a very happy birthday + the easiest from-scratch birthday cake ever

The day after the election is a good day to talk about something light and fluffy, don't you think? Like birthdays. And cake. My favorite cake is carrot cake. What's yours?

There's something about carrot cake. Well, I can't explain it but those who love it know what I'm trying to say. 

Have you ever done that thing where you project your own likes onto your child? Like, "She really likes soft pillows and her bath extra warm" when it's really what you like? Well, I do that with Greta and food. Once, when she wouldn't eat sweet potatoes, one of my favorite (and one of the healthiest) foods, I said, aghast, "but it's your favorite!" Now, when I serve her sweet potatoes, she says, "my favorite!" and gobbles them right up. So on her second birthday, I knew exactly what cake I'd be making her—the same carrot cake mom made me each and every year.

On the way to this decision, I actually tried on other people's carrot cakes, just for fun. I made some healthier, some double deckers and some plain old-fashioneds.  But here's the thing—on a birthday, only the very best will do. That's mom's cake. 

During this journey, here's what I figured out—this is the easiest from-scratch cake, ever. And I mean ever. Like, make on your lunch break (if you work from home) or while the laundry is on the spin-cycles easy. Which is probably why, besides the fact that I love it so much, my mom always made it for me—I'm the third of four kids and my guess is she didn't have a lot of spare time for making cakes.

What she did do is decorate my cakes to the max, aqua-blue pool for a pool party, a yellow-studded pineapple for a luau party, but whenever she’d slice it open, there was my favorite orange cake. I don't have the patience for piping bags lately, so I opted instead to make Greta’s cake these sweet vintage Jell-O molds my sister bought me during my last visit. I didn't do a test run, just buttered and floured the day of the party and crossed my fingers while I put out the rest of the spread.

It was a risk, I admit, baking them blind on the day of the party. I did pour the remaining batter into a quarter sheet pan for backup, but the mini bundts worked like a charm, too. Just one more reason I love and adore this cake—in any shape or size, it rarely disappoints.

Here's the very, very special thing about carrot cake that really must be said—if you want to, you can go ahead and convince yourself it is good for you, and that it’s a perfectly okay cake for kids. It's carrots, after all. While we know it's not exactly health food, I have made a few modifications to my version (whole wheat white flour, less oil, less sugar) that I guarantee you, even if you happened to have come to one of my birthday parties between age 2 and 12 and got hooked like me, you'd never know the difference.

But enough about cake, let's talk about my itty bitty little lady, who I made this cake for. I adore her. Her spirit is huge and happy. Her eyes shine light and joy on the world. She's a little lover, cradling anything from a baby doll to a bath toy in the nook of her arm and showering everyone she knows with hugs and kisses. It doesn't take carrot cake to sweeten her disposition, but like her mamma, she can down a piece like nobody's business. She knows how to have a good time, and she won't quit until you absolutely make her. We are so, so very grateful for two healthy, delicious years with her and for two loving, doting grandparents who drove 19 hours to celebrate with us. Thanks for the recipe Mom, I owe you one! 

While were telling stories, won’t you tell me your best birthday cake ever story, please? And in the meantime, happy birthday sweet Greta pie. Here's a carrot cake to grow on. 

~

The Easiest Carrot Cake Ever + Creamy Cheese Frosting

Serves 12 adults or 24 kids

Cake

4 large eggs

1 ¾ cups raw organic sugar

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

10 oz organic carrot baby food (or 1 1/4 cups carrot puree) 

2 cups white whole-wheat flour 

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Frosting

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

12 oz Neufchâtel or cream cheese, at room temperature

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons agave nectar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 9 by-13-inch pan, quarter sheet pan or 24 muffins or molds. Line the pan with a wide piece of parchment paper cut so that it tucks neatly along 2 opposite sides and hangs over edges by about 1 inch on the other opposite sides to create flaps. Butter and flour the paper or the molds

To make the cake: Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer in a medium bowl on medium-high speed until thick and pale yellow, about 4 minutes. Add the oil and carrot puree. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon and stir into the cake batter until evenly combined. Pour into the prepared pans and bake until the cake spring back lightly when touched, about 40 minutes for a sheet cake, or 20 to 22 minutes for small cakes or cupcakes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.      

Meanwhile, to make the frosting: Make sure the butter and cream cheese are soft but still cool. Beat them together with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy, with no remaining lumps. Sift in the confectioners’ sugar and add agave and vanilla extract. Beat until light and fluffy. 

Spread the frosting evenly over the top of the cooled bars, or top each mini cake with a tuft of frosting. Serve at room temperature.   

P.S. Some 2nd birthday party tips: 

1.  Musical Chairs (or pillows) with sticker prizes is a huge hit with the two-to-three set.

2. If you decide you're going to do face painting at your child's birthday party, by Murphy’s Law, your child will be the only one who doesn't want their face painted. Let them paint your face instead.

Photos and Recipes © Sarah Copeland 2012

Please credit source on Pinterest. All other uses require permission via email.

The Constant Gardener {5 Tricks for Gardening with Toddlers}

This summer, Greta has been my constant companion in the garden. At 19-months, an age of mimic mastery, toddlers are a captive audience to learn to love gardening and the time you spend with them there.

This weekend, when planting tomatoes, Andras dug our holes and Greta and I set the plants deep into the soil, pressing and patting the soil all around them. When I plucked off the lowest shoots or branches, which encourages tomatoes to grow strong and tall, Greta plucked a few (too many) more shoots right off the plant. Oops! But, well done, I had to say. She's a quick learner. The tomatoes will surely survive, and more importantly, Greta is learning how to create and grow something that makes our life richer, healthier and more delicious.

Last year, I posted an article about gardening with babes on Mothering.com. And later, a confession about life in the weeds. Now with a very active toddler, gardening together is more fun than ever before. It's so hilarious to watch Greta march right in with her shovel and rake and get to work.  While it's difficult to explain why we can touch and pick some plants (arugula leaves), and not others (strawberry leaves), for the most part, it's an a peaceful, playful place to be together, and one of constant learning.

I've gone back to revisit my tips with with another year under my mamma gardening belt. Here are my thoughts for Gardening with Toddlers:

Dress the Part: We have boxes of hand-me-downs that get a booking every time we head out to the garden. Dress up in things you don't care about getting soiled since water + soil can lead to one messy babe. That, and the snuggly summer baths afterward, are half the fun.

Say Yes: I love the idea of neat rows of greens and radishes, but I don't want the garden to be a place where I have to use the word "no." So, after planting (and letting go of the ideal of perfect rows), we keep our distance from that portion of the garden until enough shoots are sturdy enough to handle toddler touches. That means planting our way to new corners of the garden until our starting point is deeply rooted, and practicing saying yes when your toddler wants to taste and try, even if it has a ways to grow.

Row By Row: Just like with art projects and games, toddlers do best by tackling small garden projects at a time. We plant two herbs in one morning. One berry bush the next. Six tomato plants the next. When her friends were over this spring--we planted a potato patch, assigning a row of potatoes (easy for toddlers to handle and plant) to each little one, and let them color and mark their row with their own bamboo posts. This gives toddlers small projects to tackle and conquer, and when greens start popping up week by week, there's quicker gratification.

Let them Own It! Since I knew not all the tomatoes (and other fragile seedlings) might survive curious Greta, we planted six Mamma's tomatoes in our raised beds and two Greta's Tomatoes in small but sturdy containers (paper ones that can eventually be planted right into the ground) that she can transport to and from in her wagon, carry back and forth from one side of the garden to another or tip upside down. We practice being gentle with all the baby tomatoes, but we won't sweat it if Greta's Tomatoes don't make it, and can easily replace her tiny pots with something new.

Touch + Taste:  It's much, much easier to get Greta to eat greens in the garden, right out of the ground, then it is at the table. Now that she plenty of teeth for chewing the cud, she's happy to pluck and taste arugula, mustard greens and fresh snap peas right off the vine with no other favorite foods (yogurt, berries, bananas) to distract her. I almost always get a "yummy!", and a "more?" from every bite, which makes me one proud mamma.

Mommies and garden gurus, I'd love to hear from you. What tips or tricks do you have for making the garden a play place for your babes and tots?

The Baby Food Myth

{Hameeda and Greta, summer 2011}

This week, I bought Greta baby food, the kind in a tube, for not quite the first time, but almost. I spend a good deal of time making her breakfasts, lunches and dinners, making sure every meal is loaded with color and nutrients, flavor and texture. But with my new book due in just days,  I knew I needed a few moments of certainty that she'd get her veggies and iron, with or without my constant tending to this tiny detail.

Between my knowledge and training in food and nutrition, and a strong mother's instinct, I feel confident about what we feed Greta. But early on when we were just beginning solids and I felt the intense pressure to do everything exactly right (start solids not too early, not too late, feed her not too little, nor too much). I was constantly checking myself, reading every article I could get my hands on about childhood nutrition. I even tackled the 700-something-page tome, the American Academy of Pediatric's Pediatric Nutrition Handbook, though, I'm still struggling with the chemistry speak.

In these early feeding days, I found one of the best resources, no slight to Greta's pediatrician, or to my own dad -- father of four and family doctor of 35 plus years -- was other mothers.

One day, when our next door neighbors Hameeda and Fahmeeda were cooing at Greta, then about six months old, I asked their mother what she fed her kids at Greta's age.  She is the mother of four vibrant kids who grow taller and more luminous every day. She responded as I suspected she would--she fed them the same foods the rest of the family ate, mashed into tiny pieces. Her family hails from Bangledesh, a part of the world, like most outside of North American and Europe, where the term baby food barely exists. Where spices and flavors don't wait for adult palates, they are introduced from the first days of solids.

I got into a similar discussion with a bunch of foodie mamas on Facebook not long after, led by my friend Tara Desmond, which led me to this article on debunking baby food myths on MSMBC, confirming this exact phenomenon. It says:

As research increasingly suggests a child's first experiences with food shape later eating habits, doctors say battling obesity and improving the American diet may mean debunking the myths and broadening babies' palates.

It's easier — and harder — than it sounds. Easier because experts say 6-month-olds can eat many of the same things their parents do. Harder because it's tough to find detailed guidance for nervous parents.

Detailed guidance may be all around you, in the hands of mothers and grandmothers from all over the world, elders who fed their own children natural, homegrown (or at least locally grown) foods, cooked from scratch.

Making your own baby food, or rather, food for baby, can sound intimidating, laborious and wrought with equipment and waste. I promise you, same tools you use to make your meals, plus an immersion blender or mini food processor for pureeing (for babes 5 to 8 months, and older ones still waiting for teeth) and a good set of BPA-free containers and you'll be in business.

I remember the first time my friend Angie came to visit with her little guy, Leo, not long after Greta was born. Midway through our play date, she whipped out a Tupperware with a heady, brown puree which he gratefully gobbled up.

"Beef bourguignon," Angie said frankly. Of course.

And with that I knew that anything, well, save the raw fish and runny yolks and nuts and other early eater no-nos (talk to your pediatrician about these) could be baby food, or food fit for a baby, as the case may be.

Among the many things we feed Greta regularly are pureed vegetable soups and stews, pasta (whole wheat or plain, in every shape and texture), cooked a little extra. Vegetable maki rolls. Rice and beans. Veggie tempura. Lasagna. Eggplant parmesan (a total winner). Roasted mushrooms. Scrambled eggs. Hard boiled eggs. Soft boiled eggs. Cheese soufflé. Chunks of mango and fresh berries and homemade applesauce. Broccoli. Kale. Whole grain breads. Beets with ricotta. Barley, farro and risotto. At first everything was pureed (5 to 10 months), and then smashed (10 to 14 months), and then cut into bite-sized bits (15 months and beyond). We get the occasional yucky tongue (she does not do the texture of quinoa), but for the most part, she'll try almost anything. Even recently, mussels.

Hameeda and Greta play together many nights of the week, and on these foods Greta's grown so big I bet she'll catch up with Hameeda in no time. Well, not quite. But she's certainly thriving.

When time is at a premium and convenience trumps cost, there are nutritiounally sound and even some delicious (yes, I've tried them--I try everything before it goes into Greta's mouth) blends of commercial organic baby foods. And when I need them (for traveling, for example), I prefer the ones in a tube to those in a jar. To me, they just taste more fresh. Among those, I generally opt for less is more--mango and spinach, peas and pears, rather than uber blends that don't teach young palates how to learn to love each fruit or vegetable on their own.

But If you're just starting to feed your little one, or even if you're already a year into it as we are, I urge you to make these convenience foods the exception, not the norm. Don't deprive your babe of the smells and sounds like that go with growing up in a home of homemade cooking, experiences and habits that get ingrained in their lives from day one. Don't let them miss out clanging their pots and pan lids together on the floor, while you clang at yours on the stove. There are tastes, textures, and a whole culture and conversation about food that is missed out on when tiny hands don't have the opportunity to roll raw ingredients between their hands, to wonder at the colors on your cutting board, to taste and smell them all for themselves.

Feeding Greta right takes considerable and constant care. I'm not pretending it's always a breeze. But I'm more proud of how much love I put into that than almost anything I've ever done in my life. She is strong, resilient, a very curious and healthful eater. And we have so much fun together in the kitchen. I hope that's a feeling and experience that every parent can know for themselves. Sure, there will be cheddar bunnies and days that you lean a little heavy on help from Yo-baby. We all do. But make mealtime something special and you'll be giving your baby a lifetime of good habits and memories that will serve them well, for the long haul.

Mamas, new and old, I'd love to hear from you. What have you learned and loved about feeding your babes, and what advice can you share for other parents whose littles are just embarking on the wonderful world of food?

Motherhood Mondays, Pancakes Parties + Oatmeal Yogurt Pancakes with Blackberry Crush

{photo by Sara Remington for The Newlywed Cookbook}

There is nothing, nothing I love more than a full house. A house full of chubby hands and tiny bare feet and little hungry mouths. I especially love a house with all of that plus one grown up man who fills our one room with his big love and easy laughter. When that man is gone, as András is this weekend, even our teeny tiny home can feel too big and quiet for just Greta and me.

Greta gets up about 6 AM and doesn't nap until about one, so as much as we are best buds, Saturday mornings can feel kind of long without a partner to pass off another spill or diaper to while you simply wash your face. On those days, mothering can feel a lot easier, and more fun, when you're doing it together. I'm pretty sure that modern mothering, in isolated, very private homes, away from our families or the rest of our tribe, is a newish phenomenon. It can seem that other mothers doing the same things (diapering, wiping noses and refilling sipping cups) are really far away, even if they are right next door, or in my case, upstairs.

Neighborhood sing-alongs and play groups are wonderful, but since ours happen on weekdays, when I'm working, I decided it's high time to start our own. The best way to gather a crowd is food of course, and there's few more universally kid and adult friendly foods than pancakes. So Saturday morning, we decided to have an impromptu pancake party, and invited our neighborhood mamas and kids over for a big, boisterous breakfast.  You've heard me talk about how little this place is, so you can guess we don't have extra high chairs or booster seats, but we filled every empty stool and mamma's knee with a hungry toddler and even had a little prince perched with a breakfast tray on the play mat.

We had so much fun I didn't take a single picture, which means I'm in full happy mama mode, and not even thinking a lick about work.  Mission accomplished ~ happy mamas, happy babies. And, despite our space, I can't imagine why I didn't do this before! And you can too. No matter how chaotic your world seems or how unaccomplished you believe yourself to be at cooking or entertaining, pancakes are easy, inexpensive, fast to put together and hard to mess up, even when you have little helpers.

Pictures or not, I wanted to share a little how-to with you. When you need to fill your house -- be it Saturday, Sunday or even a Monday Fun-day (yes, I'm promoting playing hooky from your regular Monday obligations once and a while!) a pancake party is just the thing.

Here's how:

1. Put together your dry ingredients the night before. Make your pancake batter in advance in the morning, and preheat the griddle pan just about the time you expect your pals to arrive. Preheat the oven or toaster oven to about 250 to keep pancakes warm if needed (though I rarely need it with little hungry guests)

2. Set out snacks and pancake toppers like sliced strawberries and bananas so the littles have something to start on when they get there.

3. Stack soft spill-proof sippy cups and two sturdy low-rocks glasses ~ one filled with grown up forks and the other with kiddo ones. Borrow extra boosters or set up a little kiddie table for the extra little ones that don't fit around your table.

4. Set out a stack of paper and washable markers or crayons and let the littles make their own place mats while they wait. And, have a small apron and miniature whisk on hand for any kiddos who want to get in the mix and give their pancake skills a whirl.

5. Skip the extras ~ coffee or tea will do for the grown ups, milk for the kids ~ and focus on the fun.

6. This one is very important ~ Don't give a second thought to messes. As I learned from my mom, messes are a good indicator of fun. 

6. Have a good story book waiting by the couch for cuddling up with full bellies and eager ears for story time.

Here's my best easy, parent and child friendly recipe for pancakes that will fill your tummies and your homes the next morning you need to feel like a part of something bigger then what's within your four walls. And before you go, I'd love to hear, what do you do to create community a fill your family days with friendship and laughter?

xo

Sarah 

~

Oatmeal-Yogurt Pancakes with Blackberry Crush

from The Newlywed Cookbook 

~

Oats add great flavor, texture, and a little nutritional boost to almost any baked good.  I love their flavor, but in this dish, the oats fade into the background behind the ethereal texture of perfectly plump, tender pancakes. The Greek yogurt works like buttermilk or sour cream, giving these pancakes a dependable rise that makes them our classic weekend pancakes.

Deep, dark purple blackberries, crushed over heat, polish off your meal with a decadent finish that's antioxidant rich and delicious. When blackberries are out of season, replace them with any juicy berry, like blueberries or black raspberries.

Serves 4

{Blackberry Crush}

2 cups/480 ml fresh blackberries

1/4 cup/50 g raw or turbinado sugar

1/4 cup/60 ml pure maple syrup, plus more if needed

{Pancakes}

1 2/3 cups/190 g all-purpose/plain flour

2/3 cup/55 g old-fashioned rolled oats

2 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 heaping teaspoon baking soda/bicarbonate of soda

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt or iodized salt

1 cup/240 ml Greek yogurt, plus more for garnish

1cup/240 ml whole milk

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus for the pan
2 large eggs

1.     To make the Blackberry Crush: Combine the blackberries and sugar in a medium bowl and mash slightly with a fork.  Strain the juice into a small pot and reserve the berries. Heat the juice over medium heat and simmer until it is thick, syrupy, and easily coats the back of the spoon, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the maple syrup. Cool slightly, and pour over the berries. Adjust the sweetness with additional maple syrup if needed. Set the syrup aside.

2.     To make the pancakes: Whisk together flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda/bicarbonate of soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the yogurt, milk, the melted butter, and eggs. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and whisk in the wet ingredients until well incorporated. The batter should be thick, with little tiny bubbles on the surface.

3.     Heat a cast-iron or nonstick griddle or heavy frying pan over medium heat until a drop of water sizzles when splashed on the pan. Brush the griddle lightly with melted butter. Drop about 1/3 cup/75 ml of batter per pancake onto the hot griddle, leaving about 1 in/2.5 cm or so between pancakes. When bubbles form around the edges of the batter, gently lift and flip the pancakes with a flexible spatula. Cook on the other side until the pancakes are golden brown around the edges, about 2 minutes. Don’t worry if the first one doesn’t come out perfect—just adjust your heat as needed and nibble on the practice pancake while you stack up a plate of beauties. Repeat, adding more butter to the pan as needed until all the pancakes are cooked.

4.     To serve, stack the pancakes as high as you dare, and garnish with butter or additional Greek yogurt and a generous ladle of Blackberry Crush. Serve hot and fresh. 

P.S. If you happen to be writing your own cookbook, kids make the best recipe testers. They tell you straight out (with their tongues and icky faces, if not with their words) when they don't like something! Thanks guys for the great feedback. More pancakes for you soon.

* I borrowed the term Motherhood Mondays from one of my favorite writers and inspiring mothers, Joanna Goddard, whose Motherhood Mondays column on her blog is likely to touch and inspire any mama's reading here too.

{The Highchair Chronicles} Let them Eat....Everything!

{Quentin eats, photo by Jennifer Martine}

Babe: Quentin

Mama: Jennifer
Q's Birthday: September 17

Isn't it strange that you can actually make a friend through Twitter? Jennifer Martine is my first and best twitter friend. {I guess that makes us BTFs}. I knew her name because she photographed the gorgeous photos in my friend Louisa's luminous book, Lucid Food. I started following Jennifer on Twitter to keep up with her pretty pictures, and when we figured out we had babes  about the same, age, we started talking purees. Before long, we were trading photos of our kiddos feasting on their first forkfuls of our yummy creations. Today's Jennifer's birthday, and I thought it would make her day to share a classic shot of her feeding her beautiful boy, Quentin, who just turned one, and along with it, what she's learned since he first hit the chair. I love her breezy, mother's-instinct-is-best approach to feeding, and I think you will too: 

"When I started feeding Quentin solids I couldn't believe how quickly he took to it. Maybe we got lucky -- he's just a product of two foodie parents -- I don't know.  But I do think there had to be something about the encouraging (nom, nom, nom) sounds I would make and the smile on my face that made him feel comfortable about it. I also did my best to time the feedings after a small bottle so that he wasn't totally starving and frantic but also got his taste buds going. I would mash up banana and avocado, add some whipped up peas and just experiment away. Sometimes, I would just think in general of the equation of something sweet + something savory+ something really healthy. Broccoli+Apples+Banana or Squash+Banana+Avocado. Then we started whizzing up some of whatever we were eating like pasta or chicken and potato. Only a couple of times Quentin not like the texture of something or if it was too bland he would get bored. I was amazed at how easily he took to different flavors,even spicy or garlicy stuff, he just loved it all! 

Then as he got more into it I started giving him things he could feed himself like big slices of oranges, teething biscuits and and those puffs you can buy that dissolve easily. As he got more experienced I tried different textures and chunkier mixtures. You could tell that he was learning how to chew things long enough to swallow and I trusted him to figure it out. It was hard at first not worrying that he was going to choke on something all the time and I had to give him the chance to learn how to chew big bites. Now he eats with abandon. Savory, spicy, sweet, sour. He eats what we eat, we feed him off of our plate, we let him try to feed us, etc. etc. We just make it fun, we don't stress and let him taste just about everything." 

There are many awesome ideas for feeding your babes that come from Jennifer and her hubby Tyler's experience feeding Quentin, and their attitudes around food, but here are my two faves: 


Rule #2: Let them taste everything {as long as it's safe}: 
Yes, there's a little list foods that are generally known to be unhealthful, too acidic or higher risk for allergies for babes under one {like citrus, peanut butter and cows milk}. Talk to your pediatrician for guidance. Beyond that, feed your babies FLAVOR!  Don't assume they won't like a food because it's too "grown up" or because you don't like it. Babies like sweet, sour, spicy and savory--even garlic-- just like we do! 


Rule #3: Create a formula that works: 
When you start combining foods, create a go-to formula that makes meal planning and preparation easier, like Jennifer's": something sweet + something savory+ something really healthy. Try Broccoli+Apples+Banana or Squash+Banana+Avocado or Pears, Peas and Avocado. 

What are your food formulas and favorite combos to keep your little ones engaged in their thrones? 

Adventures in Eating: The Highchair Chronicles

{first meal: before}

Ever since the first day we fed Greta solid food, when she was just shy of 6 months, I've been taking pictures of her. I'll never forget the first meal I cooked for her -- organic spinach, triple washed; locally grown cage-free hen egg yolks, soft-cooked, with chives from the garden -- determined I was to feed her only perfect foods. It was a Tuesday at my parent's house. My mom twisted up one of her soft, faded dish towels and tied Greta into the painted wooden highchair that's been introducing kids and grand kids to solids since my Dad had his first fistful of food 60-some years ago.

As I fed her those first spoonfuls, with Grandma and Granddad eagerly watching over {Grandpa's LOVE to see babies eat and get nice and chubby}, I tried to imagine what messages that sweet little mouth was sending to her brain. "This, food, exists? This is WONDERFUL." She smacked her tiny lips and opened her mouth for more. My heart leapt. "My baby loves healthy foods! She loves her mamma's cooking. Yah, YAH!"

In that short meal, we experienced a huge range of emotion, from utter delight to tearful baby meltdown. "Waah, where's my mamma's milk? It's so much easier. So delicious. Hold me."

{first meal: after}

In the 4 or so months since, I've been snapping moments of Greta in her little throne {her highness, as my friend Tara calls her daughter Abby when she eats}. I'm not sure exactly what it is about it that makes me run for my camera or more often my iphone, mid-spoonful. Of course I love my baby girl, and I obviously love food. But even more, there's a sense of discovery that happens each time a babe discovers a new taste, a new texture -- a wonder that is so easy to miss in life.

With all the politics and politeness around what you should and shouldn't feed your babes, when to start and where it all comes from, writing about what you feed your baby in public space is a slippery slope. But here's the thing, it's such a fun, important thing to talk about. And despite all my training in food and family nutrition, I still learn the most from other mammas. So, I'm going to start posting those photos, and stories, recipes and tips and tricks, and hopefully some of yours, about what makes those moments we share around the highchair some of the funniest, happiest moments of our day.

Along the way, I'll share the rules {and I use that term loosely} I've learned and keep learning since that first meal and I'd LOVE to hear yours too! What was the first food you fed your babe, and when? And What's your number one rule of thumb at feeding time?

Here's mine:

Rule #1 ~ Make Mealtime Fun 

No matter what food we're introducing to Greta, or where we are when we eat it {her highchair, a picnic blanket, a park bench}, we love to make eating together fun. A happy time and happy place as a family. I’m not talking about food in packages with trinkets inside and characters on the box fun, or making silly noises to get your babe to eat things they think are yucky fun. I mean simple, stress-free fun, whether the meal ends up in their mouth or on the floor. Have fun growing, cooking and sharing the things you love with this wonderfully absorbent, curious little person. 

 
xo
Sarah

confessions of a weed grower

{greta, two coves community garden}

I have a confession to make. My garden is a stage 4 disaster zone. Somewhere between writing this article for Mothering Magazine about gardening with babes, and picking our first radish, Greta outgrew the Moby wrap, started exerting her desire to be on the constant move, adamantly opposing any activity relating to riding against my chest while I pulled weeds. She's riding the fine line between barely sitting and crawling, a girl almost on the move with no time anymore for the sweet sway of my movements lulling her to sleep. 

Earlier, when she was, I eagerly planted rows of strawberries, lettuces and kale, spinach, radishes, and for good measure, a haphazard sprinkling of of Save the Bees flower mix. That was fairly easy, with 5-month-old Greta in her pouch, her arms yet too small and tucked into my chest to cause a wake.

Recently, we were away from the garden for almost two weeks and when we returned and I saw the mess that had become of it, my heart sank. That night Andras saw sadness in my eyes that I couldn't explain. This place of peace and perfection in my former life was now overgrown with weeds. I felt like I was looking upon a home I had built with my own two hands, now abandoned. 

In that moment in the garden, I learned two of life's harder parenting lessons. First, as a mamma, you have less time, which at times makes it imperative to weed out the unnecessary. Maybe its too much to run a business, rebuild a house, cook our meals from scratch and grow our own food in cultivated rows. Maybe instead of growing eight varieties of tomatoes and seven kinds of lettuces, one or two would do.

Second, this is the beginning of me learning to live with imperfection, in the garden and elsewhere. To embrace the chaos, and watch this garden become an environment for Greta's enjoyment and learning, not mine. 

Now that she's sitting and crawling, I can sit curious Greta amongst the wild flowers (indistinguishable from either the edibles or weeds) and let her pull and touch whatever she wishes. It's not perfect, but our girl knows the smell of fresh mint and lavender. She knows the taste of a strawberry we grew ourselves, and of carrot puree made from scratch (even if it took a near-epic excavation to find those carrots beneath it all!)

We won't have a tremendous amount of food from our garden this year. It's is no longer a place of accomplishment, but humility. Of forgiveness. Of letting go. It's a place for a new kind of peace--probably a more lasting one --the peace of excepting life just as it is, and seeing the beauty in every imperfect detail. 

{Happy Earth Day!}

{photos by Dasha Wright and Robert Jacobs}

Up north, we wait a long time for garden season, but this year the wait seemed even longer. Last summer, as my belly grew round with the babe, I spent hours and hours tending our small community garden plot, laughing with wonder as the little one inside me kicked and squirmed. When I finally met our giggly girl, Greta, I couldn't wait to take her back there to see our garden with her own blue eyes. 

She was born in November, and the garden sat under a pile of snow for months on end. We'd walk by often during these long winter days, checking for peeks of green, but still the snow fell. 

Finally, five months to the day after Greta was born, we got a rare April day so warm that we headed outside with her hands and feet bare. As she is everywhere in life, she was eager, engaged, reaching out for everything with her curious hands, delighting in the textures and colors of the world around her.  I was thrilled that this place I love seemed just as full as wonder and discovery for her, with more curiosities to offer her than anything she'd seen inside four walls.

We spent that day at the house of our friends Robert and Dasha,  both photographers, who captured Greta's first earth day on film in their own sprawling gardens ~  those first moments as her bare feet touched the soil, her tiny hands reaching for the green shoots of spring onions, and even the I'm pooped mamma tears that ended our garden play-date before I wiped her muddy toes and tucked her into the corner of their plush couch for her afternoon nap. 

It's a rare child who doesn't delight in the texture of warm, damp earth between their toes, the dance of poppies nodding in the wind, and the close attention of their parents sitting side by side with them in the soil.  I wrote about how and why to make your garden a special place for your babes in Mothering Magazine, but in case you missed it, here are my favorite three tips for gardening with a child of any age:

Schedule Garden Time
kids thrive on schedules and predictability.  Schedule a time each day or week to spend in the garden with your child.  Your little one will recognize it as a special bonding time and place where you work as a team to grow healthy foods together.

Build a Food Vocabulary
Babies and young children love the sound of their mother’s voice.  Talk to them while you garden; explain what you are doing and give names to the tools you use and veggies you grow, helping them build their nutrition and food vocabulary season by season.

Designate a Bed In the Garden
No matter how young your little gardener is, pick a patch of soil just for them where the rules and rows of gardening don’t apply. Throw caution to the wind and let your littles dig and experiment at their whim, giving them a sense of independence and pride in what they grow.

There's never been a better time to get started gardening as a family than on Earth Day. You don't need a sprawling garden or any fancy gardening gear, just a few seeds, and a pot, and a little one you love. For more tips on getting started, here's my post on five gardening basics {click here} to grow on. 

Happy Earth Day!

* Special thanks to Robert and Dasha for sharing their little oasis and beautiful photographs with us. *

Earth Day ~ For the Love of the Soil

{photo by Robert Jacobs}

There's something magical that happens the first time a little one touches the earth. A connection is made that sparks a lifetime of respect and understanding, one that is cultivated every time their little hands meet the soil. It starts small, like a tiny seed, and only takes a little nurturing from you to help it grow and grow. Tomorrow's Earth Day, the perfect day to get outside with your wee ones and get your hands in the soil together. It doesn't matter what you grow ~ Save the Bee's flowers, carrots or a sunny patch of strawberries ~ spending time in the soil with your sweet babes will teach them how and why to value our precious planet.

For tips and ideas for getting started gardening with your kids {no matter how young}, read my recent article for Mothering Magazine {here}. And come back tomorrow and all summer long for more photos and ideas for going green with your tiny soil mates.

Happy Earth Day!

When Life Gives you Lemons

                                                                  ...have a citrus celebration.

We’ve been snowed in for weeks in New York. Not that we mind. We’re snow people, and a good tromp in the snow is just about our favorite form of exercise. But it does call for boning up on extra Vitamin C, which besides being a powerful antioxidant, helps in the production of connective tissues to keep your bones and body in good form. Now that it's peak citrus season, its easy to get. Keep a big bowl of clementines on the countertop for snacking, squeeze a hunk of lemon or lime into your bubbly water {or beer, for grown-ups} and toss segments of orange or grapefruit with avocado and serve over mesclan greens with olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Since citrus has been known to lift the spirits, why not surround yourself with it while the winter wares on?  Here are four more fun ways to get your daily dose. 1) Put out a stack of paper and a pack of Clementine Soy Crayons, so safe your kiddos could almost eat them. 2) Cozy up to a bright, happy book about an orange's journey to the grocery store shelf   3) Layer up your babe in this darling lime onesie {from etsy} 4) Have your littles help you turn a citrus stamp into your family letterhead or a custom wrapping paper {also, etsy}.

If all else fails, close your eyes and think of all the shiny, happy people in the orange groves of California and fill your home with lemons, limes and laughter while you wait for warmer weather.  

G is for Grateful {and Baby Girl}

l.i.c, ny ~ January 2011

I've sat down no less than a dozen times to write since November 2, 2010, though most times I get called away to a greater cause. That was the day that beautifully, miraculously changed our world forever. That was the day we welcomed our new baby girl to the world.

There's no story, no recipe, no anecdote grand enough, special enough to say what is simply said like this ~ oh joy, we are a family! Introducing Greta, the most delicious creature I've ever laid eyes on.

Happy New Year. May it bring as much joy, delight and divinity to your world as you can dream possible.

~ Sarah

{grow baby}

{photo by Robert Jacobs Photography}

l.i.c., ny

All summer long, whenever I go to the garden, the baby wiggles and kicks, as if as delighted as I am to be there. To me, it's a sign of a baby's connectedness with its mother; the happy endorphins I release when I'm in my little patch of green, pulling weeds and cultivating the soil, are instantly translated to the little one. We're both breathing cleaner, richer oxygen, and working in joyful anticipation of the meal that's to follow. It's fitting then, that it is there, yesterday evening when pulling the last of my peppers and sorting through the surprises of my late season strawberry patch, that I had my first contraction. 

It wasn't the real thing, just practice, my body preparing. But it was exciting nonetheless. 

Here I am in one of the rare quiet moments left in our world before the little eggplant {now as big as a watermelon, say the baby books} arrives. I've eaten well, rested, exercised, sang to and stroked the baby in my belly. All there is left to do now is grow.