Oh! and the little guy loves the stuff! :)

Here’s a write up for those that don’t want to sit thru the distracting video. ;)

• 5 frozen strawberries
• 1/2 cup frozen blueberries (I used wild) (70g)
• 1/2 of a banana
• 1 scoop of Protein Powder (I use Any Whey)
• 6oz Almond milk

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend!

Here’s the links I mentioned in the video…

• “My Mango, My Mango” – Ryan’s First Video Post
• Homemade Almond Milk the Video
• Homemade Almond Milk Take 1

So this morning little guy asked to make blueberry pancakes and then changed his mind to waffles. You gotta love a the fickle mind of a 5 year old. :)

Normally I would make my Quick Whole Grain Banana Pancake batter but I’m all out of ripe bananas. My next go to pancake recipe is my original 100% Whole Grain Pancakes that I made years ago but I’m all of out oatmeal (yea… I need to go shopping something fierce.) So I whipped up a new batter this morning.

It worked beautifully! I’m sure it would also make great pancakes but I haven’t tried it yet. If you’re up to it give it a whirl and let me know in the comments how they turn out. I’m pretty confident they’ll be just fine.

Here’s what we did…

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour (120g)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1 cup almond milk (8oz) (could use skim)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (61g)
• 1 tbsp honey (21g)
• 1/2 cup of blueberries (74g)

Mix the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder together in a small bowl and set aside. I mix it with a fork or whisk to help aerate it a bit.

In another bowl whisk the milk, egg, vanilla, applesauce and honey together until frothy. Add the blueberries.

Pour the flour mixture into the milk mixture and continue to fold until combined but don’t over mix.

Add the batter to your skillet or waffle iron. I spray the iron with non-stick spray since these contain no additional fat. Using my square iron I get 4 batches (8 waffles) and they cook for 4-5 minutes making them nice and crisp.

Little guy loved them with a bit of jelly. I ate mine straight up with some extra fresh blueberries on top like you see next to the silly bands. ;)

Update:The DO make great pancakes. Check it out!!

I have 2 sons, one in preschool and one will be next September. I have to pack them snacks for school and I really don’t want to keep relying on processed snack food for them. What kind of snacks do you give your little boy so he can avoid the processed food trap? Do you have some healthy kid-friendly snack ideas? Fruit just goes so far with my kids!
-Noelle

Ohhh Boy.. school lunches are about to begin for you. Always a hot topic especially this time of year. I’m not sure I’m the best person to ask but I’ll share with you my school lunch strategy and maybe it will give you a few ideas.

First, I went to a bento style lunch box (click here to see the one we bought a few months ago). Little guy LOVES it. He likes the fact that everything has a container and since I already took a departmentalized approach to lunch they work great for us.

Regardless of the lunch box my approach is the same. Little guy gets 1 thing from 4 different categories, main course, vegetable, fruit and a treat.

The Main Course

The main course is normally a ham sandwich on whole grain. Although that gets boring so I mix it up a little. Sometimes it’s rolled ham with triscuits, whole grain ritz with laughing cow (he LOVES the stuff) and turkey pepperoni, sandwich sushi or even leftovers. I’ve been known to send him to school with 2 chicken legs from the night before or even a slice of leftover pizza.

I have many other main course ideas but they don’t fly with Ryan. I’d love to give him hummus and whole grain pita triangles or even a peanut butter and jelly but he’s not a fan. His school is also peanut free which wipes a whole food group off the table for me as I would literally go nuts with nuts but I can’t at the moment.

The Vegetable

Lunch and dinner never get served without a veggie. It’s just a personal rule of thumb. For school lunches our go-to’s are pepper strips, carrot sticks, grape tomatoes, green beans, sugar snap peas, cucumber and now kholrabi. :) There are all served simply raw.

The Fruit

Fruit is by far the easiest of the categories. I mix it up.. apples, plums, peaches, watermelon, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, cantaloup, honeydew, banana, orange slices, whatever! I go with what’s in season and what he likes shooting for at least 2-3 different ones per week.

The Treat

The treat is by far the Little Guy’s favorite and I let him pick something special for his lunch every week when we go grocery shopping. It’s usually those character gummies or kid yogurt (which I consider a treat with all the sugar in it) but sometimes I’ll throw in some pretzels, gold fish, and even an occasional piece of leftover candy.

My philosophy for feeding my Little Man is pretty simple, variety and moderation. His diet doesn’t have to be "perfect" it just needs lots of fresh whole foods with a focus on fruits and veggies. As long as he eats the "good stuff" I let him have the treats. We have conversations about the importance of healthy food in his diet and he knows and is very aware of our lunch making "strategy" even making the healthy decisions for himself.

Since you are only packing snacks you may want to focus on 2 of the categories. Maybe, a fruit or veggie paired with some cheese and crackers or a cheese stick. Cut veggies sticks with a little ranch dip? Half of sandwich? I know the processed stuff is easy but I’d make a rule of pairing something processed with something fresh. That’s a nice simple way of adding variety and whole foods without sending your kids to school with just fruit.

I’m sure there other moms out there with tons of tips so I’m going to turn it over to the comments…. :)

If you are interested in trying this or any of my Vitalicious VitaMix ideas click here to order the mixes and be sure to use the code RonisWeigh for 10% off!

Full Disclosure: Vitalicious is a paying sponsor of my sites and ships me mixes from time to time to do these kinds of experiments but the opinions that are expressed on this site and in this video are, and will always, be my own.

Click here to see the original 100% Whole Wheat Banana Muffin post with the recipe.

We’ve recorded ourselves making the basic recipe. Then turned it into chocolate cakes. We also use the batter in the waffle iron and we even made a dipping sauce! Today we tweaked the basic formula a little swapping chocolate almond milk for skim and cinnamon for the nutmeg. Then we added those famous frozen wild blueberries for a twist.

I’ll post the recipe below exactly how me made them today but have fun with it and make it your own. The formula of dry to wet ingredients works perfectly.

Oh! and I almost forgot the best part… The Little Guy’s quote this morning and I’m NOT making this up… “oh mom… they’re so good. I can’t stop eating them.” :)

• 1 overripe banana mashed
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup (4oz) chocolate almond milk
• 3/4 cup (90g) whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• About 1/2 cup frozen wild blueberries

Mash the banana in a medium bowl. Add the egg and milk. Whisk until frothy.

In a smaller bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and nutmeg. Sift into the banana mixture. Mix until just blended.

I do the wet and the Little Guy does the dry ingredients. :)

Using a soup spoon (what we call our tablespoons) pour the batter by the spoonful in a non-stick skillet or griddle over medium heat sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. The batter is thick so just spread with the spoon. If you like a thinner batter add a splash more milk.

Sprinkle the desired amount of blueberries on top pressing in a bit with the spoon.

Cook about 1-2 minutes a side, small bubbles will form but not as many as traditional pancakes. Just peaked underneath for a light brown color, then flip.

Have I ever told you breakfast with the little guy is by far my favorite time of day. :) I went a little picture happy…

Today we got 8 pancakes. Normally we get 8-10 depending on how big we make them. I calculated the nutritional info for the original recipe based on 9. I’ll do this one for 8 and give you the per cake estimated figures. These are a little higher because of the almond milk and blueberries. The orginal is about 60 calories a cake. (1 WWP)

Sorry, I’m a little excited. I whipped up this chocolate dipping sauce as an experiment for my waffles this morning and it came out better then I expected. It will be awesome as a dip for strawberries. Here’s the story. . .

The little guy and I decided on waffles this morning. So I whipped up a batch of quick whole grain banana pancake mix as I had some overripe bananas on hand. We use this recipe in the waffle iron all the time. While cooking, I glanced online for other ideas to use up the rest of the brown bananas and I came across Thinking Outside the Loaf: What To Do With Overripe Bananas. They talk about melting them in the microwave. Before I even finished the article, I jumped up and made the chocolate sauce.

It wasn’t as smooth as I thought it would be but I’m thinking my banana wasn’t actually ripe enough. Either way, it was absolute chocolaty yumminess. I sat in the kitchen dipping waffle piece after waffle piece wondering why I haven’t thought of this before.

• 1 overripe banana
• 1 tsp Unsweetened Special Dark Hershey’s Cocoa
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Peel the banana and place in a microwave safe dish.

Nuke it for a minute. It will look like this.

mix it up. . .

Add the cocoa and vanilla. If it’s too thick add water at an ounce at a time. I used 1oz. Pop back into the microwave for 30 second.

Whisk to help remove any lumps then dip away! :)

The little guy wanted nothing to do with it. He enjoyed his waffled with low sugar jelly. Honestly, I didn’t force the issue as I kind of wanted it all for myself. ;~P

Here’s nutrition information for the whole batch.

Yesterday the little guy and I had some fun sharing our tips on how to include frozen wild blueberries in your diet while making pancakes and blueberry muffins.

I’m so glad he wanted to help, I was really getting worried he was losing all interest in cooking with mommy. But as you’ll see in the video he’s back and in all his "toddler" glory. Even calling me a "Stinker" at one point! lol

If you are interested in trying the Vitamuffin mixes click here to order them from Vitalicious. Be sure to use the code RonisWeigh for 10% off!

Scroll down below the video for all the links mentioned. . .

All the links mentioned in the video. . .

• Quick Whole Grain Banana Pancakes (pancakes seen in the video)
• All the VitaMuffin Mix Contest Entries from awhile back. . .
  • Gooey Surprise Deep Double Chocolate Muffins
  • Raspberry Chocolate Waffle Cups
  • VitaBrownie Pizza
  • Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins
  • Spicy Peach Bran Muffins
• The Vitalicious Donut Recipe I want to try
• Wild blueberries vs. Cultivated blueberries
• All about Blueberries

Full Disclosure: Vitalicious sends me products to sample and review on both Roni’s Weigh and GreenLiteBites. They are a paid sponsor of Roni’s Weigh. Help support Roni by using the code RonisWeigh when ordering any products from Vitalicious and get 10% off!

We mix it up now and then. Types of cereal, adding banana, alternating between milks, sometimes skim, sometimes almond and sometimes my new favorite, light chocolate soy.

This morning I wanted a healthy breakfast but, to be honest, I ate so much over the weekend that I wanted to go a little lighter. That’s when this simple idea hit me!

I love the banana chocolate combo and the blueberries, especially the frozen ones, add fun sweetness, even turning the milk a lovely shade of purple (the little guy loves that!) :)

I realize the idea is quite simple but I hope it sparks some ideas for you. Sometimes a simple bowl of fruit is a perfect breakfast for me.

• 1 medium banana cut in half longways and then sliced
• 1/4 cup frozen wild blueberries
• 3oz light chocolate soy milk

Place all ingredients in the bowl and enjoy your fruit filled breakfast! At least that’s what I do. :)

The kid is a HUGE fan. He likes to dip them in a maple/pumpkin sauce I make. I like them straight up and the people at work preferred them with good old fashion maple syrup. I made about 3 dozen to bring for a charity event. A few people went for seconds so I’m assuming they liked them. I realize not everyone is a whole grain nut like me so if they were expecting traditional white fluffy pancakes they were disappointed. These are a bit denser, real moist and tad bit sweet. Just the way I like them! :)

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (60g)
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree (120g)
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp Agave Nectar or Honey (20g)
• 1/2 cup Skim Milk or Almond or Soy

Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon.

In another bowl add the pumpkin, egg, agave and milk. Whisk until frothy.

Combine the flour mixture and pumpkin mixture, mix until just blended.

Pour batter in a non-stick skillet or griddle over medium heat sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cook about 1-2 minutes a side, small bubbles will form but not as many as traditional pancakes. Peak underneath for a light brown color, then flip.

So I took the idea behind my quick banana pancakes and gave apple a try. I was pleasantly surprised how they came out. Really Moist and fluffy! But honestly, I wish they tasted a bit more "apple-y" (is that a word?) Next time I may add another apple and double the cinnamon but overall this should give you a good starting point for your own experiments.

I do have to add the toddler, DARN IT, I mean THE KID, really liked them. We dipped in apple sauce and had a blast knocking off the whole batch which is really perfect for 2. :)

• 1 apple (I used a granny smith) grated
• 1 egg
• ½ cup (4oz) skim milk (or soy or almond)
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¾ cup (90g) whole wheat flour

Grate the apple, skin and all. It’s slow to start but just keep at it and you’ll get grated apple mush. :) Add the egg and milk. Whisk.

In a smaller bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon. Sift into the apple mixture. Mix until just blended.

Heat a skillet over medium heat. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Using about 1/4 cup of batter form pancakes. Cook about 1-2 minutes a side, small bubbles will form but not as many as traditional pancakes. I just peak underneath for a light brown color, then flip.

Here’s the little guy chowing down. He really was a fan! :)

Blueberry Banana Smoothie

• 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries (75g)
• 1 medium banana
• 1/2 cup light vanilla soy milk (4oz)
• about 6 ice cubes

Blend all ingredients until smooth!

You can’t go wrong! :)