Served with Love (in Austin): What to do and eat in Austin/Waco

Beast and I just got back from a little getaway in Austin so I thought I would share some of the recommendations we received and the places we found on our own that were fabulous.  When the two of us visit a city together we pretty much always plan out our time the same way:  we find a place to stay that is within walking distance to some fun areas and then we make reservations for brunch and dinner each day.  The rest of the trip has a way of filling itself in naturally along the way.

Here's our thoughts on what to do (and eat) in Austin/Waco:

Stay: North of 6th Street.  We did not listen to this advice.  While we were very close to 6th Street and lots of great things, our walks home at night were maybe not as safe as they could have been if we were 4 blocks north.

Get in line for: Franklin BBQ.  It opens at 11 AM and most days you'll need to be in line by then to make sure you get some of their now world-famous brisket.  We literally drove straight from the airport to get our spot in line.  The wait was 2 hours which sounds like a lot for BBQ but it really, really is worth it.  While you are waiting, they have lawn chairs you can sit in and move along the line.  You can also walk up to the counter to order drinks to enjoy while you wait.  Once you do get to the counter, make sure you get a mix of fatty and lean brisket (1 lb) at least and save a couple of slices for a late night snack.  We had some sausage, ribs, and beans as well but the star really is the brisket, which I will gladly wait in line for again.

Walk around: 6th Street.  Lots of bars and live music.  Food trucks galore.  We're suckers for a piano bar and enjoyed a couple hours at Pete's Dueling Piano Bar.  Sit upstairs for a great view of the piano show and fabulous people-watching.

Fancy dining: Walk to wink restaurant.  They have a daily menu with new creations and 5 or 7 course pairing menus with the option of very reasonable wine pairings.  We were VERY happy with everything we tasted and would highly recommend the 5 course menu with the wine pairings.  The service was fabulous.  Since we were there celebrating our anniversary, our waitress took a copy of the menu they had printed with our names on it and had the chef sign it.  Sweet touch.

Casual, local flavor: Uber to Matt's El Rancho.  This one came recommended to us by a colleague of mine who grew up in Austin.  It did not disappoint.  Margaritas were great as was their signature appetizer: The Bob Armstrong.

Walk around: The State Capitol and UT.  Wander around the capitol and when you see a tour going through, just start following them as long as you want to.

Hole-in-the-wall find: Arturo's Underground Cafe for breakfast or lunch.  Beast loved the migas and I loved my The Works breakfast tacos.  The Texas Pecan coffee they had was delicious.  Go ahead and pay the extra dollar for bottomless coffee because you'll want a refill.

Brewery: Uber to Lazarus Brewing.  This might be the find of the trip.  A place that sells coffee, tacos, and beer would intrigue us already but then you walk in this place and WOW.  It is gorgeous.  Deep, moody colors on the walls, cognac leather and natural wood everywhere, everything looking 100% curated and thought out.  Not the typical stainless steel and butcher block bar you see at 90% of the breweries we're visited.  I kept telling Beast "This doesn't look like a normal brewery.  I think a woman is involved in this somehow."  And after we got talking to the incredibly friendly staff, we learned that yes, that is true.  A pastor and his wife started the brewery and she is the one behind the hospitality and coffee.  And their daughter is an apprentice brew master.  They clearly make a great team along with some other folks that help them brew and run the place.  They have only been open about a year and have already won a gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival.  They also have this cool crowd funding thing they did where they sold gorgeous glass beer steins for $1000 and then the "Patron Saint" who bought it gets their first drink free for life and keeps their special glass displayed at the brewery behind the bar.  A bunch of people apparently use this brewery (and their free wifi) as their home office so in the morning you'll see a bar full of people with laptops drinking coffee and by 5 pm they've switched to beer.  Just a really cool place run by really cool people and definitely worth a stop if you are in Austin.

Bar: Across the street from Lazarus Brewing is an old granary-turned-bar called Whisler.  They only have two kinds of beer but they mix up some very tasty cocktails.  Candles are lit throughout the space making it a cozy, old find.  Out back is a well-known food truck called Thai Kun (from the same folks as East Side King), which we thoroughly enjoyed.  The panang curry left our mouths on fire, but Whisler's "Root Down" cocktail with a piece of candied ginger was all we needed to get back on track.  We then went back over to Lazarus to have another new favorite to end the night.

Brunch: Uber to Stubb's Gospel Brunch (Sunday).  The food was great and they bring in various gospel groups to sing while you're eating.  I'd highly recommend the ticket with a "view of the band" so you get the full experience.

Drive to: This whole trip was planned by Beast so he could take me to Waco for Magnolia Market at the Silos.  I've been a fan of the HGTV show "Fixer Upper" for some time and think Chip and Joanna Gaines are just adorable.  The market was very fun and totally worth the trip to shop and enjoy the grounds.  The cupcakes from the Silos Bakery were delicious and also worth the short line we waited in.  The whole operation was a well-oiled machine with lots of friendly people making everything run super smoothly.  After we shopped and ate some samplings from the various food trucks, we took the free trolley around town.  It took 15 minutes and basically showed us the rest of the downtown area.  We then knew where we wanted to be dropped off on the next go around so we could visit other shops and the Farmer's Market (Saturday).  I would say a half day in Waco was good for us but you could probably find enough to do to stretch it to a full day.  Staying in Austin and then renting a car for a day to drive there worked perfectly.

On the way back: Stop in Salado, TX.  We happened on this town trying to find a brewery and stumbled on "the best art town in Texas."  There are lots of cute shops, art galleries, and then Barrow Brewing Co.  Beast and I played Trivial Pursuit at this brewery while sipping on their creations for at least 2 1/2 hours.  When we went it was the town Christmas Market and it felt like every person in town was out and about shopping and chatting.  It is a great place to stop right off I-35.

So there you have it!  If you're visiting Austin, check out these spots!  If you've visited Austin before and have other favorite spots, please leave them in the comments.

Happy Traveling!

Mel

Served with Love: Humor

Last week I made something delicious.  It was also appalling to look at.  I share this story in order to show that even people who like to cook and think they are pretty ok at it still have meals that don't go so well.  Ultimately, these are meals you learn from and get better because of.  All you can do is laugh and try again the next meal. 

Beast was out of town for a few days last week so I was trying to make a healthy meal that would be super easy.  And I was craving something that tasted like fall.  Pork chops, sweet potatoes, apples, and cider were on hand so I was planning to make my Cinnamon Apple Pork Chops but thought maybe it would be even easier if I put it all in the crock pot instead.

Yes, this was easy.  Yes, it tasted fabulous and the pork chops were super tender and tasty.  But...  Sweet potatoes and apples when left in a crock pot for hours become a not so attractive mush of orange and brown.  I'm sparing you from a picture on purpose but I'm sure you can imagine it.

Bear, who eats EVERYTHING, looked at the plate I put in front of him and without so much as smelling my foul appearing concoction said, "I don't think I like that."  Well said, my son.

He and Ladybug both did try it and both did eat it well because after you got over the visual appearance, it really did taste exactly how I wanted it to: sweet and cinnamony, tender and juicy.

Now there was plenty leftover but I could not imagine myself actually pulling these leftovers out of the fridge and thinking, "Mmmm, yeah that looks good."  I also could not imagine throwing a whole pork chop and bowl of veggies away simply because they looked bad.  So our dog, Charlie, ate well the next two meals.

Next time, I'll put the pork chops, onions, cider, and spices in the crock pot and leave the sweet potatoes and apples for cooking later.  Once again a reminder that we first eat with our eyes and the appearances of our meals are important.  I'm sure Charlie is hoping I forget that fact again soon.

Someone else's great idea: Green Bean Fries

My garden went gangbusters in late August so we reached a point where we had more green beans than we knew what to do with.  I stumbled on this recipe and made it on a night where Beast had a bunch of friends over to watch a big fight.  I wound up making I don't know how many batches because as soon as I set them down they were gone.

Check out the recipe here: https://damndelicious.net/2014/12/15/baked-green-bean-fries/

Breading is always a little labor intensive but I find when I get it set up in a row, it goes much faster.  

I served mine with ranch dressing and had them in a metal can with a cute red napkin for a little color.

Do you have any go to recipes for dealing with the excess from your garden?  If so, please share!

Happy Cooking!

Mel

Whole 30 Compliant Chicken Piccata

Chicken piccata is a fave of mine.  Beast makes it almost every year for my birthday and he made it the first night we brought our Ladybug home.  Typically it is served with a buttery sauce (not Whole 30 compliant) over or with noodles of some sort (also not Whole 30 compliant).  I was having a little craving for a lemony sauce one night when we were doing Whole 30 and were planning to make grilled chicken salads.  This is the dish I made instead and it wound up being a big hit.

It is very close to a typical, unbreaded chicken piccata using ghee instead of butter and serving it on a bed of spinach instead of noodles.  The spinach gets lightly sautéed when you top it with the warm sauce and works really well with the salty, lemony capers.  We gave the kids some steamed frozen veggies to have with the chicken in addition to a small amount of spinach so it worked for everyone.  Enjoy!

Searing chicken in small batches to make sure you get a sear and not a steam.

Seared chicken set aside.

What may look dirty is actually flavor.  Add the chicken stock and all those brown tasty bits will come off.

Chicken simmering in the sauce.

Final product.

Happy Cooking!

Mel

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Whole 30 Compliant Chicken Piccata

by Mel from Served With Love in Colorado September-18-2017

This is a great way to get the taste of the dish you love while being compliant with the Whole 30 program. Add as much lemon and capers to your taste, the 2 Tablespoons each here is the minimum. I typically use 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice and 4 Tablespoons or more of capers. The warm sauce lightly cooks the spinach it tops so it is much more like eating lightly sautéed spinach than raw spinach. 

Ingredients

• 3, sliced to 1/4 inch thick chicken breasts
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2+ Tablespoons lemon juice
• 2+ Tablespoons capers
• 1 Tablespoon ghee
• 4 cups spinach

Instructions

1. Slice the chicken in 1/4 inch long slices2. Season the chicken with salt and pepper 3. Heat olive oil in cast iron pan or dutch oven with sides4. Sear chicken on 2-3 minutes each side in small batches5. Put chicken to the side once seared6. Add chicken stock to pan and scrape brown bits with wood spoon until clean7. Add 2 Tablespoons lemon juice and at least 2 Tablespoons capers8. Bring sauce to simmer for 5 minutes until it somewhat thickens9. Add ghee and stir to mix10. Taste sauce and add any additional lemon or capers to your taste (I typically add an additional Tablespoon of lemon juice here)11. Add chicken to the sauce and leave uncovered on low heat for 5 minutes12. Split spinach between large bowls13. Add several slices of chicken to bowls as well as a ladle of sauce and capers

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: 4 servings

How I am surviving (and thriving) during Whole 30

A good friend of mine and her husband decided they were going to do the Whole 30 program for 30 days and asked if Beast and I wanted to join them.  My gut answer: Absolutely not.  We've done diet tune ups several times over the last few years.  All of them seemed overly restrictive in some areas (how can fruit really be that bad for you?) and way too inclusive in some areas (I can't have fruit but I can have bacon bits rolled up in cream cheese?).  I usually last a few days and then Beast powers through until the end.

Because my friend is a good one, I thought I'd look into the program before I told her a strong no.  After just a little research it was pretty clear that this was something I could actually get behind.  Basically it is a 30 day diet tune up that has you focus on real food and helps you identify problem areas in your diet.  You eliminate alcohol, dairy, sugar, and grains but can have proteins and almost all fruits and veggies so it doesn't feel too restrictive.

We've been doing it for over a week now and it hasn't been that bad at all in terms of overall effort and the food we've been eating is really good and satisfying.  Now don't get me wrong, I would love a baguette, a whole wheel of cheese, and a big home pour of Cabernet right now.  But I feel good and know I will be able to have those things in moderation once this 30 day period is over.

I already know some areas that are my weak points (apparently I tend to carbo-load during my kids' nap time like I'm going to run a marathon when they wake up).  Shopping and reading all the labels of things you buy to see if they are compliant makes you realize how much sugar is added in tons of foods.  While I think we eat very healthy the vast majority of the time, realizing all those little extras in our meals (sugar, dairy, grains) aren't always necessary or really good for us has been helpful for sure.

So, overall I would say I'm looking forward to the next 22 days and I'm happy with how I am feeling and eating.

Here are a few quick tips I've learned over the last couple of weeks preparing for this challenge and then in the first week of the program.

1) Read the basics and go through some recipes.  I borrowed the original Whole 30 Book from a co-worker and read the basis of the program, which helped me to understand the WHYs behind the different rules.  It also gives you a FAQ guide and timeline for certain things you might be feeling as you go through the program.  Both very helpful.  Finally, it has some recipes to get you started. I also bought the Whole 30 Cookbook, which gave me even more recipes and ideas for my meal planning.  The program website (www.whole30.com) is also very helpful and has everything you would really need to know available for free.

This egg dish is from page 12 of the Whole 30 Cookbook (Bistro Breakfast Salad).  It was delicious and a nice way to have something on the lighter side since I'm not a big fan of a gigantic breakfast most mornings.

2) Get some pantry/fridge basics that you will want to have on hand for your 30 days.  For me, coffee creamer, salad dressing, mayo, and spice mixes (including taco seasoning) were a must.  I've been really happy with these products.

3) Think through how you can modify your current recipes to be compliant.  Probably a lot of what you make would be just fine if you substituted things for something else (rice for cauliflower rice) or removed added sugar (remove maple syrup from a meat marinade that has otherwise compliant ingredients).  Something that has been a big hit is my go to veggie taco meat.  I make it as usual other than substituting the regular taco seasoning for a compliant one and not deglazing the pan with a beer.  Instead of serving with rice and beans, I just made twice the amount of meat.  Beast and I ate it with butter lettuce leaves (double them up so your tacos don't break on you) and got some mini soft tortilla boats for the kids.  They had cheese and sour cream since we had them in the fridge but we didn't.  It was satisfying and easy modify a recipe that was already in my repertoire.

4) Meal plan a week at a time.  One of the biggest complaints I hear about this and similar programs is how many times people have to go to the grocery store.  What has worked for us is doing a meal planning session where I look through cookbooks and online to decide what we want to have.  As I add items to our meal plan, I add what we would need to our grocery list.  I go to the grocery store on Friday (one of my days off) and then one more time during the week, if needed, to get anything remaining that we maybe didn't have enough of.  More apples, bananas, onions, or compliant snacks seem to be what we've needed on the second trip.  Some people use fancy templates or boards for meal planning.  I use a plain white sheet of paper from my printer and a clip board hung up in my pantry.  Not fancy, but it works.

5) Get some La Croix.  Sparkling water has been my go to when I just plain need something other than water.  Most grocery stores will have lots of flavors on hand.  Coconut has been my favorite and Cherry Lime has been Beast's.  It has no calories or sweeteners so it is completely compliant.  I think it gives me just a little taste of sweet when I am having a craving.  We'll be keeping it on hand after these 30 days for sure.

6) Make enough for leftovers.  If you are going to the effort of making great meals every night, give yourself a little break at lunch the next day by making enough at dinner time for leftovers.  This had made things during the day pretty easy.  For instance, I had leftover taco meat that I took to work.  I went to the salad bar to get some greens and tomatoes, topped it with my leftover taco meat, and had a compliant taco salad with minimal effort.

So those are the things that are helping me not only survive Whole 30 but appreciate what I am learning through it.  Hope that helps anyone thinking about doing it!

Happy Cooking!

Mel

Perfect High Altitude Buttermilk Biscuits & Colorado Peach Jam

Moving to Colorado throws you for a loop when you are used to baking by following standard recipes.  Shortly after I moved here, I quickly learned to search for high altitude recipes so I didn't wind up with an deflated and not so tasty treat.

Several years ago, I got it into my head that I needed to be able to make biscuits from scratch.  This might have been due to some pregnancy induced nesting urge.  Who knows.  I had a hard time finding a high altitude biscuit recipe that worked perfectly each time so I started playing with a recipe I found until it was just right.  I played with the amount of baking soda, baking powder, and oven temperature until the recipe below was created.  Which means for a few months we had biscuits ALL THE TIME.

I finally got it right and the recipe below is our go to when people are over for breakfast or when we're wanting to have a nice lazy morning making breakfast as a family.  It is probably the recipe I get asked for and share the most.  Now that I have kids, they really enjoy helping me make and cut the biscuits.

This mound of butter is when we were tripling the recipe for a crowd.

Apple butter or honey are perfect spreads for these biscuits.  But is it also fun to make something of your own.  We usually get a box or two of Colorado peaches each summer and I love to make peach jam to go on these biscuits, toast, etc.  This warm peach jam recipe is a perfect way to use a couple of peaches to add something seasonal, fresh, and sweet to a breakfast staple.  Start the jam first and while it simmers, make the biscuits.

Happy Cooking!

Mel

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High Altitude Buttermilk Biscuits

by Mel from Served With Love in Colorado September-18-2017

This is the recipe I have spent the most time experimenting with and getting just right. My kids love to help me make these and you'll find them sitting on the kitchen counter putting butter in the mixer many Saturday mornings.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 Tablespoon sugar
• teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup (cut into small cubes) cold butter
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees2. Whisk dry ingredients in stand mixer bowl3. Cut butter into small cubes4. Turn stand mixer on medium speed5. Add one cube of cold butter to the mix at a time until all butter is in the bowl6. Dribble buttermilk down the side of the stand mixer while still running7. Stop adding buttermilk when the mixture is a sticky dough ball and all dry ingredients have been absorbed8. Flour hands and flat surface9. Ball up mixture and knead two to three times on floured surface10. Spread dough ball out to 1 inch thick with hands or rolling pin11. Dip a glass or biscuit cutter into flour and use it to cut biscuits of desired size12. Put biscuits on cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 30 mins Yield: 8 biscuits or so, depending on size

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Colorado Peach Jam

by Mel from Served with Love in Colorado September-18-2017

This recipe could probably be made a million different ways with whatever fruit is seasonal or whatever combination you would like to try. Start this recipe first and them start the biscuits. You'll be able to finalize this one while the biscuits cook.

Ingredients

• 2, pealed and diced Colorado peaches
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar

Instructions

1. Peal and dice peaches2. Put all ingredients in saucepan on medium heat, turn to low once simmering3. Simmer uncovered for 15 minutes4. Stir occasionally and add 1/4 cup water as needed, if sauce becomes too thick5. Once peaches are cooked through and sauce is thick, smash peach pieces with a fork or potato masher

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: 15 mins Total time: 20 mins Yield: 2 cups

Dinner Inspiration: My neighbor's arugula pesto

We have the best neighbors in the entire world.  Seriously.  This is for a variety of reasons but one that I hold especially dear:  They share things from their garden.

The other day we were in the backyard trading gardening stories with our neighbor (we have both just moved into new houses and this was both of first years for these gardens).  He then asked if we would like to try his arugula pesto.  Absolutely!  In two minutes I was holding a mason jar full of love from his garden.  He said it was a mix of home grown arugula, lemon juice, parmesan, olive oil, and pine nuts.  I don't know the recipe so that's why I'm not sharing it here.

With that in hand, I was inspired to make a pasta dish with some love from my garden too.

I marinated chicken thighs in basil, olive oil and pepper then grilled them.  Roasted sliced zucchini (from my garden) and asparagus (cut into one inch pieces) mixed with olive oil, pepper, and salt at 350 for 15 minutes and then high broil for 2 minutes.  Boiled up some shell pasta and mixed it all together with the pesto.  Plated it up and topped it with some shredded parmesan.

I can always tell how well Beast likes something by if he runs to claim the leftovers for lunch the next day.  As we were clearing the table, he was already scraping the bowl into a "to go" container.

This is easily re-creatable even if you don't have lovely neighbors giving you jars of heavenly made pesto.  Grab a jar of pesto at the grocery store or make your own.  Serve with roasted veggies, pasta, and grilled chicken and you've got it.

Happy cooking!

Date Night Snack: Balsamic Vinegar Figs and Goats Cheese

Beast and I were very much in need of a date night this week after a crazy work week and hectic weekend.  So we put the kids to bed, lit the candles on our back porch, and watched a sunset with a bottle of wine and these little bites of heaven.

This is someone else's great idea:  Warm Figs with Goat Cheese Recipe From Food & Wine

They couldn't be easier and were just the little sweet and salty treat we needed.  I might make these as an appetizer in the future.  To add some texture, I am thinking wrapping them in bacon or sprinkling over some walnuts would be a nice addition.

Happy cooking!

Getting Your Kids to Be Good Eaters At All Ages and Stages

When Beast and I started thinking about having kids and discussing what our family would look like and operate like, there were two things that kept coming up as important to us: meal time and sleeping.  Meal time was important to us because we wanted to be able to take our kids to restaurants and actually enjoy ourselves as well as have family meals around our own table each night.  (See this book for more topics we discussed before getting married.)

It was important to us so we put some work into figuring out how to get our kids to do a good job at the table and eat well.  They do a great job the vast majority of the time.  I’ve been asked several times why they are the way they are and it always seems like too big of an answer to just quickly spit out to a random person at a restaurant or to tell a friend over coffee (they are so many other things to talk about!).  So, I’ve outlined some things we did over the years here in case it is helpful to anyone.  These rules and methods worked for us and for the personalities of our kids.  

This post is long (sorry) but I tried to spend some time explaining some of the reasons behind the rules we had at various stages.  Now make sure your understand me, our kids are not perfect (whose are?) so they still have their moments and meals that don’t go so well but these are the things we try to enforce and really practice at home to make meal times everywhere go better.  And they are fabulous little eaters who I truly enjoy cooking for so I do think some of the rules we put in place after lots of reading or learning from others really did work.

Five overarching themes to our rules:

1. “Begin as you wish to go”  This one is really the mantra for all of our parenting. Various versions of this quote are attributed to many individuals but it is the basis for many of the Baby Wise techniques (see books by Gary Enzo and Robert Buckham, MD).  Basically, it means that if you don’t want something to become a habit or your new ritual, don’t do it.  Not even once.  It may make for a hard meal or two to not give in on something, but you’re in it for the long game, not just a meal or two.  Sticking with your “rules” is worth it. 
2. They eat what we eat.  As soon as we could, we got our kids eating the exact meal that we were eating.  We make dinner for the entire family with no separate meals or dishes for the kids.
3. They sit at the table the whole time we do.  No one gets up early or runs around while we are eating.  Meal time is a ritual where we sit and eat and talk.  If they finish early, they sit at the table with us until everyone is done.
4. We don’t sabotage ourselves.  If we want to have a good meal with our kids, it is worth pushing through them being hungry and making them wait instead of giving them a snack and then having kids at the table who aren’t actually hungry.  Schedules we followed are below.
5. We remember that they are a little smarter than us at times.  Most kids only eat when they are actually hungry.  Often our kids would eat a big breakfast and not really be that hungry for lunch.  We wouldn’t force them to eat at lunch time but would still stick to our feeding schedule so the next meal would be snack time or dinner, depending on the stage they were in.  No extra or early snacks just because they didn’t eat a good lunch.  Because they eat well and eat good things, I don’t worry at all if they have a meal where they don’t eat much.  This takes a lot of stress away from the table and gives them the power to control how much they want to eat.

And now some of the things we did at different stages that helped develop good meal time habits:

4 m-1 year

1. Use a variety of baby foods.  When I would go to the store for baby food, I would buy only one of each flavor in order to encourage my kids to eat different things.  If you make your own food, you could just make sure to make a bunch of different things and vary them with each meal.  
2. Serve fruits and vegetables, individually and mixed.  We would serve a fruit or fruit blend for breakfast, mixed fruit and veggie for lunch, and vegetable or vegetable blend for dinner.  This helped them to get used to things that weren’t sweetened with fruit.
3. If they don’t eat it, save it for the next meal.  If my kids turned their nose up to one kind of baby food, I would put whatever was leftover in the container in the fridge and serve it to them again at the beginning of the next meal.  This taught them that they didn’t get away from eating something by refusing it.  
4. If it is gross, don’t serve it.  I tried the vast majority of the baby food I gave them and if it was truly gross, I would not buy it again.  I can remember one that was a black bean and grain puree which basically tasted like dirt.  I gagged when I tried it so I didn’t force Bear to eat it and definitely did not buy it again.
5. Give little bites/purees of whatever you are eating.  As soon as we could, we would mass up bits of whatever we were having for dinner and let them try it.  
6. Stay on a feeding schedule.  We had breakfast around 8 AM, lunch around noon, small snack around 4 PM, and dinner between 6-7 PM each day.  They knew when to expect food and to know that I didn’t give extra snacks in between.  
7. Have them eat dinner with you.  As soon as they could sit in their Bumbos, we had our kids sitting on the table while we had dinner.  They would watch us eat, eat themselves, and get used to sitting in one spot during meal time.  If they were restless and done eating before we were, we would give them a toy or two to play with at the table but they had to stay in their seat.



Bumbo on the table

8. Start taking them to restaurants.  I started taking my kids to restaurants during my maternity leaves and continued to occasionally take them as infants out to lunch on my days off.  This helped them “practice” behavior at restaurants.  I would pick restaurants that were loud at first and times (mainly lunch) where they were less busy so it wasn’t as high stakes as say taking them to a busy restaurant for dinner.  

I swear this is the stage where Bear developed his love of salmon.  He was 6 months old and sitting on top of the table in his Bumbo.  We had my parents over and cooked up a huge piece of salmon.  He kept grabbing for it so my dad gave him the tiniest bit to try.  He loved it and my dad got a big kick out of feeding it to him.  He still eats salmon better than most adults.

I tried to make my own baby food but was unsuccessful.  I couldn’t quite ever get the texture right (probably needed WAY more water in hindsight).  Bear could not stand the food I was making but would gobble down store bought food so I quickly abandoned making my own.  This video is of Bear trying his first baby food (made by me).

1-2 years

1. As soon as our kids could do “table food” we transitioned them away from baby food.  They had been getting small bites of what we were eating all along so it was easy to move them away from the baby food to exactly what we were eating.
2. No toys at the table.  Coloring on the sheets given at restaurants was fine but at home they were sitting and talking with us while eating their food and learning that toys were not for the table.  
3. Give small amounts of everything and more of whatever they like.  We would give small amounts of everything in our meal (usually a meat, veggie or two, and occasional starch or grain).  If they loved one thing and wanted more of it, we would keep giving it to them.  This meant sometimes they really only ate 1 item for dinner (with Ladybug it was often peas) but they were happy and eating something good so it wasn’t a big deal.  We would encourage trying the other items but not force it.
4. Serve sweet items like fruit or dessert later.  Because of number 3, we wouldn’t serve strawberries, for instance, with dinner because if we did, Ladybug would only eat strawberries.  BUT, we would give strawberries after the meat and veggie as a dessert.
5. Give water throughout the day and milk only at meal times.  We made sure they could always have water if they wanted it but milk was only available at meal times, not snack.  This was so they wouldn’t fill up on milk shortly before a meal or throughout the day.
6. Have them eat dinner with you.  At this stage, we used a high chair with a little safety belt so they were literally buckled in at the table.  If they finished early, they sat with us until we were done.



Baby seat with buckle





7. Give lots of praise for trying new things or being good at the table.  We would constantly say things like “I love how you tried the X” even if it was only one bite or “You say very nice at the table.  That makes Mommy happy.”  
8. Give timeouts for inappropriate table behavior.  This is the stage where if they were being inappropriate at the table, we would put them in timeout away from the table (in our house it is the steps going upstairs).  They can still hear everything going on but not see it or participate in it.  When we told them why they were going to timeout, we would say something like “You were not acting nice at the table.  You can come back when you are ready to sit nicely and eat with the rest of us.”  
9. Start having them say “thank you for dinner” and ask to be excused.  Our kids know that when everyone is done they can get up if they say two things:  “Thank you for dinner, X” and “May I please be excused.”  I heard this from one of my friends and loved how it asked the kids to acknowledge the effort that was put in to making the meal.  Asking to be excused gives them a clear time when it is okay to get up.  If they haven’t been excused yet and get up, they are asked to go back to the table.

Watching this child eat is seriously one of my favorite pastimes.  I will see that she is done with a meal and realize I’ve barely touched mine because I was watching her the whole time.  This is her thoroughly enjoying eating corn on the cob.  Translations:  “CHEESE!”  “Mommy’s corn cob.”  “Switch sides.” “Where’s my chicken?”  (She had eaten it all.)

2-3 years

1. Transition away from snack time.  By the time both our kids were 2, I noticed they were doing great at the table for breakfast and lunch, eating a small snack, and not really that hungry for dinner.  So we went to smaller and smaller amounts for snacks and eventually eliminated it all together.
2. Treats/desserts are the exception, not the rule.  If you knew after every meal you would get a nice big dessert, would you eat as much of your meal?  Of course not.  If kids expect to get a treat or dessert after a meal then they will often focus on that and eat the minimum you deem acceptable in order to get the treat.  We have a treat (usually a cookie) or dessert after dinner only occasionally so that it is not expected.  The kids instead focus on their meals.  If they have eaten a good dinner AND had a good day otherwise with behavior then we’ll offer something after they are completely done about once or twice a week.  Never enough for them to expect it and if they start asking for dessert then we usually say “not tonight” for a few nights to get them back on track with not expecting it.
3. “No thank you bites.”  If they wanted more of something at this stage, we would have them take a “no thank you bite” of something they had not tried first.  This could be a very small bite but would get them to try something different and possibly to start eating something else in addition to what they were really enjoying.  
4. Transition to sitting in chair like “big kid.”  One of the rewards for our kids potty training was getting to sit at the table like a “big kid” in an adult chair or on a bench without a baby seat.  By this time they had been used to sitting at the table and not getting up during meal time.

Ladybug has recently decided that asparagus is one of her favorite foods.  Here is her method for chomping down a whole spear at a time.

3+ years

1. “I’ll give you more X, if you eat 3 bites of Y.”  By age 3, they’ve had the “no thank you” bites and know that you’re not trying to poison them.  You can encourage them to take more bites of something in order to get more of what they are really enjoying.  That being said, we certainly have our exceptions.  My kids actually gag when I give them cottage cheese.  So I’m not going to force them to eat something that literally they physically cannot get down.  I feel like everyone should get to have a few things that aren’t their favorite, especially if they are doing a great job eating everything else.  We try to read our kids and determine if they are not eating something just because they like another item a lot or if they aren’t eating it because they are turning their nose up to it.  Bear will often devour all his meat and ask for more before he has even touched his vegetables.  He’ll ask for more meat but we’ll ask him to take 3 bites of veggies before we give him more.  Once he tastes the veggies and determines he likes them as well as the meat, he will typically start eating them just as well.  
2. Table manners.  Up until 3, I feel like the main goal for meal time with kids is to get them to eat a variety of things and sit at the table without screaming.  Right?  By age 3, you can expect more from them in terms of table manners.  With Bear we are talking more about leaning over his plate so crumbs don’t fall, making sure to use his fork/spoon correctly and all the time (no fist shoveling), and using his napkin instead of his shirt or my tablecloth.  He seems much more receptive at this age as well as able to perform our requests compared to when he was 2.

Here is my sweet Bear asking for more politely when he had licked his plate clean.

The Grandma's House Clause:  Now there are times when it makes total sense to relax the rules a little bit.  I am not going to tell my mom or mother-in-law that they can't give my kiddo a treat at 10 AM because we have a food schedule that we stick to.  Grandma's get a ton of enjoyment out of giving treats.  Special events at other people's house are in the same boat.  Rules can be bent and broken when needed, especially when there is a solid foundation or meal time ritual at home.

And that is where we are now.  I’ll probably have to add to this post as we go through additional stages but that is what we have so far.

If anyone has any questions or additional thoughts/ideas on how to get kids to eat well, please put them in the comments.  I always love to hear what tricks other parents have up their sleeves!

Happy Cooking!

Mel

Served With Love: Grace

Last night the dinner I Served With Love was Papa Murphy's pizza, a store bought salad mix, and cut up grapes and cucumbers.  It was one of those nights.

We got back from vacation Sunday night so the house was a mess (when I unpack, it looks like a bomb went off in the suitcase) and fridge was bare.  I didn't sleep well the night before because all the things I need to do were running through my head.  I didn't leave work until almost 5:45 pm which meant I wasn't home until well after 6 pm.  Dinner getting on the table by 6:30 pm was not going to happen, especially if I had to make something.  A quick call to Papa Murphy's and a stop on the way home was all I needed to get a meal on the table.  

And you know what?  Everyone was happy!  Not a big deal at all.  And I was able to soak up some time with the kids while the pizza was cooking.  Way better than frantically trying to create something out of nothing while exhausted.  

I'm glad I've learned through the years to give myself some grace on nights like this.

What is your go to quick pick up meal?  I'd love to have some others in my back pocket!

High Tea Baby Shower: Recipes and Source List

A colleague of mine is having a baby this summer so I wanted to throw a little baby shower for her.  I always struggle coming up with themes but this one was a hit so I wanted to share the recipes and sources I was able to find that made it come together.

My inspiration for this was actually something we did for my Working Moms MOPS group.  We put together a formal high tea for our last meeting this year.  I was also looking for a reason to get my grandmother's tea set out and actually use it!

I made tea sandwiches, punch, lavender cookies, fruit and cheese bites, and had various types of tea available.  I bought some chocolates and a colleague brought some delicious homemade scones.

Here are the recipes I used (great ideas from other people):

Punch Recipe (both a blue and pink version)

Prosciutto and cucumber tea sandwiches

Lettuce and radish tea sandwiches

Brie and grape bites

Lavender cookies (recipe below, from the MOPS magazine "Hello, Dearest")

Sources of various products I used:

Runner

Napkins

Serving towers

Tea pack

This was very easy to pull together and like I said, it went over very well.  It was easy to quickly get some water boiling between conversations and refill the pot occasionally.  The amount of food was perfect for 5-6 people and I felt like I was actually able to enjoy the get together without having to coordinate too much.

It really was a fun little get together and something I will definitely do again!