Baby E snacking on a whole tomato!
When it comes to our family, we love desserts and we live off of snacks. But our snacks are not what you would find in a typical American home. We think fruits and veggies make for some very tasty, healthy, and filling snacks. Our desserts are not always the healthiest, but almost always made from scratch. Here is a summary of what we like as dessert and snacks with more detailed recipes to follow. By the way, these are all interchangeable, we eat snacks as dessert and dessert as snacks!
Dessert
- Banana Bread: One of two most common desserts that I make every week. We always have bananas that need to be saved before they rot. It's very quick and easy to make and my daughter loves to help with mixing it. Surprisingly baby E is indifferent to this bread even though she loves bananas.
- Cookies: My husband is the most adorable cookie monster, he can't live without them. I used to make chocolate chip ones just for him all the time. But we've since switched to oatmeal cookies at his request for a bit healthier option. Now we eat them too. I keep dreaming of experimenting more with cookies. I make these once a week, about 24 large cookies. Baby loves cookies!
- Berry Pie: This has recently become a favorite, but I reserve it for special occasions either when we visit someone or have guests over. Very easy to make and so delicious. I always get compliments and people think I bought it from some local bakery! I make this with frozen mixed berries, that way I always have them on hand when I need to make a pie. I've also tried mixing in frozen mango and it was delicious! Baby E is a very berry girl, she'll eat anything with berries.
- Trader Joe's Wild Blueberry Tart: We always have two of these in the freezer for the times I can't make something. Great for taking with us when we visit friends or family. Baby E loves to eat all the berries off this tart, so I'm usually left with the crust!
- Ice Cream: My husband can't live without ice cream. We usually get plain vanilla at Trader Joe's. Recently I have been introduced though to how commercially made ice cream is produced and it isn't pretty. There are ingredients in it that are not listed on labels because it is 'industry standard'. I really need to start making my own! We let baby E try ice cream, she likes it. But I ask my husband to eat it without her present most times.
- Real Hot Chocolate: For those of you that know about my former chocolate addiction, this is no surprise. But, I haven't made a cup of real hot chocolate in about two years! I put it on this list to remind myself that this winter it is the perfect dessert for me and hubby to indulge in once baby E is fast asleep! This must be made from at least 72% dark chocolate with organic whole milk or cream. Best in small doses.
- Occasionally I whip out my 1000 Chocolate and Baking Recipes book and make something I've never made before. That happens about once a month.
Enjoying a banana, and no, she is never dressed up like this when she eats bananas, this just happened to be at a housewarming party.
Snacks
- Dried Fruit: This is our favorite snack both at home and especially on the go. Another reason I love Trader Joe's, you just can't beat their dry fruit selection. Our favorites are dried mango (no sugar added), bananas, cranberries (with sugar). We also love prunes and raisins. Prunes are a little more messy/sticky, so we only eat those at home.
- Fresh Fruit: Apples and bananas are our every day staples. Apple pieces can be great on the go as well. We buy our apples at Mann Orchards and we get the regular [gassed] bananas at Market Basket. Every once in a while I also get other fruits and berries as well. I made the mistake of giving baby E a banana to snack on in the car. Twice. Not recommended unless you really want to wash an entire baby and an entire car seat.
- Nuts: Only recently I've started giving baby E a little bit of nuts, but they've been in my diet forever. I love walnuts and cashews. I also like some more expensive nuts, but never buy them because they're out of our price range. TJs once again has a great selection of these.
- Olives: Perfect snack anytime anywhere, and healthy too! Baby E adores olives.
- Crackers: Perfect at home and on the go for tiding us over from breakfast to lunch or lunch to dinner. I really like the Oyster Crackers from TJs and have recently discovered their delicious Pita Crackers. We try to go for the ones with the least ingredients listed and soy free.
- Veggies: Certain vegetables can make a great snack. I often cook organic baby carrots for baby E to grab and munch on, they're good outdoors too. As you've seen in the photo, a tomato can be a surprisingly good snack for a toddler! Though I had to wash everything she was wearing after that. Grape tomatoes are better, but she can't chew the skin yet. Baby E absolutely loves cucumbers. They're easy to hold and pleasant to chew.
- Cereal: When we're out and about, baby E's favorite and least messy snack of choice is cereal. Anything that is easy to hold in little hands and preferably organic.
So there you are, that about covers everything. I know you can't wait for us to get into all the actual recipes! We'll be sharing how we make bread, desserts, and perhaps a few savory things. Please do share with us what your baby loves to eat for snacks or dessert!
If you haven't yet, check out numbers 1 through 8 of our Glimpse into Eco-Babyz:
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