Foods for Little Fingers

I don't know what you guys are doing at your house, but over here we're eating. Don't worry, we're hitting the gym five times a week to compensate (well, I am. Laney, Mia and Mike don't really seem to gain weight despite their general pigginess.) Since we're stuck inside most of the time now, we've decided to have a little fun with our food. Here are three snacks we've enjoyed recently.

Pumpkin Cranberry Muffins
This muffin recipe been great for us. I overbought cranberry sauce and pumpkin puree for the holiday. Both have good nutrition. Combined with not-too-much sugar, no butter and whole wheat flour, this is a treat that works for breakfast, snack or a as a side with pork tenderloin and brussel sprouts (yes, do it.) I've usually make it with a little less than a can of cranberry sauce bc I sneak some as a spread for lunchtime turkey sandwiches!

3-3.5 cups of whole wheat flour (or AP, or a mixture depending on what your kids will eat)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
dash cloves, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice

1/2 to 1 cup of sugar-type thing, brown, honey, pure cane
1 can of pumpkin
1 can of cranberry sauce
2 eggs
1/3 cup veg oil or applesauce
dash of orange or grapefruit juice

One kid mixes the wet, one kid mixes the dry, one mommy combines it all and bakes in greased muffin tins at 350 until it's done. I think 20-25 minutes, you have to check with a toothpick.

Pretzel Bites
I don't like pretzels. I used a cup in Crispix Mix a few weeks back and now I've got almost a whole bag. Luckily, they seem to work at snacktime! I need to get more fat and cals into Miss Mia than that so here we fancied it up. Also, I wanted to use my snowman treat dish because it was snowing. So I had to make little bites of something.

pretzels
Hershey Kisses (caramel filled, yes.)
M&Ms

Let little fingers spend 20 minutes opening foil wrappers. Save wrappers to use as ornaments for tomorrow's construction paper Christmas tree. Arrange pretzels on cookie sheet. Top with Kisses. Bake at 300 for 3 minutes. Press M&Ms into kiss. Put on cute tray and offer to your husband upon his return from work. Watch husband not notice cute tray.

Banana Reindeer
I'm sure others have done this more intricately but I am neither artsy nor crafty so this is what I came up with for a healthy 2 minute snack project. Laney LOVED making these and both girls cleaned their plates without hesitation.

banana
nut butter
raisin
pretzels (yay! using them up!)

Slice a banana in half length wise and width wise (so you have four oblong pieces of banana). Use nut butter as glue for eyes and mouth made of raisins. Also attach pretzel antlers with nut butter. All set.


Cooking and art projects. Indoor playdates and good naps (ha.) This is what'll be going on for the next few months. Yes, we'd rather be outside--but hey, we're going to have fun anyway. Mia's old enough now (18 months!) to participate and Laney is just so crafty. Now if I can just come up with a few more ideas...