Let's Talk Baby Weaning // Easy Ways to Prep Solids for Babies

On the day I'm writing this post Marcus has turned 8 months old.  He eats 3 meals a day and eats a lot during those meals.  We moved quickly (I think) from purees to solids and he's been having fun with all of it.  At about 5 months we started rice cereal, then we moved onto jarred purees at about 6 months.  At about 7 months we'd progressed to eating soft things like puffs and mashed fruit.  And now at 8 months we're fully on board with Chex, eggs, pancakes, chicken, fish, cut meat balls, cut strawberries, green beans, pasta...I mean he eats a lot of stuff.  Most of the time we just modify what we're eating for meals for him and he's loving it.

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I was super afraid to start solid foods because choking was awfully terrifying for me.  But I really did let Marcus lead the way and if he seemed interested we went for it.  If I could squish it between my tongue and the roof of my mouth I felt confident to give it to him.  Obviously you'll want to talk to your pediatrician about starting and continuing foods and food sizes, etc.  But there are a lot of resources online about traditional weaning, baby led weaning, and accelerated traditional weaning, books galore on the topic & other mommas out there that you trust can be a huge support system!  I think ultimately with Marcus's readiness, we went with accelerated traditional weaning.  Here are some definition breakdowns:

What are the Different Types of Weaning?

Traditional Weaning - this is when you start to offer purreed solids along side the baby's diet of breast milk or formula.  Most baby food manufacturers follow a system that involves different stages of foods based on age.  You'll start with stage 1 foods which are single ingredient, smooth pureed fruits or veggies for babies ages 4-6 months.  Then you'll move up to a stage 2 for babies 7-8 months which combine foods at a slightly thicker texture to introduce new tastes and textures.  Then to stage 3 for 9-12 month babies which are chunkier in texture and must be chewed.  Then you final out with table foods after 12 months old.

Baby Led Weaning - this is a method of introducing foods so that a baby starts to 'self-feed' as soon as they are introduced to solids.  You are also offering food to compliment their diet of breast milk or formula but instead of spooning food into the baby's mouth they are exploring food at their own pace.  While each method focuses on the idea of baby's readiness, BLW focuses on providing table foods in appropriate shapes so that a baby may reach, grab, pick up, and self feed.  This method also allows for spoon feeding of foods like oatmeal and yogurt so that a child can learn to self-feed with a spoon.

Accelerated Traditional Weaning - this method combines the two above when starting to complement a baby's diet of breast milk or formula.  Accelerated weaning takes into account babies readiness for foods and moves from purees to softer and then to solid foods more quickly.  This method offers purees and then softer solid foods to encourage the oral skills needed to eat more advanced foods.  The recommendations here are that a food should be squishable or dissolve so that the child can learn to move food around in their mouths and chew.  Offering purees and solids at the same meal, one at a time, can be helpful to develop these oral skills.

Like I mentioned above we totally followed Marcus's lead and when it seemed he was interested in food and interested in what mommy and daddy ate, we offered it to him.  Again, be sure to check with your pediatrician when it comes to offering solids.  I'm not offering any medical advice here, just sharing my experiences!

Three Ways to Prepare Solids Easier

I can hardly decide what I want to eat and now I've got to feed a baby an actual breakfast/lunch/dinner as well!?! This was overwhelming to me at first but as I slowly built the repertoire of foods Marcus would eat I found simple ways to offer them.  Here are 3 tips I have to prepare food for your little one.

Microwave Eggs

Something super simple to make for a baby is scrambled eggs.  But you may have to dirty a pan and a few utensils if you make them traditionally.  And sometimes in the morning I'm not eating a full on breakfast like I'm going to feed him!  Shallow salad bowls work best for this method of cooking eggs - simply crack and egg into the bowl, scramble, and microwave at 30 second intervals until cooked through.  You can an easier prepared egg and it's easier for them to grab with the second tip below.

Cut foods with a Pizza Cutter

Slicing up foods like the scrambled eggs above or pancakes or toast can be made much, much easier with a pizza cutter!  I spread some leftover puree on toast or a pancake and cut it into bite sized pieces with the pizza cutter.  No more knifing up the food and squishing it while dragging the knife through.  Less crumbs when it comes to cutting toast too!

Personal Blender for Meat

We've offered Marcus both chicken and shrimp after its been blended in our Nutribullet. Of course you can use a regular blender but a small blender like the Nutribullet (or any other personal blender) means you're not dirtying up extra parts and pieces.  You can store the leftover blended meat in the cup with a cap for a day or two and not have to empty it into another container and then clean your whole blender.  Plus I throw my blender blade thing into the dishwasher (not sure if you're supposed to) so it's way easier to clean.  (Honestly, if it can't survive the dishwasher, I don't want it in my house!)

Starting Marcus on solid foods has been and adventure.  I started off super scared he'd choke but gagging and what not is learning.  It is super important to listen to your baby as they start eating food.  I didn't think we'd go the accelerated route and BLW kinda freaked me out but as he developed skills I felt confident following him and also challenging him with textures.  We run into things that he has trouble with or doesn't like and we work through it.  Just the other day we tried something I can only liken to a thicker veggie soup and it was hard for him to navigate the smooth and chunky and chewy texture.  Which is fine, he'll develop skills like that as we progress.

I hope this post helped you navigate feeding your baby a little bit and inspired your to not dirty too many dishes when making up some food for them!  Hope you're feeding journey is fun & exciting!

Resources I consulted: Very Well Family, Wikipedia, Feeding Bytes

What was your feeding journey like?  What food are you most looking forward to sharing with your child?

xoxo, Moe

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Three Keto Dough Recipes I Always Have on Hand

While I was pregnant with Marcus I was advised to start eating low-carb toward the end of my pregnancy.  Turns out I was growing a large baby and we needed to limit the carbs so that he didn't bust from my nether regions like bigfoot.  Too much? Well, that's the truth!

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Eating low carb was not what I wanted to do with my life, especially nearing the end of my pregnancy when I wanted ice cream and Oreos!  (spoilers: this is my favorite low carb ice cream.)  Honestly, when deciding to go low-carb one of my goals was to still be able to eat bread and sweets.  Finding some Keto friendly recipes on Pinterest was an obsession of mine...second to actually testing them out!

Over the last few months of my pregnancy and even into postpartum I've enjoyed finding and making new Keto recipes but there are 3 'dough' recipes that I always fall back on

Fat Head Dough

This was the first Keto 'dough' I discovered and it quickly became my go to for everything.  Fat Head Dough is basically mozzarella, cream cheese, eggs, and almond flour (or coconut flour).  This is the recipe I use each time. Making this dough can get really sticky.  Most recipes advise you to wet your hands often when working with the dough but I find using food prep gloves works the best.

I first experimented with these Fat Head Dough bagels but quickly moved to using this dough to make pigs in a blanket (with everything bagel seasoning!) & little pizza pockets.  Let's also talk about how I paired these pigs in a blanket with red wine.  I've reached ultimate mom mode!  I experimented with making little pizza rolls too...this is something I need to work on more.  I just found this recipe to make chicken empanada pockets and can't wait to have these for easy meals!

For the pigs in a blanket just make the dough as normal & cut the hot dogs into thirds.  With your food prep gloves on, grab a small ball of dough and wrap it around the dog.  Place on your pan and then sprinkle with everything bagel seasoning!  You can even brush a little bit of butter on them for that crescent roll taste but these taste great as is.  I bake them at the same temperature and time as the bagel recipe.

It is also important to cook these bad boys on a silpat mat I find this dough sticks to anything BUT this.  Even greasing tin foil got me no where.

The Chaffle

The Chaffle is something I'm just getting into but I can totally see it being my go to for buns, bread, personal pizza crusts...anything that you need to be hand held & quick!  The basic recipe is a cheese & egg mixture cooked in a waffle maker.  The waffle maker I've found that works the best for these hand held size portions is the Dash Mini Waffle Maker. You may be able to find it on Amazon - it sells out rather quickly - but Target is where I got mine.  Plus you can either order online and pick up in store or get it delivered same day with your Shipt subscription!

I love to whip the simple egg & cheese mix up for a quick breakfast sandwich or a quick pizza lunch.  One of my favorite quick lunches has been a pizza made on a flour tortilla.  Prior to having to cut my carbs I'd use whatever tortillas we had...eventually I'd found some low-carb ones BUT this chaffle cuts the carbs even more!  Just mix 1 egg with 1/2 cup cheese (I usually use mozzarella).  This will make two chaffles which makes it perfect for handhelds!

My favorite chaffle recipe that tastes EXACTLY like bread (so its perfect for sandwiches and toast!) is from Butter Together Kitchen.  I added a few things here in my own experimentation - instead of 3 tbsp almond flour I went with 2.5 tbsp, then added a half tbsp vital wheat gluten (this makes it more bread like) and 1/4 tsp of Lakanto Classic Monkfruit Sweetener.  The vital wheat gluten has been a real fun thing to play with and it is in another one of my fave low carb doughnut recipes.  If you make this recipe my way & with the mini waffle maker you'll get three chaffles.  So it might by worth it to double the recipe and make six so you can have 2 more sandwiches later/the next day.  Its the perfect meal prep!

Psyllium Husk Roll

This was the first 'roll' recipe I came across and I'd used it to make buns and whatnot for things like pulled chicken sandwiches.  (I love to make pulled chicken in my Instant Pot!)  This recipe also uses and ingredient I was interested in - psyllium husk.  This is basically pure fiber so drinking water is a must but apparently this ingredient helps recipes stay together.  Psyllium husk and vital wheat gluten are pretty fun things to play with in low carb cooking!

I didn't have a need to make these rolls recently so this image is from the original recipe maker, here.

This is the only recipe I'd ever used the psyllium husk in and it turns out a pretty nice roll.  The are a little odd though.  When you first cook them they will come out hard on the outside and then a little gooey on the inside.  I put them in a ziplock bag to store them and the next day they were soft on the outside and not gooey but still bread like on the inside.  It was odd but this is the results other people got to!  I'm excited to continue to experiment with different spices to make these rolls super versatile.

Another post I need to do is all the sweet things that I eat on Keto!  I have a huge sweet tooth and a love of bread so eating those things was important to me when I went to switch my diet up!

I'm still doing a Keto focused diet though I'm not super strict on myself.  I sub a few things here and there - like all these dough recipes, no sugar in my coffee, heavy whipping cream instead of creamer, monkfruit sweetener or stevia for sweetener - in order to just cut a few things out.  Overall decreasing my sugar and carb intake rather than obsessing over macros is my long term goal!

What are your favorite low carb recipes?  Anything I should try out?

xoxo, Moe

Make it Monday // Adventures in Planting Herbs

I don't quite have a green thumb...mainly the color of my thumb is lazy when it comes to gardening.  Zach & I sorta missed the window on planting the garden outside we'd planned on doing.  When it comes to yard work, gardening, landscaping, etc I don't even want to think about it.  Though, I am a little motivated to start planting in our litte front garden thing in the front of the house....maybe next weekend if I can keep up the motivation!  That seems a lot more plausible for me to do than raking & mowing & the like.....sheesh, not for me.

But I did want to get some of the seeds we picked up into some dirt.  We did grab a few herbs & herb mixes with the intention of planting a little herb garden type deal under the skylight in the kitchen.  We've got a lot of counter space & I'm determined to keep it free of clutter but still utilized.  I love our counter space because I can have all the kitchen gadgets out & not tucked away in the cabinets.  We use them so much more now! (Check our kitchen essentials here)  So in my burst of creativity yesterday I headed to the store picked up some pots & soil, then set to work.

I haven't planted anything since probably like the 3rd grade...but between that & watching my grandma and mom plant flowers over the years, I'm sorta confident my whole dirt - sprinkle seeds - dirt - water it process is how you do it!  I can't wait to see how these grow, especially the assortment packs.  I hope they look good & taste yummy!  So I'll be testing my watering skills here as I try to remember to water them everyday or so.  I seriously want to add a lot of plants to our home...so I guess I need to invest in a watering can :)

We were thinking of planting a bunch of vegetables in the raised bed behind the house but that didn't work out too well.  I've seen a few people doing a little container garden (namely Elsie Blaha Cripe on her blog here).  I'm thinking that this may be an adventure for our deck or patio next year rather than a full fledged garden in the ground.  Breaks it off in pieces for me & I'm less intimidated!

I do want to start prettying up the front of the house so I guess I'll get off my lazy butt & do it....next weekend :)  Hopefully we can get some nice outdoor furniture & make the most of the outdoors now that it's warmer.  Who knows...maybe I'll start working on this little project after work this week...maybe.  I really want to...but I'm just so intimidated!

Anyone have any planting tips?  How do you not half complete your yard work?

xoxo, Moe

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Wednesday Decor // Mug Love

Our little house is coming together quite nicely.  I feel like I'm always saying we're almost done.  But we really are, I promise.  It's just all the little stuff, ya know?  We've got a lot of the big stuff done, it's just the putting away & final touches.  Zach's desk area needs to get done, I need to organize my side of the book shelf, the big room upstairs is almost clean, I need to get a sewing table (yay!) and then for the most part it's seriously finished! phew!

We've had little parts finished - the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, closet, etc - and one of my fave little parts is the coffee bar.  I'm slowly finding more & more of my handmade mugs from various artists & Zach is slowly picking up more novelty mugs for our rack.  The goal is to have an assorted collection of fun mugs & move all the borring mugs back to the cabinet!  I'm always on the look out for awesome mugs, here are some of my faves:

Donut Mug // Diner-saurs Mug // Sip-Roaring Time Mug // Pour and Shoot Mug // Tardis Mug

I'm both a coffee & a tea drinker, unlike some who prefer one over the other.  Recently, because I wake up so darned early, I've been defaulting to coffee so my little collection of yummy teas has been ignored.  I really like Tazo Tea and two of my favorites are Zen & Rest.  I really want to get into trying some loose leaf teas as well!

Last night I made a cup of the Zen added a bit of sugar & a splash of vanilla syrup and it was divine.  The Zen tea is a blend of lemon grass & spearmint so the splash of vanilla was a little sweetness surprise.  Loved it!  Perfect pick me up!

Are you a coffee or a tea lover? More importantly are you a crazy mug lover??

xoxo, Moe

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