Tiny’s Tropical French Toast with Sunshine Syrup

Tiny wants to have her friends over for breakfast this weekend. She worked out this easy baked French toast recipe to introduce her friends and family to some delicious new fruits and spices. Maybe you can make it with your family over the weekend too! It is even great for people who have difficulty with milk, because this French toast is completely dairy-free.

Both the syrup and the French toast can be assembled the night before. Turn the oven on to preheat when you get out of bed in the morning, and bake the casserole right out of the fridge.

Sunshine Syrup

Juice of 1 orange (or 1/3 cup, bottled)

Juice of ½ lime (or 1 tablespoon, bottled)

½ cup honey

1 mango, peeled and cut in thin slices  (or 1 8-oz can of pineapple chunks in juice, drained)

Tiny’s Tropical French Toast

6 eggs

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 roughly mashed, very ripe bananas

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

zest of 1 orange (about 1 tablespoon fresh, or 1 teaspoon dried orange zest)

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger or 1 teaspoon ground dried ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 14-oz can coconut milk

5 cups multigrain bread, crusts removed, cut into 1-inch cubes

When the oven is nice and hot (an oven thermometer can be handy if you aren’t sure!), an adult can help you to place the foil-covered dish in the oven.

Bake for 55-65 minutes.  If you carefully insert a knife in the middle, the custard will be a little bit moist on top, but not sloshy or runny.  Take it out of the oven, remove the foil to cool for a few minutes, then cut into 6 servings. 

Sometimes Tiny likes to use big cookie cutters to cut this dish into fun shapes or letters, but squares are great too! Finish it with a splash of the fruity Sunshine Syrup and a sprinkling of toasted coconut flakes if you like.

Visit us at www.TinyTastesWorld.com

This post created by Kat Craddock

Photo credits: Cassie Sciortino

Summer Meets Fall: Sweet Potato Refreshment!

Tiny is looking forward to the start of a new season, because it means a whole new world of fruits and vegetables to explore at the market! Although summer vacation may be at an end, there is still a lot of sunshine to enjoy... and nothing helps keep Tiny cool like one of her favorite warm-weather treats, a yummy, healthy milkshake. This week, Tiny tried a new Fall veggie in her shake: the sweet potato.

Sweet potatoes (just like carrots and beets) are root vegetables, the edible roots of a plant. Sweet potatoes grow best in warm weather, which means that while Tiny and her friends were playing outside in the sun all summer, the sweet potato crop was nestled safely underground, getting ready for the fall harvest. And just like the sun helps this vegetable grow big and strong, the sweet potato is full of vitamins and nutrients to help kids grow up strong, too! 

Beta-carotene, which is what gives sweet potatoes their bright orange color, turns into Vitamin A inside your body - it is an important vitamin to help keep your eyes and immune system healthy. 

Sweet Potato Milkshake

1 sweet potato, medium to large

4 dates, pitted

2 medium bananas, frozen in chunks

1 1/3 cups milk, or any milk substitute of your choice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Whipped coconut cream (optional)

Next, an adult can chop the pitted dates while the potato is cooling in the refrigerator.

This recipe makes enough for 2 snack-sized portions.

Variations:

* The sweet potatoes can be cooked in the oven rather than the microwave, if desired. Heat the oven to 400F, poke holes in each potato with a fork as directed above, wrap in foil, and cook for 45 minutes. Or just use up your left-over sweet potatoes from dinner this way!

* Fresh bananas can be used instead of frozen bananas in this recipe. If so, simply add a few ice cubes to help keep the shake cool and creamy. 

* Dashes of allspice, pumpkin pie spice, ginger, and/or cardamom would all be great substitutes for or additions to the cinnamon - you can try making your own combinations!


Visit us at www.TinyTastesWorld.com

With Cassie Sciortino and Kat Craddock

Healthy After-School Snacks... With a Side of Guacamole!

Whenever Tiny gets back home from her adventures, she is so hungry that she could eat just about anything! So she likes to fix a few little snacks ahead of time to hold her over until dinner. Tiny's friends over at Super Healthy Kids have some great ideas for make-ahead recipes to enjoy after a long day of exploring or school.

Be sure to try their yummy mango guacamole! 

From Super Healthy Kids!

If you want to stretch your avocados a little bit further or for a lower-fat variation, try adding a mashed banana of two to the recipe.

We hope that you are enjoying the beginning of your school year!

Visit us at www.TinyTastesWorld.com
With Kat Craddock

A Lesson in Culture: The Wide World of Yogurt

Exciting Ingredients: Part 3

Since she started learning to cook, Tiny keeps finding herself reaching for the yogurt when she goes to the fridge. And not that super-sweet flavored kind, either! 

Tiny has learned that smooth and tangy plain yogurt is a delicious way to add wholesome, creamy goodness to all kinds of sweet and savory recipes.

The word “yogurt” comes from the Turkish language but people all over the world enjoy eating it these days. It was first produced thousands of years ago somewhere in Central Asia or the Middle East and it is widely considered one of the first “processed foods” in human history. This process of adding friendly microbes to fresh milk to prevent spoiling was a brilliant invention in the days before refrigerators. Also known as "cultured" milk, yogurt is easier to digest than regular milk (it contains less lactose!), and it helps balance the friendly bacteria in your belly, keeping your body healthy and strong to fight off germs and infections.

Traditionally, North Americans and Western Europeans enjoy yogurt as a sweet breakfast or in desserts, while folks in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and India use it as an ingredient in their savory recipes. 

In the morning, Tiny likes to eat it topped with granola, berries, and jam, or in her easy overnight oatmeal. For lunch, she might dunk pita bread and carrot sticks in a savory, veggie-based dip, like her famous beet tzatziki or this zesty spinach version.

For a hearty supper, you can try stirring a creamy scoop of Greek yogurt into this simple, Indian-inspired lentil soup. If you'd like to try a fruity, yogurt based dessert, these strawberry rhubarb freezer pops or mango lassi can be whipped up ahead of time. The flavors can be switched out for just about any of your favorite fruits, so be adventurous!

Visit us at www.TinyTastesWorld.com

This post created by Kat Craddock

Photo credits: Cassie Sciortino

Keep The Beet With This Colorful Treat!

This week, Tiny tried beets for the first time. What surprised her the most was how bright and colorful fresh beets could be… just like carrots! Even the ordinary red beets that look dark and strange at the market are full of vibrant purple juice. She decided she wanted to learn how to make something for lunchtime and this colorful, electric pink dip is a perfect mid-day pick-me-up.

Closely related to the Greek cucumber and yogurt sauce, tzatziki (listen here for help with pronunciation), this recipe combines cooked red beets with creamy Greek yogurt, lemon, and herbs for a bright, tangy-sweet sauce. 

You will definitely want to use fresh beets instead of canned. Some grocery stores sell peeled and cooked fresh beets, which work great if you can find them; for the rest of us, cooking instructions are included below. Do keep in mind that beet juice stains easily, so this might be a good time to wear an apron!

The dip is loaded with calcium, protein, and vitamins, so it will help keep you strong and healthy, but Tiny is sure that the best part is the taste! Try it with soft or crispy pita bread, raw veggies, or even falafel balls.

1 pound red beets (about 4 tennis-ball sized beets), greens removed and scrubbed

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups whole milk plain Greek yogurt 
    (or 2% if you prefer)

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

Juice of ½ a lemon or 1-2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice

Salt to taste

Have an adult help with chopping the garlic and herbs before you get started.

Cooking the Beets

Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil and add the beets. They should all fit easily and be fully submerged to cook evenly. Cook the beets at a low boil for 20-30 minutes, or until they are soft when you poke them with a knife.

Beet tzatziki can be eaten right away with raw veggies, pita, or falafel, but it gets even better if you let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. Tiny usually makes this in the morning for lunch or an afternoon snack, but you can even make it day ahead if you prefer. This recipe makes just about 3 cups of beet tzatziki– plenty for lunch for 2 adults and 2 kids. Leftovers will keep well in the fridge for 2-3 days. 

Visit us at www.TinyTastesWorld.com

This post created by Kat Craddock
Recipe adapted from Spice: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean by Ana Sortun

Photo credits: Cassie Sciortino

Tiny Meets A New Fruity Family: The Stonefruits

Exciting Ingredients: Part 2

This summer, Tiny can’t get enough of the delicious fruits and vegetables at her local farmers’ market. When she realized that most of her favorite fruits have a great big pit inside, she decided to ask some of her farmer friends why that is. 

It turns out that Tiny’s favorite summer fruits…peaches, cherries, and plums… are all a part of the Prunus plant family. This family also includes apricots, nectarines, and even almonds! Members of the Prunus family are all considered “drupes” or “stonefruits”– soft-skinned, usually sweet fruit surrounding a central stone that contains a single seed. 

There are tons of delicious stonefruits to choose from­ – olives, dates and mangoes are all drupes too! But this season, the juicy and delicious Prunus fruits are the stars of Tiny’s Kitchen. Whenever possible, Tiny choses “tree-ripened” stonefruit for eating raw, either by themselves, in your morning oatmeal or as a sweet surprise in this fresh salad. 

While unripe fruit will soften off of the tree, they never get any sweeter than the day that they were picked. The firmer, under-ripe varieties, though, are easier to cut and perfect for cooking. 

Try peaches or apricots with something a little bit spicy or salty like these great green beans or grilled pork chops. For the best summertime desserts, they are great in a silky shortcake, a cozy cobbler, or a perfect pie. 

And sometimes, Tiny simply cuts fresh apricots in half, pops out the pit, and warms them up on the grill – cut side down – till they are just a little bit browned. With a scoop of ricotta, greek yogurt, or vanilla ice cream, and maybe a drizzle of runny honey, this is Tiny’s favorite way to end a cookout!

Visit us at www.TinyTastesWorld.com

This post created by Kat Craddock

Photo credits: Cassie Sciortino