Pretty Little Apron

strawberries

Toddler Lunch: Day 5

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toddlerlunch5 Today is a pretty easy lunch but it is a great example of how to switch refined ingredients for whole ingredients. I used a whole grain Kumat pasta and a good quality jarred sauce (same as I used for the eggplant rollups), and sautéed some mushrooms. In just a few minutes I had a healthy and nutritional lunch for my 2 year old. The difference between the Kumat pasta and refined pasta is that the nutrients in the Kumat are naturally occurring and therefore more easily digested and used in our bodies. We pretty much stay away from any enriched products because if you are eating the right foods to begin with there is no need to extra enrichment. Here is the nutrient panel on the pasta. The brand is Eden organic and I found this pasta in the specialty foods section of my local grocery store. We do use a lot of their products!

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I also had the frozen yogurt and fruit pop already prepared so all I had to do was take it out of the refrigerator. Freezing these pops is an awesome way to quickly throw in extra nutrition on a day I am busy or have exhausted other options. My 2 year old loves these! Here is a link to the pop molds.

 

Whole Wheat Chocolate Tarts

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Yesterday was Easter so we had a big celebration at my sister-in-law’s house. It was a wonderful day! We had beautiful weather here in Pennsylvania and a delicious meal. They grilled some fresh salmon and we had a really nice variety of side dishes to go along with it. For someone trying to eat unprocessed food there were lots of options and it was nice to see a meal without all the additives at someone else’s home!

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I made some mini-desserts to take… including these delicious Whole Wheat Chocolate Tarts. I had a very hard time finding a recipe with whole ingredients so I adapted my own using this recipe from Martha Stewart. They turned out fantastic! As with all of my dessert recipes, I like to mention sugar is still sugar! Although this is a less refined version that doesn’t mean I’m going to go crazy with it because I think that it is “better”. I switched out the all purpose flour for whole wheat pastry flour and the regular sugar for a pure cane sugar. I also used a higher quality cocoa powder as opposed to the standard Hershey’s brand. Sometimes you get what you pay for and in this instance I would rather support a company that doesn’t use a ton of additives and unknown ingredients in their products. Although Hershey’s cocoa powder has only one ingredient, the rest of their products are all filled with questionable ingredients.   Here are links to these products.


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I also used this wonderful mini-tartlet pan to get a really nice looking shell. It is super easy to use and your end product looks like something straight from a professional bakery. If you have ever wondered how specialty bakeries make their mini products so eye appealing, it is the use of pans like this one.

I filled these chocolate tarts with Mascarpone cheese. I did two varieties of Mascarpone in the shells, one was plain and the other had a hint of coffee in it. The Mascarpone really helps make these delicious because it is creamy and smooth without the use of any additives or extra flavorings. It is simple and allows for the chocolate and fruit to shine and really make this dessert.  Sometimes less is more when it comes to sugar in desserts and this is one of those instances.

 

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