I think I am done...for now

I have considered for a long time now whether to continue this blog or not. When I started, I needed an outlet for my frustrations with my beautiful yet terribly resistant eater. Over time, I think I've become more patient and take any rejection of food less personally. I also believe that my daughter, E, has developed some small sense of adventure towards food - at least she will try a small bite of new foods some of the time, as opposed to outright refusal. Consequently, I have less to write about - at least in terms of her eating habits - and I have been thinking on and off that this blog has served its purpose for the time being.

My decision was made when she tried a piece of this:

Mushroom, Leek, and gorgonzola cheese galette

She didn't like it, but she tried it with a very enthusiastic "can I have that?"

And that was so very good to hear and feel. So it is on that note, that I will say this is possibly my last post here. 

I am indeed a sometimes blogger

I am in awe of those who make blogging their life/work. I am not one of those people. I prefer to do other things with my time. I know I posted 2 months ago about blogging for mental health, and I have not written one single post since!

Here's the thing: being online and surfing the web and writing my blog don't do much for my mental health. Sure, I get some stuff off my chest and get mostly good comments back (once I delete the spammers). 
Things that do make me feel sane again are cooking (with no special diet needs in mind), reading a good book, sleeping a full 8 hours, and dedicating at least 30 minutes a day to exercise.

The last one gives me an incredible boost in energy and in attitude, and sadly, it's the thing that often gets pushed aside. I'm getting better at not letting that happen and I've found that waking up before the crack of dawn and doing an exercise video (although boring!) is the easiest way to accomplish it. There are no kids needing this or that, and I can't do errands because then I'll wake everyone up. And then it is DONE.

The other thing I LOVE to do is to sit in my house alone and silent. There is usually so much noise around me when I am home from the family. The three other members of my lovely family are definitely noisier than me. And at times, I get irritated beyond reason by all of it. So about every 3 or 4 months, I take a day off work like today, and I sit in my recliner and read a magazine or I take a nap. I ignore all chores and I absorb and relish the quiet. My brain thanks me for it!!

Blog for Mental Health Challenge 2013

1.) Take the pledge by copying and pasting the following into a post featuring “Blog for Mental Health 2013″.

I pledge my commitment to the Blog For Mental Health 2013 Project.  I will blog about mental health topics not only for myself, but for others.  By displaying this badge, I show my pride, dedication, and acceptance for mental health.  I use this to promote mental health education in the struggle to erase stigma.

2.) Link back to the person who pledged you.

You can consider this an open pledge. I first read about this at MealTime Hostage and Canvas of the Minds.

3.) Write a short biography of your mental health, and what this means to you.

I have a high-functioning autistic daughter who has always had eating issues. Before she came along, I never would have thought that the simple, basic act of eating - or in her case, not eating - would affect my mental state in any way. I have always been adventurous in eating and cooking. I have always LOVED and SAVORED my food and the enjoyment others got from sharing meals with me. To suddenly have a resistant eater who ate 3 or 4 foods from the time she was 9 months old until we finally diagnosed her at 3 1/2 drove me into depression, anger, and hopelessness many times. And when we began occupational therapy for her sensory issues, I was horrified and riddled with guilt over how many of the wrong things I did. I forced, I yelled, I was not encouraging. My blog posts are generally about strategies that work or don't, little successes...and how they make me feel. I always say that my blogging was a way to keep track of the foods my daughter has tried and has added to her menu, but the posts are almost always infiltrated by how her reaction made me feel. And over time, I have to lessen the impact of her eating on my mental health. That is my goal with this challenge. 

4.) Pledge five others, and be sure to let them know!

I don't think I actually know five bloggers, but I am pledging the ones I do know! 

http://www.mama-andmore.com/
http://mylifewiththree.wordpress.com/

As mentioned above, if you happen upon this without being pledged, feel free to take the pledge!  Promote awareness!

5.) Join the official blogroll for Blog for Mental Health 2013.

Canvas does not keep an official blogroll, outside of links to our authors’ personal blogs.  For something new and special to introduce Blog For Mental Health 2013, and really build a sense of community — and show everyone how many of us there are, and how strong we are, coming together — we are launching a Blog For Mental Health 2013 Official Blogroll!  So, in addition to linking back to the person who pledged you, please include the link to this original post in your piece.  As this gets passed along, link back or click here and leave a comment containing the link to your pledge, and we will put you on our Blog For Mental Health 2013 Official Blogroll page!  Show the world our strength, show them our solidarity, show them what we are made of.  Take the Blog for Mental Health pledge and proudly display the badge on your blog!

And may we all have a happy, healthy 2013!

Chinese food and chopsticks

It has been such a long time since my last post. We have stopped the "Making E the A to Z challenge". We certainly did not get to every letter, but it was a fun way to engage her into thinking about food. E has through the course of the last year gained some curiosity into how the food we put into our body can affect our body. And she has verbalized it too. This was something she hasn't really done before. It was always the gag reflex or what I called the "look" - a squint of disgust at what was on the plate. Not that those don't show up anymore, but at least there is now an explanation  -  "Mom, I don't like cheese because it makes my stomach hurt."

We have also stopped doing the challenge because it has become easier to ask E to help me make a grocery list of what foods she wants to eat that week. Then she shops with me to make sure we will have them. My only condition is there has to be one new item per week that she will try. She always agrees to it before we buy it, but does not always try it once on her plate. Nothing new there! The positive outcome of this though is that her flexibility has improved, and her attitude toward being flexible is much better.

Case in point - we recently changed her sister's gymnastics class to a weekday. On the way home, she always asks to stop at the bagel store for pizza bagels. One day, I agreed to but it was already closed. Her sister decided we should go to Panda Express instead. E hesitated for only a minute then asked if this could be her new food to try for that week. I said, "Sure!", and off we went. She ended up asking for chow mein noodles with honey walnut shrimp and orange chicken.

Honey Walnut Shrimp & Orange Chicken

It was amazing to me that she ate all of those items, and then asked for my potsticker! She also wanted to use my chopsticks, which did not go so well. But after some researching, I found these: 

Combi Kid's Chopsticks

Not only are they smaller, but they also have a little grip that prevents the sticks from slipping. Eventually, you remove the grip, and there is a circle that keeps the chopsticks together at the top, then you remove that. It is like a trainer set. Both H and E love them. 

Making E the A to Z....K is for kale

Kale - recently touted as this amazing superfood with all kinds of good stuff - flavanoids and anti-oxidants and vitamins K and C. The problem is it tastes awful. I have tried it steamed, put it in soups, sauteed in bacon fat, roasted into chips. And every single time our family has singularly said "Blech!"

Then we found this little beauty:

And we ate it raw. And all was good.

* While it is still not 'loved' by E, I would say she tolerates it and eats it last. If she makes too much of a fuss about it, I remind her that she used to eat leaves off our maple tree, and these are very much like that.

Making E the A to Z...J is for jalapeno

The two things I could think of for J foods were jicama and jalapeno. My sister-in-law thought of jambalaya and I was going to go with that but changed my mind when I perused some recipes. It has chicken, sausage, shrimp, rice. Three of those four things are not eaten by either kid at the moment. I felt defeated before even beginning. They both already eat jicama because it is similar to apples. I peel and serve in wedges and most of the time they think they are eating apples that are not as sweet as normal. Even if I tell them it's jicama, they think that is a fancy foreign word that means apple.

For lunch today, I made beef tacos and picked up some jalapeno poppers as well. I knew there was a 99% chance they would not be eaten by the kids, but the hubby and I will battle over them, so I knew they wouldn't be wasted.

Jalapeno poppers with cream cheese filling

I also picked up these baked Nacho Bites that have bits of jalapeno in them:

And you can really taste the jalapeno! 

So the verdict on the bites from E were she thought 'pizza' bites would be better. But she ate the jalapeno popper and said it was sour and spicy, kind of like pickles. (She loves pickles). 

While I don't think I can start putting jalapenoes in everything, I am encouraged that it is not a complete flop.

(The younger child did not even try the food. She is entering a major picky phase herself and I sometimes wonder if she needs her own blog!)

Making the A to Z .... S is for spaghetti squash

This is easy. Take a spaghetti squash, poke some holes around it with a fork so steam can escape. Put it on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for about an hour. If you can stand it, cut it in half right away and remove seeds, and the flesh will scoop out much easier. Otherwise wait until it cools for 30 minutes before cutting and scooping.

Then you can do anything with it you would normally do with spaghetti. I like mine simple with a little olive oil and salt. But that didn't pass muster with E or H. H practically shoved her plate back at me as if very insulted   by the pile of golden yumminess. *sigh*

Next I tried tossing with marinara but that also did not go over well. I am not all that surprised. School started recently and E has been adjusting to that and not wanting much else to change. The first week she ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast, lunch and dinner. EVERY DAY. It doesn't mean I plan on stopping though. Lately she is clicking on the fact that life changes, whether we want it or not. And mommy will keep trying to feed her different things, whether she wants it or not!

Making the A to Z ....I is for Injera

This is injera:

It is a flatbread common in Ethiopian cuisine. But I think it has more of a pancake texture to it. It is made from teff flour.  You make a starter that ferments for 5 days, and smells rather unpleasant. Some recipes described it as grassy. More like rotting wood. Anyway, that changes when you cook it. It develops a mild sour dough taste, and soaks up the flavor of whatever sauce you use. The hubby and I had ours with chicken in peanut sauce.  

Sadly, this was not something E wanted to try - the injera that is. She saw and smelled it while fermenting and that may have turned her off it.

Injera starter does not look or smell appetizing

Here is a link to the recipe I used if you want to try: http://chefinyou.com/2010/02/ethiopian-injera-recipe/

Making E the A to Z - Meatballs and "Minnie"-strone

We are skipping ahead a few letters to M. I will circle back to those between H and M when I have chance to figure out something new and kid-friendly!

I wasn't keen on doing meatballs. E has tried them before but was not all that interested. Until our last visit to my parents' in May. I did turkey meatballs and she ate them and asked for seconds. The very next day on Dr Oz (I swear I was watching only because my mom does and the gigantic TV is hard to avoid if you're hanging out in the living room) was a recipe for turkey meatballs that had carrots, celery, pine nuts and raisins mixed in. If I could get the kids to accept them, I could delight my own palate with a more sophisticated version and they would get some extra veggies in them without a struggle. Did they eat it? Nope, but they will both eat the plain and simple kind. The recipe is below the rest of the post for anyone who has a slightly more adventurous eater.

The second M food we tried was minestrone, or as we are calling it "Minnie"-strone. Minnie as in Minnie Mouse. We watched an episode of the animated Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Minnie made 'minnie'strone. E asked if we could make it, so she helped me. Hubby teased me relentlessly about "you're making a recipe from a cartoon??" Yes, yes I am if it means she'll try it and perhaps even eat a whole bowl. 

E tells me, "Minnie said we had to put 2 onions, 6 medium potatoes, and 8 tomatoes in the blender and puree. Then add it to the 15-second fast cooker, and it'll be ready!" 
Since I knew it would take a little more than 15 seconds, I peeled and steamed the potatoes beforehand, and chopped the onions coarsely. Then we added them all to the food processor, and pureed it. We heated it in a saucepan for about 15 minutes. E then said, "It needs spices!", so we added 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. The general verdict was not good. The onion flavor overpowered everything else. E tried 2 bites and declared that maybe Minnie Mouse was not ready to be a chef. The best part of the minnie-strone for me was that E helped me buy the ingredients and 'supervised' the cooking when she normally has zero interest. 

I now have about 8 cups of this stuff in my freezer. I think I can finagle it into some kind of pasta sauce, but definitely on the list of fails. 

Dr OZ Turkey Meatball Recipe courtesy of Lidia Bastianich (a famous Italian chef and mother to that snobbish bald judge on MasterChef Joseph Bastianich)

Ingredients

Makes a total of about 4 dozen meatballs and 3 qts sauce

Meatballs

1 medium carrot, coarsely chopped

2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped

3 lbs ground turkey meat

1/2 cup golden raisins, plumped in warm water and drained

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted in a dry skillet and cooled

2 large eggs, beaten

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 1/2 cups bread crumbs (I make my own. Pulse bread in food processor until fine crumbs are formed. 3 to 4 slices makes 1 cup crumbs)

1 tbsp kosher salt

Sauce

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

2 tsp kosher salt, plus more as needed

3 dried bay leaves

1/2 tsp pepperoncino flakes (I omitted these)

3 (28-oz) cans Italian plum tomatoes, crushed by hand (if you're like me and don't care to squish things like tomatoes, just buy cans of crushed tomatoes)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Meatballs

Combine the carrot, celery, and onion in a food processor, pulsing to make a fine-textured paste orpestata. Scrape the pestata into a large bowl, and add the turkey meat, eggs, oregano, parsley, bread crumbs, pine nuts, raisins and salt, mixing with your hands to combine well.

Roll the meat into golf-ball-sized balls, and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. (You should get about 48 meatballs.) Bake the meatballs until browned all over, about 18 to 20 minutes. (They do not need to be entirely cooked through, because they will cook more in the sauce.)

Sauce

Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Toss in the onion and sauté until it turns transparent, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of the salt, bay leaves, and peperoncino. Let the peperoncino toast for a minute, then pour in the tomatoes. Slosh out the tomato cans and bowl with 4 cups hot water, add to the pot, and stir. Stir in the remaining teaspoon of salt, and bring the sauce to a simmer while the meatballs finish baking; simmer sauce about 10 minutes more.

When the meatballs have finished baking, gently add them to the sauce and return to a simmer. Simmer, shaking the pan periodically to move (but not break) the meatballs, until the sauce is thick and flavorful for about 1 1/2 hours.

A to Z ... H is for ham but not at home...

Honestly, I don't get the difference between having a type of food outside of home or in the home. For most kids though, there appears to be either an appeal or subconscious pressure to eat it because their friends are.     Then when I try to replicate it at home, there is whining en masse.

The latest one of these was ham sandwiches. E's teacher swore up and down a couple weeks ago that she has been eating ham and cheese sandwiches on their field trips for summer camp. "I.do.not.believe.you", I said. E dislikes cheese unless it is melted on pizza, and is in a general anti-meat phase. She hasn't even touched chicken nuggets lately. (And I am actually okay with that!)

So I did a little investigative questioning of E and of the assistant teacher and it turns out that she has been eating them - she removes the cheese first though, so she has been eating deli thin sliced ham between bread and butter. It was worth a try at home. I mean how hard is it to make a ham sandwich different? Apparently very hard. I have tried 3 separate times using the thinnest ham I could find, whole wheat bread, super white bread, butter, ketchup....each time was met with a "do I have to eat that?"

The last time with ketchup was met with "Mother, ketchup is UNhealthy!" WHAT?!? From the kid who used to gobble 2 bottles of ketchup a week? I sort of noticed lately that she wasn't asking for seconds and thirds on the ketchup, and then she was hardly even dipping anything in it at all. It seems to me that while I am slightly disappointed over the ham sandwiches, I shouldn't be. I have to remind myself that she still eats quite a variety more than she used to, and the reduction in ketchup consumption is definitely a plus!

In other news of trying a new food, she tried rye bread yesterday. I made cheese fondue for the hubby and I. The kids actually threw a mini-tantrum over this because it was the dreaded cheese. Even after reassurance that it was not for them. *sigh*

Anyway, after I laid out the fondue with some rye bread, sausage slices, and apples for dipping, E asked if she could try the rye bread. She did and wanted some more. I told her that rye would be awesome with ham. The hubbysaid, "I'd eat that!" H and E replied,"Ham is a day care food."

Seriously, they said that! So there is obviously a time and a place in their minds for certain meals, which is fine with me for now.