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One of our most beloved afternoon snacks really couldn’t be more simple. We slice bananas and pop them into the freezer for a few hours. The recipe may be similar to frozen banana ice cream but it’s a whole lot less work.

This snack is:

Obviously more healthful than eating ice cream;

More tasty than plain old sliced banana (though we do love topping sliced banana slivers with a dab of peanut butter; they taste great when eaten with a toothpick.);

Plus the toddler can slice up the banana herself, so it’s a family-friendly activity as well.

Evidently if you’re three years old you need to bundle up to eat this frozen treat and run around the house shouting, “BRRRRR!” And then ask for more cause it’s so yum.

We’re not at all dramatic in our house. I can’t imagine where she gets it from.

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My new favorite, go-to pasta, Andean Dream Quinoa Pasta, contains a combination of rice and quinoa, making it more nutritious and tasty than plain rice pasta. The taste and texture reminds me of the Ancient Harvest Quinoa Organic Pasta that used to be my favorite gluten-free pasta back when I couldn’t eat gluten but could still eat corn. (Yeah, the food sensitivity saga continues over here.)

On the right is the Trader Joe’s gluten-free boxed macaroni and cheese, which my family prefers to the pricier (albeit locally owned) Annie’s variety. I do feel some guilt about not supporting a local company, but the $1-2 per box price different is a deal breaker for me when they taste nearly identical and our toddler requests mac and cheese pretty much every day. (Ah, to have a three year olds metabolism…)

Next up, this beautiful pasta by il Macchialiolo. I adore the shape of this gigli shaped pasta, made of rice and imported from Italy. I bought this particular variety on our road trip in a specialty shop in Oregon, but it’s also available online. While this pasta may be pricey, I personally think it’s perfect for a special meal.

That being said, I haven’t tasted this pretty one yet, so it might taste like crap. If that’s the case, whoops! Sorry about that. Hey, at least it looks good.

I personally would rather eat special pasta like this one on occasion than eat the bland, chewy, ordinary shaped rice pasta more widely available in the grocery store (I’m thinking about you, Tinkyada).

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I planned on making a writing caddy for our daughter, but we instead found this blue wire caddy at Joann’s on clearance and the little miss insisted we bring it home. Luckily it’s my style too, so I was thrilled to set it up at her play table in the living room. Inside it we keep:

- Letters and Numbers For Me activity book (published by Handwriting Without Tears)
- The complete set of Jan Brett’s free traditional coloring alphabet tracers stapled together with a this free downloadable Handwriting Without Tears Capital Letters Formation Chart
- Lined and blank paper

- Soft pencils and erasers
- Shape and alphabet stencils
- Protractor
- Maria the Scientist Paper Dolls
- Calculator (used primarily as a pretend cell phone)
- A set of butterfly play bank checks that you can download for free!

We keep the writing caddy on the child sized table by the window overlooking our garden. Adjacent to our birding materials (in the baskets/bags on the floor), we’re all set for everyday learning!

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