The Petit Appetit

I have ALWAYS loved to cook. It's a very therapeutic and fulling task for me. As it turns out, though, preparing food for adults is completely different than cooking for 1 year old twins. Now that the twins are bona fide eating machines, I am constantly searching for new recipes and food ideas.

Months ago, in an effort to expand the pallets of my ravenous little monsters, I purchased a book by Lisa Barnes founder of Petit Appetit, "a cooking service devoted to infants and toddlers". After reading many reviews, I was intrigued with the holistic food idea behind this book which contains over 150 organic recipes for children and toddlers (starting at four months of age). While I honestly do not have the time to shop and cook like I feel I should for the twins, I was excited to inherit new ideas for introducing and preparing healthy and delicious meals.

(You cannot look inside the book if you click the icon, it's just the picture I was able to get of the book from the internet)

There's a whole section at the beginning of the book that discusses why homemade is best, single meals for the entire family, age and state appropriate food, and how to choose the best ingredients. I found these entries mostly helpful.

In a few months, I'll have more time than I do now to find and create new meals and snacks for them and to -wait for it- enjoy cooking again.

A few promising recipes that I've dog-eared:

• Baked Chicken Bites
• Crunchy Frozen Bananas
• Multigrain Scones
• Spring Spread
• Honey Mustard Baked Chicken
• Baked Ricotta Cake

Recent foods that the twins are really into (some of these may be repeats from the last foody entry):

• Beef brisket
• Pork loin
• Pulled pork
• Broccoli
• Bell peppers
• Sweet and sour chicken
• Vegetable quesadillas (original concoction)
• Omelets
• Green beans
• Peanut butter on whole wheat toast with a slice of melted cheese on top
• Cantaloup
• Strawberries
• Corn
• Chopped sweet potatoes with brown sugar and butter
• Frozen juice (we feed it to them one bite at a time, like ice cream)
• Cinnamon Chex Cereal (for a snack)
• Homemade chicken noodle soup (without the broth- they just eat the soft noodles, chicken and carrots)
• Waffles
• Muffins
• Yogurt

Again, veggies are steamed to soften and preserve nutrients and meats are typically from the crockpot or baked low and slow.

Things they don't like right now, though I'm pretty sure it's just a texture thing:

• Mashed potatoes
• Rice
• Pineapple

To my fellow moms, if you have ideas for me to try, please let me know. If you're as new to this as I am, good luck and bon appetit!