Paleo for Toddlers: Green Applesauce

I came up with this idea one day when trying to figure out how to get more dark leafy greens into my toddlers.  I had been making green smoothies for myself and remembered how you really can't taste the spinach at all in them.  Thus, green applesauce was born!  There are two ways you can do this.  First, you can put unsweetened applesauce and fresh spinach in a blender and blend.  This works well if you have a decent blender.  The way I made this batch was different, however.  I did not have any unsweetened applesauce in the house, but I did have apples!  I peeled and cored 2 apples and put them in the food processor with approx. 2 cups of fresh spinach.  This technique made a slightly chunkier end product but since by baby boys are not infants anymore and used to table food, they ate it right up!

My Favorite Paleo Breakfast: Blueberry Eggs

I came up with these one morning while throwing together breakfast for the babies.  One of my babies (they are actually toddlers now...) will eat eggs but not blueberries and one of my babies will eat blueberries but not eggs.  So, I thought I would put them together and see what happened.  Well, one baby picks out and eats the eggs and the other eats the blueberries first (but will also eat the eggs AND his brother's blueberries!)  But, despite their mixed reviews, I found my favorite breakfast!  Here is the recipe:  

2 Tbsp. coconut oil

2-3 eggs

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 to 1/3 cup blueberries

maple syrup (optional)

Melt coconut oil in pan.  Beat eggs and cinnamon together in small bowl, scramble in melted oil.  Just before eggs are set, throw in the blueberries just so they get heated through.  Transfer all to a plate and drizzle with small amount of maple syrup if desired.  

Paleo Family Dinners: Steak Salad

This was a quick, throw together, dinner from last week.  There is really not a recipe for this as all I did was gather all the veges from the fridge, chop 'em up and throw them on a platter.  I added some chopped, cooked bacon and the hubs grilled the steak!  For the dressing I mixed the liquid bacon grease with apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper and drizzled it over the salad before I put the sliced steak on top.  Easy. Summer. Dinner.

Paleo for toddlers: Zucchini + Noodles = Zoodles!

The other night I made a large steak salad for the family (next post) but I knew that the babies would not eat steak or romaine lettuce very well.  So, I had some zucchini and yellow squash lying around and remembered this fun idea from my favorite blogger, Nom Nom Paleo.  All I remembered were the directions to "nuke for 3 minutes".  So, I zoodled my veges (with this), added a Tbsp of good fat, 1/2 tsp of dried basil and 1/2 tsp of dried oregano, and a shake of salt for some flavoring and zapped 'em!  The babies ate them fairly well.

Paleo for Toddlers: Packing the diaper bag

What's in my Goldfish?

Goldfish crackers?  Nope.

Okay, so I think I just gave it away with my last post...

Dried Cranberries!!! Surprisingly, both my 22 month old and my 14 month old like these and they work in a pinch when they get fussy in the car or in a store.  

What about you?  What Paleo treats are in your diaper bag?

Paleo for Toddlers: Paleo "peanut butter" cookies

As I was packing the diaper bag for a weekend trip last Friday I stopped to take some pictures of how I was packing my diaper bag.  One of the hardest things for me with Paleo is trying to find appropriate snacks for the babies.  With my first two babies my diaper bag was full of goldfish, animal crackers, fruit snacks and the like.  Not now...now my bag contains raisins, dried cranberries, dried blueberries, and most recently the cookies you see above.  These are my Paleo take on peanut butter cookies.  (Warning: they have a light texture and crumble easily....HUGE mess in the car.)

Paleo "Peanut Butter" cookies

2 cups almond flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup oil of choice (I used coconut oil)

1/2 cup honey

1 Tbsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup sunflower seed butter (peanut butter also works)

Mix first 3 ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add in wet ingredients and stir until combined.  Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 10 min or until edges begin to brown.

The Best Idea Ever!

This is such a great idea and I am kicking myself for not coming up with it!  I cannot take credit for this idea.  This came from The Primal Parent and it has revolutionized my sandwichless life!  I do a lot of driving for work and I pack my lunch everyday.  I don't have access to a microwave while I am driving all over Timbuktoo.  And, it is kind of hard to eat leftovers out of a thermos while driving (don't ask me  how I know).  For the past week I have been packing this sandwich as part of my Paleo lunch and have been loving it.  I even made a sandwich for my older two with a yellow bell pepper and they both gobbled it right up!  Thank you Primal Parent!