Food For Tiny Fingers

It's official, my daughter is 1 year old! 

We celebrated her birthday over the weekend followed by my husbands party and it went very well. This morning my husband asks me, as he is making her bottle, "Aren't we supposed to be weaning her off of these soon?" Crap, he's right. That means more finger food, relatively scheduled meals, make ahead breakfasts. (I am out of the house by 6am and home with the other little one but 7am so breakfast is already a pain.) Then I start wondering where am I going to put all these meals and tiny tupper ware containers. Well, I think I've got it.

So There are several things I pick up for my lil munchkin to eat. 
Cut up green beans, peas, carrots, broccoli chunks, any frozen or canned veggies really. Throw some in a cup and microwave or grab a small pot and toss in your veggies. Storage is simply your pantry or canned goods cabinet and they take seconds to make. Pair them with some fruit or pretzels.

I will hard boil some extra eggs and throw them back in the fridge for a pre-made breakfast or an afternoon snack.

Cook an extra chicken breast or meatballs when you make dinner. Bonus: split it with the kids and make some quesadillas for lunch or a salad and you got your lunch too with little work.

I am a big fan of chunks of block cheese with some fruit and crackers or cheerios. All very easy things to put together.

With all these little finger foods filling up the fridge and pantry I decided to throw together some Martha Stewart and Betty Crocker and up-cycled some old formula containers to use as storage.

After you pull off the label you can spray paint it with plastic paint. Then I decorated it with some washi tape. The one on the left I use for storing crafts like beads, pom poms, washi tape rolls, etc.

Using small zipper bags and mini storage you can set these up for where ever you need them. For instance one will have small bags of cheerios, (instead of bulky boxes in the pantry.) pretzles, fruit snacks, snack pouches, really anything. 

For the refigerator snacks like fruits and veggies I have small storage boxes,

The white one you see here houses small tea boxes, instant coffee and all those rogue k-cups and kool-aid packets that make such clutter in your cabinets.

One of these little guys can slide out of one side of your fridge and all your toddler to-go bags remain contained in one place.

Last thing I am trying to do more of is making foods ahead, as I mentioned cooking a little extra the night before so you are all set for lunches and snacks the next day but I also like to load up the freezer. (Depending on space you can use those containers above to hold bags of freezer food.)

I like to make french toast sticks, mini pancakes, mini muffins etc. Its a good project for a lazy Sunday when I have an extra pair of hands for the baby. You can make up a ton of them in the time it would take to make a regular breakfast and on those busy mornings you toss 'em in the oven or microwave and the kids are happy. Not to mention all that breakfast stuff will make your house smell all yummy!

A new one I want to try is yogurt bites. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and use an icing bag (or a ziplock with a hole cut in the corner.) and make dots on the paper. Freeze them and pop them into a bag for a cool summer snack.

Anyway, off I go to start cooking then off to work so my husband can clean the kitchen. ;) 

What time saving tricks do you guys have?

Make your whole house smell like fall.

That time of year again. Once we get sick of humid summer here comes the crisp breeze of fall. Leaf peepers clogging up our highways, beautiful colors, pulling out the boots and jackets, lets not forget the oh so wonderful scarves. Still, when the windows are closed up tight at night against the cold you can lose that fresh smell of seasons changing. I personally am I huge fan of that apple smell of fall. It brings up memories of holidays, family, the familiar smells of cooking and the ever present smell of fall scented candles.

If your anything like me, I always like that smell in my house. So after a little Pintresting, (yes I'm addicted) I found some lovely ways of getting the whole house to have that aroma of food and family. Right now apples are cheap and in season and most people are picking them up anyway to whip up some apple crisp or a flaky pie. So when you find some with a bruise or worm holes, don't throw them away. Make a simmering potpourri.

Simply put, cook up the scent on your own.
You will need:
Water
A Small pot
An apple or two
An orange or two
Dash of vanilla extract
(opt.) pinch of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg.. really anything that makes your house smell yummy when your baking. Your amounts don't need to be specific, it really all depends on how much you like certain spices.
For instance, I go a little heavier with cinnamon and vanilla and lighter on nutmeg and cloves.

 Really anything you like the smell of  can be made this way.
Place some water in the pot and drop in all the ingredients. Throw them on the stove and let simmer for a little while. You can turn it off when the scent reaches what your looking for and always turn it back on later.

It's the simplest of recipes and packs quite a punch.

Ah how I love fall. I'm sure there will be many more fall posts as the cool air rolls into the northeast.

Enjoy!