TIP OF THE DAY: Easy Baby Foods

No cooking, pureeing, blending, smoothing, freezing, etc. required. Yes, now that’s a recipe for success. You just need a fork and a bowl. What’s this magic concoction, you ask? Well, it’s nothing more than some of nature’s best foods. Bananas and Avocados. I love, love, love them for the ease of portability, mashing, and transportation. Take them with you on-the-go. Pull them out of the fruit bowl and in seconds, you have instant, fresh, real, whole baby food. The best part is these foods are wholesale and grow with your child from baby to toddler and on. If fact, why not enjoy the other half yourself for a healthy snack.

BABIES

Bananas
Peel a banana. Mash it with a fork to the desired consistency. Feed to baby.

Avocado
Cut around the length of the fruit. Twist the sections apart. Scoop out the insides. Mash it with a fork to the desired consistency. Feed to baby.

Banana-Avocado
Follow simple instructions above and mash together.

OLDER BABIES & TODDLERS

Bananas
Peel a banana. Cut lengthwise, then crosswise into desired piece size. Serve to baby or toddler as finger foods.

Avocado
Cut around the length of the fruit. Twist the sections apart. Cut gridlines inside the shell. Scoop out pieces with a spoon to separate from skin. Serve to baby or toddler as finger foods.

Banana-Avocado
Follow simple instructions above and serve together as a combo-snack or meal.

NOTE: Avocado and Banana are great first foods and can be introduced at 6 months.

Tags: finger foods, on-the-go, tips

WEEK 29: Out and About

Well, we had a very calm, normal week, but such a fun weekend that I thought I would share. I’ve posted many times about how great it is to have prepared foods for on-the-go, but this is just another great example of how taking food with you is easy, fun, and nutritious.

Food Description

We went to the science museum this weekend. And, no, this is not your typical quite, walk through and read plaques type museum. This is one filled with fun games and interactive exhibits for kids of all ages. I wasn’t the boys would really enjoy much at 17 months old, but boy was I wrong. They had a blast with their cousins and grandparents and we stayed 3 full hours. I’m posting here though, because the museum does not serve any food, but they do have a room with tables and chairs where you can bring your lunch, which of course is exactly what we did.

Process

Lunch at the Museum

chicken (see picture – roasted on the smoker)
carrots
kiwi
toast
cottage cheese (with a spoon)

I had everything prepared and cut into pieces on plates with lids. We took a cooler and there was a microwave for warming before serving. Jonathan and I had huge mango-strawberry smoothies and almond butter sandwiches.

Smoker Rub

4 TBS  Kosher Salt
4 TBS  Rapadura (or your choice for sugar)
2 TBS  Ground Cumin
4 TBS  Chili powder
2 TBS  Black Pepper
1 TBS  Ground Cayenne Pepper
4 TBS  Paprika
2 TBS  Ground Thyme

DIRECTIONS
Combine all ingredients together. You may choose to use a food processor or blender, which might help heat the spices, blending the flavors together without burning.

What I Learned

Getting started with lunch was not the most welcomed event of the day. We sat down to eat an hour late than usual and the boys were having such a good time running around and exploring that stopping for food wasn’t necessarily high on their priority list. However, it was past time to eat and we sat them down and served up the food. It took a while, but soon they were scarfing down all of their food, our smoothies, and finishing off the cousins hot dogs and bread, too.

Reaction

Getting started with lunch was not the most welcomed event of the day. We sat down to eat an hour late than usual and the boys were having such a good time running around and exploring that stopping for food wasn’t necessarily high on their priority list. However, it was past time to eat and we sat them down and served up the food. It took a while, but soon they were scarfing down all of their food, our smoothies, and finishing off the cousins hot dogs and bread, too. So, in the end, the museum was a hit, lunch was devoured, the cousins and grandparents were the heros, and we headed home for some much-needed afternoon naps.

Also, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the smoked chicken was absolutely delicious! The rub was previously made for brisket, but it was amazing on this young 4lb chicken.

Summary

We will be doing this and many more fun adventures again soon! And, it’s great to know that you can always have yummy, healthy food with you when you’re out enjoying the many things your town has to offer.

Tags: chicken, on-the-go, summer, weekly

WEEK 22: Meal Planning and Traveling

FOOD DESCRIPTION
Spinach Bites and Baked Sweet Potato Fries continue to be my go-to freezer finger food on the go. I’m going to list our meals below from the past week to give an idea of what we ate.

• MONDAY
  Breakfast: I won’t repeat this one every day because we eat eggs every morning with fruit and sometimes a smoothie. The boys eat oatmeal (soaked overnight) with apples and cinnamon as well as a whole banana each.
  Lunch: Chicken Tortilla Soup with avocado (The boys had eggs, fruits, and veggies.)   
  Dinner: Smoked Chicken, green beans, apples (I added avocado and porridge for the boys.)
   
• TUESDAY
  Lunch: Leftovers (soup)
  Dinner: Leftovers (chicken & salad) (The boys had split pea/barley porridge, avocado, and veggies.)
   
• WEDNESDAY
  Lunch: Leftovers (soup)   
  Dinner: Hot dogs, broccoli, sweet potato (I added avocado and porridge for the boys.)
   
• THURSDAY
  Lunch: Crock Pot Pineapple Chicken, baked beans (dry, soaked, baked), broccoli   
  Dinner: BBQ Beef Short Ribs, baked sweet potato, sauteed spinach (I added avocado and porridge for the boys)
   
• FRIDAY
  Lunch: Leftovers (BBQ beef), salad (I added veggies and fruit for the boys instead of salad.)
  Dinner: Leftovers (chicken), salad, sweet potato fries (I added avocado for the boys.)
   
• SATURDAY
  Lunch: OUT (I took some spinach bites and sweet potato fries for the boys to have with fish.)
  Dinner: OUT (I took some spinach bites and sweet potato fries for the boys to have with steak.)
   
• SUNDAY
  Lunch: Homemade Pizza, salad (The boys had fruit, veggies, and toast.)
  Dinner: Leftover Pizza (The boys had black bean/rice porridge, fruit, veggies, and toast.)

PROCESS

• Leftovers I only made a couple meals this week, but enjoyed leftovers as a family and had some handy things in the fridge for lunches and the boys’ meals.
•  Baked Sweet Potato Fries I continued with my original recipe on these, but I have been spoiled recently with the purchase of a new food processor. I got it at a great deal for only $107 and am just loving learning all about using it and everything I can now do with it. So, I took 4 sweet potatoes and chopped them all in different shapes to bake them for this finger food. See here for the recipe, but pictures below of some of my favorite options.

 These were made from just slicing the potato into quarters. They were thin, but made good fries.

These made a good size from just cutting the quarters into thirds, but my slicer was too thin and the small size and thinness resulted in overdone, crunchy fries.

These made a more fry-shaped slice and baked fairly well with the thicker slicer.

WHAT I LEARNED
I really, really think I want the french fry disc blade for my food processor after making these, but quite a few of them created good results. However, I did not master the small, thin pieces. The larger thin pieces were fine and the thicker pieces were fine, but the little chips didn’t turn out so well.

REACTION
Jonathan and the boys both enjoyed our leftovers at home and on-the-go. We are all enjoying both the Spinach Bites and Baked Sweet Potato Fries. Remember to season them how you like and you will be able to enjoy them too!

SUMMARY
Leftovers are great and it’s even better when I remember to buy and cook more than what is needed for a single meal. The boys both love fish which I somehow did not cook any of this week, but ate out once. I usually try for at least two fish meals. In fact, I would say they like it more than chicken or beef right now. Chicken is not Owen’s favorite. In his defense, some of the chicken he has been fed recently has been dry and chewy…yuck. Wyatt, will just eat it.

Maybe I can get things together well enough in the future to start posting some of our weekly family meal recipes as well. I’m getting better at the meal planning and shopping as we go on this path as a family of four eating meals together.

Please share your thoughts or ideas.
::

Tags: on-the-go, travel