Kiddy currency

Spa baby

Hello, my name is Cort and I'm a sugarholic.

You all know that.

While, I'm not ubernazi on the amounts of sugar Babygirl gets, I am still very conscious of it.  Yes, she had a real chocolate cupcake with chocolate frosting on her birthday.  And yes, she gave herself a facial and hardly consumed any of it.

Way to go, Babygirl.

I've tried to get creative in the treats I have in the house to offer her.  One, because I want to keep the good stuff for myself, and B. she's a stubborn and observant so throwing a saltine cracker at her and calling it a "treat" won't fly.

I found a suggestion online when it came to teething to make chewy bread sticks for the kids [insert long-lost web reference here].  I've taken this suggestion and bumped it up a notch. 

Basically, you make a bread recipe (I've used banana bread, zucchini bread, and apple-oatmeal bread - soon to be posted in my new recipe section).  You can bake in a standard loaf pan - but I prefer to use a 9X9 pan for more even baking.  Then cut the bread into slices (if used loaf pan) and then into bars.  I can get about 25 to 30 bars out of a single loaf recipe.  Lay the bars on a cookie sheet and stick them back in the oven (at around 200 degrees) for another 10-15 minutes.  This gives the bars a toasting on the outside that gives the bread a little resistance.  Finally, I pile all of the sticks into a resealable container and stick the whole dern thing in the freezer.

These frozen, toasty sticks don't break easily, so it forces her to eat them slowly (rather than jam pack them into her mouth).  I can toss one of those at her while I'm making dinner.  They aren't big enough to ruin her appetite, but do take long enough to eat that I can get veggies and meat ready for consumption in the meantime.

Babygirl LOVES these things.  She eats them more when she's teething or when her throat hurts. 

And she's been pissed that we've been out for almost a week.

(I finished a loaf of apple-oatmeal last night, and banana bread is in the oven now)

Each loaf lasts us about one month - since some days she doesn't get any and other days she might get two pieces. 

At pennies per serving PLUS the ability to control the amount of sugar in each loaf (and no wonky ingredients or preservatives)...you can't go wrong with this!