Making Carob Covered Raisins

The kids are getting bored with snack time. And lunch time and dinner time, but- I decided that its time to start putting a little bit more of an effort into making food fun for them. Especially with Eleanore starting school in a few weeks- shes going to want something a little more exciting than a boring ol' banana in her lunch bag.

Yesterday I paused what I was doing, which was folding laundry and I was more than happy to walk away from it, and decided to amp it up a little bit.

You know why things are so boring around here? Because the kids haven't been cooking with us!

The kids used to always be in the kitchen with me, helping me bake cookies, or pouring noodles into a protected pot of hot boiling water. And now all we do is grate and chop and grate and chop and- the kids need to be more involved! ...Ah, I see now.

So lets make a mess then! Lets get sticky!



While the kids were getting into drawers and scream sing fighting with each other to a Carebears tune, I started chopping some dates, and plopped them into the food processor.

As soon as the kids saw that I was doing something with the food, they wanted to get involved.

And by involved, I mean- they wanted to see how many different ways they could wear the lid to the processor?



If you're wondering "Whats with the Sid Vicious face 4 pictures down?", well, let me correct you. Thats not a punk rock face, its an "I love kung fu" face.

Ya know that scene in Kung Fu Panda (Jen I need to give you your movie back, but the kids just keep watching it!) where teh panda says "I love kuuuung fuuuu" in slow motion? ...cause yeah.



And while Charlie was using a lid as a telescope, Eleanore was standing beside me, tucking her arms under armpits (thats her version of putting her hands on her hips), making up melodies about how much she loves dates, and how awesome of a helper she is.

Ok, yes yes you're awesome and dates are yummy, but- lets get to work, kiddos!



So Captain Charlie helped me poor in the raisins, and my little assistant Miss Elie scooped the carob.

And then it was time to mix!!!
This is the messy part. The fun part!



You'd think that they would have loved digging in and squishing it all around between their chubby little fingers, right? Well they did! ...at first.

As soon as they realized that it stuck to their skin, and didn't come off upon picking and licking, they lost all interest in making carob covered raisins with Mommy, and instead just wanted to go stand on the little blue plastic chair in the bathroom to scrub the sweetness down the sink drain.

What?! No! We're doing something fun!

And then I realized that they had done something fun. They had gotten out of their summer blues style funk, they had explored a new never-been-done-by-us-before activity hands on, and now they were done. Fair enough.

So I got them down, we washed our hands, and then Mama stepped in and finished the job that the sticky fearing munchkins had walked away from.



I finished separating and picking apart the little dried fruits, and then shook them around in a pasta strainer to get the excess carob dust off.

And while I was finishing up, a beautiful forest princess wandered into my enchanged kitchen to get a better look at the mock chocolate berries growing on my mixing bowl bushes.



Alright, so maybe they don't look quite as good as the typical chocolate covered raisins that most kids are used to, but- these are caffeine free, sugar free, gluten free, and cook-free, and- well they're kind of the perfect healthy snack for my little vegan babies.



Yum yum yum!

On the menu for Sunday morning? Raw cinnamon "donut" holes :)