Leach Chronicles: Eats and treats

I'm proud to say that I feed my family a home cooked meal every day. Whether it is breakfast, lunch or all three, I enjoy cooking for everyone. At this point, with the babes, there are a few things that I know they will eat, but mostly I'm still discovering what they like, or don't like. Thankfully, Frank is always along for the ride, too.

My love for cooking began a few years ago, before having kids. I would have lofty resolutions to cook at least one new recipe a week. I probably tried new recipes about every other week. I would go in spurts of inspiration, but would fall back on my regular fan favorites. Once I was able to feed the babes last year, I began slowly rediscovering my love for cooking, nutrition, and providing a home cooked meal for the family.

When I first started feeding the babes, it was for "tastes" only. We are now providing five meals a day - three full meals and two snacks. While I am looking for a new job, I've had more time to devote to meals. Together with Chelsey, the babe's nanny, we are able to pull together delicious recipes to make, or even create. Between the two of us, the babes are fed well and well-fed.

I have a few children focused cookbooks that I refer to in addition to a few websites which provide a wealth of new recipe ideas and inspiration for when I'm feeling like a kitchen pioneer. One of my main goals is to find a way to alter recipes to have low to no sugar, add spinach where possible, and ensure that everyone has at least three to five servings of fruit a day.There are plenty of ways to incorporate those into every meal - and it's a fun challenge. Chelsey was so inspired by the cooking, given her personal focus on health and nutrition, that she started blogging the recipes that she has made for the babes -- Happy Thoughts, Happy Tots. Please give her site a look for the details on all of the delicious recipes.

Some of the most recent babe faves include Spinach Pancakes and yogurt bites. The spinach pancakes are green and so delicious. We use strawberries and honey as our topping, too. I will occasionally post links to her blog so you can see the deliciousness that the babes get to enjoy.

Oh, and one other bonus, we try to use (Great) Gram's pottery in the photographs to display the food. It's a good way for us to showcase her fantastic work using scrumptious food.

Here are a few pics from the recent recipes and the happy babes to prove how much they love it. Sign up to follow her blog!

Green Smoothie Muffins