Pete the Cat and the Bad Banana & Banana Bread!

Pete the Cat bites into a bad banana and decides that he never wants to eat bananas again. But Pete loves bananas! Will one bad banana cause Pete to give up one of his favorite foods? I'm hoping my banana bread will convince him otherwise!

Not only is this banana bread yummy, but its super healthy too! It's made with whole wheat flour and theres no added sugar. Mix in chia seeds for an extra boost of energy for those hard to get going school mornings. This same batch can easily be made into muffins, just cut baking time down (15-18 minutes depending on your oven- when toothpick comes out dry, you're good!)

Ingredients

1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup honey
1cup mashed bananas (about 2)
2 eggs
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
*1 tablespoon chia seeds- optional

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 325° Spray loaf pan with cooking spray.

Beat the oil and honey together with a whisk. Add the eggs and beat, then whisk in the mashed bananas and water.

Add the baking soda, vanilla, salt and cinnamon, and whisk together. Using a spoon, stir in the flour- don't over stir.

Pour the batter into loaf pan. You can sprinkle extra cinnamon on top!

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Let it cool out of the pan for 20 minutes before slicing.

Craft Connection

What you need;

Paper plate

yellow construction paper (or tissue paper)

brown construction paper (or tissue paper)

glue stick

scissors

Cut a moon shape out of the paper plate. Next, cut small squares out of the yellow construction paper and 2 brown tips for the banana top and bottom. Glue on the yellow squares and brown tips. Kids will love this simple craft that they can do all by themselves!

Did you ever get turned off by a certain food to never eat it again? What was the food and what turned you off?

Books to Belly: If You Give a Moose a Muffin & Yogurt Apple muffins

In my house, we are big fans of all Laura Numeroff books! IF YOU GIVE A MOOSE A MUFFIN is a great children's story about asking for something that leads into many, many other somethings…(moms relate now)! The little boy in the story starts off giving moose a muffin- but the moose wants jam on his muffin. The moose comes inside for some of the mom's homemade jam. He wants more once they are all gone so they head out to the store; however, the moose finds himself chilly and asks for a sweater. The loose button on the sweater reminds him of puppet socks his grandmother used to make so he asks the boy for some old socks. Of course with a puppet show, you'll need scenery! One thing leads to another and moose asks for more and more from the boy. 

IF YOU GIVE A MOOSE A MUFFIN is part of the If You Give…Book community , a group of animals and their human friends who laugh and play together, go to exciting places, celebrate holidays, and eat delicious treats. Another favorite of ours from this community is If You Give a Pig a Pancake. Trying new foods and eating healthily is such an important part of raising my children. I have found that being in the kitchen together has opened my kids up to doing just that. They love participating in the preparation of the foods they eat. Sometimes they love new foods, other times- they don't. I'll never know if they'll like something unless I try giving it to them. Our Books to Belly posts inspire picky pallets to try new foods while also promoting a love of reading. I cannot think of a better way to connect to a story - than with food! 

Of course with this story- we had to make muffins! These apple yogurt muffins are healthy and taste like little apple pies! They are absolutely delicious and taste like your eating something bad! 

Apple Yogurt Muffins

What you need

• 1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour
• 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs. packed brown sugar, divided
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup chilled butter, divided
• 3/4 cup of plain nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1 egg
• 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/4-in. cubes
• 1 Tbs. flax seed
• 1/2 cup rolled oats

What to do

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Spray muffin cups with non-stick spray (or line with paper liners). In a bowl, whisk flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.

2. Melt 1/4 cup butter. In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, egg, and melted butter. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients until just combined. Fold in apples; set aside. 

3. In a food processor, combine flax seeds, oats, and remaining butter and brown sugar. 

4. Fill muffin cups almost to the top. Sprinkle each with 1 tsp. of seed mixture. 

5. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool for 5 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.
We hope your children love the muffins as much as they do the story! Enjoy!

Books to Belly: We're Going on a Bear Hunt & Trail Mix

The kids and I love a good trail mix. We make our own, mixing in our favorite healthy snacks. We make a big batch that's easily accessible- a great solution to grabbing a quick, healthy, satisfying snack on the go. You can even pre- bag it. We keep it simple by mixing up a granola, a nut, chocolate chips, and organic freeze dried yogurt bites. While making our latest batch, it reminded me of one of our favorite books, We're Going on a Bear Hunt. It was the perfect pairing with our trail mix.

We're Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, illustrated by Helen Oxenbury is about a family going on a hunt for a bear. On each page the family has to overcome different obstacles they come across in order to continue their hunt. As the family encounters each obstacle, they describe it by using sensory descriptions such as; long, wavy grass, a deep, cold river, thick, oozy mud, a big, dark forest, a swirling, whirling snowstorm, and a narrow, gloomy cave. By using a range of descriptive vocabulary, the reader can imagine themselves on a hunt. 

After reading the story, the kids and I threw on our jackets, grabbed our trail mix and set out for our very own hunt! Of course ours was not for a bear, so we completed the part of the story that is repeated throughout with our own animal we were hunting!

We're going on a squirrel hunt.
We're going to catch a big one.
It's a beautiful day!
We're not scared. 

Trail Mix

• 1 11oz bag of KIND or Bear Naked granola (I find the clusters bigger & easier to grab than other granolas-best for little hands)
• 1 bag of Happy Family Happy Yogis (look in the health/organic aisle in your supermarket)
• 1 cup of Hershey's mini milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup of cashews, almonds or nut of your choice

Happy hunting!!

Ghost Toast & Three Little Ghosties- Books to Belly Halloween Edition!

I bought these awesome ghost and bat cookie cutters to fulfill all of my quirky food fantasies for the kiddies! Target has lots of great Halloween goodies that make this time of year that much more fun. 

On our last trip to the library, the kids chose some books, one of them being Three Little Ghosties. Upon finishing their burnt toasties, the three little ghosties set off to scare some girlsies and boyses but their plan doesn't exactly work out for them! How much trouble can three harmless little ghosts get into in one night? Plenty! Maybe they are hanging around my house! 

We read our story before our breakfast of Ghost Toast which I made with fluff and peanut butter dotted eyes. You can also use cream cheese and dot jelly eyes. The bats are made with Nutella and I dotted the eyes with fluff. The kids ate this up like the ghosties were coming! 

Today was a perfect Books to Belly day. Both kids were home sick so it was a nice little reading activity to do with them. Chloe and Max enjoyed eating their ghost toasties while trying to scare one another like the ghosts in the story! Nothing like making connections! 

I hope your lil guys & ghouls enjoy this Halloween edition of Books to Belly!! 

Healthier Whole Wheat Pancakes

Looking for healthier pancake? These are infused with sweet potato and wheat germ! Not only are sweet potatoes readily available, inexpensive, and delicious, there are many other reasons to love them! They are high in vitamin B6, they are a great source of vitamins C & D, they contain iron, magnesium, potassium, and are high in carotenoids like beta carotene. 

I added wheat germ because it is an excellent source of so many essential vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats. It's considered to be one of the top ten healthiest foods! Because of its health benefits, I add it into anything I can such as oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, smoothies...I even mix it into breadcrumbs. The best thing, the kids have no idea! 

I adapted Gina's recipe from Skinnytaste.com by adding in my little extras. Max is a pancake fanatic- but not so much a veggie fanatic, so I have to get veggies in him whenever hiding them is a possibility! You cannot even see the sweet potato in the pancakes- no detection of veggies= happy Max & happy Mama!

            Healthier Whole Wheat Pancakes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups organic whole wheat flour (Bob's Red Mill)
• 4 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp of cinnamon
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups + 2 tbsp fat free milk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• cooking spray
• 2 tbsp wheat germ
• 1/3 cup of sweet potato (baked)

Directions:

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl. Add wet ingredients to the mixing bowl and mix well with a spoon. 

I use a large electric griddle - so many pancakes can cook at once so cooking time is reduced! Spray your pan and pour on batter according to whatever size pancakes you like. Flip pancakes once you see bubbles. 

We read two books to accompany our breakfast. The first, If You Give A Pig A Pancake by Laura Numeroff. The second, The Hungry Thing by Jan Slepian and Ann Seidler. 

If You Give A Pig A Pancake is close in comparison to daily life as a mommy. If you give your kid a pancake, they will surely ask for syrup...once they have the syrup- of course they'll need a fork.. and a drink... and a napkin!!! The little girl managing all of the pigs requests is exhausted by the end of the story- I feel ya girl!

The Hungry Thing is an adorable story that gets your children thinking! What exactly does the Hungry Thing want to eat? Shmancakes...and tickles...and feetloaf...and gollipops of course! Chloe loved guessing it was pancakes, pickles, meatloaf, and lollipops just to name a few. She was quicker than Max in the guessing department but he enjoyed the story just the same! 

Happy hiding & even happier eating!

Books to Belly: Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

We might be experiencing a heat wave here in New York this week- my prediction? Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs! 

In the town of Chewandswallow, the people get their meals by simply stepping outdoors! I'm ready to pack up and move! However, things get rather sticky (literally!) when the weather becomes unpredictable showering down syrup that floods the streets and pancakes that cover houses. The meatballs were so dangerously large that the towns people had to up and move in fear of their lives. Maybe hamburgers falling from the sky instead of rain isn't so great after all!

Chloe and I  agreed that our turkey meatballs would be a perfect accompaniment to the story Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. She has seriously become my little sous chef! She's even asking for cooking lessons!

I use ground turkey opposed to beef not only because it's healthier, because I like the taste better and honestly- they taste just as great. My Italian dad loves them!

Turkey Meatballs

• 1.3 lbs lean ground turkey (shady brook farms)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350.

Line a baking pan with tin foil and spray with non-stick spray.

Mix all the ingredients together in a big bowl.

Roll turkey into balls (not tight) and place on tin. 

Bake for 30 minutes.

If you're making sauce, cook meatballs in sauce for another 20 minutes.

Chloe ate 2 meatballs for lunch after she helped make them today! We read Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs prior to making our lunch and discussed all of the food we would love to fall from the sky while we waited to eat. Ice cream, oreos, pizza and empanadas like Grandmas were a few!

Making these connections between reading and food have been so much fun. Chloe is enjoying cooking as much as the literature...and I am loving spending this special time with Chloe. 

Creating meals based on children's literature not only helps you connect to your child, but also helps your child make connections to the text- a very important part of being a good reader. This is also an excellent way to get picky eaters to try new foods! I hope you are enjoying Books to Belly as much as we are!

Books to Belly; Dragons Love Tacos & Shrimp Tacos

Forget dinner and a movie- dinner and a book is way better! 

It wasn't hard getting inspiration to create a meal based on the children's book Dragons Love Tacos!  Much like my family, the way to a dragons heart is always through his stomach! 

Chloe and Max chose Dragons Love Tacos at our local library and I immediately knew we had to have tacos to accompany the story! 

Creating a meal based around a children's book is a great way to promote a love of reading over the summer. Part of being a good reader is making connections to what you are reading. What better way to connect to a story than through food! Its also an excellent way to introduce new foods to your children and get picky eaters to try new ones. 

I read the story before preparing our shrimp tacos. Chloe and Max loved hearing why dragons love eating tacos so much. They especially enjoyed checking off the ingredients dragons love in their tacos because we were including most of the same in ours. We were very careful not to include the one ingredient dragons should never have in their tacos (anything spicy) because we do not like spicy either!

I truly enjoyed this time with my children. I cannot wait to select the next book with Chloe and Max and cook a meal together. Chloe loves to help in the kitchen and I hope through this, she will love reading just as much.

I look forward to sharing more "Books to Belly" posts with you and your families! 

                                                                                 

Shrimp Tacos

• 2 pounds of shrimp (feeds 4)
• taco shells (hard or soft- or both if you want to get crazy!!!)
• lettuce
• tomato
• avocado (optional)
• shredded Mexican cheese (I use Sargento Mexican blend)
• reduced fat sour cream (optional)
• Margie's all natural mango herb & garlic marinade for the shrimp.

Cook shrimp until pink throughout. I did ours in a pan on the stove. You can grill them on the BBQ as well. 


Involve the kids by having them assemble the ingredients in a platter. Before heating the pan, I had Chloe scoop the shrimp into the pan and clean the celery in the sink.