Food Freedom, Kids' Edition

The other day, Google photos showed me this li'l gem from 14 years ago.

This is D with their friend Morgan (in the background) at the Dallas Zoo. I noticed that D was holding a long twisted marshmallow (a much better choice than when we bought a popsicle in June at the San Antonio Zoo, and its rainbow immediately melted all over D and me, and then it just fell off the stick entirely), but what really struck me was the fact that Morgan also had one. 

Morgan's mom Susan and I were different in a lot of ways, but we got along well and I always thought she was one of the most genuinely kind and encouraging people I've ever met. This picture made me appreciate the ease of parenting in Susan's vicinity. One or both of these kids saw the marshmallow and wanted it, and we both got them. Simple.

Mal has so many good friends whose parents very heavily influence what they eat. If we're somewhere and Mal gets a bag of cookies, those kids also want cookies... and it turns into a whole "thing." They ask their parent, the request is declined, they beg, the parent gets frustrated.

I'm sure the other parent really wishes that I wouldn't let Mal get whatever he wants. But letting my kid eat intuitively is a parenting philosophy I decided on when D was very, very young. I didn't want my kids to have weird food stuff to unravel when they became adults (or if they did, anyway, I didn't want to be the cause of it).

The more I thought about the ease of feeding D and their friends when they were small, though, I realized that relaxed eating was the norm pretty much everywhere we went. When we had lunch at enrichment classes, people had all sorts of stuff, and no one really commented on what anyone else was eating unless it looked good and someone wanted the recipe.

In fact, I remember vividly the exception to that rule when I was watching D's friend's sister once, and she was hungry. I asked if she wanted a grilled cheese sandwich, and she said, "I don't think my mom would want me to eat that much sugar." I was flummoxed. What did she think was in a grilled cheese?

I've heard this from one of Mal's friends many, MANY times. The thing is, I'm very good friends with her mom, too. We just have different food philosophies. But it makes her and Mal's together times around snacks and meals more stressful.

Whereas another friend of Mal's would come over here and eat whatever regardless of what her mom might think, this friend will often reject certain offers by saying her mom wouldn't like it. The other day, after she said no to a banana, an apple, and string cheese, I offered her a Lunchable. She said, "Oh, no, my mom wouldn't want me to eat that. She said they're so bad that even the creator wouldn't let his kids eat them!"

Mal asked me if it was true that they're "bad" and I just indicated that we weren't going to talk about it. But I had to know if that was the truth, so I looked it up. First, I did find a couple of websites that indicated that Bob Drane, who was one of the Oscar Mayer employees who developed Lunchables to help them sell more bologna, didn't let his kids eat the kits (which are not enough food to be a full lunch, in my opinion, but they're adequate in a snack situation) but they were all URLs like "healthvalues" or "eatingcleanforlife," etc. Not what I consider reliable sites, with zero citations. 

I finally tracked down an article from Popular Science entitled "Industry insiders don't use their products like we do. That should worry us," It's a bunch of elitist crap, like the fact that Steve Jobs's kids didn't use iPads. Listen, if I could outsource my kids' every moment, what they do in a day might be vastly different. But this isn't an instructional article for me. It's just saying, "Wealthy people don't have to live the same way that most of us plebes do."

Furthermore, it doesn't say that Drane didn't let his kids eat Lunchables. It says that one of his two adult children doesn't let her kids eat Lunchables because they're "junky" and "awful," and "we eat very healthfully." Barf. Or high five. Whatever.

Here's why I don't really pay much attention to "nutrition" guidelines or diet fads: I've seen them change too much over my lifetime. Eggs are terrible. Steaks are death. Butter will murder you. No, wait! Those fats are good, and protein is great, and margarine is fake and IT is the real danger! Don't eat fat and you won't be fat. Nevermind. Fat is good and satiating, but added sugar is something to avoid. Processed foods and things that are ultra-palatable is what's causing the downfall of our food society! Heck, even salt, which has been vilified for years, has recently made a comeback when studies have shown that the recommended intake of sodium that the American Heart Association publishes is actually associated with WORSE health outcomes than consuming moderately more sodium. 

When D was a baby and couldn't breastfeed, I fed them a bottle of formula. We'd only been home from the hospital for a couple of weeks, but initially, D was losing weight and becoming jaundiced. They were also very frustrated because they were literally starving. I made a bottle, which they slurped right up and were so content. I had been contacted by lactation consultants who offered to come help me figure out the breastfeeding thing, but I was just exhausted and ready not to have to worry about my newborn's health. The threat of being re-hospitalized was too much. I just wanted to know that D was getting enough to eat.

We visited the pediatrician a couple of days into formula-feeding, and I sheepishly admitted that I didn't have the will to try too hard to go back to breast-feeding, and did he think that D would suffer? As he continued D's exam, he asked me, "Is your baby gaining weight? Does your baby seem content? Is your baby thriving? Then I don't care what you do. Keep that up."

I guess that's been my feeding philosophy since. 

Fundamentally, there is a difference between "nutrition" and "health." Nutrition is literally a measure of the nutrients in any given food item. You might say that spinach is more nutritious than a slice of cake, and that's probably true (if it's a real cake and not a fake "hide 'healthy' ingredients" recipe). However, calories are important to consume! And joy from having a treat is a mental health boost that goes a long way toward a total "health" picture. Health isn't just about maximizing every calorie for its narrowly-defined benefit to the mechanical function of your biological components.

Food is about joy and family and socialization and meeting your needs in a specific moment in time. I love a good salad! And I also appreciate a Cinnabon. There is literally no time when I could switch one out for the other. Nor would I want to seek out a "more nutritious" version of a cinnamon roll in order to biohack my body's performance. And I'm certainly not putting that weight on my kids' shoulders. When they're hungry, I want them to listen to their bodies, not to have my voice in their brains knocking around, nor to see my side-eye even if they can still that voice. 

So... here's to those two kids in the picture with uncomplicated relationships with the stick of spun sugar and corn starch that they're carrying around during a fun day at the zoo. They and their moms are my heroes.

The End of an Era

International Breastfeeding Awareness Month is in August. When it rolled around in 2015, I was both pleased I was still breastfeeding after almost a year, and tired... of breastfeeding. I was unable to nurse D at all because of a tongue-tie (and my unwillingness to mechanically intervene to address the tie) and especially since Mal was so so fussy his first couple of years, was pleased to have this tool at my disposal this round. Not to mention the savings we must have realized (or not realized, but sustained) not having to purchase formula. We did buy a few bottles, but by 4 months, I'd thrown them out. Mal has drunk one 4-ounce bottle in his whole life. Otherwise, it was all me.

I was more along the lines of "whatever" in 2016 when Breastfeeding Awareness Month rolled around and we were still going at it. I mean, the World Health Organization recommends feeding for at least 2 and up to 7 years, based on several criteria. Mostly, I wanted it to be Mal's choice to stop when he was ready, and at two years old, he was definitely not ready.

When I went to meet the resident pediatrician in early 2017, after we'd moved into our new house, he asked what kind of milk Mal was drinking. I told him and he said, "Oh, well, you can stop that any time. We definitely don't want to see that in a 3-year-old or especially a 4-year-old!" So I didn't go back to that doctor, even though I liked him.

Without a good reason, I wasn't going to force Mal to stop nursing. Even though I was way over it.

After he turned 3, Mal only nursed when he was going to bed or waking up, or when he was really, really upset or tired. And the reality is that before Mal was about three and a half, he'd never gone to sleep without nursing, unless he was in motion in a vehicle or stroller. I tried several things, but nothing else ever worked.

Breastfeeding Awareness Months 2017 and 2018 rolled by, and I didn't really notice. I was well aware. I was also pretty much dried up. I had a little milk left on one side, but Mal was clearly nursing solely for comfort. And, once again, though I was getting pretty sick of it, I didn't have that nursing aversion where women report their skin crawling and their wanting to punch something. I just started cutting it off after a minute or so.

Also, people who say that once a child is getting the majority of their sustenance from food and are just nursing for comfort so shut them off... Do they have that attitude about everything that brings their child comfort? "Oh, come on. You don't NEED this doll to go to sleep. It's a bunch of cotton stuffed into a rag that was sewn together. You just want it for comfort, ya big baby." I couldn't do it.

I was waiting to get to a point where the pain (physical discomfort, embarrassment, etc.) outweighed the benefits (easier bedtime, continued bonding, etc.). But it turns out, I didn't really have to.

As of now, it's been one week since "deedees." I think, friends, that I can call it: We're done!

Mal has asked a couple of times, but it was a good 4 days before he thought of it. And when he's asked, I've said, "Not right now, but let's snuggle" and he might persist a little, but eventually happily moves on.

I'm glad we didn't have to do it through nights of crying and begging. I'm glad I didn't have to lie to him about how he's so big, it doesn't "work" anymore. I'm glad I didn't shame him about being too big. I'm glad I didn't manipulate it, except to limit the time for my own sanity. I'm glad it sort of ebbed out because the time was right.

Someone asked me if I would miss it. Maybe some day. Like 15 years from now. Maybe. It's hard to imagine missing it, honestly. Maybe it's too soon to be sentimental about it. Right now, I'm just happy and relieved. I mean, I'm happy it's over, but I'm also happy for all of the reasons I detailed above. I feel like we did it well and ended gently.

If you've used any of the methods I described above, I'm not judging you. I get it. It's tough! It's weird that it was literally feast or famine, too. Might have been nice to do 2 years with each kid instead.

Another thing that has happened over the past 6 monthsish is that Mal is actually sleeping through the night. I mean, he doesn't go to sleep until 12:30 AM, but once he's asleep, he only wakes up like all of us do, mumbling a bit, turning over, asking for a blanket, going right back to sleep. That's huge. I really thought it would never happen. I mean, I understand it generally *does* happen, but not all kids ever actually sleep through well. I firmly believed we'd be one of those families. I'm grateful I appear to have been wrong.

Finally, a year after ditching diapers in the daytime, we're totally done with them! Mal will have the occasional overnight accident, as all children do, but during the transition, he surprised me. I'd often think, "He went to sleep so early; there's no way!" and would sneak a pull-up onto him; then he'd be dry in the morning, but immediately use the restroom upon waking.

So lots of cool developments!

I genuinely thought that when Daylight Saving ended this weekend, we'd get a reprieve from the 12:30 bedtime. Sleeping 11:30 to 9 seemed a lot better than 12:30 to 10, just because 1) I am DEAD by 12:30, and 2) stuff starts by 10 and we only sporadically make it to things like church and story time at the library. But, no. He absorbed that extra hour like it was nothing, so by the next day, he was right back on the clock.

But with the milestones we're erecting, I have to focus on the good stuff. There is plenty of it. Even running on fumes at 10 AM.

Random Observations

1) We missed quite the drama while we were on our little trip to Dallas to the State Fair of Texas! "Our" lake filled up so fast, beginning on the day we left, that it is now 146% full, ergo flooded. It has started abating this morning, and I'm sure the home- and business-owners are eager to get to cleanup. The lake has been more than 20 feet below full for the entire summer. It crested at 23 feet above full, most of it  in about three days. To put it into perspective, an NPR headline read that Lake Travis had taken on more water in one week than the city of Austin uses in FOUR years. Further, a gentleman on NextDoor said that, not accounting for the water lost via Mansfield Dam (which was releasing 11 millionish gallons of water PER MINUTE last night), the lake had taken on a gross of 253,433,873,760 gallons of water last week (just based on levels retained in the lake).

2) We go to the fair for a couple of main reasons: a) fair food, b) Little Hands on the Farm and the animals, and c) the butter sculpture. None of these disappointed, though a slight change in LHotF made it less kid-friendly, as far as I'm concerned. First, the food:

A cotton candy taco. The cotton candy was marshmallow-flavored. Waffle cone shell, plus marshmallow drizzle and crumbled cookies, with two Pocky-stick-kind of things

Fried Hill Country: mozzarella with basil, green tomato slices, battered and fried.
Field greens below, Texas honey/balsamic vinegar on top.

Fried shepherds pie with gravy, and fried green beans.

These were hearty and delicious, especially on the chilly, rainy day. But I enjoyed the beans even more.

Fried s'more. Pretty self-explanatory.

But it's not just the million dollars you spend on fair food that's awesome. The State Fair of Texas has a Go Texan! pavilion with samples. Among them are:

"I can keep this?!"

Toffee!

Ice cream float with choice of root beer or Dr. Pepper. Hmm, Texans are weird. #teamrootbeer

There was also beef jerky and cheese, local honey, and coated nuts, among others. Man, I love "free" food.

Okay, yes, you pay an admission to get into the fair, and that includes all of the shows and exhibitions. But there is never any reason to pay full price. During the week, there are daily discounts (don't go on the weekends; just don't). We chose the day to support the North Texas Food Bank. We each took 4 cans of food, and got in for $4 each (as opposed to $16). Seniors are free on Thursdays. There are some food specials on Thursday, too, but you're limited to the offers, and we like to select our treats.

This was Mal's first year to do Little Hands, and he enjoyed it.

In the past, you'd get paid at the farmer's market and immediately trade your "money" for something like a granola bar or packet of crackers. This time, it was a coupon for free ice cream that was outside of the building and around the corner, plus Mal didn't want ice cream, so there was no way to get his treat and save it for later.

They've moved the farm indoors, along with putting the animals in the same building. I thought the change was a positive one, overall.

That baby, though!

Ce-boooooooooo!

We'd picked a hotel that was close to a Dart light rail stop in Irving, so we were able to take public transportation down for cheaper than it would have cost to park. So it was a great little trip to take on a budget.

Oh, and butter.

I've never noticed it before, but the sculpture had a few blooms of mold on it. I think today is the last day of the fair, anyway, so it'll all probably get fed to pigs or something now. I just Googled it. I didn't find it, but in Ohio, it gets recycled into things from tires to soap. Also, I learned that a vegan is the sculptor for Texas, and has been for several years. Interesting.

3) I think my son is on a 25-hour schedule. Every day, he goes to sleep a bit later. Last night/this morning it was 1 AM. I DON'T LOVE IT.

4) We have tried A LOT of the meal prep delivery services, and after the initial welcome discount, I cancel because it's too expensive. Most are around $10 per serving, and, I'm sorry, I'll just go eat at a restaurant if I want to spend that kind of money. We've been doing Every Plate for a few weeks now, though, and really enjoy it. It's only $5 per serving, which is closer to what I spend on groceries, especially if you account for the unfortunate food waste which makes me wish we had animals or a compost heap.

If you try it, and you should because you can save $20 off of the first couple of deliveries, which means the cost is more like $3.50 per serving, just know that their average 10 minute prep time is only accurate if you have a cooking companion or if you have expert-level knife skills and a really good set of cutlery. I cook full meals at home 4-5 times per week, and it takes me about 25 minutes to slice and dice the produce. The finished product is awesome, though, and I like that I didn't even have to do active ordering and arrange for delivery. Also, it's refrigerated, so you don't have to be home. Oh, also, they do charge something like $7.99 shipping, whereas other companies ship for "free," but the cost per serving is still a LOT lower with Every Plate.

***I have other random thoughts that I'll share soon, but I'm going to get ready for church and just pull Mal into the car and go, because we need a bedtime closer to 10 than 1, so it's time to start the pain of waking that kid up earlier!

Review: Just-Opened Whole Foods 365 Cedar Park

The new Whole Foods 365 in Cedar Park had a pre-opening parking lot party on Sunday, a soft opening on Tuesday, and the grand opening Wednesday (yesterday), so I wasn't entirely sure how feasible it would be to try to make a quick trip, especially with a two-year-old in tow.

However, we made the visit, and it wasn't too bad at all. The parking lot was extremely full, so we didn't try to get too close to the store. But even with all of the people, I never felt claustrophobic, so it was good.

There is a JuiceLand right as you enter the store. That is a good idea, if you or your kids go in a little peckish. Sure, you're going to spend $4+ on a smoothie, but think of the money and junk food purchases you'll save!

Easy Tiger is a bakery (and beer garden) opposite, and it has both an indoor eating area and an outdoor patio. Speaking of the patio...

We got to blow off some steam before we went inside, as they have all of this cool stuff for the kiddos. There's an astroturf area with two kid-sized picnic tables, a bunch of blocks, some hula hoops, and four or five rocking "chairs" (those pod-looking things).

The eating area isn't entirely fenced in, but the kids' area is surrounded by tables, and I'd feel comfortable chatting with someone while my kid played, even though you're right by the parking lot.

There is a "Veggie Alley," kind of like a walk-in beer refrigerator, but for vegetables. I didn't go in there because I hate getting cold in the grocery store. They have deli items, a self-serve bakery, meat, etc.

There were a lot of employees restocking and facing items, and offering samples. But there wasn't a service deli or a bakery attendant or any of those things that many typical Whole Foods have.

The focus of 365 is supposed to be slightly lower prices, and more grab-and-go stuff. The store was very conveniently set up for that.

Above is the freezer section. They didn't go high, so you're able to see most of the store from any location inside. You'll notice, this isn't a sprawling complex; then again, the closest Whole Foods Market to where I used to live was their flagship location downtown Austin, and that thing is a beast.

This 365 has just enough stuff for you to have some nice choices, but without experiencing decision fatigue.

For instance, this one section is all of the peanut butter and jelly that they have. Again, plenty of choices, but not Peter Pan and Jif and Hershey's and Reese's and two store brands (it's all 365 Organics and a couple of boutique/local brands), etc.

And the "regular grocery" section of the store is pretty small. The middle of the store is convenience items, in tune with the "grab-and-go" focus. There are a ton of water choices, and then take-out meals.

Snap Kitchens is so delicious and is "fast good" you can feel good about giving to your family.

Elsewhere, they had sushi, a salad bar, pizza-by-the-slice, and other "ready" meals you could enjoy out on the patio.

Just past the registers, there are a couple of microwaves, in case you get something from, say, Snap Kitchens, and you want to eat it with your friends out on-site.

Before we left, I had to check out the Easy Tiger Bakery items (oh, and they are apparently hiring, if anyone is interested). The counter was pretty busy, but here are a few of the items.

Here is their entire menu.

There's a big Connect Four game right by Easy Tiger, but it was up on that counter and couldn't be accessed by kids, plus it's kind of rickety, but my kid was extremely happy about it.

Also, if you bring your pup, they have doggy parking right at the front of the store! There wasn't any water, which might be a nice touch. But these "parking spaces" are adorable.

I had laid out all I bought, and thought I took a picture, but apparently I did not. I got two bags of stuff for about $60, but saved $5 by signing up for their 365 rewards program (which you can do online). I have no idea how that compares to other stores or Whole Foods, honestly. I will say that their strawberries are amazing, and my son ate an entire half pint of blueberries in the car on the way home. Oh, and the 365 Organics "mismatched sandwich cookies" are way better than Oreos's version.

Check it out!

Thinking About Food (one of my favorite subjects!)

A couple of weeks ago, I heard a story on NPR about Leanne Brown. That story is here (though since it's been written, the download count has more than doubled). I immediately bought the book on Amazon and downloaded it from the website.

Since it came in the mail, I've read through it twice. I honestly think that every high school student or recent graduate should receive a copy, as it contains some awesome home economics at the beginning, especially, and throughout the book.

It's not strict "you must use exactly this much and to exactly this" kind of recipes. It's a thought-provoking book, with the idea of teaching readers to cook intuitively by getting comfortable with a method and experimenting. I love doing this, and I love anything that helps expand my imagination in this regard.

It has me thinking (and rethinking) a lot about how we cook. We are getting ready to move and are looking forward to having a bit more room to store things. Our pantry here has wire shelving, and it stinks because things get off-balance, and smaller items fall through.

We have been thinking about food storage and emergency preparation, anyway, and one of the things James said is that he read you should eat the kind of food you have in your emergency prep provisions, so that if you ever need to use it, 1) you've rotated it out so you're not stuck with old, rotten food and 2) you're used to eating that stuff so it doesn't feel like a huge change.

I'm not saying we're swearing off of fresh produce, but I think I want to purposefully implement some more dried stuff (beans, lentils, etc.) and canned stuff (modern canning makes many canned vegetables as nutritious as "fresh" out of season items, and much cheaper).

We've been doing eMeals for several years, and I love it. But sometimes the "buy it all for a week" thing doesn't work for us very well. Inevitably, we end up having left-overs or eating out one or two days during the week, and that cilantro I bought eight days ago... sad. Fortunately, now their app lets you pick as many or few meals as you want with their customizable meal plan, so I only get 4 of each meal (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and that usually does us for at least 7 days.

But one of the things we're also thinking about as we prepare to move within the next year is proximity to a smaller shopping center (like we used to live fairly close to Fresh Plus in Clarksville) so that I could ideally ride a cargo bike to the store two or three times a week, This would allow us to buy only a bit of produce at a time, so it would have less of a chance of going south -- and, by the way, thanks to my Facebook friends for the vinegar soak idea -- but it would also allow us to take advantage of specials and sales.

For now, though, I'm still thinking about things.

In fact, Friday, I decided I should try to do something with some of the lentils we've had in the pantry forever. I'm going to be honest: If we didn't have the Instant Pot (IP), I'd have been a lot less excited about working with them, but with our IP, I can decide to have beans for dinner using the dried beans I found at lunch time.

I ended up making lentil burgers on Friday. They were delicious! The internet rocks. I just thought, "I know you can make lentil burgers," so I Googled it, and there were tons of recipes. The one I used had bread crumbs and oatmeal as well as some carrots, onions, and herbs. The patties were amazing. I made them large and square because we didn't have buns, only regular bread. So, so good.

When I was in the pantry retrieving the lentils, though, I noticed something. We have a lot of stuff in there.

So my new goal is to see how long I can go without buying major groceries. Like, without taking a full-fledged trip to the grocery store. And when I do, I want to see how little I can buy, and how much we can save so we can have more money to put toward our savings, our move, or whatever.

By the way, I have quite a few of the GoPicnic "meals." I adore them for several reasons: They're delicious. They don't have to be refrigerated. They're balanced. Most are non-GMO and some are gluten-free. They are portion-controlled. They are easy. But just to put it in perspective, if you pay full price for them (and I have not yet), they're $4. That's the entire DAY'S allowance for food if we were on SNAP.

I think we can tighten our spending a bit. I'm excited about the neat ideas, mostly meatless, that Leanne Brown has. I am also looking forward to getting more protein in my diet. That's the one thing on which I am consistently low any time I track what I'm eating. I don't adore meat (tonight, James and I had BLTs for dinner, but I just had an LT with cheese), but I do like beans and their versatility, and I love nuts and nut butters.

Oh, one of the things Brown mentions in her book is how shrimp can be a treat, and stretched to make them cost-effective. That's definitely one to buy when they go on sale. I remember back when D was very small and I was trying to lose weight, I'd just heat up cooked frozen shrimp in some chicken broth, then throw in spinach leaves toward the end. It was a LOT of protein in a tiny package, and the soup was so tasty.

Another fish she uses as "flavor" is anchovies. I've never had one before, but I'm willing to try. Here's to new culinary adventures, and budget-friendly ones, at that!

Super Simple Learning, Unschooling Style (or: A very creative meal)

My favorite of Mal's most-requested YouTube channels is Super Simple Songs from Super Simple Learning. I like it because it's not just fourteen variations on "The Wheels on the Bus" but actually has some fun original songs. Also, because it isn't just one style of animation (in fact, there are several live-action puppet songs), so it's a lot more interesting to watch. Their seasonal songs are fun, too; we keep watching the Halloween and Christmas specials, sweating our way through them in this decidedly un-fallish Austin summer.

One of my favorite things is that, even though it's a "learning" channel, the songs are more fun than "here, learn this." I REALLY hate the songs that talk about how much fun it is to count or say the ABCs. Listen, I'm a middle-aged lady who hasn't been away from her baby more than two hours in two years, and even I have enough of a life to know that counting and saying ABCs isn't "woo hoo" fun.

Anyway, the point is that we love Super Simple Songs. However, there is one song that, while it's tons of fun and we all love it, set off my "unschooling" alarm. (A worksheet D did once as a preschooler did it, too, twelve years ago or so, before I knew I was an unschooler.)

Watch this song, enjoy it, but see if you can tell what nagged at me:




Did you catch it?

Does anyone else have a mental policy of not being able to say you don't like a food unless you try it? (Even if, as a radical unschooler, you don't enforce it.) There's a difference in saying, "That doesn't sound tasty; I'd rather not." And in stating that something is "Yucky!" just because it has ingredients that might not seem compatible.

So I saw this as a challenge.

Tonight for dinner, we had three of the four items in the song. I didn't try the doughnut juice because isn't that basically just coffee? Actually, because it'd be a dessert item and we already have one legit dessert and an appetizer that leans to the sweet side, so that's enough.

A couple of other songs talk about:
1) carrot cereal -- which would probably be great; you can find lots of recipes online for carrot cake granola, and hot bran cereal with carrots
2) lasagna milkshakes -- James found a thread somewhere about not being able to eat solids and someone swore a lasagna milkshake was unparalleled; he had an idea for a milkshake lasagna, which is also tasty-sounding, but that's not what the song says
3) spaghetti yogurt -- that'd take some thought
4) tomato pancakes -- easy and likely delicious; think crepes
5) cookie salad -- sweet version with fruit and whipped cream, or using something like a ginger snap as a crouton in an Asain-type salad?
6) cauliflower cupcakes -- Jessica Seinfeld has made a fortune publishing cookbooks with stuff like this
7) avocado lollipops -- I'm totally going to make some in the future; I love avocado anything, including ice cream, cake, icing, and cookies
Then it seems they stepped up their game and came up with some legitimately "yucky" ideas.
7) mushroom popsicles -- that one sounds pretty terrifying
8) sushi smoothies -- I'd rather have the real thing, but "that's terrific bass!"
9) pickle pudding - does it have to be pickled cucumbers? pickled beets and ginger and a savory pudding might work; also, if you use the definition "a sweet OR SAVORY steamed dish made with flour," you open up all kinds of possibilities

But this evening, we focused on these dishes:

BANANA SOUP

I found a yummy-looking recipe that was basically a smoothie in a bowl, but then further research revealed that there is an actual traditional Vietnamese soup called Che Choui including either chopped banana or corn. So we went with the banana version.

I used the recipe here, except that I doubled it, because it looked fabulous.

It said this could be served hot, cold, or room temperature. I decided to refrigerate it so we would have our choices. Here it is, ready to go into the refrigerator, hanging out with the toasted sesame seeds.

This was the final product. It thickened up a lot in the refrigerator, and even though I heated mine up (and it was so much better than the cold, even though I LIKE rice pudding, which is what it was like), it was still pretty stout. My husband and I both liked the heated version enough that we want to make it again, and try it straight off of the stove (well, with reasonable cooling) and maybe use corn just to see the difference?

So, this is one dish we'd make again, because it was just really tasty!... Not "yucky!"

POPCORN PIZZA

This is another one that could be done backwards, as there are commercial versions and recipes all over for pizza popcorn. But we wanted to do the whole thing.

This seemed like a good match for pizza (I think I had some grease on the lens; sorry about that).

It was neat! It came in a somewhat see-through bag and had these two pouches with oil and flavoring.

Complete with on-packet instructions. I'd kind of planned to use both bags, but decided to save one because I wanted to eat it on its own. That was a good thing, because we ended up with PLENTY of popcorn on our pizza!

The bag itself even had a nice little pep talk. I'm glad to know I'm not dumber than a programmable appliance. Now I feel like I can do anything!

I just used a Pillsbury dough, and started off with light sauce and some sauteed mushrooms.

Actually, I baked the crust for about 8 minutes first, then put on the sauce, mushrooms, and most of the cheese and baked it 8 minutes, THEN I added the popcorn and the rest of the cheese and baked it until the Parmesan on the popcorn started browning.

You know what? My husband and I both really liked it. My fourteen-year-old pulled the popcorn off, but I think she thought it was burnt. My toddler, the reason for all of this, was having a dinnertime "no nap today" meltdown, so except for about three bites of the banana soup, he really didn't participate. He spent a great deal of time on the floor crying about various and sundry issues important to him. (Keeping it real, internets.)

If I made this again, I'd put more cheese on top to keep the popcorn from falling off so easily. I'd probably pre-cut the crust because getting even the biggest cutter in there without pushing the kernels around was a challenge. But it was tasty. Not quite as good as macaroni and cheese pizza, but definitely good... which is great because we have another meal's worth left over.

And finally, for dessert...

BROCCOLI ICE CREAM

Just as I suspected, there were lots of recipes for broccoli ice cream. Some were like the banana soup recipe I mentioned: Basically smoothies. We've had fruit/green smoothies, and that's not what we wanted. We wanted actual broccoli ice cream.

The two recipes I found that I liked best had something in common: a strong flavor profile meant to mask whatever mild broccoli flavor might be left behind after steaming. One was cocoa and cherries, and the other mint. Although both sounded excellent, I liked the idea of the green ice cream, and it was the one that actually went through an ice cream machine, so we went with that recipe.

Except.

You might notice that both of those recipes are healthy alternatives to full-on desserts, and I actually wanted a full-on dessert flavor, so I modified the Food and Yoga for Life recipe a bit. First, I used chocolate chips (I'd intended to use mini chips, but when you use Instacart, sometimes you're at the mercy of your shopper). Second, I used powdered sugar in place of the stevia and coconut syrup. Oh, and actual butter in the place of coconut butter. But it was the same idea.

I have to say that something was up in the pictures on that recipe site. Several options: 1) She has a much better food processor/blender than I do. 2) She has a lot more time than I do. 3) She trained the puree. 4) There was some food-styling license given. Because I had little tidbits of broccoli in the final product. I actually didn't mind at all. I wasn't trying to fool anyone, just our taste buds. So it helps you to see that this is legitimately broccoli ice cream.

Ready to hit the fridge!

Later, churning.

We ate it soft-serve consistency, straight out of the ice cream maker. It was extremely tasty, just like a mint chocolate chip ice cream with a bit of consistency.

I probably won't make this one again, just because making ice cream is a process and I kind of like to jump all over the place with it. If I were to use broccoli again, and I would, I'd do the cocoa cherry one.

In summary: We went through a lot of trouble to show Mal something he likely will never remember, so we'll have to do it again. Well, and the truth is that we have fun doing this kind of thing, so we have a good time planning challenges like this. I say "we" because I would have had a complete nervous breakdown trying to get all of this together (and REALLY for the clean-up process) with the state my child was in if James hadn't jumped in and done whatever he could. He's a great guy!

Anyway, the point is that we don't ever want to default to knee-jerk reactions to food or anything else that we might not have considered before.

But we *do* like making the faces and singing the songs. And we appreciate Super Simple Learning for putting this in front of us! Check out their website for fun coloring pages and cool caregiver/teacher ideas.

The Feed

Even among those of us who consider ourselves "whole life unschoolers," there are authoritarian hold-outs, typically in those areas parents consider "health and safety" issues. These most often present themselves in the form of: use of technology, food choices, seasonally-appropriate clothing, and hygiene. There might be valid reasons for a parent not to partner with their child in these areas, but to dictate what must or must not be done, but it never hurts to take a look at these and question why we are holding them so tightly and whether or not it's working for our families.

I want specifically to address the food choice topic, as it's come up frequently with Christmas, Valentine's, and Easter tumbling on top of each other.

First, there's this: There's no such thing as "healthy" or "unhealthy" food. Food can't be healthy. It can be nutritious, more or less or not at all nutritious. But not healthy. WE can be healthy or unhealthy, and "healthy" is about more than what food you consume. It's about activity and environment and attitude and so many other things. Some people genuinely take joy from making brownies that contain only dates, cocoa, spinach, and black beans (and insist, "You can't tell the difference as long as they're cold!). That's great for them! For me, I'd rather make fudgy brownies all the way, with a chocolate chip cookie dough crust and homemade marshmallows on top. That is a lifestyle choice that brings me great joy and contributes to my health, even though the food itself might not be incredibly nutritious.

Because of my outrageous sweet tooth, we often have desserts in the house. My kids know about them. I don't restrict what my kids eat. At all. Well, I have a fourteen-year-old and an eighteen-month-old, so the younger one is automatically restricted by his height, his inability to open some (but not all) doors, and other procedural things like that.

But I decided when I knew I was expecting my first that I was not going to hand down the food issues with which I'd struggled most of my life. Nothing was going to be off limits. All food had a noble purpose, even if it was just to look nice in a bakery case.

This bothered my firstborn's dad a bit. He insisted that we shouldn't have tempting items around on a regular basis. He cited some relatives who were nutritionists both by vocation and avocation. Once, when we were with their family, he asked their two older teenaged daughters if they felt that being raised as they were, with access only to nutritious, meticulously-planned food had kept them from falling prey to tempting junk.

They both laughed and looked a little guiltily at each other before explaining in very good humor: "On the one hand, when we'd come back from summer camp and all of the other kids would be begging their parents to take them to McDonald's, we knew better than to try pulling that! But on the other hand, we'd hide candy bars in our bedroom and eat them when our mom was outside mowing the lawn or something. We'd listen in fear that she'd come in and catch us."

Those girls are both adults now, and are extremely healthy, like a wide variety of foods, and take care of themselves. So their parents totally did right by them by introducing them to all of the flavors and options that they did. That's one way to do it. But it's not the only way to ensure that your kids will make wise food choices on their own.

For Easter, my older got a *lot* of candy. I guess because sweets are my love language. At the end of the day, I suggested that she take it to her room to keep the toddler out of it. The following day, she brought it into the kitchen and found a safe place to stow it up and toward the back of the pantry. She said, "I knew that wouldn't work when I put it in my room. I don't know why I did it. I don't want to think about it all of the time."

Is that interesting to anyone else besides me? My daughter knows herself and what she needs. She has listened to her body, and knows enough not to totally trust her own willpower, so put her candy in a common area. Now, we don't care if she goes in there fifteen times a day to get a bite, but apparently just having to parade up to the kitchen in front of us is an external accountability... that she put in place by her own choice.

Like her cousins, my daughter has been exposed to a wide variety of foods and cuisines. Not on the same level as her cousins, of course, especially not when we're talking homemade. But I love that she will frequently ask me, "Do we have anything even vaguely nutritious?" when she's snacky (even as I roll my eyes, because a) of course we do and b) you could totally look yourself), and that she is in tune enough with her body to know when she needs some veggies.

And I love that, rather than hiding "comfort" food from me, my daughter's biggest concern might be that I'd want her to share.

Incidentally, more than one pediatrician has told me that a balanced diet for a child isn't what they eat every 24 hours, but over a two-week period. That gives you some breathing room, doesn't it? Some days, my little boys eats only fruit, and other days, he only manages crackers. But over a two-week period? Yeah, he's getting a bit of everything. He's a little light on protein, so I keep trying new things with that until we hit on something he likes, but I plan to do with him what I did with his sister: Let him eat what (and when) he wants.

It's what works for us.

Our Favorite Toddler Snacks! ("Our" = Mom + toddler)

Mal's 15.5 months old and decreasingly interested in pouch purees (unless another kid is eating them). He wants to eat what we're eating, or fruit. However, he does love his snacks, and there are a few upon which we agree heartily.

First I want to say that there are several I really wanted to love but that because they have beets as an ingredient (which is awesome, tasty, healthy... and stains like the dickens) I can't endorse because I don't let my child eat them anymore. He still likes to taste things, maybe spit them back into his hand to look at them, and then put them back into his mouth. And beets... it looks like somebody got murdered.

Also, at the end, I'll admit one snack that I buy because Mal can put away half of a package in one sitting and EVERY KID WE'RE EVER AROUND seems to agree. They're not my favorite because they're basically junk food, but as an adult, I appreciate "fun" food, too, so I'll tell you what it is.

No particular order:

1) Sprouts Crispy Chews. These are basically tiny squares of fruit leather, but because of I'm guessing the oat fiber, they also have sort of "crunchy" feeling bits in them. It's not enough to choke a kid, but enough to make it more fun than just a big chewy piece of fruit goo. They have three different flavors, including one with beet that I can't recommend! The ingredients include rice flour and the oat fiber I mentioned, but are otherwise all fruit- and veggie-derived. Except maybe for the mysterious final ingredient: natural flavors.

2) Gerber Fruit & Veggie Melts. Mal likes the yogurt drops that Gerber and Happy Baby make, too... but he LOVES this stuff. Again, the majority of the ingredients are from fruits and veggies, with less than 1.5% stabilizers, fortifications, and "flavors." They come in Very Berry and Truly Tropical.

3) Plum Teensy Fruits. These are what fruit snacks should be, if they were actually, you know, mostly fruit. There are no dyes, so no vibrant colors. There is cellulose and pectin, and besides those shape-keepers, they're just fruit. They come in apple, peach, and berry.

4) Ella's Kitchen Nibbly Fingers. If you've never bought anything from Ella's Kitchen, it's worth the purchase just to read the label, which is darling. I love the "I'm just" which tells you what the ingredients are. Looking at this, I'd say: wheat, oats, raisins (first thought: coffee beans), apple, pear, lime juice, and strawberry. Survey says: Organic whole grain oats, Organic malt extract, Organic raisins, Organic dried apples, Organic dried pears, Organic palm oil, Organic sunflower oil, Organic dried strawberries. Ha! Well, I was kind of close.

Anyway, you can see that there is no sweetener other than that the fruits bring. I like these because they're not hard, they're nice and chewy. But they are also not crumbly. I mean, your kid could probably crumble it up if he really wanted to, but if the kid is intent on eating, this is a pretty neat food (as opposed to chewing bars that promise "no mess." LIES.).

These come in three different flavors: apples and strawberries, banana and raisin, and cranberry and acai... but I've never seen that last flavor in the store.

5) Happy Baby Organic Creamies. Yes, if you want to be a jerk (like a certain male who lives in this house) and laugh at this name, have at it. but these are really good. Along the same freeze-dried lines as the Gerber Fruit & Veggie Melts, these are mostly veggie and fruit purees, but with coconut milk and probiotics.

Both the Gerber melts and these are delicious, as far as this grown-up is concerned. And they only have 25-40 calories per serving, so if you don't mind spending $5ish on a pack of snacks, you could totally carry them around to munch on when you get a craving.

So, okay, here are two other things. Two bonuses! You thought you were only getting one!

The first; This is what Mal loves.

Gerbers Li'l Crunchies. I'm convinced that these are the Chee-tos of the toddler world. They melt away but I've seen the kid smash one up in his car seat pretty good. Usually, I just let him eat one or two as I'm strapping him in (to distract him from the fact that he hates it), or wait until we're sitting somewhere. But, yeah, at the gym or at church, he can put away half a can of these. If another kid sees them? They want them, too. And the cannister is gone. We've gotten most of these, and he likes them all. I have avoided the Cinnamon Maple version, which lists sugar as one of its "seasonings." Nice try.

And, finally, this isn't a kid food, but it's perfect for my kid... and for the rest of us in the house.

Freeze-dried fruit from Costco. I've tried the cheaper Sunkist freeze-dried from Wal-Mart, but here's the deal: 1) They keep the peel on the apple, which I like but which gags my son. 2) The bigger container has a tendency to absorb moisture, even if you use the resealable close top.

When we get these, my son will typically eat the grapes (yes, peels; no, choke) and apples. The strawberries are surprisingly (to me) tart and would probably be really good on cereal, but the kiddo doesn't love them. I guess they're to balance out the super sweet pineapple.

So there you have it, folks! What are some of your favorite quick and on-the-go snacks for your littles?