Tweet your way into spring with this cute little salad!
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Happy spring!
As a mom of vegan kids, my biggest goal is to make sure they never feel left out. This means I come prepared with vegan pizza slices and cupcakes to every birthday party we attend, stock my son’s preschool cabinet with vegan cheddar squares and rice cereal bars, and happily go out of my way to try a new recipe or test a new vegan meat on the market.
But one item we haven’t been able to replicate was goldfish crackers. Until now! These snacks are ubiquitous, and Travis has been asking about them, so I special ordered a little goldfish cookie cutter. Turns out the crackers are a cinch to make, and now he can have them at snack with his school buddies!
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Note: The original recipe said to roll the dough 1/8-inch thick, but ours was closer to 1/4-inch. Honestly, we preferred the results, with crackers that were a little chewier and a little less cracker-crispy than actual Goldfish.
We’re getting in the mood for all things green here in honor of St. Paddy’s Day. Confession: I have not a drop of Irish blood in me, but I’m obsessed with Ireland, so I love making this holiday special for Travis.
This year, we had so much fun with this lollipop idea from Parents magazine. First, insert lollipop sticks into kiwi slices.
Place 1 bar of vegan white chocolate (such as Charm School Chocolate) in the microwave for about 30 seconds, until melted.
Dip each kiwi slice in the white chocolate, then press into a dish of green sprinkles. Alternatively, try yellow (gold) sprinkles or rainbow color, which also fit with this holiday theme!
Transfer to a plate lined with parchment paper and chill in the fridge for about 5 hours, or until set.
While we enjoyed this Emerald Isle treat, we also did a little learning! Travis’s class has been working a lot on tracing letters at school, so we did a St. Patrick’s-themed word trace.
Writing and spelling is so much fun with this St. Patrick’s Day Word Tracer worksheet! For more educational resources, visit Education.com!
Travis was so proud of his ability to follow along, since the letters were smaller than his school worksheets. He loved discovering that this word spelled “luck!”
Finish off the St Paddy’s snack with a video clip of Irish dancing or a quick rundown of Irish symbols like the shamrock or the pot of gold.
It’s the tail end of maple sugaring season, something Travis and I got to check out in person last year, helping to collect sap from a spile! So we decided to feature maple syrup in tonight’s dinner, to celebrate the tail-end of winter.
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Whip up these breakfast puddings the night before, and all you have to do on a sleepy morning is open the fridge and grab one out.
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If you do the prep work for this strata the night before, all you need is 1 hour to bake it in the morning. Perfect for weekends, in sum – or heck, any weekday before school if you have early birds like I do!
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And although we do like this for breakfast, it’s also great as a side at dinner! Try serving with Gardein chick’n and peas.
We woke up to snow this morning! Which meant it was the perfect morning for a loaded bowl of oatmeal to warm us up.
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Serve warm and be cozy!
This past week, I noticed my energy levels flagging a little; it’s right around this point that breastfeeding takes a lot out of you! Baby isn’t quite ready for solids yet at three months old, but needs upwards of 600 calories a day of milk alone. With my son, I hadn’t realized how many calories go into producing milk each day, and soon found myself underweight. Smoothies were my life saver.
So feeling like my supply has been a little low for Veronika, today’s activity was to make some energy-boosting smoothies to keep us both healthy and strong!
I played around with a few variations, and here are three that I loved. For all of the following recipes, simply combine the ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. You can add ice if you like, but I prefer my smoothies without it.
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Smoothie 2:
Smoothie 3:
This last was my favorite, rich and creamy from the avocado, and an instant energy boost. Feel free to play around with the above suggestions. Use oat milk if you like it better, or pumpkin seeds in place of the sunflower etc. If you have a recipe you like best, please share in the comments!
When you’ve been having a whale of a good time with your Baleen Whale crate from Kiwi Co., you continue the fun with these adorable whale bread rolls. These would be fantastic in a bento box, if you’re into lunchtime art!
To start, Travis made ovals about the size of his fist from store-bought bread dough, which we arranged on a baking sheet.
Shape smaller portions of dough into the fins and tails. (Note: he had trouble shaping the tails, so I made a rough V-shape for each, which he stuck to the whale bodies).
Next we pressed a raisin into each “whale” for an eye; make sure to press these in quite deep, or they will pop out during baking.
Use kitchen scissors to snip a small slice into the front of each whale, and pull open slightly to make a mouth.
Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes.
Let cool, then poke a hole in the top for each blowhole – a straw worked nicely.
As the finishing touch, I cut Daiya cheese sticks into small slices, and divided these into thirds to be the spouting water; carefully insert one water spout into each blowhole.
Thar she blows!
The spice in this Spanish take on noodles will challenge little taste buds just enough. But use a milder sausage if your kids don’t like spicy!
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joyful parenting 