Banana Bread Granola - Kids in the Kitchen

(4 1/2 Years)

Do you like granola?  Little Miss loves crunchies (granola) in her yogurt and on the side of her yogurt.  Since Wild One and Little Miss love cooking, I thought granola would be a fun baking project for us AND who doesn't absolutely l-o-v-e banana bread?

If you haven't baked anything with your little one(s), this granola is a terrific one to begin with.  The measurements are very forgiving, especially with a little one doing the measuring.  I found the recipe on Pinterest, it's from The Minimalist Baker.  I love their recipes, they are one of my favorite sites to find something delicious and nutritious.

This Banana Bread Granola is as good as it sounds.  It's fantastic!  It's already almost gone (do you see the jar in the background- we only made this last week).  We'll be baking up another batch in a few days.

Banana Bread Granola
1 medium ripe banana (about 1/2 cup)
3 cups rolled oats (Gluten-free is fine)
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
3 Tbsp raw sugar
1 Tbsp flax seed, I used ground
1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup + 1 Tbsp honey or maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Measure and pour the rolled oats into a large bowl.

This is also a great time to practice leveling off dry ingredients- we usually use the back of a butter knife, but Wild One wanted to use his fingers like The Barefoot Contessa, Ina Garten (one of his favorite chefs).

 

 Measure and pour in the chopped walnuts.

We must sample the ingredients.  He said that on Master Chef, Chef Gordon tries the cooks's food as they are still cooking.

 Measure and add in the chopped pecans.

 Now add in the raw sugar.

Sprinkle in the flax seed and salt.

Mix well with a wooden spoon that can also be used as a drum stick (thank you again Aunt Jeanine and Uncle Keith).

In a small sauce pan, melt the coconut oil and then add the honey.  Add the bananas off the heat and mash.

 Pour the wet ingredients on top of the dry and mix well.

Spread the mixture evenly on a rimmed baking half-sheet, or jelly roll pan.  Bake for about 25 minutes.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix the oats, nuts, sugar, flax seed,cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.
3. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the coconut oil.  Add in the honey or maple syrup and vanilla.  Stir until completely incorporated.  Add in mashed banana, mix well.
4. Pour wet ingredients on top of dry ingredients, mix well.
5. Spread onto a half-sheet jelly roll (or baking sheet).  Try to flatten into an even layer.
6. Bake for 23-28 minutes or until golden brown.
7.  If you like it in a bunch of tiny pieces, break it up with a spatula as soon as it comes out of the oven.  Leave on the baking sheet to cool.  If you like it clumpy (like Little Miss and I do) barely break it up with a spatula.  If yolike it in a bunch of tiny pieces, break it up with a spatula as soon as it comes out of the oven.
8. Store in a glass jar for up to three weeks.

Healthy Chunky Monkey Breakfast Cookies- Kids in the Kitchen

(4 1/2 Years)

We love baking together.  The measuring, pouring, mixing, mashing, tasting.  We are in the kitchen baking something at least every other day, and there are weeks - especially during the rainy season and Christmas season when we are baking every day.

One of our favorite breakfasts and afternoon snacks is this cookie from Maryea at Happy Healthy Mama.  You've seen this on here before.  We started making her recipe (ok, we adapted it slightly) since they were two years old!

Chunky Monkey Breakfast Cookies aka Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites
4 ripe small bananas, about 1 1/3 cups, mashed
2 cups gluten-free oats or regular rolled oats (also called old fashioned oats)
*1/3 cup peanut butter - we use Skippy Natural Dark Chocolate or whatever we have on hand
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup pitted dates, chopped small
*2/3 cup of chopped nuts, we usually use walnuts and pecans
*1/3 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
*1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips or vegan chocolate chips

Mix everything together in a large bowl.  Let sit for about 15 minutes.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Drop the mixture using tablespoon portions on a silpat or parchment lined baking tray, press down slightly to look like a cookie, or leave rolled into a ball (these will not spread).  Bake for 15 minutes or until tops are golden.  That's it!

Look at how speckled our bananas are.  Those are perfect for baking!  Mash those bananas- forget the fork, when you make banana bread and banana muffins and banana pancakes as often as we do, we use a potato masher.  It's faster and easier.

Look at that smile!  He loves squishing and mashing the bananas.

Add in your rolled oats and walnuts.

Pour in the pecans and peanut butter.

Add in the chopped dates, unsweetened coconut and bittersweet chocolate chips.

Add the vanilla.  Mix well.  Allow to rest for 15 minutes.  This is when I start preheating my oven.

Bake for 15 minutes.  

Delicious!  Packed with healthy goodies and chocolate.  Enjoy!

Guilt-free Chunky Monkey Cookies - No added sugar, Vegan, Gluten-free

(4 Years)

Who wants cookies?  Have you ever heard someone say, "nah, not for me"?  I haven't.  Cookie?  Yes, please.  May I please have another?

These cookies were adapted from the very talented Maryea at Happy Healthy Mama.  I love these cookies for so many reasons: it's an easy kids in the kitchen recipe, it requires just a few ingredients, it doesn't have butter or refined sugar, it's vegan, it's gluten-free, it has fruits, nuts and oats, it's quick and most importantly it's DELICIOUS.

Little Miss helped me whip up a batch this morning before gymnastics.  Look how easy this is, thanks again Maryea.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bites
4 ripe small bananas, about 1 1/3 cups, mashed
2 cups gluten-free oats or regular rolled oats (also called old fashioned oats)
*1/3 cup peanut butter - we use Skippy Natural Dark Chocolate or whatever we have on hand
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup pitted dates, chopped small
*2/3 cup of chopped nuts, we usually use walnuts and pecans
*1/3 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut
*1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips or vegan chocolate chips

Mix everything together in a large bowl.  Let sit for about 15 minutes.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Drop the mixture using tablespoon portions on a silpat or parchment lined baking tray, press down slightly to look like a cookie, or leave rolled into a ball (these will not spread).  Bake for 15 minutes or until tops are golden.  That's it!  Eat and enjoy the happy smiles and "your the best mommy in the world" chants!

Little Miss was so happy to help me make these this morning.  I love how both of my kids love to help bake, and how they always add a sprinkling of their love to the batter.  So cute!  This recipe really is kid friendly.  The first time we made this, the kids just turned two!

*Now, Maryea's version is much healthier than mine, she's so good.  She uses all natural peanut butter without any added sugar, and she doesn't add the dark chocolate chips or unsweetened coconut.   I love how versatile her recipe is- you can make it as healthy, or ahem, not as healthy as your family would like.  We love dark chocolate chips, we sprinkle them in pancakes, waffles, muffins, cookies.  It helps hide the healthy, not that these cookies need the chocolate.  They are plenty sweet from the ripe bananas and dates.

Valentines' Day Pink Pancakes (no food dye)

(4 Years Old)

My Little Miss loves pink.  Pink clothes, pink accessories (yes, accessories), pink sneakers and shoes, Pinkalicious books, pink crayons and markers…. Of  course, I knew she would LOVE pink pancakes.  We've been making a slightly adapted version of Catherine's version at Weelicious for over two years now.  It's one of their favorite pancake recipes.

This is a very kid friendly cooking recipe.  Pull up a stool for the kiddies and let them help.  Yes, there will be a mess- but face it, you have kids you were going to vacuum anyway.

Pink (Beet) Pancakes 
1 3/4 c Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (or an equal blend of whole wheat flour and unbleached all-purpose flours)
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1 Tbsp Baking soda
2 Medium Beets, roasted, peeled and cooled  (about 3/4 cup)- I usually roast the beets a day ahead* 
1 Egg  
2 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
3 Tbsp Sugar (whichever is your preference- white, coconut and even light brown all work well)1 1/4 c Milk (we use 2%)
1/3 c Greek Yogurt (we use 0%, any would work)
1 tsp Vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat your griddle to medium-low.  

Sift the first three ingredients into a large bowl.

Whisk the egg in a separate medium-sized bowl for about 30 seconds, whisk in the butter and sugar until combined.  Mix in the remaining wet ingredients OR you could just throw all the wet ingredients (beets, egg, melted butter, sugar, milk, Greek yogurt and vanilla extract) into the blender and puree until smooth (first puree the beets until smooth, then add the remaining ingredients and puree until well incorporated).

Add the wet ingredients to the dry.  Stir until just combined.  A few lumps are ok.  If you over stir, your batter will not be as light because of the extra gluten formation that occurred from over mixing.

Have the kids add their love.

Grease the griddle.  Cook your pancakes for about two to three minutes, or until the sides begin to look dry.  Flip over and cook for another two minutes.  Remove to warming dish.

We like to make Mickey Mouse pancake shapes, tiny silver dollar pancakes and now letter pancakes using our fun pancake pen (affiliate link provided- however, I was not compensated for reviewing this pen, yadda yadda, just sharing what works for us).

*How to roast beets- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Cut off stems and roots from beets.  Wash well to remove any stuck on dirt.  Create an aluminum foil pouch for each beet, leaving air in the pouch so that the beets with steam while they roast.  Bake for an hour.  Allow to cool.  Carefully tear open the pouches, and with your fingers slide the skins off (discard the skins).  For this recipe, place the beets in a food processor and puree until smooth.  

This pancake pen is AWESOME (click here)!  That's the pen with the green cap and base, and pink batter.  It has a wide base to allow easy transferring of the batter into the pen.  The nozzle is not only wide enough to allow our thicker batters to flow through, it is also made of silicone so that you don't have to worry about touching the nozzle to the pan.  It even has a cap so that you can keep left-over batter for the next day.  The entire device comes completely apart for easy clean up AND it is top-rack dishwasher safe.  I love this thing!  Look at those letters.  I should have taken pictures of the hearts, swirls and Mickey Mouses, but they were eaten too fast!

These really are delicious and I promise that you cannot taste the beets.