What We Ate Wednesday

I'm loving linking up every week for What I Ate Wednesday. It always amazes me how much of my day revolves around food every time I snap a picture of what we're eating. Since my pictures were just terrible last week I whipped out the real camera so that you would actually find our meals appealing! I hope these posts give you inspiration on what to eat for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, along with some new ideas for your kids. Miss A has had quite the appetite lately and I'm loving it!

Breakfast: 8:30 am

I ate: my favorite- whole wheat toast with peanut butter, bananas, honey, and granola

Miss A: toast with applesauce and banana slices

Snack: 11:00 am

We've gotten into the habit of having a snack right before nap time. Miss A will walk over to the pantry when she's ready, grab a yogurt, and wait by her high chair.

I ate: pumpkin pie yogurt with granola and chocolate chips

Miss A: two banana cookies with yogurt

This is what happens when I allow her to "feed" herself. She's insisting on being more and more independent while she eats, but of course, she hasn't gotten the hand of holding a spoon and feeding herself that well. She can manage fairly well and there are plenty of bites that make it in- but...this is what happens sometimes. Yogurt gets EVERYWHERE. And banana cookies make great dippers!

 Lunch: 12:30pm 

I ate: leftover white bean chicken chili that I made the night before with cheddar cheese and crushed tortilla chips. So good!

Miss A: ham and cheese wrap with tomato slices, which, she didn't eat, but she LOVED them a few days ago.You never know with this girl. 

Afternoon snack was on the go. We attempted to tackle some Christmas shopping but failed miserably. Why are men so hard to shop for? She ate some Mum Mum's, a granola bar, and cheerios. 

Dinner: 6:00pm

Dinner was early since I was starving and didn't take a handy dandy snack cup for me!

I ate: slow cooker ranch chicken over brown rice and roasted carrots, which I'll be adding to our dinner rotation, it was that good!

Miss A: the same, which she devoured and begged for more! I love when she's a good eater.

What good eats have you had recently?

What We Ate Wednesday

Breakfast: 8:00am

I ate: a waffle topped with strawberries and a side of scrambled eggs. Lately I've been mixing a little bit of milk into my eggs before I pour them into the skillet and they come out SO fluffy. Do you know this secret?

Miss A: egg frittata cups (I make a batch every now and then and freeze them for quick breakfasts and lunches) with hashbrowns, carrots, spinach, and celery. Most of the vegetables are tossed aside, but I know some bites get in there! 

Lunch: 12:00

I ate: a tuna salad wrap with lettuce, dried cranberries, walnuts, and swiss cheese. I also had some crackers and string cheese.

Miss A: A ham and cheese wrap with some crackers that she stole from me :)

Snack: 4:00pm

Snack was late because we went to the park in the afternoon. Miss A had some cheerios there and had something else when we got home. 

I ate: a yogurt bowl with granola, and two pumpkin cookies

Miss A: watermelon, animal crackers, and some of my yogurt. She always wants to try whatever I'm having!

Dinner: 6:30pm

The hubby was working so I made a jazzed up toddler friendly meal. 

I ate: homemade baked chicken tenders (coated in flour, egg, and panko), pasta with a homemade mozzarella cheese sauce, and roasted broccoli

Miss A: Everything! She loves this meal, I think it's one of her favorites.

Toddler Friendly Spinach & Zucchini Meatballs

Today I'm linking up with the Kid-Tested, Mom-Approved Party. Read up on how you can join the fun, there are lots of ways to participate! 

My daughter is a very picky eater. She hates nearly all fruits and likes very few vegetables. As a mom, I stress out about what she is NOT eating all the time. I offer her fruit on a daily basis, only to watch it fall to the floor and be consumed by our dog. I'm constantly trying to be creative and sneaky to try and get some good stuff into her body. Sometimes it works. Most of the time, it doesn't.

Miss A loves pasta. And bread. Lots and lots of bread. She is quite the carb-o-holic. She also likes chicken, ground beef, rice, mashed potatoes, yogurt, crackers, Cheerios, and mac and cheese. The first time I made her spaghetti and meatballs, she devoured it! I was so excited because I realized there were so many ways I could hide vegetables into the sauce and meatballs. 

In these meatballs I hid zucchini and spinach. I grated a whole zucchini and chopped up several fresh leaves of spinach. I baked them in the oven and served them with a side of pasta with a small amount of tomato sauce. At first I thought she was going to pick out the spinach, but she must have been really hungry because she gobbled it up! I was so relieved! It's a victory in this house whenever she eats everything off her tray and I may have a done a little happy dance and told her she just had a ton of vegetables!

Servings: 6 meatballs
1/2 package of ground beef
1/4 cup italian bread crumbs
1 egg
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
1/8 dried oregano
1/8 dried basil
1 zucchini, grated, and excess moisture drained
Handful of spinach, chopped
1/2 cup pasta, cooked
1/4 cup of jarred or homemade tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set aside. In a bowl, combine ground beef with all ingredients. Lightly mix together and form into balls (if mixture is too sticky, add a little more bread crumbs). Arrange on baking sheet, making sure to have an inch a part and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

In a saucepan, bring water to boil for the pasta. Follow the directions as indicated and serve alongside the meatballs with tomato sauce. Cross your fingers and hope your toddler will enjoy it!

You can double up this recipe and freeze the extra meatballs, unbaked. When ready to bake, defrost and bake as indicated.