Not So Sweet May

Welcome to Not So Sweet May! It's been an interesting first day. I knew that I ate a decent amount of sugar daily, but I didn't realize how mindlessly I did it. For my specific Not So Sweet May, I am staying away from as many processed sugars as I can find, and some naturally occurring sugars for at least the first 2-3 weeks.  What are natural sweetners? The best and most simple definition I have come across is from Food Renegade. Simply put (by her): A natural sweetener is one that a person could reasonably expect to grow, harvest, and process themselves without the use of added chemicals, enzymes, or expensive machinery. Think things that grow on trees and bushes, maple syrup from maple trees, honey from bees, etc. The reason why this difference matters is because your body processes natural sugar differently than processed sugar. 

From Examiner.com: A natural sugar is unprocessed by chemicals and other refined processes, and so still contains the enzymes, vitamins, minerals and fibers it was ‘born’ with. As in other raw foods, the elements just listed allow the body to recognize the sugar as a real food and digest it normally in the digestive tract. This means it will end up in your blood stream, which, if you’re not diabetic, would generally be preferable as your body will deal with the sugar accordingly.

A processed sugar is devoid of pretty much everything except the sugar/fructose or other concentrated sugar derivatives. This means it is considered foreign to the body and is thus digested by the liver and turned to triglycerides and stored as fat. Too much of it will make you fat, and also your body is not recognizing it as food and you’ll still be hungry, making you eat more and voila, around in circles you go!

I don't want to be a total downer because I love sugar and dessert so much, but if you want to know the super scary truth about what daily refined sugar intake can do to your body, click here. 

So let's move on. During the first part of the month I am going to try and avoid some of the more concentrated natural sugars like dried fruits, honey & maple syrup. I really want to try and get my taste for super sweet sugars out of my system. I am also staying away from "sugar free" products, because that isn't going to cut my cravings and I want the benefits of the natural sugars. 

One big hurdle this month is going to be my typical breakfast of Cascadia Farms Organic Chocolate Os. Mornings are hectic with two young kids, so I made a plan a few weeks ago to combat this: Smoothies. I made a slight investment in the Ninja Master Prep Professional Blender and I started making smoothies the day it came. I really love this product because it is super easy to clean and I discovered that it is AMAZING for making baby food.

The other great side effect of making a smoothie for breakfast: my kids both want to eat it. I make enough for me, our 3 year old and for our 9 month old as well. Landy has hers on the side of her eggs or waffles, Will has his with a few organic Os to keep him busy while I throw it together. 

I'm not really following any secret recipes. I usually throw in a handful of spinach and whatever fruits or veggies I have on hand. Sometimes Greek yogurt, sometimes coconut water, sometimes almond milk. Frozen fruit is a great addition to give it more of a treat feel, and I love a dash of cinnamon to give it some more flavor. If you are looking for smoothie inspiration, I am finding it all over Instagram.

A breakfast smoothie for everyone.

Some of my favorite combos plus chai seeds.

 Tonight I did dinner on my own, and had a big lunch, so I am having a two smoothie day. While I made my dinner I made baby food for tomorrow. I keep falling in love with this stupid blender system.

Dinner on the left, baby food on the right

Dinner and baby food after

I can already tell that this is going to be a great month for finding ways to keep our entire family eating more real, natural foods. I feel like I learned a lot just on the first day. It was harder than I thought it would be, but I'm excited about how I'll feel in two weeks. If you've joined in, hope your first day wasn't too bad. This weekend is going to be tough. We have a family get together and those always include dessert. For daily updates be sure to follow the Raising Texas Instagram account and #notsosweetmay.

I'll be dreaming of chocolate cake tonight, but I've got some great recipes coming up this month that should help curb your sweet tooth. 

More to come next week!

RT

Introducing Real Food to Real Babies

My 9.5 month old son is easy going. He did like to eat 2-3 times a night for the first six months, but when he wasn't eating he slept. A lot. This kid was maybe awake 4 hours a day for the first six months of his life. The point I'm getting at is that he has been neglected as second children sometimes are, and he has been generally great with that. But now things are changing. We're working on self feeding and I'm excited to get into what this little guy is going to wolf down. I had a couple friends asking me what babies eat and when and how, then another question today about feeding a one year old. So I thought we could get into what William eats and what he plans to eat in the future.

First off, we don't do baby led weaning. I always wanted to look into it further, but here's why I didn't: I already had one child go through the typical food eating steps and it seemed fine to me. Also, I don't even have time to read books for pleasure right now, so reading a book about changing feeding tactics just wasn't going to happen. From what I  have heard it seems very interesting and something I would probably like, it just wasn't the route we took. 

So what should you feed your baby? The simple answer is "whatever you are eating."  Here is what we did.

Months 0-5.5 our kids only had breast milk. Landon's first food was rice cereal, and William's was pureed avocado both at 5 and a half months. Someone asked me why people use rice cereal and there are a few reasons. When you are first introducing foods to your child you don't know what they may be sensitive or allergic to. Rice cereal is easy on their tummies and there is a very low likelihood that they will have an allergic reaction to it. It also tastes like nothing and can be mixed to be thin or thick depending on the abilities of your baby. The truth is, there are a decent amount of fruits or vegetables that have similar qualities and more benefits. That is why we used avocado with William. Mashed and thinned out with breast milk (or formula) and we usually had one around anyway. 

Months 6-9 we go through the list of all of the fruits and vegetables that we can think of. You try one and wait a few days before trying something new to make sure there aren't any allergies or reactions. It's really annoying. During this time you might feed your baby some of the following: sweet potatoes, mangoes, squash, tomato, carrots, apples, bananas, corn, peas, more avocados, pears, peaches, regular potatoes, green beans, broccoli, braising greens, kale, spinach, etc. Basically anything that isn't naturally soft (carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli, etc) you can steam, roast, or boil then throw in a blender or food processor and make it as thin as it needs to be for your baby by adding in breast milk or formula. Or buy the jars or pouches at the store. They have an amazing selection even since Landon was a baby with lots of different veggie combos with spices added in. Check the ingredient list to make sure there aren't weird additive or preservatives. You should be able to understand every ingredient. Those are great to throw in the diaper bag or take on weekends away. 

Babies develop at different rates and during this time your baby might be ready for some chunks of food or finger foods. Both of ours weren't ready until after 9 months. We worked on it with them, but it really didn't click until they hit that magic 9 month mark. 

Side note: when your baby is learning to eat, they have to also learn to swallow and learn to not choke. Food will get stuck in the baby's throat and it is scary. And then they cough it out and with it sometimes comes half of the bottle you just gave them. So when you are trying new chunks or working on self feeding, make sure it's two hours after a bottle so you don't run the risk of wasting and cleaning up 6-8 oz of milk.

Months 9-12 is when we bring the baby to our table. Figuratively because clearly the baby is there already, this is just when we are working toward the baby eating what we are all eating at dinner. So with William at 9.5 months, we are still working on perfecting his self feeding skills. I found a great brand of organic toasted Os that I love & shredded cheese. He has mastered those. We cut up avocado, sweet potato and banana and he works really hard, but they are still a little too slippery for him. Once he gets those going, we'll move on to mashed rice and beans, chopped up pastas and sauces, and then onto chopped up versions of whatever we are eating. At his age and beyond we start by chopping things into about pea sized pieces and limiting the amount on the tray so that he doesn't shove it all in at once. 

Another tip that worked great for us was to serve the food separately. So if you are giving your baby dinner of sweet potatoes, broccoli and shrimp and you know that he will eat all of the sweet potato and then might not eat the broccoli, you hide the sweet potato and the shrimp and start with the broc. Once he has had a decent amount, add in some shrimp, and then when he has had some shrimp bring out the sweet potato. This maneuver kept Landon eating foods that weren't necessarily her favorite, because she had them when she was hungry and didn't know there was another option.

From 12 months on we continue introducing more of what we are eating. What we have learned with Landon is that kids often love things you wouldn't expect. She would much rather have salmon or shrimp instead of chicken. She will eat spinach raw. And the rule in our house is that you don't have to like everything, but you have to try everything once. We also have a new rule that you CANNOT say anything is spicy. It's Landon's magic food turnoff word. If she doesn't like the taste of something she'll say "oh, mommy. Well that's spicy." 

Don't let how many teeth your baby has determine what you are feeding them. Most one year olds will not have their chewing teeth (one year molars) yet and will be chewing food with their gums. Your baby will progress with the food regardless of how many teefies are in there.

Don't be afraid to let your baby try ANYTHING when they get to the right age. I was shocked that Landy liked chopped spinach. But she also loved raw salmon spring rolls and kale salad. Try it all! Let your child determine what s/he does or doesn't like. Don't let preconceived notions about what babies and children "like to eat" cause you to put your child's meal offerings in a one size fits all box.

So for the one year old question, we are taking a trip down memory lane. Here is what Landon was eating  from about 10 months to 14 months: 

Starting small with Os and cubed cheddar cheese.

Finely chopped broccoli and salmon

Chopped banana

The remnants of chopped broccoli and chicken tikka masala

Clockwise from top left: Salmon, chopped spinach, fresh mozzarella, and sweet potatoes

She has this for breakfast for a year. Fried eggs... you guessed it: Chopped

Black eyed peas, pineapple, strawberries and zucchini before they were chopped

 

Os, chicken breast, sweet potato, broccoli, and peas

She was able to handle the larger chunks of salmon about 13 - 14 months.
With avocado, mashed potato and raspberries.

Chicken breast with bbq sauce, chopped spinach, avocado, carrots & broccoli.

Normal snacks or meal additions

 Here is what made this easier on us: When we made dinner we would make sure it was something we could put aside a little of for Landon the following day. For added veggies (which she ate much more of than we did) we would buy bags of organic frozen broccoli, chopped spinach, carrots, cauliflower, green beans, peas, and corn. Then I would pour out a portion for her meal and pop it in the microwave for 1:15 and let it cool. Fresh veggies for the kids. Minimal effort from mom. Other things not pictured above that were very popular: Meatloaf, Lasagna, & Spaghetti Squash.

I'm happy to answer any more questions about our approach and how things worked for us. One thing we tried REALLY hard to do is to keep snack type food to a minimum. You need it, because it is a life saver at least once a day, but kids get hooked on snack foods and it's a slippery slope. We stick mainly with regular bland flavor organic Os because eventually the taste of real food beats out the taste of cheerios. 

Apologies, once again, to my sweet neglected boy. A post about what he is eating turned into a post about what his sister used to eat. Second child. At least he can't read yet, so he can't be too offended. 

#NotSoSweetMay starts in almost 24 hours..... Maybe you'll see me eating cookies at Brown Bag Deli tomorrow... all. day. long. 

- RT

Challenge Traditional Thoughts on Children and Food: VegOut! in March

Hey there! I'm surviving and I am now feeding real food to two little mouths. Now more than ever I am reminded about how passionate I am about telling all of you (and anyone else who will listen) that kids don't have to hate healthy foods. Starting them out on the right path can lead them to a future of loving healthy, easy foods. Having the right mind set can make this easier on everyone. Some days L loves cauliflower. The next day she might not want to eat it. We don't ever take anything off of the menu. And thanks to this handy post from July, meal time is more relaxed in our house. Per point number 4, when it comes to meal time, we decide the what, when, & where and the kids decide the whether and how much. When it can be that easy, it is. Sometimes it isn't. And when you feel like you are wasting uneaten food, you might be. I need sanity right now, not to stress over a half eaten meal.

So to kick off what I am officially calling a blog comeback, our family is going to VegOut! with Recipe for Success. During the month of March we are going to eat 30 vegetables in 30 days. To be honest, we eat a decent amount of vegetables regularly, but we will run out and will then be faced with a challenge. We'll be shopping around for new things we've never had, we'll be hitting up our favorite farmer's market to see what is in season, and I'm giving a decent amount of ownership in this endeavor to my almost three year old. I want to show her how exciting it is to try new things, and then she gets to rate her veggies. So if she doesn't like something, that's fine too. It's all about being open to new foods and new things. 

Who loves charts: scientists, children & me

 Tonight we went over the chart and ran through the veggie suggestions. We highlighted the things we have eaten already and circled items that are new. She is currently most excited about filling out the chart. Kids love charts. So do I. Win on the chart, guys. At the end of this adventure we get to turn in our filled out chart and we might win something. You know, beyond the grand prize of winning a healthy and varied diet.

Here is some more great news... YOU STILL HAVE TIME TO REGISTER! And you should. Of all the food challenges to do for yourself and/or your family, this might be the easiest. You just might not know that yet. Hopefully, if you don't take the challenge now, following along with us will help you realize how easy it is to incorporate vegetables into your daily life. This is a challenge you could take on your own at any time. But if you want to be official, it starts March 1st. I would love for you to join me and let me know what veggies you are trying, and if you are loving or hating them. 

For this comeback we have also started an instagram account. It's a happy medium. You don't want to see the 400 photos of my children on my personal account, and my personal friends might not want to see what vegetables I'm eating every day. Find Raising Texas on instagram @raisingtexas. Post your veggie photos and tag them, or follow along! #VegOutrfs

Here we go! Back again!

RT

For more on Recipe for Success click HERE.

Last time: To Register for VegOut! click HERE.

Fit Friday: Changing the Kid's Menu

I never really paid attention to children's menus until I had children. Prior that that I looked at the kid's menu at fast food places when I wanted a calorie splurge. Getting a child's portion always seemed like a better way to do that. Although now I'm pretty sure the child portion is the size that the normal adult portion used to be.

There seems to be something ingrained in our society that says "children won't eat healthy food." I'm not sure where it came from. I grew up eating and loving vegetables, but when my then 3 year old niece requested a snack of avocados, oranges, and sliced tomato, I was semi shocked. Isn't she supposed to want chips and cookies and prepackaged crap? The simple answer is no. Kids are not born wanting processed, factory manufactured food. But that same food is designed to have addictive properties and if you simply make an assumption that your child won't eat vegetables, they probably won't.

 Hold your horses, I'm not saying that there is no such thing as a really picky eater. I'm also not saying that Landon eats only the perfect foods. I'm just stressing that we are the ones who form our child's earliest food experiences and we should try to make them good ones. One of my friends hates eggs and her daughter also hates eggs. If my friend loved eggs, her daughter would probably love eggs too. In what I have seen so far with Landon (and with a lot of my friends and their children) kids mirror their parent's tastes and behaviors. 

I'm fortunate that Landy is not a picky eater overall, but picky eating is not a family trait. I couldn't tell you one food that she flat out hates, but sometimes when I try to give her a meal she normally would eat all of, she just doesn't want it. The best thing I ever did was to not get discouraged when we were initially introducing her to foods. Even with the puree foods, if she didn't like something I would try it at least 2 or 3 times before I retired it. And at the next stage I would try it again. L hated pureed bananas. She also hated real bananas mashed with breast milk and real bananas mashed with water and real bananas mashed with whole milk. Fast forward to now and the child is a "nana" eating machine.

Monkeys. They also love bananas.

All of the above being said, we eat pretty healthy at home. We splurge when we want to, but our basic meals are grilled or baked or sauteed and we keep our salt intake to an almost bare minimum. I make up for the rest with nutella and wine... in moderation. Rarely do we eat things that come in a box (unless someone needs a childhood mac and cheese fix) or food items that are premade and then frozen. When we go out to eat as a family I am often confronted with a children's menu that I frankly wouldn't eat any of myself. Greasy grilled cheese, mini cheese burgers, chicken fingers that are 50% batter, and a host of other things. Basically if it's on the children's menu it's likely fried or it comes with butter and cheese. While I think there is always a time and a place for a little indulgence, it scares the crap out of me that these are "CHILDREN'S" foods. Especially given the fact that this generation of children is expected to have a younger age at death than their parents. This is not what I want for my daughter.

We need to figure out small steps in our daily lives to keep this from happening.

Initially my solution was to order something for myself that I would simply share with Landon, or order her something I was comfortable with and take the leftovers home for a few more of her meals. As she gets older my thoughts on that solution have changed. Why not reach out to your local restaurants (the ones that cater to families and already have a kid's menu) and request that they include a few healthy items in smaller portions on their kid's menu? Why shouldn't there be grilled chicken breast on a kids menu? Why shouldn't there be a small filet of salmon on a kids menu? Why shouldn't there be salad on a kid's menu? 

I am not the type of person who believes that restaurants should be forced to have healthy items on their children's menu. It is the right of the restaurant to decide what they serve. But if we find a great way to just ask them to add on some healthier items, maybe that could do a lot in the long run. It might open other people's eyes to the fact that other children are eating healthy food items. To be honest, you would be surprised by how many parents are clueless about nutrition. 

As I have started thinking more about this, a few great examples have come up in places where we eat. I noticed last weekend at the Black Walnut Cafe that their children's menu is a wonderful mix of the traditional kid's items and healthier options and sides. They offer the following:

Grilled Cheese  

Chicken Tenders  

Cheeseburger  

AJB’s Mac & Cheese  

Ziti & Tomato Sauce 

Grilled Chicken Breast  

Grilled Chicken Sandwich  

Choice of a house green salad, roasted vegetables, french fries, 

house potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes or steamed broccoli, and 

fountain drink

Sometimes I think restaurants might be headed in the right direction, but could do more. In the case of national chain Panera Bread, their kid's menu allows you to make your child a deli sandwich with their chosen cuts of meat. Okay, that's a start, but given the range of their regular fare, they could easily incorporate some real and substantially healthier options than just PB&J, Mac & Cheese, & Grilled Cheese. 

I think you get the point of where I am going with this. It's not that kid's menus cause obesity, it's that they are a reflection of how society views the food that children eat. And for me, when I think about it in those terms, it's shocking. Everything in moderation allows space for unhealthy treats, but why should healthy options be completely absent? 

So if you feel the same, let's do something about it. You don't need to write congress or spend all of your money, when you eat out with your children and see that the kid's menu doesn't offer a healthier option that you were looking for, just let them know. Tell the manager that you would like to see some items added. Ask for a child's portion (and matching smaller price tag) of a healthier adult entree. 

Try new foods, and work on the way your family eats. A lot of the issues with childhood obesity start at home, but there is still work to be done when your family eats out. Especially in our current eating out and food to go culture. It's part of teaching our children to make good and healthy decisions for their future.

- RT

What the SPORK is for Lunch?

Reunited, and it feels so good... I saw an old friend recently, and hilarity ensued. We've been working with Landon on eating with utensils and while she can get the food onto her little spoon, she is having a problem keeping it level on the way to her mouth. Enter the SPORK...

Once upon a time, a spoon and  a fork fell in love. Resulting in the Spork.

 Sporks make me think of Ruprecht.. If you have never seen Dirty Rotten Scoundrels then you should. No need to talk about how non PC it is, the point of Ruprecht and the movie is that the men are scoundrels, aka wicked or evil people. 

Ruprecht didn't really have a spork, he had a trident and a corked fork.

 Back to the SPORK... It gives L the ability to stab her food, and stabbed food is much less likely to fall off of the utensil when it is not being kept level. See how this is working for me? Less falling food = less food that has to be retrieved from the floor at a later time.

So exactly what the spork did L have for lunch? Let's start with some updates... L is not shunning any food entirely, which is somewhat more frustrating than if I could tell you "She no longer eats spinach" or "She now hates fish." She has just gotten very particular about what she wants when. It's driving me bananas, but I'm taking it all in stride, remembering that when she is hungry, she will eat and I'm not going to run all over my kitchen wasting 3-4 servings of food trying to find out what she is hungry for that day. Don't get angry with me, I'm not starving her. She has standby food that she still always loves and I make sure to include at least one of those in every meal, so she always has something I know that she will eat. These foods include: tomatoes, sweet potatoes, beans, avocado, sharp cheddar cheese, and pasta. 

We still let her try pretty much any food because the chances she will eat it are the same regardless. Today she had some leftover Chicken Tikka Masala with Jasmine rice and Naan Bread from our favorite Pakistani/Indian restaurant. It was my original starter Indian food and her Aunt R is loving it right now too, while taking Indian Food baby steps. They can do it together. Best Friends Club. Here's how it went:

Naan Good

Chicken Tikka Masala with Jasmine Rice

SPORKING SUPERSTAR!

All hail the SPORK

She has been extra picky about chicken so this was a huge success. She loved the naan (what's not to love?) and ate most of the chicken. My standby foods that I knew she would eat: broccoli and rice. Then after she told me she was finished she asked for a few bites of banana and a few cheerios. Indecision thy name is toddler. 

Let's get real: the spork is a gimmick. A great one, but still, something I use to make L interested in eating her food. I've been trying all kinds of things lately. Here's a Monday night confession for you: When in doubt, food sound effects work. You know the dumb airplane noise? Well we prefer the "drop the bomb" sound effect. You can just imagine the sounds, I'm not going to take you there. At least not right now. I often stop mid meal and give thanks that no one is witnessing Landy and I at work. Kids make you look like a giant idiot, but that's ok. If you don't feel like an idiot most of the time, you are probably not having any fun. 

SO give it to me parents... what are the gimmicks you use to get your kids to eat? Or maybe you have been caught in public when you looked like a big idiot with your kids.. I need to know these things so I feel more normal. Thank you in advance. 

Peace the Spork Out,

-RT

PS - Boardwalk Empire Premier = INSANE. Loved it.

I is for Independence: Two Days of Hard Fought Ladybug Meals

Aaand we're back to babies for a bit. Landon and I have been having a lot of fun lately, and also a lot of not so fun. Not so fun is tantrums in public, refusing to eat meat, and throwing anything related to food on the floor (usually accompanied with a dead pan stare). Ahh the joys of toddlers.

The only time pouting is cute is when it's a photo of someone else's child

The majority of frustrated times are now revolving around meal time. Little Miss Landy now has a strong opinion on what she would like to eat and what she would like to throw on the floor. I used to love meal time. It was such a wonderful time when we sat together and had our mini dinner parties (no wine). Now it's a mental mind field of "will she eat this", "how can I get her to do this", "how can I stop that", and the stress of making sure she is getting the iron she needs. Just to back track, L has iron absorption issues and we try to get it in naturally instead of by liquid supplement.

I used to ignore her when she threw food (get ready for a full circle moment) but then I started telling her not to, because she could understand me. That worked until she realized that she didn't have to listen just because I said so. Then I would take her out of the seat and make her pick up what she threw and put her back in. That was messy and also didn't go so well. She actually likes throwing the food AND picking it up. Then I thought, if she throws the food, I'll just turn her around so she has to eat looking at the wall. She really didn't care too much about that either.

"parenting"

So we are back to just ignoring it. I'm not sure if it works for her, but it is MUCH easier for me. When she finishes her meal if there is food on the floor, I ask her to help me pick it up and she mostly does. Don't get me wrong, she is not down on her hands and knees scrubbing the floor, she picks up a few bigger chunks of things and hands them to me. Baby steps. Literally. After all, she thinks picking things up is fun so I'm going to use that until it changes (probably tomorrow). 

I have offered different meal suggestions for toddlers, but still had some emails wanting an example of a typical day. A typical day is never typical, so here are two days of real life Landon food. 

Day 1:

Breakfast

Landon and I usually share breakfast. I fry 3 eggs. She takes two yolks and maybe the whites of one egg and I have the rest. This day I made some oatmeal that I ate most of and she had maybe 7 or 8 bites. She has water with all of her meals. 

Unexpected Snack

We did a bit of running around on this morning and a even in the afternoon. She got restless at the grocery store so I bought a bag of goldfish and gave her a handful. Then she saw the magic pop machine and I still had things to get. Instead of fighting a tantrum, I fed it. Magic pop. 

Lunch

Black eyed peas, zucchini, two GIANT organic strawberries, and some fresh pineapple. She wasn't really that excited about this lunch. To make up for it I mixed some goat cheese in with the black eyed peas. That helped a little. This meal was not a huge success, but I am going to blame the surprise morning snack.

Afternoon Snack

This afternoon snack was more like a picnic. L had a dr's appt. Of course, as Murphy's Law of Naps clearly states, she was taking the best nap of her life and I had to wake her up to leave. I grabbed things that were easy on the go. A banana, some magic pop in a zip lock, and a cheddar cheese stick that was eaten in the waiting room. I know bloggers are weird, but I am not going to take a picture of a cheese stick in the waiting room. There is a line.

Bakery Stop

My bakery vice. We'll wait to intro these to Landon

 I had to stop at the baker on the way home to order a cake. This bakery has a website landing page with the phone number. They don't answer the phone. Every baby gets a free sugar cookie unless their mom is so mean that she refuses. Free sugar cookie for L. 

Dinner

I made dinner small on purpose. Because of the entire banana she ate at 3:30, the sugar cookie at 4:15, and countless "bites" of magic pop. This is salmon and broccoli. She ate all of it and nothing more. She threw it on the floor. This was the meal that led me to my decision to ignore the food olympics. I had a glass of wine after bed time. Well deserved.

Day 2

Breakfast

Just a second reminder, we share breakfast. Also, this is what is offered. Lots of times half of the banana or the rest of the oatmeal is put back away for the next day. This breakfast was homemade oatmeal with a 1/2 C unsweetened apple sauce added in. It is one of my favorite ways to sweeten plain oatmeal. Three fried eggs, a peach, and banana. I took half of the peach and put it in the oatmeal chopped up. L ate the other half. There were eggs left over for me. This was a big breakfast.

Bakery Stop

Again. I know. I had to go back in because, like I said, they don't answer the phone. Who wants a sugar cookie at 9:15am? Landon. And me too, but I'm an adult so I just stole half of  hers when we got in the car.

Lunch

This was a really good lunch. More salmon from the filet I cooked the day before, mashed potatoes leftover from our dinner, raspberries, half of an avocado and a dolup of sour cream for the salmon. It was my back up plan in case she decided she didn't like salmon today. Turns out I needed it and it worked like a charm. She ate most everything offered. I only gave her half of the  mashed potatoes and she left 3 raspberries that I ate. Mommy clean up. Also, the food throwing dropped to a one time occurrence. Ignoring the baby behavior wins again.

Afternoon Snack

When she woke up from this nap L was really fussy. Her eye teeth have been coming in for what feels like MONTHS but she really only has pain on and off. I can't wait for those suckers to break through. She was really in pain and having a tough time settling down. So we turned on sesame street and she had some advil followed by her snack. We don't make it a habit to eat in the living room, but this was pretty pitiful. 10 minutes after the advil I heard her crunch into the magic pop, served with half a banana and a cheddar cheese stick.

Dinner

This isn't the actual dinner that goes with this day. I had a blog window available and I took it. Tonight I will be attempting to serve meatloaf, broccoli, sweet potato and the rest of the avocado from lunch. A very similar dinner to the one above, just sub out the peas and the chicken. Use your imagination. You'll need it in the years to come.

There they are. Two whole days of Landon food. It kind of makes me hungry. Question, does anyone else babyproof the old fashioned way?

Budget friendly babyproofing for the busy mom

Don't worry, all of the toxic items are in real baby proofed cabinets. This is just my lazy way for pots and pans and all other things. Rubber bands are courtesy of the produce section of the grocery store.

I just found some leftover sugar cookie in my bra. Today is not a glamorous day.

-RT

I'd do anything for love (but really I wouldn't because I won't do "that")

I spent a fair amount of time in 1993 wondering exactly what Meatloaf wouldn't do for love. Also, I still don't know. I think I might not be deep enough. Have you seen Meatloaf? He is obviously not a shallow guy. I have discovered recently that "that" has nothing to do with going on celebrity apprentice. So we can rule it out. If you have figured out what "that" is, please let me know. It's been almost 20 years and I'm waiting with bated breath. So that's enough about Meatloaf, let's talk more about meatloaf.

See where we are going here?

I love meatloaf for various reasons. Most of them run along the same lines of why I love casseroles. You can eat them for more than one meal and the oven cooks them for you. Meatloaf also tastes great as a sandwich and I love it even more now because babies love meatloaf. At least mine does. Any recipe that can easily add people AND baby meals is like a triple shooting star life bonus. SO let's pretend that you are on a stay at home day and your husband says "can you get the meatloaf started?" and like a normal, sane person you reply "sure, where is the recipe?" Tips for life, people... there was no recipe. He had just purchased 2lbs of ground meat and figured "we had stuff." This instance works out well for everyone. We did indeed have the "stuff", but I won't do "that". Figure it out. 

So step one in my meatloaf adventure was to find a basic recipe. I went to my friend Internet and hollered at my BFF Google. Dear Google, Please send me an easy meatloaf recipe.....  My buddy G led me to allrecipes.com and gave me a recipe to work with. I had to make adjustments though, because the recipe I found called for 1.5lbs of ground meat and I had 2lbs that I wanted to use all of, but either way my kitchen scale has been dead for over three years. There. I confessed. We were going to have to use two pounds of meat. I assembled the ingredients. 

I found some panko bread crumbs in the pantry, we always have eggs since it's L's breakfast of choice, I keep a sack of white onions in the pantry as well becuase they take a while to spoil and can go in almost anything. With a baby we also always have milk. But I guess we always have milk regardless because S drinks it like a 16 year old boy. I also got out a couple of the fresh tomatoes we got in our Farmhouse Delivery, but I didn't end up using them. 

Onion chopping 101:

Cut a grid in the onion without cutting all of the way through. If you need more information on what a grid is, ask google. There is one pictured on the onion above. Then turn the onion on its side and begin to slice. Everything is already chopped for you. You could also use a slap chop, but I find it is sometimes inconsistent with chop size and it also hurts your hand after a while. Also, that guy is just really, really creepy. Slap chop guy. Moving on.

I preheated the oven to 350, let my ground meat come to room temp, and also let my milk come a little to room temp. I decided to add in some sliced garlic and took out the tomatoes. Then we ended up with this:

To compensate for the extra half pound of meat, I used a large onion, increased the milk from 1C to 1 and 1/3C, and increased the bread crumbs from 1 C to 1 1/3C. I thought about adding an extra egg, but in the end decided not to. 

So if you are a woman (or a man, I guess) who has longer fingernails, the best way to mix your ingredients together involves two hands and some latex gloves that don't have powder on them. Something like this. These gloves are just great to keep under your sink for cooking, especially if you cook with peppers often. Too many times I kind of forget I just held a jalapeno and rub my eye. The worst is when you do it and pick/"scratch" your nose. IT burns. Actually I've heard of worse things, but we are talking about meatloaf. Combine all of your ingredients in a bowl, and mix together with your hands. I didn't have gloves and I didn't want to pick ground meat out from under my fingernails so I used a potato masher. It was eh. It worked in a pinch. Gloves would be better or find someone who bites their nails (tell them to wash their hands) and have them do this.  Also, salt and pepper to taste. 

Mish Mash.

Next I made a little something something to go on top of the meatloaf. The recipe on allrecipes.com called for 2 tablespoons of mustard, 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and 1/3 C of ketchup. I just eyeballed it, keeping in mind my meatloaf was going to be larger. I used dijon mustard. 

Top Sauce

I prefer to mold my meatloaf and cook it in a larger pan than to do it in a loaf pan. You take the meat and make sure there is room so only the base is touching something, and mold it into a loaf shape. 

Add the top sauce over the top.  That is why it's called "top sauce"

And place in oven. The original recipe had a cooking time of one hour. Because I used more meat and more ingredients overall, I checked on it at one hour, but ended up cooking it for an hour and fifteen minutes total. Here is the finished product:

At this point if I had extra liquid I would use a baster to get it out so it doesn't soak back in. Well I spent some time looking for a baster and couldn't find one. In Landon's kitchen play drawer there are all sorts of kitchen tools and random things that are safe for her. In that drawer I found this:

Hmmm. Handy kitchen tool?

Although I had a c-section I was still sent home from the hospital with one of these fancy things that was never used. It made a really great baster. It would have made an even better story if it had been used. If you are unsure of what exactly this bottle is used for you can view the product here. Then if you don't know your anatomy, ask our friend google. Fun times. Apparently I really will do anything for meatloaf... even "that".

We had our meatloaf with some grilled okra from our farm delivery. We put some olive oil and salt on the okra then cooked it in the grill wok. 

Served with a side of farm fresh cherry tomatoes. And lots of ketchup. Because while you shouldn't put ketchup on your steak, you can put it ALL OVER your meatloaf.

Meatloaf is a great recipe to play with on your own. You can add spinach, shaved carrots, mushrooms, or keep it simple and basic. It is also a sneaky way to get kids who don't eat their veggies to eat veggies without knowing it. No, ketchup is not a vegetable (even if the govt says so), I'm talking shaved and chopped up veggies cooked in there. 

Your final dish might also look something like this:

I ordered my Meatloaf rare.

Don't forget to order some kitchen gloves and a spare perineal cleanser for basting emergencies. Advice for life. 

-RT