Summer Yummer!

Ok, so as I mentioned in a previous blog I have been working on an idea that I got from another blog that I follow.

The blog is called Totally Tots and has some great Ideas about home schooling children, hands on activities, and just encouraging words on how to raise your tot!

But, the one theme that caught my eye was called Tot food! And her blogs were labeled "What's on your Tot's plate?"

This really resonated with me because sometimes I wondered if people really saw what I was eating or rather what my child was eating they might think it a little less than appealing! So when I thought about beginning this adventure the first thing that came to mind was "If I am forced to put what my child or myself eats online, then I might do a better job of eating better foods if I thought people might actually judge me for it!!"

(I guess it's just a way of holding myself accountable for what we put in our tummies!!)

This brings me to something else that just popped into my head. How many of you ever feel like people are judging you as you meander through the grocery store with your box of oreos in the cart or bag of potato chips?

Maybe I feel that way because I am constantly looking at what other people have in their cart!! And I think to myself, must be nice just to walk around with all that junk food in there and feel no shame!!! 

So, I got a little off subject with that one but I was just curious if I was the only one who felt that way!

Back to my project....

After reading this woman's blog I decided that we would start trying new things and eating more of a balanced meal as often as we could. And by seeing what other people give their Tots, it gives me more ideas as to what to give Cohen so that his meals don't become so monotonous and hopefully become more healthy in turn. After all, I don't want the kid to be a picky eater and only want chicken nuggets and bacon for the rest of his life...that was a play on an inside joke!

I had a hard time deciding on whether or not I would post recipes for each meal idea with pics of all the ingredients before I begin (and some of them don't need one, I'm sure most of you know how to scrabble eggs!), but I have decided not to. The reason behind it being that I don't really have time for that and once I get in the cooking mood I have forgotten to post pics of all the before ingredients. 

BUT, if you would like a recipe then just post a request in the comments section! (This being for all five of my followers!! hehehe)

Here it goes!

Summer Yummer What's for Supper?

This was a really neat recipe that I got from parenting magazine! It's called a fritata and you can make them in all kids of combinations! 

First, I sauteed some bell peppers and mushrooms (that's what we had in the fridge). Then I took a muffin tin and sprayed it with pam and poured in the veggies. You whisk together two eggs and pour them over the veggies. Then you put turkey pepporoni around the edges. 

Then bake until top looks done! 

These were really good!

I served it with a combo of fruit: strawberries, watermelon and blueberries!!!

Artichoke chicken bake!! This was sooo good and easy to make! I served it over rice with a side of green beans...one of Cohen's favorites!

I try to put something "green" on his plate for each meal but it is really hard to get a one year old to eat a raw veggie so we have to resort to frozen veggies instead.

I once tried cucumber with a tiny bit of ranch dressing on it....he spit it out! There was no fooling him!

We eat this meal often in our home. Just a simple whole wheat pasta with marinara. We usually buy whatever sauce looks good but we had marinara in our fridge already so that is what I used.

Cohen is really into cheese straws right now so that was his "dairy" portion of the meal.

And, of course...strawberries on the side!

Smoothies for breakfast!!!

These turned out to be sooo good and really good for ya! Of course I put Cohen's in his sippy cup, but they looked so much prettier in the clear glasses!

Leave it to the teacher in me to think that everything I has to have a theme! I love the book Pancakes, Pancakes and when I taught school, every year I would read this book to my little Kindergartners and we would make pancakes! So , instead of making plain old boring pancakes, we made whole wheat banana pancakes from scratch!!! They are AWESOME!!!

I know some people are weird about fruit in their pancakes, but trust me these are AWESOME!! Did I say that already:)

I surprised myself with this one. I grew up on soul food. i.e. roast with veggies and potatoes, fresh peas, fresh butter beans, cream corn, cornbread, fried squash, chicken and dumplings..the list could go on and on! This is making me really hungry by the way!

Anyway, I made my first roast the other night.....and OH MY GOODNESS it was FANTASTIC!! Just like my grandmother used to make! This type of food is by no means healthy, but this is what I used to eat and I think I turned out ok??

You gotta have a dutch oven for this bad boy. I have a Le Creuset one that I bought a few years ago and if you don't have one, you need to get one! They are the best and you won't be disappointed in the performance!

What's on the plate? Roast with carrots and potatoes over rice, green beans, and mixed fruit!

Apple Cinnamon oatmeal with fresh fruit! 

This was a big hit with Cohen!

I am glad to be home in the mornings so I can make him things like this. When school starts it will be back to a banana and dry cereal :(

Good ole afternoon snack! I know yal think that all I give my kid is goldfish and cookies..and judging by the size of him i might could see how you think that:) 

But, I really do try hard not to give him junk!

This snack: One cheese straw and fruit!

OK, this is ABSOLUTELY not healthy and Cohen didn't get any of it....but you gotta treat yourself sometimes!!

Nothing like good ole dirt cake!!

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar??????

Come on! I had to let him at least try an oreo!!

So, to my buddies out there...Summer Yummer What's for your Supper???