I can't win

The couple of hours before dinner can be a struggle.  I know that if he snacks in that time, he will almost definitely not eat dinner.  That being said, it's also hard to keep him from snacking when he's begging for snacks.

Take yesterday for instance.  At 4, we headed to the park to keep ourselves busy (dinner is at 5ish).  It was a fairly long walk (about 3-4 blocks), and Henry did it all himself.  So, when he asked for a snack, I figured he was hungry and gave him a graham cracker.  From that point on, it was all he wanted.  So, we decided to go home.  On our way up our block, Henry decided he wanted to stop in and see his Aunt Amy (my sister lives across the street from us).  So, we stop in.  His oldest cousin was eating sushi rice and there were chicken nuggets on the table.  I wasn't offering either, but either way, he didn't want them.  Instead, he went to the snack closet, and started trying to take the snacks out.  Fast forward to a temper tantrum that sends us straight home.

Now it's 4:25.  Not quite dinner time, but I figure maybe he's really hungry since he's begging for food.  I give him a corn on the cob and a chicken leg.  He takes a couple of tiny bites, and throws everything on the floor.  Dinner is clearly over.  So, we play, watch a show, take a bath, and get into pajamas.  We head back downstairs at 6:30 when Henry gets to watch another TV show.  This is the point that I try to eat dinner.  He sees my plate of food, and proceeds to eat all my broccoli, some of my corn, and tries (and spits out) a piece of tofu.  While I was thrilled that he chose to eat broccoli and corn, I'll admit that I was sad I no longer had broccoli (that was the last of what we had).  Maybe one day I'll figure out Henry's actual dinner time.

Happy and (mostly) healthy eating!

What time do you feed your kids dinner?

Distractions & Dinner Strata

Yesterday when I was on Twitter, Eating Well Magazine (@EatingWell) posted a link to 5 meatless meals for entertaining.  I was expecting the run-of-the-mill vegetarian lasagna, mac n'cheese, and tofu stir-fry.  Instead, they had a few interesting recipes, one of which was a Tomato & Spinach Dinner Strata.  Granted, it's similar to lasagna, with bread instead of noodles, but I liked the spin on a regular dish, and figured since it had bread, cheese, and sauce, Henry would be a fan. 

It was fairly easy to assemble, but you have to remember to factor in that it needs at least two hours to sit in the fridge before baking.  I followed the recipe pretty closely (see link above for recipe), but used cottage cheese instead of ricotta and muenster cheese instead of mozzarella (side-note: I think the ricotta was a better choice, I just happened to only have cottage cheese).  As it was baking, the smell was amazing, and since I baked it in a round 10-inch pan, it looked like deep-dish pizza.  Having to wait the 10-minutes of "stand time" really was a bit torturous (I was really hungry!). 

Anyway, the strata was finally ready, and I cut it up for Henry.  He happily took a few bites, and then noticed an open bag of pretzels on the table.  After that, he refused another bite of strata and only wanted pretzels.  It's frustrating how easily distracted he gets when he eats...unless he's eating cake or cookies.  I try to always remember to clear everything out of his sight-line, but sometimes it's impossible, and sometimes I think I shouldn't accomodate him so much (I mean in the real world there will be things he can't have, right?).  But then I'm stuck with the fact that he won't eat what I made for him...

Thoughts on this one?

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

Today's creation was motivated by me wanting to use up the rest of the fresh horseradish left from Passover. I don't really know many horseradish recipes, but I know I like wasabi mashed potatoes, so I figured horseradish mashed potatoes must be good too.  The plan was to make my take on vegetarian shepherd's pie with horseradish mashed potatoes on top.  I started sauteeing all my veggies, and then went to boil my potatoes with the horseradish.  I soon learned that there is a shelf-life on grated fresh horseradish.  So, it was plain mashed potatoes on top instead.  To my surprise, Henry actually ate it...and didn't spit out the white beans that I added.  As per usual, he was finished after a few bites.  If only I could feel full after eating a small portion!

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound mushrooms (I used baby portobellas), sliced
1.5 cups frozen spinach
1 cup small white beans
1/4 teaspoon fresh thyme
salt to taste
1/3 cup red wine
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tablespoon cream cheese
1/4 cup 1% milk
1 teaspoon butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

1.  In a medium pan, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until softened.  Add mushrooms and saute about 5 minutes more.  Then add spinach, white beans, thyme, and salt.  Finally, add red wine, and let simmer until liquid has mostly evaporated.

2.  In a small pot, boil potatoes in water.  When potatoes are soft, drain potatoes and put back in pot.  Mash with cream cheese, milk, butter, and salt.

3.  Put mushroom mixture in a small saute pan or small casserole dish (I used an omelet pan).  Smooth mashed potatoes on top, but make small peaks so the top browns in a pretty pattern.  Put under the broiler for 1-2 minutes until top has a nice golden brown color.

Happy and (mostly) healthy eating!

Back...and breakfast quinoa

Ok, I know I've been gone a while.  Between cleaning out my house and fridge for Passover (and thus having about a week of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), and then cooking for the holiday and entertaining, I didn't really get a chance to fill you in on what Henry's been eating.  Unfortunately, however, the answer is that I have no idea.  Though Henry had a couple of good meals where he ate meatballs and cauliflower, or a bit of matzah pizza, on the whole, he didn't really eat much.  Our schedule was all off since we had family meals for a lot of the holiday, and since Henry tends to get distracted by people, he didn't really eat...oh, and did I mention in the midst of it all, Henry broke his leg?  The only thing he wasn't too distracted from was dessert.  Henry ate kosher for Passover cakes and cookies like a champion - so proud.  

Henry definitely missed bread, leavened products, and legumes.  Every morning he asked for cereal, and for meals he frequently asked for corn and hummus.  It's not like he was deprived - I made matzah pancakes and matzah brei as a treat a few mornings, and there was loads of other food for the other meals.  But one morning, I just felt badly for him, so I decided to try making him an oatmeal-type cereal out of quinoa (thanks mom for the idea!).  I boiled together half a cup of quinoa and 1 cup of milk, and then added a heaping tablespoon of leftover nut-free charoset (basically it was apples, cinnamon, and raisins).  When I served it to Henry, I even added in a bit of pancake syrup.  My husband, Henry, and I all tried it at the same time.  Henry immediately stuck his tongue out of his mouth to get all the quinoa out, and then continued to scrape his tongue with his hand.  My husband and I weren't huge fans either, so we weren't surprised.  We were surprised, however, that after that visceral reaction, Henry proceeded to try the quinoa again, and then eat about 5 or 6 bites (that's huge for him).  So, maybe next year we'll try it again - luckily we have a year of eating leavened products before that though!

Baked Chicken & Vermicelli

The goal this weekend was to finish off various open bottles in my fridge, in preparation for Passover cleaning.  The bottles I decided on were BBQ sauce, red wine, tomato sauce, and Italian dressing.  I also had some sliced red onion and sliced tomatoes that needed to go, as well as 4 chicken drumsticks, and half a box of vermicelli.  After some creative thinking, I ended up with Baked Chicken & Vermicelli (using red wine, tomato sauce, red onion, tomato, chicken legs, and vermicelli), BBQ baked beans (BBQ sauce), and salad (Italian dressing).

I first offered Henry the Chicken & Vermicelli, which he loved!  He kept saying, "chicken, noo-noos!" over and over as he figured out how to get forkfuls of both at the same time.  I then offered him the BBQ baked beans, which he flat out refused.  He'll eat beans in stews, but beans on their own just do not appeal to him.  And then I forgot to offer him salad (which he generally won't eat except for a bite or two of lettuce).  I was pretty pleased with his reaction to the Chicken & Vermicelli though, and even more pleased when my husband told me how much he loved it.  I guess I'll have to make it even when I'm not just trying to get rid of things in my fridge!

Chicken & Vermicelli
2 tsp olive oil
1 small red onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 medium tomato, sliced
4 chicken legs
3/4 cup red wine
1 cup tomato sauce
8 ounces vermicelli, broken in half (or smaller)
3 cups chicken broth (or 3 cups water with 3 tsp chicken consomme powder)
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Preheat oven to 350.
2.  In a large saute pan, saute red onion and garlic in olive oil, until softened.  Add tomatoes, and saute 1 minute longer.  Add chicken legs and cook about 5 minutes more.
3.  Pour in red wine to deglaze the pan.  Then add the tomato sauce.  Simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes.
4.  Add the vermicelli, chicken broth, salt, and pepper.  Put in the oven, uncovered, for about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Happy and (mostly) healthy eating!

Miraculous Fish Sticks

Today Henry and I went over to my friend Anna's house so that Henry and Anna's son Jackson could have a playdate.  Before we knew it, it was dinnertime, and Anna had tried out a new Salmon Fish Stick recipe by Giada de Laurentiis.  Henry does not normally eat fish, but we figured he could try it, and then if he didn't like it we could go home to eat.  So, while Henry was standing and playing, I gave him a piece of the fish stick.  He took the bite, chewed it, and swallowed it.  And then he asked for more!  While he proceeded to eat the rest of the fish stick, he kept saying "mmm" and "yummy".  I then put him in a booster seat, and there he sat next to Jackson in his highchair, and next to Charley (another friend who came to play) in her booster seat.  All the mommies stood around amazed as our kids, aged 15-20 months, happily ate their fish sticks and whole wheat alphabet noodles with tomato sauce.  Dinnertime has never been so relaxing.  Watch out Anna, we're coming over every night now :)

Note: The picture above is from the Food Network website.  We didn't actually have the dip since we figured the kids wouldn't eat it anyway.

Roasted Curried Vegetable Soup

As is standard for gatherings thrown by my mom, there were loads of leftovers after my grandmother's birthday party yesterday.  So after the party, my sister and I filled bags and bags of food to take home.  My favorite goodie bag was my gallon-size bag of raw veggies (ok, maybe not my favorite - the Costco chocolate chip cookies are pretty exciting).

So, when I got home from work today, I immediately threw all the veggies on a baking sheet and put them in the oven to roast for a half hour while I played with Henry.  When it was done, I put them into a pot with some water and seasoning and let it simmer while I started to give Henry dinner.  For dinner tonight, Henry was going to have noodles, chicken, and then I hoped he would try some cherry tomatoes or baby corn from a salad we had.  Henry started to eat some of the chicken and noodles, but for the most part he was just playing and singing songs with me.

While he was still in his highchair, I quickly pureed the soup, and then added some cooked couscous/grain mixture that I had leftover from the weekend (the mix is Harvest Grains Blend from Trader Joe's and it's delish!).  Since I finished making the soup so quickly, I decided to offer some to Henry.  He said he wanted some, and then took a bite.  He loved it, and then proceeded to ask for "more, more soup", and kept saying "I like soup" (his new thing is to say "I like" in front of different words).  It was a great way to get in lots of veggies - I just hope he'll eat it again tomorrow!

Roasted Curried Vegetable Soup
~2 pounds vegetables, cut up (I used cauliflower, string beans, broccoli, a couple of mushrooms, carrots, and zucchini)
1 onion, cut in wedges
2 tsp olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
5 cups water
3 tsp chicken consomme powder
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
2 tsp curry powder
1/2 cup canned chickpeas
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 cups cooked Harvest Grain Blend (or other cooked rice/pasta)

1.  Preheat oven to 450.  Mix together vegetables, onion, olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking sheet, and roast for 30 minutes.

2.  Pour roasted veggies in a soup pot, and add all ingredients except the grains (from water to peas).  Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes.  Remove from heat and blend with a handblender.

3.  Add cooked Harvest Grain Blend and heat for a few minutes.  Then serve.

Happy and (mostly) healthy eating!