Feeding Finnley III

After returning home from each of our trips, we have Finnley over to spend the night and how she changes in just a week or two! She is eighteen months now and has a mouthful of teeth and chews her food quite well.   She is talking or singing all the time unless she is “reading” a book. She has a large vocabulary along with a long string of what we call

“ Finnley speaking in tongues”. What a happy, smart child who is a joy to us!

I have had so many requests for more ideas feeding children. I have to make it clear that Finnley does not eat completely raw but she eats a lot of raw foods and her mother has been open to trying different things. I approach feeding Finnley as a grandmother who eats a raw food diet feeding a granddaughter whose parents eat a healthy but cooked diet. I think it is best not to have issues over food choices and be an example for new healthy foods that she will eat. As a grandparent be an inspiration and don’t be judgmental!

So what is she eating now…during the summer she ate a lot of blueberries but they are out of season now, as a mater of fact the last month they were available she would not eat them, maybe they did not taste as good since they were out of season. Finnley is so bright because she ate so many blueberries, a brain food.

She adores bananas, her all time favorite. She likes apples and pears cut up and gobbles up my Cinnamon Applesauce and Apple Cobbler. Soaked raisins make a great snack! Vegetables are more challenging now. She will not touch the Green Pudding from a previous blog entry. She will eat cooked carrot slices sometimes and can chew some raw carrot. About the only thing green she will eat are peas. We get the organic frozen peas and simply thaw them out. Since she is trying to feed herself, peas are quite a challenge with a spoon. The last time she stayed with us, I made her some mashed potatoes using a little olive oil instead of butter, mixing the peas and finely chopped raw carrot in the potatoes, which she loved.  She also likes my dehydrated Vege-Burgers.

She still likes my Biscuits (see feeding Finnley II) and eats the whole grain oat cereal for breakfast along with fruit.  She would not drink anything but milk, no water or fruit juice, so I make sure she gets plenty of juicy fruit to eat, such as grapes and watermelon. This past weekend I asked Gideon (Saba) to open a coconut to see if she would like it… she will drink the coconut water and calls it Saba’s WaWa.

I also make cooked vegan whole grain cous cous, brown rice or whole-wheat pasta dish using humus, and black beans, peas and corn (all of course organic). To help her feed herself with a spoon, the humus holds it together and these items together provide a complete protein.

I hope these recipes along with others from previous Feeding Finnley Blogs will provide some ideas for vegan and raw foods that your children will eat.

Apple Cobbler

By Jackie Graff

Sprout Raw Food

6 golden delicious apples, peeled and cored
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
5 medjool dates, pitted
1 teaspoon vanilla powder
1 cup raisins
2 tablespoons flaxseed, ground fine

1. Place 3 apples, salt, cinnamon, dates, and vanilla in food processor. Process until mixture is almost the consistency of applesauce.
2. Place mixture in a bowl.
3. Chop the 3 remaining apples into small pieces,
4. Mix all of the apples together and add raisins. The raisins will soak up the juice from the apples.
5. Stir in flaxseeds and mix well.
6. Let mixture sit at room temperature for 1 hour to soften the raisins.

Cinnamon Apple Sauce

Created by Jackie Graff

Sprout Raw Food

4 apples peeled and cored
6 pitted medjool dates or more to taste
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground psyllium

1. Place apples in a blender with the dates, cinnamon and salt and blend well.
2. More dates may be added if a sweeter taste is desired.
3. Add psyllium blending well.
4. Let this mixture sit for 5 minutes and blend again.

Shelf life: This keeps well in small jars in the freezer for a month, and will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. The cinnamon acts as a natural food preservative.

Vege-Burger

By Jackie Graff

Sprout Raw Food

2 cups walnuts, soaked 4-6 hours and drained
2 cups sunflower seeds, soaked 4-6 hours and drained
1 onion
1 red pepper
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspoons cumin
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
1 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked 2 hours, drained, and processed into paste
1-2 cups carrot pulp (If no juicer, use finely processed carrots. The slightly moist pulp from the champion works best. Drink the carrot juice!)

1. Place garlic in food processor and process well.
2. Add onion, red pepper, sea salt, cumin, and sun-dried tomato paste in food processor and process until almost smooth. Add sunflower seeds and walnuts processing well. This can also be processed in a 2 hp blender.
3. Add carrot pulp mixing well. Form into 1 ½ inch by ½ inch high burger shape patties and place on a teflex sheet covered dehydrator rack. Make larger patties if desired. The smaller ones work well for children to pick up and hold easily.
4. Place in dehydrator for 8 hours. Remove and turn over using another dehydrator rack, placing it on top and flipping patties over, removing teflex sheet.
5. Dehydrate for 8 hours more. The burgers should be soft in the middle and dry on the outside.

Note: These burgers may be frozen after dehydration.

Let me know if you have more suggestions for feeding babies or toddlers.

Peace and love,

Jackie Graff