One thing I get asked for a lot as a parent are my favourite family-friendly recipes. We caught a break with a toddler who continues to eat a wide variety of foods and flavours and who loves to try new things. Sometimes she spits those new bites right back out, but she is always eager to try. We have taken a very casual approach to mealtime and have given her the freedom to choose how much of what is served she will eat. This has eliminated the stress and constant bartering that many parents experience at the table and has allowed us to just enjoy each others company instead. We sing, we laugh, we visit. I love eating and visiting with my friends and family, so we try to create the same atmosphere around our table.
Right from the get-go, we exposed our daughter to a variety of flavours and textures. I was very fortunate to have the time and energy to make all of her food from scratch and I used the recipes and guidance from a really great cookbook I was given as a baby shower gift, The Best Baby Food. The recipes really do live up to the title. It was written by a dad of four/chef and a nutritionist so the author really knows his shit. By the age of one, my daughter had eaten more things than I have tried as an adult and every recipe I made, tasted good enough to have eaten myself. It was just plain luck that someone had chosen this book for me because it was a total winner and one I recommend to everyone. It was also during this time that I mastered the art of making and freezing portioned meals. This has been one of my greatest successes as a mother. And my recent purchase of silicone muffin pans in an assortment of sizes has been a real game changer. I was using my steel muffin pans to portion and freeze but unmoulding your goods from those pans is a pain in the ass. You either have to let them thaw a bit so they slide out which is messy, or you can try and loosen them with a knife and scratch all your good bakeware like I did. I strongly encourage you to skip that phase and get right to the good stuff. Now that my daughter is eating everything we eat, I use the regular size pans for freezing toddler-size sauce portions and the jumbo size for soups and chilis. I make large batches of everything I can to save me prep and cooking time later on. Then I replenish our freezer as needed and cook new things when I feel like it or have time. This has worked so well for our family and really makes mealtimes much easier. Last week we ran out of our favourite chili recipe from Ambitious Kitchen. It is also aptly named the "best" and does not disappoint. I double the recipe in my gigantic stock pot; it's a little excessive but the largest pot in my cookware set gets dangerously full to the brim. I swap the diced tomatoes for crushed for my husband who hates them and I use two cups of frozen corn instead of canned because canned veg give me the creeps. I've also grilled fresh corn and cut off the cob when I have time. I use ground chicken instead of turkey because it's usually what we have in our freezer from Cool Springs Ranch. Sasky folk, if you're looking for quality meat, give them a look. The Regina window for ordering is open now!
This chili has a Mexican vibe so you can top accordingly. I went with sour cream, a little cheese, pickled jalapeƱos, sliced avocado, and croutons. Crushed tortilla chips are also delicious. I don't find this to be spicy at all and my two-year-old gobbles it up, "kitty beans" included. Throw it on your menu for next week and let me know how you liked it!
Get the recipe: The Best Healthy Turkey Chili at Ambitious Kitchen
2 Comments
Marie
6/3/2017 06:06:10 pm
Love your blogg Michelle and you for taking such great care of your family💜
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