Foodie Patoodie!: fun breakfast for kids

Showing posts with label fun breakfast for kids. Show all posts

Friday, February 22, 2013

What's For Breakfast? - Healthy Blue Vanilla Protein Pancakes

As any parent knows, choices are a big deal with toddlers and preschoolers. It gives them a sense of control and independence. Give your child a wide variety of choices when it comes to the foods she eats, especially if your child has become the "picky eater" as mine has. It may be your only saving grace. **DISCLAIMER: When giving choices, be very aware that you may end up making dishes that make no sense to you. Nevermind. Fix it anyway.** When you let them help and they can "make it themselves," it adds another bonus. You can use it as mealtime ammunition. "But Mooooommyyyyy, I don't want to eat breakfast any-MORE!" "You made it yourself! Of course you want to eat your own awesome breakfast that YOU made!" Like that.

Here is basically the same recipe as my Healthy Vanilla Caramel Cinnamon Pancakes I blogged a little while back. Only no cinnamon or caramel. And Pip wanted them bright blue. Obviously, make any color you want.

~Ingredients~

2 scoops vanilla creme whey protein powder
2 cups quick oats (food-processed into a fine powder)
3 tsp. Stevia
1/2 cup water
6 egg whites
neon blue food coloring

~Directions~

1. Combine all ingredients and mix with a food processor, blender, or submersible wand until smooth. Let the mini-person participate.

2. Start with 5 drops of food coloring and add more drops until you reach desired color. I think I used 15.

3. Let the small person help stir! They'll enjoy seeing the color appear.

4. Make pancakes as usual. Your child should look something like this, and so should you knowing that you fixed a healthy and substantial breakfast!

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Foodie Baby: Sunshine Toast

I couldn't decide whether to title this "Foodie Baby" or "Foodie Flop" because it was much more the latter than the former. I am a big believer in the egg, and ever since Pipes was 12 months old I have been introducing, and reintroducing, this small, edible, elliptical wonder. With the exception of french toast and one jar of egg salad a long, long time ago, every time I've introduced it has been shot down. At almost 20 months old, my current sneak-attack strategy did not work either. Here is my hopefully ignorant thought process: "Hmmm, I know that Piper loves toast. Any kind of toast. What if I use a fun method I saw on Pinterest to make the egg seem like THE SUN INSIDE THE TOAST! YES, THE SUN! Oh goodie oh goodie, Pip loves the sun. And if she thinks the egg is the sun, then she will eat it! And she will love it! And she will love me for making it! Oh happy day, let's get this party started." Well, as much fun as it was to create Sunshine Toast, when my daughter realized that the sun was actually an egg, I think I lost my best bud for a minute, as you can see from the pictures below.

~Ingredients~

1 egg
1 piece of bread
1 and 1/2 Tbsp. butter

~Directions~

1. In a small skillet, melt 1 Tbsp. of butter over medium heat.
2. In the meantime, cut a hole in the piece of bread using a glass or cup. I used a wine glass for a slightly small hole.

3. Remove the circle from the bread and set aside. Or let your toddler swipe it and eat it, running gleefully around the house....

4. Lightly butter the holy bread with the remaining 1/2 Tbsp. of butter.
5. Place the buttered holy bread into the skillet, heating until lightly toasted, flipping and doing the same to the other side.

6. Crack the egg into the hole and fry for a few minutes until the clear egg whites become white, then flip. Cook until egg yolk is mostly hard, with only a touch of softness when you press on it with your finger.

7. Place your Sunshine Toast in all its glory in front of your toddler on their high chair tray. Beam with pride.

8. Watch them give it a good 'ol fashioned college try.

Hmmm, this outer part is delish!

I determine that this buttery toast is quite tasty.

10.

Ok what's going on. Why the hell is my toast so HEAVY.

11.

Is this what I THINK IT IS??? No, Mama would never do that to me...

12.

Apparently she would. And I'm kinda miffed about it. Gross egg.

13.

Oh so now you give me strawberries? Where 's the egg...I know it's in there. You're trying to slip me eggs, Lady, and I'm onto you.

14.

Alright, I trust you again....THIS time...

Saturday, March 10, 2012

What's For Breakfast? - Oatmeal-Raisin Dark Chocolate-Peanut Butter Breakfast Cookies

Whew! That was a mouthful...LITERALLY! Pinterest has struck again, only this time in the form of delicious breakfast alternatives. I think my daughter is getting sick of Cream of Wheat, oatmeal, and Malt 'O Meal, no matter how I dress them up. I feel as though buttered toast with fruit can only be done every now and then or that will get old too. And let's face it, before work when there are bubbles still popping around my head, making french toast is just too much work. Not to mention, slapping anything around daintily in an egg mixture before my coffee kicks in is just not smart. So now I'm on a mission for more creative ways to eat a healthy breakfast, as well as freezable ideas to make on the weekends that only need to be defrosted on weekday mornings! I did see an idea for toddler-sized french toast sticks that can be frozen, but that's a different blog... I found this basic recipe on Pinterest and sort of altered it myself a bit. I hope you enjoy them as much as Ms. Pip Jaimes did!

~Ingredients~
1/2 cup rolled oats
scant 1/2 cup of mashed over-ripe banana
just enough butter to fill up the rest of the scant 1/2 cup of mashed banana
1/4 cup of nut butter (I used Peanut Butter & Co. All Natural Dark Chocolate Dreams)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3 Tbsp. raisins
1 Tbsp. sugar (you can omit this completely, or use 1 packet of Stevia if desired)