Struggles with Baby 'Food'

Little Bear is really starting to take off with his eating. For the most part, we practice 'baby-led weaning', which is essentially letting him eat whatever we're eating, but I am mixing in some purees as well. He loves just gnawing on a chunk of broccoli, and does get little bits off that he actually eats.

As a matter of fact, this kid loves to eat pretty much anything you put within his reach. His appetite is growing, and I'm starting to run into some problems.

Problem #1: Snacks
When we're out and about, which is a lot, I struggle with what to give him. Most parents give their tots 'puffs', the ridiculous snack that for some reason, includes sugar. I have searched high and low for an alternative to these, and found the Happy Baby and Plum Organic brand, but even those have cane syrup.

Why the sweetener? What is the deal with putting sugar in baby foods? I mean, really, is it necessary? Does a baby's brand new palate only accept sweet foods? NO.

Problem #2: Allergies
Aside from having difficulty finding appropriate snack items for baby, I also struggle with allergy issues. Hubby and I have no food allergies. None. My sister and his dad have severe allergies, food and otherwise. So there is a family pre-disposition, and boy was it ever passed on.

Unfortunately, Monkey is allergic to bananas, avocado, kiwi, mango, eggs and latex. We also are avoiding nuts until age 5 because of the family history. So far, it looks like little Bear is allergic to sweet potatoes, but I'm also avoiding all the other foods that Monkey is allergic to just in case. I also have a suspicion about apricots, but I'm hoping I'm wrong.

Now guess what are the easiest/most nutritious foods to start baby out on? Bananas, avocado, sweet potato.  Some of hubby and my favorites as well. Ugh.

Best part- the main flavors of the 'puffs'? Banana, sweet potato, and strawberry, (which is a high allergen and should be avoided until age 2 in allergy prone families).

Solutions?
Here's where I'm hoping for some help from all the moms out in the blogger/twitterverse. Fortunately, this kiddo gets plenty of breastmilk and is growing great, so I'm not overly concerned about nutrition yet. In the long run though, I need to figure out some alternatives to the generic/processed/sugary crap that's out there now.

Thanks in advance for any tips/tricks.

Hugs,
-J

Cinnamon Baked Sweet Potato

Trust me. You're going to want to try this recipe. Even if you aren't a big sweet potato fan (like me). Hubby is doing the Whole Life Challenge, so he's been on a strict diet. Me, not so much. We both have sweet tooths, or would that be sweet teeth? So he's been on the prowl for 'desserts' that follow his diet rules.

He's mainly been eating frozen bananas with almond butter, or pineapple with cinnamon, but he's been experimenting with other combinations. A couple nights ago, he came up with this-

Cinnamon Baked Sweet Potato

• 1 sweet potato
• 1/2 pat of butter
• dash of salt
• sprinkle of cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400. Pierce sweet potato with fork, and place on baking sheet into pre-heated oven for 45 minutes.
2. Let cool for 5 minutes, cut open and scrape out flesh of sweet potato into a bowl.
3. Mix in butter, salt and cinnamon.
4. Enjoy!

Despite the amount of cook time, this dessert is so easy and ridiculously delicious. That's saying something coming from me. I omit sweet potatoes whenever possible from my Thanksgiving meal plan. This recipe is definitely going on the menu this year!

Best of all, I plugged the info into my 'lose it' app, and it comes in at only 120 calories!! Plus, sweet potatoes are actually nutritious, unlike most 120 calorie 'desserts'.

I apologize for the lack of a pic. Hubby eats it too quick, so I haven't been able to get a pic yet. I'll try to add one later.

Hugs,
-J

Ducks, to feed or not to feed?

Today we took advantage of our slightly cooler weather (only 92) and went out to Canyon Lake for a scenic nature cruise. I had purchased a groupon for The Dolly Steamboat, and we were all excited to explore the canyon from this great boat.

The cruise itself was fabulous. The captain and crew were very knowledgeable about the canyon, the history of the area, the cacti, and the wildlife. We saw bighorn sheep, and stopped long enough to watch the dominant ram chase around another smaller ram. I highly recommend this cruise to anyone who will be visiting the Phoenix area. Canyon Lake is like a mini Grand Canyon. For those of you that don't know, *ahem* like my bff *ahem*, the Grand Canyon is in Arizona.

The Monkey had a blast, although an hour and a half boat ride is clearly way too long for a four year old. I would say maybe 30 minutes would have been better. I think my favorite thing about the trip was sitting upstairs with Bear and hearing the captain on the intercom. "What's your name? Oh, Monkey? Well, hello Monkey. Everyone, Monkey would like to ring the bell. Go ahead." Daddy had taken Monkey downstairs and he was dying to ring the bell, so Daddy told him he had to ask the captain.

For a snack, we purchased a bucket of popcorn from the snack bar. We always bring our own snacks, but they didn't permit outside food on board. Daddy and Monkey had been admiring the ducks before we boarded the boat and I made the mistake of telling Monkey that we could feed the ducks whatever popcorn was left. He immediately declared that we were all done (after a couple handfuls), and should save the rest for the ducks.

He couldn't wait to get back to shore, and as soon as those ducks saw us coming with that popcorn bucket, they made a beeline straight to us. Monkey (and Daddy) had a blast feeding the ducks, and there were even some HUGE fish popping up to get their share.

Now on to the point of this posting. I clearly remember reading somewhere about how bad it was to feed ducks bread. Which makes sense, because it doesn't really seem to be doing us any good either. Just check out 100 Days of Real Food or any of the many whole life/real food blogs for more on that. Although I thought I remembered that popcorn was ok for some reason. So, I decided tonight to google it, just so I'd know in the future. Turns out, that popcorn isn't as 'bad' as bread, but still not the top choice to feed to the ducks, if anything at all.

I have very fond memories of feeding the ducks at the local lake when I was about Monkey's age. I don't want to deprive him of those same memories, but at the same time, I don't want to damage the ducks' health either. Thankfully, I now know what is appropriate to feed them, and you do, too.

• Cracked corn
• Wheat
• Barley
• Oats
• Milo
• Birdseed
• Grapes (cut in half)
• Frozen peas or corn (defrosted)
• Earthworms
• Chopped lettuce
• Vegetable trimmings or peels (chopped)

List courtesy of http://birding.about.com/od/birdfeeders/a/whatduckseat.htm

Is this going to change the way you think about feeding wildlife in your area?

Hugs,

-J