I worked nights this weekend and only got 2 hours of sleep while home during the day, so I make no promises on the clarity or content that follows…
I have no idea when I made or ate this lunch bowl. I don’t even know what day it is.
It had Beyond Meat southwest strips, carrots, and avocado. A really simple chop salad – if you can even call it that! I’m still loving Beyond Meat. The southwest flavor isn’t too strong (I was worried it would only be good for a Mexican themed meal, but I was wrong), although I do still prefer the grilled flavor.
P got plain avocado and we ate together.
One thing is official: he inherited his mama’s appetite.
From the second I started him on solids he’s loved it. He happily opens his mouth to greet my finger (with bits of food on it) and gums away on whatever the produce du jour is.
Avocado seems to be his #1 (he has excellent taste, no?) although banana is a close runner up. Other things he’s tried include cantaloupe, carrots, and plum. Aside from the first session (carrots), there’s not a single thing he hasn’t inhaled with enthusiasm. He’s definitely my son.
The cutest part about sharing meal time with him is how happy and smiley he is while eating. You can’t tell from his blue steel expression above, but he’s such an engaged and playful dude. I swear, since day one he’s been watching us like a hawk whenever we eat, smacking his lips in anticipation of non-milk food. Piglet. 🙂
He’s my sous chef in the kitchen and my sidekick during the day. I want to soak up every minute with him, delirious from lack of sleep or not.
He eats at the table with me – I give him bites of his fruit/veggies in between my own. He cooks with me – sitting in his bumbo seat as I narrate my every move. Before the weekend of work hit, we lounged in the yard together.
And the best part about night shifts? I put in my time and then I get to come home to hang out with him even more! I used to hate night shift because I felt like my days were totally wasted because of how out of it I felt. I still feel that kinda drunk time warp discombobulation, but I’ve also gotten better about doing more than lounging on the couch in recovery. On Sunday I cut Kyle’s hair, vacuumed the house, got two new soda stream canisters at Target, and went on a walk – all between night shifts on 2 hours of sleep. It’s like I’m living the life of a double agent. Accomplishing just as much by night as I do by day.
But back to my eats.
Super simple is the name of the game.
This huuuuuge batch of veggie fried rice lasted two nights. I used every vegetable I could find, including my latest hauls from the farmer’s market (corn corn cooooooorn). The only non fresh thing I added was frozen peas. The best part about it was how mindless it was to make.
I added salty peanuts on top at the last minute.
Other basic food prep included roasting green beans and sweet potatoes, plus chopping celery and hard boiling eggs. I prefer getting that stuff out of the way ahead of time. If I have a bunch of healthy food in the house but it requires extra steps to make into a dish I wind up eating 5 lbs of trail mix and nuts instead. Which I keep doing. Speed and laziness trump all. I’m attempting to make the effort to prep on my days off like I used to because when I do I eat (and thus feel) light years better (and by “attempting” I mean writing it our here so I am forced to take some kind of action?). But like I said before, my motivation is in a waning phase at the mo. It’ll come back eventually. Bueller…?
While I’m complaining discussing my inadequacies, can we all agree how much this sucks?
The good news is that it’s for an address I don’t live at, so I can get out of it. The bad news is that now I have to go to the DMV here in Davis and update my driver’s license. Side note: did you know you can get out of jury duty (for up to a year!) for breastfeeding?? I think I’m going to nurse P forever now to have that as my backup get out of jail (slash my civil duty) free card. [Kidding, please don’t arrest me government readers?!?]
Breakfasts (or whatever meal it’s considered when I first get home after night shift) have been mainly zucchini-ified thanks to this frittata and some eggy zucchini muffins I made.
But overnight oatmeal bowls will never get tired either. Gotta balance the savory with the sweet!
A new Udi’s granola flavor! Aside from the honey it’s FODMAPs free and delish. As an oatmeal topping I think it’s the perfect mix – a little sweet, a little crunchy and a little hearty. Guess that’s why it’s called sweet & fruity cranberry granola.
I won’t sign off without offering up a recipe. Even if it is a pretty basic one.
Frosty Coffee Drink [vegetarian, FODMAPs friendly, gluten free]
Ingredients:
- 1/2 c almond milk (I used Almond Breeze vanilla unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup old coffee (I used leftover decaf)
- 1 tbsp maple syrup (+/- to taste, or sub agave/honey/stevia)
- 6 oz vanilla yogurt (I used Green Valley organic lactose free)
- 6-8 ice cubes
Directions:
Add everything to a blender starting with only 4 ice cubes. Add ice cubes one by one until desired consistency.
It makes two servings, but I added the extra to a popsicle mold and froze it.
We got a second fridge (finally!) for the garage so our freezer can at long last hold more than 800 bags of breast milk. All those popsicle and ice cream recipes I’ve bookmarked may actually get made! Now. Should I buy an ice cream maker or not, that is the question… Dangerous road ahead. Proceed with caution.
You are amazing! I don’t know how you do the night shift and then be a great mama all day on such little sleep 🙂
Courtney
I LOVE that you added maple syrup to the smoothie, it sounds so good!
That picture of P with his hands in his mouth is so adorable! Also lol at the breast feeding jury duty! I need to get lactating just incase.
Your breakfasts always look so good!
Hope you have a good week & yay that you still blog!!
I just got summoned for jury duty as well – when I’ll be 34 weeks pregnant with twins. Um yeah, doctor’s note for that one!
P is such a cutie pie! It’s great that he’s into food just like his mama.
Oh jury duty is my enemy!! I got called last year in June and I was able to postpone it 3 months due to nursing/being a SAHM. BUT, I failed to realize that 3 months later was September & Lyric’s first birthday. Of course I got picked for the trial and OF COURSE the dates included my little girl’s birthday. I missed the entire day. I’m still pissed!! Looking forward to this year to spend all day spoiling her rotten. 🙂
P is just so cute!!!!
Do you happen to have the recipe for zucchini muffins? I was just looking for one yesterday as I have tons of zucchini that will soon spoil! Thanks, Elise!
That picture of P is hysterical. It totally looks like he is taking his first selfie!
P looks so cute! It’s so fun watching their reaction as they try new foods. My little one doesn’t like carrots unless I roast them first! He makes faces when he doesn’t like something but then continues to eat it. It’s so funny.
P is so cute! I’m excited to start Hunter on solids. Just out of curiosity, when did you guys start P on them?
If ur a big ice cream eater go ahead. I would have gotten one but i knew to get my moneys worth use out of it i wouldnt be able to control myself with the batches of ice cream at my disposal. Unless you make small batches I guess that could work. But at that rate well the way I thought of it, it would be forever to finally pay itself off and besides that it takes effort to put together all the ingredients, wash stuff, for me icecreams an occassional whim, which is good bc otherwise id be sugar ODing, so it makes sense for me to just be able to buy it in a ready made pint and have it be amazing and delish and u throw it away and then no bulky expensive machine to deal with or clean up, becauase I eat the spoon (joke). But youre a super creative type so maybe itd be worth it for you based on that alone. Ok i must stop my ice cream epic for just an offhand question!! Haaahaaha
Patrick is such a cute little mushhh i love hiimmmm
It is good to see that P likes avocado!! What a smart little boy :).
I also love your addition of salted peanuts to your fried rice. That is a fantastic idea!
When do you sleep! I am working in the daytime and then up half the night with my non-sleeping kid and I’m completely drained! For the first couple months of this (he was 8 months old when he went from sleeping 12 hours straight in his crib to waking through the night) I was hanging like a gorgeous peach on a tree, but after almost 9 months I’m dragging, like in a major way.
Well, ok that was my vent, I’ll go get my own blog now. 🙂
aw – thanks courtney! id say im a mix of adrenaline and crazy…
haha, yes you do!
thanks sophie 🙂
haha, uhhh yeah, id say thats not gonna happen!
that SUCKS! ugh. i swear there has to be some sort of rational person on the selection committee that you can just be straight with when stuff like that exists. im sure youll make up for it this year 😉
yup! ill try to get it up soon.
like everything else i just kinda go with my instincts…hes seemed ready to eat since really early – actually chewing and chomping his mouth while watching us eat – so i started at 5 months. i went slow at first not wanting to overfill his gut because obvs i still want him to take breastmilk…but he nurses the same amount. at first i did solids once a day every other day, then went up to daily, then twice a day, now three times a day. hes so into it. ha. not sure what is recommended, i dont bother w books or any of that stuff, but thats what were doing and its going well so far! hes not yet 6 months so we will see where he is growth wise at his appt in a week. dont get too caught up in all the info you read, just listen to your inner mom voice and trust your gut.
haha you make some good points k! the reason i dont often buy ice cream is bc all the dairy free ones have thickeners and gums and stuff…it would be nice to make something fresh w only a few real ingreds. but yeah, i could def see it getting to be a problem given my inability to eat anything in moderation. 🙂
i steamed the crap outta them. roasting! your kid has fancy tastes 🙂
the funny faces are so cute! when the avo is cold, the first bite is always a shock to P and he scrunches his nose…and then keeps on eating! hahaha
thanks so much. Can you also tell me how you made your zucchini frittata please?!
Elise, try chocolate sorbet! Dairy free and no gums! Hagan Daz is the best. Breyers makes a lactose free ice cream but I think it has gums. The coconut ice creams have yucky ingredients, though. 🙁
sorbets are like sugar bombs though and i feel like crap afterwards. 🙁
oh wow, didn’t realize. So true! There are too many ingredients to look out for. If you find a good ice cream substitute, please let me know!
The answer is “Yes! I did know you can get out of jury duty for breastfeeding!” In fact, I received my summons when my son was just 6 weeks old, so it was really convenient.
I’m pleased as punch that P loves his solids! My baby had really enjoyed just about everything except peaches. But then… the dreaded age of 4 hit and that was the end of it. He’s still *very* picky at 11 1/2, but at least showing signs of curiosity and hopefully with some peer pressure at middle school, will open up to veggies again.
Though, I just read an article trying to theorize why kids don’t like/want veggies until their teenagers. Hm… I’ll let you know how my own research pans out!
Hi Elise!
I too am all about simple but delicious meals. I recently attended a cooking workshop where I brought all my protein and veggies pre cut, then while there added sauces and/or seasonings, put it all in a zip lock bag then popped it in the freezer! Now I have 10-15 meals ready to go. All I have to do is take them out in the AM to thaw and either put them in the oven or crock pot. That might be something you could do for your family.
ha! youre funny karen. im hardly supermom, so dont go thinking im cool functioning on 2 hours of sleep…its a rough transition for sure but i only work part time so 2 nights a week is easier to recover from than if i were working more often. sorry youre dragging…treat yourself to a nice mani/pedi…does wonders for the psyche. 🙂
oh man…those years are gonna be rough!
let me know any tricks you learn along the way!!!
yalanda thats SUCH a great idea! thanks for sharing. i never thought to prep in such bulk but it definitely makes sense…and now that we have our extra fridge/freezer i have a place to store it all 🙂
What a sweet sweet face that little boy has. There is nothing cute than a little baby eating/making a mess. So glad he likes food! Adrienne always has too, and it makes life so much easier!
The shot of P in your lap is rediculous! So funny how i can “see” his personality through the pics. Also sounds like you have a foodie kiddo there 🙂
Hope you can figure out a better sleep schedule for yourself, that’s not sustainable- esp since you’re still decaf (?!)
Oh! I made your vegan ceasar salad for my omni very un-veg un-health conscious friend and she freaked out loving it, i sent her a link to your recipe and both of us have made it several times over since. Awesomeness.
so far i am resisting the ice cream machine, but not sure for how long….:)
Hi – I’m back. So cranberries are fodmap free? I think I’m going to start my own blog about my experience of trying to finesse the diet of an 18 month old in group daycare while working part time and how mind-blowing that is.
I make smoothies and other frozen drinks all the time and never know what to do with the excess… what a great idea to put it in a popsicle mold!! I can’t believe I never thought to do that! Always learning great stuff from you 🙂
PS…That picture of P lounging in your lap is SO cute!
yes! thats a fabulous blog idea!
fresh cranberries are fodmaps free, dried cranberries in 1 tbsp serving is safe. over that its too high in oligos-fructans. no idea why the fresh is safe and dried isnt…i tolerate them fine though.
haha – glad to help aimee 🙂
you are dead on w the sustainability…ugh…
the good news is that im part time so i can catch up on those long stretches of days off, but yeah, i gotta get better about sleeping in daytime.
so cool that you guys are loving the vegan caesar dressing 🙂
Long time reader, and just want to say how neat it is to read your evolution into a mom. you are a fantastic mama to little P! and still love your eats 🙂
I made the frittata and it was awesome. My husband was unaware there was even such a thing and said he feels very high class now. But my question is. I used a stainless pan like yours and it was a total pain to clean. The whole thing fed my family for only one meal which is fine, but i have this rule I try to follow that if I’m going to spend forever cleaning up then I need to produce food enough for multiple meals. Do you have a secret to making the cleanup easier?
use more oil? or grease it all over with oil beforehand? those are my best guesses…
Love love love that adorable picture of P on your lap (: and that veggie fried rice…mmmm