To tofu or not to tofu

I think you either love tofu or you are a little freaked out by tofu. And I'll admit I used to think it was tasteless, processed, fake stuff. That was until I did a little research and did a little testing in the kitchen. The fact is, tofu is a quick and easy protein source that your kids will eat. The trick is, knowing what to buy and how to cook it.

What it is and what it isn't: tofu is not the highly processed fake food I once thought it was. It's simply soy beans that are boiled, puréed and strained, then pressed into a firm mass. Is it soy beans in their natural state? No. But it's not too far off! 

Twin Oaks tofu

Here in Virginia, we are lucky enough to have the intentional community called Twin Oaks making organic tofu for us by hand. We can find it at our local markets, but if you don't live in Virginia, the best tofu to buy (in my opinion) is extra firm organic. Definitely go organic with your soy products because soy is similar to corn as far as mass production goes, and they do some nasty things to plants...keep it clean and healthy. 

When to eat it: I think tofu is good for switching things up every now and again. My family has a tofu meal about once every two weeks or so. I think it's important to stick with veggies in their natural state (ie: a meal made from fresh produce, grains and legumes) but keeping meals exciting is important too. 

Toddler approved recipes: 

Owen will eat tofu right out of the package or with a little of my peanut sauce for dipping. But here are two recipes that are favorites for dinner and then lunch leftovers:

Vegan stuffed shells from pbs.org

 (thank you to my friend Elizabeth Howe for showing me this recipe)

 Click here for recipe

Tofu quiche

Ingredients:

1 Wholly Wholesome vegan pie crust (because as many times as I've tried I cannot make a crust to save my life)

1 package extra firm organic tofu

1 head steamed broccoli

1 roasted red pepper (optional)

1 medium yellow onion diced

2 cloves garlic minced 

1t thyme

1/2 t oregano

1/2 t rosemary

1/2 t sage

1/2 t parsley 

3-4 basil leaves chopped
1 tomato sliced for the top

Take pie crust out of freezer and thaw on counter. Heat up 1 T olive oil in pan and add onion. Cook a few minutes until translucent and add garlic, cook a minute more and turnoff heat. Break up tofu into 1 inch pieces and place in blender. Process until smooth (add a splash of milk if it's not getting to a smooth consistency on its own in the blender. You want it to be like a thick paste that doesn't leave the spoon if you take a big scoop and turn it upside down). When tofu is smooth, dump into a bowl and mix in onion and garlic, broccoli, red pepper and herbs. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and some pepper. Smooth this out into the pie crust, add sliced tomato and then bake at 375 for 35 minutes

Quick and easy Veg Curry

It's COLD outside (Arctic Blast)! 

Warm up with this quick and easy Vegan Curry. 

Yummy, healthy and as always, Owen approved!

ingredients:

1.5 cups dry green lentils

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T minced ginger root

1 T olive oil

1.5 T curry powder*

4.5 cups water

two big handfuls fresh spinach, chopped a little

heat oil in large pot over medium heat, add onion and cook until soft and translucent (3 min or so) add garlic and ginger and cook another minute. add curry powder and stir around for a minute until onions look curry-coated. add lentils, sweet potato, tomato and water. add a little pinch of salt and pepper. bring to a boil then simmer for about 45 minutes until lentils are soft. add spinach and stir for about a minute. then enjoy!

*Any curry powder will be great. I tend to get sucked into the spice area at Whole Foods and usually come out with at least three baggies of curries to try. Let your nose lead you!

Nutritional info: this is one big pot full of crazy-good nutrients to warm your body and soul. I could make a very long list of all the goodness...but I'll break it down to this: you're getting your protein from the lentils, your iron from the sweet potato and lentils, and the vitamin C in the sweet potato and tomato help you absorb that iron, so you know it's getting into your body!

Sweet Treats

Battling the Sweet Tooth

It's no secret that kids are partial to sweet food. 

It's also no secret that food is one of life's great pleasures, so we can't possibly deny our kids the sweet pleasures they are craving, right? right. 

The trick is choosing the right sweet foods. 

Processed sugar (white sugar) provides no benefits for your body. Zero. No nutrients. Also, it's addictive so the more processed sugar you consume, the more you'll crave. There's no good reason to have it in your pantry. There are so many alternatives and I promise, you and your kids will like these foods so much more than the candy, cookies, doughnuts, etc that leave you feeling jittery, cranky and gross. Once processed sugar is out of your house and replaced with delicious whole-food sweeteners, you won't even miss it!

Sweeteners we use in the Rapp house: 

100% pure maple syrup

Organic Blackstrap Molasses

Banana (favorite)

Apples/Homemade Applesauce

Pineapple

We use banana the most. Mash it up in your oatmeal, make cookies with mashed banana and oats, or make "icecream" with frozen bananas (recipe below). Frozen pineapple is a great sweet treat and can be used in banana ice cream for a more tropical flavor.

We use crushed up pineapple, applesauce, maple syrup and blackstrap molasses in baking. The following recipe link is a staple in our house. These carrot/molasses muffins are nutrient rich and delicious!

http://fortheloveofleaves.blogspot.com/2013/08/nutty-molasses-carrot-muffins-vegan.html

just made some of her carrot/molasses muffins this morning!

Nutrition info: 

Maple Syrup: 1/4 cup serving has 4% of your daily calcium need and 6% of your iron need

Molasses: Just 1 Tablespoon has 10% calcium, 15% iron, 10% B6. plus Magnesium and Potassium. 

**If you are veggie or vegan, you know the importance of eating good sources of iron and calcium. These are yummy, sweet ways to fill that need! (sometimes Owen and I sit down for a spoonful of Organic, unsulphured blackstrap molasses....it's a special treat and we love it!)

sampling the molasses

Banana "Ice Cream"

banana "icecream" with almonds and blueberries on top

Cut up three bananas into 1 inch slices and freeze on a tray for a few hours. (If you're going to leave them in the fridge to freeze for more than 5 hours, put them in an airtight container to prevent freezer burn). When you're ready for it, put all frozen slices into your blender and blend until creamy like ice cream. serve and enjoy! It's just banana so you can enjoy this treat any/everyday! (I ate this for breakfast a lot this summer!!)

the blender: frozen bananas turned into icecream!

note** If you do not have a high powered blender like a Vitamix you may have to add just a splash of milk (almond, soy, coconut) to get it to the right consistency.

Cloth Diaper 101

CLOTH DIAPER 101

 There are a ton of options out there when it comes to cloth diapers, but here is how we do it in the Rapp house. I hope this info makes it easier for you to make the best decision for your little one. 

I promise you it's not gross or hard or time consuming and you will not be spending every free minute doing laundry. In my experience it's been super easy...and i've become a little obsessed with cloth diapers (as many cloth diapering parents do...).

So you're pregnant and considering cloth diapers?!! CONGRATULATIONS!! 

What you'll have to do before the baby arrives: Buy some diapers. 

What you need to decide is whether you want to do a prefold cloth with a cover OR a more modern diaper like a pocket diaper or all in one. I decided to go exclusively with one-size pocket diapers because the One-Size means they adjust sizing through out your babies diapering years so you don't have to buy a bunch of different size diapers and switch them out as baby grows (like you have to with their clothes). And the Pocket Diaper means you can stuff them as you wish depending on whether your baby is a heavy wetter or not. (**special thanks to Carey Ogden who helped me with this decision when I was pregnant)

Although the pocket diapers say they fit 7-35lbs, I found that they leaked until Owen reached 10lbs, so we were in pre-folds and covers for the first few weeks (as well as some of the disposables they provided at the hospital (definitely shove all those free diapers, wipes, etc into your bag before you leave the hospital!!))

What I purchased while I was pregnant:

-2 six packs of OsoCozy prefolds in size 1

-package of Snappi fasteners (so the prefolds hold in place)

-3 Thirsties newborn diaper covers (with the belly button notch)

-12 Bumgenius 4.0 One-size pocket diapers (some hook and loop some snaps)

-6 Fuzzybunz One size diapers (plus 3 more after Owen was born)

-2 wet bags (you'll need this for your travel diaper bag to transport a soiled diaper back home)

-Ubbi diaper pail

-2 Ubbi pail cloth liners (they get thrown into the laundry along with the diapers)

**you'll have to prep the diapers before they can be used. This means washing them 3-4 times so they become really absorbent. make sure you do that before baby arrives. 

The diapers above are what we are still using. 21 diapers total. I have to do a diaper load of laundry every other day. Add more diapers to your collection if you don't want to do the diaper load as frequently.

Here's what it's like to actually use the diapers:

Prefolds with covers: If you use them like I did, you'll only be in these for the first few weeks. If your baby is exclusively breastfed, the poo is entirely water soluble, so you just put the cloth prefold into the laundry (poo can go into washing machine too) and if the cover did not encounter poo, use it again with a fresh prefold. I only washed the covers if they encountered direct poo or if it had been a couple days since washing them. If they are soaked in pee, you can just hang to dry and use it the next diaper change. If your baby is formula fed, the poo will need to go down the toilet or in the trash, and i'll get into that a little more in a second. There are many ways to fold the prefold onto baby. I used the jellyroll. It'll take a couple of times actually using them to know what roll is best for your baby. Practice on a teddy bear before baby arrives!

jelly roll

jelly roll

jellyroll on bear with Snappi (the Thirsties cover goes over all of this)

Pocket Diapers: If your baby is exclusively breastfed, you'll just take the diaper off baby, pull out the insert and drop both into laundry pail. BumGenius diapers come with two inserts: newborn and the main insert. We used only the newborn insert for about a month, then switched to two newborn inserts in one diaper (double stuffing) for about a month and then switched to the main insert. The main insert is longer, thicker, and has snaps so the sizing can adjust as your baby grows, but it was a little bulky for Owen for the first couple months. We have always had to change his diaper every two hours to prevent a leak. Even now, still changing every two hours (he's 14 months old). This is because cloth diapers are...cloth. They are not made out of the nasty super-absorbent stuff that's inside disposable diapers, so they do have a leaking point.

When poops get real, you can't just drop everything in the laundry pail. This is the case for formula fed babies or when your baby starts eating solid foods. When this happened, I purchased Eco Liners. I lay the liner inside the diaper before putting it on Owen. When he has a poop, I just pick up the liner and up comes all the poop with it, and that goes into the trash while the insert and diaper go into the laundry pail. If you don't use liners, you'll have to use a poo-spatula type thing to get the poo out of the diaper or have a water spray hook up on your toilet....or pick the poo out of the diaper with a wipe or something... Liners are fabulous!!

pocket diaper and main insert (un-stuffed)

a roll of liners

Washing the diapers

I have a total of 21 diapers which means I have to wash them every other day. When it's time to wash, I turn the washable diaper liner inside out over the washing machine and throw it all in (liner included). I wash on hot and do a double rinse cycle. I have not needed to soak the diapers before doing the wash cycle like other moms do...perhaps because of the liners?!! My diapers always come out clean! I do use a soap that is made for cloth diapers. I use Rockin' Green detergent. I tried using free and clear All detergent, but the buildup made the diapers less absorbent, and they didn't come out as clean. Every month or so, the diapers will get an ammonia odor to them. When that happens, throw a couple tablespoons of bleach in with the wash load. That'll take care of it. If you are using any velcro diapers (the hook and loop BumGenius), hang those to dry to prolong life, but dry the rest in the dryer without a dryer sheet. Dryer sheets make them less absorbent. Do not dry the pail liner either because it'll get warped/melted (learned that the hard way).

When Owen turned 1, he started wetting more during the night. I was double/triple stuffing his diapers for a while, but sometimes I'd still have to change him around 4am. I started using disposables at night recently. They are nasty but they allow him to sleep through the night a little easier. You'll get to know your child's wetting pattern and make decisions that fit the best.

Hope this helps! Leave me a comment if you have any questions!

Peanut Sauce

 PEANUT SAUCE!!

kids will eat anything if you serve it with a little peanut sauce!

...it's the new katsup!

 

Recipe: 

4 T peanut butter *

*(bonus points for grinding your own or using a brand that doesn't add palm oil)

3T coconut aminos*

*(see note and photo below)

1t minced fresh ginger

1 minced garlic clove

1t sesame oil

1/4 cup water

mix it all together with a wisk! YUM! 

This recipe makes enough for 4-5 servings if mixing with noodles as shown above, or you can just make the sauce and keep it in the fridge as a dip for veggies for a healthy kids snack! I promise you, even their most hated veggies will go down with a smile if smothered in this healthy peanut sauce!

side note (help me): I usually use buckwheat or wheat noodles with this dish.  Rice noodles also work great, but I have the worst luck cooking rice noodles. They always come out too sticky! If you have a tried and true method for cooking rice noodles, let me know in the comments below...I'd love to master them! :)

the peanut sauce and the greens (bok choy and tatsoi stir fried in a little olive oil). try carrots and/or kale too!

Coconut Aminos are a fantastic alternative to soy sauce for kiddos. It contains much much less sodium than soy sauce and it's a little sweeter. delicious !

**Tip: If your kiddos are not too keen on greens (ie: they are telling you no and they don't like it even before giving it a try) go ahead and chop them up and mix it in with the noodles

**health info: this sauce is so wonderful for two reasons. 1.) it's SO YUMMY. and 2.)it's SO GOOD FOR YOU! It's jam packed with protein and contains garlic and ginger: two of the worlds healthiest foods for your cardiovascular and gastrointestinal system as well as antioxidant effects. Eat up!! :-P

Always be Roasting

Fall time motto: "Always Be Roasting"

When the air is getting crisp outside and all these wonderful fall veggies are plentiful at the farmers market, keep a constant supply at arms length for your family!  Roasted veggies are not just for dinner. Do one big veggie roasting session each week and keep them in clear containers in your fridge. You'll be able to grab some and add it to any meal or just munch on them straight from the fridge for a healthy snack. 

I have the last of the summer squash from our farmers market and broccoli in right now with sweet potatoes and winter squash on deck!

tip: steaming of course works too, but I've come to find out that my son prefers these fall veggies after they've been roasted in a little olive oil with some garlic. Nothing wrong with adding some healthy fat and extra flavor! 

Pumpkin Applesauce

PUMPKIN APPLESAUCE

It's that wonderful time of year when you can get out as a family and pick pumpkins and apples!! This is a super simple recipe that you and your kids will LOVE. You can make a big batch and freeze enough for the whole year!

Tidbit on applesauce: I will never understand why you would ever add sugar to applesauce!! Apples have enough of their own sugar to make any recipe deliciously sweet!!

RECIPE

you will need:

(this is a double batch so you'll have plenty to freeze!)

10-12 apples (whatever kind was ripe for the picking)

2t cinnamon

about 3 cups pumpkin puree (or 1 large can pumpkin)

1.5 cups water

Peel and dice the apples. Add all ingredients into a deep pot and bring to a boil, then simmer about 20 min until apples are soft. Move ingredients to blender and blend to desired consistency. You're done! YUM!!

To turn a real baking pumpkin into pumpkin puree:

Preheat oven to 400*

slice pumpkin in half and remove stem and inner guts.

rub with a little olive oil and lay cut side down on baking pan.

roast for about 40 min until soft. 

scoop out the flesh and blend until smooth.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: Pumpkins are a mega source of vitamin A which boosts your immune system, as well as keeps your eyes, bones and teeth healthy. Pumpkins also provide us with iron, vitamin C and fiber. And oh how I love apples!! Remember the old saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away"? well that's because of the vitamin C, but also apples are rich in a variety of phytonutrients, including vitamins A and E and beta carotene!