PB & J Overnight Oats

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Simple, healthy, and affordable – here’s a kid-friendly recipe for PB & J Overnight Oats from Registered Dietitian Jessica Cording for our back-to-school series on nutritious meals the whole family will love.

PB & J Overnight Oats

Ingredients

3/4 cup frozen DOLE® Mixed Berries, divided
1/3 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon chia seeds
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup 2% milk or unsweetened non-dairy milk of choice (“Mom” prefers organic unsweetened almond milk)
1 tablespoon peanut butter or your favorite nut or seed butter (“Mom” prefers No Nut Butter from The Sneaky Chef)

Preparation

1. Mix 1/2 cup of frozen mixed berries, oats, chia seeds, ground flax seeds, cinnamon, vanilla and milk in a container with a lid.

2. Cover mixed oats and store in the fridge overnight.

3. When you’re ready to eat, uncover and enjoy cold or heat in the microwave 1-2 minutes on high.

4. Top your overnight oats with peanut butter, fruit preserves, and remaining berries, which can be enjoyed from the freezer or thawed for 30 seconds in the microwave.

Note: Add your favorite fruit preserves for extra sweetness. For a gluten-free version, use gluten-free rolled oats.

Makes: 1 serving
Prep: 5 min.

*Recipe and image courtesy of RD Jessica Cording.*

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Chocolate Banana Pancakes

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Ashley Pettit shared one of her favorite kid-friendly recipes, Chocolate Banana Pancakes, as the kids head back-to-school. It’s a healthy, flavorful recipe that little ones will have a hard time saying ‘no’ to!

Ashley says, “My biggest challenge with my 3 ½ year old daughter is getting her to sit down for breakfast. The only thing I can do is make it impossible for her to say no! These banana-chocolate pancakes are a great incentive, while healthier than regular pancakes, so parents don’t have to feel guilty or worry about plying their kids with sugar first thing in the morning!”

Chocolate Banana Pancakes

Ingredients

2 cups oat flour, gluten-free
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup plain greek yogurt
1 cup unsweetened hemp or oat milk (“Mom‘ prefers Banana Wave Bananamilk)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 bananas, sliced (wait to slice them for when you serve the pancakes so they do not brown)
1/3 cup mini dark chocolate chips, to top
Coconut oil for pan – tip: to save on fat, use the coconut oil spray!

Preparation

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, salt, + cinnamon

2. In a smaller mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients: yogurt, milk, egg, + vanilla.

3. Mix the wet ingredients slowly into the dry- mix well.

4. Heat a skillet over medium heat + spray with the cooking oil.

5. Using a 1/3 cup measuring cup, pour the batter into the skillet. Cook for 3 minutes, then flip + continue until lightly browned. Continue to cook the entirety of the batter.

6. When ready-to-serve; top with 1 TBSP chocolate chips + some banana slices!

Makes 8 pancakes.

Ashley’s Tip: Make the pancake base plain so you can change toppings throughout the week. Double the recipe, save half fresh + freeze the rest for the following week. Parents need more free time outside of the kitchen after all!

*Recipe and image courtesy of Nutritionist Ashley Pettit, of Living with Ashley.*

Follow Ashley on Instagram and Facebook.

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Exciting Ways to Encourage Learning at Home

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Exciting Ways to Encourage Learning at Home

Now that school has started, we are finding new ways to bring lessons to life at home! We are learning and growing together with a little help from some fantastic companies who make learning engaging, interesting and FUN for everyone!

Teach My Learning Kits

Whether your little one is headed off to preschool or kindergarten, or still at home with Mom or Dad, Teach My Learning Kits help little ones to be academically ready! Screen-free and designed for specific developmental stages, each set in the kit is fully coordinated to encourage matching, repetition and parent engagement… all in 20 minutes a day.

We received the Teach My Toddler Kit for our two year old son, and he has started to master his letters, numbers, shapes and colors with ease using the sets in the kit! We’ve had a blast bonding, playing and learning together with the simple, straightforward lessons in each set! The teaching tools included are fully coordinated to encourage repetition, interaction and make learning fun. According to the website, Teach My Toddler is designed around the concept of matching to encourage pre-reading skills.

The Teach My Toddler set includes 4 Board Books, 4 Full-Size Posters, 5 Foam Puzzles, 50+ Flashcards, Teaching Guide, and a handy Storage Case.

For ages 6 months to 6 years, the Teach My Kits are available nationwide online at Amazon, Walmart, Target, Staples, Bed Bath and Beyond and Teach My.

Edushape Magic Shapes

Let your child’s imagination run wild with Magic Shapes! Small pieces featuring magnetic edges stay together allowing little ones to build, design and create with ease. The platform included in the set makes it like doodling in 3-D! Magic Shapes are fantastic for developing gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and logic & reasoning in little learners, and I love that STEM is being encouraged through play. My kiddos have had so much fun stacking, building and more with this open-ended play set!

What’s neat about Magic Shapes is that they pack up easily for use while traveling or visiting grandma’s house, too!

Little Passports

Have a budding globetrotter at home… or want to instill the love of world travel in your children? It’s easy to introduce your little ones to geography, science, world cultures, the arts and more with the monthly educational subscription service, Little Passports. Bringing these lessons home, Little Passports is simply ingenious, encouraging children to learn about the world around them in a fun and engaging way. My 1st grader loved receiving the adorable suitcase in the mail with her first lesson from the World Edition, and now that she is reading, she has had so much sharing the lessons and activities with her younger brother!

In this subscription, your child will explore the world with new pen pals, Sam & Sofia. The first month, an adorable blue suitcase arrives, packed with everything needed to take off on an exciting adventure, including a passport, wall-sized world map, stickers, photos, activity sheets, and more! A different country is featured each month, with more activities, photos, stickers, souvenirs, and games to pique your child’s interest… and a fun new adventure to look forward to receiving!

4 affordable Little Passports subscriptions are available, depending on your child’s age and interest, including Early Explorers (3-5), World Edition (6-10), USA Edition (7-12) and Science Expeditions (9+).

*Companies generously provided samples and images for this article. All thoughts expressed herein are my own.*

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