Creating a Foodie

Feeding a Toddler.

I have such a love for food. Seriously. Almost obsessed with it. As soon as I'm done eating I'm thinking about the next meal. I used to have issues with it, and thought eating anything would make you fat. I would go a few days on one can of tuna. Then I found the wonderful world of eating the rainbow, and flavor combinations that help better your body.

Nitrients, proteins, good fats. There are so many amazing things to eat, I don't know how peoe can eat that cardboard garbage under the Golden Arches.

Shortly after finding out I was pregnant I started the most amazing experience of my life. A 14 week culinary training program at the RI Community Food Bank. It is a truly amazing opportunity where we spent 40 hours a week at the food bank. Daily preparing 500 meals for the underprivileged children throughout the Providence area. We not only learned about food safety, sanitation, and nutrition but learned about ourselves. I feel like I grew as a person more in that program than I did at any point in my adult life. I ate healthier, for myself and my growing baby, and I really understood the importance of it. Walking across that stage at graduation was probably the proudest moment for me. I finally knew what I was good at, my true passion in life. Cooking and helping others.

I always loved cooking for Mr. King and I.  Once my little H could eat solid foods I was so excited to start expanding her pallet. My goal was to get her to eat deliciously, nutritiously and not out of those little glass jars you find in the supermarket. All the food is some sort of grayish/ brown and is seriously lacking flavor. 

 

Nothing made me happier than preparing all the food for my little lady. I knew exactly what was going into her little growing body. 

I'm not sure of the exact recipes as this was two years ago. Some combinations were:

Roasted banana with cinnamon and nutmeg

Apple, pear and cinnamon 

Pea, greenbean and mint

Carrot, sweet potato, ginger and cinnamon

Berry trio with peaches

Cauliflower, potato, parsnip and thyme

Broccoli, avocado and pear.

I always used organic for the baby and made sure to wash all fruits and vegetables first. It's important to make sure the baby isn't allergic to a single ingredient before mixing. I also love adding a little bit of herbs and spices to the mixes. They add flavor and help in a developing body. Now little H won't eat a Pbj without honey and cinnamon. 

Starting to expand the pallet young, helps them make smarter decisions in the long run. I have totally created a mini foodie. But it's so fun. I love that she's not fearful to try new foods. 

Preparing her food now is just as fun as it was when she was a baby. I have also learned, using the words princess, rainbow or unicorn will get H to pretty much eat anything. Unicorn pizza, princess soup, or rainbow pasta. Gone, gone, and gone. I also like giving her options. That's why I love the compartment plates. She feels like she is picking what she wants to eat. She also needs to eat a little bit of everything before getting seconds of anything. 

Banana, apple, pumpkin pancakes make with coconut oil and coconut milk. Mandarin oranges, blackberries and sausage links

Sausage and kale hash with scrambies, goat cheese and blackberries

 Baked Panko eggplant Parm pizza with mozzarella, pesto and homemade sauce 

Cheesy garlic roasted broccoli

Apple pumpkin waffles with cinnamon apple- bacon compote

Sweet and smokey crispy bacon and mandarine oranges  

This was such a delicious snack. I chopped cocoa almonds, coconut cashews, banana chips and pistachios and the them in coconut yogurt from my favorite spot.  H really enjoyed dunking the grams into the yogurt

I told you we were a big fan of breakfast

I love that she loves food just as much as me. I am so proud of her fresh fruit and veggie choices over potato chips and processed foods. 

I'll let you in on a little secret, if you don't buy crappy food from the grocery store you can't eat crappy food. I use the scan it while grocery shopping so I have a constant tally of my bill. I shop the outter perimeter first and once I hit that $100 mark, I stop shopping. No cookies, no junk. There's never enough money to make it to those isles. If I have $2-$3, I'd rather get a container of sour cream or an extra bag of cheese. If you shop smarter you need to eat smarter. I load the fridge with easy accessible fruits and veggies for H to eat. 

Remember, have fun with your food!