One of Mother’s Little Helpers was just one, picky,
little foodie. Finding food that he would eat was more than a challenge.
The first clue that I was going to be in trouble was when
he started on solid food. Most babies start with rice cereal. I proudly had my
box of Gerber’s Rice Cereal, mixed up his first batch and he unceremoniously
spit it out at me.
His pediatrician recommended waiting two months and trying
again.
At eight months of age, I tried again. Epic fail. At his
nine month check-up, she recommended oatmeal cereal. Finally, success!
Along came the terrible-twos. Desperate to find something
he would eat, Old Mother Frugal would give him random tastes of things that I
was eating at any given meal time.
One day, he discovered vanilla yogurt was pretty tasty.
Score one for mom!
If it were not for chick peas, I don’t know he’d have
ever eaten a protein. It’s not clear to me just how many two year olds eat
chick peas, aka garbanzo beans, but this little boy was hooked on them.
Salvation came with the discovery of Campbell’s “Meatball
Alphabet Soup”. The company no longer makes this soup, but it served its
purpose at the time. Mother’s Little Helper had worked up a repertoire of food
items for consumption which was just fine with me…yogurt, chick peas and
meatball alphabet soup.
The pediatrician predicted one day he would eat me out of
house and home. In the meantime, a well stocked pantry of chick peas, his
favorite canned soup and yogurt was all I needed to keep that little boy
happily fed.
SOUND
THE BUGLE: Today’s
tip: Garbanzo beans are great food extenders. Add to soups and salads as an economical
protein or find your favorite hummus recipe and use them as a dip/spread with
vegetables or on a sandwich. One cup of dry beans will yield 3 cups of cooked
beans.
