Toddler Hummus

Becker has come to an age where he is really fun to cook with.  He is interested in the process and wants to be part of it.  Many months ago we started him off helping to flip pancakes or watch the mixer spin.  He found our step stool one day and never looked back.  He loves being able to stand up at the counter with us.  Now he can help measure out ingredients, pour them into bowls and watch the process unfold.  We made pumpkin butter together last week and it was such a successful activity, I've been including him in cooking as much as possible.  This morning right after breakfast we made kalamata olive hummus in our new food processor.  This was a lot of fun because Becker could do almost all of the steps himself with very little help.  You can see from the pictures that he was very focused the whole time.

First Becker rolled 3 garlic cloves to peel them:

Next Becker helped open the can of garbanzo beans (Mommy had to help on this one):

Then Becker dumped the beans into the food processor with the garlic cloves and added two scoops of tahini:

Here he is on his cute little "tool" or "ladder" (stool):

  He shook in some Cumin and added a pinch of salt:

Next up was lemon juice.  He the juice out of squeezed lemon slices:

We gave it a whirl! Becker wanted to be held while the food processor was on:

Now for the kalamata olives.  Becker added a few handfuls:

 Had to taste test:

Ready for a couple of pulses to break down the olives:

And the final taste test of approval:

*I didn't plug the food processor in until we had everything in it and were ready to turn it on*

Muffins

I wasn’t planning on blogging about recipes, but now and then I finagle a recipe just right and it has to be shared.  I don’t eat dairy so we do a lot of finagling and ½ real cheese, ½ dairy-free cheese when cheese is necessary such as in our weekly homemade pizza.  My friend is gluten-free so when I make things for her I up the ante and make it gluten-free and dairy-free.  I took a muffin recipe sent to me by a friend and not only freed it up of gluten and dairy, I even managed to make it healthier too.  Bam!  The original recipe had more sugar, a whole stick of butter, a cup of sour cream and all-purpose flour.  I generally bake with butter when recipes call for it, but we didn’t even have a stick of butter come the morning of playgroup so I improvised.   I had all of these items in my kitchen to start with, but they are all super easy to find in any grocery store.  Here is what I came up with and let me just say that they are delicious and toddler approved.  You can always use  3 ½ Cups all-purpose flour instead of the flours I chose if you don’t need or want gluten-free muffins.

Gluten-free, Dairy-Free Raspberry Millet Muffins

1/2 Cup Organic Unsweetened Apple Sauce
2 Tbs Canola Oil ( I just tossed in a little bit to offset the lack of butter)
1 Cup Organic sugar
1 Organic egg
2 Tbs Flax Meal mixed with 6 Tbs water  (this substitutes 2 eggs.  I only did this because we like to eat our eggs for breakfast so I didn't want to waste 3 of them, plus it adds a fiber and omega 3s)
1 Cup Tofutti dairy free sour cream (without partially hydrogenated oil. Greek yogurt would also be good)
1 Cup Almond Meal
1 Cup Organic Brown Rice Flour
1 ½  Cups Organic Oat Flour
1 Tbs Baking Powder
1/2 tsp sea salt (since I didn't use butter)
2 Cups raspberries
2 Tbs millet

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 350 F
Lightly spray muffin tin with olive oil.  In a small bowl combine 6 Tbs water and 2 Tbs flax meal.  Let sit 5 minutes.  Mix flours, baking soda and salt in one bowl and set aside. Mix sugar, apple sauce and oil together in standing mixer on high until well combined.  Added the flax meal mixture and then the egg, mixing between them.  Add the sour cream and mix that up followed by the flour a few scoops at a time.  Once combined, mix the millet and raspberries in with a spatula and then spoon into  muffin tin to the tops.  I had extra batter so I made some mini muffins for the kiddos too.  Bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out dry.  Serve with butter, nut butter or as is.  They were delicious warm and peanut butter was also a yummy topper.