Liberal Democrat, Moderately Organic

I know most right-wing conservatives believe all us liberals to be agnostic, hemp wearing, peace & love, vegetarian, no shoes wearing hippies. But I’m here to say that all of us leaning toward the left, aren’t hanging off the left. I love my disposable diapers, my ribeye steak with brown butter, and leather Wilson’s nap sack as much as the next red-blooded American. I enjoy my Presidents moderate and my government bipartisan! And you would actually catch me walking out of a catholic church on any given Sunday….that is when it’s not football season! But like most of my liberal brothers and sisters I do try to live a pretty healthy, green, organic lifestyle. Unfortunately though I have fallen victim to the era of convenience many many times! Especially between work, and my colitis and just the hustle and bustle of life… Listen I have been known to feed my child a frozen dinner every now and again! Yes I said it! Me the mom who makes her own applesauce, soup stocks, and juice! However I’m not talking about Kid Cuisines or Hungry Man dinners. Here are some great products we use for our kid that works for my family’s hunger pains, time constraints & budget!

1. Earth’s Best Baked Chicken Nuggets: They can be hard to find, but when I was in Texas they were at most of the Super Target stores. In LA I have found them at Whole Foods.

Yummy!

2. Ian’s All Natural Gluten Free/Allergy Free Products: My son LOVES the chicken nuggets, the fish sticks, Cheeseless Mac & Cheese, and Popcorn Turkey Corn Dogs. I’ve shared some of these with him and have to say…pretty tasty!

Gluten Free

3. Alexia Sweet Potato Fries: Now usually I’ll slice some up and bake them, but these are just as tasty! No need for oil, or frying, just put them straight into oven!

You can get these anywhere

4. Amy’s Kid’s Meals: The Baked Ziti & the Rice Mac & Cheese…. Mommy Approved FOR SURE! So delicious! Vegan cheese! My carnivorous kid will eat these veggie meals!

Baked Ziti is my kid's favorite

5. Goodness for Kids from Fresh & Easy: They have juices, apple sauces and other products that are all tasty and good for kids. Not very much sugar.

Purchased from Fresh & Easy

6. Tritan Alaskan Salmon Burgers from Costco. Now these aren’t certifiable organic, but they are better than most salmon burgers out there and the kids love them. He’ll usually eat them as a burger or mixed with rice. I add a little lemon pepper to the burgers before putting them into oven.

Costco.com

Now these are just a few of my favorite products that I use often. But I’m always on the hunt for new stuff to buy and try. Most of the products from Trader Joes like the frozen Buffalo Burgers, Teriyaki Chicken, Battered Fish Sticks and the mini frozen pepperoni pizzas. I try not to give my son too much of this food, but when my colitis flares up, I’m gonna be too late too cook a fresh dinner or it’s just not a day I wanna be in the kitchen all day, these items fill my little hippo up and I don’t feel as guilty. You see my son has asthma, so I like to keep the amount of sugar and salt down in his diet. Sugars don’t only come from sweets and fruits, but gluten products as well, so we like to keep that down as well. Some of you try to keep the gluten down because of asthma or autism or whatever reason, so try pesto’s instead of tomato sauce. Some vegan cheeses are very tasty even to kids that have never had them. Try the Orowheat sandwich thins instead of regular bread. You can still use your cookie cutters to make fun shapes for the kids and it’s like a third of bread from a normal slice. I use Bragg‘s Liquid Amino Acid instead of soy sauce, salt for taste & color. Instead of sugar in my applesauce I use either raw, agave or brown sugars with fresh nutmeg and cinnamon for an antioxidant boost. I use grapeseed oil & cold pressed olive oil. There are little things you can do in every meal to help keep it healthy and delicious for your fam. Like I said I’m not the most green organic person, but I try!

Sushi & The Toddler

Before you say anything, yes I live in Los Angeles. Yes, I work in Entertainment. And yes…my two year old eats Sushi & Japanese food! I get the strange looks and comments quite often, and to be honest I could care less! I am raising a picky toddler and if he wants seaweed, eggplant with Miso & tempura fried veggies then so be it!! At this point, I take what I can get! LOL! The great thing I think is that he does like something other than chicken nuggets & “pinch pies” (french fries)! And though it goes against what most American Mommies and Daddies would do, I have let my son try a little raw fish. VERY VERY little yellowtail carpaccio. He loves it! I figure the acid from the lemon and olive oil help with the killing of any left over bacteria. Now I wouldn’t allow my son to eat raw fish from a place that has their sushi on slashed prices, but only from this place I’ve been going to for years where I know the fish is amazingly fresh!

So last night along with my mother and our good friend, Joy, we feasted at my favorite little spot! Jax dressed in his lab coat from his doctor’s costume, Brobee crocheted hat & Brobee backpack was able to sit at the sushi bar for the first time! He really thought he had hit the jackpot! He was inches from the food and there was a person standing there the whole time preparing more of it and taking orders! On top of all that, he was closer to the door and was able to greet each and every person who entered and exited with “Merry MisMus! Happy New Lear! Happy Hol-day! PEACE!”. He was also able to place his orders with the sushi chefs, talk with them about Yo Gabba Gabba, Dr. Seuss, his bike, being a doctor for the day and the republican debates that were taking place last night….or whatever it is that 2 year olds talk about! We dined among other families, couples, celebrities, teens and hipsters with the comfort and ease of being at home with old friends. In fact Jax was so comfortable that he not only proclaimed TWICE to me that he had to go potty, but then announced each time to the small restaurant that he went potty as he exited the bathroom. And to his surprise and pleasure he was met with a few congratulations from patrons! Yes, I know. One thing you have to understand about my son, he befriends just about anyone wherever he goes and will soon become the ambassador of that place. Whenever we enter a place he greets everyone he comes in contact with, and as they exit he sends them off with a “Buh Bye. See Soon!!! Lay-ler!”. And when he leaves he makes sure that everyone gets a proper goodbye, perhaps a handshake or two, certainly a wave! Sometimes I feel like I’m with President Clinton!

I probably shouldn’t do this because then I may never be able to get a seat in this Sherman Oaks sushi jewel that is about as big as my living room, but the food is so great I just have to share it! We go to Iwata on Ventura & Van Nuys Blvd in Sherman Oaks. It’s really small and quaint, the owner is the head sushi chef and the food is fresh and yummified! It’s family friendly and adult friendly all at the same time! I’ve taken my son & nieces to have dinner, had business lunch meetings here and dinner dates. The prices are pretty reasonable for the food and service you receive. Jax usually gets the chicken & tempura combination that comes with miso soup, rice, teriyaki chicken, tempura, and salad. If I am able to get my chopsticks in there without getting assaulted by his fast-moving fork, we share it! LOL! He also loves the Eggplant with Miso, cucumber roll, pickled ginger, cucumber & seaweed sunomono salad, california rolls and the little bean sprouts they bring out. He attempts to use the kiddie chopsticks they give him, but soon he gives that up for a fork and finger instant gratification!

Mommy’s favorites include the yellow tail collar, spicy shrimp on rice cake, salmon sushi, Huba Huba Roll w/spicy shrimp inside (instead of spicy tuna. It’s great with spicy tuna, but I LOVE his spicy shrimp), seared albacore with crispy onions, yellow tail carpaccio, tuna roll, halibut sushi, blue crab roll in rice paper, vegetable tempura, eggplant with miso, Shishito Peppers, chicken teriyaki, lobster roll, spicy tuna nachos, cucumber & seaweed sunomono salad. This place is sooo much more than a rainbow or california roll!!

Now not to say that this is the BEST sushi in the valley, but once you try this place it will be very hard to eat anywhere else. Personally, I love Katsuya, but Katsuya isn’t so friendly on my mommy budget, this place is as good and easier on the wallet This place has been my staple for years now and it’s never disappointed! I mean if you can find a place that your child gets excited about visiting when he sees it and it doesn’t have a big golden arch on top of it, you gotta shout it out!! And hey, if it’s good for the Jaxomous and Miley Cyrus, then it’s gotta be good!! LOL!

IWATA ON YELP!

IWATA SUSHI SHERMAN OAKS, CA

Picky Toddler

Okay so everyone wants to know, why the nickname Hippo? Well, when my son was only a few hours old, the nurse, myself and Steven were all surrounding him prepping him to latch on for the first time. After having a C-Section and hearing all the scary stories about how the baby can be too drugged up to stay awake or he won’t latch on because we didn’t bond immediately, Steven (Jax’s father and my now ex-love) and I were staring at this little guy with beads of sweat on our brow hoping we could at least get this first feeding right! So they unwrap his little body and place him in the football position. Steven is standing there as supportive as someone without breasts can be in this situation and I’m praying this kid wants to eat. Before I could get my breast close to the kid’s lips he opens his mouth the widest I’ve ever seen a baby open their mouth before, raises his arms above his head and shakes his head. When the nurse exclaims, “Oh wow! I’ve never seen a newborn do that before, he must be hungry!”, Steven jumps in with, “Is he broken?” to which the nurse answers, “No, just hungry.” Ten minutes later with both breasts slightly smaller than they were before the feeding, Steven leans over to me, kissing me on my forehead and in the most loving way he says, “I see we have a hungry hippo on our hands. A hungry hippo just like his mama!” And the name has stuck! Not to mention that Hippos are one of Jax’s favorite animals! I know… I know…!

Since that day we have never ever had to worry about our Hippo NOT eating or taking a long time to eat. To say my son loves food would be an understatement! My son eats the same amount of oatmeal as the average 10 year old and he’ll eat just about anything. Well that was true until he turned 20 months. All of a sudden he grew an aversion to anything green! He suddenly dimmed my bright boasting light of “MY KID EATS VEGETABLES!” And being someone who believes in a very balanced diet, no canned veggies, very very little processed foods, and organic when possible, I panicked! I pictured me and Hippo sitting on Maury with his shirt off in a diaper with a pacifier in his mouth, cheeto stained hands and his weight tipping the scale at only 46″ tall.

I put a plan into action. Operation TRICK THE HIPPO was in full force. I began to add certain things to Jax’s “applesauce”, adding Naked Green Machine to his water and lots of seaweed and kale to his miso soup (which he loves). I also let him have cucumber rolls, california rolls, grilled eggplant w/ miso sauce, tempura fried green beans, Sweet Potato mash w/ additions, “Mashed Potatoes” with a twist. So here are my tricks:

“Applesauce”: It’s not really applesauce, but what does he know?! LOL! I start my sauce as I would anyother applesauce with some apples, but instead of adding just fruit, I add veggies! Here are some of my mixes:

1. Apples, Carrots, Cranberries, Cauliflower, Purple Broccoli

2. Apples, Pears, Peeled Zucchini, Cauliflower, Carrots, Blueberries

*I always sweeten with a little agave or raw sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and little allspice.

My sweet potato mash: Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Butternut Squash, Pumpkin, Zucchini, Broccoli, Peas, Roasted garlic, Cauliflower. I sweetened with a little nutmeg

“Mash Potatoes:

1. Mash Potatoes, Parsnips, Cauliflower, Peeled Zucchini.

I whip with cream and butter, season with sea salt and sprinkle with dried parsley.

I basically have taken the whole hiding your vegetables thing to the next level! It isn’t all that hard to make AND it’s something that I and other adult friends have enjoyed as well.