When The Dude first started eating "solids", he pretty much ate everything. Yep....nose in the air and fists on hips, I knew I had a child with a sophisticated palate. Before I knew it, we'd be traveling the globe, sampling palak paneer in India, uni sashimi in Japan and (of course) pierogis in his mother's father's motherland....Ukraine.
Then, around 20 months of age....reality set in. The Dude is just like every other toddler when it comes to eating.
Gone are the "he'll try anything" days, and he has comfortably settled into the 4 main food groups:
- pizza
- macaroni and cheese
-cheese
- carbs
Luckily, pierogis fall into two of those categories, thus, he WILL eat them.
Okay, I'm kind of exaggerating.
No one cares what he really does eat enough for me to actually type it here, but (just so I don't end up reported to CPS for my previous comments regarding food groups that contain little to no nutritional value), he does end up eating meals and snacks with SOME form of veggies, fruits, proteins, dairy, etc.
But, his weakest area of "I will actually put this in my mouth, chew it, swallow it and digest it" is vegetables. He mostly likes the orange ones- carrots and butternut squash. Anything green is immediately rejected and met with, "All done, mommy." I'm lucky if it's not pitched across the kitchen table.
So, I took an old muffin recipe I had and tweaked it to jam pack them full of whole grains, veggies, and natural sweeteners. End result.......he can't get enough of them.
They're his "nuffins" and he frequently requests them in a voice similar to the orphan from Oliver Twist. "Moooore? Nuffins? Please?"
And, they are pretty darn easy to make and they freeze perfectly. So, whip up a batch of these bad boys, get creative with what you want to add, and freeze them ! They thaw perfectly at room temperature, but I only take out a couple at a time because they are so moist that they will spoil within a few days even in tuperware.
The Dude's (Toddler Approved) Whole Grain Pumpkin Banana Nuffins
Ingredients:
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1-2 huge handfulls of kale or spinach, stems/ribs removed
-2 eggs
-1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
-1 can pumpkin
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 cups wheat flour
- 1/4 cup ground flax seed meal
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2-3 tsp. pumpkn pie spice (or a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, ground cloves....whatever you have)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix bananas, pumpkin, kale or spinach, and eggs in a food processor
3. Add honey and applesauce into processor and mix again
4. Mix all of that with the dry ingredients in a large bowl
5. Spray a muffin pan w/ non-stick spray or use the little paper cup things to line the pan. Fill each cup 2/3 full with the mixture
6. Bake 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
We're talkin'....feet on the table, eatin' like you stole it, finished with the relish that only a toddler could not be ashamed of.
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