Watermelon treats!

OK so I have a confession..... I LOVE watermelon! It is my all time favorite summertime treat. One of my favorite memories as a kid is play stick ball with the neighborhood kids. (note: stick is a game we created. Basically baseball using a kickball and a broom stick instead of a ball and bat). Then sitting on the back steps of our house eating watermelon and spitting the seeds out into the yard. Of course we would try and see who could spit the farthest and being the youngest I always lost.

 

So in honor of my favorite summertime treat I will give you 3 ways to enjoy it!

First the old fashioned way cut it up and eat it. LOL

I cut ours into watermelons sticks. The kids like it better this way because it is easier to eat and hold.

 Here are some pictures to show you how I cut it.

 

Ok on to number 2...

I simply took the left over watermelon sticks and laid them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Then I wrapped them good and tight with plastic wrap.

 I popped them into the freezer and the next day we has watermelon popsicles. The kids loved them. I will note that next time I am going to cut off the green parts and insert a popsicle stick. Holding frozen watermelon was very cold on the fingers. Oh hey I just thought of something I have the sticks to the make your own popsicles tray thing. I could give them a try. Hmmm wonder if it'll work?.....

 My son enjoying his treat. :) He isn't naked honestly. He has on swimming shorts. This was a perfect treat for them after they were done playing in the water in the backyard.

 The last way is watermelon suzies (smoothies said by a 3 y/o). I took the other half of the watermelon that I did not cut into sticks and I cut it into cubes. I put the cubes into a Ziploc bag and put them in the freezer. There are endless ways to make watermelon smoothies. I chose to go the simple and basic route.

I took the watermelon out of the freezer about 15 minutes before I actually started making the suzies. Surprisingly the cubes came apart very easily. I took a few handfuls of cubes and dumped them into the mixer. Then I hit the go button. I was having trouble getting it to blend right so I added a little bit(like 2 or 3 ounces) of milk.

That's it.

And you have watermelon suzies! These were a huge hit. I will be making these again real soon. I have still watermelon in the freezer. I think I have enough to make 2 more batches.

 Some of the kids chose to eat theirs with a spoon in a bowl. The others chose a cup and straw.

You can add yogurt or ice cream to your suzies. You can also add additional fruits like banana, strawberry, or kiwi. I would like to try adding kiwi. The possibilities are endless....

I LOVE WATERMELON!!!!!

 

HAPPY SUMMER TO Y'ALL!!



Banana 'ice cream'

One of the things that I have recently started to do is try to eliminate some preservatives, artificial colors and flavors, and dyes from our diet. Why you ask? Well because some parents of kids with ADHD and autism have said that eliminating certain things from their diets have helped with attention, behavior etc. So I thought well why not give it a try. Plus eating healthier is a good idea for everyone anyway. This is one of the things we've tried and loved.

So I have to be honest here I did not come up with idea all on my own. I saw this and thought immediately that this is something my kids would love. Plus one thing I try to limit in my son's diet is milk products and this is milk free.

 

This is super simple and easy!! I left some bananas sit until they started to brown. I cut about 4 bananas up into chunks. Put them in a Ziploc bag and tossed them into the freezer for a few hours. Then I simply took the frozen banana chunks and put them in the food processer. Then like magic you have a yummy frozen treat. It really is like eating banana ice cream.

 Here you can see just how much it does look like ice cream.

Yummy!!

I'd like to try this with adding some strawberries or something to it. I wonder how that would turn? Hmmm.........

Snack fit for a Toddler

I know it's been a while since I've posted. Back to school time always seems to be such a busy time. Getting everyone settled into a new routine always proves to more difficult than I expect. For now I am posting a super simple and easy snack idea. I promise to get back to better postings next week. 

OK for some reason blogger won't let me put pictures on here so you'll have to survive with no photos for now. Anyway onto the snacking part.

What you'll need:

crackers (I used whole wheat ritz crackers)

peanut butter (or anyother nut butter)

banana

Yep that's it. Really. Spread a little peanut butter onto your crackers then top with a slice of banana and your have a yummy snack that your kids will fight over. Well mine do anyway because I can only make them so fast and they fight over who gets the next one. LOL 

Enjoy! 

Cereal Necklace

I think at one point in time every child does this activity. I know I did and all 4 of mine have done it more than once. 

Things you'll need:

String (I used ones from a sewing activity that I saved after the card board pieces were worn out. Of course   I washed them in the washing machine before we used them)

plate or bowl

cereal with a hole in the middle

Tape (if you use yarn)

First thing you want to do is take a piece of tape and wrap it around the end of your string if it doesn't have a hard end on it already. The tape makes it easier for little fingers. I used shoe strings so I didn't have to do this step. Then take one piece of cereal and tie it on the string as shown below. This prevents the cereal from coming off the other end of the string and falling to the floor. 

 We chose to use fruit loops for 2 reasons. 1: They are a bit bigger and easier for smaller fingers to handle and 2: We are learning colors and this was a great chance to talk about colors with them. I would occasionally say something like "what color are you putting on?" or "Andrew, Katey is putting on a blue one can you find a blue one to put on?" It wasn't constant but just a few prompts here and there to get them talking a little.  

 Of course they were eating as they were stringing. LOL

Katey kept showing me each piece before she put hers on as you can see in the picture below. I let them tell me all about the cereal and how they were making a pretty necklace. I had to help and encourage the 2 littlest one quite a bit to keep them going because at first they were having a hard time. A little bit of help and a LOT of encouragement goes a long way. 

 Even the older kids had a good time with the project. Sarah separated her's by color. Albert started to make a pattern but quickly gave that up. He did a few small patterns through out the necklace but he doesn't have the concentration needed to keep going with one pattern for to long. 

 So when they are all done with their necklaces simply tie the ends together and you have a beautiful snack! When I tied them together I left a little empty string in the necklace part so that they didn't have cereal on the back of their necks.

Have fun and Enjoy the chatter and smiles!

Snack Carrots

My kids love munching on carrots. However the little ones have a hard time with them. So I have come up with a solution........

Boil your carrots. Duh why didn't I think of this a long time ago. Cook the carrots until they are softer but still a little firm. Then cool, put in a reusable plastic container or ziploc bag. Then your little ones won't have such a hard time eating them. My oldest son doesn't like to eat them so he warms his up first but the others eat theirs cold like they would a raw carrot. Yummy, easy and healthy snack!