Hummus with Roasted Red Bell Peppers

Garbanzo beans or chick peas are a great source of plant based iron. Bell peppers contain more vitamin c than an orange! The two make a great pair because the vitamin c helps your body to properly absorb the iron. This is a great recipe for tots or mommies who are iron deficient.

This recipe requires a food processor. If you're a mommy and don't have one yet, get one! It is an essential item in my kitchen. I use a basic Cuisinart and love it.

Ingredients:
2 cans of garbanzo beans (rinsed well and drained)
Tahini ( sesame seed paste)
Juice from one lemon or large lime
Olive oil
Salt, turmeric, paprika, pepper
One clove of garlic peeled (less is ok if you're not a fan)
One roasted red bell pepper (peeled and chopped)

Process beans, garlic, and bell pepper first. Use pulse method until all pieces are pretty small but not yet mush. You may need to scrape sides down with rubber spatula a couple times.

Pour tahini in a circle over the top. Should be about a 1/4-1/2 of a cup. You can use more or less depending on your taste. Follow with a circle of olive oil and add spices. When you begin to process, slowly poor lemon juice into the mixture. This is the part where it gets tricky. If you see the bottom getting mushy while the top clumps up-scrape the sides and pulse process. If the whole mixture seems dry and is lopsided while spinning- slowly pour more olive oil while processing. Your goal is an even smooth consistency that is not soupy. You want a dollop of hummus to hold its shape. Don't forget to stop and taste for adjustments. I recommend being very careful when adding salt because salty hummus can be overwhelming-yuck!

Serve with slightly toasted fresh pita or crudités. You can use pita chips too but why spoil a superbly healthy snack with fried chips! If you can't get your hands on some pita, use toasted whole wheat bread for a killer hummus sandwich.

Vera

Healthy Valentine's Day treats for toddlers!

"You're a 'BERRY' good friend!"

Materials Needed:

Fruit packs

Scrapbook paper (or red/pink construction paper)

Heart-shaped cookie cutter

Scissors

Marker

Tape

While candy seems to be the go-to treat to share with friends on Valentine's Day, giving pure sugar to a room full of toddlers just seems a little mean to do to the teachers.  My son loves these fruit packs!  I saw a classmate of his give these out last year!  So cute! 

I thought a dorky little note would be a fun addition.  The flavor of the fruit pack is strawberries and apples hence the note: "You're a BERRY good friend!"  I used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to outline each heart to cut out.  I used Valentine's Day themed scrapbook paper, but you could easily use red or pink construction paper (or ANY color for that matter!)  Then, I wrote the note on with permanent marker and taped each heart to a fruit pack!

I will be hiding these from my son until he brings them to daycare to share, or he'll want to eat them all!

Happy Valentines's Day, everyone!

Kami

Mickey Mouse Birthday Party!

My son turned 2 this fall, and I wasn't even sure if I wanted to have a party.  I thought I would just have the grandparents over, but then an aunt expressed interest in attending.  We decided to extend the invite to all of our brothers and sisters.  Since my husband and I collectively have 8 siblings (including their families), our quaint get-together turned into a party!  

I let my almost 2-year-old son choose the theme for his birthday.  We narrowed it down to Nemo, Elmo and Mickey Mouse.  It was a tough decision, but he eventually settled on Mickey Mouse!  

Let the planning begin!

I scoured Pinterest for ideas.  I decided to narrow my theme a little more and went with just yellow, red, black and white colors.  I felt like it made everything a bit more cohesive.  I came across this super cute wreath at Confessions of a Plate Addict.  While I would have loved to spend 4 hours making a wreath like this blogger, it just wasn't feasible.  I settled for a simpler version, yet using the same idea she had!  The yellow portion is just wrapped in ribbon.  I made a mini-banner that says "Welcome!"  I couldn't find my wreath hook, so I had to get a little creative with hanging it.  I definitely recommend the $5 wreath hook!!!

 Although it's not as important as a '1st Birthday Cake', cake is cake and I wanted something cute! Again, lack of time ruled my final decision on what to do, but I think it was still pretty awesome!  (My son loved it and that's what counts, right?!)  I pre-ordered the cupcakes and had them just do white frosting with red and yellow colors and sprinkles.  I  bought a piece of scrapbook paper for 99 cents at Michael's.  It had a bunch of square pictures of Mickey Mouse characters on it.  I cut out just the Mickey Mouse ones.  I taped each square to a tooth pick, stuck them in random cupcakes and voila!  

(Confession:  The morning of the party, i drove to four different stores because I forgot where I ordered it from.  Sad, right?  Hehe!)

My mantel was not even considered for being part of the decorating until I stumbled across this cute set up over at Kara's Party Ideas.  I bought more scrapbook paper that was actually Mickey Mouse themed!  I made a template for the triangle with a piece of cardboard, then I traced a bunch of triangles for the banners.  I used a paper hole punch to make two holes at the top of each triangle.  (Don't do one hole or the triangles won't hang flat).  Then, I just strung them up on a piece of yarn and taped to my mantel!  The "M" was $1 from Michael's that I painted yellow with my son's Tempura paint, and the mickey mouse stuffed animal is my son's.  ( I was very lucky that he didn't seem to mind his stuffed animal was out of reach all day!)  We also had a banner outside on tables and deck rails.  (Not pictured).

I had plates, napkins and plasticware set up in a little holder I bought from Target for half off at the end of summer.  It saved space as opposed to having all of that laying out on table.  This left room for more treats!

The idea for center pieces came from somewhere, but I don't remember where!  (That's what I get for blogging way after party!)  I bought these clay pots from Home Depot for $2 each.  I painted the top black, bottom red and glued on little white buttons to look like the classic pants Mickey wears.  I used scrapbook paper again to make the little signs.  I used a Sharpie marker and copied each letter to look like the classic Disney font.  (I just Googled "Disney font" under the 'Images' search).  I attached the little signs to wooden skewers.  I made two per skewer so I could just glue the little signs back to back over skewers.  This way, there wasn't a "back" to the signs.  I used candy to fill pot and placed skewers inside!

My husband made little labels for the water bottles.  They say "Happy 2nd Birthday!"  He printed on rectangular stickers.  You could also buy plain white name tags and write on them yourself.  If your kiddo is old enough, you can have THEM design and color the water bottle labels!

This picture is hard to see, but it reads, "Happy 2nd Birthday".  The red circles are from plain red construction paper.  The end circles have little black Mickey ears on them.  I drew that free-hand on black construction paper before cutting out.  (It took a few tries!)  I bought the polka-dot letter stickers from a scrap-booking store.  I hung this banner the same way I hung the banner on my mantel.  (Two hole per circle, yarn and tape).

I bought the Mickey Mouse shirt at Target!

I Googled "Mickey Mouse pumpkin carving template" to find a print out to carve this pumpkin for our front step.  My son LOVED his Mickey Mouse pumpkin!

Probably my favorite part was these adorable Mickey Mouse invitations I found over at Etsy!  They were so cheap, and the girl who made them sent them very quickly!  

Have fun planning your little one's party!  We had a blast!

Toddler Fruit Salad

Keeping picky eaters interested in food is a constant challenge. Anytime I come up with a recipe that my son actually likes, I feel like sharing it with all the struggling mommies out there! This one is definitely a winner in my house. Mothers of picky eaters unite! Ok, I'm a nerd.

It's an extremely basic fruit salad using ingredients we almost always keep stocked. You can substitute any component of this salad to suit your child's preferences. I've found that this combo makes for a fresh and crunchy treat that is not too sweet (pardon the rhyme).

Toddler Fruit Salad

1 cup green seedless grapes
1 cup Old Home vanilla yogurt
Banana
Fuji apple
1/4 cup Natures Path Hemp and Flax Granola

Preparation

Wash all your fruit thoroughly. I like to use a large bowl with cold water and a squirt of white vinegar.

Make sure to cut grapes horizontally and vertically with a sharp knife to prevent choking. I like to use the green seedless variety because they are not mushy and add a crisp tangy flavor. The grapes should comprise the bulk of your salad.

Next peel your apple (you can leave it on if your kids don't mind but I find the texture to be annoying) Stand it upright and slice all four sides off of the core. Lay the sides flat and cut very thin slices (1/4"). Keep together, turn sideways and cut to make tiny apple bits. The trick is to keep them small so your kids don't pick them out.

As for the banana, you don't want the chunks too small or they will just get squished in the yogurt. I cut the banana in half lengthwise, turn both pieces on their side and cut again following the curve of the fruit. Holding all four pieces together I then slice horizontally to get perfect little chunks.

Put all fruit in a bowl and fold yogurt in gently with a rubber spatula until coated. Sprinkle with granola (careful for any large chunks) and serve!

I'm pretty sure this would hold up at least a couple days in the fridge if you omit the granola until serving. Honestly, I have not been able to test this out because my kids eat the whole batch in one day!