new recipes!

I feel like I had purees and combo purees really figured out and now he's already finished with them! Geesh, now it's like a trial and error to see what he will eat. He used to literally gobble every last bit of his purees and he'd smack his lips and open wide like a wide mouth bass. Now we're lucky if we can get him to use a spoon. If he does he usually wants to hold it, which means he wants to fling it around and occasionally he'll get it straight in his mouth. Most of the time he wants to eat things that he can hold.

His favorite big boy foods include the easy stuff like pastas (I found a great one that is actually made out of lentils), rice, cooked carrot sticks, green beans, cheese, and pulled chicken. But I needed to try to get some more veggies in the mix. He would actually eat raw broccoli 'trees' but I also tried these organic broccoli pancakes from the frozen section and he really seems to like them. They are still pretty smooshy but he can pick them up after a few rounds in the toaster to crisp up the outside. They're kind of like potato pancake consistency. Then the other night our friends had us over for dinner and we discovered that he loves lima beans!

I think we're going to go with soy at school for a little while and once he's drinking the right amount (bc it's easier to digest) then we'll transition in some milk and check for the intolerance again. I found out that J was lactose intolerant and I had these gluten issues, so we're prone to this type of trouble (which is part of the reason I was so gung-ho about breastfeeding exclusively) I think that for the short term the soy is fine, but we're going to go with a blended approach. Everything in moderation, right? I think it will eventually work itself out.

I made some new recipes too - One that I modified from weelicious.com is a spinach polenta cheese ball - I'll attached it below (J and I actually like it too!). Then we discovered he loves to eat things that are in bread form, so I made a new yummy pumpkin pear muffin that uses organic agave nectar as a sweetener instead of sugar.

Polenta Balls (makes 30-40 “bites” or 8ish cups)
1 9oz bag of leaf spinach - to steam
1/2 cup squash soup or other flavorful low sodium soup
1 Cup Monterrey Jack Cheese, shredded
2 Tbsp Parmesan
1/2 Tsp Italian Herbs
2 cups dry polenta to make fresh or 1/2 Tube (9 oz) Polenta (I've heard Trader Joes makes a good organic one, but I haven't tried it)

1. make polenta (2 cups dry to 6 cups salted water - no butter, etc needed) Stir and simmer for 30 minutes, then splash with 1/4 cup soup, mix and let sit
2. steam spinach and combime with 1/4 cup soup in food processor
3. in big bowl mix polenta with spinach, parmesan cheese, and spices and let mixture cool completely.
4. combine with shredded cheese while forming into little balls and serve or freeze (I've used freezer safe containers and muffin cups in the tin to freeze them)

Pumpkin-Pear Bread (makes 1 9×5 inch loaf or 6 small loaves)
1/4 Cup Agave Nectar
1/4 Cup Butter
1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree, preferably organic
1 Ripe Pear, peeled and mashed (it’s ok if there are small chunks) or a little over 1/2 cup pear puree
2 Large Eggs
2 Cups Flour
2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Ginger
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.2. Cream the butter and agave with a standing or handheld mixer.3. Add the pumpkin and pear purees.4. Beat in the eggs one at a time.5. In a separate bowl sift the flour and remaining ingredients.6. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture a little at a time until combined. Do not overly mix or beat the mixture.7. Place in a 6 individual greased loaf pans or in one 9×5 inch greased loaf pan.8. Bake for 20 minutes for small loaf pans or 1 hour for single loaf.9. Cool for 10 minutes and then run a knife around the loaf pan to help release on to a cooling rack.10. Cool and serve.
*A regular weelicious Mommy made muffins instead of the bread which cooked for 15-20 minutes and replaced maple syrup for the agave. They are delicious!