I take great pride in the fact that my 3 year old is not picky at all and will basically eat anything I put in front of him. He loves an assortment of raw and cooked vegetables and he will eat any kind of fruit. It is not hard for me to get him to eat more than his daily limit of fruits and veggies. He also loves breads, cheese, yogurt, pasta, rice, most forms of chicken, and many forms of meatless meats. He also has no problem eating vegan yogurts and cheeses and I try to give him a combination because I prefer to eat vegan a few times of the week but we always have both because I do still eat some meat and dairy and my husband is not interested in eating vegan at all. I feel like Jaxson would be more than happy to eat vegan or vegetarian at the very least if I was 100% committed, however that’s not always the situation. But I do believe that every little bit counts.

Ash has recently started eating anything and everything. It took him a fair amount of time to be interested in food. Jaxson started eating almost everything by the time he was 4.5 months. He wanted food at an early age so I assumed Asher would be the same. But not until about month 7 was he really interested, before then he would stick the food out of his mouth with his tongue, or else not even open his mouth for the spoon. But in the past few weeks especially he wants to eat everything!! It’s amazing. The kid is just like his brother, and I hope that introducing foods the way I have will help him to be as open minded about food as his brother is.

I do a combo of baby lead weaning and purées with both of the boys. Obviously Jaxson eats 3 meals a day and multiple snacks now, but Ash eats about 1 pouch of Love Child Organic purées along with multiple types of food that are soft and small enough to eat on his own. Bread, puffs, baby Cheetos, shredded cheese, mushy and cut up pieces of fruits and veggies. Anything small and soft enough I will give him to eat. I also just recently introduced vegan yogurt and will also introduce regular yogurt soon as well. Asher was mostly on bottles and now he is down 1 bottle since introducing more and more foods.

I do take pride in feeding my little guys and the fact that they always enjoy moms home cooking. I would like to show off some of my meals but not every day, as some days we eat leftovers or have take out. But once a week I would like to dedicate a blog to some of my favourite meals that I make for the boys.

Today Jaxson had toast and strawberries for breakfast. He had cereal with vanilla soy milk as a second breakfast (yes he normally eats two breakfasts lol). He then had a banana and some goldfish.

Ash drinks bottles still so he had a bottle, some cut up strawberries and some oat puffs for breakfast.

I decided I would make all of us vegan grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. I used Daiya Cheddar Style slices on City Rye Bread with vegan butter. I’ve tried Daiya’s stuff before and they must have changed the formula because it is SO good! I definitely could make a switch with these slices. They melt just like regular cheese and tastes very similarly to real cheddar. I definitely recommend these slices if you’re trying to make a little change or transition fully. Both of my kids loved the grilled cheese, yes the baby even ate 1/4 of a piece in bite sized pieces. I paired it with grape tomatoes and greek style vegan yogurt with chia seeds for added protein.

Look at that melty vegan cheese! Daiya Cheddar Style slices I bought from Safeway.

Jaxson usually will either snack on veggie straws or goldfish all through out the day. Asher had a bottle after his nap. For dinner I decided to make some vegan smoked sausage, curly fries, roasted broccoli and broccoli tots. I knew Jaxson would love everything as he’s eaten all of these things numerous times and I knew the French Fries and broccoli tots would be soft and easy enough for Asher to try out. So I made a plate full for Jaxson and he ate everything except some straggling French Fries. Asher had a few little bites of the tots and fries and absolutely loved it! he also finished his purée pouch and had a couple bites of avocado and mango. After eating he ate 3/4 of a bottle before bed. The kid likes to eat. None of his clothing fits him suddenly. He is definitely going through a growth spurt.

McCain’s Curly Fries, Green Giant Broccoli tots, roasted broccoli with garlic, smoked paprika and all purpose seasoning, Tofurky smoked “turkey” sausages

Small pieces of tots and fries, Love Child Organics apples, spinach, kiwi and broccoli purée, frozen avocado and mango pieces thawed from fridge

Asher went to sleep after finishing his last bottle for the day and Jaxson and I stayed up and watched Finding Nemo. He had grapes, a gingersnap cookie and the rest of his goldfish. He also drank several ounces of water. That kid loves and drinks water just as much as me. And that’s just a couple of ideas of what you would like to feed your baby or toddler. Especially if you are looking for ideas for a more plant based lifestyle because we ate 100% vegan today which is usually a weekly goal of mine to do a couple times a week. Hope you enjoy my suggestions!

xoxo,

Kari