Category: Food for Tots (Page 2 of 2)

The Easy Bake Oven I bought Mika for Christmas has been recalled for the second time – this time permanently. Soon they will send me a box to send it back to them in exchange for some amount of credit on Hasbro products. Problem is, I have a bunch of mixes that came with the oven plus a couple of more they sent me when they sent the “fix” for the problem. They are really expensive – $7-$11! -, and I want to use them up. So, I suspect in the next couple of weeks I’ll be doing quite a bit of “easy baking” with the girls (don’t worry, I don’t let them anywhere near the oven by themselves).
Today we baked the yellow cake with chocolate frosting, pictured in the left. You can see below how the cake actually turned out. It didn’t rise very much (surprise, surprise), but the chocolate frosting was yummy and the two went well together. My little girls were happy with it. They decorated with a cat cookie and pretended it was a birthday cake.

A mom told me about these sandwich cutters available at Safeway, and I couldn’t believe how useful and simple in design they are. My kids will eat crusted sandwiches, as much as they eat any sandwich, but I know kids who wont, and when I have kids over I always make sure to take off the crusts. It’s always a pain and it never looks nice.
I also cut the crusts when I make tea sandwiches, and these crustless cutters are the solution. The only ones I could find at Safeway were the heart one and the 4X one, but I think the 2X one would be better for my needs. Still, tr

A year or so ago I saw some pictures of hard-boiled eggs in cool shapes on Craigslist. I decided I wanted to make some for my kids. The instrument apparently used was a sushimaker, so I got one (thanks Ebay) and then for one reason or another I didn’t do anything with it. I finally tried it some time ago and it sort of works. The key is using a small enough egg that fits, putting it when it’s stil warm and flexible, and then cooling it down. Alas, the egg usually breaks anyway and the shape doesn’t last for long out of the mold – but my girl still liked it.

Michaela has discovered the pleasure of cherry tomatoes and they have now become a staple in her diet. I suspect that what she most likes is the size, she’s very size conscious and always wants a smaller cup, a smaller plate and, apparently, smaller food. She’s been a fan of quail eggs and baby carrots for years, and cherry tomatoes fit right in. They’re a great snack at home and easy to put in her lunch box for school. They are a good source of vitamin C and they’re very cute.

The figs from our fig bush are ripe. Well, they’ve been ripening for the whole months and some still have some time to go, but some of them are perfectly soft and ready to eat. Mika asks me for “higos”, only she forgets the word and sometimes seems to say “eeco”. Our routine is that I select those who are very soft without having turned dark, rip them apart, give her half and take half fo myself. Then we chew the sweet (but not too sweet) pink pulp and throw the peels on the ground – where they’ll be quickly eaten by birds or other creatures.
Mika is not very efficient in her eating, but she keeps asking for more and more. The bush is pretty small so it doesn’t give too many, but they are very good. Tomorrow if we go out I’ll take the camera and try to take a picture of them.

I’ve been asking people for ideas on vegetarian sandwiches to send with DD to school. I’m listing them here to remember them and for the benefit of other parents. If you have more ideas, please post them under comments.
-PB&J
-Cream cheese & cucumber
-PB, cream cheese & cucumber
-Camembert, banana, and salt
-Egg salad (and crackers)
-Tofu salad.
-Yves bologna, ham & salami (veggi meats)
-Avocado & cheese
-Avocado & cucumber
-Tofurky lunchmeat
-Falafel
-cream cheese & olives
– Cream cheese or nut butter with raisins and chopped dates.
-Roasted vegetables and cheese (zucchini, red bell peppers)
-Tomato and cheese
-Apple, celery and cheese
-Sliced pear and cheese
-Pre-grilled portobello mushroom and spread of choice (pesto would be nice)
-BLTs with Fakin Bacon
-Baba ganouj with assorted vegetables
-Spiced/sweetened canned pumpkin and cream cheese

Hard boiled quail eggs are a great toddler food. They are small enough that they fit easily in a toddler’s hand and can be eaten in a couple of bites (less mess) and cute enough that they want to eat them. We find them at the San Leandro farmers market for 10 for $1. They are quite delicate, however, so often times one or two of those eggs have a broken egg shell by the time we bring them home. They are also a little bit tough to peel, the shell breaks into many small pieces. I usually rinse them after peeling them to get all the pieces of shell off.
What I usually do is hard boil a dozen at the time and then keep them, in their shells, in the fridge. When Mika needs a snack I peel one and give it to her.

Sargento now sells its cheese pre-cut in the shapes of stars & moons. They are a perfect size for a quick snack for a toddler. Plus toddlers like the shapes, Mika already asks me for a “star” or a “moon”.
This is not to say that these are good snacks for Ms. Diary Mika – but she loves them.

I was looking for some bread for P&J sandwiches and came across Ironkids crustless bread. What a great invention! We haven’t arrived at the crust issue with Michaela yet, but I hate crusts myself 🙂