Salmon, WW pasta dish, Soy beans!

Date: Monday, July 6th, 2009

Tyler is: 12months old
Today is: a 1/2 work day

Drive to work: Organic whole milk

Breakfast: I forgot Ty's breakfast at home today, so I had to go on the fly at work. For breakfast Tyler had a handful of organic green grapes cut up, some organic mozzarella cheese (from a cheese stick), a handful of Trader Joe's Fiber O's, tomato chunks, cucumber chunks

Morning Snack: Organic multi grain crackers, organic mozzarella cheese, more tomato (the kid is a tomato fiend!), organic whole milk

Lunch:

Salmon (recipe below), edamame beans (recipe below), organic flax tortilla with sunflower butter, organic pear slices, Water (see note on water below). After lunch Ty had some frozen watermelon in a food teether.

(sorry my pics are so washed out, I am taking them with my camera phone. The food above has a lot more color to it!)

Afternoon Snack: Leftovers from lunch :) I made too much. I also gave Ty a few very well washed blueberries

Dinner: Family Dinner! Whole wheat pasta dish (see recipe below), cream cheese (Ty's favorite right now), pear, watermelon (just a little of the fruit), cottage cheese with iron enriched rice cereal (important to feed 'til at least 18 months). Organic whole milk.

Recipes and other information:

Not liking food:
Many children and infants (and adults) do not like new foods. I feel it is important to keep trying these foods even if they have been flat out rejected in previous attempts. I have read before that it takes a minimum of 8 tries before kids learn to like new foods.
My advice is to try a food 5 or 6 days in a row (which can easily be done by freezing food and thawing it for meals), take a few days off, and then try again. Try different preparations, spices, and methods of cooking. Be sure not to completely cover the taste with cheese or sauces!

Edamame beans:
These are a great quick snack, teether, vegetable for a meal and all around super food. I like to buy these organic because they are not that much more expensive than regular edamame beans. You have to be careful because they can be pre-prepared with salt.
To prepare these I steam (more on steaming in a later post) as many bags as I can fit in my giant steamer. Once they start to soften drain them well, put them in a freezer safe container and freeze. After frozen they easily break apart and can be stored in freezer bags.
To thaw and prepare just put them in the fridge over night, or take them out about an hour before eating. You can add any spices, sauces, or cheese (a favorite of Tyler is parmesan or soy on his beans), leave them plain, or even put them in a food teether (see link below) as a fun way to cool down.

Salmon:

Today I did not pre-thaw any salmon, nor was I in the mood to eat a bunch. I made Ty's fish today (more on fish in a future post) with WILD CAUGHT, no salt added, water packed, salmon from Trader Joe's. I simply used extra virgin olive oil, to brown it a little and added Ty's favorite spice blend (which happens to be Emeril's original spice blend). It took under 5min to prepare once the pan was heated up!

Whole wheat pasta dish:

• Cooked ww pasta
• Chopped up zucchini, tomato, broccoli, onions (sauteed in olive oil with some garlic and black pepper)
• A tiny piece of bacon (Ty's first!)
• Crushed pine-nuts
• Grated Parmesan cheese

This dish was fast to make except the prep took a while as did cooking the bacon. Steve and I had the same thing but ours had salt and more bacon in it. I think Steve spent 13min putting it all together after everything was chopped and the bacon was cooked. If you do the prep earlier in the day you would cut down your time making this dinner.

Whole wheat:

If you have not switched your processed wheat products to whole wheat/sprouted grain/ brown rice/flax, DO IT NOW. There is no reason to be eating white bread products. I know it may not taste as good at first (I hated it) but your tastes will adjust soon. Do not buy into the “white” whole wheat products either. Check the labels and compare, ww is much better for you. If you introduce these products early kids will enjoy the taste and will accept these foods.

Organic:

I am only going to touch on organics today. Tyler ate almost 100% organic during his first year. Since we have loosened up a little and will continue to do so. Dairy is the one thing that we will probably continue to feed almost exclusively for his entire childhood. We are also trying to stick to organic or well washed fruit that has skins (fruit skins being an important part of the diet because of their fiber and nutritional content).

Water:

We use filtered water that comes out of our fridge. The important thing here is that Ty ALWAYS has water available to him when he is awake. We have at least one sippy cup of water or ice water on hot days around the house, there is always one at work, and we put one in the car when we go out. WARNING: Be careful about sippy cups in the car during the summer. The water can get dangerously hot. You must bring it inside with you when you leave the car for any amount of time.

We are currently a juice free house. Ty has only had juice a few times as a “cure” for constipation and once when he had a cold, both times prescribed by his pediatrician. Ty did have a mixture of pureed squash and fruit the few times he had to come to physical therapy with me (sorry, but it kept him busy and quiet!).

The reason we are currently juice free (and will remain so as long as possible, and then switch to a diluted juice family) is because there is little nutritional content in juice and lots of sugar (even in the no sugar added and natural juices). All the nutritional benefits of juice can easily be obtained with fresh or frozen fruit.

Product of the day:

Any food teether or baby popsicle holder is great for a healthy safe snack!
http://www.amazon.com/Munchkin-Fresh-Food-Feeder-Pack/dp/B000GK5XY2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=baby-products&qid=1246902986&sr=8-1