Kale That My Toddler Eats

As I walked through my dining room and felt some of yesterday's dinner kale crunch under my toes,

it occurred to me to be grateful; it was there on the floor not because my toddler had thrown it, 

but because he likes it so much that he had been stuffing such large handfuls into his mouth that it spilled over onto the carpet.

Any vegetable that a toddler can enjoy that much is worth a blog post at least...

Ingredients

1- 16oz bag of fresh chopped kale

2-4 tbsp olive oil, depending on how careful you are about calories (I'm not terribly)

Your favorite seasoning, I use a Smokey South African blend, or nutritional yeast and salt

Prepare a large baking pan with a sheet of aluminum foil to save yourself some frustrating cleaning, later.

                            

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Spread the kale evenly over the pan, it will be very thick but will shrink down as it cooks. Toss with oil and seasonings to evenly coat all of the kale pieces.

                           

Place the pan on the middle rack in the oven. Set timer for 6 minutes. At that point, use a spatula to turn some of the pieces and redistribute the kale evenly over the pan.

                           

Check the kale after another 5 minutes. You are looking for most of the pieces to have browned edges. Some will be mostly brown and some mostly green still, the goal is for the bulk of the kale to be crispy.

I made only half a bag, so you can anticipate a full bowl for your efforts with the entirety.

Our family of 3 will go through an entire bag in one sitting. I warn you, it leaves little pieces in your teeth. And if you have a toddler whom you whisk to the bath after dinner because he is so messy, you may also find tiny pieces of veggie all over the tub.

And here's a photo of Little Man's dreamy gaze. Just because...

                             

Follow me on Instagram @happyfitnessmama,

 share photos of your veggie experiments, and tag them #movementofmoms

 so that we can enjoy with you!

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When You're A Mom...

Now granted, I'm relatively new to the mom game. But if two and a half years has taught me anything, it's that you never know what's going to happen in a day...

For example, this afternoon my son came to me with my lovely recently ironed white linen skirt draped over his head, announcing that he was the little mermaid... Little Man had just spent the afternoon with his favorite girl in the world (our 13 year old pastor's daughter and amazing babysitter), and part of those hours included a viewing of the aforementioned Disney classic. Remember the scene in the cartoon when Ariel arrives on the beach, ahem, less than clothed and needs an emergency wardrobe before she can find the prince? The seagull wraps her in an old sail that was conveniently at hand... Well, what else would a white linen skirt look like to a toddler? 

Last week I went to the wonderful Costco to print my photos. Turns out there are 973 pictures on my phone... Which might contribute to it's sluggishness (is that a word?). Anyway, going through my photos to whittle them down to a mere 298 for printing allowed me to discover some true gems. Who knew that my son had figured out how to get to my camera, turn it on selfie mode, and go crazy?!

This morning I was determined to exercise. For those prego mommies looking for a safe and effective workout, you MUST look up PregoFit. You can buy it in DVD or download it to your device. The trainer is pregnant as well, each month doing the appropriate routines to give you an energy boost and assist with toning. And when you are feeling just plain chubby, she looks a bit that way, too :-) So I put in my DVD and picked up super light dumbbells. Every move I made was either mimicked or prohibited by my special little man. I mean absolutely every move. When my friend called and I took a quick break to answer the phone, Little Man took the exercise ball and tried to go for a spin... Right into the corner of the coffee table! My sweet friend very understandingly tried to hear me over his screams, and then even more kindly said, "Well I'd better let you go, we will talk soon." At least I think she said that, because neither of us could really hear at that point. 

There's not often something profound that happens in my days as a mom. We live a simple life, we follow Christ, we do our best to each other and others, we suffer downs and enjoy ups, we laugh and cry, obey and disobey, celebrate and survive. And we chuckle. Alot. I hope this helps you do the same.

Join us.

Follow me on Instagram @happyfitnessmama,

 share photos of your chuckle worthy moments, and tag them #movementofmoms

 so that we can enjoy with you!

Oh - and if you like this post, then go ahead and click on of the icons below to share it!