Operation: Eat More Veggies!

I have a two year old... enough said?  He doesn't like his veggies....  or really even food sometimes.  So lately we have been hiding veggies and good calories everywhere we can!

Mini-crust-less-keish! I whipped 6 eggs really well, then added finely grated cheese, small pieces of ham, fresh basil, and onions.  These would be good with anything you might find in an omelet. Then we baked and ate!  So Good!


Home Made Spaghetti Sauce!

I might do a more in-depth post on this later, but this really is a family favorite!
First! Saute garlic, onions, oregano, basil in olive oil until soft/translucent (don't burn!!!)  Add fresh tomatoes or canned tomatoes (I like the petite-diced, canned tomatoes) and pretty much just cook until you're ready to eat!  You could puree it down if you'd like, but we generally just leave it chunky!

In an effort to add more veggies to the meal I purred in some zucchini....

Kind of turned the sauce orange.... didn't work as well as I hoped.

However!  The next time I made the sauce I just diced the zucchini super-duper tiny (like 1/8th inch cubes) and added them in.  No one seemed to mind and they didn't change the color or taste of the sauce!  Score one for Mommy!

Finally I made this for my toddler's lunch one day.  Apples sliced cross-way (which he surprisingly didn't eat...)  PB&J roll-ups (smash the bread flat, spread the PB&J then roll, add tooth picks and cut into slices) and the cheese chunks.  I think his favorite part was eating with the tooth picks!  Whatever the reason he ate well this meal! Always a plus!  What are some of your favorite ways to get your kids to eat??

Valentines Day!

I didn't go all out, but I did have some fun with Valentines day!  It all started with Breakfast

French toast+Heart cookie cutter = Valentines-French toast!  

(we also ate the outside edges, because you loose nearly half the toast... however, if you're careful, you have a heart, and a heart outline... all cute!)

For dinner we had V-day mini-pizzas!  I stacked several pepperoni on top of each other and cut them with a tiny heart cookie cutter.  Then I sliced an entire baguette and put sauce, cheese, and a pepperoni heart on each piece and baked them about 350 until the bread got crusty and the cheese was melted :)  Made two meals for us! (me, my husband, and our 2 yr old)  (the idea came from here)

I also had some fun decorating for V-day this year.... something I hadn't done much of in the past.

I got inspiration from here

 

and here 

Only I did it with construction paper and a stapler... then just threaded the hearts (no balls) on jute/twine.  The string was rough enough that the hearts didn't slide around too much.  

Unfortunately I didn't get photos of either of theses items, but they were super easy and looked great!  I'm saving both for next year!

Another fun thing my son loves is 'glittering'!  Essentially, I cut out construction paper shapes and he squishes dollar store glitter-glue all over them.  When they dry I hang them in our bay window to spiffy up the kitchen.  He LOVES this activity, and it is fairly clean... especially when I lock him in his brother's high chair while he does it to confine the mess to a small area (score one for mommy!)

Enjoy!