Brown Sugar Babies: What's On Your Plate?

As a mommy of littles, food consumes a vast majority of your day. A topic of discussion amongst moms is often what your kids eat, as they grow through changes, like stages of eating, to changes in preference. With a preschooler going through a growth spurt I feel like I live in the kitchen. Thankfully both of my kiddos are fairly good eaters, I attribute this to: 1) Both of my babes are/were breastfed, Olivia is still nursing and Sean was nursed for 19 months. It is said that flavors of food pass through breast milk and babies who nurse tend to be more adventurous when starting solids. 2) I made their baby food. Have you ever played the baby food game at a baby shower and missed several because the taste/color was indistinguishable? Exactly, homemade baby food tastes fresher and more similar to eating the whole food itself, which helped my kids transition to eating these foods later as finger foods 3) We buy it, so they eat it! They won’t eat what’s not readily available. If fast food and junk food is what is on hand, their taste buds will begin to prefer that over other food choices. Trying to get a child to change from eating those salty, sweet, and fatty foods is very difficult, trust me I know from experience. Feed them right from the start!

Now I will say my family is not vegan, vegetarian or healthy food fanatics. We do eat pizza and cookies and other not so healthy treats on occasion; but we try to keep eating fast food and junk to a minimum, cook as much as possible rather than quick processed meals, and try to keep introducing new foods to our diets. We do like to eat out on the weekends since we love other cultures' food. Our favorites are Japanese, Greek, and Indian. When we eat out both kids also eat and get to try new things.

My goal is for my family to eat the R A I N B O W every day. I feel that by eating the rainbow each day they are getting tons of vitamins and minerals from an array of items, and it keeps them from getting bored or stuck on a “favorite.” I keep the refrigerator stocked each week with fruits and vegetables of all colors/variety and fill in with protein and grains to make a meal. When we are out and about I always carry snack bags of fruit, nuts, water/juice, granola etc. so that I am not enticed to stop and pick up fast food. Sometimes I get in a rut and feel like they are eating the same thing so I head to Pinterest for toddler meal ideas; weelicious is a great website for little people meals.

Here is a list of what produce we typically eat throughout the week:

Red: strawberries, watermelon, tomatoes, apples

Orange: oranges, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, mango, carrots, peaches, persimmons

Yellow: banana, lemons (juiced in our water), squash, pineapple, corn (popcorn)

Green: edamame, spinach (salad, green smoothies), kale (salad, green smoothies), kiwi, green beans, peas, broccoli, zucchini, avocado, grapes, celery (snack with peanut butter, green smoothie), lettuce, pears, peppers, asparagus

Blue/Purple: eggplant, blueberries, grapes, plums

I used to say that I would not be that mom who cooks separate meals for their kids, but I had to eat my words. On occasion I will go to one of Sean’s “go to” meals which is “green pasta,” pesto pasta made with Barilla Plus Pasta and pesto sauce. I like the Barilla Plus because it is made from wheat and legume flour, flaxseed, and oats. It is full of protein and omegas which is perfect for the kiddos since they don't eat a lot of meat.

Most days though both kids will eat an abbreviated version of the main meal cooked for dinner. Below are examples of how I prepare meals for myself and the kids.

* Taco Night: Mine (taco salad), Olivia's deconstructed taco, Sean's taco and guacamole

*Asian- Mine (veggie fried rice (brown), stir fried veggies, sprouts) Sean (edamame, spring roll, rice, miso soup) Olivia (brown rice, veggies)

*Pasta Night: Eggplant Parmesan

* Sean's Plate- he doesn't like sauce or cheese on his, Olivia has her eggplant diced in with the pasta, Mine (regular)

I do a loose meal plan each week before I go grocery shopping so I basically jot down what I will prepare for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and use that for my list.

The following are a few samples of what the kids typically eat.

Breakfast: *always served with fruit, sometimes bacon or egg

Sean and Olivia eat the same thing for breakfast.

homemade wheat/flaxseed blueberry banana pancakes ( I make a big batch twice a month and freeze them so in the morning I just need to heat them)

Kashi blueberry waffles

Multigrain oatmeal with sautéed apples or peaches

Cereal

French toast

Homemade orange or blueberry/banana muffin

Lunch:
Sean- soup, grilled cheese, plums Olivia- melon, avocado, black eye peas
Sean's school lunch- fruit, craisens, pesto pasta, garlic bread Olivia- pasta, cheese, mango, avocado

Sean:

Pesto Pasta, salad

Grilled Cheese, soup

Turkey Sandwich

Homemade Pizza

Peanut butter & Jelly sandwich

Tacos

Beans and Rice

Homemade Vegetable Fried Rice, edema me, veggie spring roll

Homemade mac and cheese with pureed squash baked in

Olivia usually has a deconstructed version of Sean’s lunch: for example if he has a sandwich, she will have the meat, cheese, and veggies without bread diced up.

Snacks:

air popped popcorn and fruit

graham crackers/apples/celery with peanut butter
smoothie
tortillas and salsa/guacamole
homemade fruit popsicle
yogurt and granola
veggies and dip

Dinner:

We all eat some form of the same meal majority of the time. Sean and Olivia are not big meat eaters so they will sometimes have the sides with a salad.

We normally have fish at least once a week, a veggie dish like eggplant or beans once a week, and chicken the rest of the week. I do not cook pork (outside of bacon) or beef (occasional ground beef maybe once a month) at home often. Here a few sample meals:

(left--> right)
Mine and Olivia's stuffed chicken breast, veggies, mashed potatoes