Canada Moms Blog

Top 100 Finger Foods and Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel - A SV Moms Group Book Club

One of the things us parents must do on a daily basis - whether you find it a joy or an annoyance - is to feed our kids. For babies just starting out in the food world beyond milk, it is just the beginning. As our kids get older, there can be the classic toddler picky eater syndrome and the excitement when we discover something they like. Join us today as we discuss the books Top 100 Baby Purees and Top 100 Finger Foods by Annabel Karmel. 

Special thanks to Elizabeth from Los Angeles Moms Blog, who sourced this book club for us, following her lunch date last summer with Annabel Karmel.

• Eunice from Random Walk Down Mommy Street says it's all in a day's work
• Sophia Leto from Moody Mommy reviews Annabel Karmel's books from an organic and vegetarian perspective
  
• Tiffany from Lattes And Life thinks she'll just never be that mom
• Robin from The Not-Ever-Still Life is complicating the diet
• Melanie from Tales From the Crib is baby's top chef? probably not...
• Thien-Kim from Cup of Creativi-Tea finds kid-friendly recipes from Anabel
• Linsey from Me Too You is The Cooking Mom...but only at preschool
• Jennifer M. from Ramblings of a Semi-Conscious Mastermind Mommy has a son that is picky-picky
• Elizabeth from Traded My BMW for a Minivan made Annable Karmel's Welsh "Rabbits" 
• Helen P from Milf Alert opened these books with hesitation
• Bonggamom from Finding Bonggamom finds new traditions, new dishes, new experiences
• Julie from Just Precious determines that yes, she can make baby food
• Amy from Occupation: Mommy asks what to feed baby
• Nicole from Not Just a Working Mom muses about the best laid plans
• Cristie from The Traveling Circus is sick to death of chicken nuggets and mini carrots!
• Alma from Marketing Mommy does twice the work for half the appreciation
• Grace from Formerly Gracie asks are you going to eat that?
• Stacy from Fabulous Miss S. will be kept busy for weeks with these books
• Heidi from Coast to Coast Mom is cooking her with kiddo
• Lisa H. from Hannemaniacs is a self-confessed baby food making lover and her kid eats anything finger food or not
• Maxine from The french Mommy born in California is cooking with her daughter and sometimes her friends too
• Paige from Canning with Kids has kids who were perfect victims testers
• Kristie from Real Mommy Reviews finds real yummy, real easy healthy recipes for baby and kids

Los Angeles Moms Blog is hosting the book club discussion this month. Please go here to leave a comment below to join in the discussion.

Past SV Moms Group Book Clubs have included:

• The Possibility of Everything by Hope Edelman
• The Mominatrix's Guide to Sex by Kristen Chase
• Coco Chanel & Igr Stravinsky by Chris Greenhalgh
• See Mom Run by Beth Feldman
• Close Encounters of the Third-Grade Kind by Phillip Done
• This is Where I Leave You by Jonathan Topper
• Do One Nice Thing by Debbie Tenzer
• Birth Day by Mark Sloan, M.D.
• What Happened to the Girl I Married? by Michael Miller
• Testimony by Anita Shreve
  
• Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs
  
• Much to Your Chagrin by Suzanne Guilette
  
• It Started with Pop-Tarts by Lori Hanson
  
• Who By Fire by Diana Spechler
• The White Trash Moms Handbook by Michelle Lamar
• Writing Motherhood by Lisa Garrigues
• The Vaccine Book by Dr. Robert W. Sears
• The Other Mother by Gwendolen Gross

Click here to read all about the SV Moms Group Book Club.

Dear America: The Poutine has landed

Dear America: sure, you have big-assed portion sizes and an overabundance of processed foods.  Be aware, there is a far better, All-Canadian way to clog your arteries and send yourself straight in for a quadruple bypass. A delicious, gooey, cravetastic quadruple bypass.

It's called Poutine. Delicious poutine. And it's coming to a fine American dining establishment near you.

Traditions Are The Stuff Memories are Made Of

My mom has always been big on traditions.  For each holiday there are designated dishes that must be prepared, there are decorations to put out and always, the family must be gathered together.  As I kid, I loved these traditions.  Come about the middle of November I would begin anticipating the Nanaimo bars, scuffles and butter tarts that I knew she would bake for Christmas (yes, it was all about the food).  As an adult, I appreciate all the hard work that my mom put into making the holidays special with each of her traditions.  And I still anticipate my first bite of Nanaimo bar, despite the fact that I have now taken over responsibility for preparing that delectable treat.  Honestly, it would simply not be Christmas for me without each tradition created by my mom.

Now that I am a parent, I want to create these same memories for my boys.   They already, at age eight and five, appreciate the traditions that each pair of grandparents offer up as well as the ones we have created in our own home. 

The Big Binge Begins

Yes, it's here! It's the time of year when I ditch the portion-controlling and carb-watching, and once again, with great joy and abandon, allow myself to eat. And eat.  And eat and eat and eat. 

For a whole 3 months.

This Big Binge usually starts on Thanksgiving weekend in early October.  I make a stuffed bird and a brown-sugar/pineapple/7Up-glazed ham.  The menu also usually includes corn, steamed vegetables, and baked potato with a huge dollop of sour cream.  Of course, it's not Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie... with whipped cream on top!

Stepping up to help out

My daughter attends an elementary school that offers a breakfast program.  Or rather, it's supposed to offer a breakfast program, but I'm getting ahead of myself.  The school is one of many across the province of Quebec that is a part of the Quebec Breakfast Club.  Every morning schools participating in the program offer up hearty breakfasts including scrambled eggs, bagels with cream cheese, waffles, pancakes, yogurt, fresh fruit, etc.  Um, not all at once, it's not a buffet. Still, from one day to the next, they rotate a menu and fill up little bellies before the first bell rings.

Last year my daughter signed up and really enjoyed it.  For her it's not a necessity, rather it's a convenience.  She doesn't enjoy eating right away when she wakes up so it's a bit of a battle to get her to eat her breakfast before getting dressed for school.  When she was a part of the breakfast club she would actually be hungry by the time she sat down to eat and our mornings, while not exactly peaceful were at least not quite as full of nagging.

The thing is, though, there are a startling number of kids in my community who actually do need the program.  It costs $12 per term or $48 per year and if a family can't quite swing that, there are ways to get some help with the payment.  The kids then get a good, solid meal to start off their day five days a week (except for Ped days/holidays of course).  For some of these kids, it's the only way they get any breakfast at all.  If not for the program, they would start their day off hungry, with nothing in their stomach to help them focus on learning.

Talk Snacky to Me

When I got pregnant with my daughter, I vowed that I’d make all of her baby food. I bought recipe books, a blender and a festive apron, and once she was old enough, I set about the kitchen making homemade applesauce and butternut squash. I was excited about making homemade baby food, and determined, too – I was going to rock this new young mother thing, and I was going to rock it GOOD.

But my darling little girl – the apple of my eye – wanted nothing to do with my homemade baby food. She spit it all over me, as though it was the worst thing she’d ever tasted, and I wiped my dignity my futile efforts off of my flushed cheeks and spooned her some Heinz Starter Peas, which, naturally, she gobbled up in no time flat.

And that’s the way it’s been with her – over the years she’s become quite a picky eater, one who, nine times out of ten, would rather eat processed foods, stuff from the freezer or out of a can, than something homemade. Like her father before her, my daughter’s idea of a fabulous meal would probably be heavy on the carbs – battered, deep-fried carbs, wrapped in more carbs – with a side of trans fats and a smattering of starch for good measure.

making the bread

I have always baked bread in times of sorrow. Or joy. There's something about my chemical makeup that feels contented and useful and providing when I get my hands in the dough, mixing and pounding and kneading, making a minor miracle out of ordinary household ingredients.

You can get a lot of stress out, baking bread.

I can't remember my mother baking, nor my grandmothers, but there must have been someone - it's usually generational, isn't it? And while my daughter is eager to climb up on the chair, lean over the counter, and smack the daylights out of the dough, she's a bit young yet to share confidences with, or to work out possible solutions while wrist-deep in flour-dust and yeast granules. To ponder and think and make strategies that perhaps don't solve the world's problems, but bring me closer to center.

Vegan Mom Does Detox, Gets Healthy

So I'm a vegan. It's no secret. I didn't grow up being a vegan. I ate meat, mostly chicken. I hated it, and I jumped for joy whenever it was pasta night because, mmm, cheese. When I first heard about vegans, I definitely laughed and thought "NEVER" and "those peeps are weeeird." Yet here I stand before you -- a vegan. And probably a wee bit weird, come to think of it, but not because I'm vegan.

I'm vegan for a whole host of reasons, but mainly for the animals, the environment, the health. Now, two out of three of those I have down pat: I'm saving animals and I'm helping the environment. Health? Another story. I've been eating crap. Starbucks soy chai lattes, bagels, bread and peanut butter, vegan pastries (mmm, cake), and did someone say vegetables -- what is this thing you call "vegetable"? I was eating crap.

Then finally it hit me. I FEEL like crap. I must BE crap. Because, after all, you are what you eat.... I want to be a long, lean BANANA, a blossoming broccoli, a sweet pea..., not a sorry piece of crap.

Cheesed

Like most people who read blogs, I have a sizable blogroll. Certain themes have trended in through time - I had a lot of baby blogs when my daughter was a little, and when I went to work at the local hospital, blogs written by doctors, nurses and paramedics stacked up in number.

There are always blogs to follow about almost any profession, hobby, craft, whim. Even things you never thought you'd be interested in. But we're eating at home a LOT more these days, and in between the 100 mile diet and trying to show my children that with a little ingenuity, we can do almost anything, I've found myself reading all sorts of new and incredible stuff - and then trying it out.

For example, I adore cheese. Even the stinky stuff most people won't touch. Did you know you can make a lot of cheeses in your kitchen? Seriously. Like ricotta. Known around here as the glurp-glunch-YUMMY lasagna cheese. Or paneer, an incredibly basic but delicious Indian cheese that squeaks between your teeth if fried lightly in ghee. Even semi-hard and hard cheeses can be made at home.

the foreigner in the 'fridge

I was reading an article about saving money on groceries, idly thinking 'Well, I do that', and 'Holy crap do Canadians get fleeced on coupons' - because really, Canucks, you do - and 'I'm amazed my slow cooker isn't worn out yet' and clicked away, disgruntled.

Some of the suggestions are pretty basic, after all.

My family is trying to be as local as we can be. We're kind of proud of it, actually...haunting the local farm markets for produce and goods, doing our best to buy locally. We're even experimenting with putting in (well, experimenting again) a garden.

Some things we fudge on, like coffee (I'm fine with that, I am, because mornings are not fun when I don't get my coffee) and no one seems to be distilling gasoline nearby, but we make choices like early apples over the-peaches-from-the-United-States, and ketchup made in the Maritimes.