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

experi-lentil

Many children struggle with constipation...it can happen for lots of reasons, like starting solids or not getting enough fluids or fibre. Nora has had her bouts with mild constipation and I've learned it affects everything else in her life. She doesn't eat or sleep as well when she isn't regular, and those are two of the most important things in her life.
I've experimented with all kinds of high-fibre foods, most of which she eats routinely. She has pureed, stewed prunes almost every morning (and just recently I started adding raisins and dried cherries into the mix). She also has blueberries in a smoothie almost every day, leafy greens, barley, oats, brown rice, quinoa, etc.
However, the only food that is a sure fire remedy for regularity is legumes. Some may call me the 'bean queen' because I recommend legumes (meaning beans, peas and lentils) to pretty much every patient I see. They are high in fibre, low in fat, contain protein and lots of vitamins and minerals. They are essential for stabilizing cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar and help prevent diseases like colon cancer and other digestive tract troubles. With the majority of the North American population being deficient in fibre, a daily dose of legumes is a great way to up your intake. Replace red meat with legumes once a week to get started and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Some people do have increased intestinal gas production from eating beans...rinsing them well washes off the starch that causes the problem, not to mention the excess sodium in canned beans. Plus, the more beans you eat, the better you'll do!
Nora has tried lots of legumes by now (she started eating them around 9 months), but her absolute favourite is lentils. She especially likes them done up as dal, a staple in Indian cooking. I put them on in the slow cooker in the morning and they are perfect by dinner time. Of course, the whole family eats dal for dinner, we usually serve it with brown rice or quinoa and some other Indian dish like saag paneer or another leafy green dish. For babies just starting into spices, remove their portion before adding the salt and oil mixture.

Dal
Yield: 4 servings

1 cup lentils or mung beans
4 cups water
2 tbsps ginger, peeled and minced
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps canola oil
2 tsps cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tsp hot chiles, chopped or flaked
1 tomato, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine lentils and water. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and add ginger and turmeric (this could also be done in a slow-cooker all day). Simmer with a lid slightly ajar for 1 hour or until lentils are soft and dal has reached desired consistency (some people like it soupier than others). Add the salt.
Heat a small frying pan on medium and add canola oil. Once hot, add cumin and mustard seeds and stir until they begin popping. Add garlic and other spices and cook for 1 minute, stirring often. Add tomato and cook until softened. Stir spice mixture and cilantro into lentils. Let sit 5-10 minutes to allow flavours to combine. Serve with rice and/or chapati.

Nutrient Information(per serving):
197 Kcal
14.5 g Protein
30 g Carbohydrate
6 g Fibre
3 g Fat
5 mg Iron
224 mg Folate
300 mg Sodium

food, nutrition and nora

I learned a lot about how and what to feed kids when I was studying to be a dietitian at UBC a few years ago. I was really interested in it because I knew I wanted to start a family soon after finishing school, but also because I was keen to start my private practice and counsel parents on feeding their families.
It was all just theory, research and anecdotal evidence until last year when my daughter, Nora, started eating solid food. Now I'm waist-deep in my own personal anthropological experiment!
Before Nora started eating solids, I was so excited and couldn't wait to start feeding her. But, I quickly became overwhelmed with the extra work on top of an already busy life with a 6-month old. There was the time it took to make food, to feed her, to clean up afterwards and then sometimes she wouldn't even eat anything! I had to consider food allergies, appropriate textures, the right nutrients, flavour, keeping her interested, keeping her regular...the list seems endless.
I really wanted her to eat mostly homemade food for a few reasons:
1. You know what's in it.
2. It's way more affordable.
3. It can be as close to nature as possible.
This last one is one of my overall philosophies for food and eating. It basically means eating foods that are processed as little as possible and so have less 'non-foods' added to them (for example, using steel-cut or plain, rolled oats instead of a package of instant, flavoured oatmeal).
Back in school, I had read a lot of the research on how to feed babies, especially the work of Ellen Sattyr (www.ellensattyr.com) , who talks about needing to offer a food to a baby more than 10 times before determining they don't like it. I definitely believe in the idea that the parent decides what foods and when to offer them, but the baby decides if they want to eat and how much.
But what we didn't learn in school and despite practicing as a dietitian and talking to parents, I had never had any experience preparing homemade baby food. Although I had a couple of kids cookbooks, I also ended up consulting a fabulous website (www.wholesomebabyfood.com) that gives great recipes for making simple baby foods like fruit and vegetable purees, cereals and teething biscuits.

So, throughout this blog, I hope to pass on my experiences, my recipes and my tips that I have developed over these last 6 months feeding Nora. She didn't start out as a great eater and I went through moments of frustration, worry and momma-meltdowns (e.g. my husband comes home to Nora and I on the kitchen floor, covered in peaches). Now, it's all paid off and she's doing really well with eating these days. It helps that we're reaching that 1 year marker when more foods can be introduced and she can mostly eat what we eat.
Tonight, for example, I made an amazing fish recipe (Snapper with Lemon & Capers), a barley pilaf and a green salad with cheddar and avocado. Nora ate it up! Even my husband gave it a perfect 10...

Snapper with Lemon & Capers
serves 3

1 lb snapper or other fish
salt and pepper
3 tbsps olive oil
1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
zest and juice of 2 lemons
2 tbsps capers

Wash and dry fish, season with salt and pepper and place in a shallow dish. Whisk together oil, vinegar and lemon juice, then pour half of the mixture over the fish, reserving the other half. Marinate the fish in the fridge for 45-60 minutes.
Place dinner plates or a platter in the oven to warm. Heat a large skillet on high then add fish and turn down to medium. Cook 1-2 minutes then flip and cook another 5 minutes, unless very thick and then may need a little longer. Remove fish on plates or platter and cover with foil.
Turn skillet to medium-low and add remaining oil mixture and capers. Cook until reduced by half then pour over fish. Garnish with lemon zest.

Nutrient Information (per serving):
220 Kcals
31 grams Protein
9 grams Fat
2.5 grams Carbohydrate
0 grams Fibre
238 mg Sodium
52 mg Calcium
0.5 mg Iron
4 mcg vitamin B12