Banana Poppers for the Finicky Baby

My 10 month old little boy, Micah is just barely cutting his first tooth, yet he seems to think he is too big for baby food. We have tried every which way to get him to eat baby food and he flat out refuses. I have been pretty creative when it comes to giving him regular food - baby style.

Here is a quick and easy recipe for any baby:

Banana Poppers



Take 1/3 cup of cereal (I use Annie's Organic Cinna Bunnies Cereal)
Place it in a ziploc baggie
Using a large wooden spoon, crush the cereal into fine crumbs
Slice a banana into small chunks, and place inside baggie
Seal baggie and shake until banana chunks are covered in crumbs

Serve and watch your baby scarf these suckers down! Micah normally feeds his food to our dogs, but the dogs go hungry when I serve him this for breakfast!

Micah Likes It!



You can also use softened peaches, cooked apple, softened pears, whatever you wish! I have also done this with soft frozen yogurt. Most cereals are packed with vitamins and whole grains so you can feel good about serving this to your baby!

I admit, I sneak a few off his plate - they really are tasty!

Great Alternative to Pumpkin Pie

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It's in Fall which is my favorite season and it's a holiday to celebrate everything you are thankful for. A time to reflect on what is important in your life and spend time with good friends and family.

One of the greatest perks of Thanksgiving is EATING! It's the only time when it is a-ok to stuff yourself full and roll over to the couch for a nap...only to get up an hour later and stuff your face again!

Here is a great Pumpkin Bar Recipe! Of course I tweaked it to make this special. Never follow a recipe to the letter - make it your own and have fun!

Pumpkin Bars With Egg Nog Frosting

Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients

4 eggs
1 cup Brown Sugar
2/3 cup Turbinado Sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
15-ounce can pumpkin puree
2 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugars, oil, applesauce and pumpkin until texture is light and well mixed. Stir together the flour, baking powder, spices, salt and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until the batter is smooth. Spread into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

Let cool completely before you add frosting.

Egg Nog Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tbsp egg nog
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Directions
Whisk together sugar and butter until well blended or use a mixer and mix on medium speed for approx 3 minutes.

Add vanilla and egg nog and continue mix until light and fluffy, adding more egg nog if needed depending on your preference. Sprinkle in nutmeg and stir well.

Spread over cooled pumpkin bars and add a pinch of turbinado sugar to the top of each bar if desired.


Hope your Thanksgiving is filled with family, food fun and Blessings!

Homemade Coffee Creamer

If you are like me and the millions of other folks affected by the slow economy, then I bet you have shaved some of your day to day luxuries. I used to treat myself to Starbucks coffee once or more a week. Then it changed to drinking coffee at home, to no coffee at all. Now that the weather is cold I am craving a nice warm cup 'o joe in the mornings. The funny thing is I hate the actual taste of coffee. I love the smell of it brewing but I could never drink the stuff plain. I laden it with creamer and not just plain creamer but the flavored stuff.

My two favorites are Coffee Mate Chocolate Raspberry and Pumpkin Pie Spice. It costs about $3.50 for a large container of this stuff.

Recently, I had an idea. Why not make my own creamer? I have a bunch of sweetened condensed milk in my pantry for desserts and I thought I would play around a bit.

I got out one of my Mason jars and emptied the sweetened condensed milk into it. I like the fat free version of SC milk, it makes me feel less guilty! Then I used half a tsp of pumpkin pie spice and poured 1.5 cups of 2% milk into the jar. I took some half & half, about 1/2 cup's worth and poured that in. Last, I put 1/3 cup of pumpkin puree in the jar. I took a spoon and stirred in to loosen the condensed milk a bit. Put the lid on and I shook it real well. The SC milk was still stuck to the bottom so I ran some warm water over the bottom portion for about 2 minutes and shook it until the SC milk was mixed thoroughly with the rest of the ingredients.

Creamer holds up well in the jar. Chill in the fridge for up to two weeks.

This turned out even better than the Coffee Mate stuff! I'll have to play around a bit for some fun flavors, like my beloved Chocolate Raspberry. Plus it was a lot cheaper than going to the store and buying the Coffee Mate.

The best part is Coffee Mate is full of saturated fats and it has partially hydrogenated oil in it. Now I can drink my cream with a little coffee and not feel like I am giving myself a slow death by ingesting all that ickiness!

For all the eco friendly folks out there, by making your own creamer in a mason jar you save another plastic container from ending up in a landfill. Every little bit counts, right?

Try this! Let me know if you come up with any tasty variations of this coffee creamer!

Micah Feeding Daddy

Spaghetti Squash: Great for babies!

I took the above video of Micah and Dad eating. It's cute because he is feeding Dad but Dad has no manners and he spoiled my cute video, lol!

We made spaghetti squash the other night and my 10 month old refuses to eat his baby food now because he wants to be like everyone else and eat big people food. My baby is all gums! Not one tooth! So finding something good for him to eat that won't choke him up can be complicated.

I steamed it and put sauce on top. I saved some plain squash for Micah to try and I made sure it was very tender and easy to cut. A tip I learned for cutting spaghetti noodles is to take a small cup and using the rim you can press it into the noodles and cut them a lot faster than with a knife. So I cut up the squash the same way into tiny pieces for him.

He absolutely loved it! He had two helpings and I had to give him a bath afterwards he was such a mess!

Is it Friday Already?

Wow. I've neglected my DD blog! My OTHER blog is taking up my posting time! I need to learn to give equal attention to both!

I've also started working evenings and weekends and I think that has a lot to do with my poor blog management skills.

So hopefully you will forgive me...

In the meantime I have a dilemma. I have to make a main course for like 20 people. We are in brokesville right now and I am at a loss as to what to make. Yes, me...lost in my own kitchen!

I need a budget friendly giant recipe to feed a small army! I am turning to you for help! I have to cook this on Monday. It can't be a stew, chili or lasagna since that has already been served recently.

I am pondering making pulled pork sandwiches since I have a bunch of pork in my freezer...but I like having a few options to choose from!

I'm depending on you fellow bloggers to come up with something CHEAP & YUMMY!! - Tried & True recipes are even more Fabulous! Please don't let me down!!

It's Not Delivery!

It's faster than delivery. It's cheaper than delivery. It's even HEALTHIER than delivery!!

Who knew homemade pizza could be so easy! For those of you who don't know your way around the kitchen I'll tell you right now it does not involve using Bisquick!

I made pizza frm scratch tonight and it seriously took me less than a half hour! My whole family loved it! I can honestly say I do not think I will ever order another pizza again!

Here is the recipe! If you try it I would love to hear your feedback!

I just made pizza tonight and it was SO easy!

Pizza Dough: (Picture to come soon)

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tbsp italian seasoning (oregano, basil, etc)
1 tablespoon white sugar
2 tablespoons olive or grapeseed oil
1 cup warm water

Pizza toppings:

2 tbsp olive oil
Pizza or tomato sauce
diced tomatoes
turkey pepperoni
olives
mushrooms
mozzerella cheese
marble cheddar cheese
green & red peppers

Anything your heart desires just throw it on!



Combine flour, salt, sugar, seasoning, garlic powder and yeast in a large bowl. Mix in oil and warm water. Spread out in a thin layer on a large non-insulated greased pizza pan.

Pour olive oil in a dipping bowl and using a marinating brush lightly spread olive oil around edge of crust. Spread 1/4 cup of sauce all over crust leaving about 1 inch for the crust. then add diced tomatoes.

Top remaining with whatever you desire!

Bake at 375 degrees C (190 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes. Watch for the edges of the crust to turn golden and cheese is bubbly.

Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing.

Dinner in 30 minutes or less and everyone loves Pizza! There will be no leftovers stewing in the fridge after this meal!!