When my first child, who is now four, was born - I had lofty visions of making all of my own baby food from scratch. Hand picking organic fruit from my garden that I would cook and puree and store myself, you know, along with all of the sleep I would be getting and time for pruning a garden. 

Ah, first time mom Mandi was so cute.

​Fast forward four years and another baby later, and I know a few things about motherhood. I also know you don't have to sacrifice quality when it's done for you if you know where to look.

Lucky for us busy moms, Smart & Final has launched their own Sun Harvest baby food brand this month that is organic, clean, GMO-free and made simply from fruits and vegetables. That's it!

Available in an array of delicious flavors and only $0.99 per ounce serving, the packaging is also BPA-free, which you know is a huge must for us and most mamas. ​

You can choose from Mixed Vegetables, Pear, Apple Mango, Pear & Banana, Carrot, Apple, Banana and Strawberry and Sweet Potato, giving your little one a diverse selection of fruits and vegetables to please their budding palate. Which you know I am a huge fan of. Diversity in a child's diet, from a very early age, helps them to like an array of vegetables and fruits as they grow. 

For store locations and information on Sun Harvest, as well as other products offered at Smart & Final, you can visit their website here. 

This month has brought on  A LOT of new tastes to little man's palette and many more opportunities for him to sample foods outside of the house. This has made going out, and bringing him along on our date nights, much more fun and easy. 

Not having to bring so much external food from home makes it easier to be spontaneous and I'm thankful he is eating so many fruits, vegetables, healthy oils and meats now because we can order something for him at almost any restaurant I can eat at. 

He's moved to having lunches and dinners that are unique to what we are having, so moving forward you will see separate breakfast, lunch and dinner sections for even more meal ideas. 

We also introduced, GLUTEN. (insert shocked gasps here), for many reasons, that I will talk about in next months post, but you will see some bread included in the meals below. 
​

​*Note that these are the meals he's served from breakfast, lunch and dinner. He also gets two-three snacks a day. Snacks include apple slices, pear slices, organic teething cookies, organic puffs and vegetable based baby food purees

As we dive deeper into Baby Led Weaning, I thought it would be fun to share the meals that little man enjoys. He's got SUCH an appetite and it's no surprise he's our child, since he's a foodie through and through. We stick to organic, healthy choices for him, and as of yet he's still dairy-free, gluten-free, soy-free and pretty much Top 8 Free. We are going slow with introductions and now that he's almost 1, we will be introducing more and more for variety and nutrition. 

I've posted some photos of the meals I put together for him, and I plan to share along the way, leading up to toddler meals. These are the meals he's currently enjoying at 10 months of age. 

I would love your ideas too! If you have some great infant or toddler food or meal ideas, feel free to share. Any recipes of a specific dish I make for him, I will link to the recipe here on NoshandNurture.com! 

*Note that these are the meals he's served from breakfast, lunch and dinner. He also gets two-three snacks a day. Snacks include apple slices, pear slices, organic teething cookies, organic puffs and vegetable based baby food purees. 

The beauty of eating clean, whole foods, is that Grey can usually eat some of what I order. 

When traveling in Long Beach, we stayed at the Westin and for breakfast I ordered scrambled eggs, gluten free toast and avocado. 

I shared my avocado with Grey, ordered him a side of bananas and brought a puree pouch of baby food to round out his meal. 

Mama + baby were satisfied. Done and done! 

Keep an eye out for What Grey Ate, every month on Nosh and Nurture! And as always I'd love to hear your feedback and what you're feeding your littles.

I also share a lot of our mealtimes, and more, on my Instagram Stories, so if you're over there, follow along! Find me @noshandnurture. 

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #WhyPlumFormula #CollectiveBias #Sponsored

I've learned the road to motherhood can be a bit bumpy. Learning schedules (or throwing them out the window because baby's change weekly), raising a tiny human on little sleep and making sure you give them optimal nutrition to keep them healthy are all areas in which I feel we are constantly trying to navigate with little guidance and much instinct.

I remember that one of my first thoughts when Grey was born was how I was so excited to breastfeed him right away. When they handed that tiny, pink, wrinkly babe and he latched on like it was the most natural and beautiful thing in the world, my heart soared. 

However, there were circumstances with health issues in the hospital, with both him and I, that called for more nutrition, and more volume, than what I could give him. My instincts as a mother quickly shifted to making sure he got the nutrients he needed to help him thrive. All mom guilt aside, I had to do what was best to feed my baby under the new circumstances we faced. 

If you've been following the blog for a while you will know I am a MAJOR advocate for organic living and consuming whole foods with no or minimal artificial ingredients or processing and I knew I wanted to hold fast to the same standards for our new little babe. 

Having heard of and having researched their infant snacks and food line, I knew that Plum Organics® was, and is, America's number one organic baby food brand. I was ecstatic to learn they also made formula. Their organic infant formula adds no corn syrup solids, which was a huge plus for me. And since lactose is the most abundant carbohydrate found in breast milk, their carbohydrate source is from cow’s milk lactose only. In addition, the milk they use is from cows not treated with the hormone rBST**. 

I also love that they respect a woman's desire to breastfeed during those crucial, early days and I adored their understanding outlook on it. It made me feel good, and assured, that what I was giving my baby was a product that was created by parents just like me. 

In addition to their Grow Well® Infant Formula being organic, it is also non-GMO and contains essential DHA and ARA. They believe that formula is food and should be treated with the same care we'd give ourselves and the rest of our family members when seeking an organic diet and lifestyle. 

The formula can be found at Safeway and Albertsons nationwide and for those of you wanting to make the switch, I've included a coupon for you all below. 

For more on Plum Organics and their full range of products: 

**No significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rBST-treated and non-rBST-treated cows.

​How do you ensure your family reaches their nutritional goals? I'd also love to talk to fellow mamas about your breastfeeding and formula journeys! Leave it in the comments below and let's connect. 

Last night Mr. Charming & I went to start our registry. 

Insert all the girlish, happy, blissed-out squeals here. We decided to do it earlier than later, because we are already to starting to make some of our own, larger purchases, and we wanted the amazing rewards from Babies R' Us that go along with it. (No, this is not a sponsored post. I just think their registry program is that awesome.) 

Along with this post just being a super happy dance on paper, er screen, I also recommend my suggestions for where I think organic is best. 

In almost two hours, we only made it through about a quarter of the store. Most of our time was spent choosing what we believe is the best stroller and car seat for us. I let Mr. Charming take the reigns on this, since I chose the crib. We found a perfect match for both of us and baby. It's sleek, streamline, lightweight for little ol' Mandi, comfortable, high safety ratings and converts to last until baby is 4 years old! Win. Win. Win. 

And can I just say, seeing your husband testing out your first child's stroller? Priceless, endorphin surging, swoon moment of a lifetime. Seriously almost cried. Thank you Jesus for these moments. 

It's an overwhelming selection of EVERYTHING when you go to register, and when ours is complete, I'll post what I believe we needed vs. what I felt we didn't. Doug's five sisters and my three sisters have had plenty of littles over the years, so we've got to learn a lot about need vs. want when it comes to infant gear. 

Although, the wiper and bottle warmer were pretty cool. I mean, would you want a cold, wet rag on your behind in the middle of the night? Doesn't sound too pleasant. I try to put myself in their booties when weighing what's necessary. 

Right now I'm researching some organic brands offered at Babies R' Us to see which we are going to go with. Burts Bees vs. Honest vs. BabyGanics Vs. Earths Best. I also like the attributes of Pampers Premium to protect my little baby's bum So far, Burt's Bees has the best lavender lotion, as I miss the old J&J lavender night lotion of the past. BabyGanics smelled too earthy for us and Earths Best seems to have a good selection. New waters to explore, and so many options. But happy there are so many organic options. With Johnson and Johnson and other popular baby companies coming under fire for so many harmful chemicals, it's good to know we can opt for better options for our developing little one. 

The items below are where we are going organic or chemical-free in the nursery and our home, once completed I'll publish my faves, once I've tried them out. 

All Bath & Diaper Products
Our Crib Mattress
Most Clothing
Mittens and other items that touch the face
Toys (Eco Friendly and Chemical Free)
All Cleaners For Home & Baby Clothes

I'd love to hear your feedback on your favorite organic baby brands! Leave it in the comments below!  

Three weeks ago, I stood in the baby aisle of my neighborhood grocery store analyzing all of the options there are today for baby food. It appeared like so much had changed since my last little one was born. Where did all these options come from? What happened to just regular Gerber baby food? And who thought up some of these awful food combinations – ham in ham gravy? Chicken, peas and zucchini? The color alone made me feel bad for the poor kiddos that were being fed those awful combinations. Then the price of the caught my eye – they wanted me to spend HOW much on ONE jar of baby food?  Combine that with some of the preservatives and GMO ingredients that go into said pre-packaged baby foods…

Needless to say I left empty handed and ran home to tell my husband of my adventure. I sat there, staring at my Ninja that I had received as a Christmas gift and realized, it would be just as easy to make baby food at home and probably a lot cheaper. I had seen multiple friends posting on Facebook their baby food making ventures and it sure did look easy.  I also quickly added up in my head the cost of the handful of vegetables they bought in order to make those items and immediately thought they were on to something.

I feel fortunate in the sense that my in-laws have their own garden out on their acreage and canned a lot of what they grow – and they so generously pass it on to their children. I had some jars of vegetables in my house thanks to them and decided to grab those, along with some additional items, and get to work. 

Start with whatever kind of vegetable or fruit you want, it can be fresh or frozen. I generally try to make a weeks’ worth of servings. There’s also a variety of ways to store the food – there are some affordable plastic baby food containers on amazon, but glass is the preferable method. You can also use Mason jars and scoop out individual servings as you go. You can also pour it into ice cube trays and freeze for them an hour then pop into a glass bowl, throw on a lid and put in the freezer. You would then pull out only what you need each day.  


The fruit creations are super simple, you throw your produce, preferably organic (if not then wash them REALLY WELL), in the blender, hit start until pureed and you’re done.  For veggies there’s a lot of dicing, cooking, and then blending. But your little ones get much more nutrient dense food that way, so make sure to mix it up.

I chop up my veggies and tend to steam most of them, then I put them in my Ninja with a little water and turn it on. 

If you are crunched for time, you can always do it once a week or even once a month and then store it in the freezer. A few times a week, I toss whatever vegetables the rest of us are having for dinner into the blender so my little one can eat the same foods we are. 

Karly is a true southern girl through and through. Wife and mama to two sweet boys, she is also a professional event planner and publicist and has traveled with her littles more times than she can count. The sweet tea, loving Granola Mommy is a first time blogger on Nosh & Nurture and plans to continue writing on topics on various platforms to help mama's make healthy choices for their children.

You’re going to be a mom. Again. This was the initial thought I had when I discovered I was pregnant with my 2nd bundle of joy. I started picturing adorable clothes and nursery décor. My Pinterest became overloaded with adorable baby ideas and tips.  Then a few weeks later reality set in as I started to remember what it was like when my oldest was born and the things I had learned the first time around. I admit, with that first born, it was truly trial and error. I didn’t research a lot of things up front – I used the diapers that my friends said were best, I picked out his car seat because it was cute, not because it won the safety rating award… yes I definitely played Russian roulette on certain things.

The advice started coming as soon as I told people I was pregnant with the 2nd one. It seemed everyone knew what was best for my child and wanted to make sure I knew they were the expert on certain things. This wasn’t my first rodeo so most of their advice I would politely nod at and take it with a grain of salt. The one topic that did seem to keep coming up was disposable versus cloth when it came to diapering. I was hearing more and more about cloth diapers and the pro’s for using them. My hairstylist was the first person to give me the low down on cloth diapers. She had done her research and was very open about the pros AND the cons to cloth diapering. My oldest always got horrible diaper rash and I never thought it might be because of the diapers, I just assumed he was prone to diaper rash – Like I said earlier, he was my trial and error baby for sure. I started doing my own research and even found a class at a local baby boutique that educated parents to be on the ins and outs of clothing diaper. I was curious to learn more… the next step was getting my husband on board. I tried starting with the selling point that we were raised in cloth diapers so why not use what was used on us. He just gave me an odd look like I was crazy. I asked him to join me at one class and if it wasn’t something he wasn’t 100% on board with then we could go the disposable route.  

The class was very informative and got my hubby on board. We learned that there was a variety of cloth diapers – prefolds, covers, all-in-ones, pocket diapers… It seemed like the options were endless. The instructor showed each kind and went over the pros and cons of each. There were so many questions that we had, that were just like the other parents. We also learned the average cloth diapered baby is potty trained at 18-22 months, while disposable is 26-30 months. When it came time to potty train my oldest, I remember I tried pull ups until I realized they were glorified diapers, as soon as I put real underwear on him, he was potty trained within two days. The thought of cloth potty training a child sooner made sense.

I also did my research on natural disposable diapers such as Honest Company, Huggies Pure and Earth’s Best. I loved the designs that the Honest company offered, I loved that I could find Huggies in Target and Earth’s Best was the brand of baby food I had used with my oldest – all names that I was familiar with and felt “safe” with. They had their pros as well – they were hypoallergenic, made without fragrances and latex and have you seen the cute designs by The Honest Company?? My husband and I went back and forth on what we wanted to do. It ultimately came down to cost and our child’s health. The upfront of investment for cloth made more sense for us versus the long term cost with disposable. The chance of diaper rash with cloth was a lot less than with disposable – and in the event my 2nd was prone to diaper rash, I wanted to avoid it at all costs. We made the leap into cloth diapering and 6 months in, so far, it’s not that bad. I hardly notice the extra laundry – but I could do without the smell – yes, I admit, the smell of pee when you open up the wet bag that holds the dirty diapers, knocks you on your butt the first few times… but so does a diaper genie. 

There were also some myths that I would love to debunk.

Karly is a true southern girl through and through. Wife and mama to two sweet boys, she is also a professional event planner and publicist and has traveled with her littles more times than she can count. The sweet tea, loving Granola Mommy is a first time blogger on Nosh & Nurture and plans to continue writing on topics on various platforms to help mama's make healthy choices for their children.

Your a mom.  It's Friday afternoon, you worked all week, you're on deadline, the laundry is flowing out of the laundry room and into the hall, the kids had a half-day and you havn't even started thinking about dinner.  A dinner in which your in-laws will be present for.  So I understand why you would just sit the kids down and feed them a hot dog.  Or macaroni.  Or a burger.  It's easy.  It's cheap.  And it allows you to get to the laundry.  The paperwork.  The dinner prep.

Now, I myself am not a mommy yet.  However, I do see a lot of friends and families presented with the challenge of wanting to feed their littles better but not having the time, resources or recipes to do so.  So I wanted to start a series of posts that help put together meals for toddlers, kids and teens that are still in the traditional food realm, but that cut back on unnecessary sugar, starches, fat and artificial ingredients.

The good news is that GOOD QUALITY food still does exist.  Sometimes it means visiting another market or a farmer's market.  Sometimes it means cooking in the oven over the microwave, but for the most part, kids can still enjoy the food they know and love, while you give them healthier options to do so. Recipe for today below.

A Healthier Hot Dog & Fries:

1 Applegate Farms Natural Turkey Hot Dog - These hot dogs are casein and gluten-free, use no anti-biotics, are humanely raised and have no nitrates, nitrites or nasty preservatives. 

5 Dr. Praeger Sponge Bob Broccoli Bites. These cute little potato and broccoli bites are fun shaped, and delicious for the kids who love fries.  As a healthier version, they are packed with broccoli bits. These are made with egg, so if your little has an allergy, skip these and maybe bake some healthy sweet potato fries. 

A handful of organic green beans. (or any vegetable your little will eat) Greens are very important. 

I served this dish with a side of paleo ketchup, made with xyltiol and apple cider vinegar instead of corn-syrup that is found in store-bought ketchup.  Nature's Hollow makes an amazing ketchup that is sugar free.  If you are going to buy ketchup at a regular store, opt for Simply Heinz which skips the corn-syrup.  90% of corn in the US contains GMO's so best to skip it all together unless it states it's verified non-GMO. 

Remember to keep mealtime fun and allow kids to see food in a positive, healthy light. 

This is a crucial time in a kid's life, they are growing and it's important they receive the proper fuel.  I've heard the argument many, many times that "what I'm feeding them is no different than when we were growing up and we turned out fine."  

However, it is different than when we, or our parents, or our parents parents were growing up.  GMO's (genetically modified organisms) didn't play as big of a role back then.  Neither did the amount of harsh chemicals and pesticides used in our food supply today.  Additionally, it may seem that we "turned out fine", while in reality cancer, auto-immune issues and diabetes numbers have sky-rocketed and new diseases that didn't exist 10, 20, 40, 60 years ago have come into play.  Problems that weren't around when the 1950's diners served up fresh milk milkshakes and grass fed burgers.  

Earth Day is April 22nd, 2014.  What does that mean, you ask?  Well, unofficially it was always a day I tried to at least plant a tree, or attend an expo, most often than not though I ended up just using less water or electricity.  This earth is our temporary home, and I believe we do have a responsibility to keep it clean, and help provide a good future for our children, and their children. 

Officially, Earth Day is an annual event, celebrated on April 22, on which events are held worldwide to demonstrate support for environmental protection. It was first celebrated in 1970, and is now coordinated globally by the Earth Day Network, and celebrated in more than 192 countries each year.

I've put together a list of some things we can do to help give back, that helps not only our Earth, but those around us as well.  And of course, I threw in some yummy Earth Day inspired treats!  I would love to hear what you do for Earth day, or what you plan to do this year.  Comment and inspire others to make a difference. 

So, as Mr. Charming is soon applying to dental school and I'm talking to a lot of mommies getting healthy feedback on raising babies I thought I would post some information I received on keeping your children's teeth healthy from the sign of the first little tooth to their teen years. I stand behind toothpastes such as Tom's of Maine for their fluoride-free options, especially for young little ones. 

I know the verdict is mixed on fluoride, however, personally I don't believe it's something I or my future children need to consume. While others may disagree, that's fine :) Everyone has their opinions. I just wanted to provide a suggested timeline for toothpaste and maintenance growth as your child ages. 

Age 4-10 months: At the sign of the first tooth, start lightly washing their gums with a warm cloth. Keep juices and sugars to a minimum if you must give them at all.

Age 1: First dentist visit! And start brushing teeth with a toddler toothbrush and a low-foaming, fluoride-free training gel. 

Age 2: Dental visit! And make sure your child has now graduated to using a kid's toothpaste and that you've taught them how to brush and spit. Introducing a fluoride toothpaste is now acceptable. 

Age 6: This is the age where you child may start losing teeth! Aside from planning fun visits from the tooth fairy you may want to introduce a dye-free, gluten-free and alcohol free mouth rinse. 

Age 8: This is a great age to switch from a kiddy-fruity toothpaste to a mild mint. 

Age 13: Now that children will have all of their permanent teeth, it's time to switch to an adult toothpaste and toothbrush if they have not already.''