Homemade Healthy Yogurt Bites: Activity AND Snack

SUMMER is finally here! I have been enjoying the kids staying up late and sleeping in. In Kansas  it's light outside till almost 9pm. I love it because we are outside taking walks with the dog, playing with the neighbors, and/or sitting on our deck roasting marshmallows around the fire pit. It feels like we get to have so much more family time.

Along with having the kids home, I have a constant choir of little voices saying "I'm HUNGRY or can we do a craft!?!" So with this activity I say YES to BOTH!

Let's have some fun AND make a healthy snack in the process.

First, I'm gunna show you what made me come up with this idea....

My baby LOVES those freeze dried baby yogurt melts! I think they would be his FAVORITE treat if he could tell you himself. He actually SCREAMS with joy every time I just open the cabinet where I keep them! =)

I was about to put them on the shopping list when I thought, "NO! I don't want to spend almost 4 bucks on one pack of those right now. I'm gunna MAKE them and make them even healthier!

I grabbed a banana yogurt and my mini food processor.

 I steamed a few veggies. In this case I chose carrots and zucchini. The reason I used these is because of their mild and slightly sweet taste. I always go for these two veggies when I am experimenting..... 

I blended the yogurt and veggies together.... I also actually added a few spoons of plain yogurt to the mix.

   

 Spoon your mix into a ziplock bag and cut a tiny hole at the tip of the bag.

 Then carefully squeeze out little dots out of the hole onto parchment paper.

Once you have done this, throw the whole thing into the freezer.

It only takes an hour or two and they are DONE!

After they are all frozen, you can simply fold up your parchment paper and store in a freezer ziplock.

   

 OR you can peel the all off the paper and store in the ziplock.

 SO SIMPLE AND BABY APPROVED!

So funny because just before this picture, he was spitting out those same veggies he is now GOBBLING down in that yogurt bite! lol

I've never had a picky kid before this little guy but one thing is for sure.... He isn't getting his own meal and I still place the things he spits out on his tray! There are studies that prove children need multiple times tasting particular foods to start getting used to the taste. I think in Garren's case, this also has to do with texture.... He NEVER liked pureed baby food but give him chunks and he was all over it.

 After making the yogurt bites for Garren I decided this would be great fun for my big kids.

Here is what we did.

We used the same veggies, this time in the large food processor (or you can use your blender). Remember that you want your veggies steamed because if you use raw, there will be hard chunks!

 After blending the veggies, we added cherries and a few strawberries.

 Here is a picture of the fruit and veggies blended together.

 Add some vanilla yogurt and blend! I would say there was about 1/2 cup of fruit/veggie mix to 1 cup of yogurt.

Basically you are making an all yogurt smoothie.

You can get very creative with this.

 Then we added a banana.... this was for taste and to thicken it up a bit.

Blend and put in the freezer for about 30 minutes..... This is just to help thicken it for the next step!

Then I gave each of the kids their own parchment lined plate and a ziplock bag with our yogurt smoothie mix. The hole I cut in their bag tip was VERY small.... This is just so it doesn't pour out to quickly.

      

 I told them to create their own design of lines and dots! Make sure you explain that this is an abstract art project! You don't want older kids to get frustrated because their drawing bleeds together!

 With my help, we drew the first letters in our names.

This could also be a great educational activity where you help your child write the whole alphabet.

I am going to do this when it is just my daughter and me.

 With your leftover mix, make smoothie pops for all of those HOT days to come!

YUMMY!

 Here are my big kids eating their abstract creations! They were ready in about an hour from throwing them in the freezer. Fun Times!!!