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!

Cheese-It's (No added salt, no coloring!)

The other day I found myself finishing a box of cheese-it's. Every time I brought another handful to my mouth I was saying this is the last one. But it is never the last one, because, well, they are cheese-it's. Luckily I was snacking sans baby, but in retrospect, I probably would have eaten less because I wouldn't have enough time to snack. Anyway, after scanning the ingredient list, I figured I could do myself a favor and make my own cheese-it's.

The recipe is crazy simple, and baby friendly! I made sure to use white cheddar to avoid color additives, and grated my own cheese to nix those pesky anti-caking ingredients, like potato starch. Added bonus this recipe only has 4 ingredients. Four!

What you need:

Cheese Grater
Food Processor
Silicon Baking Sheet
Plastic Wrap
Flour for dusting your working surface
Rolling Pin
Cookie Cutter of your choosing (Smallest you have)

4oz Shredded Cheddar
2Tbsp Cold Butter
1/2 Cup Flour
1Tbsp Cold Water

Let's Bake:
- Grate your cheese
- In your food processor add your grated cheese, cold butter, and flour

- Pulse until you have a very fine dough

- Slowly add in your water until the dough comes together. I added in one tablespoon at a time

- The dough should stick together, and shouldn't fall apart when picked up

- Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and let it chill in the refrigerator for about 20 mins

- After your dough has chilled, Set your oven to 350 degrees 

- Put some flour on your working surface and roll out the dough.

- The dough should be thin enough to see through. It you want to keep it thick, then your cheese-it's will come out puffier 

- Once your dough is rolled out to your desired thickness, use your cookie cutter to cut your cheese-it's out of the dough.
- I only had a piping bag tip on had so, that it what I used. But next time I'm thinking a pizza cutter might be a easier option. Especially since these don't look anything like cheese-it's, and I know that might make some kiddos say "no way!"

- Place your cheese-it's on your silicon tray, I used a tooth pick to add the center dot to make them more cheese-it authentic. 

- Put these bad boys in the oven for about 15 mins, they should crisp right up, so watch them if you have a temperamental oven. 

Don't these look great?! I had to remind myself on multiple occasions that these were for the kiddo, not me. I only made 3 dozen out of this, and froze the rest of the dough. I wanted to see if it froze well. It does. 

The second time I made them I didn't put the enter hole and I used a convection oven. I think the center hole kept them flatter and crispier, but I could be wrong. Either way my kiddo loves the crunch and the flavor. I store them in a plastic bag or tupperware in the fridge, and they retain their freshness, flavor, and crispiness!

Enjoy! 

Carrot Chips

Ever have that moment when you missed the mom newsletter a few weeks back, only to suddenly realize you've been happily doing a big "no, no"? Of course you haven't. There is no mom newsletter. This moment did happen to me the other day though, I found out that raw carrots are one of the "worst" things you can give to a baby. Well, my kiddo LOVES carrots. It was one of the first finger foods that we gave him (oops). He would just hold it and be so proud of himself! It was adorable. Now he shaves it down with his teeth until there is nothing left. Just a nub. What can we say - he enjoys it. Just goes to show you that all of us are incapable, right? Oh well...

It got me thinking that he would probable really enjoy a carrot in a softer form. So here it is - a carrot chip. Easy to hold and eat, and loved by all! He eats them warm or cold. So they are the perfect snack to have with us at all times. Bonus - simple ingredients! I'm not going to lie, they are a tad bit labor intensive. The first time I made them I kept saying to myself "he better like these," and "I'm not making these ever again, ... unless he likes them." Well, jokes on me. He can't get enough of them. So when I made them again I tried to stream-line the prep process. Hopefully, they are easy enough to make now, and you won't be cursing me under your breath when you make these.
I haven't experimented yet with adding more veggies or using just a different vegetable, but that is next. Maybe broccoli? Or brussel sprouts? Or cauliflower? And I bet that I can make them into more of a "cookie" by adding cinnamon!

What you need:

Vegetable Peeler
Food processor
Bowl
Cookie Scoop (optional)
Parchment Paper
Baking Sheet Pan

1 and 1/2 cups shredded carrots (about 12 oz)
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup oat flour

Let's Bake:

- Set oven to 350
- Peel your carrots

- Using your food processor grind up 1/4 cup of oats into oat flour
- Pour your oat flour into a bowl
- Using your food processor pulverize your carrots. It should look like you are an expert chef and know how to dice up your carrots into perfectly diced pieces.

- Throw your carrots into the bowl with the oats
- Next grab your cheese, cube it, and throw it into your food processor. If your cheese is pre-shredded or you want to shred your own cheese just skip this step and put your shredded cheese into the bowl with the carrots and oats
- Add in your 2 eggs
- Roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty. They best way to work this dough is to get your hands in it!
- All the ingredients should come together easily, but not be too thick

**
- Now here is the labor intensive part. You take a cookie cutter and press a thin layer of your dough into it, then gently pull the cookie cutter away. This takes for-ev-er. Please feel free to do it this way.
**
- OR Using a cookie scoop (mine is pretty big) scoop some of your dough out, then split it into two balls and place on your cookie sheet with parchment paper

- Once that is done, go back through and press down each ball so it is more chip like

-Try to make all patties the same thickness, this way they will cook evenly
- Pro tip: when pressing your carrot balls down, start at the back of your tray, otherwise all of your chips will have an upward slop from where you tried to avoid hitting the unflattened ball behind it.

- Cook for 20-25 mins, or until the edges get a golden brown

Yum, golden deliciousness!
These freeze great, and I am very happy with my adjusted way of making them!

Enjoy!

Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Bites

My kiddo loves to eat. Loves it. He loves eating as much as he hates chicken. Hates it. I've pureed it, I've mixed it with delicious things, I've boiled it, shredded it, cubed it. I've hidden it in peanut butter (he actually licked the peanut butter off and threw the chicken over the side of his tray), I've even made it into a meatball. Nothing throws this kid off of the smell of chicken. That being said, I needed a alternative source of protein. He enjoys both the turkey and beef meatball, but I was getting bored of alternating them throughout the week, and I needed some lunch protein staples.
So I turned to Quinoa. High in protein, flavorless, and I had some laying around - all great things when it comes to needing to make a recipe.
I knew I couldn't just serve up some quinoa, it was too small for his pincers to grasp. But I bet I could bake it with some eggs and make some quinoa bites. So I gave it a try - and man was it a success! I hope your kiddo likes these as much as mine does!

Broccoli Cheddar Quinoa Bites 

What you need:

Blender 

Rice Cooker

Cheese Grater

Saute Pan 

Silicon Baking Cups

1/2 cup uncooked Quinoa 

1 cup water

1/2 cup ground up Broccoli 

Olive Oil

1/2 cup grated cheese (cheddar)

1 Egg

Spices 

Let's Bake: 

- Set oven to 350 

- In your rice cooker add your 1/2 cup of quinoa and 1 cup of water. Start your rice cooker and get everything else together

- In your blender place heads of broccoli and blend until really fine 

- Get broccoli into a sauté pan with a little olive oil, to prevent sticking, and cook on a medium heat. This just allows the broccoli to not be raw going into the oven. 

- While your broccoli is heating up grate your 1/2 cup of cheese

- When the broccoli is soft, add in your cheese and mix together 

- When your quinoa is done, add that to your broccoli and cheese mixture

- Once it is well incorporated, let it cool for a few minutes before adding in your egg. You don't want to scramble the egg! 

- Your mixture should come together pretty easily. If it is too loose you can add some more cheese! More cheese never hurt anyone! 

- Add in your spices. My kiddo likes pepper and garlic powder

- Pour mixture evenly into silicone cups

- Cook at 350 for about 25-30 minutes. I usually cook them until they pull away from the sides of the cups.

I hope you kiddo enjoys these! Packed with protein and veggies! They make a great lunch or snack. They hold up pretty well and freeze great! My kiddo likes to tear them apart limb from limb so be prepared for a lot of quinoa to get on your floor

Enjoy!