Tasty Tuesday: Kingston's "Eats"

Earlier in the month, I posted a "Tasty Tuesday: Kingston Edition" about his foray into feeding himself bananas. Lately we have been doing a mixture of purees and solid finger foods, letting him feed himself one of his meals each day. We had every intention of doing BLW (baby-led weaning), but he really enjoys purees and the mixture of textures he gets between the two. So, our current feeding schedule, which is working well, is a finger food (banana, avocado, etc.) for him to eat independently for lunch and a puree of sorts for dinner. Sometimes we mix it up. He loves to eat, so our methods evolve as he does! Recently though, he has tried so many new things.

 At the beginning of the week, I went out and purchased Stonyfield Farm Organic Plain Whole Milk yogurt for him to try. I am not a big fan of plain yogurt, but I figured since Kingston hasn't been exposed to sugar (besides the natural occurring sugar in fruit), he may like the taste! This would be his first protein (besides breast milk of course), so I was excited to try it with him. We plan on trying our best to feed Kingston a balanced diet with very little processed foods and sugars, and heavy on fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins. We also try to choose organic as much as possible. I'm beginning to implement this way of thinking into my own diet as well. Hubby not so much. I hope that we will be able to model good eating for K as he gets older!

But, back to the yogurt! I decided to introduce it on the side of his dinner one night. I put some sweet potato in one side of his bowl and his yogurt in the other. First I offered him the yogurt plain. Here were the results:

I love these pictures of him. They crack me up! The faces he is making go with a little shudder he does to signify a strange taste in his mouth. The tartness of the yogurt really shocked his palate. I mixed it with a little sweet potato and tried again. 

We were in business! He loved it and ate an entire bowl. I'm talking a large quantity! I went back and forth between plain bites of yogurt, sweet potato, and then a mixture. Eventually, I just mixed the entire bowl together. I tasted it myself and it tasted like a sweet potato with sour cream on it. Yum!

At the same time I purchased the yogurt, I spotted these mini Chiquita bananas in the produce section at our grocery store. They were not certified organic, but since bananas are not part of the "Dirty Dozen", I couldn't resist grabbing them. They were the perfect size for Kingston's little hands; and I wouldn't have to share half with him, which is usually what happens. 

When I sliced them open, I noticed that the texture was a little bit different than a regular banana. They seemed a bit fluffy when K squished them, almost like a scrambled egg. Kingston loved them and ate the entire thing! He did really well handling the slippery banana. 

Another item that Kingston has been really interested in this week is plums. I got a packaged of plums at Costco for myself, and every time I ate one K would reach for it with his normal "Uh, uh, uh!" So I bit all of the skin off of a section of it and let him suck on it! He loved it. He really didn't get any of the fruit, mostly just the flavor, but he was so thrilled that I was offering it to him. After I bit off every chunk with skin, I would let him suck the juice and gum the outside of it. Now every time I eat a plum, he wants to help!

I played around with combining a few different flavors this week also. I purchased apples, carrots, and spinach to make a giant batch of food. I cooked down the apples into applesauce and put some into separate containers for him to eat. I didn't even puree it, just gave it a good mash. Then I did the same for the carrots. Then I combined the two in the Baby Bullet with a little bit of breast milk and added a large helping of raw organic spinach. It didn't make the prettiest puree, but it was delicious and had Kingston's first "roughage" in it! We have been doing this one for dinner the past two nights and he has loved it! 

The next flavor I made this week was Squash-Banana! I just love saying "squash-banana", so I figured I should make him some. The combination sounds really good to me. This was my first time processing a banana. Kingston has only had them fresh before. I roasted my butternut squash at 400 degrees for an hour. Then I mashed it and threw it in the bullet with some mashed bananas and a little breast milk. 

It tasted delicious! It had a really sweet taste at first with a squashy aftertaste. I loved it! Today when I went to give it to Kingston, the banana had turned brown, but when mixed with the squash it looked fine and tasted delicious. He fed it to himself for lunch today with a mixture of yogurt and also some mini banana chunks. He was so independent. He even used his spoon! He fed himself most of the chunks by hand. Then, I dipped the spoon in his puree and handed it to him. He put it in his mouth and cleaned the spoon every time! I was so proud of him. He found his mouth perfectly every time. He made a crazy doing so, but I loved how independent he was and how excited it was making him. Each time he put the spoon in his mouth, he would laugh and shriek. It was adorable!

The last new thing he tried recently was salmon! I have wanted to give Kingston salmon for awhile now. My mother made some delicious salmon for us for dinner, and I had decided not to give him any right then. However, Kingston was whining and reaching towards my plate. He was so interested in it, that a pulled a little piece off, checked it thoroughly for bones, and fed it to him. He made a face at first as he usually does with new flavors, but then came back for more! I fed him some of that with some butternut squash directly off my dinner plate. 

I am excited to start giving him a bit of salmon more regularly. I would also like to try haddock soon! I like the idea of Kingston eating off our plates. It keeps us eating only healthy and organic food, and lets him share in our family dinners. K has had such a fun time exploring new foods. Next up, I want to try some cauliflower, and maybe introduce some more greens. Feeding baby is so much fun!