Thoughts on food....

Before we left on our trip this summer, I planted about $5 worth of seeds in my garden and was thrilled to come home 7 weeks later to a beautiful garden. I grew squash, okra, and cucumbers. The squash and cucumbers produced for a while, but bugs attacked the plants about a month ago and I neglected to spray them with anything and so those plants died. However, my okra is thriving and most of the plants are at least 4 feet tall. I also have some "volunteer" tomato plants that grew from seeds that fell to the ground from last year's tomato plants...only two of the plants are very big and I just noticed two small green grape tomatoes so maybe I'll get a few tomatoes this year, as well. Recently, with the mornings and evenings being cooler, the okra production has really picked up, which makes me happy since okra is at least $3/pound at our local farmer's market. My favorite way to cook okra (other than fried, of course) is to heat up a small amount of olive oil in a pan, cut fresh okra up into small pieces, and saute the okra with garlic and sea salt. I have a gas range and have tried the cooking okra using the same method on an electric range and it doesn't turn out as well. The okra gets crispy and is so, so good. Much, much better than the slimy, yucky images that many people probably have of okra. I have been cooking a lot recently and am experimenting making different things for John Harrison (who is a pretty picky eater). I went so far as to sprout wheat berries, dry them out in the oven, and then grind them into flour after reading about the greatly increased digestive ease and nutritional value of sprouted grains. I made pumpkin bread, wheat bread, cinnamon raisin bread, yeast waffles, and homeade crackers for John Harrison with the sprouted wheat flour. His favorite by far was the pumpkin bread --- he got more excited about the pumpkin bread than just about anything else in the world. One of my most recent cooking experiments (I rarely ever cook with recipes except with things like bread, etc.) was a stew made with grass fed beef stew meat, spinach, grean beans, celery, and onions....it turned out really well and I have eaten it for three of my last four meals. By personal choice, David and I don't eat starches, sugars, or fruit, so it makes cooking a bit challening, but, in our opinion, quite healthy....we mainly eat beef (usually grass fed, but we will eat grain fed at restaurants, other people's houses, if we want to grill out a big brisket, etc.), green vegetables and squash, cheeses, salads, nuts, and sometimes chicken. With John Harrison being a very active and growing little guy, I am fine with him having healthy grains and fruits in moderation. I was so excited today because I made him a snack where I mixed almond butter, almond flour, vanilla, stevia powder and a small amount of raw honey, raisins, and unsweetened coconut and rolled the mixture into small balls; this was the first time John Harrison had ever eaten tree nuts and he didn't have a reaction (thankfully!) and he LOVED the snack. I think he would have eaten the whole batch if I had let him, but I helped him exercise moderation and only gave him a couple. My biggest challenge with John Harrison (food-wise) is getting him to eat veggies. He used to love spinach, broccoli, and butternut squash, but now will rarely eat them....I am hoping that as he gets older and I am able to reason with him more, that I can help him to become less picky. Any thoughts on getting a 17 month old to eat green vegetables????