Real Food!

The past two weeks have been an intensive learning experience.  It's become apparent that Aaron needs more than a commercial formula could provide.  If we went with the lower calorie one, his body rebelled.  If we continue to dilute his old formula, he wasn't getting the nutrition he needed.  And really, who wants the very same thing to eat, day in, day out, year after year?  Even toddlers with their strange food demands outgrow their need for mac and cheese three times a day.

But all of Aaron's food has to go through a teeny, tiny tube in his belly, so it has to be pureed really well, no chunks, no seeds, nothing that will clog it up.  That takes a high powered blender.  And I have to admit, it's been really convenient to just pop open a can and feed him, kinda like hitting the drive through when life is crazy.  But the more I learned the more I realized we needed to make the switch.

We've been using some real food blends a friend sent me as part of his diet, but Thursday night, I decided I wanted to do more.  I put a bone broth recipe (chicken, onion, carrots, celery and some herbs) in the crockpot, and prayed that I could start making this work.

Friday I found a way to get a Blendtec blender.  Talk about amazing!  And how eye opening.  Now, it did take me all Saturday morning to put things together, but I'm counting on this being a learning curve type of thing.  I made homemade almond milk first off.  Soak the almonds in water the night before, rinse them, add them with fresh water and blend.  Strain and we're done!


Next up was that bone broth.  I have to admit, my kids were kinda disappointed Friday night.  They came home to amazing smells, but it wasn't dinner.  I drained the liquid off and pulled the meat off the bones, then blended up the veggies, meat and liquid.  This big bowl holds 17 days worth of gold!   And I won't need to  do this again for 2 1/2 weeks.  Just thaw and throw it in the blender.

Then I made his blend.  I just tried to follow what's recommended for kids with his calorie needs.  I put in 2 ounces of tofu (no leftover meat around), a cup of cherries, a cup of spinach, some olive oil, a little salt, two cups of almond milk, and a cup of the liquid gold I'd just made up.

I grabbed an extra feeding extension and pushed the food through.  I wanted to make sure it really wasn't going to clog.  I mean, changing buttons is sooo much fun.  (please read with sarcasm)  It worked great!
We got it all done just in time for Aaron's 11 a.m. feeding.

Did he like it?  Well, he spent the rest of the day laughing and smiling and talking.

And the surprising part to me was how it tasted.  My kids were laughing that I was surprised.  I never have tasted his formula, but one of the kids did once and has never asked for it again.  I got a little on my fingers while working with it and licked it off.  It was really good!  A very clean, fresh taste.

I'm keeping him on the same recipe for a few days.  If something causes a problem, I'd like to have a fairly narrow list of causes.  Then we'll branch out.  My goal is to use the bone broth and almond milk as his base and vary his protein, fruits, veggies and fats.

First blended meal.  Yum!

I have to admit, I've been kinda intimidated by blended diets for a long time.  I mean, what if I get it wrong?  What if I miss something?  I've joined some support groups and a couple of old-timers have pointed out that it doesn't have to be that big a deal.  We don't ask permission from a doctor to feed our toddlers.  We don't make an appointment with a dietician to plan our grade school kids menus.  We use our common sense and what we've been taught and do the best we can.  One mom mentioned that when she does her son's cereal she uses cereal, like Honey Bunches o' Oats, or Frosted Mini-wheats.  I love it!

I'm already, not quite 24 hours later, seeing some small changes.  His digestive system (all of it) is much happier.  He's more interactive than ever (maybe not quite so good since we're heading out to church), and he was more alert all day yesterday.  He usually takes a late afternoon nap and is pretty tired beforehand.  He carried on strong, all day long, until about 10:30, then slept soundly until it was time for his 6 a.m. vest treatment.

It feels so good to give him real food, without a lot of preservatives.  I'm thinking he likes it, too.

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”  

~Hippocrates