Everything on Sticks

It's been a week of family and food (and there's really nothing better than that!). Yet with my toddler who is getting progressively harder to entice with food, I'm always on the lookout for new things to get her excited about eating.

My mom is an artist, and therefore always seems to have random tidbits throughout the house that inspire Zara to do something new.

So
My mom came up with the idea of putting pieces of food on colorful or decorated plastic toothpicks (if your kid has a leaning towards violence this is not the trick for you). I found as long as the food was in manageable pieces and looked colorful and appetizing, it worked really well. I have pictures here of turkey, cheese and grapes. Maybe I'm behind the game with this suggestion, but it worked and we are back on the eating train...for now!

'America's Hometown-Thanksgiving Parade

Plymouth MA does something unique with their Thanksgiving parade, they hold it the weekend before Thanksgiving. This being our first year as Plymouth residents, we felt we had to be there. I of course felt I had to in turn tell you about it. The planning committee, as well as other local newspapers tout it as the second best Thanksgiving parade, just behind Macy's.
So how was it? Well it took a long time for the parade to get to us, and my toddler was a little restless. A couple of snacks and a flyover later, she was excited and the costumes through the years kept her entranced until Santa. Check out the photos for a peek inside what you can come check out next year!

Up cycled Mittens

While this post isn't about cooking with a toddler, it is an activity I have been doing with Zara that I think can be replicated easily

I have been racking my brain for some fun, do-it-ourselves projects to give to people for the holidays. I had come across making mittens out of an old sweater, and decided to tweak the instructions so Zara could help me make them.

I want to preface this with the fact that I can't sew. I can move a needle and thread in and out of cloth in a basic manner and I am a beginner knitter. So, no big challenges there.

I went to our local thrift shop and found an incredibly ugly 100% wool sweater. The colors were actually red green and white in a Nordic pattern. I wanted wool because if someone washed these mittens they would semi-felt and could be stretched back into shape. So I washed the sweater to see if it would shrink (obviously on low heat or delicate to do what I could to stop shrinkage). Then against the arm seams I traced my hand stretching out the thumb and let Zara carefully cut out the pattern. Be careful, you want to make sure you are cutting through the entire arm fabric to get two sides of one glove. If you cut along a seam, then you already have a finished 'side' that you won't have to stitch together. Do this with both arms to get a set of mittens, leaving the middle portion of the sweater for another project, or more mittens.

We then set the pieces aside and unraveled the sweater bits we weren't using for another project.

Using the longer pieces of yarn you have unraveled and a plastic tapestry needle, have your child thread the needle. They are huge and it's a perfect threading motor skill to teach! Once threaded start stitching together the pieces. I cut off the cuffs if the sweater wrists and stitched those as the cuffs of the mittens. It didn't take that long, and my first pair are a little wonky, BUT they will be nice and warm, and a great up cycle project to do with your toddler!

Jam Making Class

Last night I went to a jam making class with some moms. Sounds lame I know but I've been trying to figure out how Zara can help me make jam/jelly. This holiday season we're planning on making several themed baskets and I thought jam would make a fantastic addition. But it involves a lot of hot stove time, and peeling of fruit, and so on.

So I took a class where the recipes are from the early 1900's and they only use natural products. Sounds pretty good right? So I hitched a ride with a friend (thanks Jenn!) and we got to cooking. The jam was cranberry, pear and lemon. I'll provide a modified recipe below, but while peeling and yada yadaI realized, I can make this fun for a two year old! Since we were using cranberries, I'm having Zara give them a bath and to be on the lookout for white cranberries. While tart, they contain a higher amount of pectin which will help 'gel' the jam. While she does that, I peel and dice the pear, zest the lemon and squeeze out the juice into a pot that has 1 cup of water. Add 3 cups of sugar (also a gelling agent along with the lemon!) and then the cranberries that have stems and water removed. Bring to a rolling boil, constantly stirring. Once rolling boil has happened lower heat. At this point in time you can have your toddler bung in a tbsp of cinnamon and then mash the fruit with a spoon (under close supervision...obviously...it's still on the stove). Keep stirring until jam thickens and when you scrap against bottom of pan you can see silver (or whatever color your pan is) clearly. (About 15 minutes).

Now here is where you will need sterilized products. While the dishwasher can help with most of it, an old fashioned tip is to swipe the lid with bourbon, sounds good already right? You are going to need jars, lids, a funnel, a spoon and a knife, all sterilized.

Here is where you have a choice. If you like your jam chunky, skim off any white nastiness from the top of your mixture with the knife. Then funnel into jars. You know you have enough when you lay a knife across the top and the jam touches it. Use your spoon to top up and your knife to get rid of bubbles. Seal and put in dishwasher for 90 seconds (if using jars pictured below, if using other jars, either boil for 5 minutes OR turn the jars upsidedown for 5 minutes. Other option, if you prefer more of a jelly, use a jelly cloth or a cheesecloth to strain out the chunky pieces.

Okay a bit upside down but here is the recipe;
1 cup cranberries
4 pears, peeled and diced
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 cup water
3 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

How Pear Juice Saved My Tuesday

So, I'm a mom. And sometimes that means I talk about disgusting things at seemingly inappropriate times (although it always seems appropriate to me...but I digress).

That brings me to pear juice. My daughter has been having 'poopy' issues, which have gotten increasingly worse, leading to constant screaming and trying to 'go'. I have tried almost every natural remedy to no avail. In all this trial and error process, she has stopped drinking (obviously not completely). Someone told me that if she doesn't want the prune juice, to try other 'p's'. Which brings me to this...pear juice. I tell her it's apple juice, she drinks it and well...she poops! The problem isn't solved yet but it is a definite improvement!

No Power

I was going to post about making celebration oatmeal chocolate cookies with you all today, but we don't have power and therefore aren't cooking. Instead I'll leave you with an amazing toddler tip.
When giving your toddler a juice box, flip up the ends to make it look like wings. When they take a sip have them hold onto the wings so they don't squeeze the juice box making the juice get everywhere. It's a rug saver. You're welcome.

Peanut Butter Success!

As I mentioned in my last post, today Zara and I planned to make peanut butter from scratch using a recipe that she can follow.
What you'll need;

whole unshelled peanuts
Vegetable oil
Honey
Mortar and pestle
Small mixer like a cuisinart

I shelled the peanuts into the mortar and pestle and my daughter crushed them. We then dumped them into the cuisinart, added 2 tabl of oil and 2 tabl of honey. Blend and serve. It is delicious, and might be this year's Christmas presents. She lived being involved with each step of the process and we talked about how peanuts grow.