5 Ingredient Sweet Potato Fries & Yogurt Dipping Sauce

Some days are just crazy.

Like "why are my keys in the fridge" and "who put the firefighter helmet on the baby" CRAZY.

These are the days that I could really care less about what my kids eat so long as they are full. The days when I would really love to just throw a box of microwaveable mac-n-cheese at them and call it lunch. Please tell me I'm not the only mom who has these kind of days! And by these kind of days I kind of mean... all the time.

There. I said it. Every day is crazy at our house. Maybe it has something to do with having three kids in three years (thank you, twins). But, regardless, I have to have something quick and nutritious in my reporatoire that will not be met with a toddler eating strike if I'm going to survive this phase of parenthood. Soo...

French fries! Everyone likes french fries. Even my super-picky-I-liked-carrots-yesterday-but-not-today-todders. These are sweet potato fries (so more nutritious) and baked (so not as many fats). Did you know: a serving of sweet potatoes contain 400% of your daily Vitamin A? The yogurt dipping sauce is also a better alternative to traditional fry condiments. It has the sweetness of ketchup and the creaminess of mayo without the same fat content and refined sugars. When in doubt, my twins will usually eat sweeter foods over savory ones. Plus, in my experience, toddlers will eat anything that has a dipping sauce! 

5 Ingredient Sweet Potato Fries & Yogurt Dipping Sauce

1 sweet potato

1/4 cup plain yogurt*

1 tsp maple syrup

1/4 tsp cinnamon

salt

**optional olive oil**

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Peel and slice your sweet potato into fries. Keep baking time in mind when you decide the size. Thinner fries will bake up quicker than thick ones. You can also do this the night before, but you will want to toss with a drizzle of oil before sealing and refrigerating them if so.

3. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper and spread out fries on it. You can choose to bake plain or drizzle with oil (about 2 tsps) for a crispier texture. I always opt to bake with olive oil because a) I prefer the texture, b) kids especially need good fats, and c) there's some research that beta carotene (Vitamin A) is absorbed better when eaten with fat.

4. Bake for 15 minutes and then check. The thinner the fry, the faster the cook time.

5. Meanwhile, mix yogurt with maple syrup, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. (If your yogurt is sweetened, omit the maple syrup).

6. Remove fries from oven, sprinkle with salt, and cool. Enjoy!

*Greek yogurt has a nice texture for dipping. Coconut yogurt has a good flavor as well if you are going paleo/vegan. Shy away from soy-based yogurts as they have too strong a flavor to work well here. 

Apple Pizzas

Apple pizzas are a fun hands-on snack for little chefs and they are totally toddler-approved. As a retired early education teacher, I also love the fine motor skills involved here for all the busy little fingers!

This is an extremely simple "recipe", but it is versatile and easy to whip up on a busy day. A deeply ingrained love of clean-eating starts in childhood; so tactile exploration of whole foods is very important for the toddler years.

Apple Pizzas

1. Have an adult slice an apple through the midsection to create circular disks. This is a great time to point out the star in the center of the apple, the seeds, and even to discuss plant life cycles if you're feel ambitious.

2. Supply almond (or another nut) butter, plastic knives, and a variety of "pizza toppings" for decorating. 

3. Show child(ren) how to spread the nut butter "sauce" on their apple crust and then either (a) discuss and model patterns (raisin, banana, raisin, banana, etc) and have them create their own, or (b) let them go free-for-all decorating on their own.

Ingredients:

Large organic* apple

Natural nut butter of choice

Topping Ideas:

raisins
craisins

dark chocolate chips

chia seeds

cheerios

diced banana

sunflower seeds
pepitas
cinnamon

*We can't always afford organic produce, but apples are a great fruit to buy organic when you can as they are on the "Dirty Dozen" list of produce with the highest levels of chemicals. See the entire Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen 2016 list here.

Key Lime Easy Oats (with shh! spinach)

Today is the much anticipated LIBRAY DAY at our little house. The boys are eagerly gathering up our pile of books as I type, so this post will be short and sweet. We eat overnight oats at least four breakfasts a week, so I've been looking for a way to sneak in vegetables without ruining the flavor (or  the toddler enthusiasm). I finally found it! And - just because I hardly believe it myself - here they are. Eating spinach for breakfast.

After weeks of brainstorming, I finally got smart and took a hint from smoothie successes. The key to this recipe resides in these three little tips that I've shared before.

• Color Match - if the oatmeal is going to be green, I'd better have a darn good excuse. Flavoring the oats with lime juice and zest gives a plausible (if you're three-years-old) reasons for them to be green.
• Add Acid - again, the lime comes in handy. Citrus is adept at masking any subtle earthy flavor from greens. 
• Blend, Baby, Blend - hell hath no fury like a toddler who just detected a noticeable piece of spinach in their "sweet" breakfast (or smoothie). Run the blender on high for at least three minutes.

Without further ado - the recipe:

Key Lime Easy Oats (with shhh! spinach)

4 cups spinach

3 1/2 cups almond milk

3 cups old fashioned oats

1/4 cup vanilla protein powder (optional)*

Zest of 1 lime
3 Tbs lime juice (optional)**

3 Tbs chia seeds
3 Tbs maple syrup (or other sweetener)

Fruit for topping (pineapple, strawberries, and mango all go well)

Toasted coconut (optional)
Extra maple syrup for drizzling

1. In a blender, combine milk and spinach on high until spinach is not visible to the discerning child's eye.

2. Combine with all the other ingredients except toppings. Cover and refridergate overnight.

3. In the morning, portion oats out and layer or top with fruit of choice. Add a sprinkle of unsweetened coconut and drizzle of maple syrup if desired. Enjoy!

Serves 6

*If the idea of tart oats bothers you, I tasted the oatmeal after adding just the lime zest alone and was pleased. My kids have always like sour things though and enjoyed the added lime juice.
**We use a protein powder sweetened with stevia. If omitting, decrease liquid by 1/4 cup and add 1 tsp vanilla and 1-2 Tbs sweetener of choice. 

Hidden Veggie Spaghetti Sauce

I still remember the day when, as a newlywed, I first read the nutrition label on the back of a can of spaghetti sauce:

Ten grams of sugar in 1/2 a cup!

And, let's be honest. Rarely did I eat just half a cup. I am a drown-your-noodle-spaghetti-sauce-soup, kind of girl. There were some pricey, sophisticated sauce options with lower sugar contents, but I was trying to budget for a move and a house and future children so I barely gave them a glance.

Ten ... errrr, 20 ... grams of sugar for me it was.

Fast forward a few years. Now that we have kids, I just can't justify putting that much sugar on their dinner plates and we still can't afford the pricier brands. Solution? Make my own spaghetti sauce! I set out to come up with a good red sauce recipe with three thoughts in mind:

1. It would need to be mild in taste because garlic wards off toddlers almost as well as it fends off vampires.
2. It should incorporate several vegetables because - again - "O" and his whole "no carrots" deal.
3. Also, could it pack in at least a little protein? Don't get me wrong! Some nights, when the banshees small children have worn me down to a skeleton of who I was 12 hours earlier, "noodles + tomatoes" sounds like a well-balanced meal. But, I could probably give at least a polite nod to protein with this sauce.

Here is the end result! It is thick and creamy with a color resembling vodka sauce. There is a good note of sweetness from carrots, easy on the garlic and pepper, and a few lentils tossed in for good measure. The marjoram is a softer, sweeter alternative to oregano (which some children find to sharp in flavor). And if you needed one more bonus for this awesome sauce - it freezes GREAT!

1/2 onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 cup grape tomatoes

1 approx. 14 oz can of diced tomatoes and juices

1/4 cup lentils

1 1/4 cups broth
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp tarragon

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp majoram

1/4 tsp fennel

1/8 - 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Sweat the onion, garlic, and carrots with a drizzle of olive oil + 1/4 teaspoon salt. Once the onions become translucent, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer on low - the longer the better! I like to make this during nap time when I know we will not be going anywhere while the baby sleeps. When baby is tired, everyone is tired. I simmer for 2 hours then set aside to reheat for dinner.

Makes enough for 1 box of spaghetti.