Budsie Shares His Porridge

by Ezmy From Monday to Friday, it’s just me and Budsie for breakfast time (A. leaves early for a workout before work because he’s ambitious and amazing like that). Before having kids, ‘breakfast time’ was me fumbling about with the coffee grinder, blindly dumping hot water into a French press, and sitting my pajama clad self in front of the computer for a morning write. My eyes did not open until the first sip of jet black coffee hit my mouth.

Breakfast time is an entirely different affair now, of course, but I’m still pretty groggy first thing so when Budsie started eating people food, I had to figure out a breakfast that was fast and simple, yet healthy and delicious. Oh and fun! Because my boy likes to be entertained. Enter ‘Budsie Porridge’, a super fast recipe that, when combined with sound effects, makes for a fun morning with my little man.

Budsie Porridge - serves one hungry baby boy

-1 1/2 tbsp ‘Bob’s Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal’ - this is small grain oatmeal that works for babies as young as 6 months -1/4 cup or so water -1 cube pureed prunes* -pinch cinnamon -splash homogenized milk or breast milk

*Every couple of weeks, I lightly boil and then puree a container of prunes (make sure they are sulphite-free!). I pop this prune-y goodness into ice cube trays and then transfer the prune cubes to a freezer bag. Incidentally, the water the prunes are boiled in makes a tasty dinner time beverage for babies.

Now. It is possible to microwave this porridge (put all ingredients together - except the milk - and stick in microwave for 3 minutes). But I’m going to outline the details for cooking on the stove because believe it or not, we didn’t have a microwave until a couple of weeks ago.

First, pop the water in a pot and put on stove to boil. When pouring water, make rushing water sounds - whoosh! - and explain what you are up to.

Water will boil very quickly. Turn the heat down to low and slowly add the oats, stirring as you add. Make shaking oats noise - my noise of choice: shooka shooka weeee! - and explain what you are up to.

Once oats are stirred in, add your frozen prune cube - Boop! (Budsie loves this noise)

The prune cube will start to melt. Once it is all melted, your oats are done (about 2 minutes). During melting time, I like to do a little dance in the kitchen. It perks me up and sends Budsie into fits of laughter. When the porridge is done, take off the stove, pour into a baby breakfast bowl and stir in your pinch of cinnamon and milk. By the time you get this and your breakfast gear to the table, the porridge should be cool enough for baby to eat. Check first of course.

Result: One porridge covered baby!

 

Happy Breakfast Time!

Ezmy is a new mum to son Ewan (aka Budsie). When she isn’t working on her master’s thesis, or playing games with her boy, she’s blogging furiously about life as a stay-at-home mum in our nation’s capital. Follow Ezmy on Twitter (@ezmytweets) where she posts daily resolutions and updates on life with an active and very vocal baby.

Who doesn't love a big breakfast?

by Joanne Who does not love a big breakfast –bacon and yummy eggs with buttery toast and maple syrup – yummy!  But in my house I am the only one.  My family prefers cereal (cold or hot) and toast… boring.  I have tried and tried to get them to eat a nice bacon and egg breakfast but it always ends up in frustration.  For Christmas this year, I decided I would ask for a waffle maker.  My DH thought it was funny but the kids thought it was a great idea.  But I had a plan for this gift – they love frozen waffles and I thought if I could find a recipe that they liked I could make them their waffles from scratch instead of buying them.  Christmas morning arrived and I was anxiously waiting to see if I would receive what I really wanted…. And the kids did not disappoint!  Under the tree was a waffle maker – little did they know but I had already found a recipe for a basic waffle and had all the ingredients ready to make a big Christmas breakfast which included waffles for everyone!

Here is the recipe… it makes yummy homemade waffles – the recipe is for 8 waffles but I make mine smaller so I can get about a dozen from one batch.

2 cups of all-purpose flour (I mix in a bit of whole wheat flour) 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar 1 tablespoon of baking powder ½ teaspoon of baking soda ½ teaspoon of salt 1 ¾ cup of 1% milk (or whatever you have) 6 tablespoons of vegetable oil (I use canola) 2 large eggs

Mix all your ingredients into a large bowl and combine until well blended and smooth.  Once the batter is all mixed you need to let your batter rest for about 5 minutes.  In the meantime preheat your waffle iron (follow the instructions of your machine).

After the 5 minute waiting time is done and the iron is preheated you can now pour 1/3 cup of batter onto the centre iron.  Then close the lid wait a few minutes – my machine has an indicator light that tells me when they are ready.

A few minutes later, open the lid and there you go a yummy waffle!

These are really yummy when you serve them immediately but can also be frozen.   My DH will pop them in the toaster or microwave (depending on the child) and they have a nice homemade breakfast everyday!  No more store bought frozen waffles for us anymore.

These waffles are great with maple syrup, icing sugar, fruit compotes, fresh fruit, whipped cream and even ice cream with some chocolate sauce!

This waffle machine is a great compromise.  I get the nice weekend breakfast with my family and they get the yummy waffles they love!

Joanne the proud mom of Amélie (8 years old) and Mathieu (5 years).  She is new at blogging and you can find her at Our Money Pit.

After school blueberry crumb muffins

by Vicky When Joel gets off the school bus, he's ravenous. He walks in the front door and immediately asks 'what did you make today'. I don't always have time to bake after school snacks, but when I do I know he's a happy boy!

Recently I found this recipe for blueberry muffins with a crumb topping. I can honestly say they were the best muffins I have made, and they didn't last long! They were moist, loaded with blueberries, and the crumb topping was a nice touch! I highly recommend them:

Blueberry Crumb Topping Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter, cubed
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Before you start, preheat oven to 400. Spray a muffin tin with Pam or use muffin liners.
2. Mix the flour, sugar salt and baking powder and set aside.  In a 1 cup measuring cup, place the vegetable oil, the egg and fill the rest of the cup to the top with milk. Stir carefully, and mix the liquids with the flour mixture.
3. Fold in blueberries, and spoon the mixture into the muffin cups.
4. Sprinkle with crumb topping. (Do not overload the muffins with the crumb topping or they will sink).

To Make Crumb Topping (optional):

1. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter (room temperature works best), and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon in a small bowl. Wisk with a fork and sprinkle on top of the muffins before baking.
2. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

When I followed this recipe, it made 8 very large muffins. I think the next time I make it, I will put a bit less in each muffin cup and stretch them out to a full dozen (since the crumb topping does add a bit more to the muffin).

I hope your kids will enjoy these as much as mine did!

Vicky is the mom to 4 year old son named Joel and 1 year old daughter named Mieka. You can read her blog at blog Some Kind of Wondermom.

Pancake Fun

by Natasha On Sunday morning, Baby H and I made pancakes.  He is only 18 months old, and this was the first time I let him “help” me in the kitchen. I pre-measured all of the ingredients ahead of time and made sure I grabbed a sturdy bowl for the task ahead.  We had everything in front of us, and there was no chance for Baby H to raid my pantry.

As he isn’t tall enough to reach the counter yet, I had to push a chair against the counter and let him stand on it. When I placed him atop the chair, he looked at me with a funny face as thought to say, “I thought I wasn’t allowed to stand on chairs”. The double standard wasn’t lost on me, but maybe it’s time he learned to be a little less helpless.

First, I gave Baby H the bowl and the measuring cup filled with pancake mix.  He immediately dumped it into the bowl, without any instruction. Either it’s good child play, or he watched me do that one too many times.  He then poured the water into the mixing bowl and was happy with all the splashing noises made. Then came the mixing - and Baby H’s favourite – part. I gave him his very own wooden spoon and he began mixing with a grin from ear to ear. He mixed and mixed and occasionally looked up at me to make sure he was doing it correctly. With some “good job!” exclamations from me, he kept happily mixing until we had our batter ready.

I then sat Baby H in his highchair with a few cookie cutters and asked him to pick one to while I made the pancakes.  Every time I scooped the mix onto the griddle, Baby H would say “awww” and keep his eyes fixed to see what came next.

Once the pancakes cooled, the fun part came.  Baby H cut out dinosaurs into his pancakes.  I think he was a little amazed at the process of pushing down the shapes and ending up with animals he could eat.

We enjoyed our pancakes with strawberries and a bit of maple syrup. My son did really well and I was happy to see him partake in this particular activity. I think these small activities will help him become more independent in completing some tasks, and I’m hoping to instill in him some creativity especially when it comes to making up his own edible art.

I can’t wait for next weekend, because I’m going to do it all over again with him.

This is how new traditions are born in our household.

Natasha is a new mommy to her first born, Baby H. She runs ShopHaven, a blog that reviews products and profiles local businesses and individuals from the Ottawa area. Natasha is also the creative force behind ShopHaven Baskets; a highly customized gift baskets service.  Follow Natasha on Twitter (@shophaven) to keep up with her daily adventures and Baby H’s mischiefs.

Valentine Day Sweets

 by Alison This year my daughter and I decided to make Valentine lollipops for our friends and family. We purchased all the necessary supplies at the local Bulk Barn.

I recommend buying more than one mold if you plan on making a lot, as each mold we bought makes only four lollipops.

We chose milk chocolate wafers as well as red and pink. For our allergic friends we melted regular chocolate chips, as the Bulk Barn can be a dangerous place for cross contamination. The first step was to melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds. Depending on the size of bowl, this took between two and four minutes. Then we poured the chocolate into the molds using a spoon. We also tried using a squeeze bottle, and while my daughter enjoyed it, it was a bit slower and the chocolate hardened quickly in the bottle. This might have been more useful if we were using more than one colour of chocolate per lollipop.

Once the molds were full, we added lollipop sticks and made sure the sticks were covered in chocolate. Then the molds were put in the fridge for 15 to 20 minutes. When they had hardened the lollipops came out easily.

My daughter insisted on taste testing our first batch.

After she declared them delicious, we packaged them up using lollipop bags and ribbon.

This was so fun and easy, that we may be making chocolate lollipops for every occasion!

Alison is a mom of two energetic children, ages 5 and 1. She doesn't yet have a blog, but may start one soon.