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!!!

The "Life" Yearbook

Today is Brenden's last day of First Grade!! Kansas is always a little earlier letting out for summer vacation. Wither your child is out of school, has a few weeks left, or isn't even attending yet... here is a GREAT idea that I got from Pinterest that I NEED to share with you! 

 Ok, so here is what I am doing for all of my kids.... I have just started doing this for Brenden. 

I am making a "life" yearbook for him! 

Basically, what it is is any book you would like to give to your child as a gift on their High School graduation. I chose Dr. Seuss's book Oh, the Places You'll Go because of the message and all of the fun pictures and blank spaces to write within the pages.

What you do is have their teachers, coaches, family members and other influential people in your child's life write a little message to them! Then when they graduate from High School, they will be BLOWN AWAY with support for the future from everyone!

When choosing a book, make sure there are places that MANY little messages can be written! I was talking about this with my friend Sara and she wanted to choose a different book for her daughter. She was contemplating using a favorite childhood book that they always read together. She ended up choosing (I hope you don't mind me sharing) a cute book of quotes at Hallmark called "Everything I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten". So an inspirational book of quotes for a graduate would work well for this. Also if you are religious, I would consider a book to encourage your child in their walk on their pathway to adulthood. 

Another thing I wanted to share was having people in your family sign the book now and then again at graduation. I don't want to have a negative outlook on life but one thing we all know is that we never know how much time we have with our loved ones, no matter there age!!! How special would the book be with a little message from someone who has passed.

You can even have siblings sign it! 

Kiki picked her favorite page in Brenden's book, the big monster page, and she drew a little picture and signed her name. Then I wrote the year by her signature! 

With baby brother Garren I am going to trace over or paint and print his little hand and put his name and the year inside it! These will be so much fun to read over YEARS later!

If your child is a little older, you can STILL start this....

Just go back to their old teachers and have them sign it! If you can't reach them, it will still be special with whatever you can get! If your child is homeschooled, you(as teacher) can write a special message about what your child learned and how much they grew throughout the school year! 

The point is to encourage our children for the future.

Lastly, If you wish to add a Bible verse the perfect one to add is, Jeremiah 29:11.

 "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I would LOVE to know and for you to share what book you chose for your child's "Life" Yearbook!!!

Comment below!!!

May we bless our kids for the future!!!

The Cookie Assignment

 This post isn't to give you a special recipe, it's just to give you an idea of a fun, educational, and YUMMY activity to do with your kids!

Yesterday, My two older kids and I decided to make cookies! I have been craving chocolate/peanut butter all the time now! I blame this on my husband! =) One of our families FAVORITE cookie recipes is peanut butter blossoms! The perfect blend of chocolate and peanut butter!

What is your families favorite cookie recipe!?!

As we mixed and measured together my kids and I started talking about food.

What kinds of food we love and why they taste good to us...

Then I started asking them questions about vegetables and why a lot of kids AND adults think they taste bad! I explained how we can add vegetables to treats, still get their good benefits, AND they will taste YUMMY!!! (Not that we don't think that they taste yummy by themselves)

We decided to add carrots and spinach to our peanut butter blossoms!

I would say, for a normal cookie recipe, it was about a cup of ground veggies! All we did was grind them up raw in our food processor and mix them into the cookie dough.

What I am going to prepose to you is set time this week to make your families favorite cookie recipe with your child/ren! If you don't have one you can always follow my recipe for Peanut Butter Blossoms! 

Have a few veggies on hand and talk about the benefits of eating them, you might have to do a little research to come up with a few facts. 

For example, if you are going to add carrots to your cookies, here is something you can tell your child!

"Carrots are a rich source of Beta Carotene. Our bodies convert Beta Carotene to vitamin A. Vitamin A helps with night vision- that is why it's good for us to eat them so we can see in the dark!!! Your body actually can absorb more beta carotene from cooked carrots so this is perfect to add them to our cookies because we are going to bake them!!!"  

Then grind your veggies up in your food processor or you can use your blender it just might take a little longer. Then add the ground veggies to your cookie dough and enjoy a sweet treat! 

This will impact your child/ren more than you know! Then more they think of vegetables in a positive way, the more they will make healthy choices when they grow up!!!

So try out this fun cooking activity and PLEASE comment below on how it went!

Yo Gabba Gabba Birthday Ideas

 Here are a few ideas I thought I would share with you! We have a little friend SJ who LOVES the Show, Yo Gabba Gabba just like my Kiki and Garren do. She recently turned one so I went searching for an all Yo Gabba Gabba present! I found myself having to come up with a few ideas to make it more personal! It was hard to find a lot of cute Yo Gabba Gabba stuff! My first idea was to paint their faces on a ball! Sorry for the poor quality picture but this is the best I got!

I simply used acrylic paints and painted these simple faces, pictures posted below, on the color ball of the character! Then I sealed it with Mod Podge! Before you look anywhere else to buy the balls, check the dollar store! This is such a cheap and FUN present to give to any Yo Gabba Gabba lover and these would also be a great party favor for a Yo Gabba Gabba theme birthday!

I have blogged about Mod Podging on a ball before.... To check out the technique click HERE!

 Another thing I did was wrap her present like Brobee! This was so fun... I think she thought the wrapped present WAS the present at first! =)

For the horns on top, I just made three cones out of orange paper and taped it to the box.

I also found this cute idea on Pinterest after I wrapped up SJ's present like Brobee....

Damaris from At Studio D shows you how to make these cute gift bags! Just click on the picture and she will show you how!

I'll add one more idea that I used for Kiki's second birthday! I drew a big Muno and then made a bunch of extra eyes.... and we played pin the eye on the Muno!

Hope this helps to inspire you for your Yo Gabba Gabba lover's Birthday!

Root Beer Barbecue Beef Sandwiches- Crockpot

 

 I have been cleaning out my kitchen cabinets after a remodel and I found one of my favorite recipes, which I thought I had lost!!!!!! I immediately text my husband to let him know I found the recipe because I know he would be excited because it's THAT GOOD!!!! I am so happy I found this so I could share it with you!!! 

This is not the healthiest recipe but it is definitely a crowd pleaser...

It's great for family dinner or even large group gatherings!

People who try this will be begging you to give them the recipe!!! SERIOUSLY!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 boneless beef rump roast (4lbs)
• 2 cups barbecue sauce
• 1 cup root beer
• dash of salt and pepper (if desired)
• about 16 sandwich buns/ croissants

What To Do:

1. Place beef in your crackpot. then pour 1 1/2 cups of Barbecue sauce and Root Beer over the meat.
2. Cover and cook on low setting 10 to 12 hours.
3. About 20 minutes before serving remove beef from crockpot and put on a plate. Pour juices into a 12 inch skillet. Cook over medium-high heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, shred beef and return to crockpot!
4. Stir remaining 1/2 cup of Barbecue sauce into the reduced juices in skillet then pour into crockpot over the shredded beef! Stir and salt and pepper to taste!

I love how simple it is to make this, just throw your meat in and your crockpot does the rest!!! A few tips that I have are, if you want to have a vegetable side just simply throw in some baby carrots and chunks of sweet potato in at the beginning and let it cook with your meat. For added nutrition to the meal, add baby spinach leaves in your sandwich buns! Also, if you are going to be serving this to kids or people who don't like spicy flavor.... be carful when choosing your barbecue sauce! I use KC Masterpiece Honey and it gives the best flavor!!! Not spicy at all!!!!

At dinner tonight, I asked my kids what they thought about the meal and what I should tell people reading my blog about it...

Kiki said: "It tastes like Barbecue! I like Barbecue because I taste Barbecue chips! When mommy makes this I feel happy!"

      

Brenden said, "It's juicy and has good flavor! You should make it cause it tastes awesome! I would totally choose this over a restaurant!"

With your left over Root Beer you can make one of my favorite drinks, the Diesel!

Click HERE to see how to make it!

Healthy Waffle Recipe~ Blueberry/Carrot

I don't know about you but I have little time in the morning to get my son up and off to school. With such time constraints, how do you get your child to eat something healthy so they can feel good and ready to learn!?!

I have found that my kids LOVE yogurt and waffles. The yogurt is a MUST because it keeps a healthy amount of good bacteria in their guts! Among other things, this helps to protect them against stomach flu bugs that seem to ALWAYS be going around! I don't feed them yogurt full of dyes and sugar, I mix organic plain or greek yogurt with some fresh fruit and sometimes a little honey. 

The healthiest option for toaster waffles is Earths Best Blueberry Waffles.... Don't forget, they are MINI!!! All of my kids love these! They are in PERFECT bite size.... no having to cut them up! If you have a toddler, mini waffles are the perfect size for them to eat all by themselves!!! 

There are two things I don't like about feeding my kids these waffles.... I can't control what is in them, added sugar, and the price! One box with 32 mini waffles in it costs about $3.50 plus tax. This was adding up when you count that I go through about 12 waffles per morning! 

So I search Amazon and found a mini waffle maker by Sunbeam for 20 dollars, click HERE to go to Amazon and see it! It was one of the BEST purchases I have made to save my family TONS of money!! If you make waffles like the recipe below, you can serve your family waffles for dinner and they will think you are the coolest mom. They wont even know you snuck veggies into that meal...unless you tell them.

Healthy Waffle Recipe

• 2 1/4 cups flour (I used white whole wheat...use buckwheat for gluten free)
• 4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/8 teaspoons salt
• **optional** a little cinnamon
• 3 eggs (one separated)
• 3 tablespoons 100 % maple syrup, or other sweetener 
• 1 1/2 cups milk or dairy substitute
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 to 1 cup carrot puree, you don't have to use carrot... get creative, any veggie puree will work
• 1/2 to 1 cup frozen blueberries chopped up in food processor... blend as little or as much as you like... I tried to keep mine a little chunky.

Directions:

1. Mix together dry ingredients and set aside
2. Separate one of the eggs, then add the yolk, eggs, milk, maple syrup, vanilla, and carrot puree together and whisk.
3. Beat the one egg white in a clean bowl until peaks form.
4. Add the wet to the dry, mixing until just combined. 
5. Mix in your blueberries.
6. Fold in egg white.
7. Your mixture is now ready to cook... these are great even if you don't have a mini waffles maker. Just don't forget to spray with cooking spray or brush with olive oil before putting batter in!

If you are using the mini waffle maker this makes well over 80 waffles! We ate a bunch as I was cooking them and I still got 6 bags with 12 each all ready for the freezer! This is about three boxes of waffles in ONE time making them! Which is half the price of the waffle maker....

As you see below, I laid the waffles flat in a quart ziplock freezer bag! These freeze really well!

I had to get a picture of my 9 month old GOBBLING up a waffle! He loves them so much, this is the best shot I could get!

Also, CLICK HERE to check out an experiment I did with adding vegetables to waffle mix!

Below is a new post of a grain & dairy free waffle recipe that I have tried and is now my families FAVORITE recipe!!! Click on the picture below to get the recipe!