Dreamseekers and Company

(JORDAN HAS PROGRESSED in his ability to tolerate and enjoy more flavors and even a few textures since I wrote this blog post. A blog post listing some of his favorite current meals is at this link: http://breezysunday.com/blog/2013/08/07/jordans-updated-blended-diet)

This blog post is about Jordan’s feeding strategy. 🙂

Blendtec the BOLD (my new superhero)

I can’t sing enough praises of my Blendtec. LOVE it! And guess what? Jordan has gained at LEAST three pounds in the last two months since I switched to batch meals. Before that, I made each and every meal individually at mealtimes. Sometimes he liked them. Sometimes he didn’t. Sometimes they were high calorie. Sometimes they weren’t. But since I’ve been making special meals in batches, I know that:

a. His meals are balanced (grain, vegetable, fruit, protein, dairy, fat/sugar)
b. His meals are calorie rich (hello, thirty-pound little boy! So glad you can walk and I don’t only have to carry you now!)
c. He will probably like his meal
d. I will have food when mealtime arrives (lower stress)
e. I no longer am grossed out by any of his meals! (umm… ever try blending random leftovers together?)

I make three four-cup batches each time I “cook” for Jordan. I store them in glass mason jars, because that’s convenient. So he eats his usual breakfast of:

Breakfast
About 1 1/4 cup flavored yogurt
About 2 Tablespoons of whole wheat flour
About 1 Tablespoon of milk
Liquid Multivitamin
About 350 calories

Then during the day, he eats two bowls of the prepared meals; one for lunch and a different one for dinner. He eats about 1 1/3 cups in a full bowl.

• For consistency: He needs meals that are applesauce/yogurt/only slightly thicker. If it is too sticky, he will not eat it.
• For texture: He can tolerate smooth, small chunks/texture. Little pieces of hamburger are “sticky” in his mouth and don’t slip down his throat easily when he swallows so they’re bad. One piece of food stuck in his mouth and mealtime is probably over, because it upsets him. (No, you cannot force-feed a child.) Pieces of oatmeal are slippery, so they are ok. Most of his meals, however, are all the way smooth. I don’t want to fight him at mealtimes. We can practice hard things other times of the day.
• For temperature and flavor: Jordan prefers cold, sweet foods. So most of his meals are just that.

Three meals (some too thick; oops) and some unstrained almond milk… which I call Almond Puree.

Meal times are for health. We do incorporate learning to meal-times, but right now it doesn’t involve a lot to do with the actual food. We practice communication (Do you want MORE?, Are you ALL DONE?, do you want another BITE?, etc.) and we practice proper manners. Examples of manners: “Look at mommy,” “Put your hands back down,” (Mostly he’s not allowed to hold the chair behind him, keeping his torso twisted), “Keep your hand OUT, no MOUTH!,” “No kicking, no FOOT,” and using super-hero spooning technique to encourage him to take nice bites. (with the spoon not too far in his mouth, closing his mouth properly around the spoon, etc.)

Stressful meals = Jordan not eating. So, my goal has been to make meals that he would consistently find tasty and non-stressful. I can use snacktimes for texture, temperature, and consistency practice. I haven’t done much of that yet, but it will come. What we do already, is after every dinner, we give Jordan ground up graham crackers or a mum mum baby cracker to experiment with. Sometimes we give him a few spoonfuls of yogurt on his tray. One of the biggest challenges with all this is that he likes to throw things off the tray. Not just to see things fall, but just… because. Our dog really likes that most of the big chunks are quickly on the ground. Most of the crumbles, though get swiped up by his wet fingers and sucked on. His hands are still super covered by graham crackers when he’s done… he’s not the most efficient finger-cleaner, oddly enough! 🙂

Back to his actual meals: I looked up how many calories a day a little boy should eat. Google claims 1000 calories is appropriate for a child the size of a 2-3 year old. I suspect his metabolism is fairly slow, so despite him being 3 1/2, he may need even fewer than 1000. Regardless, there’s only one way to find out how much he needs. The fact that he survived (twice) an entire month on almost only yogurt is a testament to how little he can live on, but I do not ever want to have to have an ng tube for this boy. He would be a terror with one of those. Oh my, the messes I can imagine!

Without only slightly more ado, here is a list of the blended meal recipes I’ve been making for Jordan. Each meal makes approximately 4 cups. Each serving of 1 1/3 cups is a minimum of 250 calories. You can tell that these meals were created based on what I had on hand and adjusted to make them sufficient calories. The process of making a variety of meals has helped prepare me for making meals for him without a notebook in front of me. Practice makes perfect! Someday I hope to tempt him with some savory meals. But until then… sweet and smooth and cold is the name of the day.

Almond Puree – added to many of the meals:
8 oz. dry almonds, soaked (1280 calories)
2 T white sugar (90 calories)
6 oz. dried plums from Costco (400 calories)
4 cups water
Makes 7 cups prepared, which is about 253 calories per cup

Almond puree

NOTES:
Approximate calories to the left.
t = teaspoon
T = tablespoon
c = cup
*I often trade out cooked oatmeal for cooked rice.
*About 4 cups, or 3 meals per batch. Divide the total by 3 to see how much he’s eating per meal. Remember the goal right now is about 1000 calories per day for Jordan, or 333 calories per meal. Breakfast is 350, so we’re off to a good start.
*Most of these meals have the moisture content figured out. Some are too thick. I add a little milk to these and adjust the recipe in my little book for later.
*Watch out for beans and pear sauce for causing loose stools….
*1 cup of mashed potatoes, plain is about 180 calories. 1 cup of sweet potatoes is about 250.

Recipe 1:
270 – 1 1/4 cup brown rice (cooked)
336 – 1 1/4 cup beans (cooked)
97 – 3/4 cup peas or corn
63 – 3/4 cup blueberries
125 – 1/2 cup almond milk puree
120 – 2 T honey
240 – 2 T olive oil
1251 calories total (417 calories per meal)

Recipe 2:
150 – 1/2 c dry oatmeal (cooked in 1 c milk)
120 – the 1 c. milk
84 – 1 c blueberries
230 – 1 c yogurt
140 – 2 eggs, cooked
125 – 1/2 c sweet potatoes
125 – 1/2 c almond puree
976 calories total

Recipe 3:
253 – 1 c almond puree
249 – 1 c sweet potato, cooked
130 – 1 c peas or corn
230 – 1 c beans
120 – 2 T honey
240 – 2 T olive oil
100 – 1/4 c whole wheat flour
30 – 1/4 c milk
1352 calories total

Recipe 4:
200 – 2 bananas
150 – 1/2 c dry oatmeal
120 – cooked in 1 c milk
125 – 1/2 c almond puree
51 – 1/2 c applesauce
188 – 2 T peanut butter (I use an off brand of Adam’s type PB)
56 – 2 T coconut milk
180 – 1 scoop protein powder
60 – 1/2 c peas or corn
1132 calories total (still plenty of calories without the protein scoop)

Recipe 5:
200 – 2 bananas
216 – 1 c brown rice, cooked
249 – 1 c sweet potato, cooked
125 – 1/2 c almond puree
56 – 2 T coconut milk
240 – 2 T olive oil
1086 calories total

Recipe 6:
225 – 1 c. cottage cheese (4%)
150 – 1/2 c dry oatmeal
120 – cooked in 1 c. milk
102 – 1 c applesauce
115 – 1/2 c yogurt
120 – 1 c corn or peas
832 calories total

Recipe 7:
102 – 1 c applesauce
249 – 1 c sweet potatoes, cooked
135 – 1/2 c beans, cooked
115 – 1/2 c yogurt
125 – 1/2 c almond puree
112 – 1/4 c coconut milk
108 – 1/2 c rice
909 calories total

Recipe 8:
150 – 1/2 c dry oatmeal
120 – cooked in 1 c milk
249 – 1 c sweet potatoes, cooked
200 – 2 bananas
112 – 1/4 c coconut milk
51 – 1/2 c applesauce
60 – 1/2 c peas or corn
942 calories total

Recipe 9:
30 – 1/4 c milk
50 – 1 c pumpkin, cooked
380 – 1/4 c peanut butter (that’s 4 T)
216 – 1 c cooked brown rice
102 – 1 c pear sauce (or apple)
103 – 1/4 c wheat germ (because I had extra – whole wheat flour is the same calories)
66 – 1/2 c corn
42 – 1/2 c frozen fruit
989 calories total

Recipe 10:
210 – 1 c vanilla yogurt
150 – 1/2 c dry oatmeal
120 – cooked in 1 c milk
50 – 1 c pumpkin (cooked)
80 – 1 c frozen fruit
95 – 1 T peanut butter
180 – 1 scoop protein powder
100 – 1 banana
985 calories total

Recipe 11:
225 – 1 c cottage cheese
80 – 1 c frozen fruit
66 – 1/2 c corn or peas
206 – 1/2 c wheat germ (or whole wheat flour)
150 – 1/2 c dry oatmeal
120 – cooked in 1 c milk
125 – 1/2 c almond puree
974 calories total

Recipe 12:
225 – 1 c cottage cheese
227 – 1 c beans
150 – 1 c pear/apple sauce
40 – 1/2 c frozen fruit
108 – 1/2 c cooked brown rice
60 – 1 T honey
120 – 1 T olive oil
930 calories total

Recipe 13:
30 – 1/4 c milk
249 – 1 c sweet potato
216 – 1 c cooked brown rice
210 – 1 c vanilla yogurt
120 – 1 T olive oil
1022 calories total

Recipe 14:
210 – 1 c vanilla yogurt
225 – 1 c cottage cheese
216 – 1 c cooked brown rice
103 – 1/4 c wheat germ
186 – 3/4 c sweet potato
940 calories total (seem like this one was a little thick)

Recipe 15:
200 – 2 bananas
50 – 1 c pumpkin puree
205 – 1 c beans (switch with rice if you’re having explosive diaper issues!)
103 – 1/4 c wheat germ (or whole wheat flour)
376 – 1/4 c peanut butter
66 – 1/2 c corn or peas
30 – 1/4 c milk
930 calories total

Recipe 16
200 – 2 bananas
50 – 1 c pumpkin puree
205 – 1 c beans (or rice)
50 – 1/2 c pear sauce
180 – 1 scoop protein powder
120 – 1 T olive oil
105 – 1/2 c vanilla yogurt
810 calories total

Recipe 17
200 – 2 bananas
150 – 1/2 c dry oatmeal
120 – cooked in 1 c milk
210 – 1 c vanilla yogurt
132 – 1 c corn
94 – 1 T peanut butter
30 – 1/4 c milk
836 calories total

Next up – take one on homemade pediasure! Typing it up now….

This is what I call failed, disgusting pudding pediasure.