Feeding a little Miss.

Feeding Trixie has become an art. As to not be unfair to her, she's not a picky eater, she's just not an eater in general. She's go through phases when she'll eat everything around her, but they're few and far between, and I'm realizing that she's a social eater. She eats well when there are others around her, but when it's just her, me and Adam she's just not much of an eater. I don't get stressed about it because she's healthy and growing so I know she's getting what she needs, I guess from the air around her. I will admit to one little picky thing she has seemed to cultivate and it's her distaste for meat. I don't think it's intentional, I think it's more she doesn't like the texture, but if I know we'll be eating a particular animal that day, I take care to not talk about that animal much. For example if we're going to have chicken, we don't read books with chickens in them, because she has made that connection. (PETA, are you there? Yes she'll come your way soon, I'm sure.)
So the arty part of feeding Trixie is that I am passionate about cultivating her immune system and keeping is working in it's peak form. As I am sure you all know I selectively vaccinate Trixie and refuse to give her any flu shots. I feel since I've made these choices I have to make a huge effort to make sure her immune system is strong to keep her healthy. So every day I aim for a variety of healthy foods for her. If you saw into my cabinets you'd see I don't have convience foods for her, but I have lots of healthy whole grains and such. Snacks are usually fresh fruit and veggies, sometimes we'll have some organic treats like animal crackers or Mum mums.
For her meals I try to be creative, especially since I eat what she does. This means I get to make new and exciting things. I try to incorporate a couple of new recipes a week, especially ones that focus on whole, healthy foods. So far I've found it to be really fun and have had very few busts.
Trixie has her favourties and so far they are:
baby rice (my name for it) soaked brown rice (2 parts) amaranth (1 part) and millet (1 part). Boil until cooked and all of the water is absorbed. I really like this because Trixie loves rice and this has lots of protein from the amaranth and goodness from the other whole grains. It's nice and sticky and I've used it in place of sticky rice in rolls. I've also used it in place of rice in various rice dishes.
Anything noodle. Trixie will eat her weight in noodles, at home I use whole grain noodles for her.
Broccoli, little trees. They will often be torn up into smaller pieces, arranged in size with the big pieces being Mama and Daddy and the small ones being baby. She does this, not me.
Cucumber discs, especially good for dipping in marinara sauce. Totally her creation. Odd.
Hummus, she will drink it given the chance.
Chilled peanut butter sammies, they don't come apart this way.
Soup! I love that Trixie loves soup! I've discovered that she loves borscht, and I always knew that she loves beets.
Any combination of beans and rice. She loves her beans and rice. This makes me happy because it's a complete protein.

To try to incorporate for protein into her diet I've tried some fake meats, but she doesn't like them. I've tried deli meats that are nitrate free and she doesn't like them. I've tried chicken nuggets and she doesn't like them. I made seitan last weekend and she ate a small piece. This might be promising. We'll see.
I'm finding that we eat a lot of vegan stuff, for no particular reason, it just seems to be what I'm drawn to. I try to avoid dairy because cow's milk still bothers her and I don't like the taste of goat's milk. I avoid eggs because of Adam, so that leaves us eating vegan.

Now to be honest we don't eat perfect for every meal, she's had french fries and she loves them. She's tasted burgers and she doesn't like them. All in all she has the same perspective on fast food as her Mama does: it's okay really rarely, but it gets gross fast!

All in all feeding a toddler is fun. I can't wait until my family is bigger and there is more cooking to be done. I love to cook!