< Back Fall Fruit Dip Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Serves: 3-4 PDF download for printing Fruit Dip with a "turkey" face made from raisins and "turkey feather" apples for dipping. Ingredients For dip: ½ cup plain unsweetened yogurt ½ cup plain pumpkin puree 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice 1 teaspoon vanilla ¼ teaspoon salt 1 or 2 Tablespoons sweetener (maple syrup, brown sugar, white sugar (do not use any sugar if your child is less than 1 year of age) For dipping: Apple slices Raisins (for eyeballs) ** use caution: apple slices are a choking hazard for young children. Only serve apple slices if your child can eat them without choking. The dip can be eaten with a spoon if your child cannot eat the apples. Preparation Wisk dip ingredients together in a small bowl. Cut apples and arrange around the bowl. Cut part of an apple to make a beak and gobble. Place raisins, beak and gobble in the center of the dip bowl. Serve! Previous Next

< Back Emotional Toast Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Serves: 2 PDF download for printing Maybe these fun faces will help your child eat some veggies on their toast! Ingredients Whole wheat sandwich bread Reduced fat cream cheese (or hummus) 1 radish 1 cucumber 1 can sliced olives Preparation Toast whole wheat bread until firm. Top with low fat cream cheese or hummus. Add sliced olives, radishes and cucumbers to make different faces. You can bite the middles out of cucumbers (and bite them in half) to make the mouth shape. Experiment with any vegetables you have in your fridge or pantry. Try using egg salad or grated carrots for silly hair. Bonus: Read a book from the library about emotions like “The Feelings Book” by Todd Parr Previous Next

< Back Cottage Cheese Pancakes Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Serves: 10 pancakes PDF download for printing If your kids love bread, but you worry about them getting protein, give these pancakes a try! The cottage cheese and eggs add protein and calcium. Ingredients 3 eggs 1 cup cottage cheese (low fat) 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 Tablespoon white sugar ½ cup whole wheat flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt Preparation Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape the sides to ensure that all the flour has been added and blend again about 5 seconds. If you don’t have a blender, just put all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Heat a skillet on the stove over medium high heat. If you have an electric griddle, heat it to 400 degrees. Grease the pan with butter, oil or nonstick cooking spray. Pour about ¼ cup pancake batter onto the pan. Use a spoon or spatula to spread the batter out to make a thin pancake. This will help them cook better in the middle. Cook until bubbles form. If you did not use a blender in step 1, you might want to make the pancakes smaller so that they will be easier to turn. Turn pancakes when bubbles form and pop on the surface and the pancakes are brown on the bottom. Cook on the other side until the pancakes are cooked through the middle. You will have to test one to see when they are done. It should take about 3 minutes on each side. If the pancakes are burning before they are cooked in the middle, turn down the heat. Serve immediately. Previous Next

< Back Green Smoothie Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Serves: 2, 1 cup smoothies PDF download for printing If you make smoothies green from the start, your child won’t know anything different and will expect their smoothies to be green! Green veggies are full of vitamins and minerals that are important for growth. Because green veggies are hard for little kids to chew, I like to put them into smoothies. This yummy peanut butter banana-flavored smoothie is sure to be a hit! Recipe based on “classic green monster” from the “oh she glows” blog by Angela Liddon Ingredients 1 cup milk 1 ripe banana (previously peeled and frozen)* 1 cup packed spinach or kale (preferably frozen)** 2 Tablespoons peanut butter ¼ teaspoon cinnamon 3-4 ice cubes ½ teaspoon vanilla or almond extract Preparation Blend all ingredients on high speed in a blender. If you don’t have a high-powered blender, you might want to blend your spinach with the milk first. This will ensure that the spinach gets blended very well. Aadd your banana, ice cubes, and peanut butter after the spinach is pureed into the milk. I have found that adding ice cubes one at a time while the blender is going seems to work best when I’m not using a high-powered blender. 2. Drink immediately * I buy discounted ripe bananas at the grocery store, they are usually half-price. Then I peel them and keep them in a ziploc bag in my freezer and use them for smoothies and banana bread ** Start with spinach if you are new to green smoothies, it has almost no flavor. Kale can be bitter. I always keep a bag of spinach or kale in the freezer for smoothies. If you have a salad mix starting to go bad, you can just put it in the freezer and then put it into your smoothies later! Greens last for months in the freezer. Previous Next

< Back Polar Bear Pears Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Serves: 1-2 PDF download for printing A fun way to have fruit and cottage cheese for lunch Ingredients 2 canned pear halves 12 raisins ¼ cup cottage cheese 5 banana slices Preparation Place pear halves cut side down on a plate Have your child cut bananas Put the bananas on the bear for ears, hands and muzzle Place raisins to make eyes, a mouth and paws. You will have to bite the nose and mouth raisins to get them to the right shape. Enjoy your snack together! Try reading “Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You See” by Eric Carle after eating. Previous Next

< Back Hummus Lions Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Serves: 1 PDF download for printing Have you ever heard the phrase “In like a lion and out like a lamb?” Sometimes people use this phrase to describe the weather in the month of March. Try this lion shaped hummus plate to celebrate the month of March with you kids. Ingredients 1 small container hummus or 1 hummus recipe 1 carrot per person ¼ bell pepper per person Raisins or dried cranberries optional: whole grain crackers for dipping Preparation Make hummus following this recipe or purchase hummus. Place hummus on a plate in a circle. Cut the carrot into rounds then cut the rounds into ½ circles. If your child is less than 2, cook the carrot first so that your child doesn’t choke. Cut the bell pepper into small strips. Do not serve bell pepper to young children who could choke on it. Place carrots and peppers around the hummus to make a lion’s mane. Use the dried cranberries to make eyes, a nose and a mouth. You can bite or cut the dried cranberry to create a mouth shape. To eat, dip the bell pepper and carrots into the hummus. You could also serve with whole grain crackers or bread for dipping. Previous Next

< Back 30-Minute Peanut Noodles Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Serves: 6 PDF download for printing When my kids were young, this was one of my go-to recipes. We ate it once week for lunch just as most families eat mac and cheese regularly. It's packed with fiber from all the veggies and whole wheat noodles. Peanut butter is a favorite at our house, so peanut sauce is always a hit. Ingredients Peanut Sauce: ½ cup peanut butter ½ cup water 1 or 2 Tablespoons soy sauce 1 or 2 tablespoons brown sugar Juice of 1 lime Optional: grated fresh ginger (about 1 or 2 teaspoons) Optional: grated fresh garlic (about 1 clove) Noodles: 8 oz (½ of a 16 oz box) whole wheat spaghetti noodles 1 bag frozen stir fry vegetables 1 container extra-firm tofu Preparation Cook the noodles in boiling water according to package directions (about 7 minutes). During the last 2 minutes of cooking time, add the frozen vegetables to the pot. Cook until the veggies are warm and drain them with the noodles. While the noodles are cooking, prepare the tofu and peanut sauce. For the tofu: Cut the tofu brick into 4 equal slices, the slices should be a similar shape to a slice of bread. If desired, brown the tofu slices: Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil. When oil is hot, add tofu and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until brown. After browning, transfer slices to a cutting board and cut into bite-sized squares. Tofu is safe to eat raw if you don’t like cooking it. Simply cut it into squares and set aside until the noodles are done. For the peanut sauce: While tofu and noodles are cooking, combine peanut sauce ingredients in a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl (½ cup peanut butter, ½ cup water, 1 Tablespoon soy sauce, 1 Tablespoon brown sugar, juice of 1 lime, 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger, 1 minced clove garlic). It is okay to leave out the lime, ginger and garlic if you don’t have any, but it will taste much better with all of the ingredients. Microwave peanut sauce ingredients for 1 minute. Stir until combined Once everything is done, pour peanut sauce on top of the cooked noodles and vegetables. Stir so that the sauce covers everything and top with the tofu. Previous Next

< Back Tzatziki Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes Serves: 6 PDF download for printing This Mediterranean dip is like a healthier, grown up version of ranch. It's high in protein thanks to the greek yogurt. My kids love to eat it on stonefire naan bread or tortillas for lunch, dinner, or an afternoon snack. Ingredients ½ cup lowfat greek yogurt ½ cup sour cream 2 Tablespoons olive oil 2 teaspoons dry dill weed (not dill seed!) - you can use 2 tablespoons fresh dill leaves instead 1 garlic clove, mashed Juice from ½ of a lemon ¼ teaspoon salt (add more at the end if you want it saltier) 1 cucumber (preferably english, but regular is fine) Preparation Peel cucumber. Cut in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds. Cut into squares as small as you can make them and place in a bowl. Peel garlic. Chop as finely as you can and mash with the side of your knife to make a paste. OR use a garlic press to press the garlic. Cut lemon in half, squeeze the juice into a separate container so you can take out the seeds. Combine yogurt, sour cream, olive oil, dill weed, garlic, lemon, salt and cucumber into a medium sized bowl and stir. Serve with fresh veggies and pita bread. Previous Next

< Back No Flour Pumpkin Muffins Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Serves: 12 muffins PDF download for printing These muffins are EASY to make (just blend it all in the blender!) and super NUTRITIOUS. (1 muffin = 75% of your child’s protein needs for the DAY!). The peanut butter and eggs in this recipe provide zinc, iron and vitamin E, which are all important for healthy brain development. Because the muffins are high in healthy fats (from the peanut butter), they will keep you full for a looooong time. The first time I made them, I ate 3 muffins….and had no appetite the rest of the day! Just make sure you don’t serve them too close to dinner😉! Ingredients 1 ⅓ cups peanut butter ⅔ cup canned pumpkin 4 eggs ⅓ cup maple syrup (real or artificial), can sub honey (not for kids less than 1) or white sugar 2 Tablespoons pumpkin pie spice ⅛ teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ cup chocolate chips (optional, but the recipe is much yummier with them!) Nonstick spray (optional, but makes clean up easier) Preparation Preheat oven to 375 Put everything EXCEPT CHOCOLATE CHIPS in the blender. Blend on high until thoroughly blended. Stir in chocolate chips Spray 12 muffin cups with non-stick spray Fill muffin cups evenly (about ¾ full) Bake for 20 minutes I don’t know how well they store because we eat them ALL as soon as they come out of the oven! Previous Next

< Back Raspberry Cottage Cheese Smoothie Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 5 minutes Serves: 1 PDF download for printing ​ Ingredients ¾ cup milk ½ cup cottage cheese 1 banana (frozen) ½ cup frozen raspberries Preparation Blend in a high speed blender until combined. For more nutrition, add 1/2 cup spinach. Previous Next

< Back Veggie Noodle Soup Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Serves: 4-6 PDF download for printing ​ Ingredients 1-2 carrots 1 onion 1-3 stalks of celery 4 cups of water 3 teaspoons of chicken or vegetable broth 1 cup of pasta (it would be healthier if you used whole wheat pasta!) Optional Ingredient: 1 can white beans, rinsed, 1 cup extra firm tofu, chopped, or 1 can chicken, drained Preparation Cut carrot, onion and celery Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. When the oil is hot, add the carrot, onion and celery Cook over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes, until the onion is translucent but not brown. Pour in 4 cups of water, turn heat up to high until boiling Add 3 teaspoons of chicken boullion and stir Add 1 cup of pasta and stir so it doesn't stick to the pot Continue cooking on medium high/high heat until pasta softens (about 7-10 minutes) Serve it hot! If you want, at the end, add some beans or some tofu or cooked chicken Previous Next

< Back Turkey Toast Prep Time: 2 minutes Cook Time: 2 minutes Serves: 1 PDF download for printing Turkey Shaped Peanut Butter Toast Ingredients 1 slice whole wheat bread 1 teaspoon peanut butter 1 red apple 1 green apple 1 yellow apple 2 raisins Preparation Toast bread. Cut bread into a circle with the top of a cup Cut a head and neck out of the scraps Spread peanut butter on the turkey body (large circle piece of toast) Wash apples and cut into thin slices Arrange toast and apple slices to look like a turkey Add raisins for eyes and cut a triangle of bread crust or apple for a beak and gobble. ​ Apples can be choking hazards for children 2 years and younger. Please only serve this if your child is good at chewing and can eat apples without choking. If your child has a hard time chewing apples, you could use canned peaches and pears instead of the apple slices. Previous Next