Munchkin Meals: Lately

I just realized the last time I contributed to Munchkin Meals was last November! Say wha? Don't worry, we are still feeding Molly. Part of the reason is probably that I don't think our meals are all that exciting. We have a couple rules when it comes to mealtime and we try to keep it healthy but other than that its pretty basic stuff. As always, big thanks to Brittany at A Healthy Slice of Life for hosting this linkup. Her recipes and meals are always inspiring...in fact I pinned a couple that I am trying this week!

Our goal for every meal is to get 1 protein, 1 fruit and 1 veggie. Sometimes she only eats the fruit, sometimes only the protein and on occasion every single thing on her plate (and every now and then almost ever single thing goes on the floor). When she eats well she might get a treat like an animal cookie or some organic fruit snacks.

Molly has started getting up earlier and earlier these days (not fun!) but we always start everyday with a cup of hemp milk. As soon as she cracks her little eyes open she asks for her milk. That is usually around 6:45am. After she has her milk she usually has a banana and some organic fruit loops.

Real breakfast is served around 8:30am. A typical breakfast is 1 1/2 egg, strawberries/blueberries/leftover banana and toast. She also really likes turkey sausage so she has that several days a week as well.



Around 10:15 she is ready for  a snack. For her morning snack she gets yogurt or raisins or a Nutrigrain bar. She basically munches on this while playing until its time for lunch.

Lunch is served at 11:45-Noonish. This fluctuates depending on if we are at home or out and about. I usually let her watch a little bit of Bubble Guppies while she eats lunch so I can get some work done. For lunch she usually has nitrate free mesquite turkey/half an all natural hot dog/chicken nuggets, avacado/grape tomatoes/green beans, some puff snacks and grapes.

Right after lunch she goes down for her nap. Lately she has been napping about 2.5 hours. When she wakes up she expects a snack immediately.

Apples have been her thing lately. She loves them. She will snack on an apple on and off all afternoon. She has also been enjoying the Sprouts Organic Foods fruit chews.





Because Molly is constantly in motion she burns a lot of calories and is almost always hungry. When she doesn't have a snack available she will run to the pantry and request something.

By about 6:30 she is ready for another full blown meal. Most of the time she eats what we are eating unless its something I know she won't like. I always offer her what we are eating and I will have a back-up if I know she probably won't like it. She has become very weird about textures so things like veggie lasagna she won't touch.

On this night we had tacos so Molly had a plate of deconstructed tacos. Tortilla, taco meat, avocado and tomatoes with grapes.



During all her meals she drinks water. She isn't a big fan of juice of any kind and I don't really want her to have it anyways. She also gets another cup of milk after bath before she goes to bed.

Pretty tasty stuff! My husband often jokes about how he wishes I made him breakfasts like I make Molly.  : )

Sprouts Snacks + a Giveaway

Getting Molly to eat healthy nutritious foods is sometimes a challenge. She eats her fair share of tomatoes and avocado with the occasional green bean or two thrown in but thats about it. She doesn't eat bad by any  stretch but getting those greens in can sometimes be a problem. I often go to smoothies to sneak in some kale and spinach but those aren't great options for when we are on the go. I might have found a solution though! New toddler snacks from Sprout Organic Foods!

When I heard about these I knew that Molly would most likely devour them and I love all the great healthy ingredients. 

The Fruit & Veggie Crispy Chews are my favorite because they look like fruit snacks but they pack of punch of good stuff! With combinations like Orange Fruit & Carrot and Red Berry & Beet I can sneak fruits and veggies into Molly's diet without have to beg her to eat something. Win!

The real test came when Sprout Organic Foods sent us some to try out.



When Molly woke up from her nap I set these out for part of her snack. She went right for them, even bypassing the teddy grahams and her favorite - goldfish!



Toddler approved!



We went through the samples that Sprout Organic Foods sent us in two days! I then ran out and grabbed a couple boxes to keep on hand. They are now a permanent fixture in our snack rotation and I love that I can feel good about what I am giving her to munch on.

Their snacks are made with certified organic ingredients and contain no preservatives, artificial colors, flavors or other additives. I love that! You can find more information on their website about all the great  essential vitamins and other health facts that are part of their foods. Plus you know they will taste good because they come straight from Chef Tyler Florence's kitchen!

"Sprout’s mission is to create delicious and nutritious foods using the finest organic ingredients. Our baby food stages grow with your child to provide a balance of wholesome and organic vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and proteins. Our unique recipes will nourish your child’s growth and encourage a love of healthy foods right from the start."

Doesn't get much better than that. Oh wait it does...

For a couple lucky readers -- you will get to snack away on these healthy treats too! The team at Sprout Organic Foods generously offered to send a pack of the new Toddler Snacks to one of my readers!


Giveaway Details:

To win, simply comment on my post (be sure to include your email) with the words "Eat Clean" and tell me what your favorite go-to snack for your kiddo is.

Giveaway closes Wed July 3rd at 12pm CST.

Good luck!

To learn more about the product you can visit the website and follow them on Twitter @SproutFoods

When She Won't Eat Her Veggies

It finally happened, as I secretly knew it would, she stopped eating her vegetables. Our once great eater, who we could count on to down anything we put in front of her, has become a tad picky. Some days she won't eat anything but bread, cheese and fruit and other days she is a little more willing to go for a few veggies, and some meat. But lately veggies are on her do not eat list. Great.

With a growing toddler we know, as parents, that vegetables are very important. And since Molly seems to be a "runt" we want her to eat lots of veggies to grow big and strong. While we aren't to terribly worried because she does eat a lot of the super foods that are good for babies/toddlers we do want some veggies in her diet.

So, what to do?

We get sneaky. : )

Our latest trick uses apple sauce as the disguise. We make our own apple sauce and infuse it with kale or spinach. It turns an awesome green color but mostly keeps the taste of apple sauce. Molly loves it and most importantly eats it!

Green Apple Sauce

by Hallie Vincent

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 0

---

Apple Sauce w/hidden vegetables

Ingredients (1 small batch)

• 1 apple (we prefer gala)
• 2 ounces water (alter for desired consistency)
• 1 bunch Kale or Spinach

Instructions

• Cut the apple into small squares and add to blender
• Pour in water
• Chop up Kale and add to blender
• Mix all together until reaches desired consistency

So for all those Moms with kiddos on veggie strike, give her a try.

And here is to hoping she starts eating the green beans, brocoli, and peas again.

Munchkin Meals: Challenges

Been awhile since I have written about Munchkin Meals but its mostly because I think we are pretty boring when it comes to meals. So, that fits this months theme...challenges! Big thanks to Brittany at A Healthy Slice of Life for hosting this linkup. And hopefully getting this Mom out of a rut.



I will admit, I am going to piggy back off of Madeline at Food, Fitness, & Family and talk about snacks.

Molly is now up to 3 meals a day and 2-3 snacks depending on how well she is napping (aka not well lately!). And I struggle so much to find good snacks for her.

She is a carb fiend! Unfortunately I know where she got that from. (shamefully pointing at myself) She loves puffs, graham crackers, mum-mums, cheerios, vanilla wafers etc. etc. etc. I like those options because they are quick and easy, portable, and she can eat them w/out making a huge mess. She is also a big fan of blueberries (woah, baby crack!) and grapes. I try to save the blueberries for her dessert with meals so those are out for snacks.

So, I need something a little less carb heavy and more nutritious. We are about to give peanut butter a try so hopefully she has no allergies and we can weave that into snacks.

In the meantime...CARB LOAD!



So help me out Moms and link up to Brittany's Munchkin Meals with snack ideas!

Munchkin Meals: Lately

Excited to be back to share our recent exploration with food on this week's Munchkin Meals linkup courtesy of Brittany @ A Healthy Slice of Life

Molly's discovery of new foods continues and she is such a great little eater. She hasn't turned away from anything we have given her and loves when mealtime comes around.

Breakfast is still not terribly exciting. Most days its some YoBaby yogurt, organic mini waffles and a few pieces of banana. Occasionally we do eggs with a little bit of cheese. She loves it all!

A lot of times when lunch rolls around we are out running errands so we will stop into a restaurant and have a lunch date or go meet her Dad for lunch. What is SO nice about Molly eating table food is that we can easily feed her from a restaurant menu and often times she can share with me. Last week we stopped off at Chipotle and shared a burrito bowl with chicken, black beans, tomatoes, cheese, cilantro rice and pico. Yum!

When dinner rolls around we usually lean on our leftovers from the night before to be Molly's dinner. She still eats earlier than we do so this works out really well. On this evening she had rotisserie chicken, green beans, diced up cherry tomatoes and peaches.

For snacks we have been eating a lot of blueberries. Girl LOVES her blueberries!

She almost always finishes the amount we put out for her and sometimes we even have to give her a little more. Its so fun to watch her eat and find new foods she really likes!

Sometimes she even helps me fix her food (I wish).

I hope her love for food and not being picky continues for a long time to come.

Happy Eating.

Munchkin Meals: Dinner Bell!

Thanks again to Brittany at A Healthy Slice of Life, I am back with another Munchkin Meals Thursday post. This week is all about dinner.

Dinner is my favorite meal of the day for Molly because there are so many options. I feel restricted at breakfast and lunch but dinner is open and she can usually eat a variation of what we are eating.

But...that would mean we have to eat at the same time. Unfortunately between my schedule, Molly's schedule and when her Dad gets home the stars don't align very often and we eat after Molly goes to bed.

When I first thought about solids I pictured myself making all of these delicious purees on Sundays and then freezing them for easy reheating for meals. Then we moved away from purees and to baby led weaning and that plan was shot! Now I need more preparation for her dinner, something I have not mastered yet.

A lot of times Molly will have leftovers from our meal the night before. This is actually the perfect set up because I can just reheat whatever we had and boom, done!

This week I am featuring left over pot-roast (minus the beef). It was a big hit!

Her full dinner featured slow cooked potatoes, carrots and celery with turkey veggie ravioli as her meat item. For dessert she has fresh nectarines. 

And now for the video proof!

Molly eating dinner from ChasingHallie on Vimeo.

Munchkin Meals: Lunchtime!

Thanks again to our gracious host Brittany at A Healthy Slice of Life its Munchkin Meals time. And this week is all about lunch.

Now that Molly is becoming such a great little eater I am finding it hard to come up with new foods to feed her, and harder to plan ahead so that I have things available and ready for her.

Lunch is probably my biggest challenge in terms of creativity. I like to leave the "fun stuf" for dinner so I am having trouble coming up with things to do when its lunch time. Sounds a lot like figuring out lunch for myself.  : )

As of late our lunches usually involve cheese of some sort and a meat protein. Then fruit for dessert.

Our menu yesterday consisted of rotisserie chicken, colby jack cheese, black beans and fresh nectarines. The nectarines are SO perfect right now and absolutely delicious. Molly LOVES them. And I have to be careful because if she finds them first its all she wants.

Get em while there hot in season! Our grocery cart gets nectarines every time we make a stop.

Looking forward to adding to my lunch arsenal with all the great Munchkin Meals link ups this week!

What are your kiddos eating for lunch?

Molly's Munchkin Meals

Brittany over at A Healthy Slice of Life started an awesome weekly blog column titled Munchkin Meals to allow Moms to share their kiddos meals passing along great ideas for all.

Since Molly is still working on her ability to grab food, so we do a combo of purees and real foods. I wasn't sure I was really going to be able to share since most of the kiddos are BLW and eat some really impressive foods (better than my meals!). But as she grows she is getting better and better and her palate more sophisticated.

So...we are jumping in to Munchkin Meals!

For Breakfast Molly has a 1/2 cup of YoYo Baby yogurt (Blueberry is her favorite) along with some pieces of toast or a croissant etc.

For lunch, at around 12:30 or 1 after her morning nap, she gets sweet potatoes, some HealthyBabies puffs and usually some turkey and cheese. She LOVES cheese.



We also usually have an afternoon snack ranging from puffs, mum-mums, cheerios, yogurt bites etc.



Dinner is where we get a little more exciting.



Turkey meatloaf, black beans, sweet potatoes, croissant and pears for dessert. Yum!



It is so fun to start giving her  more "big girl" foods and nice to be able to give her what we are eating. Hoping she continues to be a good eater!