Toddler Nachos

Recently, I've noticed that the kiddo has been turning his nose up at food that actually looks like food. So while he eats things like spinach pinwheels, he won't eat ricotta or spinach by itself.
My goal now is to get him to eat and accept more whole foods.
I've started by giving him mini versions of our dinner. We were having turkey burgers tonight, and this idea came to me. It's fun, kid sized, and EASY!

What you need:
4oz ground meat (I used a turkey/pork combo)
1/3 cup shredded zucchini
1oz cheese
12 corn chip cups (more or less deepening on how full you make your chips)
Olive oil (for cooking, or any other kind of spray)

Small sauté pan
Food Scale (not necessary)
Vegetable Grater

Let's Get Started:
- I used my food scale to measure out our turkey burgers and left the last 4oz for the nachos
- Shred the zucchini
- Add your zucchini to your ground meat and mix well

- Spice if you would like - I used a little salt, pepper, and garlic powder
- Heat up your sauté pan and add your olive oil (keep your heat to a medium heat if you are using olive oil, otherwise it will smoke and burn your food)
- Add your ground meat/zucchini mixture to the hot pan and sauté until the meat is browned

Raw meat pictures are gross.

- Pour off any excess liquid that is produced by your meat/zucchini
- Lower your cooking heat
- Mix in your cheese

- Once your cheese is incorporated remove your pan from the heat and start to fill your corn chips

- I was able to fill 12 corn chips with my mixture

The kiddo basically only ate corn chips for dinner, but a few pieces of meat made it into his mouth. Baby steps, or perhaps more accurately toddler steps...

But jokes on him, we will be seeing these again at lunch in the next few days because I doubt that they will keep well, or freeze.
I would recommend not filling all of your cups if you have a picky eater, because the chips will get soggy.
In the event that your toddler eats like mine, these could also be a great game time appetizer.
And in case you were wondering, yes they are delicious, my kiddo is crazy.

Enjoy!

Apples-In-A-Blanket

The kiddo and I recently went apple picking with a bunch of friends. We came home with a great stash, which means we had more apples then we would ever be able to eat before they went bad. This usually means apple sauce and apple pie galore! But the kiddo is over anything pureed, and the hubby and I don't need to split an apple pie, especially with the holidays right around the corner (eek!). Which means I needed to come up with something that was handheld and freezable. I thought mini apple pies, but I couldn't bring myself to make an apple pie without all the sugary deliciousness, plus they would probably resemble the pot pie that I made (and those were deemed uneatable by the kiddo). Then it hit me - apples in a blanket!
Simple, handheld, and lightly sweetened! With a bonus cinnamon flavored dough! I thought about putting some cheese slices in there too, to make them almost dinner appropriate, but I got lazy.
I hope these are a hit for your family!

What you need:

Dough :
2 Cups Flour
2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 stick Butter
3-6 Tbsp Ice Water

4 Apples
1/8 cup Sugar
Egg (For egg wash)

Food Processor
Apple Cutter
Small bowl
Rolling Pin
Pizza Cutter

Let's Bake:

- The dough needs to chill so be sure to make it first
- You will be using your food processor to make the dough (Or your store by picking up your favorite pre-made dough)
- Add your flour, cinnamon*, salt, and butter (sliced up) to your food processor
*The cinnamon in the dough does give it a brown coloring, so if you have a picky eater, skip the cinnamon in the dough, and maybe put it on your apples.

- Pulse until the ingredients come together

- Then add one tablespoon of water at a time until your dough becomes a ball ( I needed to add 6 tablespoons) 

- Remove the dough from your food processor 

- Kneed the dough into a ball, and form the ball into a disk 

- Wrap the disk in plastic wrap, and let it chill for 10 minutes minimum - I did it for about 30 mins 

- While the dough is chilling use your apple cutter to slice up your 4 apples* (you can obviously just cut your apples as well)

*I didn't peel my apples, because I wanted my kiddo to recognize the apple and want to eat it, but please feel free to peel your apples as well. I probably will next time around, because the skin is hard to bite though for little teeth

- I ended up with 40 slices of apples

- Toss the apple slices in 1/8 cup sugar. Feel free to add more or less sugar to your liking. I was making mine kid friendly, so I wanted it sweetened, but not overly sugary.

- Pre heat your oven to 350

- Once your dough is chilled, remove it from its plastic wrap and place it on a floured surface 

- Roll your dough out as thin as you can get it (I really need to invest in those rubber bands that go on your rolling pin) 

- Using your apple as a guide take your pizza cutter and cut a strip in the dough.

- Cut that strip in half, and then wrap up your apple piece

- Trim your strips as you see fit

- Each strip I had could cover two apples

- Using your egg wash, gently cover each apple in a blanket 

- Place in your 350 oven for 25 mins, or until your dough is nice and browned 

- Try not to eat all of them at once!

Enjoy!