HeadStart Health & Wellness Tips

Broccoli Bites

HeadStart Health & Wellness Tips

Did you know that changing up how broccoli is presented helps to increase acceptance? Invite your kiddo into the kitchen to help you make these delicious Broccoli Bites! 

Just four ingredients and so easy (and FUN!) to make!

Mix together 
2 cups broccoli (I recommend to mince as small as possible!) 
1 cup shredded cheese 
1 egg
10 crushed Ritz Crackers 

The mixture will appear dry, trust me, it does bind when baking. This dryness helps them to become more crisp and not quiche-like. 

This is one of my favorite dishes to make with my toddler! Some fun ideas to get your little one involved: 

  • Practice counting with  the crackers.
  • Place the crackers into a plastic bag and let your little one crush them. You can use a rolling pin to help crush, but we find the toy hammer to be way more fun!
  • One of my favorite kitchen tools is this food chopper. It makes it super quick and easy to finely chop items and it’s a perfect way for little hands to help. While we chop we count how many times we press it, sing silly songs and take turns sharing the chopper-it’s so fun! 

Including your kiddo in on the cooking process helps them to try new foods. Also, I find that finely chopping the broccoli and making it uniform throughout tends to help increase acceptance of broccoli in even the most reluctant broccoli eaters. For lots of kids, it’s not the actual broccoli that they do not enjoy eating, it’s the texture. 

Fill a (well greased) 24 cup mini muffin tin with the mixture. Press mixture down into each cup. Top with a sprinkle of shredded cheese. Bake at 375 for 14 minutes (or until cheese appears to be browned)

These are great for lunch boxes, quick snacks or a side dish to any meal! 

Uncrustables

HeadStart Health & Wellness Tips

While I love the convenience of having premade sandwiches readily available in my freezer, I am not a fan of the price. So I decided to make my own and it has been a hit with my family (and my grocery bill).

At my local grocery store, Uncrustables are $9.48 for a box of 10 right now which comes out to about 95 cents a sandwich. My homemade peanut butter sandwiches came out to about 13 cents per sandwich (using store brand ingredients and buying ingredients in bulk) that’s over 80% less!! Woohoo!

The great thing about making these at home is that it not only saves money but you can customize to meet your family’s taste preferences!

You can totally duplicate the classic Uncrustable sandwich at home by using a sandwich press. This one was a thrift store find (score!) but you can find online or at most grocery stores near the bread aisle. It is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets! However, if you do not have a sandwich press you can still achieve the look of the sandwich by using a glass to cut the circle shape and then using a fork to seal around the edge. 

For added fun, try using cookie cutters!

If you have cookie cutters, you could cut the sandwich out with a cookie cutter and then press together the edges with a fork!

To make: prepare sandwich per your taste preferences. I used whole wheat bread and a tablespoon of PB and skipped the jelly because my little guys just don’t prefer jelly. Then press and seal sandwich. TIP- if using jelly put peanut butter on both sides of the bread to prevent sandwich from becoming soggy when thawed. 

Flash freeze for about two hours and then transfer sandwiches to a freezer bag to store until ready to eat! 

TIP- if you are new to stocking your freezer- don’t be intimidated by it! Your freezer is about to become your new best friend! Haha! To flash freeze, lay sandwiches flat on a baking sheet and place uncovered in freezer. Doing this just helps to prevent sandwiches from sticking together once transferred to a freezer bag.

Enjoy!
-Heather