I got home on the Thursday evening of the blizzard and didn't leave the house for the next 3 days! That left me and the baby staring at each other in silly silence, with her eyes blinking at me, as if to say, "What the hay are we going to do about food for the next three days, my Sugah-Mommy?"
I tell you what! I cooked all sorts of breakfasts and dinners, that's what the hay I did! I must brag, the three dinners I made (lemon pepper ravioli w/chicken sausage bits, tilapia w/carrots and potatoes, and chicken & rice) were out of sight. The breakfasts all followed the current nutritional standards for 10 month olds, namely, fruit, dairy, and grains.1 The baby's snacks were healthy (rainbow fish crackers, honey graham crackers, cheerios, yogurt, and Chex squares). And I couldn't have done all of this without having some miraculous foresight to stock up on groceries at the store the day before they predicted the Blizzard of O'12!
I noticed that there were a few ways in the future that I could replicate this phenomenon of delicious and nutritious cheap meals. Stock up on Cream of Chicken (or Mushroom) soup, for instance, so that you will always be able to make Chicken & Rice in a pinch. Buy the value box of five-minutes-to-cook Minute Rice. If you know of friends who make their own sausages, ask them to give you some to save yourself some money! You can barter with them to sweeten the deal.
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=Yum!My tip of the day is to start keeping packs of ready to heat & serve spaghetti sauce in your freezer. These can be quickly defrosted in the microwave and will save you tons of cooking time when making all sorts of pasta dinners. I had a leftover sauce in my freezer, so I heated it up on the stove, added some spices (including an accidental overdose of lemon pepper) plus a few cubes of medium cheddar cheese, and presto change-o, I had an amazing, delicious, and cheap meal in minutes!
Today's final word is about juices. I don't give the baby just any ole juice, like the staples of apple juice or orange juice. Nope! Thanks to a 24-pack I saw displayed at the store, Baby's sippy cup gets filled with Mango, Apricot, Peach, and Guava juices (and I just add bit of little water to dilute them.) I want to expose her to different foods, tastes, and cultures. As the baby drank each of these "exotic" juices during our meals, I told the her, "We are pretending to be on holiday in a secluded Polynesian Resort. Drink up, sweet cheeks!"
* The adjective "kicka$$" was deleted for your protection.
Reesh-
ReplyDeleteI'll never forget the first time Kathryn puked her well-planned, nutritionally balanced and perfectly timed snack all over the freshly washed car and her new car seat. I was so proud of myself for slicing easy-to-gum berries, fresh peaches and a sippy of milk, and making sure she was all set in the car before we headed out on a major errand run. This was just after her first birthday, and I was living in Oklahoma City taking care of my dad, who had Alzheimer's. ANYway, I had just gotten my dad settled from his morning activities, and was headed out to take care of some stuff, then go to the gym. I wanted to make sure Kathryn was fed before I got all "selfish" at the gym, so I handed over the nourishing snack, and headed out. About 5 miles from the house, I heard gurgling sounds from the back seat. We'd find out later that she was lactose intolerant. But until then, I'd continue to give her milk at every opportunity, then wonder why she'd puke all that perfectly planned food all over everything...
So glad your efforts at early feeding are going better than mine did! Willow is a beautiful baby.