Laughing cow cheese bites

One big problem I have, as mentioned in my previous posts, is stuff getting stuck to the roof of their little mouths. This leads to gagging and choking and sometimes throwing up. Normal cheese cubes and string cheese - same trouble. I saw a commercial for the 35 calorie wedges from the Laughing Cow and went hunting for them for myself. I never did find them but totally lucked out with their cheese bites.

These are soft, actually too soft for the kids to feed themselves. So I do the feeding and my son did his little dance when he first tasted them. Now they both ask for 'chheegg' at all times of the day.

Barbara's Fig Bars - Raspberry, Blueberry

The twins have been eating fig bars for some time now. They started off with fig newtons which kept getting stuck to the roof of their mouth. Then I discovered fig bars from Trader Joe's. The other day at the mom-and-pop organic store I discovered raspberry and blueberry fig bars by Barbara.

These fig newtons are organic, made with whole grains (sometimes multi grain) and sweetened with fruit juice. They are softer than traditional fig newtons so it's easy for the twins to eat. Also, added flavors of raspberry and blueberry to keep things from getting boring.

PBJ sandwich bars from revolution foods

I can totally make a mean PBJ - afterall I make bread, yogurt, gazillions of food cubes and cook hot cereal for the twins everyday. It's just that Iam a sucker for variety and finger foods. Also, when I tried peanut butter on bite sized pieces of bread and wafers my twins could not eat them because they kept getting stuck to the roof of their mouth. But they clearly liked it so I was looking for something soft with peanut butter in it (not in a cookie form though.)

These jammy sammys from revolution foods are great - they are organic, come in individual wrappers and are soft - but not too soft and the kids loved them. But, I cannot justify the $3.99 price tag for a pack of 5 pieces more than once.

Marionberry yogurt from Cascade fresh

I have never heard of marionberry before, so of course I had to add it to my cart. I also liked that it is sweetened with fruit juice and has 8 good bugs aka live cultures. Also, only 16 grams of sugar.

No negative reaction from the twins. They ate it without any fuss.

Soy yogurt from Turtle Mountain

If this was given to me in a blind taste test I would not know that it is soy yogurt. That being said, it doesn't stand out either. But I like that it was sweetened with agave. And Turtle Mountain has a bunch of products (milk, yogurt & desserts) made with coconut and soy that I really want the twins to try - I hope I come across some soon.

The twins were fine with it - it has 23 grams of sugar so no complaints there!

Pomegranate & passion fruit yogurt parfait from Brown Cow

These cream top parfait line of yogurts from Brown Cow are out of this world. I mean I was pretty impressed with their regular cream top line to start with. I tasted one before I introduced it to the kids and ate the rest myself. The kids of course loved it and my son threw a fit for more.

Apricot mango yogurt from Brown Cow

One of the best line of yogurts I have come across. Creamy and delicious with no artificial or after taste. They have a creamy coffee flavor which Iam getting for myself on the next grocery run. With 20 grams of sugar I did dilute it for the twins with some plain yogurt.

Rice yogurt from Ricera

I just found a natural food store that caters to vegans. Yogurt made with rice? with live cultures? Of course I had to bring it home.

The yogurt had a very strong after taste. With 19 grams of sugar, I figured the twins wouldn't care so much about the taste. Wrong - my son just made a face and took spoonfuls very very reluctantly till I mixed it with plain yogurt to mask the aftertaste. My daughter refused to eat it even masked - I added a heaping tablespoon of multigrain cereal and got her to finish it.

Mango tangerine Australian yogurt from Wallaby

Another line of flavored Australian style yogurt from Wallaby organic. The fruit part has bits of fruit but they are really soft and don't bother the twins. It is a lot of fruit though (as it says) and the yogurt is thin - Aussie style - so I had to mix in some plain greek yogurt.

Guava mango yogurt from LaYogurt

I will confess, the line of yogurts from La Yogurt have a lot of sugar. But, they also have unique flavors (and combinations of them) like mango, guava, papaya etc. and cherry, blackberry, pomegranate …..actually many flavors and kinds. So I 'dilute' the sugars with a lot of plain greek yogurt. Some of their flavors are artificial tasting but the twins don't care - they liked all the flavors I tried so far.

Chobani pomegranate greek yogurt

This pomegranate flavored greek yogurt from Chobani has actual arils (yes, yes, Iam showing off) of pomegranate. The twins didn't know what to do with them - my daughter looked at me with a now-what expression and then spit them out. My son chewed on them for hours - literally - a couple of hours after lunch he still had 2 seeds in his mouth.

Hearts of Palm

Hearts of palm? But what if they have an essential micronutrient like pantothenic acid that my twins need?? Why yes - sometimes Iam paranoid like that.

They taste very much like artichokes. Some of the pieces are soft enough to be fork mashed but not others. So I puree all of them - just to be safe. Then into the food trays and then the freezer. I heat the cubes up like any other vegetable - nuke in the microwave. My daughter puckered up at the first spoonful but finished it without any fuss.

Bob's Red Mill 13 bean soup mix

With Bob's Red Mill 10 grain cereal and a few food cubes of this 13 bean soup mix, my twins get all the good carbs, protein and roughage they need. Not to mention 23 different wholesome ingredients in one meal!

I soak the beans overnight as directed and then cook them either in the pressure cooker or crock pot. I still have to puree them (vs mashing them with a potato masher) because the skins on some of the bigger beans are making the twins gag. Then spoon into ice-cube trays and into the freezer for 24 hours. I add one or 2 cubes to their lunch/dinner depending on what other food cubes are going into that meal.

Bolthouse Farms blue goodness

After my success with the swamp juice I had to try the rest of the smoothies from Bolthouse Farms. I tried their C-boost and vedge and now for the blue goodness. It is pretty impressive nutritionally by itself but not as much as the green goodness. It was a bit medicinal tasting for the adults in the house but the twins were OK with it. No overt displays of likes or dislikes - just OK.

Brummel & brown with natural yogurt

Brummel & Brown's butter substitute with yogurt - perfect! Since I add yogurt to my twins bread, this 'butter' with yogurt sounded ideal. So I bought it and called my nutritionist (no, not that rich, it's my sis-in-law) to boast about my new find. After reminding me that she was the one who told me about it, she asked me if I looked at the nutritional info. So then I went and did….

0 proteins AND 0 calcium!!

Talk about being lost in the processing.

Fig bars from Trader Joe's

I have tried fig newtons and the twins eat them but sometimes they choke and sputter and throw up because it gets stuck to the roof of their mouth. So I have been on the lookout for an alternative and when I came across these fig bars at Trader Joe's I had to try them.

Success! These bars are even softer than fig newtons and literally melt in your mouth. The first time I gave it to them, it took me forever to get the paste out of my daughter's hair. I hand feed them for now and the first time I did my son hooted like an owl and ran around in circles - he likes them. a lot.

Sunbutter crunch bars

Made with sunflower seeds & butter these sunbutter crunch bars from Enjoy life caught my eye because they were supposed to be 'soft and chewy.' Well the crunch comes from rice crispies - they taste great and have a good texture - and the twins are not at that texture level yet. Or so I thought but decided to see how they would react.

I broke off a small pea sized piece and gave it to my daughter (food-wise the more adventurous of the two.) It dissolved in her mouth pretty quickly and she was requesting(read SCREAMING for) more almost immediately. Seeing her reaction, my son joined in and they had finished the bar in no time - granted the bars are rather small.

8 grains and yogurt baby cereal from Gerber

With live yogurt cultures and 8 grains this is a great baby cereal from Gerber. But, it has no texture, so I mix it with baby muesli and the twins are on their way to a good breakfast.

Bolthouse Farms Vedge

I cook with V8 a lot and when it came to cooking for my twins I wanted to use a product without any preservatives. We liked both the fruit smoothies from Bolthouse Farms - green goodness and C-boost so their Vedge seemed the perfect choice. With 10 different vegetables it even tastes like V8.

I added exactly 2 tablespoons of the vedge to their lunch one day to see their reaction. My daughter made a face for a couple of seconds and then they were both fine. Half way through their lunch though they both threw up - a very unusual occurrence. Since this was the only new food I blame it on the vedge.

I used it to cook their veggie cubes and they were fine. So no more raw vedge for now.

Liberté 6 whole grains yogurt

Liberte of Canada also makes a 6 whole grains flavored yogurt. Sweetened only with fruit juices and with 6 whole grains it is a great yogurt - but not for 14 month olds. The whole grains are exactly that - whole chewy grains soaking in the yogurt. My daughter spit them out while my son chewed on them for a really long time before accepting another spoonful. After sitting with him for more than 45 minutes I gave up.

So while this is another great yogurt I won't be buying it for the twins till they grow some molars.

Liberté Méditerranée Yogurt

Another great greek yogurt line by Liberte, a Canadian company. It has various flavors and the twins liked everything they tried so far - wild blackberry, peach & passionfruit, lemon and black cherry. Iam still searching for the dulce de leche flavor in this line.

Musselman's blueberry pomegranate applesauce

One more flavored applesauce from Musselman's healthy picks - blueberry pomegranate. Another 'superfruit brimming with disease-fighting antioxidants, potassium, niacin and vitamin C.' This claim is actually backed up by some research.

The twins have had pomegranate and blueberry before so no reaction - just another flavored applesauce for them.

Musselman's raspberry acai applesauce

The twins have already tried Acai mixed in with a bunch of other fruits in a juice. Again I bought this to relieve boredom. Acai is turning out to not be the 'exotic superfruit full of disease-fighting antioxidants, vitamin C and vitamin E.' I am sure it has it's share of good things like all fruits and veggies……….the twins liked it just fine.

Key lime cupuacu applesauce from Musselman's

It's touted as an anti-aging and anti-wrinkle miracle fruit but I bought Cupuacu because it was something new to introduce to the twins. According to Musselman's healthy picks keylime cupuacu applesauce packaging, cupuacu is 'melon-like antioxidant-rich superfruit packed with B vitamins and amino acids.'

With the first spoonful both of them puckered their lips and shuddered but I think it was because of the key lime. I added half a banana each to their applesauce and they were OK after that.

Pear sauce from Trader Joe's

With the twins at 14 months Iam always wondering about the texture of their food. Since they don't have molars yet, it has to be soft but then even Iam bored with feeding them pasty mush.

This pear sauce from Trader Joe's is not as smooth as apple sauce and not as chunky as chunky apple sauce - it's almost like grated or fork mashed soft pears. I add it to their breakfast cereal for an even more interesting texture.

Gorilla munch from Envirokidz

After starting with cheerios and moving onto Kashi honey sunshine, I decided it was time for something new. The gorilla munch cereal from Envirokidz looked like it could double as finger food. Plus the round cereal balls moving around would probably keep them entertained for some time (and help with their tracking/grasping/pincer skills or so I hoped.)

Those cereal balls are hard - they were probably made to withstand long soaks in the milk bowl and still hold their crunch. Made with just 3 ingredients (organic corn meal, organic cane juice and sea salt) and no additives or preservatives they are definitely coming back as soon as the twins grow molars.

Frozen avocado from Trader Joe's

Another great find - frozen avocado halves from Trader Joe's. I want the twins to get the good fats from avocados but my problem starts with not knowing how to pick the right/ripe ones. They HAVE to be ripe when I buy them because if I leave them around to ripen for a few days I forget that they are there. Second is the fact that I cannot use a whole avocado at once and again if I store a half I forget it's there.

The frozen halves are individually shrink wrapped and thaw beautifully. I actually nuked it in the microwave (and not in cold water or in the fridge overnight as the instructions say) and it still came out perfect - soft and creamy - no lumps, strings, hard edges etc.

I fork mashed the nuked half and mixed it into their multigrain cereal. Both of them ate it without any complaints.

Bolthouse Farms C-boost fruit smoothie

Another great product from Bolthouse Farms. Sometimes I obsess about the vitamin C lost due to heating and storage from fresh produce. Well, with 1200% of vitamin C per serving my kids will get all the vitamin C they need for the day.

I add a few spoonfuls to their morning cereal sometimes and they also get it watered down when they want 'juch.' Just like green goodness.