The new, Glam, BRAT diet

As summer comes to an end and my little munchkin gets some sort of dreaded tummy bug, both her diaper and her belly need a little extra TLC. After many diapers of disaster in the last 48 hours, Delilah has been put on a probiotic a la doctor to restore health to her GI tract as well as a modified BRAT diet a la mama.

She got her beloved banana at breakfast, and would eat it at every meal if I let her. For her Rice course, the mama provided a decadent mushroom risotto. I absolutely love risottos because you can dress them up so many ways! I had some local eggplant just sitting, begging to be used, so I grilled them and stacked them between mounds of the warm risotto to satisfy the inner chef in me.

Don't fret, I served it with a side of Gianelli Turkey Sausage for our protein. And also because I can't spell apparently and thought chicken was one of the foods for the Brat diet (Delilah prefers Turkey as her poultry of choice, and now so do I!).  (I just checked and Wikipedia says BRATCH, the "CH" being for chicken, is a variation, so there!).

I took this opportunity to make a double batch to freeze for my stock of back-to-work grab and go. I froze both the risotto in single serve portions as well as a few portions of protein by mixing the sausage with some leftover organic kidney beans. I also set up a tray of toddler sized portions to serve Delilah. Double score!

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As for the "A", she had her probiotic hidden in some unsweetened organic applesauce (a real treat since she never gets purees anymore other than in her yogurt ). I have yet to give her toast- because I don't eat bread and that would mean going back out to the store. Maybe I should grab a loaf of organic bread and leave it in the freezer for future situations?

Make-Ahead Time Saver

It is getting to be that time of year where I have a giant mixed bag of emotions...school is starting! Being a teacher is unique because you never outgrow those feelings from when you were 5 years old and first started school. Excitement, nervousness, anger that summer is coming to an end.

One of the emotions I am battling with has to do with time. As a mother we are always worried about time. I know that when I get home from work I have exactly one hour to prepare and eat our dinner, play with my cuddle monkey, and if it is bath night then I only have 40 minutes for all of those things. It really is not a lot of time as my little mini-me is asleep in her crib by 6:30 every night (I know, it seems early but it is at her request!). Also, in the morning I will have zero play time as we have to get her up from her slumber at 7:30 to have her changed and dressed for daycare.

 Last school year I struggled with having her food ready to go to daycare let alone having mine made for the day and dinner on top of that. This year I have a plan! I will create make-ahead meals that can be left in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for longer. If I am going to actually make that work for at least a few weeks (let's face it, it can't really work for the long run as I am a foodie and can not deny my need for freshness), I need to start NOW. I have exactly 15 days, 4 hours and 19 minutes before I have to go back to work.

I bet many other moms could use some freezer make and take ideas, so here is the one I started with: it is a twist on a recipe found here: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/cilantro-pear-turkey-sausage-50400000117233/. The changes I made were doubling the recipe, using organic ground pork, which has less fat then conventional ground pork (I got it on sale for less than $3 a lb!), and using a spray oil.  I served it with a fresh tomato-basil-cucumber salsa and baked organic sweet potato wedges. After dinner I split half the patties in half and stored each half with a whole patty in Ziplock baggies in the freezer. That way I can pull a perfect 3 oz portion out as needed.