Only if you're doing it right

I know I've mentioned the Dinner: A Love Story blog many times before, but it remains one of my very favorites. I have tried, and had success with, many of their recipes. I love their philosophy on family dinner. They have great book recommendations for kids. They write a column in Bon Appetit! Consider me smitten.

Their book comes out today - you can read more about it here and order through Amazon or Barnes & Noble. (I pre-ordered, thankyouverymuch).

Another blog that I really like, and may or may not have mentioned, is Momfilter. It's updated a few times a week and just has snippets about things you might care about - parties, entertainment, home, food, style - along with some great kid pictures and usually a feature or two about an "interesting" mom. If I'm honest, these features can almost border on making me feel like an inadequate human being, but then they often come around to the point where I can see that these (gorgeous / glamorous / smart) women are just moms like me and have the same issues.

Case in point: Jenny Rosenstrach, the author of Dinner: A Love Story, is the featured mother this week. She has some good ideas, there is a great picture of some hand-drawn recipes inside a cabinet door, and the clincher for me at the end: My daughters are close in age so when they were little I remember turning to my mother-in-law and telling her, “I had no idea how hard this was.” And my mother-in-law said, “Only if you’re doing it right.”

You can read the full story here: We Want to Know More About - Jenny Rosenstrach

Paper bags

This is really the prime of excitement, folks. Brace yourselves.

Miss Ellen has been keeping herself occupied all week making "puppets" out of brown paper lunch sacks. She colors all over them, assigns them to friends and family, and makes piles of her "favorites" and "not-so-favorites". I even had to make a special trip home to make sure the bags and markers were packed in her overnight bag for a sleepover with the grandparents.

I wish I could take credit for this creativity, but the truth is that this must be all daycare. I've had the bags sitting in my pantry for ages and it never would have occurred to me to pull together this (simple) project. I consider myself a reasonably creative person, but I just can't get it together to do crafty things with Ells. Pinterest, be damned. I think there are a lot of positives that daycare adds to her life, and certainly the crafty / artsy / outdoorsy / adventure stuff is a lot of it.

By the way, I have the paper lunch sacks not because I am packing lunch in them, but because I use them now to make microwave popcorn. It is totally the best thing ever and very cost effective. Popcorn is a favorite treat around here and I hated the thought of the weird chemicals in microwave popcorn for Ellen, plus I don't think it generally tastes all that good. I usually would make it in a pot on the stove with a little olive oil, but let's face it, that requires cleaning a pan.

Now, though, this is perfect:
- take a regular old brown lunch sack
- add some popcorn kernals to the bottom, maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup.
- don't add any oil or anything
- fold over the top of the bag a few times tightly to keep the steam in, but keep the fold small to allow for plenty of room for the popped corn
- don't staple unless you want sparks and/or fire
- set the bag standing up in your microwave and run it 2-3 minutes, however long your popcorn usually takes. Listen for the pops to slow down.
- Warning: I think I bought the cheapest brown bags ever and sometimes the steam gets the bottom of the bag wet and it tears, spilling some popcorn / kernals. Oh well.

That's it! A perfectly popped, whole grain snack. And, then you can add melted butter and/or salt and/or maple syrup and not feel (so) bad about it.

Good read (and recipe)

I've linked to the Dash and Bella blog before - great cooking stories with kids. I happened across her blog tonight and her latest post is great - wonderful writing, really perfectly capturing a split moment in "mom time". And, french toast to boot!

Take a few minutes to read ... a few more if you're going to cook. (Then invite me over).

Dash and Bella: STAY

Life-changing

Well, that might be drastic. Kitchen-changing, for sure.

I'm just muddling through the parenting thing these days without much to report, so I'll expand on my family-dinner theme this week ...

I was trying to come up with a Mexican-themed dinner this week to use up the avocados and tomatoes I had on hand. We always have some chicken breasts in the freezer, but I generally don't have any creative uses for them. I thawed a few and thought I would come up with something, then serendipitously came across this technique:

How to Cook Moist & Tender Chicken Breasts Every Time at The Kitchn

They aren't kidding! It worked great for me - truly a revelation. I just added about 1 Tbs of Mexican spices to the flour for some extra flavor, but you could use anything or nothing at all. I squeezed 4 chicken breasts into the pan and we had two for dinner that night, along with two the following night chopped up for tacos - I just rewarmed them in a nonstick skillet.

The best part, though, is that it takes 20 minutes once you put the lid on. You can definitely whip up a side dish or salad, or get your kid's plate ready and the table set while you are waiting for the chicken to finish.

Give it a try!

I eat it all up, Mama

We've officially entered the chicken finger phase at our house.

On a few occasions we've been out running around, and I've stopped to get Ellen a quick lunch - a chicken finger and fruit. Of course, she devours the chicken finger, when at home it is virtually impossible to get the girl to eat any meat.

So, I went the "home-chicken finger" route and made some of my own to stash in the freezer.

I got some chicken tenders from Whole Foods and made these Oatmeal-Crusted Chicken Tenders from Cooking Light. If you make them, read the reviews and make a few alterations. I think they are just OK as written, but Ells eats them. They were definitely super easy - I just baked them in the oven, let them cool and stashed them in the freezer. It only takes about 5 minutes in the toaster oven to heat one up for dinner - add some ketchup or BBQ sauce and she is a pretty happy girl.

Do you have any good recipes like this?

How do you get your kid to eat more protein?

A Mom's Best friend

I guess it could also be a Dad's best friend, but really, are any Dads reading this? Right. Just as I thought. Back to the Moms.

I love, love, capital LOVE, love Evernote. Do you use it? I don't even have an iWhatsIt, but still find it extremely useful in all aspects of my life.

First, some background: I am the child of a librarian and marketing guru / rehabilitated pack rat. Growing up, we had lots of magazines around our house and my mom always tore out 'inspiration' pages and filed them away neatly in hanging files. She cut recipes out of magazines or the newspaper, taped them to index cards and filed them in an old card catalog. Truly. Then, my dad was forever reading something and always dog-eared the corners. You know, for future reference. Fast forward and (genetics is an amazing thing) I find myself with piles of dog-eared magazines, piles of tear sheets, files and files of recipes. Occasionally I can find what I am looking for, but our kid totally gets in the way of my tearing and filing system.

Soooo ... I randomly came across Evernote a while back when I was looking for a way to organize my recipes, in particular. It's genius! I can go through a cooking magazine, corner the recipes I like, find them online, and then cut and paste into Evernote. No tearing or filing! Then, I can search by any ingredient - so much more useful then trying to remember if I filed those green chile enchiladas under 'chicken' or 'mexican'. If you come across a recipe on some blog that sounds good, just cut and paste it for the future. You can also scan any piece of paper that, say, has a handwritten recipe and it is still searchable!

I don't have convenient access to a printer at home. (Aside: does anyone anymore? Seems like sitting down at a desktop computer with an attached printer is akin to saying you are riding your dinosaur to the quarry for work, a la Fred Flinstone). So, I am usually dragging my laptop into the kitchen when I cook. This would be far simpler if I had an iPad .... Santa? Please get on that.

It's not just recipes, though. You can cut and paste anything from the internets and save it for future reference. A cute kid's birthday party? A good DIY project? The perfect gift for your in-laws? YES. ALL OF IT.

I love products like this that support my OCD. Technology is an amazing thing!

Dippity do dah

I promise this isn't a post about early waking.

Except, that, well, I've been about to tear my hair out with all the early waking!

Let's focus on a solution, then, shall we?

Our Girl always asks to eat the second we get her out of her crib. I think some of this is habit, but I also truly think she is hungry, as evidenced by the ungodly amount of food she consumes first thing in the morning.

I've tried all my usual tricks to get her to stay in her bed (quietly): Cry it out. Go in and lay her back down and tell her to sleep. Go get her and have her sleep in our bed (which works on occasion, but usually results in her kicking my face). Try to reason with her and tell her that if it is still dark outside she needs to stay in her crib quietly. (Ha, Ha. And, oh yeah, HA again). Have her play with her toys in her pack n' play in mommy's room while mommy sleeps. Put books in her own crib to play with ...

My newest notion is that I've been wondering if a grumbly stomach has been contributing to her waking up. She eats a lot during the day and generally eats a pretty good volume of food at dinner, but it is mostly fruit and veggies, which doesn't necessarily sustain her for 12 hours. She used to be a cheese monster, but now turns her nose up at cheese, unless it comes in a grilled cheese sammy form. She doesn't eat very much meat and usually refuses meatballs or deli meat or the like.

So, time to get creative with the protein-pushing!

I roasted a chicken in the crock pot (btw - you should do this if you have the time. It is the same price as a rotisserie chicken and you can get a better quality chicken. Just clean out the cavity, rinse and pat dry, rub the skin with spices, put it in a crockpot on high or med-high for about 4 hours and forget it. No liquid or anything!) and Huz was cleaning the meat off the bones while I made Girly dinner. She asked to "eat that!" and I gave her a taste, though she never liked it in the past. She kind of picked at the meat, then I offered her ketchup and mustard and she couldn't get enough! The shredded chicken pieces are perfect for dipping.

I have been trying to avoid most condiments, with the thought being that I wanted her to eat her food as it was and not to always have to add something to it to make it appealing. I've gotten over myself, though, now that I have witnessed the wonders of sauces! She would just eat the ketchup and mustard straight with her fork, so I had to remind her to dip and bite, dip and bite, but she did eat it all up. And, she slept till 6:00am for two mornings in a row! Success! (And, yes, 6:00 is pretty much the best I can hope for ...)

So, if you haven't started the dips yet, you may want to check them out! I am trying to focus on 'healthier' things, like mustard and salsa, but the occasional drizzle of real maple syrup on roasted squash isn't such a bad thing, either.

Trickery

I'm not sure how I feel about 'tricking' your children into eating healthy food, a la Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious. I suppose there is a time and place for it, especially if you can get them to agree to also eat the obvious vegetables on their plate.

I fully embrace the idea, though, of bulking up the 'healthy-ness' of foods that kids already love - like adding extra veggies to pasta sauce, or using ground turkey or chicken instead of beef - that kind of thing.

I've started making mac n' cheese lately as a good way of cleaning out the fridge. The Girl likes most noodles, and still gobbles it up if I add chopped up broccoli and cauliflower and use whole wheat noodles. See? Healthy(er).

I've just discovered a fun new food blog called Dinner: A Love Story. The author used to write food columns for Cookie magazine and Real Simple, and now she writes this blog about cooking for her family with young children. She had a great post this week about making boxed mac n' cheese a little healthier for her kids - so clever! She uses the boxed cheese sauce mix, but instead puts it over quinoa or quinoa noodles. Never would have occurred to me ...

I was reading something else this week (can't remember where - memory loss is a terrible thing) about the nostalgia you still have as adults for those special childhood foods ... the things you got for special occasions, or birthdays, or babysitter nights. For us, I clearly remember the babysitter food as mac n' cheese from a blue box or McDonald's. Even though I've had a thousand better, healthier, meals since then, I still have a soft spot in my heart for those foods.

I guess the challenge is finding those special foods that your kids love now, and continue to have fond memories of for years to come, while still setting them up for a lifetime of healthy(er) eating. Will the Girl have fond memories of Quack & Cheese? I'm not sure, but I'll give it a shot.

Uncharacteristically efficient

We just started getting delivery of organic produce.

To our front steps.

Could anything be better?

I'm thrilled with Door to Door Organics so far. (If you are in Colorado, Kansas City, Michigan or on the East Coast, check them out!)

It has been great for our meal-planning, healthy-eating, and saving-the-Earth-ness. (Too far? Maybe. But, I do feel better.)

However ... to the point ... I generally hate to waste food, and I find it especially repulsive to waste organic food. I am liking our composter for the kitchen scraps, but it can be a challenge to use up every bit of the fresh fruit and veggies before the next box arrives.

So, here are a few of my new strategies:

Blanch veggies and flash freeze
I happened to be cooking some pasta for dinner, and it occurred to me that I should just use that already boiling water to cook some broccoli and cauliflower that we wouldn't get to before it went bad. I pulled out the pasta, threw in the veggies, and let it cook for about 2 minutes. I drained the veggies and spread them out on a kitchen towel on a big cookie sheet. After they cooled to room temp, I put them in the freezer all spread out. After fully frozen, I tucked them away in a freezer bag for future use. I have thawed just a few pieces in the microwave for Girly's dinner, or will likely thaw a bigger amount and mix into mac and cheese or something.

Slushy fruit soup
This sounds kind of fancy, right? It isn't at all. We had a bunch of fruit leftover from a party - pineapple, oranges, kiwis, strawberries - and it was starting to look dismal. I put it all together in our Magic Bullet and then froze the blended fruit in ice cube trays. I thaw 2-3 cubes in the fridge, or just barely zap them in the microwave. It's a good, refreshing treat and good for spoon practice.

Frozen berries
Girly loves, loves, loves berries. They do seem to spoil faster than most fruit, though. If I have extra that I don't think we'll get to, I just freeze them spread out on a cookie sheet (or even better, the plastic lid to a tupperware container or something so they don't stick). You can thaw them to mix with yogurt, but Girly likes them frozen and chopped up. A cool treat!

I'm usually not good at this pre-planning business, but it does kill two birds with one stone: avoids wasting food AND gives you quick meals for the kiddos!

Sunshine and Muffins

Nope. No cryptic or clever meaning behind this. Just simply that we've been enjoying the sunshine and I made some muffins.

The weather just all of a sudden became beautiful and warm. Dare I say too warm? No, I dare-n't. I do hope we get a true spring, but I'll take this over snow any day.

In the sudden-ness of the sunshine, I realized that we didn't have any outside toys. Since our days are now filled with pleas for "ow-side", "ow-side", "OW-SIDE!!", we made a quick dash to Target for some balls and sidewalk chalk. The chalk is mostly for eating, of course.

I also had to dig out the sunscreen and, as expected, it is even more challenging to lotion up a squirmy 16-month-old than a slightly-less-squirmy baby. I also realized the Girly is continuing with her protest of all hats and things hat-like, so I had to get creative with protecting her head.

Last year, she would tolerate a sun hat and we really didn't spend all that much time outside in the sun, what with the napping and breastfeeding around the clock. This year, though, her hair is almost always in pigtails and I worry about her scalp burning. I like our California Baby sunscreen, but it really doesn't work for her scalp. I needed something quick and grabbed the Banana Boat Kids spray sunscreen at Costco. I have enough to spray the scalps of a gaggle of children - come on over. I had a little bit of buyer's remorse about possibly not choosing the 'safest' sunscreen (see Safe Mama's list here), but then I had to get over it because a burnt scalp is far worse.

Also, note to self: If there is a Child #2, work harder on getting them to wear hats.

As for the sunglasses, Girly's eyes are bright blue and I notice her squinting. I am terrible at wearing sunglasses (they just never look right on my face. Tips??), but I really would like her to wear some. I got some at Target that are on an elastic band with velcro in the back. Umm, FAIL. Any good ones that your kids will wear?

As for the muffins, these are a good (pretty healthy) treat. I got the recipe from Mark Bittman's blog, which always has delicious sounding stuff.

Here is the original post. Be sure to click through to the Minimalist column and read it for extra tips and pointers, including the comments. I made them as written with canned pumpkin the first time because it is so easy. Truthfully, I thought they were just so-so, but Girly loved them. Next time I will jazz them up with some spices and a more flavorful fruit/veggie. I even wonder if peaches or strawberries would work? Maybe too liquidy ...

Whole Wheat Muffins

Published: February 5, 2010

1/2 cup melted unsalted butter, more for greasing tins

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, preferably pastry flour (keep your whole wheat flour in the freezer)

3/4 to 1 cup sugar, depending on sweetness of fruit

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup mashed or puréed banana, sweet potato, apple, zucchini, cooked or canned pumpkin, or other fruits or vegetables

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup buttermilk (I uses this buttermilk powder so I always have it on hand. Just mix with water! You can find it at any grocery store, I bet.)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease two 6-cup muffin tins or fill with liners. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the melted butter, banana, egg and buttermilk. Fold wet mixture into dry mixture and stir until just combined.

2. Fill muffin tins or liners; bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until muffins are puffed and turning golden brown on top. Serve warm if possible.

Yield: 12 (regular sized) muffins. I made mini muffins and it makes a ton.

Finally, if I was a betting girl, I would bet that our daughter will be a huge fan of popsicles. I think some of these molds might be in order so I can make a healthy version with blended fruit and yogurt.

I probably should taste them first, though, just to make sure they are OK.

Short order cook

When Girly wants food, SHE WANTS FOOD.

Generally, it is pretty easy for me to pull something quick out of the refrigerator to tide her over while I cook (microwave and chop) the rest. Of course, she grunts and groans until she gets what I am preparing. Dinner time is the most harried - we walk in the door from school at about 5:00 and she wants to eat at about 5:01.

Breakfast has been the easiest, with a general formula of fruit +/- yogurt +/- cereal/bread. While we started out with plain whole milk yogurt when she was bitty, we slowly transitioned to the fruit flavored YoBaby individual serving packs. Mainly because this was the choice at our grocery store - it is shockingly hard to find plain whole milk yogurt in any size. (Our store carries 1 variety).

As part of my healthier foods kick, I'm (again) paying more attention to unnecessary sugar. All yogurt will have sugar, because milk has sugar, and all fruit has sugar, but of a natural sort. I am now mixing frozen fruit with plain yogurt and it cuts the sugar in about half. I took a bag of frozen mixed berries and the juice of one orange and cooked until just boiling. (Actually, I cooked it until it boiled over and left blueberry juice all over my stove - don't do that). I froze it in ice cube trays - 1 bag made 1 tray. Easy and quick to thaw in the microwave and mix with yogurt.

Oh - we are also adding a daily probiotic (Culturelle) to help keep her healthier. The jury is still out.

And this morning, I had a lightbulb. I would serve scrambled eggs more often for breakfast, but I strongly dislike cleaning pans and I'm usually not cooking for all of us at the same time. Here is a good solution and she ate every bite (while she usually just picks at eggs).

Microwave 'omelette'

- Butter or Pam a small bowl or ramekin very well
- Add one egg, scramble with a fork
- Add some shredded cheese and a little salsa or leftover veggies
- Zap in microwave in 20-30 second bursts, scrambling in between with a fork
- Should only take about 1 min 30 seconds and is tasty! (And also very hot, cool well for baby)

Also, we have a lot of toast with cream cheese for breakfast or snacks. I don't know why it never occurred to me to do that - I just naturally think of cream cheese and bagels, but they serve it at school.

Finally, a trick I stole from a friend: give your toddler the apple core or pear core to chew on. Never failed that I would chop up the fruit into tiny pieces for Girly, and then she would whine until I gave her a 'big girl' piece. It's nice because they can just gnaw off tiny bites, where if I give her a big piece of apple, she bites off a chunk that I have to fish out of her mouth so she doesn't choke.

Fun times.

Party!

Enough with the sentimental stuff. Sniff, Sniff.

Let's talk birthday parties! Specifically, planning a birthday party.

In all of my blog-reading and magazine-reading, I came across some sort of "Mom List" this year. You know the ones ... Top Ten Things I Wish I Knew, or Eighteen Ways To Be A Good Parent, or Thirty-Seven Things To Help You Be Less Crazy. The one thing that stuck with me was this: Don't make birthday parties a huge deal.

This isn't to say that birthdays aren't special, because they are, but do yourself a favor and don't create a lifetime of crazy birthday expectations.

Maybe this is easy for me to say as a person who doesn't care much about my own birthday. My birthday is only 4 days before Christmas, so it always felt like a bundled holiday. Not in a bad way, but just in a reality way. I was usually home for winter break on my birthday, so no school celebrations. I had some really wonderful parties as a child, and did a lot of special things, but I am also just as happy with a family dinner and a cake. (Just to be clear: cake=birthday). It is nice when people tell me Happy Birthday, and it is lovely when people are so generous and buy gifts, but I don't expect them and I don't mandate days of celebration in honor of my birth.

I recall one of my favorite parent-isms: start as you mean to go. If you start with a blow-out birthday bash for a toddler, you are going to end up on My Super Sweet 16 and then you are going to end up in a mental institution. I don't mean to say that birthday splurges are bad, but in my opinion, part of what makes them special is that the don't happen every year.

I think a child's first birthday is a great time to start some sweet, simple, family traditions. We had a special birthday plate as kids, and now my Girly has one. The Huz had a special spoon. (Strange, I know, but it was special). I have friends who decorate the door to their child's bedroom on their birthday, and that seems really fun.

In the blogs I read, I occasionally come across pictures and planning for kiddo birthday parties. A lot of it is sweet and creative and well-intentioned, but some is just so.over.the.top. Like a Frida Kahlo birthday party for an 8-year-old? I guess I'm not a California hipster, but seriously, you must be freaking kidding.

If you are a designer or crafty person by trade, by all means make some darling invitations and decorations for your child's party. But, please realize that you are doing those things for yourself. Your child does not feel more loved because of their party decorations. (If they do, well ... that is a different issue). I feel I can say this as someone who occasionally (ok, frequently) spends too much time and effort on tiny details that don't really matter. It was easier before I had a kid, and now I just have to let a lot of that go because there just aren't enough minutes in the day. I still worked on a few little details for our party because I wanted to, fully knowing that I was the only one who would really appreciate them. If you enjoy it, then great. If it causes stress and marital strife, forget it!

We had a nice little party with grandparents, aunts and uncles. I am ALL FOR the family party (or surrogate family if your family is out of town) for as long as you can get away with it. I also like the "number of years = number of friends" rule, again, as long as you can get away with it.

As for thank you notes, I try to be timely with the thanks yous. Our Girly clearly has no idea that a 'thank you' is in order, but I would like to get in the habit because someday she will understand. I have seen the idea to take a picture of your child with the toy and include it with the note. Or take a picture of your child standing by a chalkboard or wipe-off board with a note and the toy. Cute.

I attempted this very thing with our Girly. Attempted is the operative word. I chased her around most of the morning following her party trying to get pictures with her new loot. We eventually got passable pictures, but it wasn't easy.

Does this fall under the "making birthday parties a huge deal" category?

Probably. Damn.

Sources:
This is a fun way to decorate. Upload any picture to The Rasterbator and you can print it out in any size you want, for free. It prints in little dots and you piece the papers together like a big puzzle. Use smaller dots for a more realistic picture and larger dots for more abstract.

This is a good birthday cake, and slightly healthier than the average.

I got a custom birthday shirt on Etsy. Couldn't resist. And, we were gifted a birthday hat. It is so cute and I think I'll take her picture in it every year. (As long as she lets me, I guess).

What's for dinner? Food.

As I mentioned, Girly decided to go on a spoon/fork strike right after we left for Hawaii. I called my Mom to check in and she said that Girly didn't like any of the food I made for her.

Umm, thanks.

More like she didn't like them served on a spoon. I had an inkling this was coming - we were having a lot of food spitting and batting at the spoon.

So, now I've gone to almost exclusively finger foods and I use a spoon only very occasionally to feed her. I should have her start to practice feeding herself with a spoon, but I'm not quite ready for that level of mess.

Breakfast has been the bigger challenge for me - I used to feed her plain yogurt and a fruit puree every morning. It was fast, easy, and she gobbled it up. I had a recipe for some pretty healthy oatmeal pancakes, so now she gets one of those in the morning, all chopped up. I made a double batch, froze them and can zap one at a time in the microwave - super easy.

Oatmeal Pancakes - 1 recipe, makes 10-12 small pancakes
1 1/2 cups whole oats
1 cup whole milk cottage cheese (small curd)
2 eggs, lightly beaten, or 1 cup Egg Beaters
splash of milk
1-2 Tbs sugar (less for baby)
1/2 - 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
2 tsp baking powder

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add in wet ingredients and stir together. Puree with a stick blender / immersion blender / blender. It will be very thick and unappetizing looking - can thin a little bit with milk, but it doesn't have to be too thin. I cook them on an electric griddle at about 250 degrees. Use lower heat because they are thick and take longer to cook than your average pancake. Use about 1/4 cup per pancake. Also good with sliced bananas/apples/pears added after the first flip. Cool on a cooling rack, then stack between wax paper in a tupperware container to freeze. This is a version of a Weight Watchers recipe - can make them very low fat for yourself with fat free cottage cheese, egg beaters and Splenda for Baking. Good and filling!
(Note - I'm not really sure about the rule with baked goods and eggs. I know egg whites should be put off until after 12 months, but our Girl has had them before in other foods and was fine. If you are concerned, ask your doctor, of course!)

I don't know if it is good or bad timing to start the finger food phase at the start of Fall/Winter. On the one hand, there are very few fresh/seasonal fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, it is probably easier to pull stuff out of cans and the freezer. And, the seasonal stuff now, like pears, have to be really ripe before she can eat it - takes quite a bit of pre-planning.

I've got cans of peaches, pears, tropical fruit and fruit cocktail in my pantry - all packed in juice. It is surprisingly hard to find fruit packed in juice and not syrup. I just chop up a can or two at a time and leave in the fridge. I also have frozen mangoes in the freezer, which thaw quickly in the microwave and have a good texture. Bananas, of course, always work. Did you know that you can put bananas in the fridge when they get to the perfect eating texture and they will stay that way? The skins get super brown, but the fruit stays good.

As for veggies, frozen peas work great - just thaw a few at a time in the micro. I think only certain veggies taste good frozen - if I'll eat them, I'll make them for her. I have also been chopping up squash and sweet potatoes in a small dice, roasting it, flash freezing it and storing in the freezer. It is a bit tedious, but if you take an hour or so to make a bunch, it lasts forever. Butternut squash seems to be the easiest to chop. I just pull out frozen veggies, cover in water in a ramekin and zap for a minute.

Girly really likes beans - canned black beans, white beans, garbanzo beans, refried beans. I just rinse the beans and store them in a plastic container in the fridge. She eats them cold, cut up if big/firm, and it's easy protein. She also really likes a quesadilla with a whole wheat tortilla, refried beans and shredded cheese. She'll eat half of a small tortilla, all cut up, and I can save the other half for the next day.

As for other dairy, I've stayed away from yogurt and cottage cheese because it is so messy for now with the spitting. Fresh mozzarella is a good option, but goes bad quickly. She also likes string cheese chopped up, or shredded cheese. Whole milk ricotta is good mixed with pasta.

Mixed up pasta with some combination of veggies / cheese / meat / sauce is also good and freezes great.

As for gear, we're starting to use plates - for learning and because the lip of the plate is good leverage for picking up foods. And, good for throwing! The one drawback of the Fast Chair is that it is hard to use a place mat. We are fully past the cute little baby bibs and on to bibs that catch things. So far, I really like the Bumkins and the DexBaby brands. I plan to use one of those easy 3M hooks to hang the bibs up to dry on the side of the cabinet by my sink. If you have a nice kitchen, you may not like the look. Me? With all the bottle paraphernalia and pacifiers, I don't think anyone will notice! The bibs have really helped with the splatter on the floor, but I know you can get cute splat mats. I've also read a tip to use one of those plastic pads that go under office chairs from Office Max, or just plastic sheeting that you can buy by the yard at JoAnn.

More than anything, I strive to get my act together to plan meals that we can eat and that will also provide leftovers for Girly. Alas, the biggest challenge of them all ....