Adventures in Drool 2.5
Eating with baby
Now that our tot is tackling solid foods, we have entered a whole new ballgame. Not to play the woe-is-me mommy card, but now besides creating a healthy, nutritious adult meal, I also have to create something for the droolface.
Dinner time is now a contact sport. Droolface loves to lunge at his food. Perhaps it is that Neanderthal reflex to pounce the food, kill it, then eat it that is raring up in my little man. He sure pounces. My husband dodges and weaves trying to dart the rubber-tipped spoon into Droolface’s mouth, while I wait patiently, armed with a moist towel ready to sop up what oozes back out of his mouth. The spoon goes left, baby pounces and prunes go up his nose! Now this is entertainment.
As for making baby food – roasting is my new best friend. I will roast anything: green beans, carrots, squash. It is quick and easy. Slice up the vegetable, squirt some olive oil on a lipped baking pan, spread out vegetables on pan and insert in 425-degree oven for 30-40 minutes. Then puree. Shazam – delicious, fresh baby food!
The trick is to roast dinner for hubby while roasting vegetables or fruit for the baby. This is a skill I have now mastered. She's quick, she's funny and she can whip up a homemade meal in less than an hour - what a keeper! (At least, that's what I repeatedly tell my husband.)
I have to say making homemade baby food is the best fun of parenting so far; I mean other than the joy of having Droolface in our lives.
How has the transition to solid foods been for you? Reflect on the joy of spoon-feeding while enjoying this picture of Alex lapping up prunes. Have a great day and keep smiling in the kingdom of drool.
Recipe alert!
Send me your favorite baby food recipes and I'll post them on the blog - rachel@capegazette.com.
Here is a recipe I hope to try soon, courtesy of Tyler Florence's Sprout baby food.
Banana, Pineapple & Avocado Pudding
Ingredients:
1 banana, sliced
1⁄4 pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into chunks
1⁄2 Hass avocado
1⁄2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Serve immediately.
Makes four 1/2-cup servings or two 1-cup servings.
Reprinted Start Fresh by Tyler Florence. Copyright (c) 2011 by Tyler Florence. By permission of Rodale, Inc.
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Real Parents. Real Food. Real Fun.
Welcome to Adventures in Drool! Talking about green living, getting rid of plastics and toxic chemicals in our homes and raising happy kids on a budget. Join the conversation (www.adventuresindrool.com) and don't forget to Like us on Facebook!
Rachel Swick Mavity, author of the blog, lives with a reformed drooler (Droolface), who at age 3 loves to get muddy, drink homemade smoothies, giggle and flirt with old ladies. Her current drooler (Birdy) enjoys spitting up on work clothes and leaving drool trails as a way of showing her love.
Mavity previously worked as a journalist for seven years at newspapers from Pennsylvania to Maryland and Delaware. In Sussex County she worked for several newspapers, including the Cape Gazette. She lives in Lewes with her husband, Ryan Mavity, their son, "Droolface," and daughter, "Birdy."
