More on the Floor?

I went back to work four months ago, a move that coincided with a rather unhappy turn in Babyman’s gastronomic evolution: his transition from happy, hungry baby to picky, mealtime-is-my-battlefield toddler.  The child who once gobbled up anything we put in front of him has developed some serious opinions about what he will eat (“Like it!”) and won’t (“No.  No.  No.”).  In fact, as of this writing, avocado is the only vegetable he will eat in its natural form.  (N.B.: I mentioned this to a friend at a party recently, and he helpfully reminded me that avocado is, in fact, a fruit.  So truth be told, Babyman no longer accepts a SINGLE vegetable in its natural form.)

I have to admit that the constant mealtime battles have taken some of the magic out of baby food.  And my husband has been pointing out for a while that I might take this whole food thing too personally.  It can literally ruin my Saturday if I spend time cooking only to have Babyman reject it.

Time to put the ego aside and try to regain my cred as a mommy-foodie.  But I can’t rely on the old tricks.  Time for new inspiration!

My obsessions right now: Trader Joe’s multigrain pancake mix, Sneaky Chef purple puree, and savory pastries, a la Healthy Lunchboxes for Kids.

The pancake mix can be used for (duh) pancakes, and the fabulous Missy has some great ideas for injecting veggies into the mix on her website.  I used the spinach-blueberry puree, then added some dark chocolate chips and Babyman now goes nuts over his “chocolate pancakes.”  But the great thing about the pancake mix is it doubles as a biscuit mix.

Amanda Grant in Healthy Lunchboxes suggests making savory pastries in lieu of sandwiches.  I happened to have some mushrooms and prosciutto in the fridge from a pasta recipe a few nights earlier, so I test-drove the TJ’s multigrain biscuits but added minced mushrooms, scallions, and prosciutto to the mix.  The mix is SUPER-sticky prepared this way so I couldn’t really use the biscuit-cutter and just made lumps on the cookie sheet.  They’re not very pretty but I think they’re pretty good.  I froze a dozen and am packing them in Babyman’s lunchbox for daycare.  We’ll see how they go over.