Dropping the Bottle...

We are dropping the bottle.  In fact we've dropped every bottle except for their bedtime bottles.  I know we should but I'm scared.  It has been so easy to drop their other bottles (thus we still have formula left) that I worry it's like this means the bedtime bottle has a trick up it's sleeve.  But I promised myself that once the formula runs out that they are done with bottles.  No going back.

On that note we have also been search for a better sippy.  I had been using the Take N Toss sippy for a while.  They seem to like the hard spout better.  I added in a cheap Nuby style (also with a hard spout) but they seemed to like the handles.  But then the Take N Toss ones started to leak more and more.  So I was on the look out for a shorter sippy with an easy grip.  Which brings me to my favorite sippy of all time now.  They are easy for the girls to hold and drink from, they don't leak and they are simple to wash.

Oh yes, the bottle dropping went well.  Probably to easy.  We ran out of formula and threw away the bottles to prevent temptation.  The first night went okay but they woke up a couple hours later.  They cried.  They cried for an hour (well actually more like just one cried) and then when she tired out and gave up our other twin girl cried for 20 minutes.  We tried a couple times early on to calm them down and to give them a sippy, both of which just made them worse.  By the time our second child was crying we gave up and fed them some oatmeal.  Once their tummies were full they went back to sleep...yeah!  The next night we gave them oatmeal before bed and had no issues.  Now we feed them dinner with us around 6pm and then start bedtime routine around 6:30pm and haven't had another issue since the first night.

Breaded Chicken Chunks

I was at the grocery store last night and looking at the frozen meats...chicken nuggets and strips to be more accurate.  Most of the bags I looked at had 25% of your daily value for sodium (a couple were 17%).  Yikes!  As I said before I'm becoming a nutritional prude when it comes to my kids.  So I decided to make my own in somewhat bulk and freeze them.

Breaded Chicken Chunks
-3 chicken breast (5 breast pack for $8.50 @ $1.97 per lb)
-plain finely ground bread crumbs ($1.08)
-1 egg white with water

Beat your egg white and water til frothy.  Slice and dice chicken into small chunks (you can always cut them smaller for baby to eat after cooking).  Pour bread crumbs into a separate bowl (add seasoning if you like; I added a little Italian blend).  Dip chicken chunks by the handful into the egg white and then coat them with the breadcrumbs and place on a cookie sheet in one layer.  Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes.  Check to make sure your chicken is thoroughly cooked upon removing from the oven.  Serve warm or freeze and reheat at time needed.

*pictures to come

Homemade Mac and Cheese

The girls had macaroni and cheese for lunch.  They seemed to enjoy it.  I was trying to figure out what to make and suggested Mac and Cheese (you know the Kraft kind) but I still don't like the idea of processed food or high sodium food (despite the fact I prob feed myself plenty of this).  So my husband said "well what's in mac and cheese...pasta, milk, butter and cheese...try that"  So we winged it and a masterpiece was born.

Small Shells Mac and Cheese

1 C cooked small shell pasta (you could use other pasta...this went through the food mill in the end)

1 Tbsp butter

1/4 C milk

1/3 C shredded cheese (we used colby jack)

*add veggies for some extra nutrition...we added peas and the girls still loved it.  They did okay with the small shells but we decided to mill the food so it wouldn't take so long for them to chew and swallow (plus minimize choking or gagging risk).

-the next time I made this they weren't having the ground up kind but they loved being able to feed themselves the non-ground kind.  *sigh* 1 years olds hehe

Ratings:

Kendall - 4 stars (she loves peas)

Seren - 3 stars 

Parmesan Pasta

A new favorite snack for mom and the girls is parmesan pasta.  The first time I made it out of a truce of desperation.  Kendall loves tomato sauce pasta and Seren does not.  I didn't want to make two dishes.  So I boiled up some spiral pasta and sprinkled parmesan on while it was warm, let it cool and served it up.  They weren't huge fans.  Then today I tried again with small shell pasta.  It was a hit and so easy.  I hate to say it but I'm in a rut for something easy to throw together for them during the holidays.  Next time I will definitely be adding real parmesan.

looked something like this (found here)

Happy Holidays everyone!

A Few Favorite Food Sites...

I have been trying to research more solid finger foods and meals as the girls are quickly approaching one year old.  I am looking forward to getting expensive formula out of the equation but I am worrying as it's like my crutch and I know the girls are getting some balanced nutrition from it.  So in an effort to find healthy food that provides good nutrition I refer you to a couple of my new favorites:

http://www.designedtonourish.com/  (this is by Dr Brown's ; I found this on Pinterest and I am excited to try some of the recipes)

http://www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/making-baby-food.html  (I also like the recipes on this page).

http://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/baby/feeding-nutrition/Pages/default.aspx  (this page has links for sample daily menus (amounts, type of food, etc) for 8-12 and 1 year old...awesome!)

Basically I am thinking of making this my own personal link (and yours) to recipes I find online for babies and older children.  I am not crazy enough to think or claim I know enough about nutrition to lead anyone down that path but I do love sharing the information I find (plus organizing for my own purpose).  Enjoy these and if you try a recipe let me know how it goes.

Cheese Quesadilla

The girls have a new favorite finger food.  Yesterday I threw together a cheese quesadilla for them and they ate all of it (and in a hurry).  I don't know if it's the most healthy thing in the world but it is the easy to make and something we almost always have on hand at our house.

Cheese Quesadilla 
1 flour tortilla
1/4 cup or less of shredded cheese

Simply sprinkle the cheese on the tortilla.  Then heat it to melting (I microwaved it) and then fold the tortilla over itself.  Using a pizza cutter (or a knife) cut into strips and then cut the strips into little bite size squares.  Serve on the warm side but make sure the cheese isn't too hot.

*Follow the 4 day rule if your child has not been introduced to a food included in a dish

Apple Cubes

We have been having lots of fun with finger foods lately and table foods (ie sharing foods we eat).  Tonight they enjoyed some gnocchi with a little alfredo sauce...they loved it.  I also boiled some apples that I had quartered while we were eating dinner.  Once our dinner was over I doused the apples in cold water to cool them off and then skinned them and cut them into small cubes.  The girls seemed to really enjoy apples in this form.

I am excited to also try some of the chunkier recipes out Annabel Karmel's book also.  I think we are going to be turning the corner with this blog into more of the creative side of food for kids and less of the instructional or whatever it may be right now.