Friday 6/1/12 - After our make-up gym class, we went to Trader Joe's to get some dye-free pickles. While I was there, I grabbed some easy fridge- and freezer-meals to tide me over until Hubby came back from his 4-days out of town. Plus since he's not getting home until bedtime most nights anyway, if I like them I can keep re-stocking them and just share a bag of pasta or ravioli or whatever with Z and he can fend for himself, without me going to all the trouble to chop and cook and whatnot, just to have the leftovers rot in the fridge.
We got home pretty late after lunch time, but I decided to throw together a Muffin Tin Meal anyway.
I chose my flower muffin pan mostly at random. I was also toying with using a heart-shaped one with six hearts on it, but I used that one last time, I think. It's been a while.
I used the last of the whole Special K Savory Herb Crackers in a Lunchables-style lunch (not yet posted. I will. I promise.) So all I had left were the broken bits. Since we weren't needing whole ones to go with anything, and she likes them plain, I figured this would be a great way to use up the broken ones.
While at Trader Joe's, she requested the Baby Bell cheese again. She stopped eating them last time I got them for her (last September-ish, if I recall correctly,) so I hadn't been buying them again. To make it more fun, I used a face cutter from my bento stash. That and I couldn't find any of my mini flower or heart cutters.
She requested the berry-applesauce from Trader Joe's as well, which I was reticent to buy, since she doesn't seem to like applesauce. I'm thinking it must be the texture, since she loves apples. She came to the kitchen as I was finishing and requested one of her new applesauces. So I put it in instead of carrots. She selected the Take N Toss spoon that came as a sample with our Take N Toss Infant Feeding Bowls I got for Baby E because they looked like little baby-food bento boxes! I was too tired to argue with her, but I was saving that spoon because it fits inside the travel bowls, and they only came with the one, so I wanted it to be clean in case I wanted to take baby food on the go. Oh well.
She was intrigued by the "rainbow tomatoes" and said she'd be willing to try them if I bought them (also from Trader Joe's. Sensing a theme here, yet?) She claims to hate tomatoes, and refuses to eat them on most occasions, but these looked so pretty, and I thought they'd look good in a bento, so I decided to risk it. [Isn't it sad when you are so bento obsessed, you choose food based on how it will look on your blog?]
The sweet potato gnocchi was in the frozen section at Trader Joe's and it only took 3 minutes to cook in the microwave. I made it for myself for lunch, and decided to give her some to try.
The raspberries were also from Trader Joe's. Hey, we were there. And a large clamshell of them there cost the same as one of those tiny ones at the grocery store. Wahoo!
Once she discovered she'd need a fork for the gnocchi, she chose one of the new pink sporks that I got to fit inside her EasyLunchboxes. I didn't fight her on that either, since if it makes her food more fun to eat, then I don't care how many times I have to wash it. Plus I bought six, so we were still good on clean ones!
We had a whole fun "Who's On First" comedy routine with the gnocchi. I kept calling them gnocchis, which sounds like "no cheese." So I'd talk about her "no cheese" and she'd be confused since there clearly was a cheese right there! It took me a while to figure out why she was getting so angry with me!
We got home pretty late after lunch time, but I decided to throw together a Muffin Tin Meal anyway.
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| Special K Savory Herb Cracker bits, Baby Bell cheese, berry applesauce, heirloom tomatoes, sweet potato gnocchi, raspberries |
I used the last of the whole Special K Savory Herb Crackers in a Lunchables-style lunch (not yet posted. I will. I promise.) So all I had left were the broken bits. Since we weren't needing whole ones to go with anything, and she likes them plain, I figured this would be a great way to use up the broken ones.
While at Trader Joe's, she requested the Baby Bell cheese again. She stopped eating them last time I got them for her (last September-ish, if I recall correctly,) so I hadn't been buying them again. To make it more fun, I used a face cutter from my bento stash. That and I couldn't find any of my mini flower or heart cutters.
She requested the berry-applesauce from Trader Joe's as well, which I was reticent to buy, since she doesn't seem to like applesauce. I'm thinking it must be the texture, since she loves apples. She came to the kitchen as I was finishing and requested one of her new applesauces. So I put it in instead of carrots. She selected the Take N Toss spoon that came as a sample with our Take N Toss Infant Feeding Bowls I got for Baby E because they looked like little baby-food bento boxes! I was too tired to argue with her, but I was saving that spoon because it fits inside the travel bowls, and they only came with the one, so I wanted it to be clean in case I wanted to take baby food on the go. Oh well.
She was intrigued by the "rainbow tomatoes" and said she'd be willing to try them if I bought them (also from Trader Joe's. Sensing a theme here, yet?) She claims to hate tomatoes, and refuses to eat them on most occasions, but these looked so pretty, and I thought they'd look good in a bento, so I decided to risk it. [Isn't it sad when you are so bento obsessed, you choose food based on how it will look on your blog?]
The sweet potato gnocchi was in the frozen section at Trader Joe's and it only took 3 minutes to cook in the microwave. I made it for myself for lunch, and decided to give her some to try.
The raspberries were also from Trader Joe's. Hey, we were there. And a large clamshell of them there cost the same as one of those tiny ones at the grocery store. Wahoo!
We had a whole fun "Who's On First" comedy routine with the gnocchi. I kept calling them gnocchis, which sounds like "no cheese." So I'd talk about her "no cheese" and she'd be confused since there clearly was a cheese right there! It took me a while to figure out why she was getting so angry with me!
She ended up eating all the crackers, cheese, raspberry, and sweet potato gnocchi. She ate some of the applesauce, and had me put some into an ice pop mold with some raspberry lemonade to try for later*. But she still wasn't an applesauce fan. She did try the tomatoes, and ate them like she used to when she was really little. She bit into them and sucked out all the seeds and juice, and left the carcasses behind. I'm fine with that. It's a start!
*She was disappointed in her ice pop. She liked the bits with raspberry lemonade at the top and bottom, but was upset that the applesauce part "still [wasn't] yummy." Ah well.
It sounds like she tried a lot of new foods! How cool!
ReplyDelete"no cheese" That's hilarious!That face is priceless! You "threw together" something good. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Blessings,
Kristine
Great lunch! I wish my kiddies ate babybel cheese. They like to peel the red plastic wrap and leave the cheese for me to eat!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great lunch. Love the way she eats the tomatoes. It is not just the texture, but applesauce does taste different than a raw apple. I think my girls would most rather grab an apple and chow down.
ReplyDelete