Toddler Tapas

This is so simple that it is ridiculous and maybe you are doing this already. Many nights I don't have a so called "meal" put together for Sam. I just go through my fridge and clean out any of his leftovers and combine everything to make a meal. A little of this, a little of that, and tons of variety which Sam loves.

Toddler Tapas (this is just tonight's version):
Diced and peeled English cucumber (the long skinny kind wrapped in plastic)
1/2 slice Havarti cheese
leftover organic baked sweet potato mixed with some homemade applesauce
Zucchini pancake (I will explain this later)
Ice water

So, there is protein, carbs, fruit, non-starchy veg, fat, dairy, it hits a little bit of every group and was put together in literally about 5 minutes.

So, the zucchini pancake is not a homemade item, I know I know, this is about homemade baby food! I bought one box of this to try it out and they are so delicious, I plan on making my own as soon as these are gone. When I come up with a good recipe I will be sure to post. So, the pancakes are savory and contain shredded zucchini, carrot, onion, basil, potato starch, wheat flour, egg white, garlic. These are so tasty and the first thing Sam cleans off of his plate!

I have made so many different versions, including foods like chopped up chicken, salmon, black beans, lima beans, banana, steamed apple, carrots, sliced tomato, wheat toast, cheese and spinach quesadilla triangles, etc. You see that the list goes on and on.

So, take a few minutes to see that you have in your fridge/freezer and just use your head and pick something from each of the food groups. Your child will probably love it because there is so much variety.

It has been forever! I apologize! Honestly though, I really haven't been making anything special for Sam. He has been eating a lot of the food I cook for me and Austin or just some staples, like Salmon, with steamed carrots and applesauce, etc. I did make a HUGE (well for me) Christmas dinner for us and Austin's parents. I had not made any of the recipes before, but honestly they all turned out really great. To save myself a ton of typing, I am just going to tell you the names of the recipes and where to get them: (not figure friendly, but my taste buds are STILL thanking me)
1. Good Eats Roast Turkey-Alton Brown (food network)-this included brining the turkey before roasting....awesome recipe!
2. Carrot Souffle by Emeril (food network)-so good, you wouldn't even know it wasn't sweet potatoes.
3. Southern Cornbread Stuffing-Paula Deen (food network)-really good and moist, I do not like dried out stuffing.
4. Cherries Jubilee Black pepper crusted ham-southern living-pretty great as well.
5. Spice Cake with citrus filling-southern living (on the cover of the december issue)-funny story though, this is a 4 layer cake and I had nothing that was tall enough for this cake to fit into! I had to rig up the cake stand lid which ended up leaving a gap and the icing dried out after a couple days. So I ended up having to throw away the leftovers.

I also had a cranberry salad, green salad with homemade vinaigrette, and potato rolls. These were family recipes and would be happy to let you know how I made them if you are interested, just message me!

Sam ate all of the foods (except for the green salad) and loved it! We had tons of leftovers and I froze the extra ham which I used part of that for our new years dinner. I put some of the ham in the fresh turnip greens and also in the black eyed peas! SOO GOOD! I literally ate greens and peas for 3 days and was not tired of it at all.

Last night I made a homemade pizza using a recipe that my mom recently gave me. Sam ate a whole piece of pizza for lunch today, he was definitely digging it.

Spinach Alfredo Pizza
10 oz package of frozen spinach cooked and drained well
1 jar of alfredo sauce
Parmesan cheese
Mozzarella cheese
Pizza Crust
Crushed red pepper

Put the sauce, spinach, and crushed red pepper (I only used a few shakes because Sam was eating) into a saucepan and just warm
Prepare the crust, use whatever you like. I used the "pizza crust yeast" with the recipe on the back of the package, pretty good. It got really crispy which is what I like.
Put the sauce mixture on the crust and top with parmesan and mozzarella cheese.

Optional toppings: roasted garlic, chicken, bacon, grilled chicken, roma tomatoes, onions, pineapple.

Hope you enjoy!