Tamale Making 2014

Almost immediately after my parents left I decided I absolutely had to have homemade tamales. I've made them a couple of times before and it's a LOT of work! I wish I'd decided to make them while they were still here.  

Cooking/shredding the meat and making the masa is pretty much a day's work. Spreading the masa and rolling the tamales really needs to happen on the second day if you want to walk upright to bed (vs. crawl) . That's the way it is for me, anyway. I'm sure there are plenty of people who can do it all in one day but not me. When I grew up tamale making happened at my Grandmother's (we grandkids call her "Mom") house and there were usually 6-8 people around the table working together. Fortunately, I was able to enlist Dave's help this year. I spread the masa and he filled, rolled, and tied them. Solana actually spread a few, too, but then decided she had better things to do. She did about 3, I think. Maybe next year she'll do a whole half dozen :-)

We made about 11 dozen of mostly pork and also some bean/jalapeno tamales. They came out pretty good but I think I overcooked them just a bit.

I love tamales! They're especially good with a nice big guacamole salad and maybe some refried beans with Spanish rice. Yum! 

Thanksgiving 2012

We enjoyed a wonderfully laid back and delicious Thanksgiving this year. Our friends, Dave, Ann and little David joined us. They live about 40 minutes away in the middle of nowhere and we don't get together with them nearly enough. Dave has been Dave's best friend for 15ish years. They've worked together in California, Germany, Colorado, and now Ohio. We met Ann when she and Dave first started dating and they've known Solana since she was just a wee lass. Solana adores Ann and always insists on being next to her. I think it hurts Dave's feelings a bit because she used to be more smitten with him when she was smaller. Ann took over as the favorite Fay sometime in past couple of years.  When we found out they wouldn't have any family in town for Thanksgiving we quickly decided to celebrate together. I was so glad they joined us. I prefer Thanksgiving with a group. It's much more fun cooking all that food when I know other people will enjoy it!

Dave bought flowers and I just had to get one picture with them on the table. Check out that beautiful turkey! It was a doozey. I signed up for a 12 pounder at the farmer's market a couple of months ago but their turkeys grew much bigger than expected and I ended up with a 17 pounder!!! Ann brought yummy green bean casserole (to the dismay of my Dave who doesn't eat mushroom-tainted dishes). I also made the best rolls of my life, corn bread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, and spinach salad. This was the first year I left off the sweet potato casserole with marshmallows but I had to pull back at least one of the carb dishes. Next year I think I might actually try decorating the table...

4 adults and 3 kids barely managed to finish off one side of the turkey breast!

Solana sitting next to Ann. Solana chowed down on a roll before we even got any food on her plate. The rolls were definitely a hit and probably the kids' favorite part of the meal.

Dave and soon-to-be big brother David. David is a popular name around here!

I was proud of my pecan pie but the girls loved Ann's grasshopper pie more. Hmph.

After dinner we were all very full - or at least the adults were full. David ate two rolls and was done. Chloe took three bites and was done. At least I was able to get most of her food down by chasing her around the house with a fork and shoving fork-fulls of food in her mouth as she played. It's one of my new tricks. Oh the things we do to get our kids fed! We decided to walk off our full bellies and make room for pie. 

Ann was cracking up at Chloe telling everyone, "FOLLOW ME," as she trailed behind.

We have much to be thankful for.

She Ate a Banana

Oh...my...Gosh...She...ate...a...BANANA!

(Solana ate half a banana and left the other half on the table. Then she forgot to push her chair in.)

Working on Eating

We've been working with Chloe on using a spoon and fork for months now. She's very interested in the idea of feeding herself but she just can't seem to get the dip-and-scoop motion to work for her. She'll take her spoon and tap it furiously into her food but just can't scoop any food onto it. Months. Every single day I put a spoon into her hand and we work on it. For three meals a day. It's becoming tiresome. But on the bright side, she can put the spoon in her mouth. She gets angry if I try to take the spoon away from her and sometimes she won't let me guide her hand to do the scoop so we sometimes use two spoons (or forks). I'll get the food onto one utensil and hand it to her. As she puts it into her mouth I'll sneak the other utensil from her other hand.

Chloe's Occupational Therapist made these nifty bent spoons and forks. They're supposed to help her get the food into her mouth easier by requiring less of a wrist bend to point it toward her mouth. Getting it into her mouth isn't the problem, though...

The bent spoons can only be used with one hand, and we're not sure whether Chloe is a righty or a lefty, so we have some of each. (Solana's a strong lefty so we're suspicious that Chloe will be, too. Well, I'm suspicious...Dave's pleased.) The bent spoons seem to make feeding time even more difficult and frustrating for Chloe, though, because she likes switching back and forth. They were briefly interesting but didn't help so we've given up on them.

All of this self-feeding business has really put a cramp in Chloe's food consumption. We spend so much time and energy trying to eat that it creates a bit of tension for her and she's acting out a bit. She'll refuse to eat unless certain conditions are met. And with her limited communication skills it takes a bit of work to figure out her conditions. The other day I couldn't figure out what she wanted. Do you want to hold this fork? Do you want to try and scoop? Can I just feed you? How about another spoon? Do you want a drink? She refused all my suggestions and began wailing and flailing at the table. I was at a loss. Then Solana offered to feed Chloe. I resigned to another seat and Solana moved over to the Mommy chair.

Chloe opened wide and happily took a bite. And another. And another. Little sister ate it up...literally.

In the meantime, Solana was taking bites to demonstrate proper eating technique for Chloe and finished her own food in record time.

Big sister asked me if I was jealous. "A little," I admitted. But I was also thrilled.

"Teeeez" (Cheese)

Today was the third time Solana took over the reigns. She wasn't quite as successful as the first couple of times but still did better than I.

It's nice to have a little helper around. I'm thankful for my Solana. I am hopeful for my Chloe.

Aloo Gobi - A Vegetable Miracle

Chloe still eats almost all her fruits and vegetables in puree form. There are very few exceptions:

Raisins, prunes, small apple cubes (she'll only eat a few at a sitting), sweet potato fries, ummmmm.....I think that's it. She'd probably eat other dried fruit, probably banana chips, too. But those always seem to have added sugar and I'm not interested in that.

I puree everything else: peas, carrots, berries, bananas, mango, peach, pear, asparagus, broccoli, onion, fennel, cabbage, corn, you name it. Note: Most of these are part of recipes that I cook. I don't just steam plain cabbage and puree it for her. I can usually get away with mashing any type of squash or potato. But, for the most part, Chloe is not in the least interested in eating pieces of fruit or vegetable. As soon as the first piece hits her mouth her tongue sticks out to block further entrance past her lips. I usually give it a shot and then head back to the kitchen to mix it up for her.

Tonight I put a bowl of Arti Sequiera's Aloo Gobi in front of her. This is an Indian version of Cauliflower and Potatoes cooked in a simple wet masala. We love it and I've made it several times. The potatoes and cauliflower are pretty soft after cooking. I expected to mash them with my fork and maybe add some yogurt to make it creamier for her but I usually at least try it whole before mashing/pureeing. (Maybe a mustard bowl wasn't the best choice for a picture.)

I stabbed a little piece of potato for Chloe to try and was just a little bit surprised that she ate it. She does eat sweet potato fries so I wasn't floored. But then I stabbed a little piece of cauliflower for her. She gobbled it up and went in for more! Now that was a surprise. Ok. Maybe she'll eat a couple of bites before she says 'no.' I let her go and she ended up eating the whole plate! I was so excited - doing big eyes at Dave and wiggling around in my seat. It may seem weird but this is SUCH A BIG DEAL! It wasn't the fact that she was eating Indian spices - I make Indian food about once a week. It was the fact that she ate a non-mushed or pureed bite of vegetable! She stabbed it with a fork, put it in her mouth, chewed, and swallowed...repeatedly!

Seemingly little things are big things around here :-)

Eating Update

Baby steps. We're progressing ever so slowly and this does not surprise me one bit. That's been Chloe's style from the beginning. She's always moving forward - you just have to look very closely to notice :-)

This is certainly how it's been with eating. Chloe will eat absolutely anything I offer her. Fruit. Vegetable. Meat. Cheese. Tofu. Bland. Strong Flavors. Spicy. You name it. She'll eat it. That is....as long as it's pureed. I've been trying to offer her new stuff but I've also been kind of lazy about pushing the issue. I figure she'll get there...eventually.

Then a neighbor brought her 5 year old daughter over for a play date with Solana. Her daughter is also vision impaired and will only eat crunchy foods. Nothing mushy. Period. No mac-n-cheese. No mashed potatoes. No grilled cheese. Nothing. She mentioned an online support group that she reads and recently noted several parents with school-age kids who only eat pureed food! Goodness gracious! As much as I love making baby food; I really don't want to be doing it when Chloe's in the 3rd grade! Boy did that light a fire under my bootie!

Here's the good news. Although she's still refusing outright slimy or mushy finger foods (diced banana or pear, for example) she's recently accepted a few foods that had me just about jumping for joy.

-Chopped up pasta with bolognese sauce (I made the bolognese and chopped up the ground beef/pork really small.) This is the first ground meat she's eaten that wasn't pureed! -Scrambled eggs! She fed herself two bites by hand! No gagging or pushing it out with her tongue. She actually chewed (gummed) it up and swallowed! Yippeeee! Then, to top it off, I spoon fed her the rest of the egg mixed up with roasted root vegetable puree. She ate the entire egg! This was a huge deal. I've offered her scrambled eggs several times before. She's never tolerated one little bit.

-Mexican-style chicken and rice.

-She also fed herself a spoonful of peanut butter. (Embarrassing admission - I'd never let her feed herself with the spoon before.)

-Halfway through this entry I stopped for lunch and made Chloe this recipe from a friend's blog. I chopped up some leftover pasta, cooked it in olive oil with some crushed garlic, broke an egg into the mix, scrambled, and finally mixed in a bunch of freshly grated parmasiano reggiano. She actually ate quite a bit! And the cool thing was that there was no "sauce" (ie. pureed vegetable) on it. It took forever and I think her little jaw is unaccustomed to chewing. After 30 minutes I warmed up a cube of pureed ranchero beans and added them to the mix and she finished it off more easily. All of these foods require chewing and she's willing to do it now. This is pretty cool.

Scrambled eggs with pureed root vegetables. Look at how chunky that is! Her faces were cracking me up. These were smiles, by the way. She really was enjoying it. I swear. "Look Mommy! I just ate two bites of scrambled egg!" You can actually see some of it in her mouth :-) (Ignore the filthy bib. This is the ONLY time I've ever put a dirty bib on her. Hehehe)

A peanut allergy's nightmare.

Chloe gets her first taste of Life cereal. She's not shy about diving into Solana's bowl.

Go Ahead. Prove Me Wrong.

Do your kids relish an opportunity to prove you wrong? Mine does and she's not even talking! I walked away from the table today during lunch and when I returned Chloe had grabbed her cup off the table and was drinking away. "Who gave her that cup???" I asked. Dave, sitting on the couch, shrugged and Solana looked at me blankly.
Tonight at dinner Chloe took about 5 sips from her cup. And three of those sips were taken while holding the cup herself. Go ahead, Chloe. Prove me wrong when I say you can't drink from your cup yet. I don't mind.
Little turkey.

Oh yeah! And she ate two whole macaroni noodles at our neighbor's house last night! That is a Big...Deal!