toddler food

It makes me a happy mommy that my little boy is such a good eater. From his first food (avocado) at 6 months onward, he has been willing to try new things and consume a healthy and diverse diet. His palate even tends toward the spicy/savory, which is a big bonus in this household. Most vegetables do better incorporated with other foods or sauces, but I don't have to go so far as to hide them. The main challenge for the past several months has been to make everything in finger food form as much as possible. He does fine being fed on a spoon, but he enjoys feeding himself with his fingers, and I enjoy being able to do other things in the kitchen while he eats.

Lately, I've been making Hearty Korean Pancakes, from the Vegetarian Planet cookbook, by Didi Emmons. These concoctions allow me to put both brown rice and several vegetables into a neat and tasty finger food. The batter consists of half brown rice flour, too, for even more healthiness. I can't post the recipe here since I follow hers almost exactly, but it is basically a flour-egg-water batter combined with cooked brown rice and raw shredded (or diced) vegetables (I used spinach, carrot, and scallion). The consistency is like a potato pancake and it cooks five minutes on each side. Traditionally these pancakes are served with a tamari/sesame oil/chili/garlic dipping sauce, but I just throw those ingredients in with the batter so that the pancake gets the flavor without the fussiness of dipping (not quite in Sam's skillset yet). I just cut into bite sized pieces and he gobbles them up!