THE FULL REPORT

i am beginning to think this may be a weekly blog. but that's okay, having to remember what the girls ate a week ago is good for the memory {and for the immediate detection of early-onset alzheimers, which i am sure i will have}.

there were actually quite a few good no thank you bites last week. and i am proud to report that the girls have begun to try new foods without being asked--they know the routine. some of the more memorable bites:

• a trip to margaritas revealed a love of sour cream, black beans, and loaded nachos {ie a love of americanized mexican food, but i will take it}
• ham and swiss croissants {at an old favorite--breaking new grounds in portsmouth} {and note, lulu ate 2!!}
• scrambled eggs. FINALLY! {although i am a little worried it is because the eggs were cooked in bacon grease--please do not judge, it is absolutely delicious}
• fresh sliced mozzarella drizzled with olive oil and topped with a pinch of sea salt. {sky ate so much it might have been the most expensive meal of the week}
• scalloped potatoes. get this: WITH onions. {huge huge hit}
• roasted carrots. {as this is a staple in my diet, i was ecstatic. next time they are trying the onions and turnips}
• baked ham. {good to know for easter. always plan ahead.}
• vegetable juice. {this is kind of a fib. although i do hope they will try v8, because it will allow me to buy it despite the horrific price (i love v8), they actually drank the new fruit juice boxes with vegetables. they have a full serving of fruits and vegetables...not bad}
• chocolate frozen yogurt with melted peanut butter. {i knew they liked this, but i had t add it to the list to make sure YOU have tried it. so so good. just heat a few teaspoons of peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds--until it has melted--then spoon over ice cream or frozen yogurt. to die for. almost as good as guinness chocolate milkshakes or coffee hagen daaz with baileys over the top. have i mentioned those before?}

BY THE WAY, BYE-BYE BEAUTIFUL GOURMET

ddddonuts

alright, so this is not really one i should be bragging about. but, as a huge dunkin' donuts fan, i am actually quite proud of today's no thank you bite: a boston creme donut! unsurprisingly, it got two very sticky and orangey {fall harvest orange frosting--ignore the pink frosting in the picture--that is berry crumble, another great flavor} thumbs up. {if i were completely honest, i would tell you that i wish the hadn't finished it...because then i could have.}

RAMBLING

apparently blogger does not like rambling, as it cut off my last post. thank goodness i am writing, and not lulu {did i mention lulu operates on maximum verbosity at all times?}. anyway, just a few more things to add to last week's new foods:

> pancakes with maple syrup: 2 thumbs up {these have been rejected for YEARS, very happy that this classic breakfast food is back on our menu}

> homefries: 1 thumbs up, 1 thumbs down {i am not sure i believe this one...lulu loves potatoes, cooked in almost any way. but, we all know that ketchup makes homefries better (and of course we all know that hot sauce makes them better than better) and lulu snubs ketchup (and hot sauce). so maybe when ketchup makes it off lulu's 'forbidden foods list' she will learn to like homefries. in the meantime, i plan to continue ordering them for her...so i can eat them (with ketchup AND hot sauce)}. {did you see the () within the {}? i love the double bracketing.}

CATCH-SUP

last week got away from us {BUSY!} and although the blog suffered, lulu and sky's adventures in eating did not. so let's play a little catch-sup. a brief list of new bites and the rating {thumbs up or down} follows:

> celery with cream cheese: 2 thumbs down

> peanut butter with honey and banana sandwiches: 2 thumbs up

> fried clams: 2 thumbs up {thank goodness}

> lasagna with spinach, zucchini and mushrooms: 2 thumbs way up

> prosciutto: 1 thumbs up, 1 failure to launch {sky}

> cream of chicken soup: 2 thumbs up

> roasted pork with rosemary: 2 {sort of} thumbs up

> cranberry sauce: 1 thumbs up, 1 failure to launch {sky}

> honey mustard: 2 thumbs down

> pita chips: 1 thumbs up {only sky was snacking}

DOUBLE DARE AND COMPARE

lulu and sky both seem to like the idea of trying anything their friends like, and until they are about 10 years old {maybe 7 if we move to california next year} i will capitalize on this {by 10, i will be asking the proverbial, "if all your friends were jumping of the golden gate bridge, would you jump too?"}.

SO, it would be wonderful if other moms and dads {or grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles} shared foods their kids like, and exciting new foods their kids have tried. even better, let the kids get on and explain their food adventures. the young food enthusiasts can challenge each other to try new things, and compare notes.

a friend of mine wrote that her parents had the no thank you rule when she was growing up, and at age 4 her favorite food was sashimi {all kinds}. i think that is splendid {not to mention healthy!}.

so we will start. skyler loves avocado, either sliced with salt, pepper and lime or made into guacamole minus onion. lulu loves calamari seasoned with just salt and pepper, hold any sauce. so kids, try them out, and be sure to let us know some of your favorite adventures in eating!

BTW--not much to report on the dinner front, as we all filled up on leftovers {see below}. oh, we did make homemade applesauce though...yummy-o....

iHEARTLULUandSKYPIE

just wanted to say love you to lulu and skypie. pink heart. hugs. kisses. smooch and smack!

MUNDANE MONDAY

okay, so the work week is here again and there is little time to cook or blog...but we'll try to do a little bit of both. the girls take lunch with them {sky is in PK and lu is in K}, and so i still have the opportunity to try new foods with them. of course i want to make sure they eat enough--they both have long days {this isn't france after all}--so we'll take baby steps during the week. today we had sandwiches. old hat you say? but NO, it isn't! believe it or not, the girls do not eat sandwiches! except for grilled cheese of course, because no one, absolutely no one, can pass up cheesy buttery goodness {well, maybe if you're lactose intolerant...quite the plight indeed. and the poor guys and girls in bootcamp at PI or San Diego that get kicked to the rice and steamed veggie line. they miss the one good offering of any chow hall: grilled cheese! but i digress.}. so today is turkey and cheese. they also have blue corn chips...i think they'll like the color. finally, they have the usual standbys in case the sandwiches are not a hit: carrots and peanut butter, raisins, yogurt, juice. i'll let you know what comes home....i am betting they'll like the turkey and cheese.

NIGHT KITCHEN

lulu and sky helped make dinner tonight--or more accurately, they dumped massive amounts of brown sugar and butter into the bread pudding {which also had the remaining anadama} which of course made for absolutely scrumptious bread pudding {brown sugar and butter can make just about anything delicious}. {i like, no love, parentheticals. sorry.} i know, i am starting with desert, but it is fresh in the mind, and it was just so good. we only got one thumbs up though, as sky preferred the blueberry cream ice cream i bought.

dinner was also a big hit: breaded chicken {butter, parmesan, dijon, bread crumbs}, sweet potatoes {baked for adults, mashed with butter and a marshmallow for the girls (don't judge the marshmallow. i know.)}, mashed potatoes {back up in case the sweet potatoes weren't a hit}, sauteed spinach with tomatoes and snap peas {sort of odd texture combination, but completely delicious}. oh, and the best artisan bread i have had in ages, warmed with butter of course. wow. perfectly delicious carb overload.

lulu says thumbs up to everything. sweet-tooth-sky says thumbs up for everything but the bread pudding {i don't get it! i'll say it again, it was so delicious!}

NIGHT ALL...

A PRETEND THUMBS DOWN.

so lulu asked me to give lunch a 'pretend thumbs down.' translation: she went into the meal {getting to what it was in a sec} saying she would not like it, and when she ended up liking it, she had to save a little face. so the meal was simple--a quick throw-together-something after morning errands and before the start of the pats game--nonetheless it was new to the girls. my mother gets this delicious anadama {sp?} bread from her food co-op, so i made the girls an egg and cheese sandwich on anadama, seasoned with nothing more than a bit of janes-crazy-mixed-up salt. on the side we had some utz salt and pepper potato chips {pats games require some kind of junk food}, and apple slices with peanut butter. the sandwiches were a hit. the potato chips were a hit {obviously} and the apples with pb were a given. last note, sky "wants to be on the blog." but she doesn't know what she wants to say. i asked her to describe the sandwich {which she devoured} and she laughed, raised her eyebrows, and stuck her tongue out. she is only three people. stay tuned for dinner...sweet potatoes {baked}, chicken {not sure how this is going to be cooked yet} and some sort of salad {laden with vegetables, hopefully roasted} are on the menu...the girls snub their noses at all of these things. SO...we'll see. OH WAIT...it is so important to mention that the peanut butter was CRUNCHY peanut butter. ALWAYS always always CRUNCHY peanut butter.

SKY ATE THE SBS.

that says it all. i cannot claim complete victory, as i did need to provide a drink to wash down the no thank you bite. nonetheless, she ended up eating several bites before repeating her request for pb crackers. that's more than some pyrrhic victory.

SUNDAY BREAKFAST SUNDAE {SBS}| banana goodness | DONE.

i'm pulling out all the stops. i packaged this morning's new meal in a brandy snifter {i don't have sundae cups. two interesting things to point out about the snifter: 1) i thought it was sniffer and 2) this sundae was so good, it rivals the best brandy you could serve in the SNIFTER. promise.} my girls love fancy thanks in part to the fancy nancy books, and thanks in part to being girlie girls...whatever the source of their fanciness, lulu loved the presentation. {as i write, sky is still pouting and asking for peanut butter crackers. amazingly, i have not given in}. so what's in a SBS? pretty layers of banana goodness, to quote lulu. layers of stoneyfield banilla {vanilla and banana} organic yogurt, sliced bananas, amazing homemade granola {that i bought...it has rolled oats, sliced almonds, dried cranberries, dried apricots, brown sugar and canola oil in it}, a drizzle of honey, melted crunchy peanut butter and finally, WHIPPED CREAM. i am selling it to two skeptical little girls after all. lulu was done in about 3 minutes. literally. sky, as i said, is showing her stubborn side...i think i will win this one, but i'll keep you posted.

WELCOME. PART: DEUX | DOS | TWO.

some of the favorites...all good, all healthy, but such a small universe. {ps, if you haven't tried annie's, you should!}

{sorry, but i couldn't stand all the empty space so i am adding some filler to make the post more visually appealing. at least to me. you may like the white space. it drives me insane, and makes me want to hold my breath}

WELCOME.

annie's macaroni and cheese, sliced apples {only when peeled}, english muffins with butter, fruit smoothies, rice and beans, pork {only when served chipotle style}, soup {cheddar broccoli for sky and chicken noodle for lu} and pb&j without crust. happily eaten 21 times a week...sometimes more when a late-night snack is in order. so how to turn lu and sky into young food enthusiasts? a blog. a fun {so fun} way to track new foods and share the adventure with family and friends. thanks to georgetown early learning center for the ingenious idea of 'no thank you bites' {such a simple rule: please take a bite before you say 'no thank you'}. now off to plan tomorrow's menu...NIGHT.