Lunch Box

I'm really big on having Babygirl eat whatever I would be eating, which is how her packed lunches end up looking eerie similar to what I would take to school.  I fear her current on-the-go lunch/snack is wholly unoriginal, but I guess there's plenty of time in the future to figure out other alternatives.

For the record, I despise peanut butter - the smell alone makes me gag.  So no, my kid will not be having  the ol' american classic peanut butter and jelly any time soon.

This is pretty much what's always on our bag.  If we have a proper lunch that day, then any of these items can be a nice healthy snack.

Lunch box from skip hop, and its a pretty perfect size for a full lunch

Lunch contents:

• 2 graham crackers
• 1 banana
• 1 small container of blueberries
• 1 sandwich (1 slice whole wheat bread, cream cheese and turkey meat)

Basically, we both end up having a similar lunch, since this is pretty much what I'd be eating anyway (except blueberries, I don't like them).  It's healthy, low fat, and fresh.  Ideally, it'd have more vegetable, but Babygirl is going through an anti cold veggies phase, which she'll hopefully grow out of soon.

Low Fat Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

Babygirl just got diagnosed with her first ear infection, and the doctor prescribed her antibiotics.  Apparently,a antibiotics can wreck havoc on a toddler's digestive system, and we were recommended yogurt to help balance the side effects. Any flavor, and any fat content, so long as it has a live culture.

Ahhh... yogurt.  Unfortunately, Babygirl decided to be a picky eater today and refused the Greek yogurt she usually gobbles up for breakfast.  So what's a creative parent to do?  What's that thing Mary Poppins says?  Just a spoonful of sugar.... right?

We have a single serve ice cream maker that we'd been dying to use.  The system is simple: pre-freeze the bowl for at least 8 hours, place ingredients on bowl, and place lid on it.  The lid comes with special blades that blend the ingredients into ice cream.  Turn contraption on for 6 - 12 minutes.  Enjoy.

This recipe is adapted from Hamilton Beach, the company behind the ice cream maker.  The recipe was originally for the 1.5 quart model, so we had to adjust the quantities.  We also substituted blueberries instead of mixed berries, since Babygirl is a blueberry fan.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cups frozen blueberries, thawed slightly and mashed
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup low fat plain yogurt 
• 1/4 cup half 'n half

Directions

• Mix all ingredients into pre-frozen bowl.  Follow ice cream maker instructions.

Not bad for our first time with the ice cream maker, though we still need to tinker with the recipe a bit.  The flavor was great, but the consistently was too mushy.  This might just be an issue when using yogurt, but we'll experiment with different amounts of half 'n half, and how long to keep blending it.