Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Toddler Trail Mix


"Wow, all those allergies! What DOES he eat?" This is something I hear quite often. Sometimes people find it hard to think of snack foods that are outside the standard toddler fare. Cheerios, goldfish crackers, and cheese-strings appear to be very popular with the 2 year old market according to my latest shopping-mall observations. So I guess I shouldn't be so surprised when people stare at Little Man's snack cup wondering what weird food I am feeding my child.

I like to refer to this as trail mix, but Little Man knows it as Crunchies, Puffs, Raisins and Lizards. His favourite part is the lizards -- he will usually dig around until he gets every last one before he starts in on the other components. They are sheets of nori seaweed that I have cut into shapes using a craft punch. They are a great enticement for him to eat other things too. If he doesn't want a muffin, I cut it into cubes and serve it with a sprinkling of lizards over the top. Zucchini quinoa muffins on their own are sometimes not what he is craving, but muffins and lizards are hard to resist.

Trail mix:
  • nori sheets cut into appealing shapes using a craft punch
  • puffed brown rice (I use the Simple Treasures brand)
  • quinoa crunchies (by Gogo Quinoa -- either original or cinnamon)
  • raisins
What snacks do your allergic toddlers enjoy?

7 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, those lizards are the most brilliant thing I've ever seen!!! I looked at the picture and thought "why is there confetti in his trail mix?" I can't wait to try this. We can make hearts and flowers and spirals...oh I'm so excited!

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  2. What a great idea for a trail mix. I plan on making it for my toddlers. They love nori ~ great idea to use a craft punch! We often bring green smoothies with us on outings. Rice cakes and raisins are always easy too. Tom grinds up cooked quinoa and rolls them into little balls ~ quinoa balls we call them. The boys love these while we are out and about. I have never seen Quinoa Crunchies before, I will check them out and see if I can find them around here.

    -Ali :)

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  3. FoodAllergyMom - I'm excited to try other shapes too. Right now I only have the lizard. I'm hoping to find a dinosaur punch.

    Ali - The quinoa balls sound very interesting! How do you grind the quinoa -- in a food processor? Do you add anything else? How big do you make the balls? This is something my little guy would love as he eats quinoa every day.

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  4. We use a Kidco baby food grinder - not electric. Then we take the ground quinoa and roll it into balls, about the size of a quarter. It is best to do this when the quinoa is warm - not hot or cold. That's it! Just pop them into a container and take them with you. My boys love them. The girls even like to eat them too! :)

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  5. Thanks for the instructions, Ali. I'm going to give the quinoa balls a try sometime. I wonder if I could roll a nori lizard onto the outside of them? I'll experiment!

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  6. Again, I'm liking your blog and thrilled that you wrote into me today. LOVE the nori sheet cut outs. I've added you to my Blogroll!

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  7. Thanks, Maria. I've been a fan of your blog for awhile now and I'm glad to see you posting again. I hope E enjoys the trail mix!

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