From Milk to Muffins

Many friends have inquired about my baby food making process, so here it is!

loving a bowl of oatmeal

Many recipes found here: wholesome baby food

As far as recipes go, I found I didn’t need many in the beginning (6 months)…you simply steam or bake vegetables and fruits until they are soft, let them cool and then blend them with your baby’s milk, water, or broth.  I used a blender to make purees, but many methods work (immersion blender, baby bullet, food processor). When we first introduced solids to Baby Roo I used the ice cube tray method; freezing individual portions of vegetable and fruit purees in ice cube trays.  You can defrost in the refrigerator or serve frozen in a mesh feeder (which, I imagine, feels great on teething gums!) You can experiment with spices if your baby seems to like more flavor…add a little cinnamon to baked apples, for example.  Avoid salt and sugar…babies get excited by the newness of eating…the natural colors, flavors, and textures are enough of an adventure!.

mesh feeder with peas

As Roo began to grow so did her appetite (9-12 months)…it was when she started asking for 3 or 4 cubes (by signing “more”) that I decided to look for a different way to make batches of food and still be able to freeze.  I found 4 oz glass jars (mini-canning jars) that were perfect for a serving.  At the same time, she began to eat a wider variety of food, was able to handle chunkier textures, and I wanted to introduce some vegetarian proteins.  Our basic method was: steamed chunks of vegetables/fruits + protein + whole grain (optional) or whole dairy (optional).  For proteins we started with beans, lentils, quinoa…adding a few minutes to the cooking time so they were very soft and mashable.  These little glass jars are great for freezing and I typically popped the next day’s meals into the fridge the night before to allow time to defrost…but, they can be microwaved, if necessary.   Most of the time I served her food straight from the jar.

asking for more broccoli and brown rice...her first sign!

At this point (18months) we still use the small canning jars and follow the same formula for meals: vegetables/fruits + protein + whole grain (optional) or whole dairy (optional).   She now has her favorite foods and not-so-favorite foods and can eat crunchy foods and will often try what her dad and I are eating.  I often serve her meals in a three-compartment plastic container.  Roo loves each food to have its own spot and one for her cup (in fact, if I want to give her three choices, she’ll smush the extra choice with her cup so it can go in its proper location.)

sweet potatoes in a small canning jar

When we will be out for a meal or traveling for the day I have used the “Laptop Lunch” box.  We love the little containers for each food, but it is bigger and has more room for options than I giver her on a daily basis.

An absolute favorite among Little Roo and her friends is muffins.  I find that you can add almost any fruit of veggie to them with great results!! In fact, her first birthday treat was an apple spice muffin. I have adapted a muffin recipe, which works very well as a base and is dairy-free and has an adaptation to make it egg-free!  Here it is:

on her birthday, enjoying her "cupcake" 

Baby Muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup unsweetened applesauce

½ cup shredded zucchini

2 tablespoons ground flaxseed, mixed with 6 tablespoons water (or 2 eggs, beaten)

Preheat oven to 375 and grease or line muffin tin.  Mix ground flaxseed with water in a small bowl, set aside and allow to become gelatinous.  Sift the flour and spices into a large bowl.  Mix the applesauce and zucchini with the flaxseed and water.  Fold the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. Spoon by into mini-muffin tin ( I find one tablespoon of batter is the perfect amount).  Bake about 10 minutes. Zucchini can be substituted with other fruits or veggies.

We continue adventures with food, allowing Little Roo to feed herself with utensils and sometimes let her try drinking from a “real” cup!   When she really loves a food she will exclaim, "yummy, yummy, yummy!!"  Her favorites include oatmeal, bananas, sweet potatoes, grapes, black beans, and eggs with spinach. We are looking forward to going to farmer’s markets this summer (maybe one day we will even grow our own fruits and veggies!)  She is very interested in helping in the kitchen, loves feeding her baby doll, and cooking in her own kitchen!  What are your favorite foods to serve your little ones??

cooking in her kitchen on Christmas morning 

Please follow food safety guidelines as well as introduction to foods at the rate and appropriateness you decide, with help from your child’s doctor.

It's all about the PROCESS!

I first learned about “process art” when I was in college, that is art that allows children to explore colors, textures, tools, mixed media with no intended outcome (more info can be found here: http://www.brightring.com/FAQ.html).  Even as a child I was a big fan of collage art as I never quite developed drawing skills. That is not to say I never liked crafts—I did and I still do, but I now value that self-expression and discovery can come from enabling children to take part of a process and let go of the idea of an end product.  We took the idea even further when I worked at a preschool that embodied “process not product,” not only the art was open-ended—any project be it science, drama, cooking, or sensory was more about the process than a desired outcome.  I had to remind my self of these ideals over the weekend.  I had seen some great ideas for using natural dyes for Easter eggs on Pinterest…sounds right up my alley.  I didn’t want to have to purchase too many extra ingredients or items that I wouldn’t use.  I thought to myself that since Roo is still so young, she may not even enjoy it this year and because of that I decided to choose one color and assumed that since when you cook beets just about everything turns red/pink, that is what we would use.  We love beet and goat cheese salads, so I knew nothing would go to waste.  I did have to buy white eggs, since the eggs we normally buy are brown.  I boiled the beets in the morning and reserved the cooking liquid.

 Little Roo was interested in placing the eggs into the water and occasionally taking a peek at them. 

Sadly, the nice rosy hue I had dreamed up never happened. 

Instead, we got the lovely shade of brown that the eggs I normally buy are! 

The good news is that, we had fun experimenting with natural dyes and enjoyed a great salad for lunch.  I am sure many more times in my parenting adventures projects will not go the way I had planned, but as long as we can learn something in the process, I will not consider them failures!

Have Toddler, Will Travel

We have taken Little Roo on two vacations in the last six months..one when she was 13 months on an all-expense paid trip (by my husband’s company) to Vegas

Here she is dancing to the fountains at the Bellagio

and the other, from which we just returned, a trip to FL to visit my husband’s family.  A lot has changed in the past six months—Roo was still nursing on that trip to Vegas, she was crawling at the time (actually took her first steps in the airport on the way home!), she took two naps a day, and was very content sitting in her mama’s lap.  Fast forward to our trip to FL—no longer an option to nurse during take-off, she is running around, napping once a day, wanting to stay busy with activities, asserting her independence,  and is very interested in communicating wants and needs. In typical fashion, I worried and over prepared for certain parts of the trip, but had not anticipated the few hiccups we encountered.  I was super excited to collect and make little travel activities for her, which she did enjoy the ones that I could actually manage to wrangle out of the bottom of the backpack ;)  We thought that a layover would be a good chance for us all to stretch our legs and have a meal…Little Roo did not understand that she needed to hold a hand in the busy Atlanta airport, so walking around became impossible, and the timing was off for meals (we had brought breakfast and eaten on the first flight) so we weren’t even hungry.  When our flight was delayed another 30 minutes, we all started to lose a little patience.   Luckily it wasn’t long before we were boarding again and Roo was happy to sit and play with the window shade next to our seat for awhile.

Here are the items I packed, their inspirations, and how well they worked! Addison's Travel Activities

Finger Puppets: I have had these for years (in my classroom), she loves them at home, didn’t make it out on the trip.

Color Wheel Matching: Home-made, modeled after Engaging Toddler Activities, she wasn't interested in the color matching or the clothespins.

Crayons and Coloring Book: We love Crayola Twistables because I don’t worry as much about her putting them in her mouth or breaking them, I printed the Brown Bear coloring pages from http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/index.html, coloring is an activity she enjoys both home and away…for a few minutes at a time!

Mini-Backpack: Borrowed from a friend, I thought Roo would like to pull the zippers and find the toys (she loves opening the different pockets in our diaper bag/backpack!)…she wasn’t very interested in the backpack itself.  She adores pressing the buttons on my old cell phone; the Koosh ball, which was always a hit with my students, did not go over well..I think it was a sensory thing!  We soon forgot about the little backpack and lint roller (another idea from a friend).

Family Pictures: I used Photoshop to put the names of the family members we would be visiting. On the way there she wanted to find herself in the pictures, but on the way back and since we have been home, she has enjoyed looking at the other family members, pointing to them and hearing their names.  I need to make these pictures of everyone in our family!

Paint With Water Book and Q-tips: Came across this when I was looking for an airplane board book and thought we’d give it a try…it didn’t make it out on the plane and she really didn’t get into it once we were home.

Stickers: Any scrap booking stickers that I am not going to use, go to Roo..we didn’t play with them on the plane.  She is still trying to grasp the concept of sticking them on paper and then they won't come off...maybe she needs a sticker book!

Stacking Cups: These were a gift that she received for her first Christmas and they are always a popular toy!   We usually keep them in the diaper bag and pull them out at restaurants or waiting rooms.  We pulled down the tray table and she nested them for awhile, until she started thinking it was funny to throw them off!

Matching Game: I printed this Brown, Bear Brown Bear “heads and tails” game from http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.com/index.html.  I made two copies, laminated them, and added Velcro so she could make matches (I think finding the heads and tails without matching would be a little too tricky for her).  I wasn’t sure if she would be able to complete the puzzles herself, but figured she would at least enjoy pulling off the Velcro pieces.  She probably spent more time playing with this than any other thing we packed!  She was able to complete the puzzles…and liked pulling the pieces off!!

Gel Clings: A friend suggested this, but we still haven’t opened them!

Pop-Poms and Cup: I had my husband drill holes in the lid to a small plastic container.  (I have seen this on many blogs).  Roo really enjoyed pushing the pom-poms through the holes. I wish I had brought another container to store the pom-poms in.

Golf Whiffle Balls: I bought these because she loves the ones that they have at our local Childnren’s Museum (plus they are light!)  at the last minute I stuck an empty toilet paper roll in the bag…she liked pushing the balls through the tunnel….and only one rolled away!

Brown Bear Book and Felt Pieces: I ordered the felt pieces from a teacher friend…Little Roo likes the story and the animals, and it coordinated with some of the other activities.  The felt pieces were a little tricky to manage on the plane.

Pipe Cleaners and Beads: We had this set of chunky beads in the basement and I knew the only way she would be able to manage them would be on pipe cleaners…she did like this activity, but still needs a little help.

Other activities that she enjoyed: watching the workers load/unload the luggage, pulling the window screen up and down, browsing the magazines & safety info, looking at pictures of dogs in SkyMall, playing peek-a-boo with the people sitting behind us, sharing snacks (She tried Goldfish crackers for the first time!), and singing songs with motions.  We found that the ERGO carrier was a must have for walking around the airports.

Roo is an easy-going little girl, who makes a great traveler….my husband is already looking at booking a cruise in the next couple months!!

Enjoying some swinging time in the Florida sunshine!

Read Across America Day

Simple, toddler friendly Read Across America Day Celebration!!

We read MANY books everyday, but I wanted to pay tribute to the great Dr. Seuss.

I was bummed when first I missed the Target storytime for Read Across America Day, then found out that our local library wasn’t even reading Dr. Seuss books for storytime this week.  What is a former teacher to do??...  plan our own little celebration, of course!!  Luckily, I was babysitting, so I had more than one little one to share the fun with!  First, I dug out all the Dr. Seuss books I own, and borrowed a few of the simpler texts Hop on Pop and Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? Roo owns a very cute organic cotton Cat in the Hat stuffed animal that had been given to us by her great Aunt…I pulled that out as well.  I had seen a lot of craft and snack ideas to celebrate the life of Dr. Seuss, but none seemed quite right for these young toddlers….they would not understand the ideas behind them quite yet.  They actually both enjoy spinach and eggs..(green eggs?!?) but, I didn’t even think of that at the time.  I decided to do a simple take on the famous hat.  I cut strips of red and white paper and taped contact paper, sticky side up to the table.  Then, I let them explore both the “sticky paper” and the stripes.  It is funny how each of the toddlers' personalities came through in their artwork!  My little Roo tapped her fingers on the sticky paper and placed one stripe at a time, not overlapping much, at first.  Addie had more fun exploring the stripes, dropping them on the floor and sticking handfuls onto the sticky paper.  They even listened to some of Dr. Seuss’ stories and did not destroy the paper books that they are not quite used to (we prefer the indestructible board books around here!)  The best part was that I had all the supplies on hand!! 

What did you do to celebrate the works of Dr. Seuss??  

The Tale of Two Addisons

It has been just about a year since we first met Nicole and Addison Derr.  We all went to try out the Peace Baby Yoga class at Child Light Yoga. Not only did we choose the same name for our sweet daughters, but Nicole quickly recognized the GroVia peeking out of my little Addison’s bloomers….she had also purchased a stash of the same cloth diapers for her Addison, but she didn’t quite fit into them yet.  At that point I knew we were destined to be friends!!  It was a little more than just purchasing the same outfit, and choosing the same name…. I knew that our philosophies would be similar. Nicole found me on Facebook (seriously, thank goodness for Facebook!!!).  Since our initial meeting, the moms have realized we share more than just our taste in baby names.  We love IKEA, running, fashion, coffee (a little too much), and aspire to live a green and simple life!  The “Addisons,” who are three months apart in age, don’t really share anything….just kidding.  We are lucky enough that we see Addison Derr (to be called "Addie" from here on out!) quite often, even without her mama once a week.  It has been amazing to watch both Addisons grow and develop over the last several months.  Their personalities are refreshingly different, despite their mamas similarities!  Since the other Addison is a little bit smaller than mine, we are always swapping clothes….she lets us borrow consignment store finds that are a little too big and we are happy to let her get use out of our hand-me-downs.

 Here they are last June!!!

Swinging away....they like to check each other out!

Last summer--I bought the wagon with them in mind!












 Earlier this week, checking out the fishes
 and lobster at the Seacoast Science Center!

We have been able to experience many milestones in that year!  My Addison was just beginning to “tri-pod” sit on that first meeting…now both girls are walking, talking, and giggling…A LOT.  I will share a few videos to demonstrate my point; I hope others enjoy these little ones laughing together as much as I do.   I have NO IDEA where my Addison gets her laughter ;)

I look forward to many more adventures with these awesome girls--despite the confusion their identical names sometimes brings!

A Green Valentine's Day

Because we are trying to conserve money so that we can add a three-season porch to our house we decided not to spend any money on Valentine’s gifts.  That doesn’t mean that we didn’t make it special.  We (or should I say “I”) got creative.   I actually enjoyed the challenge of using what I had, plus there was not pressure to buy for the sake of buying!!

We up-cycled old crayons for Roo to give to her friends. Printable courtesy of The Long Thread.  Another one of her friends also made a very similar up-cycled heart crayon Valentine after both moms saw the idea on Pinterest, but didn’t re-pin (to keep the Valentine a surprise!) 

This was Roo's first actual cooking project.  She loved it!!!!  We made real chocolate chip cookies as requested by the hubs, who doesn’t always appreciate our healthier eating J  After "helping" I gave her the spatula and a bowl of flour....I used to use flour as a sensory experience when I was a teacher.  Roo stuck the spatula in the flour and licked it off...ha!!

I made pink play-dough for Roo.  Next time I will use natural dyes as suggested by Sun Hats and Wellies.  She is still getting used to the idea of play-dough...her favorite thing to do with it is have someone roll it into balls, which she dumps and fills into the plastic storage container

Cooked Playdough Recipe

3 cups flour

1.5 cups salt

6 tsp cream of tartar

3 tbls oil

3 cups water

Dissove the salt in the water

Pour all ingredients into a large pot

Stil constantly over medium heat until dough just begins to form and pull away from the sides (don’t over cook!)

Remove the dough onto a flour surface and let cool

Knead cooled dough until dough is desired texture (add more flour if it is too sticky)

Store in plastic container, up to three months.

I made Curried Couscous and homemade Focaccia for dinner.

 I was able to type in the lyrics from “All I Ask of You” from the Phantom of the Opera at this website  Festisite and turn them into a heart shape, which is on the card that I made out of scrap booking supplies!  It was a special day for my husband and I as it marked nine years since our first "not a date!"....lunch at the Collins Dining Hall.

Roo and I had a busy day, grabbing coffee in the morning with a friend, prepping dinner and cleaning the house, then a play date with lots of little ones in the afternoon.  The ending to our lovely day was having dinner with daddy!

The hubs contribution to saving money…buying me Dove chocolates when they were half-off the day after, his defense, “I didn’t spend money on Valentine’s Day!”  If you know him, you know I am not joking!!!

I hope everyone had a day filled with love and laughter!

Toddlers do NOT need more energy!

Toddlers do NOT need more energy!! But, ever since the lovely mamas that I know have been enjoying these No Bake Energy Bites courtesy of Smashed Peas and Carrots, I have wanted to make a version that Baby Roo could enjoy.  So I searched Pinterest for PB, Banana, and Cheerio recipes (some of her favorite snacks).  I found Peanut Butter and Banana Bites from Our Family World.  I am not sure that Roo would be able to handle that quite yet.  So, I put the two together.  Here is what I came up with:

Toddler Energy Bites

1 banana, smashed

½ cup Peanut Butter

2 TBLS ground flaxseed

1 cup Cheerios, crushed

If your little one likes to help in the kitchen, you can put the banana in a bag and let them smoosh it (fun sensory experience, too!)….ditto for the Cheerios.  Roo just doesn’t understand why I would put a banana in a bag and not just let her eat it J  We can’t even usually turn bananas into muffins or bread because she loves them so much.  This week we bought bananas in bulk, so I am able to actually use some in a recipe!! 

Mix the smashed banana, PB, and flaxseed.  Pour the crushed Cheerios into a separate bowl.  Using a teaspoon, make small balls of the banana mixture, and roll them in the Cheerios.

Let you little one enjoy right away, then store in the refrigerator...best to make in small batches as bananas don't save well!!

The first one was eaten by picking off all the Cheerios, then devouring the rest.  The second one required a fork!  Of course, true success can be measured…..she asked for “more please!”

Case in point: The night before last Roo started spinning in circles, making herself so dizzy that she couldn't walk straight and thought it was all absolutely hilarious!! This girl does not need extra energy!! I need to get a video of her doing that.