finally, family dinner

Over the past couple of week's B.'s finally agreed to eat more that one food at a time, which means we can actually share meals! Before this everything had to be separated out into neat little piles. Peas in one corner. Plain chicken in another. It was like a baby bento box. Now I've got him eating quesedillas with me (spinach snuck in last night and zucchini and red pepper tonight) with some mashed avocado on the side. All that's missing is the salsa, which he tried and immediately rejected. But we'll work on that next.

my new favorite convenience foods

I don't know if this is obsessive or just concerned parenting but I tracked down the local Whole Foods while we were on vacation in Scottsdale and went shopping twice that week. (B. did eat a few meals courtesy of the hotel kitchen but I have such an issue with kids' menus that only include chicken fingers and grilled cheese or some such boring variation.)
Anyway, I found these pouches that are perfect for traveling or just stashing in my bag when I don't know where we'll be during mealtime. Sprout makes a whole bunch of flavors but I loved the Baked Sweet Potato. (Interesting, just checked their site and it was founded by Tyler Florence of the Food Network--and there are a whole lot more flavors I'd have tried if they were available.) And then Crispy Green freeze-dried fruits. B. was basically eating the apple and pear chips like a bag of Doritos. I love finding new fun products!

eggs-cellent!

Finally! Nana got B. to eat eggs when we took him to a diner on vacation and both of us ordered omelettes. Spinach & Swiss and broccoli & cheddar. He liked both. Which means we've now got a new source of protein (there's only so many times I can make him turkey meatballs) and a new vehicle to feed him vegetables. The green stuff is hit and miss on its own but as long as it's combined with pasta--or now eggs--he'll eat it. Like today, he had noodles with zucchini, turkey and tomato sauce for lunch and then noodles with broccoli, chicken and mascarpone for dinner and cleaned his bowl both times.
(Side note: This is the first time I've ever used mascarpone for anything but making tiramisu and I'm totally sold. A little bit makes a creamy light sauce without any more effort than scooping it out of the container. Yay! New shortcut.)

first foods

I was surfing the Web today and found Kourtney Kardashian's baby blog on People and something about it just resonated. She's feeding her son cereal for the first time this week. Somehow this has me feeling all sappy. Like at the time that was such a BIG deal (Is he gonna like it? Will it make him sleep better at night? Ha!) and I couldn't wait for B. to start eating solids. Except now as I scramble to feed him multiple fresh/nutritious/diverse/interesting/organic meals a day somehow a little rice cereal and milk mush seems so easy! I miss that stage. As it is I'm still feeding him Earth's Best multi-grain cereal every morning but now I mix it with fruit puree and milk because just the carbs on their own always seemed like unnecessary filler to me.

giada's best recipes for kids

Even though I still don't believe Giada's little girl could eat with a fork on her first birthday (B.'s still hit and miss at 13 months) the lady does know her kids food. Respect. I've made both birthday recipes and they were awesome. Turkey meatballs and a creamy pasta with peas and carrots. T. makes fun of me for feeding B. so much pasta but it's hands down the best way to get him to eat vegetables. I've fed him peas, zucchini and spinach all buried under noodles and sauce. Whatever works, right? (All the below is tweaked slightly since I didn't have all the ingredients she called for in the house.)

Turkey Meatballs
1/2 pound ground turkey
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg lightly beaten
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
Pinch of mediterranean herbs
Pinch salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Stir together the breadcrumbs, egg, ketchup, parmesan, herbs, salt and pepper. Gently mix in the turkey meat. Roll into mini meatballs in the palm of your hand. Bake the meatballs for about 15 minutes.


Pasta with Peas and Carrots (this is the idiot's version I created, I'll make Giada's legit recipe at some other time when I'm feeling more ambitious and less rushed)
1/3 pound (or 1/3 box) of Farfalline or other small pasta
1 large carrot diced into small pieces
1/2 cup peas
2 ounces cream cheese
2 ounces goats cheese
2 tablespoons parmesan

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and throw in the pasta and carrots. Cook until tender, about 8 to 10 minutes. For the last 2 minutes, throw in the peas. Drain the water but leave about 1/4 cup in the pot with the pasta and vegetables. Stir in the cream cheese, goats cheese and parmesan. Add a pinch of salt and peppers. Ta-da!

new stuff B. tried this week

We're traveling this week, which means all kinds of new stuff including: animal crackers to keep him happy on the plane; Stonyfield vanilla ice cream (Daddy's contribution to his diet); freeze dried strawberries (he picked them out of my Special K cereal but still won't eat fresh strawberries, go figure), Gala apples (cut into tiny bites--the possibility of choking still freaks me out) and mini bagels...

And in the "stuff B. spit out this week" column: green beans, pinto beans and blackberries.