Toddler Meals

The Lunch

Today Theodore had red plum slices, raspberries, mayo-free egg salad on Ezeikel bread, popcorn (organic non-gmo), and cheddar cheese roosters. He LOVED the egg salad sandwich which surprised me because sometimes he is weird about eggs.

The Mayo Issue

Let me simply start by saying MAYO IS NASTY. Growing up my mom hated mayo, so it was not something I ate until I was well over 20 years old. Thank You Mom!!! My mom always said she hated it because there are eggs in it? Not sure what that was about but she probably should have hated it because it is highly processed, and it uses genetically modified soy. It also commonly contains “natural flavors” which we have no idea what those are, and contains preservatives that are abbreviated (EDTA). Not to mention, homemade mayo IS NOT WHITE! It is yellow. Therefore, we know there is something Hellman’s isn’t telling us about this product.I can say I’m never consciously touching store bought mayo again, no matter how many fancy slogans Hellman’s uses on their packaging!

I don’t feel the need to make homemade mayo because we don’t use mayo that much and I have found sour cream to be a really easy alternative. Here is the recipe I used for the egg salad. Mix all the ingredients together and you have a great mayo-free egg salad.

• 2 hard boiled eggs
• 1 Tbsp sour cream (yes, I use organic)
• pinch of kosher salt
• fresh cracked black pepper
• kalamata olives (optional)

 

 

 

The Lunch

Today Theodore had carrot sticks, strawberries, raspberries, dye free organic jelly beans, and mushrooms/eggplant over whole wheat penne with my classic alfredo and herb sauce.

I was just reading a write up from the John Hopkin’s about cancer prevention and one thing they mentioned was consuming  more raw foods. When we cook foods they loose nutrients, therefore the more raw foods we eat the better. I’m making an effort with my whole family to keep this in mind when preparing meals. While this is not anywhere near a raw foods blog, I think it is important to mention things like this for everyone to keep in mind. Not only are there health benefits to raw foods, they take less time to prepare and are “fast food” in my opinion. It is a win-win all around!

The Jelly Beans

My husband came home from our version of “Whole Foods”, The Healthy Grocer. He had allowed the kids to pick out a special treat… organic dye-free jelly beans! It was a special occasion, we were going camping for the Memorial Day weekend. I think it is important to seek out companies not using dangerous ingredients in candy and support what they are doing. After all, nothing will never change about our food supply until we change the companies we purchase from. Here is a link to the jelly beans he got. They were really good and I will definitely purchase from them again for other special occasions!

 

It is raining today here in Pennsylvania so I looked through my pantry and decided it was a perfect day for tomato soup and grilled cheese. Although this meal is simple, the quality ingredients used to put it together are really what set it apart from a meal containing canned soup and traditional store bought bread. Did you know Campbell’s uses high fructose corn syrup as the second ingredient in their tomato soup? This is one reason I never purchase store bought soups, they contain the cheapest, most refined ingredients and are very likely GMO (containing either soy or hfcs).

The Soup

I can put this soup together in about 10-15 minutes from start to finish. The best thing to remember about making your own tomato soup is that tomatoes are acidic so you will need a bit of something sweet to balance out the acidity. I use pure maple syrup to do this instead of refined sugars. You will also need some seasoning and salt (unless you are using  a salted tomato product). You will also need to know how to make a roux, which is just butter and flour. It is that easy! I’m going to be posting my recipe later today and will link it to this post

The Bread

Most store bought breads are a health nightmare. If you haven’t read my post “Are Trans Fats Hiding In Your Bread” I would recommend reading through it. What I hate about store bought bread is the tricky marketing they use. Just because it says 100% whole wheat, 12 grain, or whole grain doesn’t mean it is a quality product that isn’t hiding a ton of GMO and highly refined ingredients. They are also loaded with preservatives because if you haven’t noticed they don’t go bad!  Almost every single big name brand is doing this, so if you are regularly purchasing loaves of bread off of an unrefrigerated shelf in the grocery store you may want to rethink that purchase. There are some great alternatives out there but you have to search for them and read ingredient labels (look in the freezer section of the “organic” section of your grocery store). Here is what to look for when choosing a good store bought bread:

• No preservatives
• No GMO ingredients (soy, corn, hfcs)
• No refined grains (bleach and enriched flours)
• Something that will go bad if not frozen or refrigerated!

The Cheese

In short, no we don’t use Velveeta, American cheese slices, or any other “cheese-like” products. It is also best to buy cheese in blocks as the shredded kind contain additives, specifically cellulose to prevent caking. If it doesn’t have to be there, then I don’t want to eat it.

 

I am posting this for yesterday because I never found time to finish it yesterday. We went to the park with our friends Kelly and Kaden and I threw these things into Theodore’s LunchBots container so he could eat his lunch there. There were a lot of other babies/toddlers there playing so he was too busy to actually sit down and eat, but he did grab a few bites while playing.

Often times I hear from parents how they are just so busy they don’t have time to feed their kids good food. I think part of it is being in denial about what is actually in our food, and the other part is not realizing what the ingredients actually are. With summer fast approaching I know I will need to have “on the go” food for all 3 kids ready to go.  We have a few weekend trips coming up and we will be going to the park or pool all summer so there will be a lot of meals eaten outside of our home. I like to keep things simple and resort to fresh produce and high energy snacks for situations like this.

I know if I don’t bring something the choices there will be highly processed junk. If I have something already prepared for them the temptation to give in and allow them to have those things won’t be there. “Fast Food” to us is nothing more then fruits, vegetables, and maybe a cheese stick or a homemade fruit and nut or granola bar. If I have the bars made ahead of time (they only take 5 minutes to make anyway) I can have something ready to go in a minute or two. In Theodore’s lunch above you see my Fruity Nutty Oat Squares, which are raisins, dates, almonds, and oats. These are perfect for on the go and the kids love them!

 

 

Theodore had some eggs left over from breakfast, and I was working on my pancake recipe, so it seemed pretty natural that he would have a “breakfast for lunch” type of meal. I usually make mini pancakes for him when I make pancakes and I always have to put them away quickly or he will keep coming back and grabbing more out of the kitchen!

His mini pancakes are my Whole Wheat, Apple, and Oat recipe that I just posted today. If you want to make pancakes that you can feel good about feeding your kids these are it! He also had a fruit mix of mandarin oranges, blueberries, pineapple, and blackberries along with some carrots.

The Food Nightmare that is Bisquick

You know I really hate when food companies market things as “real” or “good” when they know they are using a concoction of refined grains and trans fats. Betty Crocker’s Bisquick Original is NO exception. If you’ve been using this mix to make pancakes or any other meals for your family, you need to see these ingredients!

Enriched Flour Bleached (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Partially Hydrogenated Soybean And/Or Cottonseed Oil, Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Dextrose, Salt. Contains Wheat Ingredients.

So let me get this straight…. because Americans have become so lazy we can’t put flour and leavening agents together, Betty Crocker has to do it for us. We all know when Betty gets her hands on things she adds refined grains, partially hydrogenated oils (TRANS FATS!!!!), and GMO ingredients (soy, cottonseed oil). To make matters worse Betty is a big fat liar so she has to use clever marketing to keep us coming back for more “real” stuff. Betty is officially BUSTED because now we know the truth. Sorry Betty, you better go back to writing cook books, or better yet, don’t because we don’t support companies who use crappy ingredients and lie about it.

RANT OVER! 🙂

On another note, if your considering switching to one of the other Bisquick varieties or another brand don’t waste your time. I looked over the ingredients in most of them and they are all refined and GMO. It is way to easy to make your own to even justify buying products like this. Until we stop buying these products from companies using harmful ingredients, like trans fats in pancake mix, nothing will ever change about our food supply!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Is it seriously Thursday already? This week is flying by! For lunch today Theodore had baked pita strips with hummus, Hasselback potatoes from dinner last night, broccoli, watermelon 123’s, and pineapple chunks.

The Broccoli Struggle

I’ve mentioned before Theodore doesn’t like broccoli. I was feeding the baby broccoli so I put some in Theodore’s lunch as well because if I don’t attempt to serve it, he will never try it. He didn’t eat it, however he didn’t cry, scream, or refuse to eat the other foods in his lunch so that’s a win! I will continue to try to get him to try broccoli and I’m sure it will be served again soon.

The Hummus

I think store bought hummus is one of those foods that can go either way. Most brands do use highly refined and likely GMO canola or soybean oil so I would recommend staying away from hummus that contains these ingredients. Although hummus is a healthy dip, when you add canola or soybean oil it becomes a genetically modified, highly processed, unhealthy dip. We recently found the brand Cedars, that is Non-GMO certified and uses sunflower oil and olive oil. This is a company using quality ingredients that we will definitely support by purchasing their hummus! I would also use caution when choosing a store bought hummus because I have seen labels claiming to be using olive oil when in fact there is more canola oil then olive oil in the product. Another reason to read all ingredient labels!

The Pita

I’ve seen a lot of Pita recipes floating around on Pinterest, so they are on my “to try” list! I’ve also heard they are super easy to make so I will be updating on that soon. For now we use Food for Life Ezekiel pitas which are loaded with naturally occurring vitamins and minerals and even include lentils and carrots. They contain no preservatives or additives of any kind and all of the ingredients are recognizable. I’ve said it before and I will say it again, I  LOVE their products! On the flip side I have seen brands, like Sahara, turning a simple Pita into a food nightmare by using preservatives, high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, and refined flours.

 

Todays Lunch: Mushroom and Flounder cakes, apples with almond butter and raisins, raw cashews, and peas.

Fish is one of those foods that toddlers either love or hate. With many health benefits, it is a great food to introduce early in life! My kids have been eating fish since they were babies, so the earlier you introduce, the better! Often times, we think of fish as “adult food” or only feed our children processed fish sticks or shapes. The problem with the processed versions is they have tons of additives that take away from the fish being good for us. The brand Mrs. Paul’s slogan is “100% Whole Fillets” which sounds like a great option. However, here are the ingredients:

Ingredients: Alaska Pollock (Fish, Sodium Tripolyphosphate to Retain Fish Moisture), Bread Crumbs (Wheat Flour, Sugar, Salt, Yeast), Water, Vegetable Oil (Cottonseed and/Or Canola, and/Or Sunflower, and/Or Soybean With Tbhq and Citric Acid As Preservatives), Wheat Flour. Contains 2% Or Less of: Wheat Flour (Enriched With Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Salt, Soybean Oil, Modified Food Starch, Salt, Sugar, Wheat Flour, Extractives of Paprika (Color), Dextrose, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Spice contains Fish (Pollock), Wheat. Manufactured On Equipment That Also Processes Other White Fish.

While this ingredient list is one of the better I’ve seen there is one HUGE red flag, Cottonseed Oil. I recently talked about cottonseed oil in my post about Non-Dairy Creamer, and my rule with this ingredient is if I see a company using it I NEVER purchase from them again. Cottonseed oil is highly refined and cheap. It is high in saturated fats and low in monounsaturated fats. Companies claiming they may be using one of the three are almost certainly trying to throw you off by putting a few other oils in there that aren’t as horrible for your health. Cotton crops are also sprayed with high levels of pesticides which could end up in the oil. All the way around, I would NEVER feed my children cottonseed oil!

I also see the letters TBHQ, an abbreviation for Tertiary Butylhydroquinone. Any abbreviated preservative is a red flag because I want to feed my children food, not science experiments! TBHQ is linked to a TON of issues and side effects ranging from nausea or hyper activity in children to damage to our DNA. Sorry, but no thank you on that note Mrs. Paul’s!

I also see soybean oil and modified food starch, both likely sources of GMO’s, which we also stay away from.

Toddlers and Fish

If your toddler has decided they don’t like fish, here are a few things to try:

• Vary the type of fish you are trying to serve
• Vary the way you are trying to serve, for instance try cakes
• Pair with other foods your toddler likes
• Put into casseroles or other dishes where fish isn’t the main ingredient

How do you get your kids interested in fish?

In spite of calling out Smucker’s I decided to show them how to really make a peanut butter and honey sandwich without the crust! To make these fun peanut butter and honey rolls I simply got a whole grain Ezekiel tortilla, spread peanut butter on half of it, then spread honey over top and used a pizza cutter to make strips. If you want to do this it is super easy, just make sure your tortilla is warm or it could rip.

I always give the same disclaimer when I use peanut butter. Check ingredients! Make sure your peanut butter doesn’t contain partially hydrogenated oils aka trans fats. A good quality peanut butter should not have more then 1 or 2 ingredients. Choosy moms DO NOT choose Jiff!

He also had mandarin oranges, blueberries, carrot sticks, peas, and a mix of raw cashews, raisins, and a few little pieces of chocolate my husband got me for mother’s day. My husband sure does know me because he came home with a few great chocolate bars! I have been on the search for a good quality chocolate that does not contain soy, and he found some! The brand is called Equal Exchange Chocolates. Almost ALL chocolate contains soy lecithin and most of the time the soy is GMO. When I got my GMO scanner app I realized the chocolate chips I had were GMO, so no more of those. Here is a link to the chocolate bars and another great brand of chocolate chips that do not contain soy. Happy Friday everyone!

Yes… I attempted the unthinkable… I tried to feed my toddler KALE! I know he loves black beans, cheese, and sour cream so I thought I’d throw some baby kale chopped up underneath and he’d never notice. I suppose I forgot I was dealing with a toddler here!

The real problem might have been that he saw my lunch sitting next to his and decided mine looked better. I was eating the same thing, mine was just already spread out on a pita instead of pitas to dip in the mix. “I want that!” he said when he saw mine. So of course, he got mine and I got his. Mine did have a few bits of kale on it so I succeeded in getting him to try it, however as a “salad” he wasn’t having it! Lesson learned.

The beans I used in this are just a can of black beans, a tablespoon or two of strained tomatoes, and a sprinkle of cumin, chili powder, and adobo seasoning. My whole family loves beans like these and they are very versatile. When someone is hungry I can quickly  put together something that tastes good and is nutritious. They are also super budget friendly!

The pita is the brand Food for Life and does not contain any refined ingredients. These are just as awesome as the rest of the Food for Life products! You can’t get a better grain product!

 

This lunch is a great example of the fact that it doesn’t take a ton of time to feed your children foods that aren’t packaged. I always hear from people how busy they are, and while I understand, I think the more you cook the easier and less time consuming it gets. I made these mini egg and cheese “muffins” this morning and it only took a few minutes to get them ready for the oven. I mixed 3 eggs with two tablespoons of milk, then filled each mini muffin tin with about a tablespoon of sharp cheddar cheese. I poured the egg mixture over the cheese and that was it! Then I baked them for about 20 minutes. With the little effort I put in I have a great lunch for my toddler and snack for my 1st grader for when he gets home from school. I put the frozen pop together yesterday as well as the whole wheat cheese crackers (recipe coming soon). The pop is simply yogurt, cocoa powder, raw honey, and strawberries. Kids love frozen stuff so if  you are struggling with including fruits in your meals this is a good tactic to try to get them to explore new flavors.

I should also mention my son HATES broccoli! It is one of those vegetables that doesn’t even make it to the table before he starts saying how gross it is. I was feeding my 11 month old broccoli today so I steamed some extra and threw it in there. I don’t make a big deal out of issues like this because I have found the less I mention it, the more likely he is to just try it. He used to eat broccoli all the time but  we went a month or two without serving it and when I tried again he was not having it! It was a good reminder to me not to get into a routine of serving the same few things over and over again (we had a very needy baby at the time). I will continue to offer broccoli because if I just write it off as a food he doesn’t like, he will never get the chance to change his mind about it.

In this lunch he had some cheese, walnuts, whole grain pretzels and peanut butter to dip, and a rainbow of fruit including blueberries, avocado, pineapple, mandarin oranges, and strawberries.

I’m not sure who liked this lunch more… my toddler or me! As a mom of 3 boys lunchtime for me is often eating whatever I’m preparing for them and I do love fresh fruits. Grabbing a few strawberries, slices of avocado, mandarin oranges, and  some walnuts and throwing them on top of spinach will be my lunch. When you are feeding your kids whole and natural foods it makes feeding yourself whole and natural foods that much easier. One thing I will never understand is when parents eat fresh foods themselves but feed their kids hotdogs and chicken nuggets. Something about that just doesn’t make sense.

I also FINALLY found some whole grain pretzels that did not contain enriched flours. I’ve been looking for these for a while, so I’m not sure if I was missing them or they are a new product, however UTZ is the brand and all of the ingredients checked out. They do contain a bit of evaporated cane juice but overall they are the best pretzel I have found. Most other brands contain what is labeled as “enriched wheat flour” and when you are eating whole foods there isn’t really a need to enrich grain products because the grains contain natural vitamins and mineral. Our bodies do not process added vitamins and minerals the same way as natural ones so we do stay away from enriched foods.

One other notable thing is that we are choosy when purchasing peanut butter. Most big name brands contain partially hydrogenated oils aka trans fat so that is really something to look out for. Highly processed synthetic fats are just a way for those brands to extend the shelf life of those products and make more money. I can tell you they probably don’t eat their own products though because they know exactly how harmful these synthetic fats are to people. I also choose a peanut  butter that is not sweetened and I add raw honey to it myself. This way you know there are no refined and GMO sugars in your peanut butter. Who knew peanut butter was so complicated!?!?

Here is a great book for babies and toddlers with tons of pictures of fresh foods!