I’ve been thinking about the best way to celebrate the holidays here at Foodie Tots. It seems that there are already gift guides galore for every man, woman, child and pet on your list, and no shortage of holiday cookie recipes to choose from. As I began hunting for healthier toddler-friendly holiday treats, it occurred to me that I could share with all of you some of my favorite fellow Foodie Mamas (and Grandmas, Dads, etc.). I am delighted that one of my new favorite bloggers, Jenna of Food with Kid Appeal!, agreed to guest post here with some advice on giving your favorite holiday treats a healthier twist. In addition to being mom to two young boys, ages 2 and 4, Jenna is a nutrition educator and her blog is filled with tips for getting your kids excited about the nutritional aspects of their food — who couldn’t use advice on that? Thanks so much, Jenna, for sharing your advice! Be sure to bookmark her blog, and follow her on Twitter.

Tips for Baking Healthier Holiday Treats

Baking sprees are going on in many homes around the holidays. More candy, cakes, cookies and treats are available at school, at parties and at home for your kids to nibble. So how do you make sure they get enough “grow” food during the holidays? Can a treat be healthy? Healthy isn’t the right word, but you can add some “good” to that bad carbohydrate treat. Here are some tips to make tasty treats a little better for kids, when you’re doing the baking. By adding fiber and/or protein you can make those treats a little easier on your little one’s blood stream.

Healthy add-ins for holiday treats:

• Ground flax seed (fiber and protein), substitute ¼ cup for flour, or use as an egg substitute.
• Chopped nuts (fiber and protein) add them into batters or sprinkle on top. Walnuts have omega 3s, why not boost brain function while we indulge in treats?
• substitute ¾ cup, plus 2TBS whole grain flour for one cup white flour (fiber and protein)
• choose recipes that call for whole grains: oats, whole wheat fiber (fiber and protein)
• choose recipes that call for fresh or canned fruit-in water not heavy syrup (fiber)

Other tips:

• Reduce sugar amounts. Most treat recipes are super sweet. I generally omit ½ cup (or more!) sugar from recipes and they are still tasty.
• Add fresh or canned fruit- adding canned pumpkin, crushed pineapple, bananas, carrots, zucchini, etc. to cakes, muffins, and breads provides moisture and natural sweetness and allows you to reduce oil/butter and/or sugar from recipes. See this recipe for Pumpkin Morning Glory Muffins from Blissfully Domestic on how to eliminate ½ the oil from a recipe!
• Icing is high in sugar and often in fat. Reduce icing amounts. Drizzle it on, instead of icing the whole top of the cookie.
• Look for recipes using honey as a sweetener. The body still digests honey as sugar, but when in its raw state is a less refined product than refined white sugar. It also has the health benefit of being anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and in some studies has shown to help treat cough and upper-respiratory symptoms. Be careful with conversions from sugar, honey is sweeter than sugar teaspoon per teaspoon. Click here for tips on baking with honey.
• Using whole grains-oats, whole wheat flour, etc.-will make your loaves and cookies heavier. Their texture will be altered. Most people appreciate an oatmeal raisin cookie even though it is denser than a chocolate chip cookie, you can enjoy your denser cookies and loaves for what they are. Just don’t expect them to be their white flour counterparts.
• Choose recipes that use oil instead of butter. Oil is a little more health promoting that butter. Save butter for a treat on veggies!
• When choosing recipes it’s best to use those that have been created or modified for alternative flours and sweeteners. Each grain has a different combination of gluten, starch and/or fiber, all of which effect the way a baked item rises.
• If budget permits, use natural food colorings in lieu of traditional petroleum-based food coloring (Yes! There are petroleum products in that box of Adams Extract food colors in your pantry). Try Seelect Tea’s or India Tree’s products. Others have purchased Dancing Deer’s product at Whole Foods, but I was unable to confirm they still sell this at the time this article was published.

Recipe links from my fellow healthy foodies:

• Meal Makeover Moms has a bunch of recipes using less sugar, oil instead of butter and including fruits, veggies (shhhh!), whole grains and/or nuts. Their Sugar Plum Fairy Treats recipe was published in a Kiwi article about a healthier cookie swap (pdf). They are packed with nutrition using two kinds of whole grain cereals, omega 3 nuts and plenty of dried fruit for a super natural sweetness. Now that’s a fruit cake made for kids! Thanks Liz for all the great suggestions!
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies- I have already made these and they were a hit with the family and playgroup. Thanks Cookie Madness!
• Black Bean Brownies- Thanks Karin! Haven’t tried these yet, but I like the idea of protein packed beans in dessert.
• Roasted Pears -This delicious fruit treat is simple enough to make for a family dinner. Thanks to Michelle at What’s Cooking! Sprinkle some nuts on top for a little protein.

Jenna Pepper teaches Kid’s Nutrition classes for parents in Houston, TX. Jenna is on a mission to bust the myth that good food tastes bad. The Kid Appeal! blog can inspire the parents of even the pickiest eaters to help their kids make better food choices. The Kid Appeal! Forum is a place for parents to ask questions about concerns they have about their kid’s diet.

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In honor of Election Day, the toddler and I cooked up some political sugar cookies. Our circus animal cookie cutter set had an elephant but no donkey, so we went with the “O” Obama logo for our Democratic cookies.

VOTE!

This past weekend was the fall open house and potluck at our CSA farm, Potomac Vegetable Farms. We stopped by Crooked Run Orchard for apple and pumpkin* picking first. It was such a gorgeous, warm fall day to be out in the orchards. When we arrived at PVF, we had missed the hayride but set to work breaking apart garlic cloves to be planted for next spring. The potluck was full of wonderful, nutritious food and the kids had quite a spectacular hay-fight in the wagon.

For the potluck, I brought mini muffins because they’re easy finger foods, always popular, and guarantee there will be something the toddler will eat. I had been meaning to try a chocolate zucchini bread recipe, and came across this one. I modified it slightly to incorporate my local, organic buckwheat flour. (Adding fiber to compensate for the sugar!)

Recipe: Whole-Grain Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Adapted from The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c unbleached flour
• 1 c buckwheat flour (or whole wheat)
• 1/2 c turbinado sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 t baking powder
• 3/4 c milk
• 1/2 c oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 oz grated unsweetened fair-trade chocolate
• 1 c shredded zucchini

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350*. Lightly oil muffin tin. Combine dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls, then gradually pour dry into wet and stir until smooth. Pour into muffin tin and bake for 12-15 minutes for mini muffins (18-22 for regular size muffins). Makes 36 mini muffins. Enjoy!

*Crooked Run uses integrated pest management (IPM) techniques which means their apples are minimally-sprayed, better than conventional but not organic. Their non-tree crops are “eco-ganic.”

I may have mentioned before that peaches are my favorite summer fruit. There’s nothing better than a ripe, juicy, fresh-picked peach. (As you can see from the photo, the toddler shares my addiction.) Alas, the amazing peaches we picked in Oregon were left behind for my sister and niece to enjoy, so I’ve been left relying on my favorite market vendors. Last week, I missed out entirely at the Wednesday Upper King Street Market, where Dan from D&S sold out early. I barely made it to McLean’s Friday market before closing, and struck out again at Reid’s Orchard, though I did get a bottle of their peach nectar. Thankfully, I found a few left at Westmoreland and was finally able to make my peach swirl ice cream. While peach ice cream and cobblers (and salsa and sangria) are great, they don’t last particularly long. I have some sliced peaches in the freezer for later use, but here’s another recipe that freezes well (for a month or so) and will help you hold onto your peaches a little longer, without resorting to canning. The buckwheat flour adds a whole grain to offset some of the unhealthiness of traditional pound cake - making this perfectly acceptable as a breakfast bread. Of course, you can use whole wheat flour instead or use white flour entirely if you prefer.

Recipe: Amaretto Peach Pound Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 c peaches, finely chopped
• 1 T amaretto liquer, optional
• 1 c butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 2 c sugar
• 1 c buckwheat flour
• 2 c unbleached flour
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1/2 t almond extract
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt

Instructions: Toss peaches with amaretto and let stand while preparing cake batter. Preheat over to 350 degrees and grease 2 loaf pans. Combine butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla and almond extract until smooth. Combine dry ingredients and blend into butter mixture. Fold in peaches and pour batter in loaf pans. Bake for 50 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!

Farms of Origin: This was made with my local Wye Mills buckwheat flour, Harris peaches, South Mountain butter.

We give the boy a quick snack in the mornings while we’re getting ready, since he gets breakfast later at daycare. These were wildly popular, and an easy way to get an extra serving of veggies into his diet.

Banana-Veggie Mini Muffins

• 1 c shredded carrots &/or zucchini (approx. 2 of each)
• 1 c mashed banana (2) – or 1 c applesauce
• 1/2 c canola oil
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1/2 c evaporated cane juice (or white) sugar
• 1 3/4 c flour
• 1/4 c wheat bran
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 t cinnamon

Optional additions: 1/2 c chopped walnuts or raisins

Bake at 400 degrees in oiled muffin tins. 15-18 minutes for mini muffins or 20-25 for regular muffins. Makes 36 mini muffins.