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Kid-Friendly Christmas Recipes

Adventures in Cookie Decorating – Lambert’s Lately

25 Healthy Christmas Snacks Your Kids Will Love – Fit Body, Full Life

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Recipe – 3 Boys and a Dog

Oreo Ball Snowman – Live Over C’s

Cucumber and Smoked Salmon Appetizer – Do It All Working Mom

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The post Kid-Friendly Christmas Recipes and Mom’s Library #169 first appeared on True Aim.

Sometimes we have to motivate our children to eat their salads. They’re not big fans. But serving it this way made it really fun and they ate it up even without any dressing! So my kids ate tons of extra veggies and I didn’t have to cook!

Salad Buffet Dinner

It’s all about presentation. Really! My kids thought this looked so cool, they didn’t even fret about eating a bunch of salad. You could use a bunch of separate bowls, but I used a platter that hid the lettuce (not my kids favorite) underneath all the yummy toppings. The base I used was romaine lettuce and baby spinach.

My daughter Audrey prepared all the toppings, so I didn’t really have to do anything. Just washed and dried the veggies and gave them to her to chop. Her favorite thing to use is the peeler.

When my kids help in the kitchen, they are a lot more likely to eat what they make than what I put in front of them, especially if they get to choose what goes into their food.

I asked Audrey what veggies she would like and then put a few more in there. She was really excited about this dinner!

Funny what a little fancy platter and a variety of toppings will do to make kids eat their salad. What do you cook when you don’t feel like cooking?

The post Cooking with Kids When you Don’t want to Cook: Salad Buffet Dinner first appeared on True Aim.

I made a new years resolution. It’s not the kind that people usually make. Most of the time, people set a HUGE goal or restriction that they will never meet or stick to. I’ve decide to eat healthier one handful at a time.

Blueberries are so easy to eat and make a great snack. You might think that they are more expensive than crackers or chips, but you are wrong. The average bag of potato chips is 29 cents an oz, while fresh blueberries are only 25 cents an oz and for frozen they are 20 cents an oz on average. So, are you up for the snacking challenge?

Whether you’re cooking, snacking or pursuing healthy habits, adding blueberries is an easy way to add a healthy twist to your meal. Blueberries have just 80 calories per serving (one cup) and lots of fiber!

Some think of blueberries as purely a summertime fruit, but thanks to the market in South America, blueberries are in season all year-round. Plus, frozen blueberries are always available and perfect for pancakes, muffins and yogurt.

The U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council website hosts a variety of tips on how to make eating blueberries apart of your lifestyle and you HAVE to check out their recipes! YUM!

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

2 Ingredient Blueberry Jam

One of the major changes that I made was buying plain yogurt instead of flavored. The sugary flavored kind has 25+ grams of sugar in one 6oz container. That’s 100% of your daily limit and more sugar than Coca-Cola!

Instead, I make homemade blueberry jam and put a teaspoon in the yogurt and top with a little homemade granola.

This blueberry jam has half the sugar that regular recipes call for and you could try to put even less if you wanted to. You may just have to cook it a little longer.

A great recipe for kids to memorize and make on their own, my daughter helped me smash some of the berries. If you don’t like big chunks of blueberries, I recommend smashing all of them. We like the chunks so I only had her smash half of them.

After you simmer the blueberries down, you can add them to jars and boil to seal them. This Jam will keep for 6 months in the pantry or a year in the freezer.

Homemade 2 Ingredient Blueberry Jam

 

Print

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

1 hour 45 mins

Total time

1 hour 50 mins

 

2 Ingredient Low-Sugar Blueberry Jam is perfect for pancakes, blueberry bars, toast, and yogurt!

Author: True Aim

Recipe type: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Serves: 2½ cups

Ingredients

• 4 Cups Blueberries
• 1½ Cups Sugar

Instructions

1. Mash 2 cups of the blueberries in a medium saucepan with a potato masher.
2. Add the remaining 2 cups of bluberries and ¼ cup of water. Simmer over medium heat for about 6 minutes or until berries are soft. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon to break up the berries.
3. Add sugar and return to a simmer, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until thickened for about 2 hours.
4. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for 2 weeks or in sealed jars for up to 6 months.

3.2.2885

U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council Sweepstakes

Enter to win a trip for two to LA for the Little Changes Kitchen Challenge alongside actress, author and TV host Alison Sweeney!

Runners up may win one of four $500 Whole Foods or Lululemon gift cards for a refreshed pantry or workout wardrobe! Choose little, win BIG. Hurry! Sweepstakes opens on January 1, 2015 and closes February 16, 2015!

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The post Homemade 2 Ingredient Blueberry Jam first appeared on True Aim.

Sometimes I make it from scratch, mainly after scanning all the gormet -looking food photography on Pinterest.  Because homemade Pizza dough is as gourmet as I get.  But most of the time, I use my 5 second crust to make pizza in 15 minutes from the kitchen to the table.

Or I get the kids to make it.  Or, in this case, I get someone else’s kid to make it!

Kid-made Pizza

No, its not slave labor.  Kids love to cook!  And what kid doesn’t love pizza?  My little chef does, so I wasn’t surprised when she was the first to volunteer to help make it.

The best thing about pizza is that kids are more apt to try new things and eat more veggies when they’re in control of the toppings.  Well, maybe not total control.  I usually give them a variety to chose from though.  This time I had zucchini, grape tomatoes and ham.  I usually add baby spinach, but I was all out this time.

To make the pizza, I helped by preheating the oven to 400 degrees.  Meanwhile, My little chef made the crust by taking tortillas out of the refrigerator and putting them on a baking sheet.  Yes, that’s my secret.  Sorry.  I know you were looking forward to my instructions on how to build a electromagnetic pizza crust generating solar oven.

But really, tortillas make a really good thin crispy crust.  You could also use pitas, Naan bread or even English muffins.  You just have to cook them longer.

Next, she added the sauce, cheese, and toppings.  I baked them for about 8 minutes.  You can adjust the time depending on how crispy you like it and how many toppings you have.

Bam!  Pizza in no time and the kids can make it.  You can also show your children how to microwave it if they want to make it as a snack all by themselves!

What kind of shortcuts do you use for your pizza?

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The post Cooking with Kids: 5 Second Pizza Crust! first appeared on True Aim.