Veggies on the sly...

So there's a new wave of parenting that is 'tricking' their children into eating vegetables.. Hiding them in things like brownies, cookies, pies and breads.. So, it got me thinking. I totally understand the concept of having to get your children to eat veggies because of their overwhelming nutritional value, but do we really want to spend so much time hiding the kids veggies that they never learn to like just a piece of broccoli or a circle of squash? Do we really want to depend solely on using other vehicles to get your kids to eat their vegetables, especially the kinds of things that we don't necessarily want them eating all of the time anyway? How nutritive is a carrot if the carrot is in buttery, sugar cake? I mean, if the cake recipe is modified as well, perhaps that would make more sense, but this is not the case in many of the recipes I have seen.

And yes, by all means kids should eat their vegetables, and hopefully like the process.. But that might be a little far fetched for the picky kid, or the even more stressed parent. So, yes, I say by all means offer your kids smoothies with greens and other veggies, and also add some pumpkin puree to their brownie mix..

As a matter of fact, I have been known to add butternut squash to mac and cheese, and beets to 'red' velvet cupcakes, as well as pureed and shredded veggies in everything from sauce to quesadillas, but keep in mind that studies have shown that it takes a child an average of 10 times to try something new food wise and actually like it....10 times! So think back to all of the peas that have hit the floor and the carrots that were pushed away to the furthest point of the highchair and tiny little mouths clamped so tightly shut a grain of sand wouldn't get in and add in some arms that were thrown up into the air in veggie-surrender, and you probably have less than 10 attempts do to complete and utter frustration.. 10 is a very high number when it comes to the cost of food, and the assumption that even a little of that will go uneaten/wasted. But we need as parents to fight the good fight and keep offering these veggies.. In their ordinary, recognizable, un-smothered forms.. Stalks of broccoli, slices of peppers, chopped squash, etc..

Something I have begin to learn is that kids are little sponges and need to know tons about everything... The more information people have about things, the more likely they are to be comfortable. Perhaps if your child is involved in the process of acquiring these veggies, they might be more likely to eat them.. Now that summer is slowly creeping upon us, take your kids veggie/fruit picking, or to a local farmers market or farm stand... Even to the supermarket produce section.. Let them be apart of the process of choosing which veggies, how many, what color, etc. Make it interesting.. Take the veggies home, and if age appropriate, let them be apart of the cooking and preparation, even if it means just letting them wash and dry them. If they went through the 'trouble' to prepare them, I can pretty much guarantee that they will at least try them, which could be a step in the right direction.

In the meantime, there are some tried and true recipes that I have used (both sneaky and not!) to get my little lady to eat her veggies, feel free to try them and let me know if you have any of your own suggestions or modifications that you think work!

Cheesy-Spinach Nuggets

1 cup chopped frozen spinach , thawed and drained

1 egg

1/2 cup mashed potato or instant flakes (instant potatoes work great for this because they bind well, but if you have left over mashed potatoes, that's awesome too!)

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup shredded cheese of your choice, we used organic mozzarella

1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs, plus more to roll them in..

Olive oil or other healthy fat oil in spray form

Preheat oven to 350...

Mix together all of the ingredients.. they should have a 'meatball' consistency, maybe a little dryer.. you can add a few drops of water if you feel that they aren't pliable enough.

Form a ball, roll it some of the whole wheat breadcrumbs and flatten the balls a little to give them a 'nugget' like appearance.. continue until all of the mix is used..

Spray cookie sheet with oil, place nuggets on sheet and spray tops of them..

Cook in oven for 10 minutes, flip and cook for another 5-8 minutes until they are crispy looking and golden.

For my little lady, I have to break them up into pieces.. but feel free to give your kids a whole nugget. The spinach is a pretty obvious taste in this, it's flavor doesn't get buried by the competitiveness of the potatoes or cheese, just complimented, so rest assured that this is a great way to introduce and continue a love for all things spinach-y!

Carrot, apple, raisin, ginger smoothie

2 medium carrots, washed and peeled if dirty, if not don't bother

1 medium apple, washed throughly if not organic... doesn't have to be peeled either

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup apple juice

1/4 teaspoon ginger root

( I also added a container of pureed organic green peas to this, because they were lying around uneaten and why not!?)

3-4 ice cubes

Add all ingredients to your blender, minus the ice cubes... Blend.

Add ice cubes, blend again..

Pour in cup... So here's the thing about this smoothie.. It tastes great, it's got zip from the ginger, which is also great for belly aches and helps aid in digestion, it's got raisins which is great for kids with pooping and constipation issues, it's got your apples and carrots (and peas), which a SUPER good for you and chock full of delicious vitamins.. I usually make a little extra because mommy and daddy like to drink this one too! It's also this awesomely vibrant orange color, which to little eyes is super appealing!

Just shy of half a year...

6 months have almost passed me by and with each moment..each passing second..each glance..each giggle..each tear..each and every smile has brought more joy to my life, and has made me fall deeper in love with my daughter.

If I were to write here a letter today (first of many, I am sure) this is what I would hope to say:

If the past few months have taught me anything, it is that I have many wishes for you, my love.

There will be many challenges in your life, and you will be faced with happiness and pain, and love and hurt.

I wish you the ability to have grace under fire.

I wish you to be able to look people in the face and smile when they put you down, or muster up a ' have a good day' when someone yells at you for no reason..

And to agree to disagree when faced with the ignorance of themany people you will meet, even if what they say seems to insane, ridiculous or otherwise stupid.

I hope you have many friends, people who you can share joy with, dream with, laugh with and cry with.

I wish you a speedy recovery when you have your heart broken for the first time. I hope you are able to look at the person who broke it, hold back the hurt while holding your head high and wish them well, wish them peace and most of all wish them love. Remember always that you reap what you sow.

I strongly encourage you to stand up for what you beleive in. No matter who opposes you, or who feels differently (even me).

Trust your instincts and often go with your first impressions, they will be your best guide.

I hope that you are able to show compassion and respect for those people whose beliefs are different than yours and especially those who you disagree with.

I pray that the first time a friend hurts or betrays you, you look deep into your heart and are able to forgive them.

I hope you always keep an open mind and an open heart.

Love big, smile often and live your life to the fullest.

I have faced many challenges in my life, and you my sweet baby girl are my reward.

You have become the answer to all of my questions- You are my heart.

I love you- Always and forever- Lots and lots.

-Mama.

Not-so supermarket...

I used to LOVE to go food shopping! It was a small frame of time where I would get to get away from everyone and everything and buy food. It may sound trivial and small, but I also have a HUGE passion for cooking- so the way a musician loves to go to a music store and tinker on a new guitar, or an artist walks into a craft store and gets a little batty over all of the crafty possibilities, to me the grocery store was much the same way. Each isle contained an ingredient that I loved or one I've been dying to try-- and combined with a few other ingredients and a little imagination some of the most wonderful things would come about. My heart would beat just a little faster each time I would enter the florescent-ly light warehouse of wonderment, my head buzzing with delight over the possibilities. Cooking is the way I relax, cooking is my stress relief, cooking is just my thing. It's my outlet for creativity and anxiety-- In other words, cooking is my drug, and the grocery store my dealer.

That was until I had a shopping partner.. No, I am not talking about Andre who has been banned from coming with me until further notice based upon the fact that he treats the grocery store like a rogue military operation... Get in, cause a lot of damage and get out as quickly as possible sticking only to the task (grocery list) at hand. He never quite understood my lackadaisical way of shopping; not quite comprehending my need to read labels for nutritional value and ingredients, cruising up and down each isle to look for new arrivals and using my list as only a guideline, not a map of the quickest route in and out of the store.

No-no.. I am talking about my little daughter. I understand and fully comprehend that at her age of just barely 5 months that she may not particularly enjoy the supermarket.. I get it. She's not quite at the point where you can stick her in cart with a stringed box of animal crackers and expect her to sit quietly like my mom did with me and many moms did with their children before that, but I also didn't think I was signing on for leaving my cart in the 4th isle to run outside to the parking lot to calm her down as apparently my child has a serious issue with the idea of Ronzoni pasta.

There was a time in my life PBI (Pre-baby Isabel) that I would be sauntering up and down the isle of Stop and Shop at about 2-3 miles per hour enjoying the sights and smells, imagining myself as a chef or a restaurant owner finally having a chance to feed people my healthy and delicious recipies.. Changing the average Joe's opinion of beans and asparagus forever when 'WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA'! I am snapped back into reality-- the one where I work in a medical office and cook only for hobby and my husbands sustenance by a screaming child and a worn and tired looking woman trying desperately to get her food shopping done while attempting to calm her child, hold a pacifier in it's mouth, read a shopping list and push the cart all at the same time. All around her would be older, more wiser looking women giving her the knowing 'don't worry, I've been there and it gets better' look.. And then there's me, shooting her the (not intentionally, but because I cannot control my facial expressions) look that says

'seriously, lady? you don't have husband or life partner or a baby daddy to leave that kid with so it doesn't ruin my Zen moment?' Ok, I know that sounds mean and horrible, but I had no idea. I wasn't aware of the physical exhaustion and desperation that having a kid can give you, and not to mention how going to the store just to get the basics can be an all day affair.. and how the second that your baby begins to whimper you move that much faster in hopes that by the time your baby has an all out meltdown, you've at least made it to the register. I am pretty sure all of the mommies I have ever given 'the look' to have all gotten together and wished and hoped and prayed that one day I would suffer their misery..

.... And it worked! I get it and I am sorry.. Consider this my formal apology. I promise for now on, if I shoot anyone any looks in the store it will be only those looks of camaraderie-- A look of knowing and understanding that you, like me are just trying to buy some milk and eggs and cereal (like you'd actually have the time to eat it, ha!) without feeling completely embarrassed and flustered by your child that is now screaming so hard your afraid someone is going to think you've stolen them, because if you were it's 'real' mom there is no way you wouldn't be able to comfort them at least enough to calm them down a little.

So, while I have tried to work it out that I leave the baby with Andre so I can go food shopping, and I don't 'miss out' on a food shopping adventure, I often stop mid-store when I hear a baby giggle, coo or even cry to realize that I miss her so much more than I thought I would and I have resorted to taking her with me strapped to my chest and maybe this way she will learn to love shopping as much as her mommy.

Mission: Discovery

Fingers, lots and lots of sloppy-wet slimy fingers! Sucking on her fingers is my daughters newest favorite thing to do.. Teething toys, chewing blankets, soft-squishy books a-plenty, and yet fingers, both mine and hers are the best things she can find to put into her mouth. The day Isabel discovered her fingers is apparently just the beginning of things she would find and figure out in the next few weeks. She has been learning in leaps and bounds and watching her discover how to roll from her back to her belly, hold her toes, how to hug and also begin to entertain herself makes me think about all the things I am learning by just being around her. Who knew that being a mommy would be this whole new world of learning and revelation.

When I used to work at my VERY busy full-time job, multi-tasking was my middle name... I could help a patient check-in, answer the phone, get films, make an appointment and talk to a doctor, all while smiling like it was second nature. It never phased me that I was doing so much at the same time, because I had been trained to do these things over the course of 7 years.

I really wish there was the same kind of training for mommy-hood, because this is a whole new breed of multi-tasking and from what I am learning it only gets more involved the older she gets.

In my journey so far I have discovered the art of breastfeeding and reading/eating/typing/answering the phone.. I have also figured out how to bathe myself and the baby at the same time, and I have all but mastered the fine art of napping/nodding off while she feeds at 1am while cradling her in my arms and keeping the glider going just enough to keep her in a semi-sleepy state.

I have also discovered that despite popular belief, I can go a day without a shower.. Granted this was NOT my idea, and if I had it my way I would never go a day un-showered or my legs unshaven, however out of necessity I have realized that (much to my chagrin) sometimes the days just doesn't work out the way I had planned and I just never got a chance to jump into the shower.. I have also discovered Febreeze, body sprays, tinted moisturizer, leave-in conditioner and downy wrinkle release-- All due to the fact that I have discovered that I no longer have time the way I used to, or the way I INSISTED I still would once I gave birth.

I have also discovered a new found sense of patience and calm at times when I need it.. Like when the baby is crying for no good reason, when she inevitably poops right through all of her clothes and up her back the second I leave the house and I am on any sort of time constraint, or when I come home from a long day of taking care of and entertaining the baby, carting her to my parents to be watched while I fight traffic to get to work for five hours, count down the minutes until I can go home to see her again, and walk into my house to a sink full of dishes, a full clean dishwasher, and a husband playing x-box...

I have also discovered how amazing it is to watch someone discover things for the first time. How her eyes widened when she figured out that each time she hits the brightly colored round things on her excersaucer it will greet her with a 'moo', a 'meow' a 'quack' or a 'roar'.. How she realized that if she slams her hands into the tub water it will make a silly slapping noise and make the water splash into mommy's face. How she's learned that if she snuggles just right, mommy will hate to put her down and she will get cuddle time just a little longer.

I have realized that there is so much in my life that I am thankful for that I am no longer spending time on or getting hung up on things that don't enrich my life and make it better.

I have realized that there is so much more discovery in my future. I discover more each day that I love her a little more than I did yesterday. I have seen the unearthing of what fatherhood can do to a guy who kept most of his big emotions under wraps, and I can recall why I married him and discover that I love him more as a father than I ever thought I could .

I love the fact that my husband and I get to go on an adventure everyday... Hand in hand, I will walk alongside my family discovering this new world-- Watching my daughter as her senses are heightened by new smells, tastes, sights and sounds. Watching my husbands chest swell with pride with each of her accomplishments...and me, loving each moment that I get to share with them as a mother, a wife and part of this beautiful family.

40+5 (originally posted 3/31/2010)

I suppose if there was any time to be reflective, now is probably as good a time as any.. I am over 40 weeks pregnant, and for those of you keeping track, that means that the baby TECHNICALLY should have been here 5 days ago...Although, I am pretty sure whatever she's using to track the time that has passed inside my warm, comfy womb isn't following the same time guidelines as I am. In other words, she has her own agenda.

So, here I am out of work.. Sitting, waiting, and contemplating the question that I am sure every mom-in-waiting asks themselves at this point.. "What the hell are you waiting for?".

The room is set up all pink and yellow and clean...The clothes, towels, sheets and socks have all been washed in super baby-friendly detergent sworn not to irritate my newborns skin. The Fridge and freezer are stocked and packed with 'family-friendly' meals ready for an in-between breastfeeding heat up in the Microwave or oven when the food that everyone is waiting to cook for me and my new family runs out. The grandparents are all here, waiting with baited breath and arguing over who gets to see the baby when. My husband has been on 'alert' like a freedom fighter for 2 weeks now ready to jet from Roslyn back to Rocky Point at the first sign of rogue water leakage or consistent contractions..

And here I sit.. BORED OUT OF MY EVER LOVING MIND... Fielding 150 phone calls, text messages and Facebook wall messages a day from well meaning people about the impending arrival of my (apparently) shy baby girl....Waiting.

At this time, many people have offered their input and advice about my upcoming foray into parenthood.. How many times have how many people told me to 'get a lot of sleep now while I still can'? Really? How many of you slept for like 16 hours at a time PRIOR to the births of your children, and after the baby is born were able to say "I guess it's time to use one of those banked sleep hours, I am SO tired.. Thank goodness that I stored up all those extras"'? Just curious.

Recently, Andre set up our TV to do a slideshow of all of our pictures when it's been idle for a while.. So yesterday I sat and watched it for a bit.. I noticed how quickly and effortlessly the pictures flashed up on the screen, and were there and gone in a matter of a few seconds, but just long enough for me to wonder if I have done everything up until this point that I feel I should have.

Random pictures fly by of us at a bar or at a party, a few sober but more not... Andre playing a show with Space Robot Scientists, and more recently Yes Sensei. Pictures of my family, friends and the love of my life dancing like fools at my wedding. Pictures of my nieces and nephews decorating Christmas cookies and Easter Eggs. Andre Djing at the bar I used to work at. A friend come and gone. Me, with a bunch of rowdy girls clad in short skirts and knee socks, with roller skates slung over our shoulders only thinking about the whether the next 20 minutes will score us enough points to FINALLY win a bout. Pictures of my husband and I kissing in the various locales that we have ventured to together in our 10 year courtship. Me, with a glass of wine in one hand and a close friends' arm around me, smiling widely and a minimum of 25 pounds lighter not knowing that less than a year later I would be awaiting the arrival of the most life changing event I will probably ever come to know.

Looking back and seeing what my life has been, and looking down at my ever-so-round belly (currently jumping every few seconds because someone I can't wait to know has the hiccups) I have realized that there is honestly no other place I'd rather be than here right now. I am truly beyond excited to start my own family and begin my own traditions. I realize that I will never again be able to experience the birth of my first child, and it brings tears to my eyes..

I sit up confidently and declare.. I am ready. I am scared and terrified, but I am a willing participant and I am ready. I think.