Minion Sponges

It usually starts with Baby Einstein, Sesame Street or some other sweet little moving picture form of entertainment for our babies and toddlers.  Although the staring entertainers may leave us feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed at their antics and brain worm sing songs, the kids love them so we surrender.

Toddler and baby television channels typically don’t have commercials so instead of advertising pleas we just have to deal with more Teletubbies.  But that’s o.k.  Now that my son is starting to watch the older kids’ channels, all of a sudden we’ve entered into a world of imploring “I NEED THAT” demands.

Advertisers know what they’re doing.  Our little minion sponges are the perfect vessel to transmit messages to their unassuming target audience…the ones with the money…to buy the stuff…the parents!

You would think there would be endless commercials for kid’s toys and breakfast cereals on these channels, and although there are, there are countless others as well.  The other day my 5 year old told us to check out the “brand new” grilled chicken sandwich from Tim Hortons.  What does he know about the feature sandwich of the month at a coffee shop?  Oh yes, Teletoon told him about it.

Another fellow mom told me she was in the grocery store recently and while perusing the cleaning aisle her son had a fairly solid argument about why she should pick up some Oxiclean laundry detergent.  I suppose YTV thinks the little ones should start doing their own laundry to earn their keep.

I think they should cut out these sneaky commercials and focus on healthy food advertisements egging kids on to make their own “Apple Berry Joy” puree like this one below.  Then instead of saying, “mom you will have a more exciting life if you buy a Slap Chop!” they will say “I NEED APPLES AND BERRIES TO MAKE APPLE BERRY JOY!”

Ready…Set…Evolve…

Apple Berry Joy

 Ingredients

  • 3 Apples (a sweeter variety such as McIntosh or Gala rather than a tart Granny Smith)
  • 1 cup of strawberries (fresh or frozen)
  • ½ cup of blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Baby Steps

  1. Peel, core and chop apples
  2. Add apples to a large sauce pan.  Cover and cook over medium heat for 12 minutes, stirring often.
  3. Add strawberries and blueberries to apples and continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
  4. Cooking times may vary depending on how thick the apples have been chopped, but as long as apples are tender and the mixture looks juicy you should be fine.
  5. Remove from heat and let stand for a few minutes to cool.
  6. Transfer to a blender, food processor or bowl to use a hand blender to puree to a smooth consistency.
  7. Transfer to freezing trays to be used within 3 months, or to a food storage container and put in the fridge to be used within 48 hrs.

Makes approx. 10 Servings (1 serving size = 2 tbsp.)

 Make sure to brace yourself the next time you leave your house with your child and enter into a world of endless advertising triggers.  Remember your life is plenty exciting without that Slap Chop…although it does do a great job at chopping nuts.