In the Kitchen with Audrey

Lovely Gluten-Free Black Bean Brownies

2012-02-02T17:23:00.000-06:00

We originally posted this several years back and it was a big hit. It has continued to be a hit with our friends so I decided to re-post to show how yummy and simple it is to make.

This time I cut a few pieces into heart shapes for the girls and they thought that was cute. We have been nibbling on this batch for a few days now and it is almost gone.

Black Bean Brownies

1 (15.5 ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 eggs
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease an 8x8 square baking dish. Combine the black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract and sugar in a blender; blend until smooth; pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the mixture. Bake in the preheated oven until the top is dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

Audrey and Maurene's Tasks:

Crack the eggs (saw that coming didn't you?)
pour all ingredients into the food processor
help pour mix into pan

Mom's Tasks:

Gather ingredients
help pour mix into pan
place brownies in oven

You should try this treat as a great way to add more protein and fiber to your diet. And please share with friends who are trying to reduce gluten in their diet. This is a tasty way to avoid gluten.

What's For Lunch Wednesday, Love

2012-02-01T07:00:00.000-06:00

A lovely lunch.

I left the heart cookie cutters out on the counter after making Pizza With Love. The girls decided they needed to use said hearts to make cool lunches. Mo wanted cheese. I wanted them to eat something nutritious after a weekend with dad. A heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwich and heart shaped cheese cut-outs were quickly decided on.

Pay no attention to the toddler on the chair.

Mo found her own task.

Cutting sandwiches is hard.

A garage picnic, with cheese!

To those hearts the girls added a little canned pineapple and grapes. They were not much interested in eating as the weather was beautiful and I promised them bike rides. Maurene sat down to eat her cheese and Audrey ran straight for the bike. She did end up eating an hour later when we were ready to head to another outing.

Check out BentoLunch.net for the other fabulous meals for What's For Lunch Wednesday. Be sure to stick around and check out the fabulous muffin posts this week from Shannon.

Pizza with Love

2012-01-31T07:00:00.000-06:00

Lovely Pizzas.

The girls helped me make pizza cut outs with heart cookie cutters. They love any food made with cookie cutters. These days I have pulled out all of the heart shaped cutters and let them express their toddler love.

After the girls helped me place the ingredients for pizza dough in the bread machine we went out for the day. That evening they helped me roll out the dough and cut the heart shapes before we baked the crusts for 10 minutes. Maurene was more fond of snacking on the spare dough than actually rolling it flat. The baked crusts were then loaded with our favorite pizza toppings: Canadian bacon and pineapple.

Impossible to keep off a white gi.

Maurene's turn.

Audrey as Vanna.

We have had a lot of fun with this over the last weeks. This is the first year the girls have been able to participate in holiday themes. Audrey is in school now so there will be an exchange of Valentine's as well. Check back to see how that goes and what she passes out.

Muffin Tin Monday, #SundaySupper

2012-01-30T07:00:00.000-06:00

Taco Bar, veggie sides.

We had our Muffin Tin Monday meal for #SundaySupper. Even though it was at east 12 hours early it was still well received. The girl's father had been asking for tacos for dinner for several weeks now. While planning the meal I came up with the idea to serve a taco bar and allow the girls to serve themselves as they see fit.

I was speaking with a friend recently about my desire to start serving family style meals to allow the girls to make their own food choices. She stated that the thing keeping her from doing likewise was doing all the extra dishes. I had to concede the point.

Serving a few dinners Muffin Tin style might allow the girls the freedom to serve themselves while keeping mom from being a slave to the dishwasher.

Self serve family-style dinner.

Unlike usual, I did not have the girls help much with this meal. They were busy in the shop with daddy helping him build shelves. Maurene came and helped set the table. The girls served themselves when it was dinnertime. I placed the tins in front of them and allowed them to help themselves.

The taco bar was a success. The girls served themselves mini tacos using Baked Lays Scoops. They were not very adventurous but that is not surprising given that this was the first time they had this meal. I offered chopped tomato, shredded cabbage, flat-leaf parsley, red onion, orange sweet pepper, black beans, avocado, brown rice, mild salsa, peach salsa, yogurt, ground turkey breast, and cheese.

It was amazing. I believe it will be a new family favorite. The girl's daddy exclaimed his love of tacos several times throughout the meal.

Check out the other fabulous Muffin Tin Monday meals to see the power of a tin and a toddler.

#SundaySupper Pictures

2012-01-29T19:24:00.002-06:00

Post to follow. Here are pictures from tonight's #SundaySupper:

Taco Bar.

Loading a mini taco.

Enjoying!

Local Edition, Good Food

2012-01-28T23:53:00.001-06:00

I found this unpublished post when going through the drafts folder. I have no idea why it was never published. This is from the Kaw Valley Farm Tour last October. We only had time to visit two farms because Audrey and Maurene's grandma was visiting. I made sure that one of the trips was to the dairy.

The girls finally were able to visit with the cows at the Iwig Dairy. Audrey named one of the numbered cows after herself. And she was able to feed a calf.

Number 244 is now called Audrey.

Just big bottles of milk.

This trip filled a wish of Audrey's to visit the dairy cows. She had wanted to see them milked but once she was able to feed the calf she was happy. She still speaks of the dairy cow, Cocoa, she met last summer in Minnesota.

Five Fun Soups

2012-01-27T19:23:00.000-06:00

Making Popcorn Soup.

With the weather turning a little cooler recently we have started pulling out our soup recipes. Soups are fun ways to get a lot of good ingredients into one bowl. And the girls love making them. However, with any liquid and young children, they can be messy. Be prepared but enjoy!

Monster Soup. This amazing recipe tastes like guacamole soup. For the grown ups I make sure to add tortilla strips to the top and a little chopped tomato.
Stone Soup is a current favorite. The best parts about this recipe are the literature tie-in and the versatile ingredient list.
Split Pea Soup. I have to admit, this one is hit and miss. Sometimes they eat it and other times it is not the best received meal. But we have it several times during the winter as I love it. Best after the holidays with the leftover ham bone.
Apple Soup. This one goes really well with grilled cheese sandwiches. We have this more in the fall but it is a great winter soup as well.
Popcorn soup. This is usually a corn based soup but since the best part is the addition of popcorn at the table you could use any base. Give the popcorn trick a try as it is fabulous. The girls love to hear it sizzle into the soup.

What are your favorite child-friendly soups? We could always use more for our rotation.

Pink Porridge

2012-01-26T17:19:00.002-06:00

Yummy pink porridge.

Audrey asked for porridge one time a little while back. I told her I would be happy to serve her some. We were in the car at the time and she had time to ask a lot of questions. She finally asked if porridge was oatmeal. I told her yes and she was happy. The next time I had oatmeal for breakfast she asked for a bowl. A small bowl was enough to satisfy her curiosity.

In the winter I have oatmeal for almost every breakfast. It is warm and filling. Oftentimes Audrey asks for her own bowl. I still just give her a small serving and she usually eats it all. That is why when I found a Pink Porridge recipe I knew the girls would love it. And there are no beets in this meal!

We cooked a serving of oatmeal in the microwave with twice as much liquid. Next time instead of 2 cups I will use 1 1/2 for 1/2 cup dried oats. Cook 2-4 minutes and let sit for five. Make sure it is cooked or cook for a few more minutes, if needed. Once cooked and slightly cooled place in a blender or food processor with 1/2 cup raspberries. Blend until smooth. Pour into bowls and top with additional raspberries. Or blueberries if you are out of raspberries.

Adding oats.

Placing raspberries into blender.

What's For Lunch Wednesday, Caterpillars

2012-01-25T17:13:00.002-06:00

Not so hungry caterpillar.

The girls love grapes. A friend pinned a really cute caterpillar idea using green grapes so I decided to share it with the girls for lunch. They added fruit, crackers, and cheese to the container for a simple yummy lunch.

I cut in half a bamboo skewer for the girls to use as a caterpillar body. A little cream cheese held on the raisin halves they used for eyes. Maurene said caterpillars like cheese so she placed hers on top of the cheese.

Making their creations.

Check out what the other moms are serving this week at Bentolunch.net for What's For Lunch Wednesday.

Valentine's Frozen Banana Ice Cream

2012-01-24T12:36:00.001-06:00

So wrapped up in your love.

The girls and I made Mummy Cones for Halloween during Eat Dessert First Month. Audrey still speaks fondly of that month and we still eat dessert first on occasion. Recently Audrey asked if we could make Mummy Cones again and I decided that they should be red for Valentine's Day.

The girls love anything pink or red. They have been known to try food simply because it is a pretty color. We took our regular Frozen Banana Ice Cream and added a 2 tbsp frozen cube of pureed beets.

They loved it. The ice cream came out the prefect color and there is no beet taste. We added 1 tsp of cocoa powder to give it a little more than banana flavor but not enough to color it.

Audrey helped me make the banana ice cream and then decorate the mummy. Maurene had to be called to the table to enjoy her snack as she was too busy playing with her new train tracks.

For decorating I made a simple frosting with plain yogurt and powdered sugar. We had candy eyes left over from the first mummy we made. The girls loved eating pink ice cream and devoured the entire cones. I felt good feeding them a treat made with much less sugar and (other than the mummy eyes) no artificial dyes.

Being silly while we were decorating.

I think she liked it.

Muffin Tin Monday, Frozen Banana Ice Cream

2012-01-23T10:16:00.003-06:00

Blackberries, cheese, pretzels, crackers, strawberries, grapes, banana ice cream.

I wonder how long I will be able to serve frozen pureed bananas to the girls and call it ice cream. So far they still love it. We add a little unsweetened cocoa powder and it is chocolate ice cream. Even in the winter they love this treat.

You can add any fruit you want to flavor according to your child's tastes. Try strawberry, raspberry, or blackberry for a fun twist.

Here are the girls helping make the ice cream. We add about 3 cups of frozen banana chunks and 2 tbsp of milk. For flavor a tbsp or two of powdered cocoa will do the trick.

Blending bananas.

Filling tins.

Enjoying ice cream.

Check out what the other families are enjoying for Muffin Tin Monday. It is always a treat to see the fabulous meals.

Five Fun Kitchen Crafts

2012-01-21T17:21:00.002-06:00

Making bird biscuits.

On occasion we use our kitchen to make stuff that is not edible. The girls love these activities almost more than projects that involve yummy food.

Crazy Crayons. We made these a while back but I have seen them on Pinterest recently in smaller form as Valentine's gifts. Cute either way.
Sidewalk Paint. I got this idea from Pinterest as well. No, I am not addicted. We used it recently when the weather was nice. I might even let the girls do it inside the garage with the door down when it is cold. They loved it.
Play Dough. I got our recipe from our Parents as Teachers coordinator. I love all of their ideas. My girls had so much fun when our coordinator would visit.
Bird Feeder. Audrey loves animals. All animals. During the winter she wants to feed the birds and the summer she loves the Farmers Market with all of the visiting dogs. It keeps her happy so I do not have to have a furry creature in my home.
Bath Crayons. So simple and my girls love to draw on the tub. They go through the store bought ones so fast I started making these with them to keep up with the fun. Now they can have loads of bath time fun.

Valentine's Juice Jigglers

2012-01-19T15:43:00.000-06:00

I wish I was a better photographer or even a better cook. These would look so cute if I could get them to square off and set on the plate smartly.

It did not matter to Maurene, she still loved making them. The girls also loved eating them. I was a little uncertain as they have turned their noses up to Jello before. This is the first time I have made anything from scratch instead of using a pre-flavored box. It was a success! You should try this for a fun Valentine's treat. Maybe you will have better luck making Jiggler Squares.

Juice Jigglers

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
4 cups juice
2 cups cut up fruit

Pour gelatin into a pan and add 1 cup juice. Let set for 2 minutes so the gelatin can plump. Add remaining juice and heat on medium for about 6 minutes or until gelatin is clear. I used cherry juice so I just cooked for the 6 minutes. Place in a bowl and set in the fridge for 1 hour, stirring every 5-10 minutes. Add fruit after gelatin is set up a bit and pour into a 8 x 8 dish. Chill for 4 hours or overnight. Serve and enjoy!

Maurene's Tasks:

Pour gelatin into pan
Help measure and add juice
Stir pot
Pour fruit into bowl

Mom's Tasks:

Gather ingredients
Cut fruit
Assist Maurene
Stir gelatin

Wordless Wednesday, Attack!

2012-01-18T13:00:00.000-06:00

Cucumber cravings can hit when you least expect.

What's For Lunch Wednesday, Summer Snowman

2012-01-18T07:00:00.000-06:00

Maurene helped me make lunches with snowmen cut out of watermelon. We were willing the snow to come through our use of warm weather fruit, and it finally did. Although, it was not of sufficient depth to play with and the wind was bitter cold. Maybe we will make snowmen lunches again and get enough snow for the girls to actually make a real snowman.

This lunch contains a watermelon snowman, whole wheat butter crackers, dried apricots, red grapes, pretzel sticks, and raisins. The girls loved this lunch although Maurene simply nibbled the snowman a little. She is hit or miss with watermelon and cantaloupe.

Such attention to detail.

Trying to add all of the grapes.

Check out the other wonderful Bento Lunches at What's For Lunch Wednesday.

Valentine Natural Red Dyed Cake Balls

2012-01-17T07:30:00.000-06:00

The girls helped me make fun red cake balls. Red was my choice. They love coloring anything and have no idea the holiday of love is approaching. So I got out the ingredients for our favorite muffin recipe to see if it would work in Audrey's new cake ball maker. Mostly I was curious if we could bake healthier treats in 4 minutes. Our muffin batter is half whole wheat and only contains 2 tbsp of added fat.

It worked. In order to cover the taste of the beet we tweeked the recipe slightly by using pineapple juice in place of milk and adding 1 tsp of vanilla extract. To our basic muffin recipe we added 3 tbsp of pureed beets. Once she saw the pineapple juice Audrey got thirsty while stirring in the beet puree.

We also baked some in our mini muffin pan for 13 minutes at 350F. I have to admit that is was fun making the muffin balls because they baked up so quick. They are not the most beautiful treats but after you decorate them they pass just fine.

Muffin/Cake Balls.

With white chocolate coating.

Next time I think we will just roll these in a little glaze and add some chopped nuts to keep them from being sticky. The candy coating made the muffin ball too sweet. With the candy coating these would be good as a nice treat for Valentine's Day.

Eager to get started.

Sorry about the quality of the photos. The finished product pictures were taken at 10pm after the girls were in bed. I need studio quality lighting somewhere in my house for taking pictures when it is a good time for me. I know many people only use natural lighting and I wish I could be one of them. I have young children. Maybe someday.

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Muffin Tin Monday, Cooking Party!

2012-01-16T07:00:00.000-06:00

Audrey invited friends over to share a Muffin Tin Monday lunch. We made a simple muffin batter and invited the kids to add their own flavorings. Since it was lunch we kept the selections to savory choices:

scrambled eggs
pureed spinach
grated cheese
pork sausage
crumbled bacon
chopped tomato

These selections went over well and the children readily placed additions in their small bowl of batter. We cooked the muffins and then set them out in the dining room, picnic style. That is when chaos took over. Not many of the children ended up eating but I am not sure if it was the noise or the new lunch item. It might also have been that they devoured the muffins I baked the previous night and were not hungry.

Showing me her muffin creation.

Check out the other Muffin Tin Monday creations to see if others had a more positive experience this week.

And Happy MLK Day! We are taking the day off (Audrey is out of school anyway) and enjoying the day. Starting with a nice breakfast celebrating the life of Dr. King. Audrey has learned a few things in school and we checked out a book at the library. Her daddy came into the bedroom after reading it to her and shook his head. When I asked his problem he said he could not come up with a good way to explain segregation to a four year old.

Menu Planning Week Three

2012-01-15T08:25:00.000-06:00

Helping make Glazed Pork Chops.

This week promises to be fun as we are testing a few new recipes. MOMables generously offered us access to their menu plan and we will be packing some of their lunches this week as well as making a few dinners from their out of school menu. Check out their site to learn more about this fabulous service that takes the guess work and time out of packing lunches for your children.

Monday

Breakfast - Pumpkin Pie Muffins
Lunch - Muffin Tin Monday
Dinner - Spaghetti and Tomato Sauce, peas, cantaloupe
Snack - Granola Bars

Tuesday

Breakfast - Cottage Cheese Pancakes (Eat, Move, Play)
Lunch - Peanut Butter & Banana Crepes (MOMables)
Dinner - Grilled Cheese & Ham sandwiches, Potato Soup
Snack - Ants on a log

Wednesday

Breakfast - Bagels & Fruit
Lunch - Pretzel Bites (Whole Family Cookbook)
Dinner - Glazed Pork Chops, carrots, watermelon
Snack - Dried fruit & crackers

Thursday

Breakfast - Instant Oatmeal (Chop Chop)
Lunch - Pizza Swords (MOMables)
Dinner - Stuffed Turkey Burgers (MOMables)
Snack - Cheese & Pretzel Bites

Friday

Breakfast - Cereal & fruit
Lunch - Cream cheese sandwich cutouts
Dinner - Baked Apricot Chicken (MOMables), rice, green beans
Snack - Edamame dip with veggies

Saturday

Breakfast - PB&J French Toast
Lunch - Quesadilla, carrots & cucumber
Dinner - Sweet Curry Chicken, broccoli, noddles
Snack - Fruit Cookies

Sunday

Breakfast - Mini Frittatas (Eat, Move, Play)
Lunch - Turkey wraps
Dinner - Maple Soy Tuna Steaks (MOMables)
Snack - Super Hero Muffins

This is our basic plan. We usually have to make adjustments when something comes up or when mom does not feel like cooking. I try to prep as much as I can ahead of time but even this can be a challenge when we have busy weeks like this one promises to be.

What are you eating this week? Anything new?

Local Edition, Winter Market

2012-01-14T07:00:00.000-06:00

The girls keep asking about the Farmers Market every Saturday. It was easy enough to fill our weekends between the last market and the end of the year with Audrey's birthday, party, and numerous holiday events. Now that we have nothing happening on Saturdays the girls are begging for a market trip.

Fortunately for them The City Market is open year round and is only an hour drive from our home. We pack snacks, a few dvds, and our reusable shopping bags and hit the road.

My healthy snacks are no match for the local baked cookies at one of the first booths we come across so I let them each get a cookie. This sustains them for the rest of the trip so they can order me to find the foods they crave.

The City Market is surrounded by several vendors of spices, herbs, and produce, none of which is local. After we stock up on spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes, lettuce, and cabbage the girls spot bananas. We were out of bananas so I let them pick us a bunch. Then Audrey demanded we get a tomato. She does not like tomatoes. A large stack of eggplant catch her eye as well but I put my foot down as our menu is already set for the week.

It was an incredibly enjoyable trip. I even purchased Hungarian Paprika, a first for me. I keep reading about it in recipes and think it might be fun to try.

I doubt we make the trip to The City Market again next week but we will be returning soon. And April will be here soon enough bringing the Downtown Market back to Lawrence.

Five Favorite Books about Food

2012-01-13T17:13:00.001-06:00

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake

Audrey and Maurene love to read. It is an activity they come by naturally as their father and I read voraciously. Since we have been cooking they have been drawn to books about food as well as their regular favorites. Here is a short list of five of their favorites:

Charlie and Lola's I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato. This book is fabulous. It is about a picky eater and how her older brother tricks her into trying new foods.
The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Junk Food. Audrey loves how the bears learn about healthy eating. I think she really relates to Brother and Sister Bear.
Stone Soup. Audrey loved this book so much she had a Stone Soup birthday party. All of her friends brought a vegetable to share.
If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. One of my friends gave Audrey this book and stuffed cat for her second birthday. She loves that stuffed animal and keeps it on her lap as we read the story. And then the girls love to make cupcakes. Usually we make muffins and I tell them they are cupcakes.
The Rainbow Bunch. This is a great story about children who do not eat healthy and feel poorly. When they eat by the rainbow they feel better and are happy. Audrey loves rainbows and loves to read this book.

What are your favorite books about food? We would love more great books to read.

Fruit Salad, Yummy Yummy!

2012-01-12T08:01:00.002-06:00

Stirring in yogurt.

The Wiggles sing a song about fruit salad that the girls adore. Any time I tell the girls we are having fruit salad they sing part of the song. It's really cute.

We take fresh or frozen fruit and mix cut up pieces in a bowl with flavored yogurt. This is a great task for a young helper to complete while you are working on a main course. Place the fruit you want cut up or placed in the salad in front of your helper and a larger bowl than you need. Let her select how much of each kind to add. Then give her a small container of her choice of flavored yogurt.

Audrey's tasks:

Stem strawberries and cut
Add assorted other berries and grapes
Stir in yogurt

Mom's tasks:

Gather ingredients
Assist Audrey

This is always a well received side dish. If you make sure your yogurt is low-sugar and low fat it is a very healthy dish.

Go ahead, get the Wiggles CD and then make Fruit Salad with your young helper.

What's For Lunch Wednesday, Cracker Sammies

2012-01-11T06:30:00.000-06:00

Showing off her lunch.

I set out lunchables style cracker stacks for Audrey to place in the lunch container. She decided to sandwich them instead and placed them in a tall stack. With the help of the fruit pilled around the crackers she was able to get them to stay stacked.

We packed up and headed to the park. This was during one of the 60+ weather days we have had recently. No complaints, we love having picnics at the park. We were at the park for hours instead of being stuck at home.

Stacking.

The girls are starting to eat better when we pack meals. This lunch was devoured. It helps that the girls love lunchables stacks and fruit. Next week I am going to try to get some new lunch options into their containers and their tummies. If I market the items right there should be no problem.

Finished product.

This lunch was submitted to bentolunch.net for What's For Lunch Wednesday. There are always many great lunch ideas posted. Join us! Even if you do not have a blog you can take pictures and post to Flickr.

Natural Dyed Rainbow Muffins

2012-01-10T07:30:00.000-06:00

We are full swing into our new year and trying to eat healthy. One of the treats the girls love most is muffins. I set about working on some new recipes to make muffins yummy and a little healthier. We started by adding some purees, Sneaky Chef style, to color and add nutrients to a favorite recipe.

First the recipe:

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar (we used raw)
1 egg
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Melt butter in a small bowl, add egg, applesauce and sugar and stir to combine. Add milk and butter mixture to dry ingredients. Stir till just combined. Bake in greased muffin tins at 350F for 20 minutes.

I added another step by dividing the batter into 6 small bowls and adding 2 tbsp of dye to each. Then I stirred and baked the muffins. The picture shows the large muffin tins but I ended up making a second batch after the girls went to bed with the mini muffin tins. We tried to layer the first batch and that did not work because the batter was too thick.

Stirring in the purees.

The second time around I placed each color in a separate tin and baked for 12-14 minutes. The result was good but not great. It was late so I put the muffins on a plate, covered them loosely, and went to bed.

Because he was already up working, the girl's daddy fed them breakfast. They asked for the muffins and he gladly handed them out, not knowing I was not satisfied with the result. They ate several.

Later that morning we had a few friends over to cook with us and the plate of muffins was still on the table. The children climbed up and started in on them. They were kind enough to leave me a few. But not any of the spinach or beet. I have a few pineapple and one carrot, the rest are gone.

The recipe does still need a little work but it is better than I thought. Next batch I will add 1-2 tsp almond extract to the batter. I think that will do it.

Spinach, blackberry, beet, carrot, and pineapple muffins.

I messed up the red cabbage so I did not end up with a blue muffin. Now that I understand the process more I will get it right next time. These muffins are a great source of whole wheat and have very little fat and sugar. You can add anything you want along with the puree to up the nutritional value of the muffin. Scrambled eggs, bacon bits, cheese, banana, raisins, strawberries, and blueberries are a few items we have enjoyed in this batter.

What would you add?

*UPDATE*

I have been asked to include information about the purees. The girls did not help me make them so I glossed over that part. For each vegetable (beet, carrot) except spinach I boiled them until they were tender. Then I tossed them in a blender with a little of their boiling liquid. Blend and continue to add liquid until they are baby food consistency. I tossed the baby spinach in the blender with a little liquid until completely pureed. The pineapple I pureed in its own juice and the blackberries I just added a little water. Fruits with seeds are best pushed through a sieve but I was too lazy to do so this time. It showed when the blackberry seeds got stuck in your teeth.

Next time I am working on the red cabbage to attempt blue. You boil the cabbage and then mix the juice with something alkaline like baking soda. I may have to try spinach as the baking soda is not supposed to work well in a hot environment. Check back with me to see if it worked!

I added this to Tip Junkie's Tip Me Tuesday linkup. And Fun Stuff Fridays on Toys In The Dryer. Check out the fabulous projects!

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Muffin Tin Monday, Nibble Tray

2012-01-09T00:30:00.000-06:00

Today's Muffin Tin Monday Lunch is brought to you by a mother who is overworked and out of ideas. Sponsored in part by two active and energetic children and one hard working father.

I chopped up some fruits and veggies and added some other nibbles to a plate. They got yogurt and applesauce first. Then I invited each girl to come up and fill their tin. This week the tins did not stay segregated like the usually do. Integrated tins are a first for us.

Plate of bounty.

Audrey's tin.

Maurene's tin (notice all the bananas).

Check out the other fun meal ideas at Muffin Tin Monday. You too can add a meal even if you are not a blogger. Take a picture and upload it to flickr or photobucket. Then post the photo link to share your fabulous meal.

Menu Planning, Week Two

2012-01-08T15:05:00.000-06:00

We did pretty good with our menu this past week. The only problem is that I missed putting a few ingredients on the shopping list and had to make a second trip to the store. Planning saves time because dinner is decided, shopped for, and ready to prepare.