Baby Foodie Goes On An Adventure

It's easy to get stuck in a rut with babies when it comes to food. Right now we're deep in a sandwich rut. It takes some planning to fit in two protein sources for my somewhat newly vegetarian kiddies, and lately I've been relying too heavily on hummus and peanut butter sandwiches at lunch. It's so, so important, though, to offer lots of food variety for little guys in order to encourage forming healthy tastes and to discourage picky eating.

How's a mom to get out of a food rut?

A buffet!

On our recent Veda-Mommy Day, my little gal and I hit up the buffet at Earthfare (a Whole Foods-ish store). Take a look at her plate:

You're looking at Greek pasta salad, brown rice, fruit salad, grilled vegetables, and citrus-glazed tofu.

Veda's enthusiasm for the pasta salad gave me inspiration to create my own Greek-style pasta salad, but I'll add my own tweaks, like adding more vegetables and beans, using whole wheat pasta, and eliminating the cheese. It was also fun to see that Veda would eat olives, which I wouldn't have known otherwise since neither my husband nor I are olive eaters. 

I'll also be serving up fruit salad with pineapple, a fruit that the babies had previously rejected. The Earthfare buffet ain't cheap, but it's still more cost-effective than buying a whole unit of something they might just throw on the floor. Pineapple may not be the best example, but you get the picture.

Inspiration for Mommy and exploration for Baby - what's not to like?