Food activity Idea: Healthy hot dog day.

Ok so this one is not genius or anything ... but the kids LOVED IT !!

Easy to do and actually good for you ...

We had ...

Veggie dogs

Whole wheat buns

Grated cheddar cheese

Rice crackers (Crispy Minis)

Veggies and dip

A bowl of strawberries

We put everything out on the table and had all the kids dress their own "hot dogs" ... we even put then in hot dog stand papers for effect. The kids were so excited to have hot dogs ... Justin almost had a heart attack !!

So a healthy twist on a fun lunch idea !!

Happy snacking !!

B

Craft Idea : Tin Can telephones

So I am sure you have all done this as little people ... but sometimes we forget all the cool, free, grass roots activities that we found so charming as children. All the newest toys and activities for our little ones these days are kind of thought out for them, and sometimes are a great diversion ... but it is great to just give kids some regular household items and watch the games begin.

The newest idea at my house is to play with the recycling. So we took a green bin and filled it up with clean safe recyclables, and watched my gang turn them into building blocks, a game of store, or just the joy of putting them into paper bags, and dumping them out again. I think that we all played with yogurt containers with lids, or cardboard boxes in our kindergarten classrooms. So bringing back a classic !!

We had another recycling activity that is great for older children (3+) we made tin can telephones. Just be sure that your can opener opens the cans in such a way that the edge is not sharp. Some openers are not good for this game !!

You need : 2 empty cans (clean of course), 20 - 25 ft of string ... that's all. We decorated ours with stickers, but that is optional.

Just make a hole in the top of a can, put the long string through, and tie a knot in it that is large enough to not slip back through, and do the same with the other one. Have one child hold one can, and child #2 will walk around the corning till the string is taught. Then let the adorable conversations begin. It is great for children at this age to learn some telephone skills and dialogue between 2 children that cannot see one another can be quite funny !!

There are other fun, free activities that I will share with you all soon .....

Thanks again to everyone who is following my blog. It is more fun to do when you know people are reading it !!

Happy playing !!

B

Recipe : Frozen yogurt banana splits

I love to make kids faces light up !! And they are so excited by this one. I make a banana split with low fat, pro biotic, frozen yogurt.

I don't really have to explain the instructions (the pic says it all ...) but I will offer some topping ideas.

Bananas (of course)

berries

peaches

nuts

chocolate chips

jam

sprinkles

maple syrup

and of course the list goes on and on.

You can also put the yogurt in the bowl ( I have tiny retro ice cream sundae dishes for added appeal ... very cute.) and give the kids a buffet of goodies to dress their treat with. Also very fun ... but messier, and of course time consuming ( but the kids LOVE it !!) Today for lunch the kids made "Make Your Own Pita Pizzas" so we had a food activity already ... I just made them these adorable strawberry banana frozen yogurt splits while they enthusiastically ate their lunches. Happy healthy kids .... eating a balanced healthy FUN lunch !!

Let me know what you think .... or what you little one thinks if you make one in the future.

Happy snacking !!

Recipe : Veggie Spaghetti sauce.

I know everyone can whip up a spaghetti sauce and that this is nothing new or exciting ... but I am quite partial to my spaghetti sauce and I thought I'd share my personal recipe with you today.

The great thing about spaghetti sauce is you can sneak so many wonderfully healthy things into the sauce .... and picky eaters never know how many veggies you snuck in !! The way I get the kids to eat all the different veggies in my sauce is to blend it at the end using a hand blender. ( The photo I added was taken before I blended it .... see how chunky my veggie are ? Time saver to just quickly cut them and throw them in the pot. ) This way they don't have a mound of uneaten green peppers, and mushrooms on the edge of the plate after dinner. I will give you a basic version of my sauce and then a small list of things you can throw in if you like.

The secret to my sauce is that I put in about 3/4 of a cup of toasted or sauteed pine nuts, and a good cup of red wine, and I add parm right to the sauce . So here it is ......

3/4 cup pine nuts ( pan cooked with a bit of olive oil till nice and brown, these will continue to cook in the pan after you take them off the burner , and pine nuts go from golden to burned quickly ... so don't take your eyes off them !!)

1 - 2 onions (white cooking, or whatever you like ) chopped

4 cloves of garlic coarsely chopped

2 celery stalks chopped

1 carrot chopped

1 small zucchini chopped

1 green pepper, and 1 red pepper both chopped ( of course)

1 cup of sliced mushrooms ( Army is our official mushroom chopper, this is a great job for your little one to do because they can chop them with a butter knife and keep busy while you do the rest ! )

2 cans of plain tomato sauce

2 cans of diced tomatoes

1 cup red wine ( preferably one that is robust so it will hold it's own against the garlic)

3/4 cup freshly grated parm cheese (optional)

1/2 cup fresh basil or 2 tbls dried

1 tbls dried oregano

1 tsp sea salt (or to taste)

So I saute the onions and garlic with some olive oil for a few minutes (till they are soft and fragrant ... but don't burn the garlic)

then add the other veggies and stir them up for another 5 minutes or so, add the pine nuts and cover with the red wine.... stir and enjoy the smell !!

It is a good idea at this point to have a glass of the wine you have selected for your spaghetti sauce yourself ... to enhance the cooking experience.

Add all the tomato stuff and mix it all up, add all your herbs and salt .... let simmer for a bout 1/2 hour and remove from heat, stir in your cheese now if you like ( it is really yummy with the cheese mixed right in) ... allow to cool and blend well with a Braun hand blender ....

enjoy !!

I prefer fresh pasta ... but whatever you like is great of course .... serve with garlic bread, olives, green salad, marinated mushroom, etc.

When I make this for dinner I do spaghetti or linguine , but when I do it for the kids I use macaroni or fusilli nice small noodles for then to enjoy. I grate cheese to for them to dress their bowls with (we call it snow cheese), and we make garlic toast. :) My family loves it ... and the kids do too ! Anything that gets the kids asking for more veggies is great by me !!

Now if you like you can add things to your sauce like :

Hemp seeds

flax meal

nutritional yeast

or egg plant

for added nutrition (sneaky !!)

So try my sauce next spaghetti night and let me know what you think !!

Enjoy !!

mixed media stamping art

So today we had pizza and a veggie plate for lunch .... nothing that we need to discuss in any great length (Fun Food Friday !!) We popped popcorn and watched a little Stuart Little as well ... after a busy crafting morning, and some circle time / story time of course !!! But I wanted to share a cute craft idea today. It is something that you have all done (I am sure) but I thought of some creative ways to execute it today and I thought you would like in on it ....

We painted pictures with various items like string, straws, potatoes, a halved apple, the stump of a romaine heart, leaves, crumpled paper towel, broccoli, and my fave ... blown roses ( on their way out from Valentines day)

So we picked 2 colours (I find 2 is a good number, prevents everything from becoming brown from mixing them all up ) and I put the items on an old cookie tray (it is going to get all painted so an old one is best) and I let them try all the different items. We discussed different ways to use each of the items and what effect each way had. We dipped lightly, or saturated an item. Some things we touched to the paper lightly, and some we rolled. the possibilities are endless and you can really get creative trying new techniques.

This craft is cheap, easy, and if you sit and enjoy the moment quite educational and FUN :)

I am putting up some pics of the art done with a rose only. Some of the mixed ones got a bit crazy .... I think they look just lovely !! What do you think ??

TTFN !!

B.

OK so I have been threatening to do this for a LOOOONG time now. I want to take the time each week or so to sit and reflect on the week, or share a great activity, or recipe .... a way for the parents of my daycare to see what is going on and share it with family and friends.

I thought it would mostly be recipes that were a big hit here, or a activity sharing thing ... but taking the time to share a funny story or moment may happen too :)

So let's share a little !!

Today I will share a recipe that I found and loved and was a BIG hit with the kids ... especially my baby boys. "Creamy Roasted Red Pepper and Potato Soup" yummy ?? I think so !!

4 tbls (or so ) Olive oil

a sprinkle of sea salt

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 red peppers cut into cubes

2 onions chopped chunky

4 cloves of garlic

1 large or 2 small potatoes chopped into 1 inch cubes

36 oz veggie stock

black pepper to taste

So put the peppers, onions, potatoes and garlic in a big roasting pan and roast them on 400 for as long as you like. I like mine to be nice and dark so about an hour or so.

Dump out the veggies into a big pot, add the stock, and bring to a boil.

remove from heat and blend with a hand blender for a few mins till very smooth. Add the cream, stir and you are done.

This is great with a chipotle type hot sauce and some sharp grated cheddar on top ... but is just wonderful and flavorful all on it's own.

The boys all had 2 bowls each !! Yummy :) Not with hot sauce of course !!

The red peppers were on sale this week, and I found bags of 4 quite lovely peppers for

2$ at Loblaws on the weekend .... this find inspired my soup. It reheated very well as well ( as most soup does)

I couldn't say for sure that you should freeze the soup as cream will have a tendency to look yucky after freezing ... but perhaps making a big batch and freezing the blended portion before adding the cream would be best ? Then you can just defrost the soup ... bring to "hot" and add some cream to it (super quick dinner ) break some crusty bread and you are all set.

Also a calorie saving idea ( if you are into that kind of thing ) you could add a bit of milk instead of cream .... or omit the dairy all together for a vegan choice. The potato alone would carry the soup for sure.

So let me know if you try it ... and what you think :) Happy souping !!