Jelly Smiles – a Toddler Trick for the kitchen

On very hot days we often have picnics inside on a towel in the lounge or under the table with a sheet draped over it. It is an occasion that calls for jelly smile treats, another way to get vitiman C into your toddler that is fun for you to make together. Your toddler will love the bright colors and slurping the jelly out of the orange skins. This treat is perfect for out side picnics too and I should also mention adults love them!

This toddler trick is best for the parents to make and for your toddler to consume. 

What you need:

• - Oranges depending on how many cups of jelly you are wanting to make. ( 4 oranges = approximately 1 packet of jelly)
• - Jelly crystals in a packet – flavor and colours of your choice.
• - Muffin tin or a flat ,deep dish.

How to make:

1. Wash your oranges in cold water and cut them in half horizontally.

2. You can either scoop the flesh out and use the sections in a fruit salad or what I did was to juice the oranges leaving the skin intact and use the juice as part of the jelly liquid. Either way is delicious!

3. Place your orange cups into muffin tins or a large flat dish so they sit upright and won’t spill when you fill them with the jelly.

4. Make the jelly up following the instructions on the box, replacing the cold water with orange juice if you prefer. (You can get your toddler to help you stir the jelly.  Just be aware that it will still be hot)

 5. Pour your jelly into the orange cups, right to the rim then place in the  refrigerator (your toddler will love watching you do this).

 6. As you can see I used a number of different Jelly flavors  – left over crystals can be placed in an air tight container for next time and any made up jelly can be put in a container for setting and eating later.

7. The packet says to give the jelly 4 hours to set however I tend to leave mine over night so I know they are properly set when I come to cutting them

8. Once the Jelly has set , with a sharp knife, slice each cup into 3 or 4 wedges depending on the size of your oranges.

 9. Watch your toddler enjoy!

This is a great Toddler Trick for birthdays and sharing with friends.

Strawberry Yoghurt Ice Blocks – a Toddler Trick for the kitchen

Making your own yoghurt ice-blocks is easy, in no time you can have the mixture whizzed up and into ice-block moulds ready for freezing. Summer fruits like berries, peaches, nectarines and mangoes are perfect. One of my daughters favourites is strawberry and vanilla yoghurt. You could also do berries of your choice with berry yoghurt, peach with vanilla yoghurt or even mango with apricot yoghurt. The combinations are endless!! Not only are they extremely delicious but they are very healthy and high in calcium which makes them the perfect treat for your toddler!

This toddler trick is perfect for any toddler and is a great way of getting calcium into their diet.

What you need:

• - Blender
• - Ice-block mould (we got ours from the $2 shop)
• - 400g yoghurt of your choice (we used Vanilla)
• - 1.5 cups of fruit – it can be fresh, frozen or canned (we used freshly picked strawberries)
• - 2 Tbsp honey or maple syrup (we used honey)

How to make:

 1. Simply place all the ingredients in to the blender. Your toddler will be able to help place the fruit (in our case the strawberries) into the blender. You can count each one with them as they go in.

                                                  

2. Pour the mixture into the ice-block moulds. Your toddler will like watching you do this!

3. Let your toddler help you place the lids on all the moulds then pop them into the freezer to freeze until solid. I always leave them in the freezer over night so I know they are properly frozen.

This ice-block recipe is so easily adaptable that I guarantee most of you will have all the ingredients you need in the pantry. If you don’t have a ice-block mould, go pick one up from the $2 shop so you and your family can enjoy delicious yoghurt ice-blocks together!

Would love to hear feedback in the comments area about any different flavours! 

Valentine’s Day Heart Brownies – a Toddler Trick for the kitchen

There are so many ways to show love and appreciation and I personally think baking something special is the perfect choice! So bake up some love with your toddler this Valentine’s day by making our chocolate heart shaped brownies. This recipe is very forgiving so is perfect for your toddlers helping hands. A child’s baking experience at home is often remembered for a lifetime so make it a fun, specia day for your toddler! A brownie heart can also be the perfect gift for friends and family on other special occasions.

This toddler trick is perfect for toddlers of all ages especially as it is a microwave friendly recipe. A short Wiggles episode later it’s cooked (5 mins) and cooled (5 mins) ready for your toddler to cut into heart shapes.

What you need: 

• Microwave
• Beater
• Sieve
• Bowl
• Heart shaped cookie cutter. (I recommend using a small sized one for your toddler)
• 23cm square heat resistant microwave safe dish.

Ingredients

-  2 Eggs

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 tsp vanilla essence

- 100 g butter, melted

- 1 cup Flour

- 1/4 cup cocoa

- 1 tsp baking powder

Before you start I recommend you get all your ingredients out on the bench so they are ready to go. This will eliminate any flour throwing or other incidents that may occur when your back is turned.

How to make:

1. Grease and line a 23cm square heat resistant microwave safe dish.

2. Let your toddler hold the beater with you and beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla together. Add butter and mix again. Your toddler will love watching all the ingredients mix together.

3. Sift the flour, baking powder and coca into the wet ingredients. While you hold the sieve in one hand, with the other help your toddler tip the ingredients into the sieve.

4. Mix wet and dry ingredients carefully together – your toddler will love doing this. (make sure you don’t over mix!)

5. Spread into prepared dish – hold the bowl up and let your toddler spoon the mixture into the dish. (they may need a bit of direction)

6. Pop the dish in the microwave and cook uncovered for 5-7 minutes on high.

7. We cut our hearts out while the brownie was still warm and cakey as it is a bit harder once it fully cools. Let your toddler help you push down the heart shape cutters into the brownie.

8. Sprinkle your hearts with icing sugar and serve with coffee or hot chocolate…Another idea for serving is to re-warm the heart slightly, dust with icing sugar and serve with a scoop of icecream…to go fully gourmet a drizzle of chocolate sauce or berry coulis would really make it a Valentines dessert to be proud of.

The important thing with this recipe is that no matter how you and your toddler decide to serve it, whoever eats it won’t be pretending its “yummy”, it really is!!  And as brownie recipe goes it is definitely towards the healthy end of the scale.

Edible Play Dough – a Toddler Trick for the kitchen

Playing with play dough is fraught as my toddler always wants to eat it!  She won’t be deterred even though it tastes disgusting.  So, while going over some old cookbooks I found this ‘truffle’ recipe which is not only good to eat raw, it is very nutritious and shapes and moulds beautifully.  It doesn’t last as long as play dough (mainly because it gets eaten) but you can have a lot of fun without worrying about vast quantities of artificial dough or salt and food colouring being consumed!  It is also cheap to make (we got all our ingredients from the bulk bins) and I roll leftover dough into balls as a high protein snack which is great for breastfeeding mums and active dads after training.

This is great for toddlers of all ages but it does contain peanut butter which may be an allergy concern for some parents.  You can replace with another nut butter if you wish.

What you need:

- 3/4 cup Skim Milk Powder
- 2Tbsp dried brewers yeast
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 3/4 cup wheat germ flakes

Decorations:  We used liquorice, dried apricots, chocolate drops and dried coconut. Any other dried fruit, nuts, sweets or cake decorations would also be fine.

For making into truffle balls for adults, add a handful of chopped up dried apricots (or another dried fruit) to the mixture.

What to do:

1.Put all ingredients, except for the decorations, in a bowl and mix well together.  When it starts coming together, gather in with your hands and knead into a dough.  If you are making ahead, wrap in gladwrap and pop in the fridge.  Bring up to room temperature and knead lightly before using.

2. Cut larger dried fruit into pieces; put all your decorations into separate little bowls so that little fingers can easily access them.

3. You are now ready to start shaping.  Older toddlers will be right into it; younger ones may need you to show them what to do.  One tip is to keep the pieces of dough you use small (no more than a dessertspoon at a time).  This is simply because they are rich to eat and really high in protein so a little will go a long way – keeping your creations on a miniature scale will help make them incredible-edibles!

4. We all had a lot of fun making some animals – Aunty Caitlin’s elephant was probably the biggest hit!!  My toddler ate her fair share of the dough and the toppings.  She did learn how to make a ball of dough in her hands and roll into the coconut before decorating.

5. When playing with a group, give each toddler (or adult) their own piece of dough and let them make one creation before starting on the next.  The finished products keep well in covered containers in the fridge so you can bring them out as treats through the week.

6. To make the adults truffles, just chop up the dried fruit and knead into the left over dough.  Get small pieces of dough and roll into coconut; keep in an airtight container in the fridge.

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