So, food. Let's talk. I'm a big, big fan of food so I could talk about this for a long time. Because I like food so much I have to be really careful to only bring healthy food into our home. Brent and I are self-admitted foodies and I'm pretty certain we've bred foodie kids. I'm super proud of Sarah's eating habits (most of the time) so I'd like to share with you all what has worked for us. Please realize that this isn't a "you should" post...it's just what works in our house. Sound good?
I think I'm sticking with a good ol' trustworthy list again.
1. Many of you already know that I made all of Sarah's baby food starting with her rice and oatmeal cereal when she was 6 months old. I plan to do the same for Ephraim in just a few weeks (oh my goodness...!) . I can't say that I've tasted jarred baby food lately but homemade baby food is yumm-o good! (I'm channeling Rachael Ray) In fact, Brent and I used to hope that Sarah would have leftovers. When I did it for Sarah I had three other close friends who were also making their own baby food so we would have little parties and each take home several baggies of different kinds of delicious blends. I think our most exotic puree was potato, leeks and ricotta - just to give you an idea of the kind of stuff those babies ate. I think having an early experience with a variety of nutritious food was a great introduction for Sarah. If you're interested in venturing into the world of homemade baby food then check out the books Super Baby Food and The Healthy Baby Meal Planner.
2. There's never been a choice at meal time at our house. What I make is what's for dinner. Period. If Sarah doesn't want it (and that does happen) that's fine. But there are no after dinner snacks and no other choices. Also, we always sit at the table to eat as a family. I think this is so important in fostering healthy habits about mealtimes and it's also great family time!
3. I plan our meals out a week ahead of time and shop only for what I need. I usually cook 6 nights a week Not sure why but we don't do and have never done leftovers - Brent just takes them for lunch the next day or I reuse things in a different way for the next night's meal. When I plan our meals I try to choose a couple of chicken dishes, a lean beef dish, a lean pork dish and a vegetarian meal. I'm really horrible about incorporating fish into our diets. We all like it but I feel like fish needs to be day-of fresh and I'm too lazy to go back to the store after already doing our weekly shopping. And we shop at the commissary which doesn't have a great fish counter so doing fish on the night of grocery shopping won't work either. If you have fish idea for me I'm all ears! :)
4. I plan meals the night before I head to the grocery store. I have a three column list that I made in microsoft word that has most of the things that I buy in the order that they appear in the store. I write down my meals on one side of the paper and then flip it over and circle the items on the the list that I need. I'd be happy to email my template to anyone that's interested (send me an email) and you can customize it for yourself. It's saved me hours and hours of time!
5. About 95% of my recipes have come from Cooking Light magazine. If you've never gotten it definitely pick it up in the store and see if you like it. The recipes are great and the range from easy and approachable to fancy and more time consuming. It's a great, great magazine. The other 5% of my recipes come from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. It's not a light magazine but the recipes can be adapted by just using low fat products and such.
6. For the last 6 months or so Sarah has cooked dinner with me almost every night. She sits up on the counter or on her stepstool and watches every move I make. She loves feeling like she's helping and I love the time with her. The biggest bonus though is that she's always a little bit hungry so she wants to taste everything as it's going in. So as I'm cutting and chopping she's muching away on peppers, onions, leeks, celery, carrots, pineapple, beans, WHATEVER! If she asks to taste it I always let her.
7. I never, ever tell Sarah that she won't like something. If she wants to try something I let her and she can decide for herself if she likes it or not. I really can't think of anything that she just absolutely won't eat.
8. We have dessert every night, even if it's just a few jelly beans. Sarah has a huge sweet tooth (as do we) so we have to make sure that sweets are regulated or she would eat them all day long. Dessert once a day works well for us. We were recently having some major problems with her taking a few bites of dinner and then announcing, "All done! DESSERT!" Just in the last week I decided to move dessert to after bath time. This has made such a huge difference. Now we eat dinner, play for a while, Sarah takes a bath and THEN she gets dessert. There is no more rushing through dinner to get to the sweet stuff. She is eating so much more food now that she knows dessert doesn't come immediately after she's done.
9. We only drink milk or water. Ever. Okay, that's a lie - occasionally Brent makes sweet tea. But Sarah and I only drink milk or water. No juice. No soda. If we go out to lunch or dinner she gets chocolate milk as a treat. Because we don't keep anything other than milk or water in the house so it's never a battle.
10. Sarah is a huge snacker and would graze all day if we let her. Recently we were having a problem with her wanting a snack constantly (and me giving in because I didn't want to fight her on it while caring for a newborn). Granted, snacks are healthy around here - fruit, granola bars, cheese, etc. - but she wasn't hungry for meals when the really good stuff was on her plate. When we were in Boston I noticed that Samantha had Caroline on a pretty strict snacktime routine which I've since adopted. Sarah now gets one snack in the morning at 9:00 during Sesame Street and I try to make this a fresh or dried fruit snack. Then after her nap she gets another snack that's usually crackers or a granola bar. This has worked wonders for getting her to eater better meals!
11. If you're looking for some good healthy snacks for your kids try frozen melonballs. Sarah LOVES these and they're super easy and fun to eat. Whenever cantaloupe, honeydew, or little watermelons are on sale I buy then, scoop them out with a melonballer and then freeze them. Be sure to freeze them on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper first and then put them gather them up and put them into a ziploc after they're frozen. This will keep them from sticking together.
I think that's all I can think of for now. I'll come back and add if I get any more bright ideas!
Today's Buddy Posters:
Angela at The Painted House - an awesome post...makes me wanna be a vegan! Okay, well at least a vegetarian :)
Heather
3 Fun Boys
52 comments:
I am so envious that Sarah will eat almost anything. My almost 2 year old daughter rarely eats the dinner that I make and I end up giving in to something that she will eat. Which I know is why it is always a battle! How do I break the cycle!!? I have another daughter on the way and I will be sure to use some of your "strategies" with this one and hopefully she will be better. Great topic!
My daughter is Ephraim's age, so we're about to start making her baby food, too, and I'm SO excited. I love the idea of having a food making party/exchange!
As for fish--we tend to have the same problem in our house--we like it, but don't always want to cook it the day we buy it fresh. I've leaned towards getting frozen, marinated wild caught salmon from Trader Joe's. It's higher in sodium than if I prepared it myself because of the marinade, but I can just put it in the fridge in the morning and it's defrosted by the evening time and it's usually very tasty. Most of the food I cook at home is from scratch, so the one or so meal each week or two that's a prepped food like that isn't a big deal to me.
Frozen grapes are also amazing!!
Sarah and Ephraim are lucky to have good food habits established for them. :)
It also goes to say that it's hard for PARENTS to eat healthy when they're busy running around taking care of their children. I wanted to tell you and your readers about a teleclass (like an interactive, educational conference call) that my colleague Rebecca and I are hosting for moms. Rebecca (a mother of 2, with another on the way) and I are both health counselors who are committed to helping families get and stay healthy.
The call will take place on Tuesday April 22nd 8:15-9:30 pm Eastern Standard Time
The theme for the teleclass is "Super Nutrition for Moms," and we will be covering:
--Good general nutrition: getting enough protein, fiber, and vitamins
--Eating for energy: why do I crave sugar and caffeine?
--Eating to support lactation
--Planning healthy meals and snacks for you and your family
The cost is $15, and if you're interested, please send an email to yourintuitivehealth@gmail.com to register for the call or if you have any questions.
For more information, you can visit www.yourintuitivehealth.com or www.rebeccapilot.com.
Thanks, Erin, for letting me share this resource with your other blog readers!
--Monica
All great ideas, thanks! I, too, try to cook 5 nights at week and with working all day and getting home at 5:30, I need to get dinner on the table fast. I love Cooking Light but also get tasty ideas from kraftfoods.com or the Kraft Foods & Family Magazine - lots of kid-friendly and healthy options! Again, thanks!
wow, once again you have inspired me!
I m going to check out cooking light- it sounds great.
I too am envious that Sarah eats so darn well. My daughter has had huge eating issues (swallowing anything at all has been a huge issue with her, she really just prefers nursing to any solids!!)
as for fish..we shop at the commisary too, but i try to go to the regular grocery store every two weeks to get some shrimp or tilapia (easiest fish in the world to make!)
And milk or water only?? wow. you are good!! I'm a soda junkie..don't know how you do it, but GOOD for you :)
Great ideas! I think eating together as a family for dinner is one of the most important things parents can do for their children. There is SO MUCH we can teach our kids at dinner time...manners, healthy eating, moderation, love, humor, etc. LOVE IT!
I participated today! I am passionate about healthy eating and setting standards for my kids and helping them develop a sophisticated palate.
My post is at www.thepaintedhouse.blogspot.com! Thank you for this!
Love these Mondays, Erin!
Let me point out an awesome make-your-own-baby-food resource: Mommy Made and Daddy Too by Martha Kimmel. It has a great schedule to introduce foods month-by-month, which I never would have had any idea about otherwise—i.e. avocados at ten months, no cantaloupe until a year, etc. I have a few other books but this is by far my favorite (and best. Ha)
Maddie was much like Sarah, a super-eater with a big open mind. She still is. We didn't force her to eat things that really are more adult-palate items (garlic, for example) but she is really proud of herself now that almost 6 she eats the grown-up version of what we have for dinner on nights were it's more exotic. Well, exotic is a generous word, but still. Gracie, as with everything else, taught us that every kid is different and some kids simply won't play along with new foods no matter what you do. Since food can become such a scary power struggle, we've relaxed a little and broken our rule of what's for dinner is what's for dinner with her (we usually provide choices for lunch items, but not for dinner). For example, I will fix her the Barilla Penne Plus with parmesan and peas mixed in when we have chili, which is way too spicy for her. BUT. She is starting to eat more adventurously we've noticed--she ate a serving of salmon without being asked last week and ate all of her pork tenderloin and lima bean dinner last night : )
We do juice at breakfast only. And I do smoothies ALL THE TIME for snacks--when I feel like Gracie isn't getting enough of the right stuff (or me too!) I just fix smoothies with milk, yogurt, a fresh fruit, a frozen fruit, sometimes wheat germ, and it's always a hit.
We commissary shop too (it's hard to resist the fish market around the corner from us but it's so much more expensive!) and you can always find good salmon at the commissary. I usually make that the grocery shopping day meal so we can eat it right away. I'd say 85% of my recipes come from Everyday Food, and it has fantastic salmon recipes for cooking it fast, adding chutneys or light sauces to the top, etc. We also do frozen white fish (cod, perch, etc.) to make corn tortilla fish tacos a lot. That's super easy--just take it out of the freezer the night before and bake it with salt/pepper/a tiny bit of olive oil for 7-10 minutes.
Bridget has been way slower in accepting solids than Maddie was (but faster than Gracie) but she is finally starting to really enjoy food. I do most homemade with her, though I never ever puree meat because it totally grosses me out. She gets jarred meat, which I am better at giving her than the other two—I gave up too easily with them on meat as babies. It's paying off now, though, because she is starting to eat table meat in tiny pieces and loving it!
This is so long. I'm sorry! I love to talk baby food, and there is no greater stress/alternate sense of accomplishment than healthy eating for kids : )
where. NOT WERE. sorry, didn't proofread!
Great post. We don't have children yet, but we often discuss the nutrition path that we would like to have them on. It stresses me out making sure that my husband has all of the nutrients that he need from his meals, I can't imagine throwing a child into the mix. We keep the food pyramid on the fridge and I make my grocery lists by it. I will also go over what we ate for breakfast and lunch and tweak our dinner menu to get more of one group or less of a group. That has helped us so much. Also a great tool if you have kids is www.chickinfeed.com. They have a cool tracking board.
Thanks for all the ideas everyone!
One thing that has helped me make more homemade healthy meals is cooking large quantities at a time. I buy lean or extra lean ground beef in a huge pack (six or seven meals worth for the six of us) and cook it all up with onions etc and drain it really well. Then I divide it all into large ziploc freezer bags and make them as flat as possible. Then they stack really well in the freezer.I can pull a bag out (it defrosts really quickly because it is so thin), and dump it into spaghetti sauce or a casserole or chili.
I do this with a couple chickens (or lots of chicken breasts), or pork or ham too--cook it, chop it all up and freeze for throwing in a meal. At least then it's easier to make something rather than buy prepackaged stuff or eat out.
I love our deep freezer too--I freeze lots of fruits when they are on special for smoothies etc. I just find it easier to not go out to eat if I have lots of healthy stuff to choose from in there.
I'm Canadian and have never heard of commisary? What is it?
-Another great resource for making baby food and starting out on solids:
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
-As for fish, unless you live where they take it right off the boat, frozen is actually better. In most cases they actually freeze it right on the boat. And lots of the fish at the fish counter was "previously frozen". We've had the best luck with frozen shrimp (from the commissary) and frozen, individually wrapped salmon fillets (from Costco). The Commissary has been carrying some Coleson's Catch brand fish and I've been pleased with its quality for every variety we've tried.
-As for raising a kid who likes everything, I have realized that it takes more than just having parents who are healthy, eat-just-about-everything eaters. If your kid refuses to open his mouth (like my 14 month old does), you can't pry his jaw open. We have found that he does best with mealtime if he's not over-tired. If he's having a cranky day, we stick to the favorites (yogurt, no-sugar apple sauce, oatmeal). And I try not to make a big deal out of him eating or not eating something. He can definitely tell if I'm stressed about it and he plays off of that.
-What are some of your standard lunches at home? I'm getting tired of grilled cheese, tuna, and soup and need some inspiration!
Thank you for another great post!! Healthy eating habits are so incredibly important and I think you can never start too young! I, too, made homemade baby food for my daughter. A really resourceful tool for me was the website, www.wholesomebabyfood.com ... it has some great tips, recipes, guidelines, etc. I now frequent wholesometoddlerfood.com. I'm fortunate that my daughter LOVES fresh fruits and veggies and I truly believe that this is a direct correlation with the fact that she ate these foods as a baby!
Amen to number 2! Thanks for sharing all your great ideas. You are such a planner, I need to get more organized. I am emailing you now for your template.
We make our kids eat their veggies first. There is nearly ALWAYS a fresh veggie on the plate. Sometimes I'll throw a curve ball and put a fruit instead the kids get a kick out of that! But, they must always eat the veggies first. I head my son tell his friend, "We don't eat veggies because we like them we eat them because they keep our bodies healthy. Well, thats what my mom always says." But, he's not fooling me I know he likes them! Sure enough after eating a new veggie a few times they would end up liking them.
I did make my own baby food most of them time and I am sure that helped. And this year we are planting out own garden so I'm hoping that will be a great experience.
Well, everyone has a food story!
I was/am (retired) ped nurse and focused mainly on nutritional habits in preschool/school age kids for the last 3 years of my career.
As for babies, I think just feeding your kids whatever you cook from as early as they can get it down is key. As my ped. says, "how will an Indian baby know he's Indian if he doesn't eat curry?" So, I think it's important for your baby to know Mama's cookin' from the get-go.If you go from bland Gerber to "convenient toddler foods", it may be hard for them to enjoy things that you cook, be it Lasagna or whatever.
As for the juice thing, I'm not sure why it's ever mentioned as a drink option for babies. Maybe some people need it to get their babies to drink out of a cup or if they are having issues with constipation. Otherwise, it's not like its a nutritional neccessity. But I just never went to the trouble or expense to buy it & my kids prefer water any day. If they get a juice box, they never take more than a sip or two. Not that juice is any worse than lots of the other things we partake of, but I look at it as one less thing.
All that said, I think you can be the best mom in the world and do everything right nutritionally and some kids just don't like to eat. Most of what I can say for picky eaters is, just hang in there. They will come around. I don't know many grown kids/adults who don't enjoy a good meal. Have healthy choices around, but enjoy the good stuff too. Don't make sweets taboo, or your kids might really crave them. Most of all, don't stress yourself out about food/eating. It's natural!
Sarah sounds like she eats like Mazie. Which brings me to a point, I made all of Mazie's baby food too. I didn't feel I had the time to dedicate to making Jamie's like I did Mazie's so Jamie ended up eating jarred baby food quite often. I feel this has made her picky. She may just take after her father but I think it has some to do with it. I agree with everything. We sit down to dinner together. I cook every night. Sometimes we have a leftover night, usually after a big dinner like Thanksgiving or something but there is always something different with it. We also have been incorporating Deceptively Delicious recipes into our side dishes. Jamie loves them and it gives her the veggies that she won't eat. I also do not let them drink anything but milk or water. I will let them drink V8 Fruit Fusion if it is the lite because of the sugar and only because it is loaded with fruit and veggies. And chocolate milk is a treat too. Again, I am trying to get Jamie to eat more of those. Mazie and Jacob will at least try everything. There have not been too many things that they won't eat. In fact, Mazie's favorite meal is orange pork chops with brown rice and broccoli. It seems to be one of Jacob's favorites and Jamie does eat most of it. My suggestion for picky eaters is to just stick to what you are doing. Kids won't let themselves starve. Trust me I have a husband and a little girl who doesn't like to try new things.
i tend to "defrost" frozen fish/shrimp under luke warm water in the sink in their packaging for about 1/2 hour before cooking. if still slightly frozen, i make the water a little warmer as i clean them. (found this helps keep the "fishy" taste +smell out)
orange roughy is good with 1-2 tbsp real butter per fish, sqeeze some lemon juice over it- more if you like lemon flavor- salt + pepper. bake or grill
i also found a recipe for salmon at the tastefully simple website. sometimes i dont have their products but found something similar at my grocery store. recipe was still delicious!!
You are Super Mom! Love your ideas! I have a VERY picky eater! I'm jealous! E-mailing you now! :)
Sonja--
The commissary is the military grocery store that you can only shop at if you have a Department of Defense ID card or similar : ) It doesn't have quite the extensive selection of fancier stores, but it is significantly less expensive for most things. There are a few things I buy at Target because they're cheaper, but not many!
Wow! Still loving Mama Monday's!
My son is almost 6 months old too and we're going to be starting solids, I'm going to be making his foods also...a good website I've been visiting is www.wholesomebabyfood.com...it's great! Thanks for all the good info...and can I just say WOW! No juice...I can see soda, but no juice! you are good!
Tammy, I wish I knew what to say. I know the whole "a kid won't starve herself" idea is probably way either said than done. Maybe give it 2-3 days though of no choices and see where that takes you? Also try the cooking together thing. Seriously, I think that when they feel like they're a part of it it makes a huge difference. You may have to wait until she's a tad older though.
Thanks for all the fish ideas you guys! I'm totally going to change my tune about it now!
As for the no juice thing, I remember asking my pediatrician when Sarah was like a year old if there was any reason why she needed to have juice. She said that unless she was having issues with constipation then there was no reason she needed it. I'll admit that it was partly a health decision on my part but also because I'm too cheap to start buying something that we really didn't need. I don't drink juice and neither does Brent so I knew it would go bad and be a waste of money.
There are some awesome ideas here...can't wait to try them out!
I love this post. Nutrition for my family is something that I care deeply about, so I'm happy to talk about it too. I think it's in a momma's biology to want to provide healthy, balanced food to her loved ones. Even better when they actually eat it!
Eric and I love food too and I actually find it FUN to plan out our meals and shop for them, without kids that is. Since learning of our friend Clayton's cancer diagnosis, in honor of him we have consciously been trying to eat more vegetarian and the occasional vegan meal around here. My latest favorite cookbook series is the Moosewood Cafe collection. It's all vegetarian plus fish. I have loved everything I've made from there.
I also love Cooking Light (I used to intern at their editorial offices, actually) and many of our staple dishes come from there.
I believe very much in having meals together too, though for us that meal seems to consistently be breakfast. Most of the time, Eric doesn't have to leave at the crack of dawn, and we both have more energy in the morning to cook and sit down together. By the end of the day, we're spent, the kids are cranky, and often we feed them early (around 5 or 5:30) and then fix something for ourselves after they get to bed around 7. That gives he and I some much-needed alone time too. Usually Stella eats our leftovers the next night for dinner, and so on.
Now, in terms of the kids, Stella USED to eat just about anything. I thought I had overcome the picky child dilemma but that has recently changed. I feel like she gets enough balance to still be healthy, but she really only likes certain things. I do make her take one bite of something before deciding she doesn't want it. And I don't feed her something different for dinner if she doesn't like what we're having - nor does she get more milk which is what she'd rather have anyway.
I made all of her baby food, and I'm doing the same thing for Meg. Just cooking fresh foods, pureeing them, and freezing them. Right now in my freezer I have ziploc bags full of ice-cube sized squash, apples, pears, sweet potatoes, cauliflower, a roast combo, and a chicken combo. One book I'm loving for ideas is called The New Baby Bistro. I try to pretty much feed her whatever we're having (omitting spices, salt, etc.) and just mash it up. Most of the time it's a success!
That's about it from around here. Some days I dream of going back to school for nutrition just to learn more and more about food. I really love this stuff!
Ugh. Mealtimes have not been fun around here!! Annalise is a snack-aholic, so I really do need to limit her to 2 a day. And she has started throwing her whole plate on the floor when she does not want what is on it. We have stuck to the "if you don't eat your dinner, you don't get a snack" deal & while it makes her miserable, she gets the point. Our main problem is that during the week we do not eat together b/c of Justin's long commmute, so it makes it hard to prepare our meals for her. Annalise does not eat much variety of foods right now. She was much better when she was younger. Love any ideas!!
As for the commissary -- I shop there, too & have been buying frozen shrimp once a month or so & have a couple of really yummy, light recipes that I can email to you. I also sometimes get lump crab meat there & make crab cakes, which are really good over a caesar salad. I probably stop at the regular store once a month for salmon or whitefish just for variety.
I can't believe it! There ARE people in the world like me! (: We do pretty much everything Erin does. My kids are GREAT eaters! My mother-in-law always comments on how healthy we feed our kids...and I'm very proud of that.
I just recently started meal sharing with a couple of ladies from my church and, let me tell you, it's awesome! We each cook up a meal for our own family plus one for every family in the group and swap once a week....Our families get great, home-cooked meals, and I only have to spend one morning cooking. Grocery shopping is easier, too, since you're only buying in bulk for two different main dishes...plus, minimal clean-up every night!
For breakfasts we do a lot of Stoneyfield Farms yogurt, multi grain toasts, oatmeal with maple syrup, scrambled eggs with fetta(yummy), homemade applesauce, wheat pancakes, and berries.
For lunches they love quesadillas, soups, goulash, tuna sandwiches, (sooo good with shredded parmesan and grapes mixed in) cottage cheese, string cheese, blueberries, cherries, & lots of other fruits and veggies. Whole wheat fig newtons make a good "sandwich" on the go. We can't do peanut butter because my son is allergic to nuts. I was wondering if any of you knew of any kid-friendly substitutes?
For snacks we do lots of raisins, craisins, and all natural snack crackers. Annie's has a great line of all natural & whole grain crackers, mac-n-cheese, and cereals. You can get them at Wal-Mart..they're a great "treat" for us.
I always try to use all whole wheat/multi grain breads and pastas. A good tip I heard is to add V8 to sauces and soups..no one will even know they're getting all those nutrients!
I have a couple of recipes I want to include if I have the time at nap, and if anyone is interested. Thanks so much everyone! This is always so inspiring!
First, to preface this: I am a crappy eater myself. I just am.
However, I don't let my kids be. I'm a hypocrite. HA!
At any rate, my two are a bit older and I wanted to address something snack-wise that has kept me sane.
Snack Drawer/Snack Shelf -
I have a drawer in my fridge full of snackable stuff (cheese cut into sticks, fruit of all kinds) and a shelf in the pantry with healthy snack choices on it (crackers, dried fruit, trailmix and nuts, etc.) and if they ask, they are allowed to get anything out of those two places for a snack. Keeps me from having to get up and get it for them and keeps them limited to healthy and eatable snack choices (they are 3 and 5, so not quite old enough yet to decide that the bag of sugar is not an acceptable snack source).
However, I also believe that all things in moderation -- so we have a junk snack shelf up high. And on Friday's after school snack, we can ALL have anything off of that shelf -- it has really crappy stuff on it, too. I'm sorry. But it does. Doritos and Potato chips, handi-snacks with their fake cheese, those super horrible oatmeal cookies from Little Debbie. I had to come up with this because Elijah was coming home from school telling me he'd swapped his carrots with Dylan for his Doritos because he does love him some doritos and we didn't have them at home. So Junk Snack Friday was born. It works really well and keeps everyone looking forward to Friday while making it okay to snack healthy on other days.
I am proud to say that as much of a soda-holic as I am, I HAVE kept it from my kids and hope to for quite a while more. And while they do drink juice, they don't really -- they drink water with a spash of juice on top because I was always too cheap to give it to them straight. I have to give Katie apple juice or she, um, stops up? ha. Her intestines and milk are not a happy combo.
Thanks again for a wonderful mama monday, Erin.
w-
p.s. they make the food with me, too! and with the taste everything going on! I can't believe how much Katie likes to just eat flour. Yes. FLOUR. She just likes it. The weirdo. Anyway, they have always tasted everything whether I think they will like it or not. Onions, garlic, and other dinner time stuff and well as every ingredient we use to bake. I personally have never tasted baking powder by itself, but it apparently isn't very good. Who knew. They smell the spices, too, and can actually identify them with their eyes closed! That doesn't mean they like them all (My boy hates cilantro with a passion unlike any other!) but it does mean they know what they are and can tell me what they do and don't like about a dish. Which I find hysterical. Like when my 3-year-old says "Mommy, the Cumin in this taco meat is too strong." haha.
Terah, you reminded me of something that I almost put in my original post but then didn't...
When we lived in Colorado Amy and I used to swap our leftovers. Because neither of our families were big on leftovers we would just cook a large meal for ourselves on Tuesday and then swap the leftovers on Wednesday so that our family got a new meal with no work for us. It was awesome! Then Amy went and I had a baby and I got pregnant and we moved and, well, that was the end of that. But it was fun while it lasted!
Wendy, I LOVE the junk shelf idea. I'm filing that away for when the kids are older.
It doesn't sound like we eat as healthy as you do and we tend to eat out a lot. But I am with you....if my kids don't want to eat what I've cooked, too bad. I am not different meals for everyone in the house. Also, my kids pretty much only drink milk or water too. They do get juice once in awhile but I try to really limit that. They are definitely not allowed to have pop (though they will try to sneak it if my husband or I have some).
I am a vegetarian but the rest of my family is not. I always get asked how I cook...do I make 2 separate meals? No, I just adapt whatever my family is having for myself. If they are having meat, I usually make several sides, one of which is almost always beans. If we are having lasagna, they get a meat version; I get a single serving of vegetarian lasagna. It's just my personal choice because I don't like meat but everyone else does so we work around it and it's really not a big deal.
Good topic!
I miss our dinner swaps!
Terah -- a good substitute for Peanut Butter is Sunflower Nut Butter. I've only had the Trader Joe's version, but I think that Whole Foods carries a variety. It is so yummy!
And a suggestion for another Mama Monday is Baby Signing (A.K. asked me a question about it and thought it would be good here!) :-)
I find this all so interesting. Thank you all for sharing your tips!
I actually don't have kids yet, but I when I do, I want to do all that I can to make them healty, non-picky eaters.
I am actually a very picky eater, so I am now trying to teach myself to try and like new things - knowing that if I don't eat it, there's a good chance they won't either. I'm not sure if my parents didn't introduce me to lots of new things or if they did, and I just didn't like it. Either way, I don't think they pushed the subject. My dad always ordered/made all of our food "plain," because it was less messy. To this day, I eat cheeseburgers plain, tacos with meat and cheese only, etc. He had clean kids, just not ones that liked lettuce or tomatoes. I can even remember every time we went to this one particular Mexican restaurant, my parents would drive through the McDonald's next door first and bring my Happy Meal into the Mexican restaurant. Good bless them, they were good parents, but this is not something I plan to do for my kids.
My husband, on the other hand, is not at all picky. He can order anything and just eat it however it comes. He can eat an onion like it was an apple. I have yet to find a food that he won't eat.
Since we have been married, my eating habits have gotten a lot better. I think it is a combination of so many new foods (stuff his family eats regularly, that I never had) and also a more mature look at wanting to be less picky.
Hopefully, I can teach myself before we have kids, and I can learn all these handy tricks for making them healty eaters!
I have thought about making Reagans baby food. Thanks for the suggestion. I experimented with her a little on it over the weekend and she isn't ready so back to formula we go. But when she is ready I want to incorporate homemade foods into her life. Could you please send me the grocery list template, I am always looking for new ways to cut my bill down.
that's awesome!
my girls are really getting better. i did lots of homemade baby food too and they were awesome eaters until about age:4 then something happened to them! i am now starting to re-introduce everything to them again and they are getting so mUCH better!!!
that's so awesome you established this right away so they will be healthy for life!
tara
Okay Ladies. If your picky eaters don't like this, there's something wrong with them! J/K My mother-in-law used to make this for her (5!) children and I have one brother-in-law who still loves it above all else at the age of 30!
Goulash
*1 1/2 lbs ground beef (i just use however much I have)
*medium onion
*1 med. bag elbow noodles, prepared(I use whole wheat, my sister-in- uses corkscrew)
*2 envelopes italian style spaghetti sauce mix
*1 14.5oz. can stewed italian-style tomatoes
*2 Tblsp. sugar
*2 Tblsp. worcestershire sauce
(I just keep dumpin 'cause I really love the flavor it adds)
Brown hamburger and onion together. Run tomatoes through the hand chopper to cut them up a bit. Mis together all ingredients. If it seems dry you can add more of whatever you think it needs, that's what I do. Almost as easy as mac-n-cheese, but WAY better!
Around here we go through a LOT of bread. This is another recipe from my mother-in-law. Really wholesome and very filling! This stuff makes the BEST toast!
Whole Wheat Bread:
*6 cups water (warm to hot)
*2 Tblsp. salt
*2/3 cup oil
*2/3 cup honey
*2 Tblsp. yeast
*4 cups wheat flour
*white flour
Mix all ingredients together in mixer with dough hook, with enough white flour to make a nice dough. Mix for 9 minutes. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes.
Yield:
5 loaves
That all you have to do! No letting it rise (raise?) forever or anything! You can also make rolls with this...only using a little more white flour so they're not quite so heavy.
This one my mom made up and I could seriously eat it EVERY day! The kids love it too!
Bean Soup
*1 1/2 -2 lbs. gr. beef
*med. onion
*garlic cloves
*3 cups water
*2 cans black beans
*1 can kidney beans
*1 can garbanzo beans (chic peas)
*2 red bell peppers, chopped
*celery, chopped
*A few big spoonfuls of sun-dried tomatoes
*2 cans tomato sauce
*chili powder, salt, sugar to taste
Brown hambuger with onion and garlic. Add water, peppers & celery. Cook until softened a bit. Add all remaining ingredients. Simmer until flavors blend.
This is kinda a vague recipe. But just do your own thing and you'll love it! Mine turns out really thick and salty/sweet with a tiny kick form the chili powder...soooo goooood!
Ok I'm totally curious. For those of you who usually cook dinner at home, what would you say the cost of your healthy meal is for your family? I love this mama monday topic and appreciate all of the tips and recipes you've shared!
emilee...I spend an average of $100/week on groceries (at the commissary which has lower prices and no tax) and we probably eat out for one meal a week (either lunch or dinner). If you deduct about $15/week for non food items then that puts it at about $12.00/day to feed the family. Hope that helps!
Hey, I was just at Williams Sonoma, and they have a really cool baby food maker that steams, purees, etc. It was pretty pricey, but looked awesome.
Another idea for Mama Mondays - whining! My daughter has gotten pretty bad about it (almost 2) and we are really working one it. I would love to hear suggestions if anyone has had some success with stopping it!
Oh my gosh Tammy, I have nothing to add to that! Sarah whined ALL DAY today. And then as soon as Brent walked in the door she looked at me and said, "I was mad at you today." UGH! :)
I'm not sure how I even found your blog-but I visit often and have saved many posts for future reference. I have a 6 month old boy myself and love reading Mama Mondays!! I wouldn't mind a copy of your grocery list-if you don't mind sharing! And thanks for letting me visit your blog. I'm learning lots and love looking at your pictures!!!
mrs.kris.e@hotmail.com
Thanks
Kristi
I look forward to your "Mama Monday" posts. Thanks for these great tips. I also shop the commissary and the meat selection does leave something to be desired sometimes. You have inspired me to check out some other recipes. Thanks.
I probably end up spending about $700-$800 a month on food but I have five mouths to feed three meals a day, seven days a week. Jeremiah packs his lunch for work and Mazie and Jamie don't do school lunch yet. I hope that gives you an idea of how much it is. We do not eat out very often just because it is way easier for us to just cook at home and not have to worry about who will have a melt down. Plus it makes eating out a treat for all of us then.
Girlfriend!
My sitemeter is about to explode! I'm hitting record numbers from all the traffic streaming from your site. Thanks for the link! I'm just surprised that the "vegan" marketing didn't scare people away. :)
FREE COOKING LIGHT!!! I have 1-2 years worth of Cooking Light magazines I want to send to a good home. Some of the recipes have been torn out, but most are still intact. I figured with the luv here for Cooking Light that someone would want them. If you want them, email me on my blog, www.thepaintedhouse.blogspot.com. I will ship them for free--just promise me that you will make those banana-nutella crepes--oh, nutella, why aren't you vegan???
Erin, love this post, as always:-) I put some of our stuff on our blog at bhamtigertales.blogspot.com. I'd love to get a few email ideas from you about the baby food you made Sarah. We've just started w/ cereal for Jackson, and food will be in the next couple of weeks. I really want to make it for him, so I'd love any tips you have!
Nutella isn't vegan? Who woulda thought?! I love that stuff!
Haven't read the comments yet but you are a woman after my own heart. I do almost everything you do- which is amazing. The only difference is I plan out the month (instead of the week). I will try to blog about food this week. (Oh and I got your link from Angela's blog) Nicole
I thought I would chime in with a suggestion for getting fish into your diet without buying it fresh every day. I always keep frozen raw shrimp on hand in the freezer. To defrost, just throw the amount of shrimp you need into a colander and run cold water over them. In five-ten minutes, the shrimp are thawed and ready to be cooked. A two pound bag of frozen shrimp can be pricey ($15-$20), but if you get them on sale, they can be worth it! And fish is good for you so it's worth the splurge every now and then.
Also, great job getting Sarah to eat so many different types of food. I think that if you expose your children to everything that nature (or Trader Joe's) has to offer, they'll be healthier and more open-minded in the end. :o)
I'm so envious of all of the healthy little eaters out there!
I must admit that I am known by my friends & family as being the "weirdo picky eater" because I won't eat ANYTHING, and have the plumbing to prove it. TMI, sorry.
I hate that I am so picky, and have tried new things again and again, with no luck.
With that said, it's hard to tell your kids to eat veggies when there are only a hand full that I'll eat myself.
My 7 year old will eat almost anything, but is trying to become a "veterinarian" aka vegitarian. This all happened when she figured out that a chicken leg was ACTUALLY A CHICKEN'S LEG!! OMG!!! LOL
My 2 and 1/2 year old would starve to deeath if it weren't for french fries, pasta and OREO's. She is known as the Carbohydrate Queen!She is offered EVERYTHING I cook for dinner and could care less if she doesn't get anything to eat until breakfast. When she was a baby she ate VERY well. Maybe it's just a phase....keep your fingers crossed! I am going to try to let her help me prepare dinner. Reading that was like an Aha moment. Hopefully Maci will think so too!
As far as the fish goes, althought it isn't as flavorful as fresh fish, we buy frozen Talapia often. I dredge it in EVOO and sprinkle with cajun seasoning, KC Masterpiec Barbeque seasoning, and a little bit of Accent. Cook on stove top on med heat. Only takes about 5 min if that, and is DELICIOUS!!!!
Someone mentioned whining. Not that it works all the time, but it helps some......I always tell both of my girls I can't hear them when they are whining - "WHAT???? I can't hear you!!!" If they continue to whine, I just walk away and do my best to ignore them. But usually, they change their tone to get my attention.
Thank you Erin for these Mommy Mondays! There is so much helpful information here!
Mandy
I love this topic!! I had plans to do a post of my own and it just didn't happen. I have to say that Angela from The Painted House and I are the most alike and her post could have been my own! We are not 100% vegan but we are moving that direction. My husband is a meat eater but has no problems with what I cook and he either fixes his own or when we go out he'll order a meat dish.
I'm fortunate to have kids who are good eaters and always have been. I also don't offer options, what is cooked for supper is what is for supper. Period. I'm not a short order cook!
We do snacks occasionally and they are healthy ones-fruit, natural applesauce and such.
My daughter is a natural water drinker and never needs reminding, she did not get this from me! My son always wants some orange juice in the morning and then needs reminding throughout the day to drink his water but he does it.
One thing I've found is when they don't like something just to let it be. Chances are they will later, but since they are good eaters overall to have one or two things that isn't their favorite is pretty normal.
I agree with you Erin about having the kids in the kitchen with you. If they help cook it they will be excited to eat it! We have a tiny kitchen and there are days when to have them in there with me is a hassle but it teaches them, gives us together time and keeps them happy about new food.
Inspired by you and Angela, I too am blogging about our eating habits. Go check it out and please comment :)
http://3funboys.blogspot.com/
no secrets to share here. ryan loves fruits and veggies of all kinds (except beans), and will actually eat tomatoes and green beans straight off the vine in our garden every summer! our issue is getting him to eat meat....
stumbled across this post off of another blog i read, and thought it might be appropriate to share here! enjoy!
http://myplumpudding.blogspot.com/2008/03/squash-balls-and-other-secrets.html
I saw someone commented on the whining and telling her kids she can't hear them. I just wanted to add to that. I am a preschool teacher and work with 2 year olds. We tell them that we can't understand whiny voice and that they need to use their big girl/boy voice. We just don't respond to what they are wanting or asking for until they use their big kid voice. just an idea!
Wow - what a ton of information!
I am just a lurker here, but I wondered if you would send me your shopping list? I am so intrigued. My email is robins714@gmail.com
Thanks!
I just found this post about healthy eating and I'd love a copy of your grocery list. I have a "very picky" 4 yr. old and a "starting to be picky" 2 yr. old. I hate cooking up the same stuff over and over again. I love reading about all the great tips and recipes. Love your blog! Thanks for sharing!
Cindy
Luv3rivers@aol.com
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