MM - Baby Days! Snackage.....

Happy Monday everyone!!!

I don't know about all of you, but snacks make the world go 'round in our household. Once Noah could eat solids, snacks were gold, in fact, this is still the case! My little guy is a super eater and loves meal time. Most of the time we are super busy and snacks fill the gaps for us. So today I thought that I would give you some "food for thought"!

Has anyone tried those yogurt bites that they have in the baby isle? Either the gerber brand or the store brand, to me they taste so weird. Now, have you tried the THRIVE yogurt bites? AMAZING!!!! In my humble opinion, the THRIVE yogurt bites melt easier in the little ones mouth, taste WAY better, and kiddos love them!! Not to mention that they are a ton cheaper! Noah's fav is Strawberry!

The thing I love most about THRIVE foods is that they make the perfect snack right out of the can! The fruits and veggies are awesome for when your little one starts to feed themselves! Try the peas, corn, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, mangos, and pears! They are great starter foods and they love the crunch! Noah absolutlely loves the fruits and veggies especially while he is teethin!! The applesauce is also amazing!



What about when they get a little older and goldfish are the bomb.com? Well, I was perusing the THRIVE cookbook the other day and I found this little gem! AMAZING!!! We made a batch this weekend and they were devoured!!!

***I have to add a disclaimer. I don't have an actual picture of the ones that we made this weekend. They were gobbled up rather quickly and I forgot to take a picture in the craziness that happened this weekend. Me and Noah got some burns on saturday as i was cooking. Some hot oil splashed on the both of us. Things have been just a little out of whack ever since then. ***


Photo courtesy of THRIVE Cookbook

Here is what you will need:
1 1/4 Cups TRIVE Flour (Whole wheat or white)
1/2 Cup THRIVE Cheese Blend
1/8 teaspoon THRIVE Baking Soda
1/4 teaspoon THRIVE Salt
3 Tablespoons Oil (I use coconut oil)
1/2 Cup Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all your dry ingredients. Slowly add oil until the mixture is crumbly. SLOWLY add water until you form a tight dough.
Roll out you dough very thin (they will puff up when they bake) about 1/8 of an inch. Cut into squares or your favorite shape. Poke a hole in the top of them and transfer onto a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Cool completely before removing them from the pan.
Happy Snackin!

Crockpot Oatmeal

One of the things I have learned is that oatmeal is really good for you. Growing up I ate the instant kind loaded with sugar. Now if I buy instant I look for the kinds that contain flax seed and are low on the sugar. I mainly reserve the packets for busy mornings. Generally I make my own oatmeal and don't add any sugar. I've been wanting to try steel cut oats for a while now, but wasn't sure about the best way to go about it. Then I decided to try it in the crockpot. It was so easy and made enough for my family and then some.

Steel cut oats are less processed than rolled or quick oats, basically they are the oat groat cut up into smaller bits. They have a lower glycemic index which means they stick to your ribs longer and has a slow and steady impact on blood glucose levels. They also have a denser consistency. The main draw back with steel cut oats are that they take longer to make, but if you do the crockpot method it basically doesn't take any time at all.

Unfortunately Thrive Life doesn't offer steel cut oats yet, but they do have oat groat~. However, we'll be using other Thrive Life food products to make our oatmeal extra yummy. Plus I'll be doing a few more posts using quick oats and oat groat so be on the look out for those (both of which Thrive Life carries).

You Will Need:
2 c steel cut oats
8-9 c water
1/2 c blueberries
1/2 c pears
1/4 c flax seed
cinnamon to taste
nuts (optional)
brown sugar (optional)
agave (optional)

Directions:
Dump your oats, blueberries, pears, flax seed, cinnamon, and water into the crock and mix it up. Add water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or over night. I mixed all the dry ingredients together while I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner. Then I added the water and turned it on about 10:00 before I went to bed. You may need to adjust the water or the time because it can burn and stick to the sides.
Stir it up a bit and serve with nuts and maybe a splash of milk and some brown sugar or agave for a little sweetness.
Makes about 6 servings. Store left overs in an air tight container in the fridge and reheat in the microwave for about 90 seconds.

I liked this method a lot and it would be easy to try different fruit combinations. The blueberries and pears soaked up a lot of the water, so they were really soft. I couldn't even see the pears when it was finished.

Tiffany's Fruit Granola Recipe

Shelf Reliance has an awesome granola recipe that we can serve at parties.  Although it is good as is, I made a few alterations to it myself which people keep asking for!  I will just share it on here so everyone will have it available to them.


To print 3x5 or 4x6 Recipe
To print Full Page Recipe

Tiffany’s Coconut Almond Fruit Granola

Yield 7 Cups

2 ½ c Oats                                     ¼ t nutmeg               1/3 c THRIVE Pears

½ c almonds, sliced                     ¼ t cloves                  1/3 c THRIVE Blueberries

½ c coconut                                  1 ¾ t cinnamon        1/3 c THRIVE Raspberries

½ c walnuts                                   2 T honey

½ c brown sugar                           ¼ c butter, unsalted (½ stick)

                                   

Preheat oven to 300°F. Mix first 8 ingredients in a large bowl. Melt butter and honey in a small saucepan over low heat. Pour butter mixture over oat mixture and toss well.  Line cookie sheet with foil and spread out mixture on lined sheet.  Bake 20-25 minutes stirring occasionally.  Cool on the baking sheet.  Toss with Freeze Dried fruit mixture (or one of your choice).  Store airtight at room temperature for 1-2 weeks.  Can be served as topping for yogurt, eaten as a cereal with milk or as a snack on its own.


I just have to give a shout out for our brown sugar which is good sealed in a can for 10 years!  Have you ever opened up a bag of hardened brown sugar when you were wanting to bake some cookies... never again!


To order any of these DELICIOUS ingredients for the cheapest price available, just go to www.shelfreliancemom.shelfreliance.com .