five ingredient fridays: vanilla and cinnamon fruit salad

sorry... it's saturday. i know.

this salad is sooooo yummy! my 1 year old would eat it by the truck load. it tastes like a treat, but it's good for you. no sugar even.

they were serving samples of something like it at my gym a few months ago and i knew i had to recreate it! here it is!

vanilla and cinnamon fruit salad
4 snack servings

1 sweet apple (so no tart ones like granny smith) , grated
1 pear, grated (peel it if pear skin is too rough for you)
1 banana, grated (has to be ripe for flavor, but still firm... and really grate it, sounds weird but it's a consistency thing in the salad - don't mush it)
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
less than 1/8 teaspoon vanilla

1. combined apple, pear, cinnamon and vanilla. stir to combine. gently fold in bananas.
2. if you have extra, store in refrigerator and enjoy for 1-2 days.

homemade baby food

big sister who likes to eat watermelon in the back yard = happy little brother who sneaks it while mom isn't looking :)

i make my kids' baby food when they start eating solids. it isn't difficult in the slightest, but it is certainly more time consuming than pulling it off the shelf and dumping it in your cart.
so is it worth it? here are a few numbers that will prove just how worth it it is:

• with my $200 a month food budget (+$40 for longer term storage/bulk items) i have $7/day to feed my family. a very cheap 4 oz jar of baby food costs $0.42. my 7 month old could easily cost me $2.52/day to feed. ahhh!!! imagine when he's pushing a year. i once calculated that my daughter would be costing me $4/day in baby food at her peak if i bought it.
• my baby food jar equivalents: i can make 4 0z of carrots for $0.10, 4 oz of peas, green beans or sweet potatoes for $0.22, 4 oz acorn squash for $0.26 and that isn't even with sale prices. during peach season when peaches are on sale for $0.50/lb you can make peaches for pennies.
• it's really easy to mash a banana yourself with a fork. why buy it in a tiny cute bottle? my buddy happily downs a banana every day for breakfast.
• oatmeal cereal: $1.50 for a box of oatmeal cereal? just put some oats through your blender.

stuff i don't make:

• applesauce: there is nothing magical about baby applesauce. it's just apples. and why make your own? wal-mart brand unsweetened applesauce is $1.86 for 50 oz. that's $0.15 for your 1 jar equivalent.
  
• rice cereal: i don't have a grinder and i can't "iron fortify" it at home so this is the one true baby food item i buy.

so how do you do it? it's easy - i just use www.wholesomebabyfood.com as my home base and go from there. i feel like a baby chef when i whip up a little dessert for my little man to follow his peas (applesauce + sweet potatoes + cinnamon + rice cereal = dessert!) - it's so fun and he loves it! use their recipes and freeze in ice cube trays. each cube is 1+ ounce. cover with saran wrap and then put the cubes into big freezer bags when frozen solid. and don't forget to reuse your freezer bags!




and here's my funny little squash face. this was the the mad face he made if we didn't get the squash in his mouth fast enough!!


i also make my own baby wipes... but that isn't a food recipe! i swear by them. want my recipe? email me at skinnybovineskitchen@gmail.com!