Posts Tagged ‘toddler food’

Egg-Wee-Muffin

Sunday, November 30th, 2008

egg-wee-muffin.jpg

Ooey, Gooey, Yummy! These are the words that come to mind when I make these heavenly breakfast treats. These aren’t like those Mc-whatever sandwiches; filled with all sorts of unhealthy additives and saturated fats, these are the real deal, only much more fresh and healthy.
You could even wrap them up, roll over to the park and have the perfect picnic.
These wee-muffins only took me minutes to prepare, and we all salivated in the test kitchen when we took the first bite. I was a little wary about giving Kenya such a mountain of a
sandwich, so I cut it into bite size pieces for him. He and I sat out in our front yard (our version of a picnic) and he let out a big “mmm’s” bite after bite.

Egg Wee-Muffins (Makes 2 Sandwiches)

2 Eggs
1 Tbsp Milk
2 Slices Canadian Bacon
1 Tsp Butter plus extra for English Muffin
2 slices cheddar cheese
2 Whole Wheat English Muffins

1. Whisk the egg and milk in a bowl.
2. In a saute pan over medium heat, cook canadian bacon 2 minutes on each side.
3. Remove to a plate add 1 tsp of butter to the pan
4. Cook the eggs for 2-3 minutes, forming the eggs into the shape of an omelette.
5. With a knife, cut the omelette in half.
6. Place cheese slices on top of each omelette in the pan and cover. Cook over low heat for 1-2 more minutes.
7. Toast english muffin and spread with butter
8. Place bacon, egg, & cheese in the English muffin and serve.

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

sweet-potato-pancakes-with-apple-sauce.jpg

In our house, everything is more fun when it’s a holiday. The entire time we were making these sweet potato pancakes, it felt 
like Hanukkah. Potato pancakes or latkes as they are also known, 
are most commonly eaten in the fall during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. Although it’s 
the middle of July and grossly hot outside, the sweet potatoes at this week’s farmer’s market were incredible and I couldn’t help wanting to 
make something with them.
I decided to pump up the nutritional value in my version by making them with 
sweet potatoes. It’s amazing how delicious the natural sweetness from the potato 
and the savory flavors from the onion and garlic marry into such a delectable 
treat. Kenya was digging them in a big and bad way.
Whenever I hand 
him something whole, especially like these big, crunchy circles he 
looks like he’s hit the food jack pot. 
For your little ones who are getting into dipping, I added apple sauce 
which no latke should ever go without!

Sweet Potato Pancakes (Make 20 Toddler Pancakes)

1 Sweet Potato, grated (this came out to be 3 cups)
2 Tbsp Whole Wheat Flour
2 Eggs, beaten
1/4 Tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 Tsp Onion Powder
Canola or Vegetable Oil, for pan searing
Apple Sauce

1. Place the first 5 ingredients in a bowl and throughly combine.
2. Place a large saute pan over low to medium heat.
3. Heat 3-4 Tbsp of oil, or enough to coat the bottom of the pan, in the saute pan for 30 seconds.
4. Add a heaping tablespoon of the sweet potato mixture to the pan. Pat down the mixture with the back of a fork and form into a thin, circular patty (you don’t want them to be thick or they won’t cook through).
5. Cook for 5 minutes or until they begin to turn golden. Flip them over.
6. Continue to cook for 5 more minutes or until the bottom is golden.
7. Place the patties on a paper towel lined plate and repeat with remaining sweet potato mixture.
8. Cool patties and serve.

Elvis Paninis

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

elvis-panini.jpg

I literally have hundreds of cookbooks I started collecting when I was a 
little girl and continue to this day. I admit that after all these years, it’s gotten a little out of 
control, but I love the endless variety and different styles of books out there. There are also some genuinely odd and funny ones as well. The Elvis 
Presley cookbook “Are you Hungry Tonight” is great. Just looking at the table 
of contents makes your arteries feel like they are clogging, but the one recipe Elvis is best 
know for is the “fried peanut butter and banana sandwich”. I’m not 
saying that it doesn’t sound incredibly delicious, but it’s not 
exactly one of the first dishes I would want to turn my son on to given the “fried” approach. So, always in service of trying healthy approaches to not-so-healthy classics, I think I came up with a good one: Mini Elvis Paninis.
I recently had over a group of 
little ones ranging from 15 months to 4 years old and they devoured 
these sandwiches faster then I could make them. Since I still haven’t 
given Kenya peanut butter (our Doctor recommended we wait until he’s over the age of 2 in case of allergies), I made his with almond butter (feel 
free to replace it with peanut, soy or cashew butter if that’s what your 
little one prefers). Almond butter is an ideal first nut for babies to 
try since it has a low allergic potential and almonds are packed with 
calcium, vitamins B and E. 
By using the panini press, the heat melted the banana and almond 
butter together while pressing the sandwich together for smaller 
mouths to get bigger bites. And….same great taste, no frying. These mini sandwiches are delicious and 
will give your little one tons of energy for playing.

Elvis Panini (make 4 mini sandwiches)

2 Piece Whole Wheat of Ezekiel Bread, 7 grain or cinnamon raisin
1 Tbsp Almond Butter
1/3 Banana, cut into several slices cut lengthwise

1. Spread almond butter on one side of one the bread and cover with 3 slices on banana.
2. Place in a panini press on medium/high heat (level 5)
3. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until sandwich is pressed and golden.
4. Cool throughly.
5. Cut into 4 squares and serve.