Sandwich cutter

I have a set of sandwich cutters and sometimes we like to play with them. Here is just a basic sandwich with  egg and cheddar, in one of the earliest posts I cut the same sandwich into geometric shapes. Here I saved a piece of yolk and white before chopping egg for a salad to have "sun and cloud", added some radishes, green peppers and cucumbers.

Egg and toast

I learned last weekend that poaching eggs is very easy, no need for an egg poacher. Just big shallow pan and breakfast ready in 5 minutes. 

Poached egg

Half of  whole wheat English muffin, toasted and lightly buttered (or any bread, toasted as it will be easier to hold an dip into egg)

Some fruit or veggies, I used cucumber and pepper - my easiest way to to get my son eat those is: "wanna see what a funny crunchy noise they make when you bite fast?" :-)

I poached several eggs at the same time and me and my husband had them on an English  muffin with a slice of ham. 

 How to poach eggs:

Take big, shallow pan, fill with water, about 2-3 inch, boil. After it boils reduce back to "no boiling". Take one egg at a time crack it to a shallow cup and while submerging a cup into water quickly slide an egg into water. Add all the eggs you need (or as many as fit in the pan). Turn off the heat and leave eggs in water for about 4 minutes. Take out using slotted spoon. No need for anything. Some methods call for using vinegar in water to help set the egg, but vinegar can change the taste of eggs, I didn't use any and they turned out great.

Yogurt

I personally prefer to buy plain yogurt and fruit separately, instead of fruit yogurt. Every now and then there is some resistance... until I present the white police car, "exactly like the one from Grandma" ;-) Always worked. 

Pictured is plain Greek yogurt with a little bit of honey.

Mini pancakes with fruit and yogurt

Kids usually like pancakes and of course they will like it even more with maple syrup. I like to serve it with NO maple syrup at all, just some fruit and yogurt to dip in. Whenever making pancakes for the family, just make a few smaller size (bite size, great finger food). Serve with favorite fruit and yogurt, we like vanilla in this combo best :-)

Have the fruit and yogurt ready on a plate first, if your child loves pancakes, you might not have time to add it later!

Quick mom and son sandwich

One day we came back home tired and hungry, neither me nor my little one had the energy to cook! Here is what we prepared in 5 minutes for a quick snack.

Found in the kitchen:

- pumpernickel (any bread that doesn't crumble will do)

- butter

- mild cheddar, sliced (can be replaced with any cheese or even better, anything spreadable or mashed avocado)

- cucumbers (or tomato, peppers etc)

- blueberries (or any other fruit if you have) 

- sandwich cutter (or cookie cutter of any shape) 

Guess which plate was mommie's ...

"Hands off" old school oatmeal

Here is our best and easiest way of making old school oatmeal - use rice cooker! It doesn't get easier than that.

For our family of three I use

1 cup of oats (I buy bulk in my grocery store)
2 cups water

I put it all in my rice cooker, in the main bowl, turn the steam cooking function for 12 minutes and go take shower, get dressed, get my kid ready etc.
Oatmeal cooks in the meantime. No need for steering, checking etc. After 12 minutes it turns to keep warm and is just waiting for us :-)

I know "steam cooking"  sound strange here, but it's just the function in my rice cooker that works best for this, we don't steam oats of course, they just cook in the main bowl in the liquid. I don't know how it would work in rice cookers that doesn't allow to set a specific time.

It takes 12 minutes in our rice cooker for the consistency we like, but depending on taste preferences or rice cooker, you might want to cook longer or shorter time.

I divide hot oatmeal in individual bowls and mix with some cold milk from the fridge, this gives it immediately "ready to eat" temperature. And my husband just adds maple syrup to his portion but don't add anything to my and my son's, no sugar, until my child figures it out :-)

Eating cars all day long ...

My son is clearly car obsessed, and yellow is his very favorite color. One day while making scrambled eggs for the family I surprised him (and myself!) with a yellow car on a plate. What a hit! He likes eggs, but this was just soooo much more exciting. Then I just couldn't help it, I was seeing cars in everything I was putting on my child's plate. What's best about it it's so simple and doesn't add any time to making the food especially appealing to my toddler. So we had scrambled eggs for breakfast, cheese and fruit for snack and store bought meat ravioli with grilled zucchini (I put a touch of maple syrup on it after it's grilled) and honeydew for dinner. But you can use anything you have at home. I just happened to have it that day. It's also easier to convince your little one not to throw away car's wheels just because they are green ...

The other best thing about it it's all finger food = you can eat at the same time, well at least you have a better shot at that! Even the eggs! I make it now so it has easy to pick bits. Any leftover raviolis? No problem, just wait for mom to turn around and grab a pen!