Pretty Little Apron

Toddler

Toddler Lunch: Day 22

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Toddlerlunch22

Today we have a simple lunch of leftovers and fresh fruits. Theodore had raspberries, grapes, avocado, white bean taco leftovers on a blue corn tortilla, and kalamata olives to try. He has never had any type of olive before because we usually don’t have them on hand. I got them specifically to make hummus so I thought it was a good opportunity for him to try something new. Olives are super salty so I wouldn’t allow him to eat a lot of them but I knew they were a flavor that was completely new to him. I was afraid he was going to think they were a grape and get upset but luckily he didn’t!


I got the super cute food picks on Amazon and I thought they were a good idea until Theodore was so occupied with talking about them that he didn’t want to eat his food! All he wanted to do was carry around his “monkey pick”. I still love them though! 🙂

Here is a link to the picks

Toddler Lunch: Day 21 (Unrefined Superfoods)

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ToddlerLunch21

Today Theodore had mushroom “meatballs” on whole wheat spaghetti (i’m working on that recipe now), a frozen “carrot cake” pop, mango, blueberries, and one of my Red Palm Superfood Cookies. I have to say this is a lunch packed with nutrients and lasting energy for a growing toddler who is on the go.

The Cookie Struggle


Of course he went for the cookie first, which I feel fine about, I would too! There was a bit of a struggle after that because he wanted another cookie. I calmly told him no, and took the rest of the cookies out of his sight. He cried a bit more and walked away from his lunch. I don’t make a big deal about food issues like this because I know later in the day when the cookie struggle passes he will get hungry and come back to his food, which is exactly what happened. Right now he is sitting at the table eating the rest of his food.

On a side not we are going away for the Memorial Day Weekend and I am looking for some real food marshmallows. Anyone know of a good brand?

Toddler Lunch: Day 14 (And why to avoid HFCS in popular ketchup brands)

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Toddlerlunch14

For lunch today my toddler got to try something new… Mozzarella Sticks! He said “What is that?” when I put them on the table but soon enough he realized how delicious they were! I used my Whole Grain Mozzarella Stick recipe that I just posted today and they are awesome. I highly recommend trying them! I also served a “baby orange” aka mandarin orange, whole grain pasta with a tad of butter and freshly grated parmesan cheese, sautéed mushrooms, and ketchup for dipping the mozzarella sticks.


The most note-able thing about this meal is the ketchup. I think ketchup is something we are so familiar with that we have never actually stopped to check the ingredient list. Almost ALL ketchup contains High Fructose Corn Syrup, a highly refined and likely genetically modified sweetener that is cheap and abundant. We do stay away from any products that contain HFCS, so standard ketchup is not something we purchase. Our bodies are not capable of processing HFCS the way we do regular sugar and it has been linked to obesity, depression, heart disease, diabetes and many other health issues. Dr. Mark Hyman has been leading the crusade against the use of HFCS in processed foods, and here is a link to his website further explaining the dangers of HFCS. I have linked this before and cannot stress enough how important it is to avoid this ingredient! We do limit ketchup consumption as it is still a processed item, but we buy an organic brand that does not contain HFCS. I hate to use this word because people are sick of hearing it, but it is all about moderation with the ketchup!

Toddler Lunch: Day 13

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Toddlerlunch13

Today for lunch was sweet and spicy chili with whole grain corn bread duckies and cheese butterflies for dipping. My toddler loves chili and often asks me to make this. The shapes made it fun and different for him so he enjoyed that! I served the chili with blueberries and some whole grain pretzel sticks. He finished the blueberries first, and asked for more. As happy as I am that he loves fruit I do try to get him to finish everything before getting more of one particular item. If I didn’t stick to this rule he would probably only eat the fruit everyday!


This morning we also had oatmeal pancakes, a recipe I am working on to share right now. I have been on the hunt for the best pancakes for a while now, and I might have found them! Will be experimenting with the recipe this week so hopefully I will be able to share that soon!

Toddler Lunch: Day 11 (and why Hidden Valley would prefer their ingredients stay hidden!)

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toddler11 For lunch today my toddler had mostly leftovers from last night’s dinner. I made my 5 minute flounder recipe last night because my oldest son had a baseball game and it was one of those rush around evenings. I love that my kids are involved with sports but it can put a damper on eating a healthy meal together as a family. I knew I could quickly make the fish and throw in an extra piece for lunch today. When you are continually cooking healthy and unprocessed dinners, it can make other meals easier! I also served oven fries (from last night as well), carrots with homemade sour cream and onion dip, and a trail mix of coconut/chocolate popcorn (recipe coming soon!), almonds, and raisins.

I think the most important part of this meal is the dip. I use this in place of ranch dressing for the kids to dip veggies into. It is a better alternative to bottled ranch dressings because the truth it, most of the ingredients in bottled ranch are not ingredients anyone has sitting in their pantry. Here are the ingredients in Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing:


Soybean Oil, Water, Egg Yolk, Sugar, Salt, Cultured Nonfat Buttermilk, Natural Flavors (S0Y), Spices, Less Than 1% Of: Dried Garlic, Dried Onion, Vinegar, Phosphoric Acid, Xanthan Gum, Modified Food Starch, Monosodium Glutamate, Artificial Flavors, Disodium Phosphate, Sorbic Acid And Calcium Disodium EDTA As Preservatives, Disodium Inosinate And Disodium Guanylate.

If you have never looked at this ingredient list before it is a real eye opener at how much crap they can shove into one bottle. Here are the red flags:

  • First ingredient highly processed and refined soybean oil. Unhealthy, cheap, genetically modified.
  • Monosodium Glutamate: MSG, the chemical that excites your brain cells so much that your  brain tells you that you want more.
  • Artificial flavors: Unknown chemicals.
  • Calcium Disodium EDTA:  Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid are we in chemistry class now? Yeah, didn’t think so. Anything abbreviated on an ingredient list means you should be questioning why you are eating it.

The rest of the ingredients are flavor enhancers and thickeners because well, soybean oil doesn’t taste like anything and isn’t dairy-like. Essentially this is another example of using soybean oil as a main ingredient and then adding a ton of extra stuff to make it seem like something else. I guess Hidden Valley took a page out of the Campbell’s soup book!

 

 

Toddler Lunch: Day 8

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We had leftovers of our chicken noodle soup, so I served the soup along with sweet potato fries, mango slices, and fresh popped popcorn. I love eating this soup the next day because as it sits over-night in the refrigerator it develops more flavor! The sweet potatoes in this soup give the broth a nice hint of sweetness and the longer it sits the better it gets.


For the popcorn, I simply put about a 1/2 a cup of organic corn kernels in a brown bag, fold the top over, and pop it for 2 minutes and 30 seconds in the microwave. When it comes out I sprinkle adobo seasoning, a pinch of kosher salt, and a drizzle of olive oil over it and that’s it! No artificial flavors, hydrogenated oils, or chemical laden bags with this popcorn! Here is another popcorn recipe I use for a sweeter version, along with some information on what makes microwave popcorn bags so bad for us.

Toddler Lunch: Day 5

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toddlerlunch5 Today is a pretty easy lunch but it is a great example of how to switch refined ingredients for whole ingredients. I used a whole grain Kumat pasta and a good quality jarred sauce (same as I used for the eggplant rollups), and sautéed some mushrooms. In just a few minutes I had a healthy and nutritional lunch for my 2 year old. The difference between the Kumat pasta and refined pasta is that the nutrients in the Kumat are naturally occurring and therefore more easily digested and used in our bodies. We pretty much stay away from any enriched products because if you are eating the right foods to begin with there is no need to extra enrichment. Here is the nutrient panel on the pasta. The brand is Eden organic and I found this pasta in the specialty foods section of my local grocery store. We do use a lot of their products!

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I also had the frozen yogurt and fruit pop already prepared so all I had to do was take it out of the refrigerator. Freezing these pops is an awesome way to quickly throw in extra nutrition on a day I am busy or have exhausted other options. My 2 year old loves these! Here is a link to the pop molds.

 

Toddler Lunch: Day 1

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toddler5 Today is a really quick and easy lunch to put together. We have fresh mango and strawberries, a black bean and cheese quesadilla, and some carrot “pasta”. The biggest issue in making a lunch like this is choosing the right tortillas, as some brands put some pretty scary stuff in their products. I use Food For Life’s Ezekiel Tortillas which is a 100% natural sprouted grain tortilla. Here are the ingredients:

Ingredients: Organic Sprouted Wheat, Filtered Water, Organic Sesame Seeds, Organic Sprouted Soybeans, Organic Sprouted Barley, Organic Sprouted Millet, Organic Sprouted Lentils, Organic Sprouted Spelt, Sea Salt

Here are the ingredients in Mission brand’s Soft Taco Whole Wheat Tortillas:

 Ingredients: Whole wheat flour, water, vegetable shortening (interesterified soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil and/or palm oil), contains 2% or less of: leavening (sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum sulfate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate and/or sodium acid pyrophosphate, calcium sulfate), sugar, salt, preservatives (calcium propionate, sorbic acid and/or citric acid), cellulose gum, distilled monoglycerides, enzymes, wheat starch, calcium carbonate, antioxidants (tocopherols, ascorbic acid), dough conditioners (fumaric acid, sodium metabisulfite and/or mono- and diglycerides)

If you take a look these contain partially hydrogenated oil (trans fats!), added sugars, preservatives, and dough conditioners. It is hard to look at these ingredients without being really confused by what half of the ingredients even are and why they are in something very simple like tortillas. Unfortunately Mission themselves don’t want to admit how terrible their ingredient list is because their website claims these are a healthier choice. Not even a chance Mission, sorry!
quesadilla
To put the quesadilla together I simply used  canned black beans and seasoned them with cumin, chili powder, and adobo seasoning. I spread them out on the tortilla and topped them with cheese. On the other side of the tortilla I spread sour cream. I put the two together and placed it under the broiler for a few minutes, then flipped it to the other side for another few minutes. I gave half to my boys and I ate the other half and I have to say.. it was delicious! They both enjoyed it as well.
blackbeanwrap
 
For the carrot pasta I peeled one carrot with a potato peeler and steamed the peels until they were soft. I put a good quality store bought pasta sauce on top of them and that’s it!

Toddler Lunch: Day 2

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toddlerlunch2 Fish is one of those hit or miss items with toddlers. I served these “fish bites” to my toddler and sure enough he gobbled them down without question. I used flounder for these which is the perfect fish for bites because it is slit right down the middle and great for cutting into chunks. It has a light texture and great taste. These fish bites are a great alternative to frozen fish sticks that kids are more commonly served because after reading the ingredient list on a package of Gorton’s Crunchy Fish Sticks I would never consider eating them myself or serving them to my children. These are the ingredients in the frozen product:

gortons


INGREDIENTS: Minced pollock, enriched bleached wheat flour (flour, niacin, iron, thiamn mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (canola and/or soybean), water, yellow corn flour, modified corn starch, sugar, salt, dried yeast, whey (milk), dextrose, leavening (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate), caramel color, hydrolyzed corn gluten, monosodium glutamate, colored with paprika, annatto and turmeric extracts, autolyzed yeast extract, onion powder, natural flavoring, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, sodium tripolyphosphate (to retain moisture), TBHQ added to protect flavor.

Not only do they contain hydrogenated oils (trans fats!), they also have enriched flour, caramel coloring, MSG (monosodium glutamate), autolyzed yeast extract (another form of MSG), preservatives, and a bunch of other stuff that I can’t pronounce. Not exactly the “healthy” fish consumers may think they are purchasing. The good news is the “fish bites” in this toddler lunch are 100% natural and super easy to prepare in only a few minutes. I paired the potato wedges with this fish and yes, I served ketchup with them because I can’t deny my children ketchup on occasion! We are choosey when it comes to ketchup and do not purchase the conventional ketchup that contains High Fructose Corn Syrup. I also served this with fresh mango (my favorite fruit!!!), blueberries, and apples.

For the potato wedges, all I do is cut the potatoes, pre-boil, season, and bake. The key to a crunchy wedge on the outside and soft on the inside is pre-boiling. Essentially I cook the potatoes almost the whole way by boiling (about 15 minutes), then transfer them to a baking sheet and bake to get that crunchy shell. If your kids are used to frozen French fries at home this is a great transition to an unprocessed version.