Friday, January 21, 2011

Turkey sausage

Hi all,

I don't want anyone reading my recipes to be envious and think I have a 2 yr old that eats all of the food I cook. I offer him everything I prepare, but he is still a typical 2 yr old. I try not to prepare 2 separate meals, but it does happen. Here is a short list of Jack's favorite meals.

Breakfast: for over a year we had oatmeal and then one day he started refusing it. It was shortly after he was able to try pancakes for the first time. This has led to many mornings filled with tears. If only we could have pancakes every morning. Instead I make 20 pancakes every Saturday and see how long it takes for them to disappear. After the pancakes are gone, usually by Tuesday. We resort to dry Cheerios and fruit or Rice Chex with rice milk. Each morning we have a countdown to the next batch of pancakes.

Lunch: This has been a variation of the same meal since Jack was 9 months old. Rice bread with pieces of Boar's Head honey maple turkey or BH low sodium ham. We also have fruit and leftover vegetables. Just recently started giving Jack wheat bread which took some getting used to, but now he asks for it every day. I am very slowly trying to get him to try sunbutter (tests say he is allergic, but he just had the smallest taste today and nothing happened).

Dinner: If I give Jack an option of what he would like for dinner 9 out of 10 times he will choose turkey sausage. When he was a baby I would take the casing off and mash it in the pan while I cooked it in chicken broth. I would finish by adding some rice pasta and Paul Newman marinara sauce. Now we just saute the sausage in a little water to keep pan from burning or sticking. I know he likes it because it is salty and that is why I cut out the chicken stock. The only brand I have ever tried is Shadybrook Farms breakfast sausage or Italian sausage. I prefer to give him the breakfast sausage because of the size.

Other nights we have baked chicken thighs. No sauce. I marinate pork chops in soy vay marinade and he enjoys that. He loves roasted potatoes with salt pepper and extra virgin olive oil. The vegetables he will eat over and over again are broccoli, cauliflower and asparagus. Zucchini is hit or miss as are the peas. In the summer he could eat corn every night and we have frozen sometimes but it's not the same. He used to love cooked carrots, but now only if they are in the chicken soup.
Brown rice and peas are still a favorite. And if I am making the quinoa, lentil and chicken stew. Jack will eat the carrots and chicken if I wipe off the quinoa.
Meatballs are a weekly staple and if he could eat pasta with sauce every night he would, too.

So when people learn about our allergies they ask well what can he eat. My response is very healthy and better than most people. I am fortunate that he has a terrific appetite and will ask me for a second apple a day!

1 comment:

  1. I hate to tell you this, but this means your kid is normal! If you are managing to squeeze some fruits & veggies into the "I want to eat the same thing every day" routine, you're doing better than average!

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