Strawberry Fields forever

"Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields.
Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about.
Strawberry Fields forever."

Two years ago Hayden wanted a strawberry plant. I figured "why not?" So we bought a plant and got a whole whopping 2 berries that year. Last year we got about 5 berries. This year the plants seemed bigger and bigger they were. We started noticing flowers on the plant about the first week in May... dozens of them. Dozens upon dozens of them. We knew we were in for a good haul this year.

Not only have we had a good haul but so far we've filled 3 pint containers and the plant isn't done yet :)
Big beautiful, red, and sweet juicy strawberries. We've had them on french toast and ice cream... heck the boys eat them right out of the fridge.

This picture is just from this evening. Hayden counted 3 dozen strawberries. Its nice enjoying something we planted and waited so long to see rewards.

Arg!

Do not and I repeat do NOT feed your child spaghetti AND chocolate pudding in the same meal.


Lesson learned.

Another mess

This was one messy cookie...I'm not even sure how much he got in his mouth :)

O-R-E-O

Jax's first Oreo cookie. It was messy but he ate every crumb!

Easy dinner night.

I was relaxing watching my favorite food Network shows, Everyday Italian, Barefoot Contessa, and Paula's Home Cooking and saw this recipe on Everyday Italian. It looked so easy and yummy and as luck would have it, I had thawed pork chops for dinner that night. I had everything else in the fridge or the pantry.

It was that mysterious coming together of fates that made for an easy meal :D
I love those nights!

So I thought I would share these yummy dishes with everyone else. Tim said it was a keeper and even Hayden cleared his plate that night.
Just click on the names of the dishes to get the recipes.

Pork Chops alla Pizzaiola

Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan and Mozzarella

New Foods

We were given the ok by the doctor to start dairy (except milk) so Jax has had a lot of new foods recently.
Cheese
Yogurt
Cottage Cheese
Pancakes
Puffs
Cheerios
caned pears
caned peaches
pasta
Raw avocado
Raw Mango
Bananas
Ritz crackers

So many more things to try and eat. It's helped with meals. Now we have more choices than between mashed peas or mashed carrots :-) He is also showing us he'll eat anything we put in front of him.

Veggie # 6

BROCCOLI - Surprisingly this veg went over very well. His older brother won't touch them so we assumed we would have a struggle with Jax too.
He just loves them!

Real chunky banana

We let Jax try real banana the other day... as you can see by the look on his face that it didn't go over very well.Once we scooped up the banana and put it in his Munchkin feeder he was MUCH happier. :-)

Oh well we'll try again later.

Fruit #6

PLUMS - These were not liked... I believe Jax even shuddered when tasting these. I do have to admit what was a sweet tasty plum turned a bit tart when baked. I'll have to try steaming them or something to keep the sweetness in. That is all of the fruit I had made. I need to re-inspire by checking out my babyfood website for new things to make. :-)

Fruit #5

APRICOTS - There were enjoyed too, although I found them to be a little bitter. But I'm not the one eating them.
These are one of the fruits that I need to re-make before summer is over and store for the winter. Peaches, Plums and these. No matter what I'm not paying $3/lb for a off season fruit :-)

Fruit #4

PEARS - these are a hit as well... only 2 more beginner fruits to try :-)

Fruit #3

BANANAS - WOW! the biggest reaction we've had so far. Bananas are a HUGE hit!

Fruit #2

PEACHES - They were an okay food too. Maybe Jax will be my veggie kid because he seems to enjoy those more right now. But I guess stage 1 baby foods are not all that great to begin with, just wait till we get to the bananas :-)

Veggie #3

GREEN BEANS are o-k , if mixed and hidden in cereal :-)

First Veggie

Peas were on the menu tonight and I can say they did not go over, at all. Hence the face. . .We tried to mix it with cereal and give him sips of water to wash it down but he still didn't like peas.
This is the face of, "please Mom stop shoveling that stuff into my mouth."
** Added to say we tried peas again in the morning and he liked them much better. I have a feeling that I didn't heat them up enough. He prefers warm to room temp food. So this morning peas were a pass :) **