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Archives for May 2020

TODDLER MEAL TIME – What’s working for us right now

May 31, 2020 by Sarah Baade 2 Comments

Toddler meal time – What’s working for us right now. Those last two words of the title are important. “Right now.” If I’ve learned anything in my measly three and a half years of parenting, its that nothing stays the same for long. The only constant, is change. I don’t have a degree in nutrition, or pediatrics, or even early childhood development. What I do have is a kiddo who used to eat nearly anything we gave her but now decides she hates foods on a whim. By the way, I hear this is normal. Normal doesn’t make it less stressful though.

One of the best pieces of parenting advice I’ve heard is to look at your circle of friends and how they parent their kids. If you don’t want to parent in the same way as a certain friend, don’t go to them for advice. Likewise, if your friend’s parenting style is what you aspire to be like, those are the folks to when things get challenging. With this in mind, I’ve been taking in meal time advice from dear friends as well as a variety of online resources.

What we were doing before our overhaul

We initially tried giving our daughter exactly what we were eating on most nights. Sometimes she would go for it but, more often than not, she would reject dinner. We would end up in a battle just trying to get her to eat one bite of peas (one of her favorites, by the way). There were tears, time outs and all three of us ended up exhausted. Other nights, we didn’t want to deal with tantrums so we would just let her have the cereal or mac & cheese she requested. I love cereal and mac & cheese too but I’d really rather provide her with a balanced diet than a bowl full of carbs. The only thing keeping me from feeling guilty is that her teachers consistently report she is the best eater in her class.

What we’re doing now

  1. Our first move was to change up our daughter’s plates. Yes, we were using colorful kids plates before but this still made a positive impact on her attitude. We now swap out between her usual plates and some colorful 4 or 6 cup cupcake pans.
  2. We put a different food in each cup – always at least one food that we know she’ll eat and the others might be familiar or might not. If we are giving her a new food, it is from whatever my husband and I are eating that night. We also occasionally put a small treat in one of the cups.
  3. We tell her she can eat what she wants and doesn’t have to eat what she doesn’t want. She can even eat the treat first if wants to. However, she is expected to have good manners and not complain or push anything off of her plate.
  4. We don’t ask her or tell her to try things. In other words, the “polite bite” has been eliminated. We talk about the color or shape of new foods but we don’t require a bite to see if she likes something. She sees us eating the foods we are serving and this approach seems to naturally spur her curiosity. Just the other night she initiated conversation about the shape and color of asparagus and she ended up eating the serving we had put on her plate. Win!!!
  5. We eat in different locations. Most of the time we are still eating at the dining room table. But we also eat quite a few meals on the back porch, the front porch, or even picnic style on the living room floor. Location typically depends on what we’re serving. In other words, we aren’t giving our toddler soup in the middle of the floor for fear of spilling.
  6. If my husband and I aren’t eating at the same time as our daughter, we still sit with her. We take turns reading books while she eats. She often ends up eating everything on her plate without even thinking about it simply because she’d so focused on the stories and doesn’t realize she’s eaten those peas!

Honestly, these changes have been beneficial for all of us. Variety keeps things fun and not having any rules about trying things has eliminated pressure and stress. We are having far fewer tantrums. She is also eating a more balanced diet. I’m realistic that this may not last forever but I will also say this has been the longest streak of meal time success we’ve had. You know your own kiddo better than anyone else does. Review the list of changes we’ve made and see if you think any of them might resonate with your family.

I’m including some links to products we use (or similar) as resources for you – just click on the images below for the links. Full disclosure, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Family, feedingfamily, feedingtoddler, Kids, Parenting, Toddler, toddlerdinner, toddlermeal, toddlermealtime, toddlermom, Toddlermomlife

SWEET VANILLA SNACK MIX

May 15, 2020 by Sarah Baade Leave a Comment

COVID quarantine has me craving all the snacks! I’m not the only one, right?! I’ve realized that when I’m working from my office, there are multiple factors that keep me from thinking about food all day. As an audiologist, I’m obviously not going to be snacking while seeing a patient. Can you imagine your doctor doing something like that? No way! The second biggest reason I don’t snack at work is that I simply don’t have access to snacks. We don’t even have a vending machine at our office, let alone a cafeteria. Sure, I could keep a box of snacks in the break room but if that doesn’t exist, I don’t even think twice. Working from home is strange in general but my biggest struggle has proven to be full kitchen access just 20′ from my desk.

I love snack mix! Yes, it satisfies my snacking urges but it is also so versatile! You can change up the flavor based on your cravings – sweet vs salty, etc. But you can also change it up based on what you already happen to have in your pantry. Currently, my daughter has been on a kick of mixing Cheerios and Crispix into one bowl for breakfast. Since that’s what we have on hand right now, both of those went into this new recipe. I happen to keep pecans on hand for baking so I tossed those in as well. You see what I’m getting at here? My general process for snack mix includes two cereal varieties, a cracker, some sort of nut and something salty. On occasion, I also add something sweet. To help get you inspired to create your own mix, I’ve created a list of possible ingredients for you.

Snack Mix Ingredient Ideas:

  • Rice, corn, wheat or oat based cereals that have a crunch
  • Peanuts, cashews, walnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans
  • Sunflower seeds, pumpkins seeds
  • Pretzels, bagel chips, rye chips, oyster crackers, cheese based cracker such as cheez-its or goldfish
  • Candy coated chocolates such as m&m’s, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, banana chips, dried mango – note, these sweet ingredients are best added after the rest of the mix has baked and cooled completely.

SEET VANILLA SNACK MIX

Sarah Baade
This sweet vanilla snack mix has a crunch and light sweetness that will keep you coming back for more.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Course Snack
Cuisine American

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups Crispix cereal
  • 2 cups cheerios (plain)
  • 2 cups pretzel sticks
  • 1 cup oyster crackers
  • 1 cup pecan halves
  • 1/4 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup candy coated chocolates (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 250°F.
  • In a large bowl, mix together Crispix, Cheerios, oyster crackers, pretzels and pecans.
  • In a medium, microwave safe bowl, melt butter in the microwave. Then, with butter still hot, whisk in brown sugar, vanilla and salt.
  • Pour butter mixture over cereal mix and stir until cereal mix is evenly coated.
  • Transfer mix onto a parchment lined baking sheet and and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.
  • Let snack mix cool completely before stirring in candy coated chocolates.
Keyword Snack, Snack Mix, Sweet Snack, Sweet Vanilla Snack Mix, Vanilla

*If you enjoyed this recipe, you might also like my Honey Sriracha Snack Mix.

Filed Under: Recipe, Snack, Uncategorized, Vegetarian Tagged With: #sweetvanillasnackmix, Easy Recipe, Easy Snack, Snack, Snack Mix, Sweet Snack, Sweet Tooth, Vanilla

SEVEN DATE NIGHT AT HOME IDEAS

May 8, 2020 by Sarah Baade Leave a Comment

A year and a half ago, my husband and I sat down to come up with date night ideas. We have a young daughter which means date night is twice as expensive as it was before we became parents. (BTW, when did babysitters start charging so much???) Yes, we hire babysitters when we need to but Hubs and I also have an arrangement with friends where we swap babysitting once per month. So, one night per month, my husband or I will go to our friends’ house to baby sit their little one while they go out on a date. Another night that month, we swap so that my husband and I get a date night. I highly recommend this arrangement!!! People we trust and we don’t have to pay anything extra but it is equally valuable to both couples.

Ultimately, when we sat down to come up with those date night ideas, we split it into two categories: date night out and date night in. We wrote down several ideas for each category on a little piece of paper. Each idea got folded up and placed into its appropriate jar and we did not tell each other what we wrote. Every month, we choose one idea for our date night out and one for a date night in. Honestly, the date night out ideas are plentiful, especially because we live in a large city. Date night in? That is a different story. We had to get more creative so that we weren’t just sitting on the couch watching another movie. I’m so glad we put the effort into those date night in ideas because they have become far more valuable lately. What I’ve done here is list out our top seven date night in ideas. I encourage you to put the ideas in a jar and draw one at least once per month. Definitely add in some of your own ideas while you’re at it! After the kids are in bed (if you have kids), put that date into action!

1) Water Color Portraits

Try not to take yourselves too seriously on this, you don’t need to be the next Picasso to have a good time. Neither my husband nor I are great artists which means we really got some good laughs out of this activity. Make is abstract or give it some honest effort but take your time and don’t show each other the finished product until you’re finished. If you don’t have water colors, use crayons, markers, or whatever you have on hand.

2) Food Sampling

Each person gets to pick 3 to 5 items from the kitchen (or the store if you’re able to get out) and create a charcuterie board of sorts. Explain to each other why you chose what you did and which items should be paired together (cheese with crackers for example). Feel free to add a favorite beverage as well. You can create a score card to make it like a food competition. Give points for creativity, plating and how well the items paired together.

3) Origami Folding Party

Hop online and find a website that offers free origami patterns. Take turns choosing a pattern and then see who can fold the pattern the fastest or the most precisely. You can buy origami paper if you want but you could just as easily cut wrapping paper or printer paper into the required size for each pattern.

4) S’mores & Camp Fire Stories

If you happen to have a fire pit in your backyard and want to make s’mores the old-fashioned way, go for it. But, no, you don’t need an actual campfire for this. On a sheet pan, you can lay out graham crackers topped with chocolate, topped with a large marshmallow. Pop these babies in the oven and broil them until you get your mallows golden and toasty (watch them closely so you don’t burn them beyond recognition). Get creative with your ingredients. Use chocolate graham crackers or even different types of cookies as your base. Try different types of chocolate – I love jalapeno spiced chocolate for my s’mores. You could even try peeps instead of traditional marshmallows if you have them. Once your s’mores are assembled, sit down and tell your favorite camp fire stories.

5) Make A Craft

Similar to the water color portraits listed above, you don’t need to over engineer this. Grab whatever you have on hand – paints, dry pasta, glue, paper, whatever. Just get creative. You could make necklaces, paint flowers, build a tower. You can work on the same project together or turn it into a contest and let your kids or friends judge the winner the next day.

6) Pillow Fort

This might be my favorite date night in idea. I mean, who doesn’t love a good pillow fort??? Grab any/all spare blankets, sheets and pillows. Build the pillow fort your younger self always dreamed of creating.  Once your fort is built, snuggle up together and talk about your favorite childhood memories.

7) Love Languages Test

The Five Love Language test is a great (and free) online tool to help you and your significant other get to know each other better. You sit down individually to answer several questions which will ultimately give insight into what your love language is. Once you’ve completed the test, you sit together and share your results. The categories are Words of Affirmation, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, Quality Time, and Physical Touch. You’ll probably learn some things about yourself but my hope is that you and your partner will talk out the results you each got and, ultimately, better understand what is important to one another.

*Snack Ideas

Some of these date ideas already have food options included but the others are open to snacks as well. Here are some of our favorite snack recipes to choose from:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Easy Buffalo Dip

Honey Sriracha Snack Mix

Blackberry Cheesecake No Churn Ice Cream

Key Lime Sugar Cookies

Lemon Hummus with Rosemary Pita Chips

Potato Chip Cookies

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Date Night, Date Night At Home, Date Night In

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