Our daughter loves to eat fresh fruit and ripe berries. (Who doesn’t enjoy sweet, juicy berries?!)
Not only does she gobble them up in the blink of an eye, but she frequently wears them.
On her outfit. On her face. In her hair.
As she’s gotten older, you’d think she’d become a neater eater, but evidently not so much.
At least not when juicy berry are involved. Nom nom nom.
One of our most beloved afternoon snacks really couldn’t be more simple. We slice bananas and pop them into the freezer for a few hours. The recipe may be similar to frozen banana ice cream but it’s a whole lot less work.
This snack is:
Obviously more healthful than eating ice cream;
More tasty than plain old sliced banana (though we do love topping sliced banana slivers with a dab of peanut butter; they taste great when eaten with a toothpick.);
Plus the toddler can slice up the banana herself, so it’s a family-friendly activity as well.
Evidently if you’re three years old you need to bundle up to eat this frozen treat and run around the house shouting, “BRRRRR!” And then ask for more cause it’s so yum.
We’re not at all dramatic in our house. I can’t imagine where she gets it from.
This is our go-to smoothie for that point in the afternoon when I know our daughter needs to eat and drink something, but she just won’t hear of it. (Can you tell we have a three year old in the house?!) In times such as these I need to break out something special. My secret weapon is this delicious smoothie fortified with yogurt and ground flax seeds.
The toddler gets to choose the flavor. I’ll like whatever we make, but she feels empowered being able to make the decision. Today she picked peach.
Load up the blender with a banana, tablespoon of ground flax seed
Simple and delicious!
Ah, life with a toddler.
Our three year old refused to try these delicious apple and cottage cheese pancakes from Mollie Katzen’s classic Moosewood Cookbook
So I said, “Don’t eat them! Don’t take a bite! Don’t even think about it!”
And sure enough she gobbled them up!
Sigh.
Hey, at least I know it (sometimes) works, right?!
We recently stopped buying salad dressing and started making our own from scratch. We found vinaigrette making to be easy, containing fewer additives, costing less to make, and tasting so much better.
Here’s our go-to salad dressing that’s our current favorite.
This maple-mustard vinaigrette uses simple ingredients (pantry staples!), takes 5 minutes to make, and lasts for the week.
Yield: Makes 3/4 cup
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 small shallot, minced (we use 2 small garlic cloves instead)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Whisk together all ingredients in a medium bowl or a small bell jar; set aside.
We’ll never go back to store bought dressings after this.
