A Week of Toddler Lunches

A Week of Toddler Lunches

(and why I don't think I'll ever have to say, "you can't leave the table until you eat all your veggies!")

Lunchtime is one of my favorite times of the day. Not only because I get to eat food....but because my son really loves playing in the kitchen with pots, pans and real food (as opposed to plastic food in his play kitchen). Ever since he started eating solid foods, we've been making lunches together. He's either on my hip looking down over the cooking process or he's standing on his stool chopping or pouring or concocting right along side me. 

This time together has, i'm sure, had a big impact on his relationship with food and his little toddler palate. We are a whole-foods, plant-based home, so the word "veggies" is pretty much the same as the word "food." If we're sitting down to a meal, you can pretty much bet that veggies are playing a starring role. That's what we eat, so that's what my son knows. 

Much different than the way I grew up: meat, starch and a veggie on the plate. And the veggie was never the star but rather an afterthought that is only there because we have to eat our veggies ...know what I mean?? 

Nutrition is so important to all bodies, but especially growing bodies that are being exposed to different germs for the first time. Each meal is an opportunity to pack their little tummies full of good vitamins and minerals, proteins, fats and carbohydrates that will help them to feel their best and fight off germs.

I took a picture of our lunches last week: Monday through Friday. 

 Monday

Veg curry (recipe found here) with added peas

 Tuesday

brown rice, french green lentils, butternut squash and spinach with a homemade sweet miso sauce found here. (mine was over lettuce)

 Wednesday

This was a to-go lunch packed into a tupperware: chickpea salad in tortilla with orange slices

Thursday

steamed sweet potato, french green lentils, steamed carrots, steamed beets, roasted zucchini with peanut sauce found here. cashew cheese on toast.

 Friday

roasted brussels sprouts, green beans and potato over quinoa with sweet miso sauce (recipe found here), sunflower and pepita seeds

These lunches come together pretty quickly with a little prepping done once a week during nap time. Here's an example of a prepping hour and what the fridge looks like. All yummy foods at your finger tips!

cooking: brown rice, french green lentils, veggie stock. already roasted butternut squash and zucchini. up next: steam the beets and wash the beet greens.

the fridge: everything easy to see in clear containers with labels.

Vegan Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

 Even vegans like a little meat sauce on their spaghetti.

Toddler edition/Mommy edition (only difference: I cut up his noodles)

I started something new a couple weeks ago. Instead of just planning the menu each week based on what sounds good/looks good at the grocery store, I broke down the days into themes. Check it out:

Monday = Taco night

Tuesday = Indian night

Wednesday = Italian night

Thursday = Grain bowl night

Friday = American night

The weekends are when Chuck and I cook together, so those are a little more creative and spur-of-the-moment. It's been pretty fun having these themes! Taco night can mean anything from lettuce wraps to enchiladas; Indian night could be a lentil loaf or a quick and easy curry...etc. Each night gives me the flexibility to either do a super quick meal (spaghetti) or a more time-consuming meal (stuffed shells or lasagna).

Spaghetti is a go-to quick and easy meal for a lot of us right? And it can be pretty boring...but adding just one ingredient will change a simple tomato sauce into a nutritious and delicious meat sauce! Walnut meat! It gives a really nice meaty bite with each fork full and provides protein and omega-3s.  Check out how easy this is:

recipe:

Your favorite spaghetti sauce (or make your own with this recipe)

3/4 cup to 1 cup chopped walnuts

2 big handfuls spinach (optional)

heat up sauce in sauce pan. Add chopped walnuts and spinach. stir until spinach wilts a bit. Add favorite spaghetti noodle. Enjoy. 

BROWNIE BITES and WHY I went vegan

It's my 6-months-vegan anniversary (yay!) and I thought I'd celebrate by sharing two things:  

1.) The most delicious, nutritious, feel good Carob Beet Brownie Bites that you and your kiddos have ever tasted. and 2.) The story behind why I started eating vegan

First things first! Let's see the Brownies!!

 mmmmm. soooo goooood. I got hooked on beet brownies after Kate Barry posted a picture of them years and years ago on instagram and then forwarded me a recipe. I will use any excuse to insert vegetables into....anything, but in the case of beet brownies, the beets actually make them richer and more moist....so there's a reason for this vegetable-in-my-brownies madness!! They are a great little snack nibble for kiddos-a quick bite of energy!

 

Recipe

    -3/4 cup whole wheat flour

    -1/4 cup carob powder

    -2 large beets (about 1cup)

    -3/4 cup pitted dates  *see note below

    -1/4 cup maple syrup

    -2 Tablespoon flaxseed ground into flax meal

    -1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

    -1 teaspoon baking powder

    -1 teaspoon vanilla

    -1/4 teaspoon salt

    -1/4 cup carob chips 

-*If your dates are leathery and dry instead of gooey, soak them in hot water while beets are steaming (20min). Drain dates before putting them in the food processor/blender.

-Peel beets and cut into 1 inch chunks (tip: if you peel under running water, you won’t dye your hands red). Place beets in steamer and steam for about 20 min. You want them very fork tender (another tip: buy beets with the greens still on and save those greens! blend them up in a smoothie or saute with some veggies. So many nutrients in there).

-Place steamed beets and dates into a food processor or blender. Blend them up into a paste.

the beet/date paste

-Preheat oven to 350 and spray a 8x8 pan with nonstick cooking spray.

-In a small bowl add ground flax and 6T hot water. Set aside.

- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder carob powder and salt. Set aside.

-Take your flax bowl and whisk together flax and water until gelatinous (About 30 seconds).

-In a medium bowl, mix the beet/date mixture, maple syrup, coconut oil, flax and vanilla until combined.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.  Mix in the carob chips.  Transfer batter into pan and spread out. Cook at 350 for 25 minutes. Let cool before slicing up into little cubes. ENJOY! Keep these chewy little delicious nuggets of goodness in an airtight container in the fridge.

Why are they "nutritious, feel good" brownie bites?? 

There is no refined sugar to be found in these brownies. Dates and maple syrup are the sweetener with all of their wonderful natural minerals. 1 cup of Beets! Beets are a good source of vitamin C and are rich in antioxidants. Carob powder instead of cocoa powder or chocolate which means no caffeine. Also, carob contains a higher concentration of essential nutrients, including thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6 and folate than chocolate.

Ok, now for the next item on the agenda...WHY I WENT VEGAN:

I have always been a big lover of fruits and veggies and I used to think that I ate very healthy. I mostly ate white meat with the occasional red meat thrown in there if it was sourced well. I ate the meat protein as the main part of the meal with lots of veggies on the side...maybe a starch on the side as well....the way most of us grew up eating. I always kept a healthy weight while eating this way. The big change came after the birth of my son. I started looking at what was healthy and natural for our bodies in a different light. Breastfeeding started the change and horrible postpartum insomnia completed the change to a vegan diet.

Breastfeeding brought out a greater understanding and respect for what it means to produce milk for our babies. I was and still am able to provide milk for my son, milk that my body is making especially for him. Why would I cut off the milk supply that I am making especially for him, and start to give him milk from a cow that was meant for her calf?! I know some women have really great reasons for choosing/needing not to breastfeed, and for that reason have respect for the science behind using animal milk to nourish our human babies. If cows milk was being produced for humans in a more humane way rather than through factory farming, and perhaps only being produced for babies age 0-2 that need the supplemental milk, I think the big picture would look a lot different. The way it is now...It's a really ugly, scary picture. I started to look into milk production a little more. I read, watched documentaries, even visited a milk farm here in Virginia. Without getting into it too much...it's just not something I can play a part in anymore. That means no milk, no cheese, no yogurt, no icecream, no butter for this girl anymore.

 So, at the same time that my feelings for milk were changing, I was experiencing horrible postpartum insomnia. Don't be surprised if you've never heard of this...I hadn't either!! My month old son was sleeping like a champ, practically through the night from day 2, and I was going weeks without even a minute of sleep. It was torture. I was fortunate not so suffer from any postpartum depression. Perhaps the exact opposite: postpartum euphoria. I was full of joy with this new baby...I just couldn't sleep a wink to save my life! My heart would start beating really fast as it got closer to bedtime and I would get anxious and sometimes hysterical, for no reason at all. Anxiety. Awful. Perhaps there was a pill that could have had me sleeping like a baby in no time at all, but a breastfeeding mother cannot take that kind of medication.  I'm not one to take medication anyway...I had a childhood with a daily Rx to Ritalin. Those are pretty heavy Rx drugs out there these days and I think they mask the problem and change who you are....but that's another story.

The same documentaries I was watching and articles I was reading about the dairy industry lead me to other articles and studies about animal protein. How it may not be healthy for human bodies in this day and age (The China Study; Forks Over Knives) and how it may not be healthy for our planet. I read about how dairy can possibly exacerbate anxiety. How consuming animal proteins can throw your hormones off, affecting your mental health. I decided to try eliminating all animal products from my diet in an effort to combat this anxiety driven insomnia. I told my husband I was going to eat vegan for one month and see if anything changed. That was six months ago...I've never looked back. I would say about 90% of my anxiety disappeared within the first two weeks. I never felt so good in my life. Hair, skin, body, mind, everything. Never felt better.