Month: July 2016

Recipe Swaps! – Fail

Midwest Mommy

I have been making a lot of crackers for Mr Picky lately. Meaning, yes he is getting his veggies, but he is also getting lots of oil and flour. I know oil and flour are not necessarily bad for him, but I have been wondering is there any way I can make these crackers slightly more healthy?

I usually try to use the rule of – only change one thing at a time, but this time I disregarded that rule. After doing a little googling, I found there are many things you can use to replace oil (applesauce, puree prunes, etc). I decided to swap the oil for applesauce and i also swapped 1/2 the white flour with quinoa flour. I have never used applesauce instead of oil and I have never baked/cooked with any other type of flour besides white flour.

That being said…. here are my conclusions:

  • In short: it didn’t work.  🙁
  • Applesauce makes the dough much stickier (and a little smelly).  It made it so sticky that even after baking, the crackers were completely stuck to the pan.  It took me a good hour to get my pan useable again, and well…. Mr Picky did not get any crackers.

soo… no pictures this time, but I would consider this change to my recipe and Epic Fail!  I will try again later this week, and I am thinking I will go back to my standard rule of: only make 1 change at a time.

So next time, maybe I will just try the quinoa flour or maybe I will just try a replacement for oil.

Do you have any swaps you make in recipes?  I would be curious to hear them!  Also, if you have any oil swaps that may work for my crackers, PLEASE let me know!

New Recipe – Green Bean Crackers

Midwest Mommy

As I have mentioned before, I really have a hard time getting Mr Picky to eat his veggies. Crackers and Packets are my go to. Today I decided to try a new recipe. I love the Spinach Crackers, but I feel like often the only veggie he gets is spinach. So today I decided to try green bean crackers, and good news – they worked!! Sneaking veggies into toddlers is a difficult task so finding something that works is like a dream come true!

Here is the recipe if you would like to try them with your little one:

  • Handful of frozen green beans (I used about half a mini cuisinart full – picture below)
  • 1/4 cup Olive Oil 
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 Tablespoon water
  • 1 Cup Flour

Directions:

  • Pre-heat oven to 350
  • chop green beans as small as possible in food processor

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  • add oil, baking soda, water, and mix again
  • add flour slowly
  • take dough out of food processor and knead the dough in bowl until it feels very dough like

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  • flour cookie sheet and rolling pin
    • this dough is very sticky so this is very important!
  • roll out dough on cookie sheet

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  • cut dough with pizza cutter into little squares and poke each piece with a fork to help prevent to dough from bubbling while baking
  • cook in oven for 20 minutes
  • move crackers to a cooling rack once they are finished cooking

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  • Ta-da! You now have green bean crackers!

What tips or tricks do you have for sneaking veggies into your toddler?  I would love to try them out!

 

 

Travel Tips!

Midwest Mommy

The summer tends to be a time for travel for us. Either it’s cabin trips, weekend get-aways, or even overnights with friends. This summer it seems like we have stayed in hotels more than friends houses or cabins.  Hotels have tended to be more difficult for us than friends houses or cabins, because often those places are already baby proofed and there is plenty for the little ones to do.

Here are my top 5 tips for traveling with a wild 1.5 year old (in no particular order):

  1. Baby proof as much as you can. It makes life in the hotel so much easier for Mom, Dad, and your Mr. Picky. We have found when we don’t baby proof, we spend most of our time in the room trying to divert his attention (which doesn’t work when he really just wants to slam the tv stand doors shut over and over).
  2.  If possible- stay in hotel with multiple rooms. Places like the Residence Inn or Comfort Suites have been great for us. We try to rent a two bedroom (when the price is reasonable). This allows us to put the little one down to bed and still hang out and have a little vacation of our own.
  3. Bring enough snacks. When you have a picky toddler, you never know what they will or won’t eat so having snacks on hand is key.
  4. Find kid friendly places to take them during the day – helps wear them out! We usually try to find a park or open grass area to run around for awhile after site-seeing.
  5. Stay on Schedule as much as possible. I know this isn’t important for every kid, but for ours it is extremely important. We have found we can have a lot more fun on vacation if he stays on his regular schedule. Off Schedule = Crabby Toddler and Crabby Toddler = Crabby Parents.
  • Bonus Tip- If traveling by car- pack all of your little ones stuff in a large plastic storage container (like the ones you store your Christmas decorations in). We have found this the easiest way to pack the most amount of stuff in the smallest amount of space, which is a good thing because we always tend to overpack!

I am always looking for tips to help make traveling with my little one easier! What are your favorite travel tips?

Stay tuned to hear about some of our favorite midwest adventures!

Spinach Crackers

Midwest Mommy

Mr Picky decided today that he was no longer going to eat any of the foods he ate last week. So I figured its time to pull out the crackers. Crackers are always a win in our house with Mr Picky and they are a win with Mom when they have spinach in them.

I wish I could remember where the original Spinach Cracker recipe came from so I could credit them, but I have made my own spin on it. There are tons of Spinach cracker recipes online but this one tends to be my favorite. Its quick, simple, and so easy!

First preheat the over to 375.

Next:

Mix these 6 ingredients together in a food processor or blender.  I use a mini cuisinart food processor and it works great.

1/2 cup fresh spinach

1/8 cup grapeseed oil

1/8 cup coconut oil

1 tablespoon olive oil

2.5 tablespoons of water

1/2 tsp baking powder

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Then add:

1 cup flour

Slowly mix the flour into the spinach goo.  I put 1/4 cup of flour into the cuisinart and mix and keep doing that until the entire cup is gone and the spinach goo is turning into more of a dough.  You may need to take the dough out and knead it in a bowl until it tuns into a spinach dough ball.

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Sprinkle flour on the pan to prevent sticking and then roll the dough with a rolling pin into a thin layer.  I also flour the rolling pin to prevent sticking.  My dough never quite gets rolled out into a perfect square.  After it is all rolled out, use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into nice little squares – or whatever shape your Mr Picky wants.

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Finally – Bake for 17-20 minutes and ta-da – you have spinach crackers!

Mr Picky is going to be so happy when he wakes up from his nap!

baked crackers

Packets for my picky eater

Midwest Mommy

Living with a picky toddler can sure make life seem more difficult than it truly is. I recently found that Mr Picky will eat squeeze packets…. these are now one of the what seems like 3 foods he will eat. I love that he will eat these packets because it is an easy way to get some fruits and veggies into his system. That being said… those little buggers are expensive! I thought, there has to be a better way! Sure enough, there was! After searching what felt like the entire internet and reading every reviews possible, I decided to try Natures Little Squeeze reusable packets…. and the review were right! (https://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Food-Pouch-Pack-Homemade/dp/B014UC3AC8/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1467331676&sr=8-1&keywords=weesprout) These are great! and I LOVE that I know exactly what is in the packets and what he is eating!

full picture of packet

A few other added bonuses are that they have a clear window so you can tell which packet is peaches and which is spinach. And my favorite feature….. they are DISHWASHER SAFE!  I found that if I spay them out quickly before I put them in the dishwater (top shelf only) that they clean up quite nicely!  They come in a pack of 6 so I have make enough food to fill them all and I put two in the fridge for school the next day and the remaining four in the freezer for the rest of the week.

packet window

I went with the 5 oz packets, but I think I will go back and buy the 3.4 oz packets. The only problem with the 5 oz packets is that they seem a little big for my 18 month olds hands. Also, he knows he needs to squeeze them but he doesn’t quite get it. He squeezes the middle of the packet without realizing that moves half the food up and half the food down.

To Sum it up:
Yes – I would buy these again
Yes – I would recommend these to friends

If any other mommy (or daddy) feels like those darn delicious squeeze packets are gonna make them go broke…. make sure you tell them about these great packets!

Stay Tuned for Recipes!!!