How to Feed a Henry

This week I have been reviewing “ French Kids Eat Everything ” by Karen Le Billon . This evening, I will be drawing one winner to receive a free copy of the book. Don’t forget to enter the giveaway today before 5:00 p.m. PST. In addition to the 10 French Food Rules for raising happy, healthy eaters, the book also features some delicious recipes. Daddy actually picked which recipe to make this week and we all loved eating this crustless veggie quiche for dinner. Plus, the leftovers reheated well for a quick and hearty breakfast. This recipe is Henry-approved. Quiche can be eaten hot or cold using just about any combination of vegetables. By dicing or grating the veggies, you don’t need to cook them in advance. This recipe is quick and easy to make, since you don’t need to worry about a pastry crust. I did make one small change to the recipe by pouring the quiche into muffin tins instead of one large pie pan, resulting in about 18 mini-quiches. Henry ate an entire ...

All week, I have been focusing on the French Food Rules from “ French Kids Eat Everything ” by Karen Le Billon . Plus, I will be giving away a copy of this book tomorrow! Have you entered for your chance to win? (To enter, click here ) So far, I have discussed how our family follows the no snacking rule and our efforts to avoid emotional eating . Today, I want to talk about our favorite rule:   French Food Rule #10 - RELAX! Eating is joyful, not stressful. I know a lot of parents who stress out about feeding their families. It's difficult not to worry about whether we are doing things just right. Is it okay to skip the baby purees ? Should I give my 6 month old meat or veggies first ? Is my child eating enough or too much ? What if my toddler won't eat the food I prepare? What if I can't cook ? What if my child throws their plate on the floor? The potential list of anxieties is long, but it does not have to be that way. Relax! Eating is joyful. French Food ...

This week, I am reviewing “ French Kids Eat Everything ” and giving away a copy to one lucky reader (To enter, click here ). The book encouraged our family to take a closer look at how we eat and to reconsider our assumptions about food through the lens of the 10 French Food Rules for raising happy, healthy eaters.  The most challenging French Food Rule for us has been changing our attitudes about eating .   French Food Rule #2 - Avoid emotional eating I will admit that I sometimes eat because I am bored, stressed or upset. It is a very difficult pattern to break our emotional attachments to food. Since reading about this French Food Rule, I try to be more aware of why I am reaching for food especially if I am tempted to snack . It helps to take a quick pause and ask myself whether I am actually hungry or just trying to fill a void. If I am unsure, then I drink a glass of water, wait a few minutes and re-evaluate. Henry eating yogurt and fresh pineapple for breakfast...

UPDATE (3/15/2013): Congratulations to Kia as the random drawing winner in this giveaway! Thank you to all those who entered this contest.  Before we began our food adventure with Henry, Daddy and I had many conversations about how to encourage Henry to become “a good eater.” After watching other parents constantly struggle with their toddlers, we wanted to know if there was anything we could do from the start to prevent picky eating. That’s when we read “ French Kids Eat Everything ” by Karen Le Billon . The book is an easy and enjoyable read about the year that Karen’s family spent in France and how it changed the way her family eats. The heart of the book explores the 10 French Food Rules for raising happy, healthy eaters. “French Kids Eat Everything” sparked numerous discussions at our dinner table about how our family eats. We have become more conscious of our assumptions about food and how that will influence Henry’s understanding of mealtimes. In addition,...

UPDATE (10/2/12): Unfortunately, I did not hear back from our original winner. Congratulations to our alternate winner for "The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook" -- Robin Pfefer. UPDATE (9/29/12): I am happy to announce that Kashia Clopper is the winner of "The Baby-Led Weaning Cookbook". When I was first thinking about using the Baby-Led Weaning (BLW) model for Henry, I was unsure about whether it would really work. I was excited about BLW’s claims of less stressful meals that the whole family could share together. Plus, I was all for encouraging Henry to gain new skills by learning about the shapes, textures, colors, smells and flavors of food. This sounded ideal in theory, but would it work in practice? After some fun but ineffective attempts at letting Henry feed himself, I went in search of resources to learn more about BLW. I needed to learn how to prepare meals for our family in which Henry could participate. That’s when I found “ The Baby-Led ...