Yummy Veggie Cake Bites

I saw someone's post about cake pops the other day, and it made me want to make some. So I set out on a mission to make some cake bites with a little veggie twist to add a bit of a healthy edge to these yummy treats.

I love how simple this recipe is and how few ingredients are needed, compared to other cake pop recipes I've seen online.

I started by crumbling some sheet cake in a bowl. You can use any kind of box cake mix you like, or to double up on the veggies, try using my baby food puree cake recipe.

In a separate bowl I combined the softened cream cheese and the baby food puree and beat with a hand mixer such as this one until smooth and combined. Then, mix the cream cheese mixture with the crumbled cake until it forms a dough that you can work with.
NOTE: this recipe also works great with veggie smoothies in the place of baby food puree in the same amount.

You can also taste test a small piece and see if it is sweet enough for your taste. If it needs a little more sweetness you can add some honey or your sweetener of choice to the cream cheese mixture before combining it with the crumbled cake. Next, shape the dough into cake bites in your preferred size.

Keep the cake bites in the fridge for half an hour or so to harden. Then you can decorate them by dipping them into melted chocolate and various toppings of your choice, or you could just eat them as is. I didn't really need to decorate mine since my boys were all over these as soon as they came out of the fridge.

I especially love that the cake bites aren't overly sweet due to the overload of frosting in the dough, and the fact that there are hidden veggies in it :)

Here is a printable version of the recipe.

Yummy Veggie Cake Bites

1/2 of a 9x13 pan of cake (crumbled)

2 oz softened cream cheese

2 and 1/2 Tbsp baby food puree

Beat together the cream cheese and baby food puree, then mix together with the crumbled cake until if forms a dough. Shape into cake bites and refrigerate for 30min. Serve as is, or decorate before serving.

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Spinach Mango Baby Food Puree Smoothie

We had a bunch of spinach and i thought of experimenting with some green smoothies with a baby food puree spin. I love veggie smoothies because sometimes it is just a lot easier to drink your veggies rather than eating them. Plus they are so great during hot summer days.

This smoothie recipe  has five simple ingredients and all you have to do is combine everything in the blender and let it do all the work. 

I love using the V8 veggie blend healthy greens juice for this recipe because it gives a little extra  sweetness along with another dose of veggies.

I absolutely love my ninja blender, especially the nutriblend feature which extracts the nutrients from your ingredients and mixes it all together really nicely in the smoothie.

And the best part?  My picky toddlers actually love this smoothie. Woohoo...

Spinach Mango Baby Food Puree Smoothie

2 cups spinach
1 cup frozen mango
1 jar baby food banana
1 single serving container greek yogurt
1 cup V8 veggie blend healthy greens juice

Combine all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.

 

Here is the printable version of the recipe. 

 

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Having fun making food art

I recently discovered a super awesome way to get my kids to eat more vegetables. This whole time I have always been trying to sneak in veggies here and there in recipes, but I discovered that how it is presented can also affect whether or not my kids will eat it.

I discovered Mr food face and knew right away that I had to get my hands on one.

I also recently discovered that they have a girl's version, Mrs food face, which would be super fun to use with your daughters.

It has been so much fun building the plate, and my oldest actually likes helping me put on the "hair"or "eyes", etc and of course, eating the food.

Here are some of our awesome creations. They may not be masterpieces from great artists, but it sure was fun to make and enjoy with the kids :)

These are made of ceramic, so it may not be the best option for young babies who may have the tendency to throw things all over the place. 

I haven't had any problems with my 3 year old so far, and even my 1 year old is interested in eating out of this plate with no problem. Just as a precaution, though, I always supervise them when they are eating with this plate.

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PB-n-BP (Peanut Butter and Baby food Puree) Sandwich

My boys liked to snack on PB and J sandwiches and I wanted to add extra nutrition to their sandwiches so I thought of using baby food puree instead of high fructose corn syrup-loaded jelly. Hence, the birth of my new PB-n-BP sandwich. At first I was a little skeptical about whether or not they will eat it, since baby food puree isn't nearly as sweet as jelly, but I was pleasantly surprised that my baby actually liked it...Woo Hoo :)

It is a super simple snack/meal to whip up, with just 3 ingredients

You can either lay on the peanut butter first, then the baby puree, or the other way around. I've tried it both ways and I personally prefer lathering the baby puree onto the bread first.
Here is what it looks like when you put the peanut butter on first:

If the peanut butter goes on first, it makes it a little harder to spread on the puree. And it doesn't stick to the sandwich as much. When you take a bite out of it, the puree can sometimes flow out of the sandwich, which I think is a waste because the whole idea of this is to get more veggies in their little tummies rather than on their fingers or wipes.

When you put the puree first, the bread absorbs the puree, making it moist (which I absolutely love), and the puree won't go wasted.

In the picture I used Gerber's banana carrot mango baby food puree but you can technically use any fruit-veggie puree blend of your choice. I used the fruit and veggie mix to add a little sweetness from the fruit, plus and extra dose of veggies.

PB-n-BP (Peanut Butter and Baby food Puree) Sandwich
1 slice of whole wheat bread
1-2 tsp baby food puree
1 Tbsp peanut butter (or more to taste)

Take the whole wheat bread and spread the baby food puree onto it.
Add the peanut butter and spread evenly. Fold the bread in half and serve.

Here is a printable version of the recipe

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Cottage Cheese with Baby Food Puree

My kids have been on a cottage cheese craze recently. I've served it with all kinds of fruits such as grapes, cantaloupe, mandarin oranges, mangoes, etc and they seemed to like em all.
The other day I was getting ready to make some for them when I realized that I ran out of fresh fruits. Then I thought about using baby food puree jar instead. As it turns out, they loved that version as well....AWESOME... :)

This is a simple 2 ingredient recipe that is so easy to make and yummy to eat. Since the first time I made it, I've experimented with different baby food puree flavors and we've loved them all. I've even made it with the baby food purees that have veggie and fruit blends in them, such as Gerber's banana-carrot-mango, or pear-zucchini-corn flavor, and it turned out pretty good. I always LOVE when I can get an extra dose of veggies in recipes that my kids actually eat :)

Cottage Cheese with Baby Food Puree

3/4 cup cottage cheese

1 jar baby food puree

Combine the ingredients in a bowl, mix, and serve

Here is the printable version of the recipe.

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Scrambled Eggs with Baby Food Puree

It was time to feed the kids again and since I had some eggs in the fridge, I thought about scrambling some eggs for them to snack on. And of course I had to add some kind of veggie component to it. And knowing my kids, it will have to be undetected, otherwise they wouldn't touch it....heavy sigh...

So I came up with the idea of putting some baby food puree into the eggs. This is yet another super simple recipe with only 4 ingredients.

Just mix it all together, season to taste and cook it like you would normally make scrambled eggs.

You can't even see that the puree is there when you mix it all up. Awesome...

And of course I had to serve it up in style to make it more appealing for my kids, so i decided to use my (and their) most favorite plate ever, the face plate. This is so awesome because we  have a lot of fun "decorating" the face with all kinds and colors of food and my kids are always excited to eat from the plate. I mean, who doesn't get excited to eat the "nose", "mouth", etc off of someone's face....hahaha...

And what can go better with an egg beard than ketchup eyes :p ?

Even the baby who is normally against scrambled eggs actually ate three bites...SCORE...

Scrambled Eggs with Baby Food Puree

1 egg

1-2 tsp baby food puree

salt, pepper to taste

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together. Cook the scrambled egg as you normally would.

Here is a printable version of the recipe.
 

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Oatmeal with baby food puree

Today was one of those days when I just didn't feel like making an elaborate breakfast for the kids involving baking, frying, etc. So, I decided to go with one of my kids' favorite go-to breakfasts: oatmeal.

If you know me, I am always trying to turn a regular recipe into something that has some extra dosage of veggies and nutrients, not that oatmeal in and of itself isn't already nutritious. But it always makes me feel good inside knowing that my kids get some extra veggies in the food they actually like eating.

This is yet another extremely simple recipe with only 5 ingredients in it. The whole process takes less than 5 minutes. Nothing better than having a nutritious breakfast on the table in such short amount of time.

This time I used the pear, zucchini, corn gerber baby food puree, but I've used several others as well and they all worked great. Best of all, my kids devoured their oatmeal. For the dried fruits, you can use whatever you feel like or whichever you happen to have. My kids love it with dried plums or raisins.

Oatmeal with baby food puree

1 pouch oatmeal

2/3 cup milk

1-2 tablespoons of baby food puree

some brown sugar

dried fruits

Combine the oatmeal and milk in a microwave safe bowl. Cook for 2-3 min until done. Stir in the baby food puree and some brown sugar to taste. Mix in some dried fruits of your choice.

Here is a printable version of the recipe