Art's Lunch

I'm new to this whole lunch box thing, and I know some of my friends are too, so why not share some lunch combinations with each other?
I'm limited to finger food and food he can manage with his gums and very few teeth. I also try to give him a wide variety of food, flavour and texture as his palette develops. I'll share a few of his lunch boxes along the way in the hope it may inspire other tired mums who need to get a lunch packed before they can retire for the evening.

I do find it easier to prepare his lunch the night before. It gives me time to cook up things and clear up the dishes if there are any. I also try to incorporate left overs from his dinner into lunch the next day so we don't waste too much food.

So here's one from the other day:

In case you can't see too clearly: 

Peanut butter & Jam sammy sushi. I got a good tutorial here

Egg Frittata: These take only 10 mins to make and I'll share the recipe on another post. 

Pasta: From his dinner that night. 

CousCous balls - from dinner also.

Yoghurt as an after lunch treat later in the day. 

Kiwifruit - I just peel and slice into wedges for him. 

He loves all of the options and always empties his lunch box. Some on the floor, but most in his belly... 

Conversations with Art.

In the mornings I dress him in his room by the heater. He rolls around in delight on his schmoooozy blanket, pulling it over his soft baby skin and losing himself in the silkiness of the fabric. He cannot resist a good schmooze. If he even slightly touches something soft, he literally melts into it.

Mid schmoozing, he pauses to crawl over and hit his 'Chinatown' frame so the music starts up. He looks at me, bopping his head and smiling, as if to say "that's better aye Mum?".
He likes music.

Sometimes when his Dad turns on the stereo, Art is so instantly overwhelmed with excitement and emotion he smiles and cries simultaneously until he can compose himself again and starts bopping. We die every time.

Whilst dressing him, I tell him what he is going to being doing that day and what I'll be doing.
"You're going to Jane's house today Arthur, and you're going to see all of your little friends".  I start naming them, watching his face react in delight when hearing the familiar names. We talk about the games he will play and what's in his lunchbox and his naps he will have (hopefully) and when I'll be picking him up.

He converses with me in his husky babble as if to tell me what he will actually be doing! He often chuckles to himself mid sentence which is pretty adorable and I'm desperate to know his thoughts.

I then tell him what I'll be doing. "Mummy is going to go to work today...and bore him with details of my meetings that day and what projects I'll be working on" . I figure somewhere in that little mind he will be retaining these conversations and will develop with an understanding of what I do on those days when mummy is gone.

I'm yet to have a day when I say "Good morning Little Bear, do you know what we are doing today?! Nothing!" I do find that he is starting to really listen and converse a lot more, and I try to explain as many things as possible to feed his inquisitive little mind.

"Arthur, we are going to go to the swings after breakfast, are you excited?"
His beaming face says it all.

"Arthur, do you know how much Mummy LOVES you? THIIIIISSSS much (arms out). He crawls over and puts his head on my lap and goes "ahhhhhhhh".

He is one in less than two weeks time and I'm in denial. Too much love over here.

I can't help but feel some days when I've been at work, he takes time to forgive me. I know it's stupid, but it's like he is angry at me. I'm not met by a child beside himself with happiness to see me. He isn't the same boy who beams with excitement when we get him up in the mornings.
Instead I find he is quite content doing his little thing and is like 'oh hey mum'. 
A little distant.
My heart hurts a little bit.

I make a point when we walk through the door, to sit down together and have on one one time for at least 30 minutes before I do his dinner. I find after half an hour he has forgiven me and is back to his loving ways. Or is it that after 30 minutes my guilt subsides?

It's working mum anxiety I'm sure. I know deep deep down that he doesn't resent me and he is so young he probably doesn't harbor complex emotions like that?!? I know it's my own doubts creating these thoughts and seeing these things...but I am constantly finding myself shrugging them off. I talk myself out of these mindsets. I reassure myself that he will grow to be proud of me, he is well grounded, balanced and has a very full life.

I think the problem is that I just love this boy more than anything I've ever experienced before. This is a human I'd give my life for in an instant. I beat myself up CONSTANTLY about EVERYTHING. It is so ridiculous. At the end of the day I know he feels the love we have for him. He is so so lucky. He is surrounded by love constantly. Everywhere he turns someone is smiling back at him or bending forward for a kiss, arms outstretched for a hug. He truly is loved.

So there you go, my guilt and emotion out there for the world to read. I feel a little naked and stupid.

Goodnight.

I WANT TO FEED MYSELF!!!!!

I have a nearly one year old (birthday next week!!! I'm in denial!). Having a nearly one year old means that you need to work on a few new skills.

1. To be able to change a nappy whilst a child is standing, dancing or rolling.
2. You need to be able to do up 30 million domes on a onesie whilst a child is either standing, rolling or crawling.
3. You need to convince your child that throwing food is not acceptable. Good luck. We're working on signing 'finished' as an alternative form of communicating "I'm full!"
4. You need to come up with as many finger food options as possible because after a lot of mess and frustration I've come to learn that the child does NOT want ME to feed him. Hold a spoon anywhere near him and he will flick it faster than you can retract.

So unless you want porridge, mince and couscous on every surface in your home (including yourself) you need to  get creative with the finger food. The options provided need to be suitable for young gums and very few widdle teef!

So here we go... I've got a few to share, but I'll spread them over some posts so I feel like I'm posting regular updates and on top of things... despite not being on top of things AT ALL!

Let's start with Vege Bites.

So all I did here was grab any vegetables I could find in the fridge and simmer them on the stove until they resembled a vegetable casserole. I added some left over pinto beans I had frozen in the freezer and added left over roasties from the fridge and fresh tomatoes to make a tomato based sauce. I sprinkled in some oregano, salt reduced vegetable stock, a teaspoon of tomato paste and some cracked pepper.

I then took about three tablespoons of the vege mix and put it into a bowl with a generous sprinkle of rice flour (you can use normal flour too) . Once I had a nice tacky mixture I made tablespoon sized balls of mixture and cooked them in a pan until golden. They held together well, but if you're having difficulty you could add an egg to bind the mixture.

I have about 3-4 tablespoon lots frozen in containers in the freezer labeled as 'vege bite mix'. Place it in the fridge the night before, and it will be ready for cooking for dinner the next night.

You can cook up a few more and pop them in a lunchbox cold for the next day too. I have another use for this mix too which I'll introduce in future posts.

Dinner Destruction

This is a combination of what I find on the floor, in his bib catcher and in the highchair, post the dinner feeding frenzy. Hence why I offer slightly bigger proportions. I'd say 70% in the mouth, 30% in the bin? Notice there's minimal falafel fritter or brocolii in the regurgitation... I take notes on this sort of thing. Sad but true.

Foolproof Babyoli

This was a bit of an experiment.... and was successful, so I've decided to give it Art's (and my own) seal of approval. I only share recipes that I believe anyone of my friends could make for their own children. The meals I share are based on speed, nutrition, variety and ease.

I'm going to give credit to the website which inspired this creation. This website has GREAT baby food ideas and is my go to.  Here's the link... but don't go away just yet. Here's how the above was created...

Take 1/2 cup of regular flour and 1/2 cup of semolina (available in all NZ supermarkets I'm sure and costs around $2-3 a bag). Throw those in a food processor (or a bowl if you want to do it by hand). Drizzle in 1/3 cup of very warm water and 1 Tbsp of oil slowly to the mixture until you have a nice dough.
Turn dough onto a lightly flour dusted board. Knead for a few minutes... not too long... I don't know the science behind pasta making... but found 2-5 mins of kneading worked.
Break dough into halves and roll one half out very thinly with a rolling pin.

You can use anything as filling which is why I think this meal is brilliant. 

I steamed some butternut and spinach and mashed this with a pinch of paprika and cracked pepper.
Place teaspoon amounts of filling onto one half of your rolled dough. My dough wasn't a perfect shape, so I just spaced the filling leaving enough room for edging as opposed to a nice grid.
Fold the other half of your dough over the top and press around each shape.
Take a knife and cut our your individual ravioli pieces. I trimmed them up and pressed the edges with a fork to ensure the edges were all sealed properly.

Place the finished pieces into boiling water until they rise - 2 minutes maximum I'd say.
Remove carefully and drain. I grated some parmesan cheese over the cooked pasta - optional.
Let them cool slightly and serve. I steamed some broccoli and green beans as a side dish.

Even though this explanation looks long and involved it really is simple. I'm the most challenged person when it comes to cooking and I actually didn't stuff it up! My husband was surprised... as was I.
I glad wrapped the other part of my dough and put it in the fridge. I should have made more but the kitchen was chaos with some pies on the go and our own dinner cooking.

I served about 5 pieces to Art and put 5 or 6 more in the fridge for tomorrow night.

I am by no means a specialist in nutrition for children, and so I do share this on the basis that it worked in our house, for my child... and may not be suitable for all. He is 11 months old, but I think he could have eaten this from a much earlier stage.

CousCous - so good I made it twice.

It feels like it's been a while since I posted an Art approved dinner recipe.
Possibly for a few reasons...

1. He has been sick
2. A sick baby is a fussy eater
3. I wasn't sure if he rejected meals because of sickness or taste
4. Was throwing food a phase? or a reaction to a foul dinner?
5. I've been too busy to be creative
6. Sometimes a jar of food is considered a treat O.K?
7. We repeat a lot of meals... because they're YUM!

So now that I've justified that, let me share this one. Not ground breakingly innovative...but easy and delish, so that's enough reason to share right? I don't know why I didn't make more of this and have it for our own dinner? Next time...

The method for this one is pretty straight forward..
.

How to recreate this one... 

Add 1/4 cup boiling water (or boiling salt reduced vege/chicken stock) to 1/4 cup couscous, cover and let sit. Easy.
Steam cubes of pumpkin, courgette and spinnach. I like to add them in that order to avoid over steaming, you really want to just wilt the spinnach, not cook the crap out of it.
I had some roast beef in the fridge left over from the night before. I finely diced it and heated it in a saucepan, then threw that in too.
I then fluffed the couscous, turned it into a larger bowl, added in the vegetables, the meat and combined. I slighlty mash the pumpkin as I'm mixing. Once combined, I drizzled in some coconut milk until the mixture became more combined.
The meat is totally optional. I think any meat would work with this dish - bacon, lamb, chicken.... just not pork probably because pork is yuck.

The idea with making it all more combined is that you can squish it into balls and let the kid feed themselves. Really fluffy couscous doesn't work too well as a finger food... or a spoon food sometimes as it just ends up everywhere! If you find it a bit too fluffy, just add in some more coconut milk. I spoon feed the first bit of the meal, then leave little piles of the mixture on the table for Art to feed himself with (or throw on the floor).

And there you have it - nothing revolutionary, but quick and tasty.