The blondie recipe every mother should have.

What are blondies? Blondies are basically brownies without the chocolate. As a mom of a toddler, I have lots of friends that are also toddler-moms. We tend to flock together, playdates for the kids and adult socilization for the moms, it is a win-win actually. We enjoy coffee or wine while the kids learn how to play well with others. It is a great time to unload your "did you child do _____ when they were this age?" or "how long did it take for _________ to go back to normal." In all honesty, us moms need playdates, often times more than the kids do-- especially in the military community. 

When you or your spouse is in the military, life can be a little bit lonely. It is not all butterflies and sunshine like the movies and television shows try to make it out to be. We have to try really hard to make friends, we might have more social media friends than we do real friends. Some of us are stay at home moms, others are work from home moms, while even others work for a company. It is very important to reach out, even though it can be hard sometimes, and continue to make new friends and new relationships or you will end up a very lonely mama! 

Any ways, one subject that tends to get a lot of attention is the 18-24 month food strike. This is when a toddler's palate and will begins to change. There are many reasons for this. Speaking as a nutritionist, I've seen this a lot. I've seen it in a wide variety of ages and just about every kid goes through some sort of foods strike at some point. It can be due to an underlying medical issues, a vitamin or mineral deficiency, or just the fact that the child doesn't like anything at that particular moment in their life. Speaking as a mom, kids will do the darnedest things. They have minds of their own. There comes a point when we get tired of fighting them and just want them TO EAT SOMETHING, but we also don't want them to eat "crap". 

Ezra after eating a strawberry & beet smoothie

So far, I've been very lucky. Ezra hasn't had much of a food strike yet. He has days where mangoes are his favorite food of all time and then the next day mangoes are the most disgusting thing he has ever had in his entire life. 

Toddlers.

I started to think about ways to incorporate more fruits and veggies into "snack" items. A lot of my momma friends aren't too big into sugar or lots of ingredients. So I started thinking about what is readily available, inexpensive, and easy to throw together. Right now it is the beginning of Summer in Virginia and that means berries, green leafy veggies, peppers, cabbages, and more! 

Ezra checking out a blondie

I played around in my kitchen for a few days before I came up with a good way to incorporate green leafy veggies into a snack! 

I came up with a heathier blondie! I let Ezra try a bite, at which he insisted on smelling it first (see picture above), once he tried them, he followed me around for about twenty minutes asking for more. I have caught myself nibbling on a few-- okay I've ate about 4 so far today. 

YESSS Todder Approved! 

Toddler Approved Blondies 

Ingredients:

-1 stick of unsalted Butter (softened to room temperature)
-1/3 Cup Raw Honey (you could also do 3/4 cup of coconut palm sugar or regular sugar)
-1 Egg
-1 Cup Wheat Flour (I like this kind)
-1 Tsp Vanilla
-1 Cup (Tightly Packed) Greens (I like beet greens
or spinach the best)
-1/2 Cup Fresh Cut Strawberries (Don't use frozen
or canned)
-1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

Directions 

-Preheat oven to 350.
-In standing mixer, cream together butter and honey until smooth. 
-While the butter and honey are creaming together, measure out the greens and put them in a blender or food processor with the egg. 
-Blend until the greens have been emulsified. 
-Pour egg/greens mixture into the bowl with the butter/honey mixture and mix well.
-Next add in baking powder* (This is optional. If you want a flatter type of blondie then you can leave this out. If not add the baking powder).
-Slowly add the flour (I have also made these with all purpose flour and Otto's Cassava Flour and they have turned out great) and mix until thoroughly mixed. 
-Next, fold in the berries BY HAND, careful not to over mix. 
-Line an 8X8 pan with parchment paper and pour the batter in. 
-Bake for 22-25 minutes. 
​-Enjoy!

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Other options for this blondie:

This is a versatile recipe, so here are a few options:

-For a blondie with a more "caramel" taste, use dark brown sugar. 
-You can leave out the berries and the greens if you would like.
-You can add in 1/3 cup of mini chocolate chips!

-If you would like to make these into brownies:

• Use 1/2 cup raw honey 
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup of flour instead of 1 cup.