While I’d rather blab on and on about how advanced my kid is, I wanna talk about how behind Camille is on getting her teeth. Girlfriend is 2, and only has 11 teeth. It’s entirely my fault: I got my teeth so late in life, it was embarrassing. I had to have the last of my baby teeth pulled before I went to college. Isn’t that crazy?! I was 17 and lacked 4 permanent molars! I hoped that Camille wouldn’t inherit my weird sluggish teeth, but she did. But, the good news is: the longer her permanent teeth develop in her gums, the healthier they will be when they come in. Plus, less cavity-potential! But, I have to say: most two year olds are eating apples, raw carrots, and celery sticks. Meanwhile, Camille is eating thin apple sticks (that I painstakingly cut with a mandolin), steamed carrot coins, and celery cooked in chicken broth. I’m ready for her to eat a few more grown-up foods.
I’ve been waiting so long to share my love of granola with her. My favorite granola is super chunky, has whole roasted almonds in it, and big ass dried cherries. But, girlfriend just can’t cut it. So, what’s a food loving Mama to do? I decided to make a kid friendly granola recipe for her with just as much nutrient-packed ingredients, but no chunks to trip her up.
Enter: seedy hemp granola for kiddos! Plus, it’s a totally nut free granola recipe! I start with rolled oats, something I’m always trying to get her to eat more of, because she burned out on oatmeal as a baby. She’ll hardly touch a warm bowl of oatmeal these days, so I needed a different way for her to fill up on heart-healthy oats. Next: flax seed. I love love love flax seed. It’s a vegetarian source of omega 3s (hallelujah!), and if you buy the golden flax seed, it’s toasty, nutty and rich. I didn’t really get into flax seed until I started buying golden flax. Coming up next is unsweetened coconut flakes. I am always trying to limit Camille’s sugar intake (except when I’m stuffing chocolate-covered sunflower seeds in her mouth to mitigate a meltdown in public, of course), and so I reached for the coconut flakes without sugar. They’re a little crispier, too! Finally: I added in a generous scoop of hemp hearts. Just 3 tablespoons of hemp seeds have 11 grams of protein, plus, I love their nutritional profile for kids: more omega 3s (so essential for brain development), vitamin E and iron. So, while this granola lacks salty almond chunks, oily walnuts, or my personal favorite: pecans, I still feel great about its nutritional profile.
Last minute, I decided it’s sad to deprive Camille of my favorite part of granola: dried fruit! But since it’s usually chewy, I grabbed a bag of freeze-dried blueberries. They’re super crisp and even dissolve a bit to change the color of the milk blue. (How fun!) I’m a big fan of freeze-dried fruit, and I talked all about it here on my 3-ingredient toddler recipes post. I hope you make and love kid friendly granola. And Mama can totally eat it, too–I promise!
