Carrot Pumpkin Spinach Oat and Quinoa Concoction (just because I couldn't come up with a better name)

Morning snack: almond butter and raisins on a whole wheat English muffin, watermelon, honeydew melon and cantaloupe

LA's morning snack: carrot pumpkin spinach and quinoa concoction

LA's lunch: chicken, avocado, watermelon, honeydew melon and cantaloupe

Little LA has been EXTRA hungry lately.  And if you have ever been around him when he eats, you know that he's already a big eater.  So, it begins!  This little guy is going to eat me out of house and home before he even turns 1.  

Carrot Pumpkin Spinach Oat and Quinoa Concoction

Ingredients

Chopped carrots

Chopped spinach

Pureed pumpkin

Quick cook oats

Precooked quinoa

Onion powder

Low-sodium chicken broth

Method

Put everything in a pot and cook on medium to high heat until the vegetables have softened and the oats have cooked.  

I've made this for LA before and he absolutely loved it!  So hopefully I made it the same.  I really need to start measuring.

Adding a Crunch

Morning snack: cantaloupe and cottage cheese

Lunch: Triscuits topped with sharp cheddar cheese, turkey, avocado and red bell peppers, popcorn and clementines

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I personally enjoy foods that have different textures.  Instead of chips I like to add a variety of fruits, vegetables or popcorn to give myself a little crunch.  Some of my favorite vegetables to add are carrots or sugar snaps.  But my all-time favorite is popcorn.  What a great way to eat a whole grain!  

LA's meal: turkey, steamed cauliflower and skinned clementines

LA gets peeled fruit because he only has 2 little teeth.  But that doesn't mean that should stop him from eating all kinds of delicious fruits and vegetables.

Back to Basics

Morning snack: Cottage cheese and Triscuits

Lunch: Turkey, cheese and avocado whole wheat roll up, cantaloupe and steamed broccoli

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It's been quite sometime since I made roll up for LQ but they have always been a favorite.  She told me the other day that she doesn't want chicken in her roll ups, sandwiches or anything.  So we're down to turkey.  Oh boy, protein intake is an uphill battle!

LA's meal: turkey, steamed broccoli and blueberries

Peanut Butter Apple Balls

Morning snack: watermelon and carrot cake muffin

Lunch: sharp cheddar grilled cheese on wheat, apple slices and peanut butter apple balls

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I had some left over shredded apples from yesterday's carrot cake muffins and for some reason I came up with this snack.  I don't have a recipe, but will come up with one if LQ loves them.  Basically it's shredded apples, peanut butter, honey, cinnamon, oats and the exterior crumble is Barbara's shredded wheat cereal.  Initially they were pretty sticky, but I placed them in the freezer and they came out perfectly!  I love them, now I'll just have to see if she does.

LA's meal: turkey, honeydew melon and broccoli

Carrot "Cake" Muffins

Morning snack: vanilla Greek yogurt and carrot "cake" muffin

Lunch: Avocado, chicken and cheese stuffed mini pita, blueberries and cottage cheese

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Here are two great things about today's meals, they're delicious and it only took 35 minutes to make everything.  Yes, this includes the muffins and grilled chicken!  To be honest, I'm not sure how I did it but it worked.  

Carrot "cake" muffins

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3 TBS melted butter

1/3 cup agave

1 medium egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup finely grated carrots

1/2 cup finely grated apples

1/2 cup raisins

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.  Combine wet ingredients in a bowl.  Combine the wet and dry ingredients.  Pour into pre-greased muffin pan and bake for 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Enjoy!!

LA's meal - grilled chicken, steamed broccoli and cauliflower and blueberries

Baby Smoothies and Delicious Homemade Granola Bars

As I've said before, I like to send healthy snacks to LQs school about once a week.  I've been slacking lately because my school work is killing me, but my little LQ asked me to send something this week.  How can I say no to her sweet little face?  So I let her teachers know that I would be sending a snack tomorrow and asked if they had any special requests.  They did!  I've made these before, but I've included the recipe here again.

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White chocolate cranberry granola bar

Makes about 20 small bars

Semi-adapted from My Kitchen Escapades

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup puffed wheat cereal

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/8 cup agave

1/8 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

1/4 cup cranberries

Method

In a large mixed bowl combine oats, cereal and coconut and set aside.  In a small saucepan over medium-high beat melt the butter.  Add the honey, agave, brown sugar and salt.  Stir until combined then let boil for 2 and 1/2 minutes.  Turn off heat and stir in vanilla.  Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients.  Add the white chocolate chips and cranberries.  Place parchment paper in a pan and pour mixture.  Press down firmly to form bars.  Place in refrigerator and allow the mixture to cool for at least an hour.  Cut and enjoy!!

LA's morning snack: plum, apple and whole grain rice cereal smoothie

Lunch: turkey, peas, blueberries and strawberries

Smoothie

Ingredients

Peeled and steamed apples and plums

Whole grain rice cereal

Method

Peel and steam apples and plums.  Place the fruit and whole grain rice cereal in a food processor or blender and liquify.  

LA loves, loves, loves smoothies.  So I was thrilled to find these cool little Squeezer containers at Target.  I use them all the time for LA.  He doesn't need help having his smoothie when we use this container.

Eat the Rainbow

Morning snack:  quinoa porridge and raisins

Lunch: Turkey, avocado and cheese sandwich on a whole wheat English muffin, Greek yogurt and shredded baby carrots

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Nope, I'm not referring to Skittles.  

Eat the rainbow is a phrase commonly used to remind people that they should eat fruits and vegetables of every color.  This is something I try to practice on a daily basis without giving it much thought.  But I was reminded of the concept during a recent visit to my favorite grocery store.  Upon entering the store they have a form stand with lots of different food activities, mostly for children.  LQ picked up this form, which is helpful in tracking your consumption of fruits and vegetables.  It's also helpful in that it provides lists of the various fruits and vegetables and where they fall on the rainbow.  

Today I decided to shred the carrots, they somehow taste better this way.  LQ is a bit iffy when eating carrots.  Sometimes she'll get them, sometimes she won't.  But a few weeks ago I made carrot zucchini muffins with LQ and after shredding the carrots she asked if she could eat some of them.  She proceeded to eat about 1/2 a cup, which is likely more than 10 baby carrots.  

So, maybe changing the form of the food can encourage your little ones to eat something they are reluctant to eat.  Try it, let me know how it turns out!

LA's meal: Turkey, shredded carrots, broccoli and strawberries

Cheese ground beef avocado roll up

Morning snack: Triscuits topped with peanut butter and raisins and blueberries

Lunch: honeydew melon, cantaloupe and cheese ground beef avocado roll up

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I'm generally reluctant to send foods that will be very messy, falling apart, etc., which is why I don't send soup.  And until today, why I never sent burritos.  But I think I figured out who to keep it from unrolling and falling apart.  I placed the tortilla on a griddle and spread a thin layer of cheese.  Then I spread the ground beef on one half of the tortilla and avocado in a straight line across, on top of the ground beef.  Once the cheese was melted I rolled it up, ground beef side first.  The cheese that wasn't covered with ground beef acted as my adhesive to keep it all together.  Success!

LA's meal:  pineapple, honeydew melon, steamed peas and turkey

For the love of avocado

LA's meal: Avocado, breaded chicken and skinned clementine 

LA has had avocado before but he wasn't crazy about it.  If you know me, you know that this broke my heart a little.  So I thought I'd give it a couple of month and try again.  Well, the perfect time presented itself last night.  I was having some avocado and he kept reaching for it.  And YES, he loved it!  So much so that I ended up giving him some chunks on a plate and when he was done with them, he literally licked the plate!  (And I have the video to prove it.)

Breakfast cookies

Morning snack:  Blueberries and breakfast cookies (yes, I said cookies!)

Lunch:  Turkey and white cheddar grilled cheese on wheat, apple slices and steamed broccoli

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This weekend we were invited to have dinner at a friend's house.  Of course, in usual form, I asked what we could bring.  Knowing my love for low sugar treats she suggested that I bring dessert.  I had full intentions of making a different dessert but Lauren wanted to make cookies, so we did.  Only after everything was said and done, they weren't quite sweet enough for others to like.  Ultimately I ended up making another batch.  But I saved this batch because LQ liked them.  She and I tried them today and they are better the next day, somehow sweeter.  Anywho, they are made with oatmeal so why not have them for breakfast!

Oatmeal breakfast cookies

Ingredients

3/4 cup raw oatmeal

1/2 cup almond butter

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup pecans

1 TBS honey (add more if you want them sweeter, I think 3 TBS would be great)

Methods

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Dump everything in a bowl and mix well.  Put down parchment paper and put down little cookie patties.  Bake for 8 minutes then enjoy!  And remember, they taste better the next day!

LA's meal: Turkey, steamed broccoli and blueberries

A New Strategy for Picky Eaters

Morning snack: Whole wheat English muffin topped with cream cheese and raisins and honeydew melon

Lunch: grilled chicken, brown rice, shredded cheddar cheese, whole wheat English muffin topped with avocado

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Last night LQ helped me make dinner. I like including her not just because she's learning about measurements and what goes into every meal but also because she (and likely most children) is more inclined to eat and enjoy food that she has helped prepare or has grown.  This even applies when the meal includes things that, according to her, she doesn't like.  I've mentioned before that she's been reluctant lately to eat chicken, so we'll see how this strategy works.

When she helps me in the kitchen I'll create extra tasks for her by measuring out things that I don't normally measure, like rice.  She also helped season the chicken prepared for her and her brother with garlic and onion powder.  Then she got to sprinkle Mommy's special spicy seasoning on Daddy's chicken.  There's something about preparing Daddy's food that makes her feel especially proud.  It's very cute how she announces, "I made that for you Daddy".

 LA on the other hand devoured almost half a chick breast last night, so I'm sure he won't have any issues eating his chicken.

LA's meal: grilled chicken, honeydew melon and Triscuits.

Pita pizza

Morning snack: Apple slices and pretzels

Lunch: Pita pizza with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, apple slices and peas

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Want a sneaky way of adding vegetables to your kiddo's diet?  Check out this pizza!

Ingredients

Pita

Grated Parmesan

Stop light bell peppers

1/2 white onion chopped

2 cloves of garlic chopped

1/2 zucchini

1 can crushed tomato

1 TBS Italian seasoning

pepper and salt to taste

Methods

Saute onions, garlic and chopped vegetables until tender.  Once tender, put in food processor and pulse to liquefy.  Return to pan and cook until it thickens.  Add crushed tomato, Italian seasoning, pepper and salt.  Brush pita bread with olive oil and spread sauce.  Bake at 350 degrees until the ends start to brown.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with Parmesan. (You can always add cheese before and allow it to melt.  Tomorrow is grocery day and I didn't have any to melt.)

LA's lunch: turkey, peas, pineapple and clementines

Open-faced cracker sandwich

Morning snack: Whole wheat rice cake with peanut butter and raisins and clementines

Lunch: cottage cheese, wheat pretzels and open-faced cracker sandwiches (cream cheese, turkey and avocado)

One of our new favorite shows is Stella and Sam.  It's the cutest show about a girl and her little brother.  They go on all kinds of adventures.  It's a sweet reminder of the imagination of children.  I can only hope that my children will get along as they get along on the show.  I know it's fictitious, but a mommy can dream!  Anyway, on one of their adventures they had cracker sandwiches.  So of course, LQ asked me to make some for lunch.  I found cracker sandwiches to be too thick for LQ's mouth, so I chose to make them open-faced instead.  We'll see how it goes!

                           

LA's meal: Turkey, peeled clementines and wheat pretzels

Turkey and chicken make very frequent appearances in LA's meals.  Protein is essential to everyone, but is most needed by little growing bodies.  Turkey and chicken are an easy way for him to get it especially since he refuses to let me feed him so some other protein sources are out of the question.  I can only imagine the HUGE mess he'd make if I gave him quinoa.

Guess who else gets lunch packed

Morning snack: plums and Greek yogurt

Lunch: Whole wheat pita filled with avocado, turkey and sharp cheddar and a side of black olives and plums

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LQ's baby brother now gets his very own lunch!  

Ok, so he's been eating solids for a while but he's just started daycare so now it gets packed each night along with hers.  So I'll be including his meals here too.  If you have small children I hope this helps you get ideas.  His meals will be completely uncomplicated and not as diverse as his sister's but I will slowly add variety. 

LA is 10 months old and he already loves all things green, just like his big sister!  His favorite food seems to be blueberries.  He'll drop any food,  no, anything he's holding if you put blueberries in front of him.  And....he literally gets upset if he runs out too soon.  Very cute!!

Turkey, skinned plums, blueberries (cut in half) and whole wheat Triscuits (scratches his little gums)