Toddler Eats

So what happens when I have a random day off..... two blog post! yay!! 

I haven't blogged about food in quite awhile.... quite frankly because I felt like I was writing the same thing each time. To be completely honest, getting back into the routine of work had me in quite the food rut. Plus Dax's lack of teeth made food time not that exciting. But good news is now I'm settled into our new routine of work and Dax now has two sets of matching teeth (by that I mean teeth that match up on the top and bottom... molars on top and bottom, and middle teeth on top and bottom)  He still only has 9, working on 10, teeth so we're still a little limited but we're able to do a little more now. 

My main goal with Dax's food is that it's organic, has no high fructose corn syrup (I swear this stuff is a drug), low sugar (especially refined sugars), whole grain, and fresh/no processed (whenever possible). The one I have the hardest time with right now is the no processed one. With mine and Daniel's busy schedules it super hard to only do fresh stuff. But I do try to at least go organic with my processed food. Don't beat yourself up over it... it's tough to do everything right... just do what you can... and for now in our house... there has to be a bit of processed food. Moderation is key.

Here are some of the things that make up Dax's meals each day...

Breakfast:
*Earths Best Organic Mini Blueberry Waffles
*Earths Best Organic French Toast Sticks
*Whole Grain english muffins (with an organic fruit spread or a bit of butter and cinnamon)
*365 (whole foods brand)  Morning multi-grain O's   (these are like cheerios but organic and mulitgrain... I like them SO much more than Cheerios) .... when we do these we mix in some berries as well.
*Earths Best Organic Baby Yogurt.  We have the Vanilla Prune flavor right now. The only real difference between baby yogurt and regular yogurt is that it's made with whole milk, had no refined sugars, and is infused with a few more vitamins.  Dax recently saw me put granola in mine and wanted some in his. Since granola is still a little hard for him I crunched up some of his morning O's and put them in there. He loved it and it added some good whole grains
*Organic Unsweetened Applesauce.  This is a good side with his waffles or french toast. He liked to dip them in it :)
* Berries: He has some sort of berry every morning with breakfast (unless he's having applesauce). We rotate between blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries. All are on the dirty dozen so we go organic with them whenever possible.
* Omelets. I don't have much time during the week to make an omelet so these are the occasional weekend thing. Add in a small dash of shredded cheese and veggie (spinach works nice).
*Toast. Whole grain bread (we use Natures Own 100%Whole Wheat bread. It has 14g of whole grain per slice and no high fructose corn syrup! I top it with the same things as I do with the english muffins


 Lunch/Dinner: 
*Whole grain tortilla with low fast cheese. A toddler quesadilla.... Dax loves it.
* Grilled Cheese: On our whole grain bread of course and one piece of low fat cheese.
* Veggie Corn Dogs:  Dax still wont eat meat so this is our go to "meat" for him. They're Morning Star brand. Lots of good protein in these!
*Veggie Chicken Strips:  See above :)
* Spaghetti:  We use wheat pasta and organic sauce. Also if you get plain sauce and season it yourself you can cut back on the sodium drastically.
* Fruit: Dax has fruit with every meal. We mix it up between berries, mandarin oranges, watermelon, peaches, pineapple. We stick to the dirty dozen on these. And if you happen to get canned things (try to go fresh but I know it's hard) make sure you get some that aren't packed in syrup or "light syrup". Get the ones that are in their natural juice or water!!! 
* Veggies: We also do a veggie with each meal... but this is still a struggle for us. Dax has texture issues so a lot of veggies he won't eat unless they're pureed (he'll eat anything pureed). So we go with peas, carrots, green beans, and the occasional pureed veggie.  For our pea and green beans we go with frozen. We steam them all at once, put them in a freezer bag, freeze them flat, and break off what we need for each meal. Carrots we do the same thing but buy fresh.
* Annie's Whole Grain Shells and Cheddar. This is a "healthier" version of mac and cheese. We also mix it with veggies which Dax really loves (esp peas).
*Sweet Potato Fries: We use the Alexia Natural frozen kind.... delish!
* Earths best mini cheese pizza! These are made on whole grain bread and very yummy.

Snacks:
*Fresh fruits: berries, apple slices, watermelon, mango slices.
*Fiddlesticks: These are a processed snack that we throw in the diaper bag for when we're out and about. They're organic (Plum Organic Tots) and super easy for him to eat as a snack independently.
* Cheese sticks:  We buy a low fat, low sodium string cheese. Dax could live on these.... and so could I :)   We do a lot of cheese to get protein since he won't eat meat.... and he eats so much fruit that they balance each other out in the diaper area if you know what I mean ;)

*Trailmix:  I made Dax a trailmix yesterday and it went over really well. I mixed some of his Morning O's, dried strawberries and bananas (I bought at Whole foods), Pecans, Shredded Spoonfuls (organic cereal that's sort of like chex... again... these are seriously delicious!), and Annie's organic whole grain bunnies (they're just crackers in the shape of a bunny). I wanted to put some raisins in too but forgot to buy some.
*Yogurt
*Applesauce
*Raisins.... we go organic
*Kale Chips..... I actually just made these today. I love them so hopefully Dax will as well!



Well that sums up the majority of the things Dax eats. We are far from where we want to be with his food (especially his dinners and lunches) but we're getting there. And it will be much easier as he gets more teeth. We're hoping now that he can eat a little more we can all eat the same dinner more often instead of having separate things for him and us. What are some your little ones favorite things to eat??