Yum Yum Bowl!

So before you look at what I made for dinner and say, "There's no WAY my kid will eat that!" I just wanted to put out a disclaimer that I have an ulterior motive so stick with me.

So I started by telling Mary Ann that we were having Yum Yum bowls for dinner.  Just the name had her ready to go!  Now here is how I built my bowls!

I cook a few separate things. None of them take very long, or a lot of attention.  Very set it and forget it. :) So during naptime I stuck a sweet potato in the oven.  Cook at 350degrees until you can easily pierce it with a fork.  Time varies depending on your potato. If you are a newbie to cooking sweet potatoes make sure you put it on foil.  The leak sticky yummy stuff as they bake, but it makes a huge mess!

Cook some quinoa according to box directions.  Typically it is put water and quinoa in the pot, bring to a boil and simmer on low for 20-30min.  Very similar to cooking rice.

I made roasted chick peas.  Now you can use them uncooked, roasted or not at all.  If you want to roast them preheat your oven to 425. Drain and rinse the chick peas and pat dry. Add them to a little bowl with olive oil (1-2tbsp) and your favorite seasoning (Old Bay, garlic powder, parmesan, etc). Roast in the oven for about 20-30 min.  Keep a close eye in the last 10 because the burn quickly.

You can see I also have pita, avocado, shredded carrots and hummus.

So here it is!  My kiddo's Yum Yum bowl!  I put chick peas, sweet potato, avocado, carrots and pita in a bowl. Done!  She loved it AND ate it for lunch again the next day.

Now, for those of you who hate me since my kid will eat just about anything here is my take away for you!  When I saw this I thought that it wouldn't be right for the blog for picky eaters.  But then I thought about the concept.  Many things in a bowl!  It just fun!  Kids aren't as bound by conventional meal eating laws as adults so why don't we just throw their favorites in a bowl and let them have at it!  Maybe a Yum Yum bowl is cut up turkey, cheese, goldfish, apples and corn!  Hit the major food groups, throw it in a bowl and call it Yum Yum!

Now my bowl I took a little further.  I added a bed of spinach to start mine out. 

Here is my complete product with the quinoa and hummus that I didn't get in Mary Ann's (more for fear of mess than anything)! I made myself some pita too thinking there was no way this bowl of veggies and quinoa would fill me up. I was shocked!  Not only did it fill be up but everything in the bowl tasted better than the pita!  That is saying something coming from the queen of carbs!  I think next time I may add a little feta to the quinoa! 

Here's to No Daddy Dinners!

Adapted from: http://ohsheglows.com/2014/01/06/the-big-vegan-bowl/

Dinner by Color

So it doesn't happen often, but every now and then I have to be away while my hubby is out of town.  Luckily I live on the best street with the best neighbors who watch my girl for me!  Since we haven't had a No Daddy Dinner (NDD) in a while I wanted to make sure to get one on here even though I'm not eating at home. So I present, Dinner by Color!

I started with a paper plate and markers! I took stock of what was in my fridge (and what I wanted Mary Ann to eat) and came up with the following plate!

Then, with a little guidance I let her loose in the fridge!

Her goal was to choose a food that matched each color on the plate.  Her first color was green.  Now, as a disclaimer, my kiddo loves peas! I had them already cooked and knew she would choose them.  Other options for green could be cucumber, broccoli, kiwi, grapes, green apple, green pepper etc. If you're kiddo isn't feelin' the fruit and veggie route you could use key lime yogurt or grab some green food coloring and go for pancakes, green eggs or something like that!

Next up is orange.  My kiddo picked carrots.  I was ready to let her have carrots, a clementine, mango or canned peaches. 

Strawberries were the winner for red! I had strawberries, apples, grapes, and cherry tomatoes on hand. Watermelon would have been great!

For brown the winner was turkey!  I stuck two slices in a whole wheat pita. As you can see by my picture she didn't want to wait to eat it and threw down a half eaten carrot to get at it! Brown is where the sky is the limit.  For traditional kiddo food you can use chicken nuggets, hotdogs, fish sticks etc.  I wanted to stick with something a little healthier.  You could probably qualify any sandwich as brown!

Finally we get to blue!  I know there are not a lot of blue foods out there.  You could use this for dessert (popsicle, lollipop, candy etc).  Our choice was blueberry yogurt!

Ta-Da!

Other colors might be:

yellow - banana, squash, corn, peppers, pineapple

purple - potatoes, eggplant, blackberries, grapes

So even when Dad's away and Mom is out for the night a fun easy dinner is at your fingertips!

Here's to No Daddy Dinners!