Genius? I think so!

My little helper!

A few times in my life I have had some really great ideas; marrying Scott, becoming a stay at home mom and joining my mom’s group are all ones that really stand out.  Now I am sure I have had my greatest mom idea ever!  I have talked before about our struggle to find things that Mason will eat (as any parents of toddlers do) and that I came up with the great idea to let him dip pretty much anything he wants in ketchup.  This worked wonders and Mason has been eating pretty well, even branching out to a few meals without slathering food in ketchup! 

I wasn’t really thrilled with the fact that ketchup has high fructose corn syrup; something my husband thinks I worry about too much.  This has even become a joke when we go grocery shopping, he will pick up something and say, “Oh no! High fructose corn syrup, guess we can’t eat that,” sarcasm all over the place.  So to get rid of the ketchup and still have a happy eater I have come up with THE BEST IDEA EVER!  It’s probably been done, maybe even by some of you, but it just occurred to me and I love it!  Replace the ketchup with baby food!! Simple, yes. Effective, so far.  I have begun replacing ketchup with things like pureed sweet potatoes, bananas, apricots with mixed fruit and carrots.  He loves the dipping so much I don’t even think he realizes there was a change.  This allows him to get extra fruit and veggies while still eating what I make for him. 

It has become extremely messy, the other day he even said, “Mmm, drink” and picked up the baby food container and drank the food out of it, but I say so what.  As long as he will eat up those veggies and fruits I am all for it!  I’m sure a lot of you were so excited to be done buying baby food as soon as you could, I was there too!  I am definitely not saying this is replacing table food in any way for Mason, it is simple an alternative to the ketchup he was becoming all too familiar with. 

Here’s a great recipe that Mason loved to dip in bananas:

Oatmeal Pancakes:

• 1 cup fat free milk
• 3/4 cup quick oats
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Start by heating the milk to very warm, but not boiling.  Pour the milk over the oatmeal in a small bowl and let sit.  Whip egg whites with an electric beater until stiff peaks form.  In the meantime, combine all remaining dry ingredients.  Stir up oatmeal/milk mixture and add to dry ingredients.  Once the egg whites are stiff fold them very carefully into the other batter, making sure not to overmix.  Cook 1/3 of a cup at a time on a greased griddle.  These will be very fluffy, but they won't produce bubbles like other pancakes, so be careful not to over brown them.