Friday, April 11, 2008

on the menu



If I knew then, what I know now....

I have spent so much time worrying about what Lulu eats.
Does she eat enough?
Is she getting enough variety in her diet? enough protein? (the child really isn't a fan of meat)
enough fibre? enough fruit and veg? enough water?
gahhh..
She isn't what I would call a picky eater, but she definitely knows what she does and doesn't like.
Her favourite meal at the moment is edamame, brown rice (with bragg spray), tofu, miso soup and avocado.
She requests it almost daily.
oh and she likes a sip or two of green tea with it.

aside from Terroni she always asks to go out for sushi when it comes to choosing a restaurant.
I can't believe that we often let our two (almost three) year old decide where we eat out..
geez..
For breakfast it's cantaloupe, honeydew melon, strawberries with cottage cheese, sliced almonds and a bit of honey and a dash of cinnamon and either a blueberry flax waffle or french toast.
on busy mornings she's happy with a bowl of oatmeal and an orange juice and half a banana.
She loves broccoli with shaved parmesan cheese, steamed cauliflower with olive oil, capers, celery, roasted red peppers, and olives. She calls it her favourite cauliflower salad that I make.
Yay, she likes my cooking!!
Homemade soup and whole-wheat wraps are always good.
Hummus and pita, grapes, carrot sticks, almonds, dried cranberries and apricots, cheese and crackers, apple slices are often the snack of choice.
Last night she had papardelle pasta with home-made spinach pesto and pinenuts and it was a hit.
She wasn't into eating the mixed cherry tomato salad with fresh basil and balsamic vinegar.
but she did lick the Maldon Sea salt from each tomato.
Tonight she had couscous with chickpeas, apricots, roasted almonds cucumbers and smoked tofu.
Couldn't convince her to eat the slow cooked chicken that went in the tagine.
Too bad it was excellent- though admittedly a bit on the spicy side.
ah well....
She loves her pesto pizza or marinara pizza on Fridays with a glass of her all time fav Sanpellegrino-Aranciata.
I confess I love it too.
though we do try to keep that special for Friday nights only.
I remember as a kid being allowed to have pop and chips (or cheesies, or doritos...yummmm) on Friday night and it was such a treat.
So the point is, that I'm so happy that she is really starting to expand her palate and try new things.
It took a while, but I feel like we have arrived.
Maybe I can finally stop stressing so much (even if we think she is a vegetarian)
The petite-gourmand at last!

8 comments:

indigo herself said...

i'll have what she's having! i think you may be right about her being a vegetarian. is she A blood type by chance? i think the best diet for A types is vegetarian.

Anonymous said...

That's wonderful, what a large variety of foods she enjoys, makes life so much easier!

You were missed last night btw at the blog gathering! Next time.

Ha my word verification was pukqy. Which is what Samantha would say to half the foods I try to give her ;)

amanda said...

haha! That's great! Boy, she eats better than I do! I can't imagine... we struggle to get Jack to eat anything at all these days. I'm hoping it's a stage. Ug. Ok, now I'm hungry... and feel like I need to do a little grocery shopping:)

Mommy Jo said...

Come be my chef! My family would love to have you! I am terrible at cooking!

Tania said...

I want to be re-incarnated as your child. I'd be eating a heck of a lot better than I am now!

Sarah said...

Umm...I noticed mac and cheese is not on that list. I guess LuLu can't have a playdate here now. :)
I was happy my kids ate broccoli Saturday night - and liked it! Seriously though, thanks for the inspiration!

kittenpie said...

Pumpkinpie always wants japanese, too, and you'd better keep your eyes on your salmon. It helps that I can't eat the sushi part anyhow right now, but once I can, we are in for a rumble, I'll bet!

Laural Dawn said...

I loved this post.
I truly believe that if you offer up healthy food and let kids keep trying till they find something they like you're ahead of the game.
Not that my son's meals are as creative as Lulu's, but he loves his veggies (especially brocolli) and fruit, and constantly tells me he wants to eat "healfy not junk."
By the way, he rarely eats meat also. He'll have chicken nuggets or meatballs occassionally, so we try to give him other protein-rich foods.