Sluuuuurrrp

So, Brad's been traveling a lot.

I'm a chicken. 

True story.

I'm a big chicken.

So, when Brad's away, I never put anything on any Internet mediums of any kind that would suggest that he's not around, just in case there are creeps watching.

{If you are a creep, and you want to roll the dice that my husband might not be home, know this---I sleep with a baseball bat. I was a good ball player back in the day, but that doesn't matter, because I will beat the ever-loving stuff out of you if you dare to keep this twin mama from her precious sleep}

Anyway. When he's away, the girls and I treat ourselves to our favorite delivery food.  It's a local joint. Asian food made with fresh, real ingredients--it's delicious. Not your average Chinese take-out, people!

The girls love to gobble up their crab rangoon. Then, they set to work on the noodles. Pad Thai and spicy Sesame Noodles.

I love watching them slurp down those noodles! Makes me giggle every time! Makes Brad being gone almost worth it. Almost.

Eat Your Veggies!

I recently read an interview with the author of a baby food making website I frequent. In the interview, she admonished parents for trying to sneak vegetables into their children's food. Instead, she challenges parents to get their kids excited about vegetables by discovering new, tasty ways to prepare them. I don't know if I agree or disagree with this. With twins, I often put myself in the "whatever works" camp--it's just easier sometimes. And--I'm not quite certain how to get nine month old twins excited about vegetables short of dressing up like a carrot and dancing a jig.

I'm still pureeing the majority of the girls' food, so I mix protein, fruits and vegetables together and turn on the food processor. They eat some finger foods after their puree for "dessert". The girls have surprised me on more than one occasion with what they will eat, both pureed and non. I thought I'd share a few of our non-puree successes.

Kale Chips

Probably the most surprising was the kale chip. My husband came home from work one day talking about kale chips. It just so happens that I know to make kale chips. For those who don't know, there are three different varieties of kale--curly, tuscan and red. We used red, but tuscan would probably work the best. The recipe is super easy. Kale chips just sorta melt in your mouth--the girls, Hadley especially, loved them!

1 bunch of kale, washed with the ribbing cut out
Olive oil--about a tablespoon, give or take (enough to coat the leaves)

Mix the kale and olive oil with your hands then take the individual kale leaves and lay them out on a baking sheet. At this point, you can sprinkle them with sea salt and/or pepper if you want. They have sort of a peppery flavor on their own. Bake at 250 degrees for 30 minutes if you're using tuscan kale, and about 33 minutes if you're using red or curly kale. Aren't they pretty?

Broccoli and Cheese Nuggets

This recipe I adapted from here. I used fresh broccoli instead of frozen, and whole grain baby food rather than bread crumbs for added iron. I make a bunch of these, freeze them, and defrost a few at a time for the girls as needed. Yes, the girls do love their broccoli. Who knew?

1 big bunch of broccoli--steamed and then pureed
1 cup whole grain baby cereal
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
2 tsp fresh chopped oregano (1 tsp dried )

Mix ingredients together, and shape into nuggets on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, flip them, and continue baking for another 10 minutes.

Zucchini Pancakes

The pancake has become my friend around here. It makes a quick, easy finger food for the girls. I can make them ahead of time, freeze between pieces of wax paper, and thaw individually as needed. Then, in a flash, I can use a pizza cutter to quickly cut them into bite-sized pieces.
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp ground savory
1 tsp marjoram
2 eggs
1/2 cup pureed winter squash or carrot
1/2  cup shredded zucchini (I leave part of the peel on)
1/2 cup shredded cheese (we use cheddar or mozzarella)
2 cups milk
3 tbsp butter

Mix ingredients together and cook in the skillet. Make sure to use olive oil or cooking spray to coat the pan between cakes.

Herbed and Seasoned Babyfood

I've been trying to broaden, not only the twins' meal selections, but also their palate by adding herbs and seasoning to their foods. So far it has been met with mostly successes. A friend just told me that you have to expose a baby to something seven times for them to get a taste for it. The girls do seem to really enjoy the new flavors we've been adding to their foods. Below are the "recipes" of the things that we've tried so far. I don't really have amounts to give you, it's a matter of taste, and, for us, whatever fits in our mini food processor. Just throw everything in and puree. If the ingredients aren't wet enough to get the right consistency, I add water, juice, chicken broth or breastmilk. Oh, just a note, I used fresh herbs. If you use dried herbs, use half as much--the flavors are more concentrated in dried form than fresh.

Minted Peas:
Mint
Peas
Cucumber
Applesauce
Whole Milk Greek-style yogurt

It took Brynne a few bites to get over the texture of the skin of the peas, as soon as she did, she gobbled it down.

Sage Chicken:
Sage
Baked chicken breast
Sweet potato
Applesauce
Chicken broth

This was probably the girls' favorite. I took the stems out of the sage.

Basil and Eggs
Eggs
Sweet Basil
Mozzarella

When I think of basil, I usually think of tomatoes. I didn't want to give the girls tomatoes just yet, because they are a pretty acidic food. So, I opted to put it in eggs along with some cheese.

Chicken Satay
Baked Chicken Breast
Whole Milk Yogurt
Curry Powder (mild)
Fresh Grated Ginger
Natural Peanut Butter

Pumpkin Yogurt
Whole Milk Yogurt (I use Greek-Style)
Pumpkin puree
Applesauce
any or all of the following:
Cinnamon
Ground Ginger
Nutmeg
Allspice

This is our girls' favorite breakfast! We have it almost every morning. I change it up with the spices--they love it!

What are some of your kids' favorite herbs and spices?

Cacophony of Fall Flavors

Friday I enjoyed my first pumpkin spice latte of the season--all those fall flavors swirling around in my mouth made me want to throw on an oversized cardigan and hunker down with a good book in front of a roaring fire. Our girls have been enjoying the tastes of fall around here as well, and I think they love it almost as much as their mama. In my endeavors to make all the girls' baby food, a friend suggested I try sugar pumpkin. While we are very adventurous eaters around here, pumpkin was not something I would have thought of doing on my own. I'm so thankful to her for suggesting it to me, because my daughters' favorite thing to eat is pureed roasted sugar pumpkin, mixed with homemade apple sauce, plain whole milk yogurt and cinnamon--a fall flavor explosion, and they gobble up every last bite. If you have little ones, you should give this concoction a try. You can thin it with breastmilk, juice, water or other liquid-y substance of your choice and have your little one enjoy a smoothie. It's pretty scrumptious--you might want to have some for yourself!

There are other flavors of fall around here too. The girls have enjoyed two different varieties of squash, pears, turkey, sweet potatoes and Brynne was chewing on the mouth of an empty bottle of pumpkin beer the other day, so I'm sure that was quite an experience for her, flavorfully speaking. My friend also mentioned that we should give parsnips a try. I think that's a cold weather/fallish indulgence. I figured that since she didn't steer us wrong with the pumpkin, we could track down some parsnips and give those a whirl too. If anyone has any recipes or cooking tips for parsnips, I am eager, and ready to learn!

Speaking of fall, we had a great time today at the apple orchard. Enjoy the pics!

Shellfish, here we come!

So, our girls like peanut butter--a lot.

What?! Peanut butter?! They are only seven months old. Yes, I know. Believe me, I was a nervous wreck about it. I waited to let them try it when my husband was home, so that if I needed to give one a tracheotomy with a ball point pen and a kitchen knife, he would be around to dial 911, and watch the other one.

Friday we were in the pediatrician's office for a weight check. While we were there, I talked with her about food allergies. My husband has some food allergies, so I had been very cautious about introducing foods to our daughters. She said that emerging research suggests that children have a lower incidence of food allergies if they are exposed to highly allergic foods between the ages of six and eight months while being breastfed. She said that my breastmilk gives them antibodies to combat allergic reactions. She recommended throwing eggs, peanuts, strawberries and shellfish at them, as well as anything else that I've been so careful to avoid

Now, I have definitely not been in agreement with my pediatrician on several points. I quickly learned that, while she did breastfeed her own children, she doesn't know a whole lot about it, and often would give me information appropriate for a formula fed, not a breastfed baby. Fortunately, I have a lactation consultant, a great friend who is breastfeeding, Baby Center, and kellymom.com to support me in my endeavors to breastfeed our twins, and relied on those resources for breastfeeding related questions/concerns. On the whole food allergy front, though, I feel confident that she knows what she's talking about.

So, we took the plunge. Peanut butter and bananas were a hit. I'm still waiting a few days between introducing new foods. I'd like to keep track of what they've had, so that if some sort of reaction does occur, I can pinpoint the cause. Whew! One huge common food allergy averted. Now, on to shellfish!

We have squash

Yes, that's right. The highlight of my evening a few nights ago was to discover that there was, indeed, a squash growing on our vine. While I realize this is exactly what you would want to have growing on a squash vine, I was uncertain if we were going to have any squash to harvest or not--our crop got off to a rough start. Our neighbors have amazing squash growing, literally, 10 feet from our squash vines, and I've developed quite the case of "squash envy" watching multiple squash appear on her vines. So, I am thrilled to have some of our own!

Saturday evening, on our nightly jaunt through our garden, in addition to rejoicing over our lone squash, we noticed that the peaches on the tree bordering our property are ready for picking. I confirmed this by sampling some, just to be sure--it doesn't get much fresher than that! As to whose tree it actually is, we decided that the peaches growing on our side of the tree would be ours--seems reasonable, right? We had already purchased some peaches and plums at the farmer's market that morning. So--what'ts a girl to do with lots of fresh peaches? Make baby food of course!

They went from this...

...to this...

...and finally...

I have just enough peaches left to make peach crisp--yum! I just need to get to the grocery store, so that I can finish the crisp off with some vanilla ice cream. Can you think of a better summer treat?! It makes my mouth water to think about it!

Avacados, squash and sweet potaotes--oh my!

What has you excited these days? For me, it is baby food. Yes, I know that sounds strange, but as the girls near the six month mark, I'm starting to get really excited about making their baby food, or maybe it's the project of making their baby food--hard to say. When I put my mind to something, I tend to become borderline obsessed, and everything I tell you after this point will only confirm this for you.

I've been reading this great baby food making website and am all geared up and ready to go! Their first food will be avocado, followed by (after the necessary four day waiting period) sweet potatoes, then apples or pears--I haven't planned it out quite that specifically, but I have lots of ideas!

Each day the girls and I walk through our garden to see how things are growing. We check out the progress of the tomatoes, sweet potatoes, squash and pumpkin and we smell the sage, oregano, chives, basil, thyme and lavender. We've also recently decided that the fruit trees that border of our property will provide the girls with their first taste of peaches and pears--shh, don't tell our neighbors. I get pretty giddy, as I see the squash and pumpkin vines growing longer and fuller. Harvesting bright red tomatoes fills me with glee. It's going to be a good harvest, and the girls are going to have so much fun exploring these new tastes. I love that many of their first foods will have been grown in our own backyard--pesticide and chemical free.



I'm very much looking forward to watching their faces explore new tastes and textures. From my perspective, it seems as though the whole food thing would totally rock a baby's world. It's completely new and foreign to them. Maybe I'm over thinking this whole experience, but one day they are chowing on breast milk, and the next day--bam--a flavor explosion! Suddenly a cornucopia of flavors and textures all at once! Don't you, kind of, wish you could remember that experience? I know I do--I bet it was intense. I plan to "remember" that experience for the girls, so that I can tell them all about it someday.