do you know the muffin girl?

It's never too early to start them cooking! Getting kids involved in the kitchen is not only fun and an important life skill, but they also seem to eat more of the food they help make.
Nora is very independent for her age (I think) and she is usually content to entertain herself while I'm cooking. She plays with her toys in the living room or her bedroom, and she also has a large drawer of kitchen stuff that she's allowed to throw around. But, she only lasts a certain amount of time and then starts asking to come 'up', which still sounds more like a grunt. I have learned to perform a lot of kitchen tasks with one arm, while keeping her hands and feet away from the counter, but some things will always require two hands.
Then, my only option if she wants to be up at my level, is to plunk her on our large counter and keep her focused and sitting in one spot. At this age (14 months), she's mostly entertained playing with the measuring spoons, the baking powder container, etc. But she's really starting to understand and wanting to participate in 'helping' mom and dad. So while making pumpkin muffins on a Sunday morning, Nora helped me by shaking in the cinnamon and pouring in the vanilla. She also loved licking the utensils, as you can see:)
I don't know if the theory is proved true by this experiment, but she loves these muffins! She ate 2 of them in one sitting, but now we are rationing them to the halves we send to daycare for her lunch (they freeze nicely, so make an easy grab).
They are packed with fibre and other great nutrients from the pumpkin, oats and ground flax seeds.
As she gets older, I plan on getting Nora more and more involved in the kitchen and hope to inspire a love of cooking that both her dad and I share. Kids really can do a lot if you find the patience to allow them to learn and likely make a mess in the process. Let them get their hands dirty mixing granola or dough or forming patties or balls. Nora already loves the lettuce spinner, but she's still having a hard time with many raw veggies. Eventually it would be great to put her in charge of the salad every night and she can choose the toppings (nuts, seeds, grains, cheese, egg, veggies, dressing, etc). It's key to come up with knife-less ways of doing things, like using an egg slicer or a cheese/carrot grater.
I remember cooking with my grandparents as a child...baking cinnamon rolls and oatmeal cookies with my grandmother and making soup with my grandfather. My whole family congregated at our cottage, so the batches were huge and filled up the chest freezer. My grandmother's mixing bowl was always big enough to bathe in, although Nora got to use the new kitchen sink for her first cottage bath last summer. I still make the recipes I learned with my grandparents, but I have had to 'healthy' them up over the years, subbing in whole grains and healthy fats for white flour and bacon.
Cooking together can change a chore into a life experience. You can make memories, delicious food and family traditions with kids in the kitchen.

Pumpkin Muffins
Makes 12

2 eggs
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup canola or olive oil
3 tbsp molasses
3/4 cup canned pumpkin (not pie filling)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup oat bran or ground oats (or 1 cup wholewheat flour)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup flax seeds, ground
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (*optional)

Preheat oven to 400F. In a medium-sized bowl, beat eggs then whisk in remaining wet ingredients. In a large bowl, stir together dry ingredients then add wet ingredients and mix to just combine. Scoop into 12 greased or silicone muffin cups. Bake 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry when tested in the middle of a muffin.
Cool on a wire rack.

Nutrient Information (per muffin, without pecans):
216 Calories
4 g Protein
11 g Fat
28 g Carbohydrate
3 g Fibre
80 mg Calcium
2.5 mg Iron

corn nut

'Are you raising your daughter as a vegetarian?' I must have been asked this question fifty times already. Nora is growing up in a bi-eating household...my husband eats meat and I don't. I have been a vegetarian for fifteen years, mostly for moral reasons but the health issue plays in to it too now. I did start eating fish again a few years ago because I was recommending it to patients so often.
My husband, Paul, is very supportive of my food choices (when he's not pressuring me to get back into meat;). He rarely eats meat at home and I certainly don't buy it or cook it for him. But once in a while, he'll pick up some organic chicken or get a recipe idea for a dinner we're hosting and make a meaty stew or something.
I'm not a preachy vegetarian. I mean I could be, but I sure don't want to be preached to about my food morality. I include meat in meal plans for my clients, because the majority of them do eat it. But, for health reasons, I also include lots of legumes, fish and seafood, which is a big change for a lot of people.
Anyway, back to the 'big question'...does Nora eat meat? Sure, because it's good for her now and eventually, it will be her decision whether she includes meat in her diet. She doesn't encounter it often, but so far she's tried chicken, turkey and beef, in pretty small amounts. Most days her protein comes from fish, dairy and legumes and she's just started trying nuts. This is perfectly healthy for a growing girl and she could do just fine without meat, but I definitely do not want to be 'forbidding' her from eating something, especially if her dad is eating it. But you can guess that her exposure to a more vegetarian style of eating is much greater than the average kid and I can only hope it leads to an appreciation of a variety of healthy foods.
Already, Nora, a girl after my own heart, loves her legumes. Paul made chicken for dinner for himself and Nora, which we served with polenta and greens. It was a huge hit and she probably had 4 helpings of polenta (thus, the name Corn Nut). I made some delicious kidney beans for my protein, and Nora ended up going crazy for them too. Not that she didn't also like the chicken...
In fact, she liked it so much, I asked Paul if he would like to do a guest post on my blog to talk about his chicken recipe. Stay tuned for that:)
In the meantime, try these oh so easy, hearty and healthy, Italian-style beans.

Red Beans with Rosemary
Serves 4

2 cups kidney beans, dried (or sub navy beans)
water
2 bay leaves
3 sprigs rosemary, fresh
1 tsp salt

Place beans in a medium pot and fill with water. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes then turn off heat and allow beans to soak for 1 hour (or can soak them overnight). Drain and rinse beans then place in same pot and cover with fresh water. Add herbs and salt. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer, covered, until tender (1-1.5 hours, depending on size of beans).
Serve over sauteed greens and polenta.

Nutrient Information (per serving):
310 Kcals
21 g Protein
56 g Carbohydrate
14 g Fibre
1 g Fat
6 mg Iron
581 mg Sodium


Polenta
Serves 4

4 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cornmeal (coarse for polenta)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Bring water to a boil in a medium-sized pot. Add salt, then gradually whisk in cornmeal. Reduce heat and continue stirring until thickened, about 15 minutes. Stir in butter, oil and cheese. Serve immediately.

the B.R.A.T. from mexico

We just got back from a vacation in mexico and ended up bringing home a little nuisance with us. Yup, you guessed it...a case of traveller's diarrhea!
Nora is now on day 7 so we are pretty anxious to get it cleared up. Not only is it a pain in the butt for her (e.g. diaper rash), but we can't send her to daycare, so one of us is home from work. She's not feeling badly, but they still have a policy.
The other big side effect is that we are all pretty much following the B.R.A.T. diet which helps to slow down diarrhea. B.R.A.T. stands for Banana, Rice, Applesauce and Toast, which are all foods that can slow things down digestively and cause constipation. We are also only giving Nora other low-fibre foods...my husband is calling it the 'white diet' because it is so opposite from the usual high-fibre, whole-grain foods we are used to eating. A week of white bread, white pasta, white rice, peeled potatoes...you get the idea.
I feel so badly too every time she looks in the fridge and says blueberries, which sounds more like blblublubl. They are her favourite fruit and we usually all have some every day, but they are way too high in fibre for right now. She needs to avoid all fruits and veggies, except the banana, applesauce and potatoes. We're trying to slip some in on the side for ourselves of course, like a handful of swiss chard crumbled onto a dinner of chicken and rice or a scoop of raisins in our cereal. Hopefully she'll be better soon and we can get back to eating our usual foods.
Do I regret taking a one year old to Mexico after all this? Never! We had so much fun playing on the beach and hanging out with our friends. We ate such amazing food, like the fresh corn tortillas we would pick up for about a dollar a pound and the mountains of guacamole we made. Surprisingly the best place we ate in Sayulita (the little town north of Puerto Vallarta where we stayed) was called Panino. It was a European-style bakery that rivaled any baked goods I've ever made or had anywhere, including Europe! Delicious pies, danish, strudel, croissant, baguette, bagels...literally everything was amazing! But now you can see why I'm so eager to get back to eating healthy at home:)