This easy Spinach Basil Pesto is a great way to start cooking with kids. It's a super fast and easy recipe that they can do mostly by themselves! It's also loaded with spinach, and I swear your kids will give it two thumbs up as well 👍👍, spinach and all! Great for young chefs 3 years and up! Cooking with Kids - Spinach Basil Pesto This easy and super yummy Spinach Basil Pesto is one of my kids' favorite recipes to make! They literally want to make this pesto every week. Really.. they just want to make this pesto so they can have a reason to ask for pizza night😜. And since this recipe is loaded with spinach, I am all for it🙌! Parker (my youngest) isn't the biggest fan of spinach.. as in she will politely pick whatever spinach is on her plate and fling it right onto my plate🙄. But because she is in control of making this recipe and because pesto is so darn good, she will devour all-of-the spinach in this recipe! So if your little one is going through a ...
Toddler Dips, Spreads & Sauces
Veggie-Loaded Hummus Baby Food or Toddler Dip (recipe grows with your baby:)
This Veggie-Loaded Hummus Baby Food or Toddler Dip is an amazing recipe that grows with your baby! You can serve as a puree to baby or use it as a dip for baby-led weaning or for your toddler. Made with carrots, sweet potatoes and chickpeas, this recipe is so good that you will want to eat it as well! Veggie Hummus Baby Food or Toddler Dip A recipe that grows with your baby! For baby, serve this delicious puree as is. For a toddler version, you can add in a few more chickpeas along with a pinch of garlic and cumin and a drizzle of olive oil for a fun take on a veggie-loaded hummus. Serve with your toddler’s favorite cut veggies and fresh pita wedges for some dipping fun. For an adult version, (yes, I am seriously saying you should eat this baby and toddler food!, it's just that good:) you can smear the veggie hummus onto a tortilla and fill with slices of turkey, pepper slices, feta cheese and spinach, then roll it all up and cut in half for ...
3 Toddler Approved Yogurt Dips for Veggies
Struggling to get your toddler to eat their vegetables? Homemade yogurt dips for veggies to the rescue! These Three Kid-Approved Yogurt Dips for Veggies are easy, healthy, and delicious. Your toddlers and big kids will be so excited to dive in and chow down! Toddlers absolutely love flavorful dips for veggies, fruit, french toast sticks, crackers, fingers, you name it, toddlers love to dip anything and everything. I think this is partly due to the fact that they love making big ass messes, but I also think that they absolutely love being in charge. 'Meeeee, do it' is one of Parker's favorite phrases these days. It's fun, so fun. But when I give her a tasty dip, she goes crazy for it and will eat about a zillion more veggies then if I don't give her a dip at all. The reason, she's in charge - she can dip, not dip, eat her dip with a spoon (or her fingers) and she loves that freedom. It's a simple act, but somedays/anyday I'll do anything to get her to eat more veggies. These 3 ...
Carrot Hummus with Toasted Paprika Pita Chips
This Carrot Hummus with Toasted Paprika Pita Chips is a perfect addition to any family summer picnic. The Carrot Hummus is made with 7-simple ingredients and a jar of Beech-Nuts just carrot puree, which makes for a flavorful, smooth and nutrient packed dip. Serve with crispy homemade spiced pita chips and a side of cut veggies and you have yourself a picnic winner! It's official - I'm a soccer mom. Granted, I might not be a very good one, but nonetheless I have acquired the official soccer badge. Since, I wasn't a soccer player growing up (softball and tennis were more my thing) I didn't really know what to expect. So for Ellie's first soccer practice, which we were of course running late for, not to mention that I didn't even think about packing fancy folding chairs, a huge sports umbrella or even hoodies for us for when the weather decided to cloud over and rain on us. Nope. Not a chance! I have a lot to learn about being a soccer mom. But I did remember to bring the old ...
Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce
This Oven Roasted Tomato Sauce is thick, creamy and full of summer flavors. With a 5-minute prep time, it will easily become your family's favorite tomato sauce! I came up with this, now-family favorite, recipe out of pure l-a-z-i-n-e-s-s. A couple of months ago, my mom had "given" me a half a crate of fresh tomatoes, and I think we all know by now that when I say "given" I actually mean that I "took" the said tomatoes right off my moms kitchen counter. With a little wave and kiss, I loaded the girls and my tomatoes into my car and drove home. Looks like I am still playing the 20-and-in-collage card! I'm going with it as long as I can! Fast forward 5 days later and that crate of now almost too ripe tomatoes was still hanging around on my counter. I needed a plan. So I poured myself a very tall glass of wine, leaned against the kitchen counter and thought long and hard about what I wanted to make. I thought so long about it, that I may have actually fallen asleep standing in the ...
Strawberry Salsa
This simple 5-ingredient Strawberry Salsa will be a huge hit for all of your summer get-to-togethers for both the parents and kids!! Let's be honest, I am going to bring this 👆🏻👆🏻👆🏻Strawberry Salsa and a big bowl of chips to every get-to-together that I go to this summer! That is, if I can restrain myself and hide the bowl of salsa from the girls so we don't all end up eating the entire bowl before we even leave the house. We cannot-get-enough of this salsa! I'm pretty sure if I served this strawberry salsa for dinner with a big spoon and nothing else, the girls would be perfectly happy. So Rachel, if you are reading this, I call dibs on this dish for all of our Playhour to Happyhour kid parties 😜 But feel free to bring this Strawberry Rhubarb Margarita or this Strawberry Pomegranate Sangria!! Wait, too much strawberry food at a party?? Ummm.. never! This simple Strawberry Salsa has only 5-ingredients (most of which you probably have in your fridge right ...
Cherry + Almond Chia Seed Jam
This 4-ingredient Cherry + Almond Chia Seed Jam is full of flavor without using refined-sugar or any fancy canning equipment! Get ready, it's so good you will be spooning it onto everything you eat this week! Someone asked me recently how and when do I write my posts while I watch Parker (and Ellie if she isn't in school) all day? The answer is that I write most of the posts on this blog in an extremely frantic manner in the 2 precious hours that Parker takes an afternoon nap. First I eat lunch at mach-speed, then I pour myself my afternoon cup of coffee and enjoy a whole 3 minutes of Pinterest or Instagram scrolling before I hustle to my desk to write up a post <------- and yes, I am going to blame this fast pace writing for all of my spelling and grammatical errors;) That is on a good day, when Parker actually naps! Other days, I sit and listen to her talk the big talk for an hour before giving up and getting her from her room. Nothing gets done on those days. And boy, does ...
Healthy Honey Mustard
This 5-ingredient Healthy Honey Mustard is made with greek yogurt, honey, mustard and spices and will easily become your new favorite go-to dipping sauce for the entire family!! It's easy for me to say that my husband was not my first love. Neither were my girls. My first love, was in fact, honey mustard 😍 Love, oh sweet love. For the last 18 years I have had it bad for this sauce. At first, it was the version made with mayonnaise, a ton of honey and just a little mustard. I ate it with everything. Salads 👍🏻 Fries 👍🏻 Pita Sandwiches 👍🏻 Chicken Burgers 👍🏻 Carrot Sticks 👍🏻 Chicken Strips 👍🏻 Mostly just Chicken Strips 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 I was 17 at the time (don't you dare do the age math on that one:) so the diet wasn't all that amazing, but I would probably eat anything if I could dip it into honey mustard According to this future foodie, honey mustard was were it was at 👊🏻 Over the years, I tried dating other sauces. Ranch made a good attempt to win my heart. BBQ sauce ...
Healthy Ranch Dip
This thick and creamy Healthy Ranch Dip is the perfect thing for your little one to dip their carrots, broccoli or fingers into for a fun snack or meal accompaniment. It can be made in less then 5 minutes and is made from Greek yogurt, a smorgasbord of spices and a squeeze of lemon! Super easy, Super yummy! Most kiddos go through this phase where they like to dip everything and anything into a dip before they eat it. Which is great, because you can pretty much serve them anything and if you have a dip to go with it, they are completely content on eating it. Chicken, beef, fish, broccoli, peas, tomatoes and even green beans are all fair game if you have a dip on hand. Which I can totally relate to and I guess I am sttttiiillllllllllllll going through this phase:) Right now, I am completely into ranch. For my salads, for marinades, for dipping yumminess! It's my dipping jam. Well not my jam, but you know... arg. Never mind! Usually I get my thick and ...
Spiced Seed Butter
This creamy and smooth Spiced Seed Butter is the perfect alternative to any peanut or almond butter! Cinnamon, cloves and ginger are added to roasted sunflower seeds and quickly blended together for a seed butter you won't believe is nut free! A must have seed butter for any nut-free school or kiddo with a nut allergy. It's Friday! Let's get crazy!! And by crazy, I mean let's drink as much coffee as we possibly can so after the kids go to bed, we can stay up late and watch an entire movie without falling asleep! Since hubby has a big deadline tonight, I'm thinking about making some popcorn and watching this movie while snuggled under 3 blankets. If you live in the Denver area, you are welcomed to join me. But be warned that pj's, messy hair and a bottle of wine are all requirements for hanging at my movie night:) While I had a delicious salmon puree planned for today, I decided that just wasn't cutting my crazy vibe I am feeling today. Salmon puree can wait for a Monday or ...