Tubie and Non-Tubie Foodie

Food, as you know, is a big deal in this house. It seems I am always thinking about food! If it's not what's for supper, it's what will the kids eat to get their calorie goal met, to how much do I blend to make this work, to why it didn't work so I can tweak it next time. Needless to say, food is a major part of our lives. It gets tiring thinking about it, but it doesn't have to be hard. 

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On a good eating day we still struggle a lot. I need to be creative in order to help them succeed in meeting their calorie goal orally. One idea I use is the food tray. 

I pull out two ice cube trays and fill each spot with something they like. I did it this week on a particularly hard day. Here is what I have in each space from bottom to top:

First Picture (bottom to top)

Carrots

Pears

Strawberries

Gluten/Casein free cheese

Gluten free turkey

Plums 

 Second Picture (bottom to top)
Carrots
Pears
Strawberries
Gluten-free turkey
Plums
Blueberries

I added two skewers so the kids could either use them to eat their food or could make almost a kabob out of the different foods in any combination they wanted. For some reason removing the forks and adding skewers opens them up most of the time. 

If you don't have ice cube trays (which you can get them for $1 for 2 of them at Dollar General type stores), you can use other things such as muffin tins, muffin cups placed in an 8x8 baking dish, or anything small that you can find multiple of in your home. 

Of course there are days when even fun foods like this won't help them eat. On those days I pull out my Vitamix and begin blending. Sometimes I blend for the day. Sometimes I blend for a single meal. Sometimes I blend after they have attempted to eat and I use what's left of their meal. Each day is different in the dietary need they have. 

Blending foods can lead to some ... interesting (yeah, that's the word I will use) ... colors. But sometimes, some rare times, I get some pretty colors. Yesterday is the perfect example. 

Come on, PURPLE!! 

Ignore the extension that's yellow. One of the meds discolors them the second I use it. It's a clean extension.

So, how does one get a purple blend? It's pretty simple. Let me share the recipe.

Ingredients

• 3 slices of gluten/casein free turkey lunch meat
• 1 banana
• 1 Cup almond milk
• 1 handful blueberries
• 1 carrot

Directions

1. In a high powered blender (we use a Vitamix) add the almond milk and then the rest of your ingredients
2. Start your blender on low speed, slowly building up speed as the ingredients begin to incorporate. 
3. Turn on the high speed and blend for about 1 minute (blueberries can be grainy, this keeps you from having to strain your blend). 
4. Turn off the high speed and slow back the speed down to the lowest setting. 

After blending this I got the notion in my head to taste it. I am not sure why, maybe it was the pretty color drawing me to it. I have to admit, if this was cold (it was slightly warm), I would drink it as a smoothie. It was delicious. It tasted like bananas with a touch of blueberry flavor. You couldn't taste anything else in the blend, not even the meat. Just a note in case you have a kiddo who would like a smoothie to take orally. 

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