How to eat a rice cake w/ almond butter and banana

According to Boo:


1. Pick off banana slices and put on side of plate.
2. Pick off almond butter with fingers and suck off until rice cake is almost clean.
3. Eat rice cake.

Chili

Given the cooler weather I felt that it was time for a nice pot of chili. So I threw everything together this morning and set the crockpot to go. It was a great lunch for the daycare, as I didn't have to mess with it much. I did tweak the recipe a bit. The recipe is one that I found online. Here's a link:

Crock Pot Chili Recipe

I added a few more cans of diced tomatoes, a couple of cans of tomato paste, and some water. I don't like my chili thick. If you like thick chili then I'd leave this recipe alone as far as that goes. I didn't add the jalopenos as I had two toddlers partaking. I especially wasn't sure how the dc kiddo would do with spice, so I kept the "kick factor" down a bit. I added 1/2 teaspoon less tabasco. I think if I was making this just for the family, I'd add the jalopeno, the amount of tabasco in the recipe, and a bit more chili powder. But anyways, it turned out absolutely delicious!

If I'd been thinking about it I would've taken pictures. Both boys decided that their chili did not belong in the bowl, but on the table. What a mess!

Sitting at the Big Boy Table

For at least 2, maybe 3 weeks Boo has been eating many meals at a small table instead of the highchair. I'm in the process of building a home daycare business and we have one full-time dc kid right now who's a few months older than Boo. Boo is now 15 months old. So I decided to try them on the table as previously Boo was in a highchair and the dc kiddo was in a booster seat. Well, he does wonderfully at the table. He definitely needs reminders to sit at the table, but I think he does wonderful. For dinner he's often in the highchair simply because we're eating at the big table as a family. But I think it's great that he's gotten so much practice eating at a real table. He also does really well with an open cup. Yes, there are still times when he chooses to dump his drink all over himself rather than drink it. But overall, he does really well. I know I'm boasting here. I can't help it. I get so proud of all the little things that he learns to do!

He is a bit pickier now that he's a big toddler, but he still does really great overall. There are some days where he looks at a food and I can just hear his brain saying, "Really? This is for lunch. You've got to be kidding me."

Plates, silverware, and cups...oh my!

Vow to Self

- From here on out, I'm going to be better at giving Boo plates, silverware, and open cups to experiment with. I'm going to try not to just throw food on his tray as though it were a trough. I'm going to actually remember to get out a plate and place his food nicely on the plate, even if it only stays there for a short while. I'm going to give him silverware so that he can at least recognize there's another option aside from fingers (even if he chooses not to try it). I'm going to give him his open cup more because the cheesy grin he gives when he gets to slop water all over himself from the open cup is just priceless.

Eating on the Run

There's a problem in our eating that I'm struggling to fix. Whenever we get busy, meaning if we have anything going on during the evening at all, we end up eating out. And it's so awful. Usually the food is not very healthy. It's expensive and we really can't afford to eat out that often anyways. But I find that this happens over and over because the majority of what I buy is just not quick to prepare. So I'm trying to figure out what to do about this. I think it's really putting a wrench in the works as far as the healthy eating goes. Perhaps I would start to see some change in my health if it weren't for the eating out. And yes, this problem happens pretty regularly. And it's not stuff Boo should be eating either. I don't want him to get in the habit of eating junk just because he's in a hurry. And honestly, sometimes it's not because I'm in a hurry. Sometimes this happens because I'm just tired and can't imagine dragging myself into the kitchen to fix a meal. So, I need to figure this out for us to be more successful in our journey of healthy eating and teaching Boo good eating habits.

Almondapplicious Banana Grill

That's what I'm calling what we had for lunch today. I used sourdough bread. On one side was almond butter. The other side I put unsweetened applesauce. For the filling I cut thin slices of banana - I think it could be overkill if the banana was too thick. I then grilled this just like you would a grilled cheese. This was so yummy. Boo and I both approved. Although Boo prefers to pull his sandwich apart and eat the insides, then suck on the bread!

Quinoa Pilaf with Feta

We had this last night. So, Boo loved this and I loved it. T hated it. He's fed up with the vegetarian meals...LOL! I got it out of a Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook entitled "Simple Suppers." Someone recommended it to me and I think it's pretty great!

And by the way, quinoa is pronounced "keen-wa". Oops...and all this time I was saying "quin-oh-uh". My bad. A friend recommended this product and I'm glad that we tried it. It was super easy to prepare and I could definitely see this going with a lot of things.

We had the leftovers for breakfast this morning as we got around pretty late and I just didn't feel like making much, what with my recently sprained ankle and all. Yes, I'm afraid that it's made me quite lazy!