Over the past week my husband and I have had our 6 year old nephew staying with us. It's been both a fun and challenging ride for us and for Chris.
For one thing, I'm not sure how moms in general blog. Where do you find the time?
My husband says our house (which seemed small before) seems absolutely tiny now. If we ever have kids he says we have to get a bigger house and a dishwasher and 4 bathrooms. 4 bathrooms hon?
I have learned that this once unpicky kid will not eat on command. EAT IT... that doesn't work. And don't tell him it's good for him. That doesn't work either.
I have learned that he can eat gluten free without knowing it and he likes it anyway!
I've learned that kids need to not only come with an instruction manual, but a first aid kit. So far we've had 2 nosebleeds, a bunch of scrapes and scratches, lots of bandaids, and a bad cut on the forehead from accidentally falling. A cut that nearly caused this aunt & uncle to have a panic attack, not only from worrying about the cut & the kid, but worrying that the kid's mom will have our heads for letting her child get hurt.
I've learned that hearing bedtime stories read by your husband can really melt your heart.
Every day is filled with giggles, sneaky smiles, bananas (which is a SNACK by the way, NOT dessert), and sticky hugs & kisses.
While this kid decidedly doesn't want to eat lettuce, he'll eat carrots, bacon, and macaroni and cheese like it's going out of style.
Meals with the kid this week have been simple & kid friendly and actually quite nutritious:
- gluten free mac & "cheese" made with Daiya (so it won't hurt my tummy) carrot sticks, and apple slices.
- pizza made on a gluten free almond flour crust (recipe to come!) with fresh watermelon as a side.
- a very simple homemade chicken soup: homemade chicken stock, chicken, a little brown rice, salt & pepper, carrots, and celery.
- the kid's favorite ham & provolone (the round cheese per Chris) sandwiches, made of course with mustard & ketchup. And served on almond flour bread. (He said they were delicious sandwiches!)
- gluten free spaghetti noodles with homemade "loaded with veggies" spaghetti sauce made from our CSA box earlier this summer. The sauce was so chock full of zucchini, squash, mushrooms, tomatoes, and peppers, we didn't even serve additional vegetables, which the kid thought was a super cool treat.
- Saturday morning breakfast: homemade oatmeal from Bob's Red Mill GF rolled oats. This kid devoured two bowls of homemade gluten free honey & cinnamon oatmeal and declared we needed to make it for dinner! I was so excited he enjoyed this!
- Treats & Sweets: a cinnamon variation of these almond flour cookies have been a huge hit, along with cinnamon toast (the kid likes cinnamon & vanilla... must be genetic!) made from almond flour bread. Bananas are a popular snack, we've been through more bananas than I probably eat in 2 months!
I hope we can make this a summer tradition with our nephew and I'll share more about the kid-friendly meals & snacks & breakfasts we make in the upcoming week.
What are your favorite gluten free kid-friendly meals and snacks?
The winners from our 30 Days of Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals Giveaway will be announced soon!
The winners from our 30 Days of Gluten Free Quick & Easy Meals Giveaway will be announced soon!
