And baby makes three. 3 kids to feed, that is. With the boys being in preschool 2 days per week now, I really enjoy our lunches at home. They seem to be so much easier for me than packing a lunch to go. Maybe it’s because I often just warm up leftovers and cut up some fruit. Easy! And, Anna just loves to watch her brothers eat and they think it’s so fun that she gets to eat with them now.
Here’s a sample of my lunch for 3 this week. The boys had creamy chicken and black beans from the freezer, a leftover sweet potato from dinner the previous night and kiwi. Anna had porridge and sweet potato.
Creamy Chicken and Black Beans
in the slow cooker or crock pot
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/2 lb uncooked frozen boneless skinless chicken breast
- 15 oz can black beans, drained (or dried beans soaked overnight and cooked)
- 1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes OR 15 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained
- 16 oz jar salsa
- 8 oz whole fat cream cheese
DIRECTIONS
- Put frozen chicken breasts in crock pot, cover with black beans, tomatoes and salsa.
- Cook on high 4-5 hours or until chicken is cooked.
- Place block of cream cheese on top. Cook for an additional 30 minutes. Stir to incorporate cream cheese into sauce. The stirring
- should cause the chicken to shred.
SERVING IDEAS
- Serve with brown rice and guacamole.
- Roll in tortillas and add your sides of choice.
- Put a serving on top of salad greens and add any salsa, sour cream, or guacamole.
- Put on a tortilla and make into a quesadilla.
- This is a great recipe to freeze. I just store in serving size containers that I know I want to use for lunches.
Tags: chicken, Crock pot, Freeze, lunch, plate
Posted by tntmck on Mar 17, 2012 in
Information,
Overall Diet,
Uncategorized How much food should I be feeding my baby? How many calories does my toddler need? Is he eating too much fruit? Should I be preparing more protein? It’s so easy to question everything from milk intake to bowel movements. Sometimes I think we might be just a little too close to the subject. I’ve had times where I’ve needed to just step back and make sure I’m seeing the forest for the trees.
I discovered the following website http://www.mypyramid.gov recently. This link shows the food pyramid specific to your child’s age and weight. You can enter age and activity level for your child and it will calculate the exact number of daily calories needed. Oh my! I consider myself to be fairly Type A personality and this is too much for me! It seems to me that if you eat real food to fullness and true satisfaction, then things will fall in place. I think kids have this ability built into their little bodies. And, remember, they are growing. Things will ebb and flow. It is my job to present my children with healthy food options and encourage them to try things.
This government site goes so far as to provide a tracker to keep a tally of the daily requirements by grains, vegetables, fruits, milk, meat and beans. I seriously think I need to stay far, far away from this as it could easily become obsessive for no good reason at all!
I’ve shared some of my favorite meals in the past, but here’s another great place to find Toddler Meals. My philosophy is to share good food with my children and maybe we there will be a little chef in the making.
What do you think of the Super Tracker?
Tags: baby, plate, pre-toddler, toddler
Posted by tntmck on Feb 10, 2012 in
Information,
Overall Diet 
There are many families like to eat smaller meals throughout the day and many who stick to a strictly 3 meals per day rule. I am a big believer in beginning with your young children the way you envision things for them and your family in the future. Personally, I don’t want my day to revolve around constant eating, so I don’t and we eat 3 meals with usually 1 snack, but I don’t think how many is what is important. I think the what, where, and how is more important.
WHAT
I would just make sure that all meals and snacks are healthy. I think many parents and kids take the word “snack” to mean cookie, cracker, cheese, fruit, or packaged goodies. There is nothing that says a snack can’t be carrot sticks and water or granola or yogurt. I’m not saying that fruit, crackers, or granola bars are bad or that we don’t buy and enjoy those as well, but my boys definitely don’t think a snack means we’re opening up a package of fruit chewies every day.
WHERE
I require all food and drink to be consumed in the kitchen. A cup can be on the counter or in the refrigerator with water when needed during the day. But, all food is eaten in a chair at a table or on the stool at the counter. This includes our outside family table or the kids’ picnic table. I think this is very important. Now, there are times like bad-timed doctor appointments or a road trip where we might need to take a snack with us, but this is the exception and not the norm. Oh, and we had a family Super Bowl party with food in front of the tv the other night. This by far an exception to the rule. Eating in front of the tv is definitely not allowed around here and definitely something I think contributes to laziness, obesity, and inappropriate views of food.
HOW
Basically, I want my kids to be grateful for food and eat what they are given. At almost 3, they still don’t get a choice in what they are served. They use appropriate table manners. They thank the one who has prepared or served them. They help clean up.
Tags: amount, routine, schedules, servings
Posted by tntmck on Jun 23, 2011 in
Overall Diet,
Tips When preparing whole foods for the family, I avoid processed packaged items as much as possible. At first, I simply cut out lots of recipes. Slowly, I’m learning how to make or substitute for many of the ingredients myself. Here’s a quick white sauce for condensed soup substitution.
White Sauce
2 TBS olive oil
2 TBS whole wheat flour
1 cup stock (vegetable, beef, chicken, etc.)
Multiply this out for the number of cups you need for the recipe.
Posted by tntmck on Sep 2, 2010 in
Overall Diet DAY EIGHT (start of week 2)
Ok, so I’m back to share my experience from the first week of Phase I. Well, we survived. I cheated by having lima beans (forgetting they were a bean and not a vegetable…duh). My husband called me out on it because he HATES lima beans…oh well. I’m finally getting into a better groove of planning, prepping, and time management. Things were a little haywire the first couple of days, but I’m getting better. I’m still behind on shopping. I just can’t seem to buy enough for all of us to eat 3 full meals and snacks from home. I’m WAY, WAY, WAY over budget this month, so I’m hoping that more experience with the foods I need to bay and the best places to buy them will help me next month. I’m gearing up for the challenge of packing foods for my husband to take on the road as he is out of town for a couple days this week. This will be interesting to see how he does, but so far he’s been completely on-board, which is completely amazing!
I wasn’t sick or necessarily unhealthy before, but I’ve lost 7 lbs and my husband 9. I feel like I can breathe better and I have more energy throughout the day. Additionally, both of us have been in such great moods and so into this new lifestyle change that seems to have really positively affected so many areas of our daily lives that it’s truly amazing and inspiring!
Here’s some inspiration for some meals we’ve been having and are going to have these first 2 weeks of phase 1…
- Crock Pot Roast, Carrots
- Halibut, brocolli
- Oriental Red Meat Salad
- French Style London Broil, green beans
- Salmon, Brocolli
- Chicken Salad on lettuce
- Taco salad (no shell), quacamole
- Hot Dogs, green beans
- Chicken Tortilla Soup with Avocado
- Chicken with salsa and guacamole
- Tuna Steaks Oriental Style with spinach salad
- Tuna Salad on lettuce
- oh, and omelets, fritatta, or scrambled eggs every morning!!
I’ve been learning a lot just from feeding the boys. It’s crazy how we would sit down for dinner and they could “technically” eat what we were having, but I didn’t want them to because of what was in it (and it wasn’t really that bad). So, I decided it was getting crazy. I’m not cooking 2 meals the rest of my life and what are they going to think as they get older? We need to eat better AS A FAMILY, so i basically followed the little guys’ lead. Funny how kids can change so many things in your life, including your perspective on food.
Series Links
THE BIG CHANGE: Introduction
THE BIG CHANGE: Getting Started, Week 1
THE BIG CHANGE: Finishing Phase I, Week 2 (you are here)
Tags: big change, family, healthy
Posted by tntmck on Aug 19, 2010 in
Overall Diet In case you missed the introduction, start here. I’ve gone back to my notes from these 40 days and am sharing my thoughts from THE BIG CHANGE in our eating habits and lifestyle. The 40 days is broken down into 3 phases. This first phase is 2 weeks and here are my thoughts as we begin to detox this first week. I consider it a detox as we really narrowed down our food choices to the Approved Maker’s Diet Food List. The goal of these posts is not to share the details of the book or the plan, but please feel free to ask any questions or share any comments.
Day One
Well, Jonathan and I started the 40-day, 3-phase plan from
The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin. I’ve been researching, planning, shopping, and preparing for a while now and we’ve finally made it to a good point in our schedules to start.
We had the frittata and half a grapefruit each this morning. It was good and no complaints so far. I packed us both a mixed green salad with roasted chicken as well as quite a few veggies with the raw dressing from the book, strawberries, and goat’s milk yogurt with blueberries, honey, and vanilla to take for lunch and snack today.
I’m excited and nervous…I’m a carb lover!! I know once we reach the third phase, I can do it. This is a lifestyle change that we both need, but these first 2 phases will probably be rough. But, I can do anything for 4 weeks, right?!?
Day Two
Well, the first day went fairly well. I basically have two issues that I’m trying to resolve.
- Allowing enough time in the morning to prepare and cook breakfast and lunch (and sometimes) dinner for the day and be able to clean up and get out of the house in time for work.
- Preparing enough food for Jonathan to have during the day. I think part of the problem is just him not realizing that this is a tough detox/cleansing and he will probably be hungry and struggle for a few days. But, the other part is me not realizing how much more food he needs than me.
Day Three
Bear with me as I ramble on about this experience.
The second day was much better. Jonathan actually said, “I think I’m eating too much food.” I think he just needed those 2 days to adjust to not eating so many carbs, sugars, and cokes that create a false-sense of being full. As for me, I’m still struggling with the idea of some of the new tastes, like goat cheese, yogurt, and fermented things. I really just almost gag eating those things. But, we’re doing good.
My goal right now is to figure out my schedule with the family, work, and making all of this new, wonderful food. Some other things have fallen to the back burner right now, but I know it’s just a hiccup as I teach myself some new habits and learn some new ways of caring for myself and my family.
I’m having to learn what doubling dinner means for our family as cooking for two boys is still fairly new and Jonathan is chowing down at dinner. I haven’t had the leftovers I was expecting so far and am struggling to keep up with the amounts of food needed for all of us each day. I did buy turkey bacon yesterday and plan to precook and try a mini casserole, too.
Day Four
Ok, the partial fast day is hard!!
I made a smoothie this morning and Jonathan drank it all. He did say he wanted more berries, but that should be doable.
Series Links
THE BIG CHANGE: Introduction
THE BIG CHANGE: Getting Started, Week 1 (you are here)
THE BIG CHANGE: Finishing Phase I, Week 2
Tags: big change, family, healthy
Posted by tntmck on Aug 5, 2010 in
Overall Diet Check out the new poll in the sidebar to the right. It will be open for 2 weeks, so go ahead and vote today, then share with others so we can see lots of results! This topic is in tandem with my new subject posting about our family’s new healthy eating habits. Just a few months ago, I would not have answered the same as I will answer today. Vote now and come back often to check the results!
Tags: poll
Posted by tntmck on Aug 4, 2010 in
Overall Diet We’ve recently undergone a big change in eating habits around our house. Since May, we’ve basically cut out all processed and packaged foods as well as switched our dairy and meat to grass-fed and free-range, organics. We follow the Dirty Dozen list for buying some organic produce, and have eliminated unclean animal meats such as fish without scales like catfish, shellfish, and pork.
You may wonder, how would one start this or get this crazy idea? Well, feeding my boys and this blog were the key factors. Documenting and looking at the healthy choices I was making for them made me question what Jonathan and I were eating. Why was it ok for us to eat something that I wasn’t willing to serve to Owen and Wyatt? Well, I could think of no good reason. We needed a change. I had read some things online and heard a few things from people here and there, but ultimately ended up reading The Maker’s Diet by Jordan Rubin and have been using that as our general guide. We did the 40-day plan outlined in the book and I wrote some notes about our change and the results. Over the next few weeks, I will publish these thoughts as we look back on our 40 days and time since then.
I can tell you that it has been a much-needed and wonderful change. We have both lost weight, feel better, and are happily eating together as a family. We still occasionally eat out, but most of our foods are bought fresh and prepared at home. This may be a general blog transition for me as I work toward the end of the 52 weeks, but I’m not totally sure at this point. I would love to hear from any of you who may be interested in embarking on or already live a lifestyle focused on fresh, healthy, whole foods. I feel like I learn something new every day and each little piece of information is enlightening to me.
I’ve alluded to some of these ideas previously and I plan to share some of the basic ideas and principles of healthy full fats, soaking grains, sprouted beans and grains, raw milk and cheeses, meats, and recipes as I go along, but the primary reason will be to document the big change.
Series Links
THE BIG CHANGE: Introduction (you are here)
THE BIG CHANGE: Getting Started, Week 1
THE BIG CHANGE: Finishing Phase I, Week 2
Tags: big change, family, healthy
Posted by tntmck on May 16, 2010 in
Overall Diet Feeding our babies and toddlers means more than just chopping and blending. Sometimes, the things you learn are important for you and your whole family as well. Become informed. Cancer, Cancer Everywhere – TIME
Please share your thoughts and ideas.
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Posted by tntmck on May 15, 2010 in
Overall Diet
I don’t have too much to share this week. It has been fairly eventful as far as the boys’ eating goes. We are making lots and lots of eating changes as a family and I plan to share those in the near future. This includes lots of new foods and new recipes, as well.
FOOD DESCRIPTION
I made some more sweet potato fries to freeze and otherwise fed the boys mostly what we were eating along with some of the leftover chicken in the fridge. I did also make a bigger effort to get the boys to drink more water this week. The weather has been hot and humid and I’m sure to bring water for everyone when we go out.
PROCESS
WHAT I LEARNED
The roasted chicken does well in the refrigerator and is great in a baggie on-the-go.
REACTION
The boys continue to like both the chicken and sweet potato fries.
SUMMARY
I’m really, really hoping to make some more of our basic favorites next week including Spinach Bites and Pancakes as well as some new cheese wafers I found on the web.
Please share your thoughts or ideas.
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Tags: water
