There are various 2 camps when it comes to feeding a toddler:

1. My kid eats what I eat.

2. I make my kid his or her own meal.

Lucy eats what we eat with very few exceptions.  If I make something with peanuts or with shell fish she gets a different meal but otherwise she eats just like us.  Back when she was eating purees she was actually eating better than us.  At that point I was working crazy hours and eating “convenience” totally processed food.  She was eating organic fruits and veggies prepared by me.  I always used to joke that she ate better than me!

Here she is this morning, eating Ryvita toast, eggs, and milk.  Mommy had the same thing-only I had 2 egg whites and 1 egg.  She had 2 whole eggs. She needs the fat-I don’t 😉

I also don’t like to give her refined sugar or white flours and try to stay away from that as much as possible.  I do give her those things sometimes but usually she eats really well.  There is one exception.  Daycare.  Lucy goes to a great daycare where they make all the food for the kiddos.  By and large it’s not processed and it’s pretty good for her.  She does get more sugar than I would like there but I decided that I’m paying for it and it’s relatively healthy. I’m not going to stress.  I do cringe when I see that she got chicken nuggets that day but that only happens every once and awhile and I just remind myself that it’s not going to kill her.

Last night I made Chicken Sausage and Veggie Pasta.

It was good!  In fact Shaun gave it 3.5 stars-that’s big praise! (He gave the meatloaf 5 stars-do you see why I cook comfort food-even if it’s ugly looking?)

I found those mini sausages at Costco the other day and bought them on a whim.  All their big chicken sausages had dairy in them and so I ended up with these.  I REALLY liked them.  They seemed to carry more of a flavor punch! To make this, I just sautéed the sausages in a little bit of olive oil.  I deglazed the pan with some chicken broth and then added cauliflower and brussel sprouts.  Once those were on their way to cooking I added green beans, mushrooms, and some coarsely chopped garlic with some additional chicken broth to help steam.  I added some leftover canned corn from the other night right at the end.  I served it over whole wheat penne and put a sprinkling of parmesan on top.

Lucy ate her entire bowl!  Look at how much I gave her!  That kid can eat.

I feel like she’s saying in this picture “What Mom? Can’t you see I’m eating?”

I did cut up the sausage and green beans for her but everything else she ate-oh and I added some carrots and peas since those are her favorite.  She was enthusiastically chowing down her bowl when she made a horrible face!  She had gotten a chunk of garlic and it wasn’t quite what she was expecting-I wish I had gotten a picture of that!

It’s so nice to be able to give her what we eat.  Like a good friend says, I’m not a short order cook nor do I intend to be!