. If not, it’s not a big deal.
Now go to sleep.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz….
When you wake up in the morning, retrieve your mason jar of pudding. It’ll be thick and creamy by now and will resemble the insides of a passionfruit. Grab a mango too. (Though mango / coconut is one of our favourite combinations, strawberries, bananas, and blueberries pair well with the coconut too.)
Now peel and chop up your mango into small pieces…
And add them to the jar.
Mix everything together well.
Breakfast is ready!
‘Tis the season for all things pumpkin, so today Grae and I decided to experiment with making a healthy, but delicious, pumpkin treat. I must say, we were definitely ‘winging it’, but our version of pumpkin spice muffins turned out great! They’re soft and moist inside, full of flavour, and perfectly sweet. Not to mention, they contain no white flour, butter/margarine, or refined sugar. Yay for that.
Here’s our line up of ingredients… Wholewheat flour, organic old-fashioned oats, ground flax seed, walnuts, pecans, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, pure organic pumpkin puree, grapeseed oil, organic eggs, pure maple syrup, and pure vanilla.
Of course, having a sweet little wispy haired sous chef helps too.
Start by putting the flour into a large mixing bowl.
Add the oats and ground flax.
Be sure to cram as many oats into your mouth as possible when no one’s looking.
Next up, add the baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
Give everything a good stir.
In a separate bowl, pour in the pureed pumpkin.
Add the maple syrup and vanilla…
The grapeseed oil…
And the eggs.
Then give everything a good mix.
Next, add the dry mixture into the wet one.
Mix until just combined.
Then add the nuts…
And gently fold them into the batter.
Prepare a muffin tin by lining it with silicone baking cups or a light layer of grapeseed oil.
Fill the muffin cups almost to the top, but not quite, then pop them in the oven.
Take them out once the tops are cracked and a toothpick comes out clean.
Let them cool for a couple of minutes and serve to your very excited and very silly little munchkin.
Healthy Wholewheat Pumpkin Spice Muffins
(loosely based on this recipe by Bake or Break)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare muffin tin.
Mix together the dry ingredients (except the nuts) and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients. Add the dry mixture to the wet one and stir until just combined. Fold in nuts.
Transfer batter into the muffin tin. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Allow to cool, then serve or store in an airtight container.
Enjoy!
See our favourite banana muffins here and our favourite carrot zucchini muffins here.
This morning Miss G and I decided to try making something new for breakfast… Cookies! Not the traditional kind, of course. Healthy, hearty ones that fill you up and start your day off right. And I’m glad to say that despite my nonchalant ‘Ah, sure we’ll throw that in too’ attitude, they turned out pretty well.
Here’s our line up of ingredients… Old-fashioned oats, pumpkin seeds, raisins, ‘just apples’ applesauce (we just used the store bought stuff this time around, but homemade would of course be better), ripe bananas, cinnamon, and organic coconut oil and vanilla (which somehow didn’t make it into the photo…)
To start, my mini sous chef peeled our bananas and popped them into the food processor.
Then she added a capful of pure vanilla…
A generous amount of applesauce…
Some cinnamon…
And a dollop of coconut oil.
Then we blended everything up until it was mostly smooth, with just a few little chunks.
With our wet mixture transferred into a large mixing bowl, Grae added some organic old-fashioned oats…
Some raw pumpkin seeds…
And some raisins…
And gave everything a good stir.
The result was oats that were completely coated in the banana/applesauce mixture, but not ‘wet’ or batter-y (if that makes any sense).
We then dropped large spoonfuls of the mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, using the back of the spoon to shape them into little mounds, and popped them into the oven.
Fifteen minutes later, out came these soft, moist little oatmeal mounds. Now… Do they taste like a real cookie? No. Do they taste like a healthy bowl of cinnamon oatmeal compacted into a portable little serving? Yes! And the best part is that they’re not at all crumbly. To the point where I let Grae snack on these while in the Ergo on our recent house hunting adventures because I knew they wouldn’t crumble all over our potential landlords’ floors… Win!
Sugar-free, Dairy-free, Flour-free Cinnamon Raisin Breakfast Cookies
(recipe loosely based on this one from irocksowhat)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Add the wet ingredients (plus cinnamon) to a food processor (or good blender) and mix well. Pour the contents into a large mixing bowl and add dry ingredients. Mix until everything is evenly coated.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, using the back of a spoon to form them into mounds. Bake for 15 minutes and allow a couple of minutes to cool. Store in an airtight container on the counter for a few days, or pop them in the freezer and defrost as needed.
Enjoy!