Tag Archives: toddler meals

Can I Eat a Successful Meal at a Restaurant with a Toddler?

Posted on by
6

Here is the answer you wanted… YES! A local store asked this question and I was quick to respond with an answer. I decided to elaborate with a full post on the topic!

The key to a perfectly lovely meal in public with your toddler is to set your child up for success in a restaurant environment.

Munchkin is 3 1/2 (how did this happen!) and she has only been removed (by us) from a restaurant one time (we found out the next day she was SUPER sick- double ear infections/bronchitis ugh!). I think it is VERY important to set your child up for success out in public. Set the boundaries early and you won’t have to do much to have a well behaved child in public. I have taken the girls a bunch by myself and they both behave well (most of the time!).

Here are my tips that have worked over the last almost 4 years!

Do Not Attempt a Meal when your Child is Tired

I don’t care how hungry everyone is… this is why some one invented the drive thru.  No kiddo is going to happily sit through a meal if they are overtired. I would also NEVER attempt a full shopping trip at the grocery store when they are that tired either. This can happen at nap time or bedtime.

Do your best to get to the restaurant before you child believes he/she is starving!

Is your child actually starving.. no! But haven’t we all been there… believing there was no way the waitress was going to make it to our table before we ate our arms off! Now explain to a toddler who has limited verbal skills that the sweet guy or gal is doing their best to get the food out. We try and get to a restaurant around 11/11:30 or right around 5pm to avoid the busy times too.

Bring snacks!

See above… It is quite possible you have a starving child on your hands. Having your own provisions to avoid this is key. Cherrios, squeeze apple sauce, anything will do. This should give the waitress/waiter time to find some bread to entertain your kiddo for a minute or two!

We LOVE these in our house! Both girls can eat one in about 2 minutes :)

Order your Kids Meals ASAP

We always order the girls’ meals with our drink order. This gives them a start on it in the kitchen. Also, tell the wait staff to please bring out their meals first!

This Menu is from LoneStar Steakhouse ... looks yummy!

Entertainment is Crucial to Success

You can’t expect idle chatter to entertain your toddler. Nor can you expect 3 crayons and paper menu to be the golden ticket. We had a bag of quiet toys that could be easily wiped clean ready to go in the car at all times. Some favorite toys are- puzzles, links with toys attached, color wonder markers, little plastic figurines (any character your kid likes), some little matchbox cars, extra crayons and paper , stickers, mini Slinkies, and some books. These toys may seem run of the mill but… they are special because they are only in the bag! A dollar store/bin is a great place to find most of these items. Let’s face it they will be near food and it is highly likely they will end up in ketchup. Plus, if you forget one at a restaurant it isn’t a huge deal.

These markers are great because they can't stain fabrics or wood!

Smart Phones, Tablets, and iPads OH MY!

I am going to start this by saying I have a smart phone and a tablet, Munchkin has an Innotab kid’s tablet. So I am in NO way against kids using technology!  But there is a time and place for everything! I have had the occasional meal where things moved slower than molasses. However, a typical meal is on the table within 15-20 Minutes. So if you pack a bag of toys there should be plenty for your kiddo to stay occupied during the wait time.  Munchkin rarely gets to use my phone. However, she enjoys a puzzle app and some matching games from time to time. This usually happens when I am finishing up a conversation or my meal. She doesn’t watch movies on it because I want her to be part of the family… kids should be able to talk and communicate during the meals too!

The iPhone

What do I do if all of the above fails…

Nothing is fool proof… there I said it! Now before you start mumbling “I thought she said we could have a successful meal out with our toddler”… give me a second to explain. There will be a time or two your child will test you… even if you have set him/her up for success. This is when you provide the Exit Strategy. Yup I said it… EXIT! There is no point tainting someone else’s dining experience. Let’s be honest you aren’t enjoying your food either if your kiddo is acting this way.

The way  I  see it… You have two options:

1. Get everyone’s food to go. If you are with your spouse/or a friend remove the child, while boxes are packaged and the bill is paid. You will feel much less stressed eating your burger reheated at home instead of fighting off glares from the booth next to you.

2. This works great if you have multiple children… Have one parent take the offending child to the car. They can eat there. While the other parent is in the restaurant with the other children. Now my parents did this with us when we were little (I ate in the car at Friendly’s and my sister had to at the Coach Diner- Left a LASTING impression on me over 20 years later I can vividly remember it!). My parents then rewarded the behaving child with a dessert! They didn’t say you earned this… but guess what?!? When we got into the car we were soo excited to share. Made the other sibling think twice about misbehaving in the restaurant. Never know what you are going to miss out on… when you are eating in the car!

What are some of your tips or tricks for eating out at a restaurant with kids?

 

Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce Review and Giveaway!!

Posted on by
24

A fellow Blogging Mom sent me an email  that Country Bob was looking for bloggers to do a review and giveaway! I sent in a request not sure if I would  get selected… but I DID! Needless to say, I was super bummed because the package arrived right before I went away for a weekend.

So you know as soon as we got back I made something with it! Now I didn’t get too wild and crazy and there are TONS of recipes on their site, we just had some chicken breasts marinated in Country Bob’s  All Purpose sauce.  Now let me tell you, we eat a lot of chicken at our house but these had some of the BEST flavor.

1/2 the Chicken Breast was eaten prior to the photo! Oops... we were SOO excited to try it!

I did nothing to the chicken breasts but do a drizzle of the All Purpose Sauce on each, and bake covered in foil. We ALL loved them. Of course Munchkin had to dip hers in Ketchup (Sorry Country Bob!), Peanut was impressed, and Rand McNally and I dipped into MORE Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce. A family pleasing sauce.

This really is an All Purpose Sauce, we were discussing what we want to try it on next.  I want to try it on a Burger and Rand McNally wants to make some ribs and use this!  Really it would be awesome on ANY meat!

The flavor is definitely intense. We both loved the smoky flavor. We are going to be buying more and I can’t wait until the spring to get this on the grill!

OK… are you drooling yet? I am and I have some of my bottle in my fridge! Do you want a bottle of your own for free?!?!

Here’s How:

You get an entry for each of the following you do… Giveaway Ends on 12/24

  1. Leave a comment telling me what you want to try Country Bob’s All Purpose Sauce on.
  2. Like Mae’s Got This on Facebook
  3. Like Country Bob’s on Facebook
  4. Follow Mae’s Got This on Twitter
  5. Follow Country Bob’s on Twitter
  6. Share this on your Twitter
  7. Share this on your Facebook!

Disclosure: I received the above product for review purposes only. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Vegetable Tortellini Soup

Posted on by
2

This soup is amazing. Seriously, jam packed with veggies and easy to make! I am blessed with kids  that love to eat their veggies. In fact, Munchkin would prefer vegetables over meat and even over candy! Peanut is still in the phase where she will eat ANYTHING you put in front of her. (I now know that this will mean NOTHING when she is 18 months-3 years old.)

Now the girls are great veggie eaters, Rand McNally… Not so much! Usually, when I ask him to chop up something for a soup it is soo tiny you can barely recognize what it is. Even HE liked this soup!

It was another Pinterest inspired recipe. Sorry Google, I am finding more things there and searching often!

If you are anything like me, you are probably still enjoying plates full of mashed potatoes and stuffing. However, in a few days when you are completely over those leftovers this is a quick and perfect meal for a family on these soon to be cold nights!

Vegetable Tortellini Soup

Adapted from Family Fun

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 medium onion chopped
  • 1 clove chopped garlic
  • 1 small zucchini  diced (think  the size of an inch)
  • 1 medium carrot peeled and diced
  • 1 cup of chopped spinach
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil (more if fresh)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 28 oz canned crushed tomatoes
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 8 to 9 ounces fresh or frozen tortellini (cheese or meat)
  • Shredded Mozzarella Cheese (as desired)
  • Black pepper, to taste

Directions

Heat the olive oil in a medium soup pot or the one I usually boil pasta in. Add the  garlic, onion, zucchini, and carrots. Saute over moderate heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until the onion is soft and translucent.

Add the stock, basil, bay leaf, spinach and tomatoes. Increase the heat and bring the mixture to a low boil, reduce and simmer for about 15 minutes.  If you like super mushy veggies cook it for longer.

Add the tortellini and bring the soup back to a low boil. Cook it for 2 minutes, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for another 5 minutes longer. (Tortellini will float when they are cooked!)

This would be VERY tasty with some garlic bread. Like I said, we  all enjoyed this!

 

 

What’s for Lunch, Baby?

Posted on by
1

I had a friend ask me this question, what do are my go to lunches for the girls?  This is a tricky question. Peanut is just over 8 months and Munchkin is 3 years and a few months.  Right now they aren’t eating the same thing because Peanut isn’t ready for everything that Munchkin can eat! That being said there are many things they can both have!

The key to feeding kids is try to serve the rainbow. You want their plate to be colorful! Color comes from fruits and vegetables.

One of my favorite go to sites for ideas for baby/toddler meals is Wholesome Toddler Food. They have lots of great suggestions and easy recipes. I am going to give you a list of some of our standby foods.  I will let you in on our  food style. We try to avoid canned and processed foods.  I will admit there are things that I don’t do this for but when it comes to the girls I really try to keep to this!

Breakfast 

  • Pancakes/Waffles/french toast- I make a big batch and freeze them in zip lock bags. I pull what I need that AM (usually what Munchkin decides) and microwave them for  15-30 seconds and voila breakfast! Much cheaper than the box pancakes and waffles
  • Bagels with cream cheese or no/low sugar jam or both!
  • toast with cream cheese/peanut butter/sun butter(made from sunflower seeds- baby friendly!)/jam
  • scrambled eggs w/cheese
  • baby omelets-add peppers/tomatoes/carrot shreds/zucchini shreds/any veggie works
Lunch and Dinner
  • Boil Baby Carrots  they are easy to hold and they can gnaw on them! (Great cold for teething too!)
  • peas/corn/carrots/ green beans(cut up small)- We use frozen veggies mostly because they are picked at their freshest and then flash frozen. You can find everything w/o sodium if you look. Canned veggies have TONS of unneeded salt.
  • cut up pasta
  • meat that is either shredded or cut up into soft manageable bits- boil one chicken breast and you have meat for days!
  • mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes
  • shredded cheese
  • tortillas/quesadillas
  • grilled cheese (Munchkin prefers the healthier sans butter route- bread + cheese + Microwave for 15 seconds
  • baked apples, peaches cut up
  • mango/banana/avocado/smashed blueberries you can coat them in cereal dust for easy pick up
I wanted to add, I really try to feed both Munchkin and Peanut bits of whatever we are eating, I just break it into really tiny bites for Peanut.  I rarely make Munchkin something different for dinner than what we are having. Don’t be afraid of flavor! Add garlic, onion, peppers … whatever you use! There really isn’t a need for salt or butter though. Kids don’t know what it tastes like and like junk food will learn to love it in good time!
Ok so this is a start… be sure and check with your doctor about some of the food allergy concerns.  I will do a follow-up post as more ideas pop into my mind!