15 Healthy Recipes You Can Make With Your Toddler

One of my friends from high school contacted me on Facebook last week saying I seemed like a healthy mom and could I help her find some good recipes she could make with her pre-school class. (side note: I am always amused when people pick me out of crowds, including facebook, as "the healthy mom." Or "the kind of person who would use cloth diapers." I swear, I don't wear gypsy skirts or own anything made of hemp. Maybe someone I know in real life can tell me how I put out this vibe. But I digress...).

My little guy loves helping me in the kitchen and has his own little apron he likes to wear when he helps. I realized when my friend asked, though, that I hadn't focused much on my blog about food you can make with your toddler. What a great idea!

15 Healthy Recipes You Can Make

{With Your Toddler}

(clockwise from upper-left)

1: Chewy Chocolate Coconut Bars from Mad in Crafts. Have your kids help you mix the ingredients and let them have fun packing the granola down into the pan (put down a wax paper barrier and they can use their hands).
2: Healthy Creamy Apple Dip from C.R.A.F.T. This has only three ingredients (peanut butter, yogurt, cinnamon) and would be great for dipping organic apples into.
3: Personal Baked Apples from Having Fun at Home. You peel and core the apple and then let kids fill it with cold butter, cinnamon sugar (and I would add raisins and other dried fruit to the mix) before wrapping the whole thing pie crust and baking. Yum!
4: Peanut Butter Cracker Spiders from Mad in Crafts (scroll to the bottom below the costume). Even though Halloween is over, kids love insects any time of year. Up the health factor by using whole grain crackers and homemade peanut butter (below).

(clockwise from upper-left)

5: Peanut Butter from Carissa's Creativity Space. Peanut butter is super easy to make and a great way to connect kids with where their food comes from. Let kids pour the ingredients into the food processor and then press the buttons once the lid is locked on.
6: Crispy Almond Butter Power Balls from Rook No. 17. These are packed with calcium, omega 3's, whole grains, protein and antioxidants. Eat them right away or store them in the freezer for up to 3 months.
7: Chunky Cinnamon Crockpot Applesauce from Mad in Crafts. There are few snacks that kids seem to love more than applesauce. Making your own is really easy. In a classroom, you could set this up in the morning, cook it on high and have it ready to go by lunch time.
8: Banana Mint Ice Cream from C.R.A.F.T. We make banana ice cream in a similar way in our house and I LOVE how it tastes like ice cream when it's pretty much just fruit. Jamie adds honey to hers but we never do and find it's plenty sweet.

(clockwise from upper-left)

9: Whole Wheat Pita Pizzas from The Picky Eater. I love pita pizzas. Using pitas instead of dough makes this project easier for kids (and easier to do in a large group). Give the kids plenty of healthy topping options and let them make their own masterpiece.
10: Pumpkin Pancakes from Modern Mom. This is a tasty way to get more veggies into your kids diet and  they will love you for it. Leanna from All Done Monkey says you can do something similar with sweet potatoes for a different flavor and a boost of vitamin A.
11: Zots (Zucchini Tots) from Carissa's Creativity Space. These are great if you can find anyone with zucchini left (I personally have a large one still on my counter) or just pick one up from the store. These are a fun alternative to tater tots and easy for kids to help make.
12: Healthy Breakfast Cookies from Mad in Crafts. These are full of fruit, seeds, and whole grains. Let the kids pick what to add and calling it a cookie makes them feel like they are getting a special treat.

(left to right)

13: Strawberry Yogurt Waffle Stack from Carissa's Creativity Space. As written, this recipe is sized for a grown up, but you can make it toddler friendly my using mini whole wheat waffles (we like the ones from Earth's Best).
14: Chewy No-Bake Granola Bars from Money Saving Mom. I love that you don't have to make these and you can add whatever mix ins the kids prefer.
15: Apple Cinnamon French Toast from Carissa's Creativity Space. Use leftover apple sauce from idea #7 and help your kids make a tasty apple cinnamon breakfast treat that tastes like dessert.

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A special thanks to all the bloggers that featured such great content for me to share. I was delighted to feature you.  If you like showing off your "as seen on" swag, please feel free to grab a button:

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Best Cranberry Sauce Recipe Ever

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is always a special time for us as a family because it was on Thanksgiving 7 years ago that my husband and I figured out that we liked liked each other in more than a best friends kind of way.

(Look at us that day...we look so young!)

This year we did Thanksgiving up north with my mom, stepdad, all my siblings (it's been a while since that happened) and my brother in law's parents. We had 14 people total, which I think is a record for Thanksgiving with this side of my family.

I was responsible for cranberry sauce and rolls. The rolls weren't anything fancy...just boxed sourdough bread machine mix which I let my bread machine handle and then I just turned it into rolls. The cranberry sauce on the other hand....awesome (if I do say so myself).

I know it's too late for you to make it for your families Thanksgiving dinner this year BUT you can pin it and come back later. Or use it for Christmas dinner. Or serve it warm over ice cream or waffles (yum!).

Best Cranberry Sauce Recipe Ever

Ingredients

• 1 cup Orange Juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 bag cranberries
• zest, juice and pulp of 1 orange
• 1 apple

Add your orange juice and sugar to a sauce pan. Heat over medium high heat and stir until sugar dissolves.

Pour your cranberries into a colander. Rinse and pick out any smooshed or ugly berries. Add berries to the pan and stir to coat in OJ.

While berries are cooking, zest the orange. Cut orange in half squeeze halves by stabbing center with a fork and pressing orange halves around it. Scrape out some of the pulp as well. Add zest, juice and pulp to pan.

While berries continue to simmer, peel, core and chop apple into small pieces. Once most of the berries have burst, add apple pieces to pan and stir.

Cook for 5 more minutes then remove from heat.

Serve warm over waffles or ice cream. If using for a turkey condiment, allow to stand for about 15 minutes, then pour mixture into a glass bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.

I'm linking up with some of my favorite parties...

* Strut Your Stuff Saturday at Six Sisters Stuff * Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest * Made by You Monday at Skip to My Lou * Show Off Your Stuff Party at Fireflies and Jellybeans * I'm Loving It with Tidy Mom *  The Holiday Link Party at What Che Said *

 

How to Make Apple Sauce in Your Slow Cooker

It's slow cooker week over at The CSI Project! I love to use my slow cooker for all kinds of things from dyeing yarn to making dinner.  So when I bought close to 50 pounds of Apples (and was then subsequently gifted about 10 more!), I recruited my slow cooker to help me make apple sauce.

It's not hard to do and if you like to can, it puts up really well using either a boiling water canner or a pressure canner.  Don't can? That's okay! It keeps in your fridge for up to a week and you can share the extra with a friend.

I make my applesauce without sugar because most of the time, the apples are plenty sweet without it. Plus my toddler inhales bowlfuls of this stuff and doesn't need extra fillers like sugar.  Adding cinnamon and nutmeg give the applesauce a great flavor but you can leave it out if it's just not for you!

Of all the times to invest in organic, any recipe using apples as the key ingredient is the time to do it. Conventional apple farmers use 56 or more different pesticides to keep those apples picture perfect and in 92 percent of apples tested this year, at least 2 of those pesticides remain on the apple even after they have been initially washed and brought to market (you can see more info about 2011 testing at Grist.com). What does that mean?  It means you use conventionally gown apples, you may be getting a side of poisonous chemicals with your fruit. If you're going to go through the effort of making homemade apple sauce - do it right and do it chemical-free.

Ingredients

• About 10 pounds (or however many you have) of organic apples
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice (optional) to help preserve color
• Water as needed
• 1.5 Tbsp ground cinnamon (more or less to taste)
• 1.5 tsp nutmeg (more or less to taste)

Instructions

1) Wash your apples - even if you bought organic - to get all the dirt and dust off.

2) Peel, core and slice your apples. I LOVE my apple peeler slicer corer. It clamps to your counter or a stand and peels, cores and slices your apples with the turn of a crank. If you spend any amount of time baking with apples, it's definitely worth the investment because of all the time you save!  Here's what it looks like...

So back to what we were doing...

Once you run the apples through this, you have a big long apple slinky (it's sliced in a spiral). Just cut the apple in half from top to bottom after running it through.

If you don't have one, just peel your apples and then core and cut into chunks or us one of those core and slice tools that you push straight down onto the apple.

3) Fill your slow cooker. As you peel and slice your apples, throw your slices into your crockpot. Just keep going until you run out of apples or space in your crock pot...whichever comes first.

4) Add Water. Add your lemon juice and some water to the crock pot. You don't need to cover the apples. For this full pot of apples, I probably added about 4-6 cups of water. If you add too much, you can always take the lid off and cook it down later, though that will add some time to the process.

5) Cover and Cook. Place the cover on your slow cooker and turn it on. If you set it on high, the apples will be ready in about 4 hours. If you're going to be away, set it on low and leave it to cook for 8-10 hours. You'll know your apples are ready when they are really soft and look about like this:

6) Blend or mash. Depending on what kind of texture you like for your apple sauce, you'll want to blend or mash your apples. I like to use an immersion blender and mostly blend it but leave it with some small chunks. Blend or run through a food processor until it's the texture you like.

7) Cook Down if Necessary. Evaluate how watery the applesauce is. If it's a bit too runny for your preferences, remove the lid and cook on high until it's the way you like it. Already like the texture? Move on to step 8.

8) Spice it up! If you're making spiced applesauce, now is the time to add your chosen seasonings. I usually add about 1.5 Tablespoons of cinnamon and 1.5 teaspoons of nutmeg for a full crockpot. Add what you like and keep tasting it until it's just right. If your applesauce isn't sweet enough for you, you can sugar at this point as well.  Allow it to cook for about 5-10 more minutes to allow the spices and sugar to fully permeate the sauce.

That's it!  You're done! 
At this point, you can can your applesauce OR just chill and serve.


If you're going to can....
(disclaimer: these canning instructions are targeted to those who already know canning basics and technique. If you are a canning newbie, check out FreshPreserving.com's Guide to Canning or pick up a copy of the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving and then come back!)

If you're going to can your apple sauce, go ahead and prep your jars (quarts and/or pints), lid pieces and chosen canner type (you can use either a boiling water canner or pressure canner for this recipe).

My shortcut from prepping jars is to fill clean jars with about 1 inch of hot water from the tap and load them into my microwave. Then microwave on high until the water boils - and then for about 2 minutes beyond that. It helps sterilize the jars with steam and warms them up. Then you just leave them in your microwave until it's time to fill.

Once everything is ready...
Fill your hot jars with hot applesauce, leaving 1/2 inch head space.

Wipe the rim, add and adjust your lids and load into your canner.

Processing times for pint and quart jars of Applesauce
Boiling Water Canner: 20 minutes 
Steam Pressure Canner: 5 pounds of pressure for 8 minutes

Thanks for joining me! Now go fire up those slow cookers!

Want a printer-friendly version of this recipe without all the pictures? Check out the BakeSpace entry for this recipe here.

I'm joining these fabulous parties this week. Won't you join me?

* Mad Skills Party at Mad in Crafts * Get Your Craft On at Today's Creative Blog * Lil' Luna Link Party at Lil' Luna *  These Chicks Cooked Party at This Chick Cooks * What's Cooking Wednesday at The King's Court 4 * Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design * Tutorial Tuesday at Newlyweds on a Budget * Creative Juice Thursday at Momnivore's Dilemma * Thrifty Thursday at Thrifty 101 * Strut Your Stuff Saturday from Six Sisters Stuff * Savvy Homemade Monday at Home Savvy A-Z * Inspire Me Fridays at The Joyful Stamper * Frugal Friday at the Shabby Nest * Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring Decorating * Homemade Year at Blissful and Domestic *

 

Apple Cinnamon French Toast (Visually)

I've been on a warm fall foods kick in our house. Last weekend it was baby cinnamon rolls. This week it's Apple Cinnamon French Toast.  The apple flavor is subtle but a great way to gussy up the french toast if you aren't normally a fan of the whole grain flavor.

If you prefer your recipes in standard layouts that are easier to read (or print), this recipe has also been posted on BakeSpace here. If you are a newbie or just like watching the process, read on!