Day Care Meals

Homemade pumpkin muffins.

Eating in natural technicolor.



Wow, nothing like having a rare neurological illness with cognitive issues to keep one away from blogging. Thankfully, it's all cleared up.

Hopefully, I can get back to posting on this.

The day care i send my son to, not unlike many others, does serve a hot lunch and two snacks. Unfortunately, my son is allergic to dairy- and I find their food to be too focused on junk food for snacks (ask about the time someone gave my son Cheetos) and lacking in variety. Most entrees contain dairy of some sort as well.

There are certain things that are important to me as well. I want my son to be exposed to a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, I want his diet to contain whole grains and be low in sugar, and I want him to be exposed to the kinds of foods our normal family diet, which is high in beans/legumes and low in meat.

At the day care, they do very well taking care of our son, and he enjoys going there. However, I don't want him eating mac'n cheese, chicken nuggets, and hot dogs with a side of nasty canned mixed veggies and mandarin oranges.

I do have a problem, though. The day care is unable to heat his food, and everything I pack has to be shelf-stable or be OK to eat cold. Factor in our busy schedule, and we can add quick and easy to those requirements. I don't care to rely on prepackaged toddler meals either. Not only are they expensive, but they are loaded with sodium.

I generally have to send two full meals and two snacks, plus the almond milk he drinks for the week.

Here's a list of what I generally send:

Breakfast- whole grain, fruit, and 50/50 mixture of goat milk and almond milk
Kashi blueberry waffle (this has more protein and fiber, but will use Nutrigrain waffle if not on sale)
Swiss Baby Muesli (has lots of protein/fiber and is easily mixed, plus no heating required)
Pumpkin or Zucchini Muffin (these can be made in large batches and freeze well)
Whole-wheat or sweet-potato pancake (dairy-free, and they freeze well too)

Unsweetened applesauce with cinnamon
Raisins
We usually do applesauce, because it it cheap, and he does get fresh fruit with other meals

Lunch- whole grain, vegetable, protein
Lentil Dhal and brown rice
Falafal
Egg Salad or a deviled egg (lite mayo usually has dairy, so we go for full-fat)
Whole wheat crackers with almond butter
Whole Grain Pasta with tomato and basil
Leftover Meatloaf
Hummus with toasted Ezekial Bread strips to dip (this bread is pricey, but has loads of protein. I buy it maybe once a month for our son, and we usually eat homemade wheat bread ourselves)
Iron-fortified mixed-grain or barley cereal
Carrots, peas 'n carrots, corn, or green beans- cooked from frozen the night before
Squash, baked acorn or butternut, or sauteed yellow squash or zucchini
Sweet potato, easily microwaved and mashed



Snacks
Always fruit and soy yogurt for first snack
Fruits include blueberries, strawberries, peaches, blackberries, watermelon, raspberries, kiwi, pears

Second snack is usually a cereal bar (made with fruit paste on not sugar) or Cascadian Farm organic "Cheerios". I buy a boat load of boxes when they are on sale.

Cheap Slow Cooker Meals

I've been trying to empty my cabinets, and still make decent meals that I can spread out over a couple of days.








This past week, we've had both Onion Soup with Beer Bread, and Black Bean Chili made in the slow cooker. The Onion Soup recipe I pretty much made exactly as written on the Crockpot Lady's site, but the Black Bean Chili and Beer Bread I tweaked a bit. I don't have self-rising flour, so I added 1 tsp salt and 1 TB baking powder to the Beer Bread. I also used light beer, as a stronger ale would taste too overwhelming. My husband would like to point out that we only had light beer in the house from a relative's visit, and that he only drinks manly beers like Guinness and Bass. In trying to get rid of the "swill", we've been eating a lot of beer bread. I'm not really complaining ;).

If you would like to try my version of the chili, omit the turkey, add a small can of mild chilies, and add a TB of cumin and red wine vinegar each.

If you're doing Weight Watchers, the beer bread is 2 points per slice, the chili is 3 points per serving, and the onion soup is 2 points per serving.

The costs to make each meal? I'd say, using canned beans, tomato, and chilies, it was $6 for 4 good-sized servings of chili. If I had used dried beans, it would be much less. The beer bread was maybe 50 cents to make tops. For the onion soup, I used a more expensive low-sodium beef broth (I have edema and must watch my sodium intake), which was pricey. It ended up being nearly $1o for 6 servings.

A future project will be making and freezing my own beef stock.

20-minute Quesadillas

I found these tortillas at the local specialty market, about $3.50 for 8. They are loaded with fiber- 12 grams per tortilla. I guess you can say they will blow out your colon if you are used to eating processed foods. You can find cheaper tortillas, no doubt, but these are only 1 Weight Watcher point, and have tons of fiber and protein. We eat this meal 1-2 times a week, so this package last a few weeks for us.

My quesadillas only take 20 minutes. I timed it.
My commute in the evening takes about 60 minutes. By the time I pick up my son from day care, it's nearly 6:30. It takes about 30 minutes for my little Piglet to eat his evening snack, so whatever I make has to be done in that time.

Quesadillas for Two

1 whole grain tortilla per person (anyone with a recipe for a quick homemade tortilla ?)
1 medium onion, sliced thin
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil or butter
1 1-oz. slice or one small handful of cheddar cheese per person

1. Heat olive oil on medium heat. Add onions and carmelize. This took me the majority of the time- about 12-15 minutes. We like our onions nice and dark and gooey.
2. Spread shredded cheese, or tear cheese slice to cover 1/2 of a tortilla. Place 1/2 of the carmelized onion atop that, and fold over tortilla to cover.
3. Heat tortillas in skillet to melt the cheese, about 1 minute per side for each tortilla. Voila!

We usually round out this meal with veggies or salad.