The Value of the Early Morning

I am not a morning person.  Never have been.  Left to my own devices I would happily sleep until noon on the weekends.  But my kids love the mornings.  The earlier the better. And so now I too wake up before 6 to change diapers, retrieve children from their respective rooms and start the day.  Here's the win: before work today I:

• got both kids up and changed
• settled my son on the couch with his blanket and milk while I fed his sister
• engaged both children with the same toy and watched them almost play together
• made french toast with my son (he helped to stir and add the cinnamon and nutmeg)
• sat at the table like a grown up and ate the french toast with both kids
• snuggled with my daughter while my son colored

all before 8am.  I had no guilt about working today.

E is for Eating with Toddlers

My son went from being an adventurous, try anything eater to a kid who prefers to say "no" without opening his mouth.  So through trial and error I came up with 4 ways that made meal time more enjoyable for all of us

1. Know what they do like.  In my house we love pretzels. My son would eat them for every meal and snack if I let him.  So I know most of the time the promise of just one Utz pretzel will make him eat a little of almost anything.

2. "Dipping sauce".  This is key in our house.  My son will eat just about anything if he can dip it in something first.  It doesn't matter what.  Strawberries into ketchup, squash into maple syrup.  A small pool of dipping sauce goes along way.

3. Changing the view.  When he was younger it didn't matter to him what his high chair looked at.  Now, we found he eats better when he is facing the table and we are all eating together.  He is more likely to eat more and sit longer if he is watching us eat as well.

4. Sometimes you just have to give them what they want.  Yesterday for example my son refused to eat anything but pretzels or yogurt puffs.  Last month this would have made me crazy...I would have tried everything to get him to eat something healthy.  Sure enough, today he woke up and ate fresh tomatoes with french toast and strawberries for breakfast, housed a tuna sandwich for lunch, ate a snack of veggie sticks in a little ranch dipping sauce and is already looking around for dinner.

D is for Dinner

I don't have a lot of time, and don't want to spend what time I have on dinner.  Meatloaf shouldn't be hard, require a trip to the store or need a lot of dishes.  This one doesn't.

What you need:

1-2 pounds of ground beef (or turkey)
1/2-1 onion, diced (depending on how much you like onion)
2 pieces of bread torn into pieces (any kind)
1 egg
2 of the 3: 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup barbecue sauce, 1/2 cup molasses

1. Mix everything in one bowl
2. Shape into desired shape (I am a fan of the classic loaf)
3. Cook for 50 minutes at 350

A is for Apple

I was, as usual short on time the other morning.  Trying to rush through breakfast so I could get to work on time and all I could find as a main ingredient were apples. In 15 minutes I created 3 different things that pleased each of the people in my home (with some left overs for me).  I was impressed since I have a 6 month old, a 20 month old and a husband who is picky about breakfast.

So I present A is for Apple...my guide on how to make 3 things in 15 minutes that they all will appreciate...and is healthful for them (and organic if you choose).

1. Put on water to boil
2. Take at least one apple per person (I used 4...my husband got two)
3. Peal the apples for the children
4. Cut one pealed apple up crudely (we are going to make quick apple sauce with this one)
5. Cut one pealed apple in thin, long strips (dipping sticks)
6. Cut the remaining unpealed apples into square shaped chunks (no bake apple crisp)

To make the applesauce:
1. dump the crudely cut, pealed apple into the boiling water (boil about 5 minutes)
2. remove when the apples are soft.  I like to mash them up with a fork.
3. add a dash of cinnamon and/or nutmeg to taste

To make the dipping sticks:
1. take thin, long strips of apple and arrange on a plate
2. using available (appropriate) condiments create mini "dipping piles" around the plate.  My son ended up with maple syrup from our neighbors farm, organic peanut butter and tomato sauce (he requested the last one and ate it all I might say)

To make the no bake apple crisp:
1. take the remaining apples and toss with 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp nutmeg
2. melt 1 tbsp butter
3. toss butter with 1/4 oatmeal and apple mix and microwave until warm