My little girl, Violet, is 6 months old and well on her way to becoming a foodie. She’s been eating solids for awhile now – I admit I started her much earlier than Cameron. At first I though there was no way that I was going to make food for her. I was too busy, and certainly not feeling motivated. But once Cameron started school I suddenly felt inspired to make her some simple purees while she took her morning nap. I remember my pediatrician in Brooklyn always told me that feeding Cameron foods that started with ‘P’ would help keep his digestion moving (a constipated baby is no fun!) Pears, peas, prunes, peaches…. So when making food for Violet, I try to keep that in mind. Here’s two of my recent purees with ‘P’ power -
Butternut Squash with Pears
Peel and cube one butternut squash and one pear. Steam them till they are good and soft (20 minutes?) Dump them in your cuisinart with some butter, if you like, and puree. The pears bring out the sweetness in the squash, so this is a super tasty one! It also works great with sweet potatoes for the same reason.
Frozen Peas and Beef Stock
Frozen peas are one of the few vegetables I buy frozen because most of the time, they will be better than fresh (since they are frozen pretty much immediately after picking and will remain sweeter). Plus, who has the time or patience to shell all those peas? Not this mom. Heat up the frozen peas in a little beef stock (chicken would be fine too – I just happened to have some beef stock in the fridge). I use stock instead of water to add a little extra protein to the puree – low sodium stocks are readily available, and these make a better choice for this recipe I think. Once the peas are good and tender, dump them in the cuisinart and puree.
Pump Up the Protein
I always try to include some protein in Violet’s meal. For breakfast she has yogurt, and for lunch and dinner I take a puree like one of the ones above and add either ricotta cheese (full fat version) or hummus to it. These are already nice and smooth so they stir in easily. If you like, you can throw some tofu into the cuisinart when you make your baby food.
Loyal readers of Mommy FTW know that Cameron is a very picky eater – especially when it comes to fruits and vegetables. The best way I’ve found to win him over is with creative packaging – and that’s why I decided to try Buddy Fruits. I am really excited to say that he LOVES it. He will eat at least one package a day, and sometimes two. I wrote Buddy Fruits to ask them about writing a review of their product, and to my amazement (and happiness) they sent me a box which a whole bunch of flavors. Cameron has been sucking them down ever since.
Why do I love Buddy Fruits? Let me count the ways….
1) Cameron eats it – and it’s just fruit – no sugar added.
2) It’s easy to take on the go, so I always have a healthy snack on hand. And if he doesn’t finish it, I can just screw the top back on and save the rest for later. No utensils are required, and usually there is no mess (only once did he manage to squirt it on himself).
3) Cameron’s poops have gotten more regular and softer. Sorry if that was TMI – but he’s had some pretty hard poops which have caused some bleeding in the past, so this is kind of a big deal for me.
4) Cameron now seems more willing to try fruit in it’s regular form, perhaps because he is more familiar with the taste.
Buddy Fruits comes in 5 flavors, apple, apple cinnamon, strawberry, apple banana, and multi fruit. Cameron pretty much likes all of them except the apple cinnamon – I guess it’s just not his speed. I think strawberry is his favorite. And guess what, he now loves regular strawberries. 
Buddy Fruits are available in lots of stores. Check out their website to see the full list.
Lately Cameron has been teething up a storm with 4 molars coming in at once. Because of this he has had an aversion to eating anything besides lots and lots of milk. Wanting him to eat something more substantial, I’ve been giving him some veggie patty from Subway – its squishy and soft, and easy for him to eat. This has always been my favorite sandwich offering that Subway has, and I noticed that Cameron seems to like this patty more than any other veggie patty that I’ve tried. So, lately when I get my sandwich, I just ask for another patty on the side.
Om nom nom... Veggie Patty
Cameron will often eat the whole thing. I looked up the ingredients online to see exactly what he was chowing on. While it’s not the most perfect food (more sodium than I’d like) it does have a lot of protein and fiber. If you want to see more about the ingredients, check out this page.
Cameron isn’t as much of a fan of scrambled eggs as I would like, although we have had occasional success with them. My pediatrician is always saying it’s great for Cameron to eat lots of eggs because they are a good source of iron – but besides french toast, I was having trouble getting him to eat them on a regular basis. Eventually, we discovered does seemed to like flat eggs because he was always going after the egg in my husband’s weekend favorite – the bacon egg and cheese sandwich. So, when it was Dad’s turn to make breakfast for Cameron, he came up with “Eggs Daddy Style.”
Here’s the method – beat an egg and put it in a hot greased skillet (I use a little Pam, and then a dot of butter). Cook for about a minute, or until the egg is lightly browned on one side. Flip the egg and cook for a few seconds more. That’s it! It’s basically a flat omelet with no filling – but feel free to get creative and add things in!
It only takes a minute in the pan
Cameron eats it up!
Another mom was telling me about her daughter’s love of Trader Joe’s Freeze Dried Mangoes, so I went and picked some up a few weeks ago. I was pleased to see that there were no other ingredients besides “mangoes” in this treat! They have the consistency of Astronaut Ice Cream (if that means anything to you guys?!) Anyways last Friday I was at Trader Joe’s again and I noticed this time they had a lot more freeze dried fruit options – I picked up some blueberries, bananas, and strawberries in edition to the mangoes. Healthy treats with a long shelf life – not too shabby!
Yum Yum, Gimmie Some!
What are your favorite toddler and baby snacks from Trader Joe’s? Leave a comment and share with us!
Cameron and I braved the snow and made a recent trip back to Washington, DC. Of course, while we were there we went to the Wilson Aquatic Center (3 times!) I learned a few new things I wanted to share.
Let's get this show on the road!
1)Babies are now required to wear swimsuits and swim diapers. We found this out the first day from one of the lifeguards. He allowed us to stay, but said we should get one for next time. We were able to find an ugly, but affordable swimsuit at Feline’s Basement in Mazza Gallerie. Problem solved!
2)The Women’s locker room – which has warmer showers than the family locker room, and is much bigger, and has a swim suit dryer – also has a diaper changing station. So if you feel more comfortable in there (I like it better, personally) try taking your little one to that locker room instead.
3)Be sure to bring lots of Quarters for the meters outside. If you don’t have any, you can park at the lot that services Whole Foods. If you get your ticket stamped it saves you a few bucks.
4)While getting my ticket stamped in Whole Foods (due to all the snow we couldn’t park on the street at a meter) I also got Cameron some lunch. They have a great salad bar, hot food bar, and soups. Cameron ate some squash soup, fresh mozzarella balls, peas, white beans, and pesto chicken salad. Yum! Upstairs they have a place you can sit and eat, which has 2 high chairs. Unfortunately I didn’t have my phone with me – so no pics – but believe me when I say, there are lots of choices for mom and baby, and plenty of seating too!
The other day I was hosting a playgroup at my house and one of the moms broke out some Snapea Crisps. The babies were in a frenzy! Cameron was double fisting them! I knew I had to find these Snapea Crisps, and fast. Fresh Direct came to my rescue, as usual. I ordered 2 bags right off the bat!
Yummy Yummy in Cameron's Tummy
Now, I know these aren’t the healthiest snacks on the planet (I think the Fig Newtons are a lot better) although the first ingredient is “peas.” But, sometimes it’s good to have a sure fire winner in your arsenal.
Recently a mom told me that her daughter loved to snack on fig newtons and that that her pediatrician had recommended them as a healthy snack. I went on Fresh Direct looking for them, and I was happy to find that they had 100% whole grain Fig Newton Minis. They come in little packages, which I keep in my diaper bag. Cameron really loves them! I did a little research on figs, and I learned that they are indeed good for you.
A tasty treat mom approves of
Here’s some of what I found out:
The mineral content of figs closely resembles that of human milk
Figs are rich in both vitamins A, B1, B2 and calcium, iron, phosphorus, manganese, sodium potassium and chlorine
Figs are high in vitamin B, that is essential in the intestine regulation, the fig has a similar function in our bodies as cereals do;
Dried figs are rich in fibre, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron
The fig is oxidant, laxative, diuretic, digestible and a blood cleanser
Figs excellent for the liver
Sounds good to me! Snack on, Cameron – snack on!
Today I decided to make some banana bread because I had lots of super-ripe bananas, and I didn’t think Cameron would get to them all before it was too late. I searched online for banana bread recipes and I found one that used apple sauce too (I happened to have some that I bought at the Fort Greene farmer’s market). Here’s the recipe I used, which I adapted a little bit from this one I originally found on Cooks.com (I reduced the amount of sugar, added more banana, a few spics, and omitted the nuts).
Banana Applesauce Bread
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt
2 c. flour
4 ripe bananas (mashed)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. applesauce
Cream sugar and oil. Add eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and beat well. Add in the mashed bananas and applesauce. Add flour and baking soda, and mix until just combined. Bake in greased loaf pan, 350 degrees, 1 hour. Or if you want to use small loaf pans, or muffin tins, just bake it for less time – when a knife inserted into the bread comes out clean, it is done. Also, you will notice it pulling away from the edges of the pan slightly.
FYI – you could probably use whole wheat flour, although I would recommend doing a 1/2 and 1/2 with whole wheat and regular flour. Using 100% whole wheat flour might make the bread crumbly and hard for baby to pick up.
I hope your baby (and you) enjoy it!
Over the winter months I do a lot of cooking in the oven. It’s so much easier and less messy than on the stove, and I don’t mind that it makes my apartment nice and toasty either! I recently discovered that Cameron enjoyed the roast chicken breast I was making. It’s so easy I thought I would share the method. For those less inclined cooks out there – don’t worry, it’s super easy! This uses chicken breast on the bone, with the skin on. I don’t give Cameron the skin, but it helps keep the chicken moist during cooking.
Set your oven to 400
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray (or you can use a dutch oven or casserole type dish)
Place the chicken bone side down / skin side up on the baking sheet
When the oven is up to temperature, bake for 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature is 165.
That’s it! If you want to make this for yourself – I would add some salt and pepper to the chicken before baking it.
Of course Cameron can’t eat all this at once, so I take off a few bits at meal time and leave the rest wrapped up in the fridge.
