My previous entry was about feeding finicky toddlers, and the feedback fell into two categories: 1) “I feel terrible in comparison since you make things from scratch and I’m serving up Kraft Mac ‘N Cheese most nights”; and 2) “We want more details!”

So first off, don’t feel bad if you don’t do everything just like me. Keep in mind I’m home all day and have the time to cook that moms who work outside the home often don’t. I make cheese crackers from scratch because a) I like to, and b) after eight months of unemployment last year, I’m very very cheap. And finally, don’t feel bad because I cracked open the blue box last week myself; my kids don’t always eat like pro-biotic, all-organic angels.

As for the request for more detailed suggestions, here goes!

Hey Jessica – this one’s for you! Sorry it took so long for me to cover this topic – you know how it is.

When Maddie was a baby and doing the whole pureed food thing, I thought I was Magic Mommy: she’d eat pretty much anything I gave her. I was pureeing broccoli, spinach, asparagus – you name it, she’d good-naturedly allow me to spoon it into her mouth. As per the doctor’s instructions, I was giving Maddie a protein, a fruit, and a vegetable at every meal (with the occasional starch thrown in as accompaniment) and I naively assumed we’d continue this way for the rest of her life. I had hazy, romantic visions of a four-year-old Maddie placidly eating her lentils and brussel sprouts without comment, and honestly couldn’t see what all the fuss was amongst my friends: picky eaters? What??

I made one of my stand-by recipes last night – a creamy fettucine with asparagus I got from Everyday Food a couple years ago (which, by the way, is a great magazine to subscribe to, since they try to do seasonal foods and under 30 minute prep times – way more realistic than Martha Stewart!). And I realized once again what a great meal it is, and why it’s on my short list: it can feed older babies and finicky toddlers, but has a taste adults love as well; and it’s got veggies built in, so all I have to do is add a side of fruit and we’re done. I divided up the meal for Cora – pasta, cut-up asparagus, and peaches all finger-friendly on her tray – but left it mixed for Maddie to fork “all by herself” in a bowl. Both of them cleaned their plates.

Cora’s been a pickier eater than Maddie was, and I think part of it is that I simply haven’t had the time and energy to devote to the whole Starting Solid Foods thing that I did the first time around. Our lives have been in such upheaval that I haven’t exactly been the picture of consistency about her meals, if you know what I mean; she hasn’t had homemade baby food for several weeks, and I keep forgetting to introduce new foods every four or five days, but the worst is that I sometimes just forget I’ve got to feed the poor kid!