They say that you should just feed your toddlers the same things everyone else in the family is eating. They say that because they’ve never met a toddler.
My children insist on eating with a fork, but since they can’t actually use a fork properly, I have to give them finger foods they can pretend to eat with a fork and then actually eat with their fingers after they gauge their own and each other’s eyes out at every meal. In the long run, let’s be honest, most of their meals are eaten off the floor once I give up and take them out of their high chairs.
My husband’s approach is to only feed them outside, on the deck, as long as it’s not sleeting. The dog then cleans up.
But recently I have discovered the brilliance of the “savory popsicle.” My children don’t yet know that popsicles are supposed to be a sweet treat, so it doesn’t weird them out when a beautiful Shamrock-Shake-colored popsicle turns out to be spinach flavored. They love cold things—mainly because they exist in a perpetual state of teething pain.
As an aside, I have stopped wondering if my kids are teething. They are always teething, is the suspected reality. They are “very oral,” aka big biters, and they love chomping on things that would send a shiver down my own particular spine. They consider the official frozen teething ring to be amateur. They prefer to actually bite into ice.
So, popsicles.
Here’s how I made these particular popsicles:
- 1 can full-fat coconut milk, including the “coconut cream” which accumulates at the top of the can like a dollop of heaven when you open it
- A generous handful of spinach
- A handful of fresh mango
- A dash of vanilla extract
I put them through the Vitamix to emulsify the bejeesus out of them, but a blender would also work. And then I poured them into my popsicle molds, which I bought on Amazon like pretty much everything I buy, because even though the shipping and packaging extravaganza is absolutely deplorable and I’m a terrible person, #twinpass.
