Saturday was Sophie’s third birthday party.

OMG Babygirl is three!!!

Sorry. Had a moment. It happens.

Anyway – birthday party. I wanted the party to be totally dye-free so Sophie could enjoy her day without me worrying, and without being told “No, you can’t eat that even though all your friends are.” The challenge? Frosting (Hello Kitty party, pink frosting was a must!) and drinks.

The entire month of January I baked cakes and cupcakes on weekends, testing different recipes. I used a box mix (thank goodness many chocolate mixes are dye-free) and various frosting recipes. I ended up using this one from Martha Stewart. I colored it pink with beet juice, and frosted a two-layer chocolate cake.

Other party food was fruit kabobs (thanks to my mom, AKA Nana) with yogurt for dipping, Goldfish crackers, WhoNu chocolate cookies (healthy Oreos!) and pretzel sticks dipped in Wilton’s white candy melts.  To drink, we had Minute Maid fruit punch.

Checking out the goodies

Cake!

Blowing out her candles

This weekend I had some overripe fruit to use up, so I experimented. Luckily, both recipes were a success!

My parents and older daughter visited Florida recently, and brought home some fresh Georgia peaches (YUM). I had taken one to work for lunch last week, but it was forgotten in my lunch bag. How did that even happen? Anyway, although it was getting some bad spots I had to save the remaining. They were that good. I also had some washed and halved strawberries in the refrigerator that were getting dried out at the edges, not bad yet but not good for eating plain. I tossed them in the blender with chunks of the peach, a tablespoon of ground flax, and about a cup of plain Greek yogurt (Fage Total 0%). I added a little (maybe 1/4 cup, if that much) Simply Lemonade for liquid, and made a smoothie. It wasn’t quite sweet enough, so I added about 2 tbsp honey and blended again.

Yum.

I had a great idea, though. Sophie is very limited on popsicle choices now, and I happened to have an empty popsicle mold. I filled half of it (all the handles we could find) with the smoothie mixture, and froze. I drank the other half, and if anyone is interested according to My Fitness Pal one serving of the smoothie, half of the mixture, is only 179 calories. Sophie had a pop as a snack yesterday, and she really liked it! She doesn’t have to know it’s much healthier.

I also made blueberry muffins. Sophie loves them at her daycare, but those are not made with real blueberries. I read a package label and they use blueberry flavored, artificially colored bits. No wonder she had new random breakouts! I bought a box of Krusteaz wild blueberry muffin mix (love that brand’s mixes – so good!) I had two overripe bananas that I mashed in the mixing bowl before adding the muffin mix and water. I also added 1/3 cup of ground flax. I mixed it all up, folded in the blueberries, then baked. Instead of the directed 20 minutes at 400, I baked for 25 minutes at 350. They turned out perfectly! Sophie had one on the way to daycare this morning and said it was “yummy!”

Sadly, I didn’t think to take pictures of either one. So, here’s a picture of Sophie enjoying a mozzarella stick yesterday when we met friends for lunch.

I posted in more detail on my other blog, but Sophie has joined the food allergy club. She is allergic to the artificial dyes. This explains MANY problems she’s had since she was smaller, and the results of a dye-free diet are incredible. However, the dyes are EVERYWHERE! So, I’ll be making more foods for her again. No more purees, so this time will be an adventure. I started packing her lunch for daycare today, and am readying my list of foods to make ahead to have ready.

Here is where I am so far, and if you know of any good dye-free alternatives or links to recipes, please share!

Breakfast: Muffins with real blueberries. She loves the blueberry muffins and pancakes at her sitter’s house, but the mixes are full of artificially colored and flavored bits instead of actual blueberries. I can make a pan of these and send one for her breakfast along with fruit and yogurt. Eggs, biscuits, grape jelly (surprisingly) and some cereals are safe, too.

Lunch: Today she had pb&j spinwheels (spread on a tortilla and cut up).  I discovered this site through Pinterest and am exploring several of the recipes. Here is another good site, with many muffin tin meal ideas that can be easily translated to lunchbox ideas. I’m making a shopping list/idea list as I explore. So far I have mini-pizzas, and can make homemade jello with fruit juice and gelatin. She also likes crackers, so some diced cheese and crackers would be an easy treat, too.

Snacks: Goldfish are dye-free now, although she dislikes the muticolored variety. Luckily Big Sis loves them, so the box won’t go to waste. Fruit, crackers, Teddy Grahams. Have you tried WhoNu cookies? We love them, and they are also dye-free.

Sophie is finally over the plate-dumping stage! However, she is refusing most vegetables now. Even though I’ve been a parent for 14 years, this is new to me and was quite the surprise, since she liked them so much as a baby.  So, I’ve been getting creative.

She gets a cup of V8 V-fusion fruit and vegetable juice most days, and she loves that. Our grocery store has their own version, too, so it’s not as expensive. I’ve also tried hiding mashed veggies in her dinner. Carrots work great in spaghetti and sloppy joes! Peas – there is nothing I’ve found to get her to eat peas. If she finds one in her mouth, she will fish it out and proclaim it “ew!”

I also made toddler muffins last weekend. (Follow this link for recipe.) They are actually quite good, and taste a lot like carrot cake without the frosting. I froze half the batch for later.

Unrelated, but just for fun, this weekend I made pancakes for breakfast. I put some of the batter into a small squeeze bottle and made name pancakes for both girls. They loved it!

Pasta, spaghetti sauce, hamburger, and mashed carrots

Mashing carrots

Pancakes!

It hardly seems possible, but Miss Sophie is now two. Some days, she’s very much two, if you know what I mean. Full of independence and spirit. Former favorite foods are met with hands over the mouth and “I don’t want it!” Even the usual standby, pumpkin and cottage cheese, won’t make it past her lips.

I’ve been on the lookout for easy lunches for weekends at home with Sophie (her sitter provides meals during the week, thank goodness). Pinterest is a great help. Although, some things are reminders from when Big Sis was little – I’m seeing ideas I used to make for her all the time! Like roll-ups – she called them “spinwheels” – with a tortilla and so many options. Peanut butter and jelly, meat and cheese, whatever I could find on hand.

Here are some links with lots of great ideas. Enjoy!

Cooking with Mrs Sea Monster

For Love of Cupcakes

Wendolonia

I tried something new with Sophie. She is still in the “dump the plate” stage, and doesn’t always eat what she dumps. I saw somewhere in Internetland (I wish I could remember where, I’d link it) an idea of using silicon muffin pans for feeding toddlers. The small sections make great portion dividers, and it offers lots of variety.

I’ll put fruit, vegetables, diced or shredded cheese, chicken nuggets, yogurt, applesauce, cheerios, diced sliced turkey, macaroni and cheese, basically anything she likes in the sections. She seems to eat more than with a plate, also. I think it’s fun for her. If there is an empty space, she’ll put her cup in it. It’s working great!

Last week, my mom had surgery, and while we were waiting a 2 year old little boy shared his fruit snacks with Sophie. She loved them! Later in the week, I found a recipe on Pinterest for homemade fruit snacks using 100% juice and no added sugars or preservatives.

I used Target’s store brand of 100% grape juice, Knox gelatin, and a candy mold from Hobby Lobby of tiny little rectangles. It was pretty simple – put 1/3 c juice in a small saucepan, then sprinkle 3 envelopes of gelatin on top and let sit for 5 minutes. By the way, after the five minutes have passed it will be a solid mass in the pot. I didn’t know that would happen.
Next, turn the burner on meduim-high, and melt the gelatin, stirring as it melts. It makes a very thick liquid. Then pour the mixture into a measuring cup with a spout, or something else that will make pouring easier, and fill the molds. I didn’t fill the entire sheet, but what I did fill made 48 pieces. Not bad to start with. Then let them cool, which didn’t take long at all. I felt a piece after 10-15 minutes, expecting them to still be warm, but they were actually cold. They were easy to take out of the mold, also.

How did they taste, though?
Sophie wasn’t a fan. Big Sis liked them and went back for more. I thought they were “okay.” Not a strong flavor, but not bad either. I am storing them in a ziploc bag in the refrigerator so they won’t warm up and melt.

Cooling in the mold

I need help.

Sophie has been doing somethng lately at mealtimes, and I am at a loss on how to stop it! She, almost every time, dumps or scrapes the contents of her plate or bowl onto her high chair tray. Even cereal with milk. Luckily, I don’t put much milk on her cereal and the body-side edge of the tray has a high rim, but she will eat it with her spoon from the pool of milk it makes.

The only thing she doesn’t do this with is chicken and dumplings, which I think is her favorite food. Oh, and not often with chicken nuggets, but I think that’s only because I don’t give her a fork or spoon with them and she can’t get the ketchup or barbecue sauce off her plate otherwise.

I’m sure this is normal toddler behaviour (it is, right?) but what on earth do I do to prevent this? I already know the suction cup bowls, plates, and mats don’t work at all. The Boon Stay-put plate that’s designed without an edge for toddlers to grip to pick up? Ha! She has it up in seconds flat. I have seriously tried every “stay-put” product I can find. Now I’m taking suggestions.

Anyone?

Babygirl isn’t a “baby” any more – she’s a full-on toddler! She is running, climbing, jumping, climbing, playing outside, climbing – have I mentioned she likes climbing? Last night after dinner, we found her on top of the dinner table. She can climb the steps on her slide, and the steps to get into the house. I’m just waiting for her to start climbing out of her crib! I’m (fairly) sure we have a while yet before that happens, though.

Our baby food maker and trays have not been used for some time, now, although she does still love a bowl of pumpkin and cottage cheese. I found a bag of frozen cherries in the freezer over the weekend and thought about steaming them to puree, but I haven’t. She no longer eats baby oatmeal, and I’ve been buying the individual cups of Greek yogurt with real fruit mixed in instead of mixing it myself – at this stage it’s so much easier.

For the most part, Sophie eats what we eat. I’ll get out the pumpking and cottage cheese or chicken nuggets if she just won’t eat what we’re having, but for the most part that’s not the case. She is still a very good eater, and pretty easy to please. It’s so cute when she takes a bite of food, chews for a minute, then grins and says “Yum!”

Here are some of her favorites:

Omelets, pancakes, cereal (Big Sis taught her to drink the milk from the bowl… oh joy), fruit, bacon (LOVES bacon!), muffins, biscuits, cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

She loves fruit: mangos, banana (she can eat small amounts now without a problem), strawberries, pineapple, and applesauce are her favorites.

She still loves chicken and dumplings, and likes brown rice, Asian food, taco meat (She doesn’t like tortillas, so when we eat tacos she’ll have some meat and cheese with a couple tortilla chips), barbecue chicken, hamburgers – almost everything! It’s nice to not have to prepare a separate meal for her.

Tomorrow is her 18 month checkup. At her 15 month, she weighed 25 lbs 8 oz. A few days ago she came in the bathroom and saw me weighing myself, and stepped onto the scale. Twenty-five lbs again. She’s grown taller, though, and has thinned out. I have an app on my phone that tracks all things baby. It’s great for newborns – records nursing sessions, diaper changes, sleeping, naps, medications, temperatures – it’s amazing (Total Baby in iTunes store, if you’re interested.) It aslo records dr visits, immunizations, and growth. She’s finally grown into her head – that chart lookes like in inverted V! I’ve noticed her height keeps climbing, and her weight has been steady for months now.  She’s not a little chunky baby any more.

Last night I made Crack Roast for dinner. As I was making Sophie’s plate so it could cool, my husband dipped a small piece of the pork into the sauce and gave it to her. She licked her lips – “Yum num num.”

She loved rice with a sauce over the weekend, so last night I put a little shredded pork and brown rice on her plate, and spooned some sauce over both. I gave her some green beans also, and she was tapping the empty section of her plate so I added a little shredded cheddar cheese. She ate almost everything, all by herself!

But then, when it was bedtime, she would NOT settle down. She was climbing, running, throwing things at the dogs and doubling over with laughter when they’d run away from her. She was tickling and playing and finding anything and everything to get into. Around 11 I was teasing Big Sis about sneaking her some ice cream or something sugary, and she said “Besides the crack sauce?”

Oh yes, the sauce.

I didn’t even think about the fact that the sauce is almost pure sugar. One whole cup of brown sugar, 2/3 cup apple juice, and whatever meat juices that combine while cooking. She had about 2 tablespoons on her rice and meat.

Oops.

She finally went to sleep after 11, and was Miss Crankypants this morning. I think next time, we’ll skip the sauce on her plate.