Hey Mommas & MTB,
Hope you had a good week and TGIF 🙂 Today, I wanted to share some current recipes I’ve been making for Evelyn that are very easy to moderately easy because I don’t have time for anything too labor intensive. Evelyn’s a pretty picky eater so it’s been hard finding healthy food options for her. Below are some meals that are working for us. Please let me know what works for your picky eater as I’m always on the prowl!!
Breakfast:
Plain whole yogurt with crushed fruit (raspberries or strawberries) and a spoon. We recently bought Evelyn her own utensils as she’s shown a ton of interest. It’s helped get her to take a few bites as it’s fun for her to put her own food on her fork or spoon. I introduced yogurt this week and found a brand where it was just yogurt – no sugar, etc. To make it sweeter, I crush a few raspberries or put tiny bits of strawberry and mix it in. She’s been loving it.
Smoothies – Evelyn has started wanting everything I’m eating. She wanted a sip of my morning smoothie and loved it so no I make extra for her too. It’s a great way to sneak in nutrient packed food for her for breakfast. I put banana, frozen mixed berries, avocado (if you haven’t tried avocado in your smoothies yet you’re missing out. They make them soooooo creamy. Promise it doesn’t taste weird!), spinach, and almond milk & water. I bought her this super cute stainless steel tumbler for her smoothie and she loves drinking out of it. Only down side is there’s no “catch” for the straw so she can pull it out and splash smoothie everywhere so you gotta keep an eye on your little one while drinking out of these.
3 Ingredient “Pancakes” – 1 smashed banana, 2 eggs and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Soooo easy and she loves these. Put all ingredients in a bowl & mash them up together. Put in a non-stick frying pan (I put a little avocado oil in). The “Pancakes” need to be a little smaller than regular pancakes. This will make enough to have leftovers which is great, just put the extras in the fridge and reheat (or not, she’ll eat them cold too).
Baked Oatmeal – it’s been super rainy here on the East Coast and nothing feels cozier on a gray morning than a warm bowl of oatmeal. I love this recipe – they use frozen berries from a bag (yasss), I sub dairy milk for almond, and this time around I added chia seeds and mixed in half steel cut quick oats to Quaker Oats. Evelyn LOVED IT (heads up mamas it’s going to be messy) and it’s great for the adults too. Anytime baby can eat what the parents are eating is a plus in my book!
Lunch:
For the busy mama on the go, I’ve been buying organic deli sliced (not pre-packaged there was this scary article about that… you know how that goes…) ham and turkey. I’ll rip up a few pieces and it’s a super easy go to. I’ll also give her avocado, black beans, cut up grapes & cucumbers. I’ve tried to give her bell peppers twice and she’s choked both times so we’re taking a pause on those.
Snack:
Again, with all the rain we’ve been having I’ve been looking for cozy snack ideas. Our current favorite is alternating between baked apples and baked mangos. This recipe is super easy and a good treat for both mom and baby 🙂
Evelyn also loves to eat whole apples, I peel the skin and then give it to her whole (she has 4 top & bottom teeth). Her daily apple buys me a solid 15 minutes to get something done (like making dinner!).
Cherrios – They’ve become my new best friend – does think make me a 90s basic mom?
Banana Oat “Cookies” – When we’re traveling, I need quick easy snacks to keep her happy on the go. I’ve been buying her bars but 1) they are expensive and 2) even though I’m buying from better brands I’m still not crazy about all the sneaky ways they’re adding tons of sugar and sweeteners. So I’m looking to make these on my own. I tried this recipe the other week. It’s easy to add on to too depending on what your LO likes. I added almond butter and I’d probably also add a fruit, maybe blueberries, next time. The only thing with this is it keeps in your fridge for a week but I feel like it tasted significantly better out of the oven then a few days in. There’s a lot of oats and it kind of tasted like you were just eating dry oats the following day. Maybe if I heated it a bit in the microwave the banana and other flavors would have came out more. There’s a ton of this type of recipe on Pinterest so I may just try another one until I find one I like better.
I can’t find the recipe I used but here’s the instructions:
1. In a bowl, mash two very ripe bananas with one cup of whole old fashioned oats.
2. Arrange them in the size and shape you want before popping them in the oven. These “cookies” won’t fluff up.
3. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes.
4. Store in an airtight container. Keeps in the fridge for a week.
Dinner:
I made these mini meatloafs for Evelyn. There was plenty to have some for her for the week and I was able to freeze two weeks worth for later. I thought they were delicious. Unfortunately, Evelyn wasn’t a huge fan. I’m going to try to reintroduce them to her later on and see if she’ll change her mind. But if you think your LO might like these I’d recommend it, they taste really good – at least to me!
Quinoa and Ground Beef Meatballs – Evelyn LOVES meatballs and on the road I’ll buy her frozen ones but I hate her eating packaged and processed frozen meat. So while I have access to a good oven I’m giving these a try. Making them tomorrow so will update the post with her thoughts.
Dessert: For a treat on hot days I’ve been making her homemade popsicles. I bought these cute popsicle molds during the amazon prime sale. I blended some fresh strawberries with water. That’s it! And she loves it! So you can make it as easy or complicated as you want.