Is it just me, or are toddlers always hungry? Although I seem to be fixing snacks all day I still find myself wondering (and worrying) that my son didn’t eat enough or didn’t eat the right kinds of foods. I’ve kicked those feelings to the curb and I’ve got some great ideas on how I keep my toddler healthy and happy at “meal times.” Want to know my secrets? Check out my newest post over at the Georgia Blueberry website this week!
I LOVE strawberries and apparently so does my daughter {did you see the pics from our strawberry farm excursion? Hilarious}. Once we brought our berries home I immediately had to use them for this crumble recipe. I swear you will not be disappointed. We basically inhaled it. Which I must disclose that sweets are typically inhaled in our household. BUT…this one was particularly delicious. (:
1 1/4 cups sugar, divided
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ tsp salt
2 sticks (½ lb) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg
4 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and quartered
4 tsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp of lemon juice {I used REAL lemon}
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Place flour, 1 cup of the sugar, baking powder, and salt into your food processor. Place all the butter that has been cut into pieces into the food processor. Pulse until crumbly. Then, drop the egg in and pulse until blended. (You can also do this the old school way – with a pastry blender or two butter knives. BUT…make your life easier {and your belly happier, faster} by putting all of this in the food processor.
Take out about half of this mixture and press it into the bottom of a 9×11 glass dish. This will be the bottom crust.
Place all the strawberries, the 1/4 cup of {remaining} sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice into a separate boil and stir. Pour the strawberry mixture over the crust. Sprinkle the top with the remaining crust mixture.
Bake for about 45 minutes. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares and serving.
Two weeks ago my mom, my two kidlets, and I went to the local strawberry farm to pick as many berries as we could before the kids pooped out. We had a GREAT time!
The strawberry farm closest to us is in Rome, Georgia and is called LCCL Strawberry Farms. {They are celebrating their tenth year this year!} We’ve been going to pick strawberries here for the past two years since a friend of ours shared it with us. The strawberries are FABULOUS – so sweet and juicy. NOTHING like what you get from the grocery store. Okay. They are both red. But other than that – NOTHING like it. (:
Judah had a wonderful time picking berries. He ran up and down the rows looking for the ripe red berries and he did a great job of ONLY picking the red ones. He really got into it, shouting at me when he would find a really big one. He also did a great job of not eating any until after we were done picking and paying {which by the way, their prices are VERY reasonable – $1.60 per pound}.
I can’t say the same for Eliana, though. We laughed upon checking out and asked if they prefer that I weigh her before paying {although I did pay them extra for the berries that she ate while we were picking them}. She knows what strawberries are and LOVES them. It is actually one of the first foods she would really eat. I think it is because she can hold it and feed herself! So independent!
So, once she figured out what we were putting in our bucket she started acting crazy…that is until I handed her one. I was oblivious to the mess that she was making since she was strapped to the front of me, facing out, while I was sitting on the ground picking berries as fast as I could go. Finally, as she was on around strawberry number 3 or 4 she started to get really aggravated and had had enough of being jostled about as I slid down the rows. I took her out of the baby carrier and turned her around to face me and I died laughing at the mess she had made. It looked like she had just smashed one of the strawberries right on the side of her head!
I picked berries a little longer as Eliana hung on to the side of my berry bucket. {Yes, I guess we can say my child learned to pull up in the strawberry patch}. Judah asked if he could go sit in the car in the “wind” (aka: air conditioning) so we decided to hang it up.
After weighing (we had 20 pounds!) and paying for our berries we bought a bowl of strawberry ice cream and a delicious fried strawberry pie to share. Then Judah took the train for two rides while my mom decided to pick a little longer.
All in all, we ended up bringing home 40 pounds of strawberries. We split up and froze 20 pounds and my dad is making homemade strawberry wine out of the other 20 pounds. In a few weeks we’re going to do it all over again.
It was a lot of fun – not too much work {hey, if I can do it with a 7 month old strapped to me it can’t be too bad!} and a great excuse to get outdoors and have some family fun.
I found this recipe in Food Network’s Magazine {January/February 2012} and thought it sounded delish. I tweaked it just a bit and now I think I’ve found a new family favorite!
What makes this side dish an even bigger hit is the fact that the it uses pantry ingredients and things I always have on hand! Win!
You’ll be seeing this on my meal rotation regularly.
1 Tbsp {organic} butter
1 Tbsp flour
1 1/4 cups {organic} milk
1 can artichoke hearts (in water/not oil)
2 cups frozen peas
Parmesan cheese
Whisk butter and flour together in an oven proof skillet {I used my cast iron skillet} over medium high heat for about one minute (the flour should bubble and start to get dry). Add the milk and whisk until boiling.
Add the artichokes (I chopped mine into quarters first) and frozen peas (do not thaw). Bring to a simmer. Then, top with parmesan cheese (I just grated it right over the top with my microplane so I didn’t measure – just enough to cover the whole dish like a light dusting of snow. 
Pop it into the oven on broil. Broil for just a few minutes. When the cheese bubbles and browns it is ready!
Here’s a little late night snack that you are going to love! Chocolate Covered Banana Bonbons. Yum. Yum.
You know those chocolate covered bananas that you can buy at chocolate shops and ice cream parlors? Well this is better.
Why? Because you can make them to order. Add some chopped nuts or Biscoff spread and you’be got something special!
Here’s what I did:
Melt some chocolate chips in the microwave at half power or over a double boiler. Slice up a banana (or two or three).
For plain banana bonbons just dip the banana into the chocolate and then place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze until hard.
For biscoff and chocolate banana bonbons spread a dollop of Biscoff spread on the top of a banana slice. Dip into chocolate (I actually found it easier to drop a spoonful of chocolate on top and then spread it around rather than dipping). Place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze until hard.
Sprinkle either type with a few chopped almonds for a fancier look and for a little texture.
This is a great summer time treat you can pull out of the freezer. You can pull out just a few or a bunch depending on how many you/your guests want!
Can you think of other yummy variations?
*Disclosure: I am a Walmart Mom. This post is sponsored by Walmart. Walmart has provided me with product and/or compensation in exchange for my time and efforts in creating this post. My participation is voluntary. As always, my opinion is my own.
Last week, I shared a recipe for one of Judah’s favorite ways to enjoy blueberries in a blueberry banana smoothie (link to post). This week I’m letting you in on a favorite of mine: blueberry green tea. This healthy, delicious tea is made with fresh blueberry juice, where I control the ingredients. I feed my body with great cancer-fighting foods, like blueberries and green tea, while feeding my soul with a little “me” time. Check out the how to over at the Georgia Blueberry site.
Mother’s Day is less than a week away…have you decided what to get (or make) you mom yet? Something homemade from the kids is always appreciated. So, Judah and I decided to make something for Nana this year.
My mom loves to garden and plant – all sorts of things: fruits and vegetables, flowers, trees, grapevines, you name it! So, I thought a flower pot would be something she could use. I wanted to get Judah in on the action so we decided to decorate it with paint using his thumbprints. I thought and thought about all the cute thumbprint art you can do and finally decided {duh} flowers would be appropriate for this project.
We bought everything we needed at Walmart (while getting other items in the grocery department!) We used a regular ol’ terra cotta pot (any size will do), some acrylic craft paints (3 colors), and some coordinating ribbon. For this project you will also need a hot glue gun, some hot glue sticks, and some paint brushes. I spent less than $10 to produce this craftiness! (:
First, Judah painted the whole outside of the pot with aqua paint. Then, we let it dry (it didn’t take long – maybe 15 minutes).
Then, I helped Judah dip his thumb into citrus green paint. I helped in put green thumbprints sporadically all around the outside of the flower pot. This was the inside of the flowers. Then, I helped him do the same thing with the pale daffodil paint to make the petals of the flowers. So, the flowers are his little thumb prints! I wrote the date and his name on the bottom of the flower pot (Mother’s Day 2012, love, Judah) with a black Sharpie marker so my mom will remember when it was made and by which grandchild. (:
After all the paint had dried (a couple hours) I went back and hot-glued a matching polka dot ribbon around the top of the flower pot and made a little bow for the center. Now all our project needs is a beautiful plant for my mom to enjoy!
*Disclosure: I am a Walmart Mom. This post is sponsored by Walmart. Walmart has provided me with product and/or compensation in exchange for my time and efforts in creating this post. My participation is voluntary. As always, my opinion is my own.
With so many of us trying to get out of debt and trying to stop piling on credit card debt, Walmart now has a Pay with Cash option for online orders. So, whether you just don’t have a credit card or debit card or if you are just trying not to use it, this option might be the answer for you.
Last week I bought a new blender, a Ninja, from Walmart.com. Since I busted mine the other day and needed one anyway, I thought this would be a great opportunity to try this method out so I could tell you how it worked.
So first, you place your order online like you normally would, but the only difference is when it comes time to punch in your credit card or debit card information, you select “Pay with Cash.” You will get a message that you have 48 hours to pay for your order in any store you choose. It will also tell you to write down or print your order number (I recommend you print your order because it has a bar code that the store employee can just scan).
Once you go into the store you can pay for your online order at any register. Just show them the paper you printed out and the associate can scan the barcode. Then, pay for your order with cash! Your done! I actually paid for my order along with some other grocery items that I needed that day. Why not save gas and take care of two things at once!
Once you pay for your order it triggers your order so that they can begin processing it and shipping it to you. That is unless you choose the site to store option. Then, your order will be processed and shipped to the store you choose and you can pick it up there.
This is great for items that your store doesn’t keep in stock, or items that are exclusively sold online. It is also good news because now you can purchase a gift for someone else and have it shipped right to their house and still pay with cash instead of using your cards if you prefer.
What do you think? Would you use this service?
Mother’s Day is just one week away! Do you have anything planned for your mama?
Lots of people go out to eat to celebrate – but the restaurants will be crowded! In fact, it is one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants. So, why not make a delicious meal for mom right at home? Breakfast in bed is always a hit, but if you don’t live with your dear ol’ mama this may not be an option anymore. So, why not serve up a brunch for the whole fam – celebrating mom.
I’ve got a recipe for a hearty hash that is sure to please the palates of even the hungriest man, but that is classy enough to impress mom.
4 to 6 medium to large yellow (Yukon Gold) potatoes
1 bunch of asparagus stalks
4 oz (1/2 of a typical carton) of button mushrooms
coconut oil
olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
Wash, peel, and chop the potatoes into small chunks for hash browns (also called home fries). Heat a griddle plate or large skillet over medium high heat. Add the coconut oil into the skillet/griddle and add potatoes. Fry the potatoes up until browned and then flip. Continue to brown and toss/turn. Don’t move them around too much though, you want them to brown up and get crispy.
While potatoes are frying up, wash and chop asparagus into bite sized pieces. Then, chop the mushrooms into quarters. Mince the garlic. Add a little olive oil to a second skillet and turn the pan to medium high heat. Add the asparagus and garlic and saute until they get a little brown then add some water just to allow the asparagus to cook a little more and soften without burning them. Once the asparagus is almost done add the mushrooms in. Cook until all liquid has cooked out and the vegetables are tender.
Stir the mushrooms, asparagus, and potatoes together. Serve with fried eggs and some whole wheat toast or biscuits. Don’t forget the juice or the jelly!! And, breakfast is always tastier with fresh flowers on the table. (:
*Disclosure: I am a Walmart Mom. This post is sponsored by Walmart. Walmart has provided me with product and/or compensation in exchange for my time and efforts in creating this post. My participation is voluntary. As always, my opinion is my own.
Judah and I had the best time the other day! We did an unconventional art project that was such a hit with him and would be a hit with any kid – no matter what age, I believe. What kids don’t like to splatter paint? And, what is even better than splattering with a paint brush? Why, spraying paint out of a spray bottle, of course!
All you need is some spray bottles (I ordered these from Oriental Trading, but I am sure you can find them most any where. I filled them with liquid water color that I also ordered from Oriental Trading. No liquid water colors? No problem! Try adding a good amount of food coloring to regular water. Viola! Your own liquid water colors. Just be sure to wear old clothes, the food coloring could/will stain.
Judah had a big time spraying the paints on an old bed sheet that I had in the “use this for a drop cloth” bag. It had a rip in it and couldn’t really be used for anything except catching dripping paint. So, I hung it over the clothes line and then Judah had a big canvas to fill with beautiful colors.
We experimented with spraying colors on top of each other to get new colors (red and blue make purple!). We also experimented with standing closer or farther away from the sheet to see what would happen to the paint.
Want to turn this into an art lesson? Go look up the artist Jackson Pollock. He’s a famous artist who is known for splatter paint! After learning about him and then doing his or her own work of art, your child might just proclaim that he/she is going to be the next up and coming artist!
Another cool thing about this project? I left the sheet up for a few days and we got a rain. The paints ran together and lightened and some even disappeared. So, now we’ll be able to do our project all over again! And, as for this sheet living the remainder of its life as a drop cloth, it still can! We’ll just fold up our artwork and use it for painting when the need arises.
