Favorite things #4: Easy and Cheap Food Faves

Everyone had products that they swear by or will only buy certain brands of. I can be that way about certain things like OJ, PB and so on. These are just some random stuff I always have in my cabinet that I absolutely love. Even better I can get them on sale and use coupons. 

 I love this premade mix for pancakes and waffles. The trick for waffles is to use club soda instead of water, it makes the waffles nice and light and fluffy!  Of course whether I'm making home made batter or box mix I love to jazz up the pancakes with fruit, PB spices like cinnamon or even some flavored chocolate chips.

FUN IDEAS!!

 Make puppy dog pancakes! Use one for a face, cut one in half to make two ears, use blueberries for eyes and nose and/or strawberry slices for tongue/nose. You can even use whip cream to make hair!

Catepillar Pancakes!  You can make little round pancakes and put them in a line! decorate one with a face!

NOT my PHOTOS but just something to help you vizualize!

We love all kinds of beans and different kinds of rice. I love the Zatarain's rices they give you the best of both worlds, you can get them reasonably priced, there's pretty good for you (despite some sodium) and are a super easy side for dinner. Simmer for 25 mins while you're getting dinner ready and you're good to go!

My girlfriend Patti had a Tastefully Simple Party and I LOVE LOVE this beer bread! You can opt to use any carbonated drink but it is so SWEET and delicious.  I definitely need to get some more! 

More fun foods to come! I'm also going to start posting my FAV RECIPIES!!! Stay tuned!!

The fun in eating!

A week or two ago(5 months old) we started feeding Brayden whole solid foods and he LOVES it! He still does get some purees since they are easier for him to to eat in larger quantities but he loves the idea of feeding himself!!

Obviously we are very cautious about what we give him. I make sure that all of the pieces are large enough for him to hold on to and are not a choking hazard. Babies don't choke on slices of apple or a whole strawberry they choke on little things, so we just watch him carefully while he is eating.

So far he loves everything he has tried, or has warmed up to it after "playing" with it for a few minutes to see what it's all about. My feeling in all of this is along the same lines as making his food. If he is use to the textures and tastes of real food now at such a young age he will grow up liking a larger variety of foods. Of course all kids go though a stage of being picky but that is to be expected. We still do purees in addition to whole foods and he seems to enjoy them both.  We also don't do cereal as a meal.  It may seem unconventional but in his case he gets a LOT of cereal in each of his bottles to help with his reflux so he gets more than he probably should over the course of a day.

Some of the foods he's tried include apple slices, strawberries, mashed up grapes(which i fed him b/c i didn't want him to choke), tilapia, plain wheat pizza crust, steamed broccoli and potato. Based on what I have been reading it seems like introducing foods vs with holding different types for the sake of "allergies" is actually counterproductive. We do know that he does have milk protein sensitivity on top of his reflux so we stay away from things that could possibly aggravate his tummy. So for now we are going with the flow since he is content with how we are doing things :)

MMM wheat pizza crust! 

STRAWBERRY!!

OH BANANAS!

It's been a whirlwind week of firsta for Brayden and Mommy!

On Tuesday we had Brayden's 4 month appt!  He is getting so big so fast!  He is now 15lb 1oz(50%) and 26 3/4 inches long(above 95%)!  TALL BOY!  The dr was very happy with his overall body strength and he loved showing off how well he stands, rolls, holds his head and body up and trys to sit! lol He did get 4 shots and an oral vaccine. Of course he cried (and mommy shed a tear) but he did much better than the last time he had his shots, so i was proud of him!

 We also got the okay to start solids!  So I went to the store and got some goodies (organic of course..lol) to make his food. I made carrots, peas, butternut squash, apples, bananas and avocado!  I froze all of his food in his containers and made cubes with the rest and bagged them up. it makes it SO easy and it made so much food for such little money!! can't beat that!

On wednesday we had our appointment at CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia) with the gastro. It looks like there isn't much more we can do for Brayden's reflux Which can be extremely frustrating when he is in pain. But since is he gaining about 1 lb a month she is not concerned that he is at risk for malnourishment.

I was really glad the Dr decided that we are not going to have to do an endoscopy. She said that with his history and symptoms he definitely has GERD, so there is no need to put him through unnecessary testing. Needless to say I am SO grateful! So I was able to get the dr to agree to take him off the zantac (since i don't think it's working anyway) and we are sticking solely with the prevacid.  So in the mean time we are keeping him on the alimentum, since it takes the edge off the pain.

We also started Bananas on Wednesday! He absolutely loved them.. i mixed in some oatmeal (as per the dr) to help his stomach and he had fun making a mess and chewing on his spoon... i think he was more interested in eating the spoon than anything else. lol

We also transitioned Brayden to the crib on wednesday! This definitely gave me some anxiety!  As much as i did not want to move him to the crib I felt like he was being disturbed by us going to bed at night and wasn't getting as sounds of sleep.. so it was time.  He had an AWFUL first night... it wasn't even the crib it was his reflux. he was in so much pain and kept waking up. as soon as I would get him calmed down and lay him in bed he would be back up crying.  Needless to say it was a ROUGH night. I had attributed it to possibly being  b/c we had just stopped the zantac but wasn't convinced that was it.
Thursday the same thing happened. I felt so bad for him.  But I had this lingering though that it HAD to be the bananas he was eating around dinner time.

So Friday I tested my theory and he only got plain oatmeal.... and SURPRISE he had a good night. he woke up for his regular bottle but otherwise he did great.
So far he doesn't mind sleeping in the crib, even though mommy is slowly adjusting. I know i'm ridiculous but with all of his reflux issues i was more comfortable to have him in the pack and play in our room.  But he's a big boy so i need to let him have his own space.

Here's some pics of him playing in the crib after a nap : ) 

LOVES the mobile! 

Tonight we started carrots, he really wasn't sure what to make of it and made some hilarious faces... fortunately so far they haven't had any repercussions on his stomach!Again he is obsessed with the spoon! 

  

Home made baby food!

I really can't wait for Brayden to be old enough to eat baby food!I know... in one breath I don't want him to get bigger and the next I'm jumping to months ahead! But the older he gets the more fun he is! So i decided that I'm going to try and make a bunch of his baby food! Should be an interesting venture. My goal is to give him as much organic as possible. I know that it may not always be feasable but if we can go organic thats great if not, I'm not going to obsess over it.

So I picked up some food containers from Babies R Us the other day and my food processor will be here on friday!  (Gotta LOVE amazon deals and free 2nd day shipping!) I know i'm a little ahead of myself but i just can't help it! I'm definitely saving money with my coupons/deals so I don't see a reason to not stock up now!

The Containers: they are too cute, and they come with a freezer tray (thanks for the recommendation Jen N!)

 the lids are cute they have fuits/veggies on them! :)

The new food processor!