More Toddler bites

We began feeding our girls smoothies at a year old, as well as diced up quiche. Both are staples in their diet still!

Yogurt Smoothies:
A great way to use up fruit in your fridge or yogurt. We blend any kind of smooth yogurt (vanilla, banana, blueberry) with milk and fresh or thawed fruit (blueberries, peaches, bananas...)
Or you can use the liquid Keifer or yogurt smoothie and just mix with melt and fruit puree.

These are particularly great if you have a baby/toddler that's not totally in love with whole milk and you want to make sure they get plenty of dairy/calcium.

Quiche:
Another great way to get your babe some dairy and eggs. Here is the base for any quiche, and you can do it with or without a pie crust:
4 Eggs
2 cups of Heavy Cream
1 cup shredded Cheese (cheddar or swiss, typically)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Other ingredients to add (crumbled bacon, diced ham, sauteed zucchini...)

Beat eggs, add other ingredients, bake in pie crust or just in casserole dish at 350 for 45 minutes or until cooked through.

Veggies

Ok, so my girls had a chocolate chip cookie for lunch today, that's rare, but grandma was with us ;)
Looking for good ideas as to how to get my kids to eat more veggies. Here are some things that work for us:

Honey Glazed Carrots

4 carrots, chopped into 1/4" rounds
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. honey
dash of salt

Boil 2 cups of water, and add carrots for 4-5 minutes to soften (not mushy, just slightly softened). Drain. Melt butter in sautee pan over medium, add carrots and a dash of salt, and let carmelize for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add honey, stir occasionally for 2 minutes. Cool and serve!

Zucchini with Cheese

1 zucchini cut into 1/4" rounds
1 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. parmesan cheese
dash of salt

sautee zucchini in butter and dash of salt for 7-9 minutes, until softened. Sprinkle with parmesan and turn off heat, let cool and melt.

Easy, Healthy, Mac and Cheese

Homemade mac-n-cheese

1/2 box maccaroni
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
1-1.5 cups milk
1.5 cups cheddar cheese
salt to flavor

Boil and drain maccaroni.
Melt butter in a sautee pan on Medium. Add flour and let it cook for 2 minutes. Add milk slowly, let it thicken 2-3 minutes (should be consistency of gravy). Add cheddar cheese and salt. Pour over maccaroni, mix, and put in casserole dish. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.

Sneaky Treats and Other ideas

If I puree a pkg. of frozen spinach (thaw it and drain it well) with a 1/4 cup of whole milk, it's a perfect "spread" on a quesadilla - I also use this puree in their meatballs, on a grilled cheese sandwhich, etc.

Pita bread squares and hummus is a big hit, too, as a snack.

Here is the list I bring with me to the grocery store - I buy fresh, frozen, canned, you name it.

Fruit:
Apples
Peaches
Watermelon
Cantaloupe
Honey Dew
Bananas
Pineapple
Pears
Peaches
Apricots
Applesauce

Vegetables (Fresh/Canned/Frozen):
Sweet Potato Fries
Asparagus
Green Beans
Green Bean Casserole
Peas
Broccoli Rice Casserole

Snacks:
Yogurt
Cheese
Deli Meat
Cottage Cheese
Cereal Bars
Goldfish
Cheerios
Raisins
Craisins
Dried Blueberries (Costco)

Entrees:
Quesadillas
Grilled Cheese
Meatballs
Meat Loaf
Pot Pie
Mac + Cheese
Lasagna
Fish Sticks
Chicken Nuggets
Veggie Burgers
Salmon burgers

Breakfast:
Waffles
Pancakes
French Toast
Toast with Jam
Bagles
Oatmeal

Store Bought Toddler/Stage 3 bites

My ladies started on these at about 11 months:

Dr. Praeger's Broccoli Pancakes
His products are healthy and easy! http://www.drpraegers.com/products/index.aspx
My local grocery store and Whole Foods carries these.

Frozen veggie pancakes (in the Kosher/Organic section)

Frozen berries and add them to Yo Baby Yogurt for a delicious smoothie

Fish Sticks

Chicken Nuggets (there are some healthy ones out there now, try Earth's Best or there's a Yummy Brand one that we have at our local grocery store).

Kosher section in general has lots of healthy stuff that's tasty, so you don't have to go to a Whole Foods if you don't have one

Amy's Pizza Bites (grocery store or Whole Foods)

Frozen pizza

Stage 3 & Toddler Bites

Sweet Potato Fries (2 servings)
(We buy these in the frozen food section, under ORGANIC, and Trader Joes)

Or we make them from scratch:

1 Sweet Potato, cut into fries
dash of cumin
dash of paprika
dash of salt
1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Mix all together in a bowl, transfer to baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, until fries have softened (turn once if you want to brown evenly).


Meat Loaf (2 servings)

1/4 pound of ground beef or ground turkey
1 Tbsp. ketchup
1 piece of deli ham cut up
dash of salt
2 Tbsp. breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp. milk
1 beaten egg (use only half)

Mix all together in a bowl, transfer to baking sheet, gently form into patty shape (don't press down to hard). Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Double the recipe for twins (that way you'll have enough for dinner 2 nights in a row)!


Quesadillas

Tortillas (whole wheat or flour)
cheese (whatever you like!)
meat (I've tried ham, ground beef, chicken, etc.)
veggies (optional, you can do a puree of cauliflower or broccoli, or chopped spinach, chopped zucchini, chopped sauteed peppers, anything!)
1 tsp. butter

Put skillet on medium, add butter. Add tortilla, top half of tortilla with cheese and meat and veggies (optional). Close up, brown on both sides!

Welcome to Preemie Recipes!

So many of us moms of preemies (and moms in general) are looking for yummy recipes for our sweethearts, from first foods through toddler bites. I hope we can all contribute some fantastic recipes, store-bought food ideas, and any other items related to feeding our growing babes!