HONEST FOOD - MID WEEK MEAL

So thank you to all those that left comments or links in my last food post. Actually since writing that post we've done much better with branching out in the food world - maybe me fessing up to you guys helped spur me on to being more creative. Anyway I did try out Lia's amazing Butternut Squash Jamba stew, and actually me and Ben LOVED it, but Stan found it too spicy for him. However he did give it a good go, so I think if I lessen the spice he will eat it up. It was a great mid week number too, not too complicated. Thank you Lia! Sarah from Archie's left two great Aubergine ones which I have done both before.......however Stan didn't enjoy the meatballs, but it was a while ago now, so maybe time to have a go again. And I think I want to try the mild curry on Alexis blog, as that sounded good too.

So onto my easy mid week meal that Stan seems to like at the moment, and it doesn't in the least shriek toddler food so you can all enjoy as a family. It is adapted from this Nigel Slater recipe and it is on the table in about 30 minutes.

This is what you need 

While the linguine is cooking soften the fennel and onion in olive oil

add feta (About 100g) , basil leaves and some pasta cooking water if it is sticking.

get your helper to add pepper, the juice of a lemon and then add the cooked linguine

and voila! dinner is ready.

Now you can decorate the top with the leftover fennel frongs if you're feeling fancy. Stan wasn't keen on basil in his but loved the feta sauce and the fennel. I didn't add any salt as the feta is already quite salty....but you know do what ever is right for you. We added more lemon at the table because we do love lemon, and Ben always pours olive oil over pretty much everything...so again add what is right for you. Enjoy!

 

BOOM!

We of course ended the meal like most with me feeding him the last bits and him being a cheeky chap on my lap. But hey ho, small steps, small steps...

And again, please do link below with any easy mid week meals that the toddler might like below. It really was so helpful before. Many thanks!

HONEST FOOD - TODDLER PROOF

"The Go-With-Anything-Sauce"

So I've cracked it. Now this following recipe may seem like teaching your Grandmother to suck eggs, but I'd thought I'd share anyway. I have made a pasta type sauce pretty much every week for Stanley so I always have something in the freezer that he will eat if he is having a fit about whatever I've served him up for dinner. At last however I think I have found the perfect one. It freezers really well and is so simple to make you don't have to pay it any attention and can get on with other things round the house, illustration work, hoovering up cat dander, entertaining the child, stopping the cat peeing inside the house - why cat WHY? It's not even raining.... You know, glorious domestic housewifey things....

I'm hoping to get back into blogging a little more, and would like your help. I am so in a rut with food with Stanley, and so I would like to do a monthly 'Toddler Proof' recipe swap between us Mamas (& Fathers). Every month I will post a recipe that Stanley loves that is easy to make and healthy, and would be so happy if you wanted to link up with yours. I have installed the special Inlinkz tool below. So this is my recipe, you have a month to add yours and then I will post another. Anything goes, breakfast, lunch, snacks - so long as it is healthy and easy(ish) to whip up!

The root veg is the key! I have used carrots, but some squash or sweet potato would work equally as well. It gives a thickness to the sauce that is very appealing.

 Mix well, add olive oil and some pepper. Leave the garlic in their skins to roast.

Roast at about 200-220C for about 45 minutes, or until your veg is soft and the pan looks like it will never come clean again.

Then blend. I have an immersion blender so I transferred all the veg to another container, squeezed the garlic out of the skins and then blended it to within an inch of its life as S seems to be able to spit out 'bits' even when I swear there isn't anything in there. Add some stock or water if you feel it is too thick. From this amount of veg I can get about 6 portions frozen in glass ramikins. My pan size was approx 30 x 24 cm.

So once you have your basic sauce you can serve it with pasta, adding a spoonful of pesto, cream cheese, cheddar cheese to vary it, it is very nice added to white fish, meatballs or sausages (veggie or meat), couscous, or cooked chickpeas. You can add paprika to spice it up or pretty much any herb you like too. Plus it really is the most awesome orange colour!

Be so great if any of you feel like linking back to here with your toddler proof recipes. I could really do with the inspiration, and it is handy to get it all in one place for me and others! SO if you have something tucked up your virtual blog sleeve please do leave your link below. I will then endeavour to make at least one of your recipes in the and let you know the verdict with Stan!

HONEST FOOD

So to be honest (hehe) things are pretty much good on the food front. I think this will be my last post on this topic dealt with in my normal moany manner. On the whole it looks like young Stanley is giving most things a go and eating much of it. Yes he'll never quite be up to the level of young Marlowe, but hey that kid is spectacular. It may still take us the best part of an hour to finish a meal, but mostly I'm happy to report I'm relaxed. I've realised my kid aint ever the type to sleep in to 8am. He's an early riser and I just need to deal with it (and maybe go to bed a little earlier...) No amount of food, protein or not, late at night is going to keep that child in bed past 6am, if I'm lucky!

So hey ho, suck it up mama. You signed up to this, and really things could be a whole lot worse. In the future I think I'll stick to posts about nice recipes or surprising things Stanley has eaten. Not show the world how many mouthfuls he managed to eat this week. Thanks for being there for me though, and without the food trouble I never would have met the lovely Ashley. So there is always a silver lining.

chickpea, tomato and roasted veg with couscous

green beans, filled pasta, egg

(lazy) fish fingers, 5 beans mix, green beans

roasted veg, passata, red lentils and halloumi 

daal and rice with mange tout. (he ate none, I made a second meal...)

tortilla with cucumber and olives (no tortilla eaten)

marmite sandwich, pea humous, red & yellow peppers

carrot cashew and orange salad, quiche and olives (so he'll eat quiche, but NOT tortilla?)

{VEGAN} TOFU BURGERS

Inspired by all the healthy loveliness going on over at Drea's blog and a recipe I found here. I decided to whip up something I hoped mister Stanley would enjoy...
So to make the tofu burgers you will need the following ingredients below as well as a bit of oil and some flour. I followed roughly the measurements set out in the recipe but freestyled a bit with what I had which was basically less of everything she suggests, but it still made a load of burger mix!

Firstly blanch the broccoli until done and fry the spring onion with the mushrooms and garlic until soft.

Grate the carrot then put all the ingredients into a blender and whizz (with a happy helper) until mixed. Add a dash of honey and soy sauce and a bit of salt and pepper.

I found I had to whizz it up in two batches as it was too much for my smallish blender to handle. The mixture is a good consistency and needs no egg to hold it together. Lots of other vegetables would work well in here too - sweetcorn, peppers, spinach, kale etc.

Form into lovely patties and dust lightly with flour.

Fry for a few minutes either side until warmed through and brown on both sides.
I also froze a few in pairs for future. I made about 9 burgers from this recipe. Pretty simple and a good one to be adapted too!

Needless to say Stanley didn't like them, he ate one mouthful and half spat out the second mouthful. I will try them on him again in a week or so time. It is amazing really that I can add together ALL the things he really likes and make it into something he doesn't. Ho hum.

On a better note though my husband LOVED them, so at least they didn't go to waste. As a grown up dinner they'd be lovely with a bit of rice and some oriental style greens. Mmmmmm Stanley you don't know what you're missing!

HONEST FOOD

Still getting on okay over here. (I know, I should never say that out loud!). Sorry Ashley...

Embracing the nibble tray as much as possible at lunchtime as it gets a sneaky way of introducing yet unknown foods onto Stanley's radar without freaking the child out and wasting a tonne of food. It also means I get to use up lots of bits from the fridge and nothing goes to waste. This week he managed to surprise me by eating the raw mushrooms I was cutting up to add to this soup recipe. Still likes to keep his Mama on her toes that boy! Hope you are all having some joy with your eaters. I'm hoping I can encourage some soup eating from Stanley now that we have most definitely entered Autumn and it is no Indian Summer for us this year that's for sure!

One of the nibble trays from this week is below. It still took him almost an hour to eat it, and we moved from high chair to the lounge table, but hey ho they was no stress involved which was good. He ate and played, and ate and played. I can't ask for more than that I don't think...

at the beginning

just before we moved to a new eating spot

what was left in the end

Oh and if any of you wouldn't mind taking a second to keep voting for us that'd be aces. We've dropped waaaaaay out of the top 50. It's not a big deal, just nice to see the votes taking effect when they do! Many thanks,
♥ S&s

HONEST FOOD

I think we are doing a little better. In fact I guess I know we are. I never like to say in case things change, but hey, welcome to motherhood. These little tikes do like to keep you on your toes. Since the initial success of the nibble tray experiment over on Ashley's blog I am yet to repeat it, which is silly really as even though time wasn't on our side, eating definitely was! I will try it again for my next food post. In the mean time Stanley has had this range of meals over the last week. Most of which he ate, and the time where he didn't I remained calm about it. More than ever people are telling me he eats "so well", and you know what? I'm beginning to believe it!

scrambled egg, cucumber, marmite toast and smoked salmon

steamed veg, chicken in breadcrumbs and baked beans

eggy bread

banana and ready brek

homemade tomato and pesto sauce with pasta

chicken 'soup' (I had it as a soup, Stanley with less broth)

fish pie

HONEST FOOD {Guest Post by Ashley}

Howdy folks. Sarah and I did a little switch today, per my request, to shake things up a bit. Sarah's done her own version of the nibble tray experiment to share with my readers and I've decided to try my hand at "Honest Food" to share with ya'll. I'm Ashley, by the way, author of The Stork & The Beanstalk. Hooper is my horrible eater. He is 22 months old. I'm also mother to Van, who is nearly 2 months old (where does the time go?). Here we go...

ROUND ONE.

{Veggie burger & Kiwi}

Like a child, my challenges with feeding Hooper are constantly in a state of change. There was a time when it was hard to get Hooper to try new things. Then there was a time when it was hard to get him to eat period. This included things he "liked". Now we're at a stage where he is more willing to try new things and is better at eating his regular stuff. So you're probably wondering what the problem is, right? The problem is chewing. And swallowing. Yup, he'll put the bite in his mouth but then it just sits there. If I remind him to chew, he does this fake chew to totally mock me.

What I should have done, to give the complete honest truth, was photograph the clock at the beginning and at the end because each meal is taking f.o.r.e.v.e.r. Seriously. Some meals take an hour to finish. I've learned to plop myself down at the kitchen table with the boppy to breastfeed Van, the remotes to the TV (in case I need to turn on Gabba Gabba for distraction), my phone (in case it rings), and his cars (an alternate distraction, if needed). It's ridiculous. I even position my chair close enough to the door so I can let our dog in and out. But, as you can see from above, he ate... to be continued.

ROUND TWO.

{Avocado & cream cheese on whole wheat toast, strawberries not pictured}

I got smart for this round and included a before and after of the clock so you have a better idea of the length of the struggle. You can't photograph the struggle. It's like taking a picture of someone before running a marathon and after. Yeah, they did it, but can you feel the burn in their legs or the deflation in their lungs? No soiree. In any case, as you can see by the photos, he ate. I feel like a putz because I'm always complaining about how hard it is to feed Hooper and, lately, how l o n g it takes. And then I photograph this particular meal, and am therefore bound to it, and it doesn't really take so long. If you questioning if the 30 or so minutes it took to "finish" is considered fast, the answer is yes. It was also relatively easy, meaning no major distractions were needed. The TV stayed off and no toys were on the table. Well, that's not totally true. The truth is that the gardeners were next door and he was mesmerized by the sound of the lawn mower. He knows this means strangers in the yard. My favorite day and time to feed Hooper is on Tuesday, when the gardeners come. This boy's eyes are stuck on the window like Jerry Sandusky's eyes are stuck on little boys (low blow?, okay I take it back). In any case, just the mere sound of the gardeners next door had Hooper captivated, eyebrows raised and finger pointing like the coolest thing was going on so close and I was missing it. And with that, his mouth opened and this teeth chewed and by golly, he swallowed. It all has me wondering if it wouldn't be easier to drive to the local hardware store, pick up some of the workers lining the street in front, and pay them to fake mow our lawn during mealtimes. I guess I'll reserve that as a last resort because, you know, sometimes it's nice to have a trick in the back pocket.

ROUND THREE.

{Spinach pancake with blueberries & raspberries}

For this round I also included some photos of the struggle I speak of. I started with bribing him with cars. I do this by giving him a car, letting him play with it briefly, then I take the car away and offer it to him only if he takes a bite of food. Then he takes a bite (best case scenario) and I give him the car back and we repeat. Or... he still refuses the bite (worse case scenario) and I have to turn to plan B which may include either of the following: moving his high chair away from the table (he protests every time) or turning on the TV (Yo Gabba Gabba). Today, the cars were enough and when he did get bored of those, I broke out his favorite book "Go, Dog, Go!" (because of the dogs in cars, of course). Although it did take a while to finish the meal, this one went relatively smoothly with minimal protest. You can only imagine how much longer it takes when there are tears involved.

I think we all do the best we can as mothers. Maybe what I'm doing isn't "right", per say, but it's what works. I'm always open to suggestions, so by all means. I'd like to conclude with a special thanks to Sarah for welcoming me as a guest on her lovely blog and another special thanks to Stanley, who in making his "mum's" life difficult, has made me a new friend across the sea.

*footnote: my post over on Ashley's will be posted tomorrow, her time. Because you see we are in different places and times and well I'm off to France tomorrow too!