In the effort to find a breakfast menu for Baby A that fills her, is healthy and is something she likes to eat, I have experimented with a few healthy muffin recipes.
The first one was a banana and oatmeal one that I thought was only ok. Baby A was a big fan though.
The second one was basically a veggie muffin. I know you've seen these, shredded veggies baked in muffins, posing as desserts. This one was actually pretty good.
I didn't add the coconut because I don't like coconut and I used raisins instead of cherries. I also skipped the pecans because these are for Baby A and I'm not actually sure if she's had baked goods with nuts, I don't typically use them, so I left them out just for good measure. I really enjoyed these but Baby A wasn't as enthusiastic about them. They're lower in fat and calories than the banana oatmeal ones but I thought they were tastier.
I also did a zucchini bread that I am really enjoying. I substituted applesauce for the oil and cut the sugar in half. It still came out really good. I was worried it wouldn't have any sweetness to it, but I managed to eat half a loaf by myself with no trouble. I haven't had Baby A try that one yet. My husband made his 'special' oatmeal for her this morning so tomorrow we'll try the bread.
In addition I've been going for greater variety to help add to the overall quantity, ending in something I know she loves, i.e. strawberry yogurt. Normally, I give her plain greek yogurt with granola added in and some fresh fruit if it's in season. I try to keep the processed sugars to a minimum and while Yopliat can advertise all they want about how healthy they are and how many people lose weight eating a low fat yogurt for breakfast or a snack, if you actually look at the sugar content on those, it's pretty high.
However, back to the title of this post healthy vs happy. The discussion I had with my husband about her eating was mainly centered around the fact that she does eat very well, not huge quantities, but if we can get her to eat the healthy stuff first (the bowl of cheerios with a banana) and then top it off with some yummy yogurt that I know she'll stuff in there no matter what, maybe that's worth the sugar.
She is a funny girl though. She just doesn't overeat, and I hate to try and break that habit, it's a good one to have. She's so set about it that she has given back a half eaten oreo because she was full and didn't want to finish it. My husband just about disowned her at that point.
Mostly I"m just trying to figure out what she needs versus what she wants and how to put something in front of her that I don't have to stand over her and say 'take another bite, take another bite, take another bite, take another bite.' Yes, if I gave her waffles smothered in syrup every day, she'd scarf it down without a word from me. Yes, I will occasionally resort to that when I have to get her out the f-ing door and I don't have time to play around. But really, I need to be teaching her to eat the healthy things too and not to take half an hour to eat one muffin. I'm just not always sure how to do that.
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