Food Hunter pt. 2

To update you on my food adventures, I have since made chili, pumpkin muffins and ...well, taco salad...but that one I cheated on.

The chili was good. I did alter it some to better fit my family's tastes, but after it cooked in the crock pot all day, I declare it a success. It wasn't anything too unique, it was your basic chili recipe, but I had never made my own before.
I would, and most likely will, make it again. Especially on the cold, dreary days of winter, I think a big bowl of chili sounds perfect. It makes plenty of left-over for this small group, so I had to use it again somehow.
Enter the taco salad. I did see a recipe online for this, read it, and decided it was basically chili. And wouldn't you know, I had a whole tub of it stored in the refrigerator already. Add in some lettuce and crumble some chips, and tada! Taco Salad.

Now, the pumpkin muffins. I'm not going to lie, I had high hopes, and I was a bit disappointed. I wanted something with pumpkin and brown sugar...I love brown sugar. But, I didn't want anything too rich, too sugary, or too caloric. I found this recipe on pinterest and tried it out.
It had way too many ingredients, it stuck to the paper wrappers horribly, and it didn't really taste much like anything. I probably won't be making them again.

I still would like to find a breakfast food recipe like a muffin, or a "cookie", something I can make in a batch and hand out to the girls all week long. Lorelai loves muffins, waffles, etc. She does not like cereal or oatmeal...she can't wonder around the room with it, nibbling it slowly. If you have any ideas, please send them my way.

I still have a recipe for pumpkin cream cheese bread I need to try, and I have several more meals this week to try. I'll post my progress on those later.

Also, if you would like any of the recipes I mentioned, I can post them as well...I just haven't found any that I think would be worth it yet. But hey, at least I am making fresh food, nothing frozen and packed with preservatives. It's a win in my book. :)


M.LEWIS

Food Hunter

I have been really trying to better our meals lately. We eat out over the weekend, so I try to balance it out by buying fresh, and making foods from scratch...well, for the most part. If read this blog or know my family, you know I live with the pickiest eaters, so finding recipes that please everyone is difficult.

Lorelai is pretty much a lost cause for the time being, seeing as not all my meals will involve grilled cheese or dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. So, while Lorelai eats her food (and makes up for nutritional gaps with pedia-sure), I make food for Chris and myself.

This week I have made 4 foods. 3 new recipes. 0 so far are worth making again. :\

I made breakfast cookies from a recipe my friend posted. I don't know, maybe I messed it up somehow, but they are only mildly acceptable. With all fresh fruit and whole grains, they are healthy, but bland.

I made black bean burgers, and that was a mess and required too much time. You can ask the crying infant about that one. They tasted good, but not good enough for me give it a second go. I think I need to find a different version of the recipe before I attempt them again.

I made cauliflower "mac n' cheese" which is basically steamed cauliflower with cheese sauce. It was alright, but nothing too great. I would make it again if I needed "something different" to make.

The last thing I made was good ol' chocolate chip cookies. They weren't healthy, they just sounded good. Even that I messed up. Unsalted butter makes them funky, and my new cookie sheets do not bake evenly. I'll need to adjust to the thick, dark sheets.

So I feel like I am 0-4 so far. Tomorrow I make white bean chili and cornbread. I hope it goes well. I am using the crockpot for it, so I am excited.

I still have one other recipe I bookmarked but have yet to buy for, but it's pumpkin bread. Yummy, but not a meal.

Time to start researching for next week! If you have any favorites, please pass them my way. I'll see if they fit the requirements. ;)

P.S.> I hope you like my new layout. Modern fall chic was the vibe I was going for.


M.LEWIS

7 Months Old and Counting

Well, well, well, 7 months old. My how time flies. I didn't think Lorelai grew up too fast, but Addy? Well, I think Addy is growing at lightening speed.

This little cutie is a joy. She loves attention, mainly from mommy; which is ok, but I think others might get a little jealous. But hey, it's fleeting. Look at Lorelai now, she is a daddy's girl, big time!

Adalaide is a terrible eater. God bless her skinny little body. This 10th percentile girl makes mommy a little worried about her lack of food/bottle consumption. Therefore, mommy is always shoving food in her face. She does seem to like table food better than her baby pureed glop, so hopefully we can find a happy medium soon.
Though, to eat more table food, she needs some teeth. That's right, following in her bog sister's footsteps, this babe has zero teeth more than half way through her first year. LEL was 9.5 months before one of those bad boys sprouted, so we may have a couple more months to go.

What she lacks in the oral department, she makes up for in gross and fine motor skills. She has been picking up food since she was 5.5 months old, and now feeds herself small snack foods with ease. She also started crawling 3 days before her 7-month birthday. She is already pulling herself up on things, wobbly, but she is determined.

Last night she did sleep through the night. This is the 3rd (maybe 4th) time she has ever done this. I do hope this is a new trend. LEL started sleeping through the night during her 7th month, so if Addy wants to repeat that, I would have no objections.

She is still wearing some 3M clothes, but we are mainly in 6M outifts. Those onesie pj's are awful for her. Her skinny little legs slide up to her tummy and get stuck there. I am constantly untangling her. She has been sleeping without being swaddled (mainly naps) so I want those tiny legs covered so she doesn't get chilly. (Not that it's that cold here yet...just the AC).

She used to love baths, but now she is not so into them. She is more of an in-and-out girl, and Lorelai will be happy to play in there for half an hour if you let her...though both hate getting their hair washed.

Adalaide will also start off her 7th month a baptized babe. This past Saturday, all in-town family were over for a brief, beautiful ceremony by our good friend, Jeremy. Addy seemed very intrigued by the whole process, even reaching over to read the bible Jeremy was preaching from.

Addy does like to explore and discover new things (as long as mommy is carrying her), and crawling opens a whole new world, what will 8 months bring? Cross your fingers for more eating, drinking, and sleeping. Other than that, life is oh-so-good for Ms. Adalaide Olivia. ♥


M.LEWIS

Pre-Homeschool

I have begun "preschool" for Lorelai this week.
I plan to build up to a more structured schedule, so we are taking small steps right now. It's an adjustment, poor thing. She has some ADD tendencies.

For the first week I plan to have a letter and number of the day. We then collect items in a small bag that begin with that letter, and hopefully I can tie in the number somehow. We then show dad the bag in the evening and explain what the letter is and what the objects are. This reinforces the information, and gives her something to work towards when wondering around the house searching for items. We also talk about the day of the week, and the weather. Though she does not tell me what the weather is, rather what she wants the weather to be. Her answer is consistently "snow." We'll work on that.

The second week I plan to work in a book of the day, and if I'm feeling really bold, a corresponding art project. Her speech skills are a tad behind, but she's making great progress, so I think a word of the day could help her along. One that I know she has trouble pronouncing and using correctly in a sentence. The approach of "_____ of the day" will work best for her age and for her adjustment into schooling in general. We will ease into larger, more general concepts over time.

The third week I'd like to work in "bigger picture" things like months, seasons, states, and word identification. Like her name, her sister's name, etc. Introducing food groups will also work itself in, mainly because we are working on expanding her toddler palate.

The fourth week I see us starting some concrete themes. This will definitely take more work on my behalf. Planning a week in advance, and making sure we have enough time to dedicate to the entire daily lesson, even if we need to divide it up through the day. So what starts off in week 1 as "letter A and number 1 on a sunny Monday" will evolve into "letter L and number 12 on a cloudy Friday, October the 12. Book: It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown; with pumpkin stamp art. What season do we see pumpkins? The word of the day: "orange"; and pumpkin muffins for snack." by week 4. (Yes, I know my timeline doesn't match up with my example, but you get the idea...I hope.)

All of this is easy to plan out, it's the execution (with an infant) that will need practice. I also think a teacher planner is in order soon.

Some things she already excels in:

• fine motor skills
• color identification
• shape identification 
• animal identification

These things will come in handy when I work them in with the daily lesson. I hope this will deter frustration and create a link she can relate to. Stickers will also help motivate her, to a point. She's got a pretty hard-headed streak. Hence the "easing into" school. I do not want her to view school as a punishment or a chore...not yet anyway. ;)


M.LEWIS