Super Quick and Healthy Toddler Breakfast Idea #4

Zucchini Bites

These could be used for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and Olivia just loves them!

(Sorry for the lack of sweet pictures. It was a 'start to install the baby gate. need to go to lowes. start completely over installing the baby gate. need to back to lowes. get the baby gate 70% complete. need to go to lowes one more time and give up at 9pm' kind of day.) 

These are similar to the baby food muffins, where you make them ahead of time and freeze them. 

2 grated zucchini (zucchinis? zuchini-eye?)
1 grated carrot
1 egg
1/3 cup cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs

Squeeze all the water you can out of the zucchini and carrots. Combine all ingredients and place in mini muffin cups and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. 

Put them in a labeled freezer bag and microwave for 25 seconds before serving.

These are also great if you need to sneak some vegetables into your husband's diet as well. 

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Five on Friday

1. Dan and I finished working out, and Dan grabs out the nutra ninja. This is the guy who never cooks, unless the grill is involved. If it even involves stirring, he usually declares it too much effort and moves on. 

K: Are you making a smoothie?
D: Yeah, you want one?
K: Yeah kinda. I don't know. What kind are you making? Are you adding a ton of protein to it?
Dan shoves a fistfull of cookies in the blender and grabs out the ice cream.
D: Wasn't planning to...

First of all, Dan. There's a difference between a smoothie and a milkshake. Secondly, immediately after working out??

Third, make me one after dinner tonight.

2. Olivia says "mo mo" for more, and I had her chanting "mo mo snow" on Monday night - it was the cutest thing ever. I think snow days are more fun with little ones.

3. I have this delicious chicken recipe where you mix maple syrup and mustard (I'll share it at some point) - and had Olivia help me measure and mix the two. "Help" aka pretend she's helping and hope she doesn't sling all of it across the kitchen. Then, the other day I was cooking and to keep her occupied I got out the measuring cups and gave them to her to play with. She got out the 1/4 cup, walked to the pantry and got out the maple syrup, pretend poured it into the cup, grabbed the 1/2 cup and starting banging on the fridge door for the mustard. It amazes me how much her little brain can absorb right now. She doesn't say much, which I think makes us underestimate how much she knows. 

4. Olivia went through the Hanna Andersson catalogue during her snack picking out the outfits she wants. I want them all too, Olivia.

5. Clearly none of these pictures are from today. Today it's cold as .. well ... I have no appropriate words. But cold. I live in Charlotte - I didn't sign up for this! Olivia is going stir crazy and we can't wait until we can get outside again. 

Dan wants credit for this outfit The only outfit he has picked out that works. He wants to shout it from the rooftops. You did okay, dude. Don't get too confident. I've seen your work.

Until we can get outside, no more mamarazzi. 

Super Quick and Healthy Toddler Breakfast Idea #3

Baby Food Muffins:

These are similar to last week in that they take a little bit of prep, but are ready in just seconds from the freezer. 

These can be made many different ways. 

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats
2.5 cups total of any combination of baby food 
(mashed banana, pumpkin, avocado, shredded zucchini, shredded carrots, applesauce, etc.) 

Olivia doesn't love these without something a little sweet, so I usually use applesauce or add some real maple syrup to them. Its a great way to sneak in lots of veggies! Just put them in mini muffin cups (fills 24 mini), and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes. 

Let them cool and put them in a labeled freezer safe bag. In the morning, microwave for 25 seconds and these muffins are ready to eat!

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Valentine's Day

I can finally show you guys the valentine's that Olivia made. I'm obsessed:

I'm totally that mom now. But this combines two of my favorite things: teeny tiny handprints and pictures of Olivia's face.

And the snack we made for her Valentine's play date.

(Kashi heart to heart, heart puffs and strawberry yogurt drops.) She had a blast with some of her favorite friends. And her only girlfriends!

The Valentine's I gave the moms:

And my sweet little Valentine herself:

It's been too cold to get good pictures outside, so these will have to do. 

We're going out to dinner tonight, since Dan's mom is in town. Hope you guys have a wonderful, heart filled, full of clashing pinks and way too much sugar, Valentine's day!

Want it Monday?

I've thought about doing a "Want It Wednesday" of things I see around the internet. But only some Wednesdays because otherwise thats a large commitment. Also, I have to say "wed-ness-day" to type Wednesday every time - and that gets hard.

BUT since some of these things will sell out prior to Wednesday, this is 'want it Monday.' Clearly everything is in shambles.

And so is our kitchen. 

I digress.

Have you seen these leather paci clips? If I knew someone with a baby boy, I'd get them right now. Paci clips were used daily by Olivia. Car seat, in public, daycare had to have a clip with a name on it. These are so perfect for a unique shower gift.

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This onesie. I love when people surprise the husband with their pregnancy announcement in a cute way. Wrapping this gender neutral garb in a box to tell him the news - I'm dying. Someone please do it!

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This watercolor map comes in over 40 colors. It would be awesome for nursery. Maybe with an "oh the places you'll go" sign. Or in an office or man cave.

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This shirt. This is my motto. No rest for the rad. No time to sleep. It's also become Olivia's motto. #mygirl

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Weekend Recap

First of all, I have to share this from last weekend. We have the Neato, robot vacuum. It does a pretty good job, and we talk about him like he's a member of the family. Him. It's male. Clearly.

When we had the superbowl party, which I have zero pictures of, we had Neato clean upstairs. After the party, I walked into our bathroom and found this. 

Is this a joke?

We're getting tee-peed by our vacuum cleaner?

Thanks, captain obvious. 

Dan and I were crying we were laughing so hard. Olivia played with the toilet paper enough for it to lay on the ground. It got stuck in Neato's brush. And our room got rolled. 

Day one of February. AND Punxsutawny Phil saw his shadow. Maybe 2015 isn't our year?

Kidding. Clearly. It's been 8 days and no one is deathly ill - my new lens came back all fixed from the Nikon doctor - and they are repairing our ceiling tomorrow. I guess ceiling repair could go terribly wrong, but that'd just be better blog material.

This weekend was beautiful so we spent as much time outside as possible.

Gigi (Dan's mom) is in town, so we took full advantage and went to Ruth's Chris for dinner Saturday night. 

And then we spent most of Sunday outside. With my love.

Nothing crazy happened. (Which is weird around here.) But now we're ready for spring even more. Hope you guys had a great weekend! They're never long enough. Am I right?

Super Quick and Healthy Toddler Breakfast Idea #2

Breakfast can be a challenging meal. Especially if your children are starving and you haven't had your coffee. Pretty soon you are putting orange juice in the dogs water bowl and giving your daughter an iPhone for breakfast.

I leave the house before Olivia wakes up. Dan has to feed her breakfast. I was very worried at first. This is the guy who decided to cook dinner for me in college once and made spaghettios mixed with canned peas. It was from his "a man, a can, a plan" cookbook. 

He would also eat rice and pasta for dinner. You know, variety. He's come a long way, but it never hurts to make breakfast an easy meal. Especially when both parents have to be at work early. 

So, for the next few Sundays, I'm going to share some incredibly quick (we're talking seconds), healthy ideas for toddler breakfasts. I realize 'healthy' is relative, but we like using real ingredients, and minimizing processed foods. Bonus points for a veggie.

"Pancakes" 

Take 6 eggs and 3 bananas and puree in the blender. You can add cinnamon, blueberries, etc. if you would like. You can then cook this just like pancake batter (it is delicious!).

But seriously. Who has time to make and flip pancakes in the morning? And not burn them. Or the whole house down.

I line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Pour in your entire blender of batter. Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes until the batter is set.

Let cool and then slice into squares. Place the squares in a labeled freezer bag and keep them in the freezer. (If you are having trouble with them sticking together, throw the pan full of squares in the freezer first, let freeze for 30 minutes .. or a couple days .. whenever you actually remember to take it out. Then place the squares in a bag).

In the mornings, simply microwave one for 20 seconds, and your little one is ready to eat some healthy pancakes!

I know it takes some prep, but we're talking 2 ingredients in the blender, and waiting for the oven to beep. You can do it!!

Then you have pancakes ready in just seconds in the mornings.

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Five on Friday

1. Dan attached his go-pro to the cozy coupe - and our neighbor's son, who is just a month older than Olivia pushed her all around the neighborhood. The video is adorable with them squealing and smiling. Apparently sitting in the car, getting pushed around is very tiring for Olivia.

2. Why are toddlers so cute in little one pieces? I didn't love Olivia in onesies as a baby, but now? I love them. Especially cable knit sweater ones. Where her outfit matches her snack trap.

3. Mean mugging in target. She is such a people watcher - and get's annoyed if I get in the way. Girl's gotta eavesdrop!

4. Before we even get into this one - yes, Dan dressed her. I had the outfit picked out and apparently the top doesn't fit her anymore. Dan did his best to find one that matches. Best. Apparently he really tried.

Our grocery store has cookies for the kids. Olivia insisted that her doll sit up front with her and share her cookie. Sweetest thing. 

5. We finally childproofed. It took Dan awhile to get this set up. But it was worth all of the time and effort. It's officially called 'the rubberband.' 

Don't hate. It keeps her out.

Super Quick and Healthy Toddler Breakfast Idea #1

Breakfast can be a challenging meal. Especially if your children are starving and you haven't had your coffee. Pretty soon you are putting orange juice in the dogs water bowl and giving your daughter an iPhone for breakfast.

I leave the house before Olivia wakes up. Dan has to feed her breakfast. I was very worried at first. This is the guy who decided to cook dinner for me in college once and made spaghettios mixed with canned peas. It was from his "a man, a can, a plan" cookbook. 

He would also eat rice and pasta for dinner. You know, variety. He's come a long way, but it never hurts to make breakfast an easy meal. Especially when both parents have to be at work early. 

So, for the next 6 or so Sundays, I'm going to share some incredibly quick (we're talking seconds), healthy ideas for toddler breakfasts. I realize 'healthy' is relative, but we like using real ingredients, and minimizing processed foods. Bonus points for a veggie.

The first one, and the most popular around here, are eggs in a mug. What?

My dad, the egg connoisseur, just taught me this. He's been holding back my whole life. 

Olivia is obsessed with scrambled eggs. But it takes a few minutes to make them, not to mention cleaning the hot pan. 

Just crack 2 eggs in a mug. Scramble the egg with a fork. Microwave for 1- 1.5 minutes, scrambling every thirty seconds. (Just don't over cook them).

We add a slice of cheese to the raw eggs before microwaving because Olivia loves cheese eggs. 

If you are feeling crazy, add some leftover meat or veggies from last night's dinner. But really, that's a little too crazy for us in the mornings. 

At least she's not eating an iPhone.

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