I am always looking for good things for my toddlers to eat and I did find this great cookbook called The Toddler Café which was written by a mom like me for moms like me to try and get the kids to eat. The treasure triangle recipe works well as kids can help and also it has that novelty appeal like a Pizza Pocket or Pop Tart. Only this recipe is high in protein and very nourishing. It contains beans and bananas so the potassium level is high as well. Best of all they are delicious and my kids love them.
All treasure triangles really end up being are puff pastry with fillings inside. The kids can help by brushing egg white on the dough. If you explain to them that the better they do this the shinier the triangle will be they are happy to do it.
One thing about a treasure triangle is that you can put anything it and a kid will eat it even if the kid won't eat the food 'naked' on his or her plate. So they are a great way to sneak some nutrition into the diet.
To make Treasure Triangles you need two tablespoons butter, two bananas sliced in rounds, a can of black beans and some diced onion. You will also need egg wash, frozen puff pastry and some cheddar cheese.
First you sauté the bananas in butter in a flying pan and then move them to a bowl. You do the same thing with onions, which you also add to the bananas. You then add a can of beans to that and you season it with salt. Mash this entire flat with a potato masher or use the back of a fork.
You can then preheat the oven to 425 and begin to unfold the pastry sheets on a floured cutting board. You can put one tablespoon of cheese in the center of each square and then put one tablespoon of the red bean, onion and banana filling inside. You then fold up the dough just like it was a nappy and arrange the triangles on a baking sheet. Bake them until they are puffed up and golden brown which usually takes about twenty minutes.
If you put the raw dough triangles for five minutes before folding the filling up in them you will get a Triangle that is shaped a little nicer.
Although the banana and red bean combination sounds odd it actually isn't. It is very flavorful and it is a great way to sneak some protein into your kid's diet. It is also a very soft food so it is good to serve teething types as well as older types who may be missing teeth.
You can also experiment with other fillings as well. I had some success with applesauce and yams together inside the pastry as well.