Food Ideas

It's amazing how much more time I spend blogging now that I am back in school. Procrastination hasn't changed much since college. Though, somehow, considering the business I plan on opening, I feel like blogging it still somehow productive. Maybe that is just the story I am telling myself. Anyhoo, that last post about food inspired me to write another. I know I am always on the look out for new foods to give the kids. Let's face it, food is pretty much my life. I'm cooking 3 meals a day pretty much 5 days a week. I get bored. I need new ideas. So here is another list of things I currently serve my kids. I am sure some of you will think you need to call social services on me. No to worry, my kids are allowed to eat what I consider "junk" food at parties and at school (kills me it is actually served there as a snack -- but that is another post). I feel like I need to defend myself and let you know that I'm not force feeding my kids anything. There are tons of things I make that are refused and nobody is sitting in a time-out until they eat. Though, I will say, they've never had fast food and probably don't know what McDonalds is, or an Oreo. I am sure that will change shortly as the older one hits elementary soon. In the meantime, this is what my kids eat and I'm damn proud of it. As I think of more things, I will try and remember to come back and add to the list.



bok choy

kale

parsley

ginger

chard

brown rice

coconut water

rice milk

hemp milk

tahini

strawberries

cherries

raisins

beets

goat cheese

black sesame crackers

red meat

black beans

kidney beans

garbanzo beans

olives

heart of palm

onion

molasses

gomasio

kelp

nutritional yeast

dulse flakes

walnuts

almond butter

tomato

cantaloupe

soba noodles

sesame sticks

tangerines

pears

apples

parsnip

fennel

kombucha

Oat bran

chia seeds

hemp seeds

bee pollen

cod liver oil

pomegranite

Quinoa

pistachios

cashews

fermented pickles

raw kefir

Millet

Kamut

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Baby Food and First Foods

I had the following list of foods on my fridge for the past few months. I need to throw it out. Or, maybe, I should put it in A's baby book? Regardless, I don't need it on the fridge anymore but I thought I would share it with you guys. It is a list of foods that my youngest was introduced to her first 12 months. I think everything on the list are things she ate on a fairly regular basis. Reading it over now, it is interesting to see what foods have fallen off the list (some because I've gotten lazier with my cooking and introduction of new foods and some because she is finally starting to get a bit pickier). Anyway, remember when introducing new foods, it takes NUMEROUS introductions. Remember the first time you tried beer, or wine? It's an acquired taste. Most of us probably worked pretty darn hard to learn to enjoy a cocktail...we should work equally as hard to get our kids to enjoy healthy, non-processed foods, too. Just because they throw it on the floor the first 8 times you offer it to them does not mean you should give up.

avocado
chicken
eggs
tofu
mushrooms
turkey
quinoa
oatmeal
broccoli
kiwi
garlic
scallion
flax
squash
sweet potato
rasberry
mango
banana
spinach
carrots
watermelon
eggplant
salmon
cod
tilapia
papaya
blueberries
carrots
seed bread (Whole Foods)
sunbutter
hummus
pumpkin
sheep yogurt
apricots
zucchini
cucumber

Rice Cereal

I thought about not writing this post because I honestly don't want to offend anyone. But if I can't blog about what's on my mind then what's the point, right? So if you are a baby-rice-cereal-feeding-lover then please feel free to a) skip this post or b) accept my apologies as we are about to disagree.

Ironically, I talked to two of my close friends today about rice cereal. For one reason or the other, they were both going to start giving it to their baby. After my initial mini-anxiety-attack ended, I went into comforting-wild-research mode. What can I say, the subject fascinates me and I just have such a hard time with the state of food and nutrition in the American culture. It amazes me that doctors actually recommend rice cereal to infants. Do people (not obsessed with nutrition) know the difference between brown and white rice? Probably not. I certainly didn't until I started going to school for this stuff. The most common super market brand of rice cereal is straight up white rice. No nutritional value whatsoever. And, even though it may not say sugar on the label, it has to do with the glycemic value and how your body metabolizes the rice. That said, people seem to believe rice cereal is the correct "first food" for an infant and it seems I am in the minority for not agreeing. The reality is most pediatricians recommend rice cereal so I've decided to share a bit of my research and then I am not going to think about it anymore (unless, of course, someone reading this decides they want their baby to be one of my clients).

Below is one recipe I found for a make-your-own. I am sure there are plenty of others available. I don't think this one is better than another, I am just trying to make it easy for some of you out there in cyberspace.

HOME MADE RICE CEREAL

3 cups of organic, brown rice, cooked according to package directions (stay away from anything "enriched" as it's possible that may contain gluten).
12 ounces breast milk, water, or infant formula

Directions
Place the COOKED brown rice in a blender with the breast milk/water/formula. Puree until completely smooth – you cannot make this cereal too smooth. Pour the cereal into ice trays, cover and freeze overnight. Once frozen, pop the cubes out of the trays, place in a freezer bag or container, labeled with the date and return to the freezer. Lasts up to two months.

To serve
Defrost the cubes, and add breast milk or formula to develop a smooth consistency. For babies just starting solids, thin the cereal to a semi-liquid consistency. Warm the cereal, if desired. You can also change the flavor of the cereal by adding fruit or veggie baby food, once your baby has started to eat those foods.

For those of you using commercial brands, try to find a product without any added sugar (since the rice itself is metabolized as sugar you don't want any extra if you can avoid it). I checked the labels of a couple brands of "healthy" rice cereals and even they had glucose syrup solids. According to the Sugar Association, this is just a fancy term for corn syrup (another fancy term for SUGAR).

So that's it. I'm done. I'm off to spend more time agonizing about the state of food. This time it is school lunches. Don't even get me started on that.

Burritos

My eldest is all about burritos these days so I took a risk and made up a recipe with a few green ingredients that don't usually make it past her watchful eye. I did get the, "Mom, what is in here?" quiz before she took a bite, but I tend to focus on the things she DOES like and leave out the things she doesn't (and then quickly change the subject). I have to say I impressed myself since this was totally on the fly and required no cooking whatsoever.

Black beans, rinsed and drained (1 can)
Fresh corn (cut off the cob from 3 ears)
Goat cheese (sparingly)
1 avocado cubed
Fresh tomato, diced (I used cherry toms as that was all I had on hand, halved and cut into slices)
Fresh cilantro
Scallion
Shrimp (I used frozen but it would have been so much better had I sautéed some fresh. Vegs could certainly leave this out and it would be super tasty. I would just double or triple the items above.)

Wrap all up in an organic, whole wheat burrito.

ICE CREAM!!!

I only have a second as the hubs has given me a five minute reprieve to the tantrums and general chaos downstairs. We had this for dessert tonight and it was a HUGE hit. Some of you out there (not naming any names, MEGHAN) have accused me of having "broken taste buds" so I feel I should assure you my offspring have fully capable (and particular) tastebuds. I wish I could say the hubs tastebuds were full proof; he's been known to put rainbow sprinkles on his scrambled eggs, so I'm not sure I can use him as a credible example. Anyway, I digress. This stuff is so good that you'd never know it was sugar, dairy and soy free!

http://www.turtlemountain.com/products/purely_decadent_Coconut_Milk_Coconut.html

And, yeah, maybe one day I'll figure out how to post a link that actually works on here.

Cloth Diapers

This post is part of the Real Diaper Facts carnival hosted by Real Diaper Events, the official blog of the Real Diaper Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to cloth diaper education. Participants were asked to write about diaper lies and real diaper facts.

Have you heard about the new line of Pampers that are allegedly causing chemical burns on the little bums of little ones? If you haven't, here's the story.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100515/wl_canada_afp/usconsumercompanyprocter_20100515002953

Now Proctor and Gamble has posted a ridiculous page on their website pitting "truth" against "myth." I'd like to take a minute to give you some real facts. However, before I do this, I feel like I should disclose that I did use disposables 100% of the time on my first daughter. We never had a problem and I never thought to research what was in something that seemed to be working well. So, no offense to those of you wonderful Moms that still use disposable. Personally, I am not anti-disposable (I even still use them from time to time). I just have to speak the truth about cloth and can't let Pampers get away with what they are doing.

Pampers says:
"Myth: Cloth diapers are better for my baby.

Fact: Disposable diapers like Pampers were developed to offer babies benefits that cloth diapers could not meet. That goes beyond convenience to helping keep babies' skin dryer and more comfortable by reducing leaks and locking wetness inside the diaper in a way that cloth doesn't. As a result, doctors and parents simply don't see the same level of diaper rash that used to exist before disposable diapers."

The real facts are:
"Disposable diapers contain traces of Dioxin, an extremely toxic by-product of the paper-bleaching process. It is a carcinogenic chemical, listed by the EPA as the most toxic of all cancer-linked chemicals. It is banned in most countries, but not the U.S. Disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT) - a toxic pollutant known to cause hormonal problems in humans and animals. Disposable diapers contain sodium polyacrylate, a type of super absorbent polymer (SAP), which becomes a gel-like substance when wet. A similar substance had been used in super-absorbancy tampons until the early 1980s when it was revealed that the material increased the risk of toxic shock syndrome. In May 2000, the Archives of Disease in Childhood published research showing that scrotal temperature is increased in boys wearing disposable diapers, and that prolonged use of disposable diapers will blunt or completely abolish the physiological testicular cooling mechanism important for normal spermatogenesis."

For those not particularly into the science (like me) I feel I should add that the whole reason I changed from disposable to cloth is because disposables were giving my daughter a nasty diaper rash. I'm not going to say she never gets a rash in cloth, but it is usually my fault (sat in poop too long). When she wore disposables, she got a rash for no apparent reason at all. ALL.THE.TIME.


Pampers says:
"Myth: Cloth diapers are better for the environment than disposables.

Fact: In October 2008, the United Kingdom's Environment Agency published an update to its 2005 Life Cycle Assessment study on cloth versus disposable diapers. The update confirmed the earlier study's findings that there is no clear winner in terms of environmental impacts between disposable and cloth diapers in the U.K., once all factors such as water, energy, detergent, and disposal are considered."

The real facts are:
"The instructions on a disposable diaper package advise that all fecal matter should be deposited in the toilet before discarding, yet less than one half of one percent of all waste from single-use diapers goes into the sewage system. Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill. No one knows how long it takes for a disposable diaper to decompose, but it is estimated to be about 250-500 years, long after your children, grandchildren and great, great, great grandchildren will be gone. In 1988, nearly $300 million dollars were spent annually just to discard disposable diapers, whereas cotton diapers are reused 50 to 200 times before being turned into rags. Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills and represent about 4% of solid waste. In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste. Disposable diapers generate sixty times more solid waste and use twenty times more raw materials, like crude oil and wood pulp. The manufacture and use of disposable diapers amounts to 2.3 times more water wasted than cloth."

I know that generally people think that using cloth diapers is time-consuming and/or financially infeasible, or maybe just plain gross. I get it. I thought the same thing. Hey, who really likes change? I don't. When disposables were working for me, I wasn't as apt to change. I mean, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? The fact is that cloth diapers are so easy to throw in the wash and not so much by way of financial investment (unless you are like me and obsessed with trying every type in every color). Even still, with all my obsessive compulsive diaper buying, I've still saved a sustantial amount of money over disposable. Once the initial cost of buying the diapers is met, the rest is only what it costs to do the wash. Think in terms of the long run what disposable diapers cost over the span of 2 1/2 to 3 years of diapering. I think I figured out that we paid aproximately $500 a year for diapers (based on a conservative 5 diapers a day). I do realize the choices and the washing routine can be overwhelming, but it takes such little time to get the hang of it. My goal here is not to change your mind but simply to provide a few facts and help squash the rumors perpetrated by this ginormous institution. That's all. Cloth diaper rant officially over and back to food. :)

Kuku Wa Nazi (chicken in stewed coconut milk)

I pulled this recipe out of a magazine last month, made a couple changes and OMG is was so yummy. Even better? Easy. Best of all? THE KIDS LOVED IT. Let me say that again....MY KIDS ATE IT! I don't know if it is the most healthy thing on the entire planet, but who cares. For you veggies out there, I would just omit the chicken and make it as is with the rice. Super flavorful and filling without the animal protein. If anyone cares, it is a Kenyan dish. For some reason, this made me feel pretty cool.

I have to tell you, my kid had never eaten chicken on the bone before. She must have inspected it a good thirty seconds before declaring the chicken "yucky". We talked about it for awhile (how this was different part of the chicken than the breast meat she is accustomed to) and she decided to try it. She then, get this, declares that this kind of chicken is now her favorite because it doesn't even need ketchup. If this isn't the biggest seal of approval an almost-four-year-old can give, I don't know what is. She even asked if she could have it for lunch the next day!

1/4 cup coconut oil
1 1/2 tsp. ground tumeric
4 + cloves garlic, minced
4 plum tomatoes, cored and minced (I took a short cut and used canned, diced tomatoes with garlic and onion - I used one can and would probably use two next time. drain, first)
1 medium red onion, minced
4 skinless, bone-in chicken legs and thighs, seperated
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
2 14 oz. can coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups rice, for serving
fresh cilantro for garnish

Heat the oil in pot over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion until onions Carmelize (about 20 minutes). Add tumeric, tomato. Add chicken to pot along with coconut milk and lime juice. Bring mixture to a boil and reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally, until chicken is tender, about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro.