Dinosaur Egg Crispy Rice Treat Recipe

As miraculous as it is for bunnies to lay eggs in the first place, they're much too small for my tastes. I, instead, went for a dinosaur egg—a much rarer and delicious Easter treat.

I happened upon a dinosaur egg Rice Krispie treat recipe when I was looking for a fun movie night snack for a showing of Jurassic World. I only made a few alterations from the original (mostly slightly increasing the amount of marshmallows and Oreos).

Instead of making a few small eggs, I like to make one larger one that's more appropriately sized for a dinosaur, which is about nine inches long and can fit the entire recipe.

Nine-inch egg mold

Now, HOLD ON TO YOUR BUTTS.

INGREDIENTS

• 6 cups of Rice Krispies* (or half of a 12 oz. cereal box)
• 9 Oreos* 
• 5–6 cups of mini marshmallows (or one 10 oz. bag)
• 3 tbsp. of butter

*Or in my case, I use the off-brand items, Crispy Rice Cereal and Chocolate Sandwich Cookies.

INSTRUCTIONS

You'll need two large bowls: one for the crispy rice and chocolate sandwich cookies and one for the marshmallows and butter. The one for the marshmallows and butter needs to be microwave safe, and I recommend something in size that's similar to a 2.5 quart Pyrex bowl.

Put Oreos in a Ziplock bag and crush with a mallet or rolling pin into delicious, little pieces.

Dear chocolate sandwich cookie pieces, I will eat you. Sincerely, Me.

Combine Oreo pieces and Crispy Rice Cereal into first bowl, and stir mixture. Put marshmallows and butter into your large, microwave-safe bowl and heat in microwave for 45 seconds. Remove, stir and heat for another 45 seconds.

Remove and stir until mixture is smooth.

Add the cookie and cereal mixture into the yummy melted mixture bowl and stir thoroughly.

Now, press mixture into the mold of your choice and allow to cool.

NOTE: If you decide to sculpt it into your own egg (or other) shapes, use something heat resistant like aluminum foil to form around your treat shapes to keep it from falling apart while it is still warm and malleable.

You'll probably want to cut the giant egg into pieces when serving...

... Or just wait until life finds a way.

It's a baby dinosaur!

Cauliflower and Spinach Topper Recipe

After looking up ways to serve cauliflower as finger foods to babies, I found and made alterations to a cauliflower bake from a website that has a few different cauliflower baby food recipes.

The biggest change was that I added a bunch of spinach and more Parmesan cheese and made it more of a topper than a lone finger food. It's actually quite yummy for adults too—I've tried it on a few different things and as a side.

Cauliflower and spinach as finger food

MAKING THE STUFF

Frozen spinach and cauliflower (12 oz. bags)

INGREDIENTS

• One 12 ounce bag of frozen cauliflower
• 2 tbsp. butter 
• ½ large yellow onion
• 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole milk*
• Half of a 12 ounce bag of frozen cut leaf spinach
• ¼ tsp. garlic powder
• ¼ tsp. basil
• black pepper to taste (I used about ⅛ to ¼ tsp.)
• ¼ cup bread crumbs
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese

*Whole milk is only recommended if your child is at least 12 months old. You can try substituting in formula or breast milk if your child is younger.

NOTE: I prefer using frozen cauliflower and spinach because it is convenient and easy to store in case I don't cook with it right away. You can use fresh vegetables if you prefer. Just make sure that the spinach is properly chopped and the cauliflower is in small enough pieces so little ones can easily eat it.

INSTRUCTIONS

Cook cauliflower until nice and tender (another advantage of these frozen bags is that they are made to be steamed in the microwave).

Meanwhile, melt butter in a pan on medium to low heat, and sauté onions.

Switch to low heat. Blend in flour and slowly add milk until you have a smooth mixture.

Add spinach (thawing beforehand is not necessary) and stir occasionally until it is soft and cooked. Turn the heat back up to medium-low if necessary. Stir in garlic powder, basil and pepper.

Spinach and friends on the stovetop

Drain cauliflower and place in a 7 x 11 inch casserole dish. Pour spinach mixture on top. Sprinkle top with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.

Generous amounts of Parmesan cheese (with bread crumbs) sprinkled on top

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes or until top is lightly browned.

Nice and lightly browned on top

EATING THE STUFF
My kids have tried this between the ages of 12 months and 16 months and have not been huge fans of eating it directly as a finger food (probably because it was a creamier texture than they were used to handling). So I cooked up some rotini pasta that I knew they liked and added it as a topper. Not only did it work, but I had some cauliflower, spinach pasta myself. It was yummy.

Eating cauliflower spinach pasta with the kids

Winry (left) examines each noodle while Henry (right) prefers to just dig in, February 2016

The kids chow down, February 2016

I've also eaten it as a side dish and tried it once as a topper to a turkey burger patty. So I highly recommend topping a bunch of toddler-friendly and adult-friendly foods with this cauliflower and spinach mixture. Enjoy!

Cauliflower and spinach topping a turkey burger for Mommy (with cranberries sprinkled on top)