Homemade Banana Nut Fruit Bars

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In an effort to start eating less processed foods {even "healthy", organic processed foods}, I went searching for a recipe for homemade Larabars. We LOVE Larabars. BUT. They are expensive and when you need at least 2 to feed the kids, it can add up quickly. I wanted a cost effective way that didn't use 800 ingredients. I came across a few recipes, but really wanted to use what I had on hand so after seeing that I could dry bananas and use those, in addition to dates, I set out to create this recipe.
You'll need to dry your bananas first. I'm not sure how store bought dried bananas would work because these need to be somewhat sticky and help hold the bar together.  Set your oven to 170 degrees {that's as low as mine goes}. Cut your bananas into slices lengthwise and place on a drying rack. 

Place drying rack on top of a cookie sheet to catch any bits that may fall off during the drying process. Place in the oven and allow to dry for 8-10 hours. I started my batch at 2pm and turned off the oven at 10:30pm and left the bananas in the oven overnight. They were the perfect consistency in the morning. Recipe: Homemade Banana Nut Fruit Bars What You'll Need: 3 bananas (dried first - see above for drying instructions) 1/4 c or approximately 8 small dates (this is the type we use from Costco) 1/2 c sunflower seeds 1/4 c other nuts (almonds, cashews, hickory nuts, peanuts, etc.) Blend dried bananas and dates in food processor until they form a sticky dough. It should clump into a ball.  Blend in sunflower seeds and other nuts {we used peanuts this go round} until finely chopped. Turn out onto wax or parchment paper and form into a ball with your hands. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and press the dough into the bottom of the pan. Refrigerate for 1 hour.  Cut into desired size.  We used peanuts this time because it's what I had on hand. You could also form these into balls instead of bars.  Based on the ingredients I used, these bars cost about $.31 a piece. When making 6 bars this saves me almost $1 per bar based on the price of Larabars at our Trader Joe's. Worth it! Follow The Iowa Farmer's Wife on Instagram, Twitter, & Pinterest

IMM: Garlic Home Fries

These are a family favorite around here and tonight we paired them with baked sandwiches and oven baked broccoli. Let's just say it was a little hot in the kitchen tonight! 

The Recipe: Garlic Home Fries

What you need: 4-6 medium sized Russet potatoes 1-2 tbsp olive oil 1/2 tsp oregano 1/2 tsp paprika 1 tsp rosemary 2 tsp Rustic Tuscan Seasoning (Costco) 1 tbsp minced garlic
Dump everything into a gallon sized baggie or air tight container. Shake until potatoes are well coated. Let it marinate for about an hour. 
Preheat oven to 400F degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and dump your potatoes onto the foil. Bake for 45-50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Serve. 
These are great leftover in an omelette or in a burrito. They are super simple and taste AWESOME. Kinda wish we had some leftover!
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Edible Olympic Rings

I just couldn't let the Olympics go by without creating a Olympic-themed lunch for Sweet P. She was super excited about the rings, and I'm not even kidding that she'd eaten all but the bagel in about 3 minutes! And the bagel wasn't far behind!

Blue ring: red grapes
Black ring: blueberries (these would have been the blue ring, but I didn't have anything else!)
Red ring: whole wheat bagel with cheese and tomatoes
Green ring: peas
Yellow ring: corn

Sprout didn't have rings, but he did eat some peas, blueberries and corn of his own!

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Muffin Tin Monday: N is for Nest

Last week we were doing letter N activities and since not a whole lot of exciting stuff starts with N, we talked a LOT about nests! So what did Sweet P have for lunch last week? A nest, of course!

We had lunch inside the cardboard house she got for her birthday (that's why it's in a cake pan).

Nest: whole wheat spaghetti with pesto
Eggs: tiny tomatoes
Top muffin cup: spinach and sage flowers from our garden!
Center muffin cup: cottage cheese
Bottom muffin cup: strawberries

Sweet P: "Did you make me a nest for lunch?!" 

Muffin Tin Monday: Easter

These foods don't really have anything to do with Easter, but RoRo gave us these cupcake liners and picks last year so we have been using them this week.

Sweet P helped with this lunch and decided where to put the liners and picks. I prepared/cut everything and gave it to her to place in the tin. She's always excited about a lunch SHE made!

Top row: baby cucumbers, carrots, fruit strip (cut into small pieces), cheese
2nd row: brown rice, olives, almonds, chopped asparagus
3rd row: kiwi x2, tofu x2

Muffin Tin Monday: Rainbows

Sweet P asked for another rainbow this week and I decided to create one with muffin liners instead of on a plate and she gobbled it all up! She loves to stack them together once she finishes one. I made another one for dinner one night per her request and it, too, was a hit!

From left: shaved coconut, strawberries, carrots, pineapple, avocado, blueberry popsicle, cheese

Shamrock Smoothie

Sweet P and I are all about smoothies. They are quick, easy and full of all sorts of yummy goodness. They also travel great in a cup with a lid on days when Sweet P wakes up late (I'm not complaining) and we're scootin' out the door. Most of the time our smoothies end up purple because we put blueberries in just about every kind, but not these! 

Want your kid to eat some veggies? Hide them in a smoothie! Trust me, you can't even taste the spinach!

Sweet P loves helping in the kitchen so she helped pour in all the ingredients and I blended them up with our immersion blender. She drank all she wanted and we poured the rest into popsicle molds!

 The Recipe: Shamrock Smoothie

 What you need: 

1 banana

1/2 cup organic vanilla soymilk (or regular milk) 

3 heaping tbsp of organic plain or vanilla yogurt

1 cup/handful fresh spinach leaves 

1 tbsp almond butter (or peanut butter) 

Place all ingredients in a large cup (if using an immersion blender) or blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into cup and sip with a straw, ya'll.

Pour leftovers into popsicle molds and freeze for at least 2 hours. Enjoy!

Heart-shaped Pancakes

I know Valentine's Day is done and over, but that doesn't mean you can't have heart-shaped pancakes year round! I made Sweet P pancakes for Valentine's Day along with a blueberry smoothie (it would've been strawberry, but I used them all in the pancakes!).

Shaped pancakes are such a simple and creative way to make meals fun for kiddos. Sweet P loved these heart-shaped pancakes and asked for them again and again and again (so I made them again on Saturday). These were made with a little bit of almond flour (we get ours at Trader Joe's) and SO yummy!

The Recipe: Heart-shaped Pancakes

What you need:
1 1/2 c of whole wheat flour (organic if you've got it)
1/2 c of almond meal/flour (if you don't have/can't find almond meal, use another 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour or oats)
1 1/2 c organic soy milk (or regular milk)
1/4 c water
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 c frozen strawberries (without syrup and organic if possible)
1 organic egg
1 tbsp flaxseed (optional)

Turn on skillet to medium-heat. Drizzle olive oil in the pan. Heat frozen strawberries in microwave for 1 minute. They should soften and make juice. Blend strawberries with immersion blender or leave whole (I wanted them juicier). Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in egg, milk, water and strawberries. Stir until moistened and easy to pour.

Pour into metal cookie cutter to form heart (or cut after you've cooked the pancakes). Allow pancakes to cook for 1 minute, then flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes or until cooked thoroughly. Yields 6-8 medium sized pancakes

I only had 3 frozen strawberries so I added some MonaVie to try to make the batter pinker. It never really did get as pink as I had hoped, but I blame that on the whole wheat flour (and lack of strawberries). The strawberries gave them a good flavor though, so I'd like to try it again when I have more.

Whatcha Eatin' Wednesday?

Pretend it's Wednesday just for a minute, k? I meant to post this yesterday and the day got away from me. I woke up at 5:30am (which does NOT happen in this house unless we're goin' on a road trip) and couldn't go back to sleep. I got movin', but lost all my gusto about 1pm when Sweet P went down for a nap. That's when I was going to post this and it didn't happen so pretend it did. K? Thanks.

Since we're on letter C this week I decided to make her a caterpillar lunch yesterday. I think it came out just as cute as can be! And check out the after pic. I had one very hungry caterpillar!

Caterpillar body: cheese toast (or grilled cheese without the tops)

Caterpillar face: raisin eyes and a fruit strip mouth, antenna are made out of crust

Leaves: spinach

Flower/Sun (whatever you want it to be): oranges and a small tomato

She went for the tomato first.

All done!

Muffin Tin Monday: Sweet P Style

Sweet P has been all about helping in the kitchen lately. I ask her if she wants to help make "insert whatever it is" and she says, "Wanna pull my chair over?" and runs over to grab a chair from the kitchen table. It's the only time she's allowed to stand on a chair and she LOVES helping. She does, however, have a reeeeeeally hard time not eating the pizza dough, unbaked granola, muffin batter and anything else she helps with. Silly girl.

Yesterday I asked her if she wanted to help make her muffin tin and she jumped at the chance. She brought her chair over and I handed her the tin and the silicon liners (they only come in an 8 pack...why? I have no idea). She placed them in 8 places and I got out her lunch. After I told her to wait to eat the food until we'd finished she went to town filling up her tins.
She didn't end up eating much because she was tired and laying her head on the table 5 minutes into the meal.
She was so proud of her lunch! Why yes, she is still in her pajamas. And so was I!

Clockwise from top left: yellow watermelon (from the farm), cherry tomatoes (from the backyard), spinach, yellow watermelon, pecans (from Pops' backyard), watermelon, cottage cheese, pickle, watermelon, raisins and spiral whole wheat pasta

Everything but the pickle is organic/chemical free.

Whatcha Eatin' Wednesday?

Last week we worked on letter W so I made her a letter W lunch. She thought this was pretty neat and held that cut out W in her hand for a looooong time.

Almond butter sandwich on organic wheat bread, carrots and blueberries.

Later in the week I decided to make her another fun lunch and these funny little men were born. Sweet P calls most men she sees in books, "Funny man!" so she really enjoyed these.

Hummus, mushroom and lettuce (from our garden...what's left of it anyway) pitas with peas. Pea eyes, carrot nose and kiwi mouth.

Whatcha Eatin' Wednesday?

I've seen a few cute fish scenes here and there in the blog world and really wanted to make one for Sweet P, especially since we'd just received a cute fish cookie cutter in the mail from Gammie! Here's what I came up with and she loved it! She gobbled it up quick!

Almond butter fish-shaped sammies on whole wheat, blueberries and snow peas.

And for fun: a picture of the added challenge of taking a decent picture - A tiny hand that really wanted those blueberries!

Muffin Tin Monday

It's been awhile since we've participated in a Muffin Tin Monday, but I couldn't resist after I found these cute silicon cupcake flowers in a bag of stuff that needed to be returned. I decided to keep them because it'd been months since bought them and because I decided the price was right. Before I made Sweet P some muffin tin madness, I let her play with them for awhile (and boy, did she have a ball). She calls them "cuppies."

The theme this week is spring! These flower shaped cups fit great into that theme. I also decided to go with a dipping theme because she wanted hummus for dinner and our muffin tin was born. This was also on a Friday, but I'm posting it on a Monday and that counts in my book!

Clockwise from top left: feta cheese, hummus, carrots, broccoli, apples, pita and in the middle, peas.

And yes, my little hummus lover dips apples and feta cheese in it as well.

Muffin Tin Monday

I haven't been checking out the themes lately, but there isn't a theme this week so I lucked out! She L-O-V-E-D the pita/hummus combo. Like I said last week, all I hear around here at lunch time is "hummus, hummus, hummus." I found mini pitas at Trader Joe's and I'm pretty sure I did a little dance in the aisle. I was a little concerned that she wouldn't eat the fresh spinach, but she gobbled it right up. Hummus is like ranch dressing around here!

Clockwise from top left: blueberries, pita w/ hummus and fresh spinach, apples, avocado, pita w/ hummus and avocado, celery