Trying this better eating habits thing…

Darn kids change everything. After having Eli, my whole view on life has changed, (I would sure hope so!) Suddenly, I found myself caring more about this little human being than I have ever cared about anything else in my entire life. I would do ANYTHING for this kid…including, gulp, cook. (I tried so hard to type that last word without grimacing.)

Anybody else get an urge to wanna pat that bumper?

I’m not sure why, but I’ve never enjoyed cooking very much. Something about putting all that work into something that will only last minutes, I find disheartening. (I give mad props to those of you who are elaborate cake/cookie decorators! How do you do it knowing your hard work and creativity is going to be gobbled up and GONE in a fraction of the time it took to prepare it! Gah! I can’t stand the thought.) That’s why I’m a crafter. You get to keep these things and love on them for-e-VER .

So back to my point of writing this blog post. Naturally, as with anything you hold precious to your heart, you research ways to keep it in pristine condition. You don’t let that vintage car that you meticulously wash, wax, and maintain regularly just sit out in the driveway exposed to the elements, do you? No WAY! You  don’t want to jeopardize the paint job (Ha! listen to me talk like I’m a car expert ). Well same thing for the mind and body of my little one. When it came time to feeding him big boy foods, it got me thinking about my own eating habits and how much processed foods I eat . I don’t want him to eat the junk I eat! That, coming from a person who always considered herself to eat relatively healthy and not knowing anything about “whole” foods vs heavily processed foods. Boy was I wrong. I am NOT good at eating veggies, or varying my diet. I crave salt, sugar and fatty foods regularly. And here he was, eating anything I was willing to put anywhere near the vicinity of his little hands and/or mouth. Oh the power! (If you really want to know just how truly bad you eat, you should check out 100 days of real food . But then again maybe not, ignorance is pure BLISS!)

I feel God has given me a gift in Eli being a good eater so I need to take advantage of it. Even if that means getting out the pots and pans and spending a couple of hours in the kitchen at night after he goes to bed cooking wholesome, whole food recipes for him to eat for the week. Surprisingly, I’m liking it . It’s fun experimenting with new wild and crazy recipes that pack a nutritional punch. And let me tell you, nothing beats the satisfaction I get from watching that kid gobble it up as if I’m a gourmet chef . Muuuuah! Love you Punkin! Look at what he ate today:

A mixture of asparagus, sweet corn, sauteed onion, garlic, zucchini and quinoa. He loved it!

If any of you mommas have babies at home or baby sit babies (Hi mom!) here’s an AWESOME website www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com that I reference daily! If you only look at one thing on that page, check out the 10 ways to save time in making your own baby food. Even if you’re crazy busy, this can work for you, (unless you eat out every day of the week for every meal, then it isn’t a miracle worker!) It gives you all sorts of advice on new foods to introduce and how to prepare them. There is an all natural cake recipe that I plan to make for Eli’s first birthday smash cake with no added sugar . And if you have a kitchen aid mixer with the grater attachment, (I don’t, I just covet) I recommend the baby chicken fingers with apple. Here is the recipe directly from the website:

Infant finger food recipes - Baby Chicken Fingers With Apple (age 7/8 months+)

8 oz (1 cup) ground chicken

1 medium carrot 1

medium apple

1/2 garlic clove
1/2 small onion
1 small egg yolk, beaten
1 oz (1/4 cup) fresh breadcrumbs
pinch crushed, dried thyme
pinch freshly ground black pepper
*Peel and grate the carrot, apple, garlic and onion. Place into a mixing bowl, along with the ground chicken. Add the beaten egg yolk, breadcrumbs, thyme and black pepper. Mix well. Take small balls of the mixture and roll into 8 little "sausages". Place on a grill pan (broiler) and heat under the grill for 10 mins on each side. Allow to cool. Serve, or store some in the freezer for future use (if you haven't already eaten them!)

Yumm-O! Make a huge batch because you’ll be dipping into these puppies as well and before you know it, you’re bargaining more cheerios for the last bite :/

Oh and don’t forget to check out the dirty dozen and clean 15 when giving baby produce.

Let me know if you try any of these recipes and what you think!

I leave you with Eli’s chompers:

-Lnds