Rice Pudding

I have to preface this post by telling you I am obsessed with rice pudding. I try to keep myself in check, but at my worst I've been known to polish off a pretty good size tub (or two) of Kozy Shack (sp?) rice pudding. I don't know what they put in that stuff (sugar?!?) but it is like crack for me. I am simply not capable of having a spoon, or even a bowl for that matter. Nope. I eat the whole thing, feel sick and then turn around and go for more as soon as the stomach ache is gone. So, finding a HEALTHY rice pudding recipe is huge for me. This one happens to be courtesy of IIN so it is dairy and sugar free. Don't let that scare you from trying it. While it is no comparison to Kozy Shack, the almost-four-year-old AND the hubs declared it a winner. The almost-four-year-old was quite surprised to hear it was healthy (not sure what that says about my cooking since she seemed shocked the healthy and yummy went together).

1.5 c left over brown rice (already cooked)
1 c milk (I chose to use coconut milk but you could use whole milk, rice milk, almond, milk, etc.)
1/4 c raisins (I left this out as I'm a raisin-hater)
2 T maple syrup (I am curious what molasses would do)
1 t vanilla
2 T dried shredded coconut
1 T tahini

Combine all ingredients and heat on stovetop until most of the liquid is absorbed, mixture is creamy and tahini is mixed through. Sprinkle with cinnamon and agave syrup and let cool in fridge.

There are no words for the despair and for the anger I feel when I think about why this video was created. I cannot comprehend how so many people stick their heads in the sand when it comes to the SAFETY and the WELL BEING of their own children. So come on all you mama bears, stand up! Watch this and then stand up!

http://awakeupstory.healthychild.org/thankyou.html

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

Tweet

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.