Meal planning, shopping, prepping, and feeding our families can be met with a lot of stress. And it’s important to find ways to REMOVE the stress from the equation and bring joy back to meal-times.

On this episode, I welcome Amy Palanjian. She is a mom, founder of Yummy Toddler Food, and author of the new book Dinnertime S.O.S. She joins me to discuss:

• How to streamline meal prep for your family
• How to reduce cost and waste when shopping
• How to bring joy back to meal times (and less stress)

 

Amy Palanjian
Learn more about Amy and Yummy Toddler Food for tips and recipes at yummytoddlerfood.com or connect on Instagram @yummytoddlerfood
Get Amy’s Book: Dinnertime SOS:100 Sanity-Saving Meals Parents and Kids of All Ages Will Actually Want to Eat

00;00;01;02 – 00;00;21;00

Amy Palanjian

So the first thing is to let go of the pressure of the idea of being perfect, because that is not a thing that exists, and it’s just going to make everything harder. So you can just take a breath and know that you are in a particular phase of life where cooking might be different than before you had kids, or after the kids are older, which is totally fine.

 

00;00;21;02 – 00;00;46;15

Amy Palanjian

And then for me, we assign categories each night of the week. So like Tuesdays always tacos or Frito bowls or something Mexican. We have a pasta night. We have a salad night when the warmer months or soup night in the colder months. So starting with categories means that I’m never starting from scratch, so that I go into the kitchen and I know it’s pasta and then it’s easier to choose.

 

00;00;46;18 – 00;00;53;00

Amy Palanjian

Okay, we’re going to go with like white beans and spinach or we’re going to go with like a broccoli pesto.

 

00;00;53;03 – 00;01;18;05

Dr. Mona

Welcome to the PedsDocTalk podcast, a show that continues to grow because of you and your reviews. The way you share this podcast with friends and loved ones means so much to me, because that’s how people continue to discover the show. A podcast where I get to welcome the most amazing guests to chat about all things parenting, child health, child development, and parental, mental and physical health and also just to make our lives easier.

 

00;01;18;12 – 00;01;39;15

Dr. Mona

Today’s guest is helping us do just that. She’s Amy Pileggi and she’s a founder of Yummy Toddler Food on Instagram and her website, which is amazing. And author of dinnertime S.O.S.. And she’s joining me to talk about simplifying meal prep, planning and feeding our kids. Thank you so much for joining us today, Amy.

 

00;01;39;17 – 00;01;41;07

Amy Palanjian

I’m so happy to be here.

 

00;01;41;10 – 00;02;02;15

Dr. Mona

I’m so happy to have you. I love following you on social media. I have used many of your recipes for our family as well, but you know, when you share stuff on social, it’s not just recipes and it’s not just, you know, put this and do this. It’s a lot of just mom life, a lot of just parent life, a lot of just real relatable content of having kids.

 

00;02;02;22 – 00;02;22;24

Dr. Mona

Being a mom, being busy, the mess that cooking makes. Like I really appreciate you doing all that. So for anyone listening, if you’re not following her already, you’re going to follow her. We’re going to link everything at the show notes and talk about that at the end again. But for anyone who’s not familiar with who you are, Amy, introduce yourself and maybe why you started yummy toddler food.

 

00;02;22;26 – 00;02;51;08

Amy Palanjian

Sure. So I started my career working in magazines, so I was a food editor and a lifestyle editor, and I was like trained as a recipe developer. And I loved thinking about audience and who we were writing for. And so that context is really important for me. And as the magazine industry changed and magazines sort of went away, or a lot of them went away, there just was a point where I needed to figure out a career on my own, kind of.

 

00;02;51;10 – 00;03;15;28

Amy Palanjian

So I started the website not really knowing what I was doing as far as like technically goes, but I had a one year old and it was like all of the rules for feeding her changed. Like, I sort of understood how to feed a baby. And then you have a one year old who has starting to be able to share their opinions and has specific preferences, but can’t chew like quote unquote kid food.

 

00;03;16;05 – 00;03;34;13

Amy Palanjian

Like at that time, there was just this huge gap in like, what am I supposed to feed this child? And also, how can I make it so that we can all eat the same things? I’m not saying the whole day in the kitchen and enjoy meals and be able to feed myself. So it really came from like a personal place.

 

00;03;34;15 – 00;03;44;27

Amy Palanjian

And so I had the website as a hobby for about four years and didn’t really know what I was doing, and then learned how to be a blogger. And then social media sort of came after, as it does.

 

00;03;45;00 – 00;04;01;04

Dr. Mona

Yes, exactly. And it’s obviously been, a huge thing for you. And I love it. I love the stuff that you share, like I mentioned already. And I wanted you to come on. I know you have a book out, which we’ll talk about at the end as well. The author, you’re an author of Dinnertime S.O.S., which we’ll talk about that book, which I’m so excited for you.

 

00;04;01;04 – 00;04;20;13

Dr. Mona

Congratulations. We’re talking about on this episode today about simplifying meal prep, planning and feeding. And you just mentioned it like you went through that. How do I just feed my family but not feel like I’m just spending hours and hours, you know, in the kitchen and you have become, I would say, a somewhat pro at that. I mean, obviously there’s time being spent.

 

00;04;20;19 – 00;04;40;10

Dr. Mona

But let’s talk about that. First thing I wanted to ask you is how do you recommend or maybe how do you do it for your family? Streamlining dinner prep for your family. You know, obviously there’s so many decisions what to eat. When am I going to prepare it? Do I prepare it on a Sunday? Or how do you kind of envision and hope people would kind of look at that process?

 

00;04;40;12 – 00;05;01;08

Amy Palanjian

So the first thing is to let go of the pressure of the idea of being perfect, because that is not a thing that exists and it’s just going to make everything harder. So you can just take a breath and know that you are in a particular phase of life where cooking might be different than what before you had kids or after the kids are older, which is totally fine.

 

00;05;01;10 – 00;05;33;02

Amy Palanjian

And then for me we assign categories each night of the week. So like Tuesday is always tacos or burrito bowls or something Mexican. We have a pasta night. We have a salad night when the warmer months or soup night in the colder months. So starting with categories means that I’m never starting from scratch so that I go into the kitchen and I know it’s pasta and then it’s easier to choose, okay, we’re going to go with like white beans and spinach, or we’re going to go with like a broccoli pesto.

 

00;05;33;02 – 00;05;52;22

Amy Palanjian

Like I can use what I have, or I can go to the store with pasta in mind and see what vegetables are on sale or what proteins are on sale. So that is one thing that I do just to reduce the number of decisions. I find it to be very helpful. A second thing is to really take advantage of shortcuts.

 

00;05;52;25 – 00;06;19;23

Amy Palanjian

Everything from frozen vegetables. I mean, frozen vegetables are like the most amazing. I love them, yeah, I love them so much. And there’s this misconception that they’re not as good for you or they’re not as nutritious, which is just not true. And they’re easy. And you can prepare them in so many delicious ways. Like the only way my youngest will eat broccoli is roasted, frozen broccoli because it’s a little bit more tender than when you roast fresh broccoli.

 

00;06;19;25 – 00;06;43;14

Amy Palanjian

Yeah. So I would lean into that and then like canned beans and jarred sauces like look and see what your store has, but just take advantage of what they’re like. Yes. Sometimes buying jars of like, teriyaki sauce is more expensive, but when you look at the amount that you have to spend to buy all of the ingredients for something, it may not actually be more expensive.

 

00;06;43;14 – 00;07;08;02

Amy Palanjian

And also your time has value. Yeah. So like we have to sort of keep the context in mind. So I think there is the logistical challenge of making food. And there is that pressure that we feel from like the social media world that we all live in. Yeah. And I think the more you can remember that whatever you’re doing is totally fine, like the easier the logistical part will be.

 

00;07;08;05 – 00;07;26;11

Dr. Mona

I love it. I actually we do the same thing. I don’t know, you do that. We do the same thing about night, which is like, you know, we have Indian food night, we have Mexican, we have their Thai or Chinese or Japanese, you know, takeout night. Like, that’s just our night. And I love it. And I think you said it perfectly about the pressure because and I see it a lot.

 

00;07;26;11 – 00;07;44;12

Dr. Mona

I experienced it too. I had a lot of pressure when my son was an infant on feeding, like, because, you know, you’re like, oh, the diversity I got to introduce diversity. And then keeping it simple, like you said on, you know, if I prepare a meal, can this meal be prepared in a safe way for a baby blood winner or someone who’s obviously can’t chew?

 

00;07;44;12 – 00;08;01;05

Dr. Mona

And so I look at either, you know, pureeing it or making it soft or steaming it, and then there’s so much pressure there, you know, and I think social media has a huge thing to do with that. I believe, you know, when I talk to families in my office who aren’t on social media, they’re not as stressed about the meals or like they’re just eating what we’re eating.

 

00;08;01;05 – 00;08;19;12

Dr. Mona

We’re just making sure it’s safe. And there’s no like, well, I gotta make this. And he has to have this many foods and all that, which I think that’s so important. You mentioned that at the beginning, because the stress is so much of meal planning, and then you don’t enjoy meals because you’re stressed, like you’re feeling like, oh my gosh, like I have to prepare this.

 

00;08;19;12 – 00;08;41;24

Dr. Mona

And then if they don’t eat it, I spent all this time. But you can’t control that. And so I love that. I think that’s so nice to just simplify the planning. I feel like the planning is harder because that’s all mental load, right? Do you feel like for your family, like before you started having this sort of kind of pattern or plan of, okay, here’s the night that we’re doing, do you feel like planning was harder than actually executing all of these things?

 

00;08;41;26 – 00;09;03;08

Amy Palanjian

I think it’s harder. I think it’s still hard because we have multiple children who prefer different foods. Know. But this is where the having this theme nights helps because the kids know when to expect things. And kids just love routine. They love knowing what’s coming. And so if a meal is not one of their favorites, we can be like, well, tomorrow is best.

 

00;09;03;11 – 00;09;28;06

Amy Palanjian

So that has been helpful. But I also put fruit on the table pretty much at every meal. And like some other side, like the whole grain crackers or sliced cheese or like I do not care about, all I want is everyone to have enough to eat. And so if there is a meal where I’m not sure if one of my kids will find foods that they like, I just add something else to the table.

 

00;09;28;08 – 00;09;49;29

Amy Palanjian

And like obviously that is coming from a place of privilege of having the food. But like I keep an extra jar of applesauce on hand for that type of a thing, just because I want everyone to be able to feel safe and comfortable at the table and preferences change. Like I often think about how I would feel if someone was making all of my meals every single day.

 

00;09;50;01 – 00;10;06;13

Amy Palanjian

I would like lose my mind. It would be so difficult. And so when you put yourself in that, like when you think about it from that perspective, you’re like, okay, this is tricky for a kid because they know what they like and they have like no control. So I try to just like sort of keep it in line.

 

00;10;06;16 – 00;10;22;29

Dr. Mona

Yeah. And you know, we did mention about social media briefly. You mentioned it, I mentioned it. What do you feel like the internet gets wrong and let’s talk about it could be social media or the internet as a whole about the ideas of exposure and variety, and maybe how that ties into pressure and stress event.

 

00;10;22;29 – 00;10;44;27

Amy Palanjian

Yeah. So there is this idea that if you feed your baby like 100 foods before they’re one, that you’re going to set them up to not become quote unquote picky. Yeah. Every baby turns into a toddler, like your toddler is going to eat differently than they did as a baby. When that kid is a preschooler and is an elementary school.

 

00;10;44;27 – 00;11;05;15

Amy Palanjian

And as a young adult, they are going to eat differently than when they were a baby. So we’re missing allowing the natural progression of development to happen. If you do all of those things when you have a baby and then your toddler suddenly doesn’t want the food that they used to like, or they eat less, then you think that they should or you’re expecting.

 

00;11;05;21 – 00;11;25;12

Amy Palanjian

You think you did something wrong? Yes, where you didn’t. They’re just growing and changing, or they’re growing at a slower pace. Like one of the most common things. Questions that I get is like, why did my 14 year old suddenly want anything? I give them my 17 month old doesn’t like any of the foods of these like and like.

 

00;11;25;12 – 00;11;56;11

Amy Palanjian

The first thing is like, they might just not be as hungry as your mind. And we’ve taken like that out of like nobody knows that. So we’re setting parents up to think that there is a problem when there’s not. And with the idea of variety and exposure, if you think about the way that adults eat, an adult can eat a really varied diet over the course of a month, we may eat like the same turkey sandwich for lunch or the same chicken salad for lunch, and then we go out to a restaurant on Saturday.

 

00;11;56;11 – 00;12;12;15

Amy Palanjian

Or we go out to brunch on Sunday, or we go to a farmer’s market and we pick up something different. Like when you look at it over a longer period of time, you’re being exposed to a range of things. You might see things at a store, you might talk to a friend who’s eating something, you might see a picture.

 

00;12;12;18 – 00;12;34;01

Amy Palanjian

But when we think about our kids, there are accounts that are telling parents, like every meal there has to be a new thing, which is just not true. And it is like goes against the natural instincts of kids to want like they want familiar and safe and comforting. I think it’s like for my family, it’s like the core of what we eat is the same.

 

00;12;34;03 – 00;13;04;11

Amy Palanjian

Yeah. And then I might cut something differently. I might buy a different brand of something. I might get a different bread. And then throughout the course of our day, we’re going to interact with other foods. And that to me is like a much more sane way to think about variety and exposure. Like you can read books about food, you can watch shows like cooking shows like you do not have to put something new on a plate every meal or every day.

 

00;13;04;13 – 00;13;13;20

Amy Palanjian

That’s just not the way that people normally eat. And I think it just makes everything way too hard. And even from like a grocery budgeting standpoint.

 

00;13;13;20 – 00;13;34;13

Dr. Mona

Yeah, a lot of ways can happen that way. Yeah, yeah, I think that is such a good point about the managing expectations. And I call it false advertising with what you just mentioned about the introduced these diversity. And this is how your child will be a great eater or also. So feeding alone makes you a better eater. Now don’t get me wrong I think so.

 

00;13;34;13 – 00;13;55;22

Dr. Mona

Feeding is really important and I’m a big proponent of self-feeding as early as developmentally possible. For that child, it may mean six months, it may mean eight months, it may mean ten months. Right? We know that that some kids don’t take the self-feeding right away. Some of them need a little bit more time to click. And I’ve seen that with two children in the same family, one was like still feeding at six and a half months, and then the other one’s like, I want nothing to do with this.

 

00;13;55;22 – 00;14;20;02

Dr. Mona

I and then they do the classic, you know, purees and then they go to like nine, ten months. So I think we have to be really clear. I agree with you a lot of accounts, you know, both of these things. But from a you’re right, from a developmental perspective, we know that it’s going to turn whether you were a great infant feeder or whether you were more selective as an infant, there was going to be a turn at some point where they are going to have preferences, are going to want autonomy.

 

00;14;20;02 – 00;14;39;00

Dr. Mona

They’re going to say no. And then the parent is feeling like, well, I did everything and checked all the boxes and what’s going on now? I can’t describe it like with breastfeeding. Like I love it, you know, I’m and I feel see, I love educating about breastfeeding and formula. But a lot of the education about breastfeeding says, you know, you breastfeed, your child will not get pick as much your child will not have this.

 

00;14;39;00 – 00;14;59;16

Dr. Mona

But we know that they get sick like I have had so many children who have been breastfed who get ear infections. And so the mom is coming in feeling like I failed. I’ve been breastfeeding her, panicking and literally breastfeeding when the child doesn’t need to be fed like the child’s not even hungry and she’s just wanting to get the breast milk into the child to treat it.

 

00;14;59;16 – 00;15;17;20

Dr. Mona

And I’m like, if your child has an ear infection, yeah, we’re going to need to give antibiotics. I love that you want to continue breastfeeding, but you did nothing wrong here. You were told that this is a one fix all and that’s false advertising. And I say that because I think I know and you know, it sounds like that we know what the real deal here.

 

00;15;17;20 – 00;15;40;24

Dr. Mona

Like, you know that I know that. Yeah. It could reduce your chances doing self feeding. Having variety is important. But that’s also developmentally normal for a child to get sick if they’re in child care for a child to get, you know, picky when they’re 14, 15, 18 months. When you were a varied eater, Ryan went through to eat three slices of pizza at like ten months of age and then not 18 months.

 

00;15;40;27 – 00;15;59;26

Dr. Mona

No pizza. And so I didn’t know that you would say something is wrong. But you, like you said earlier, their intake desires change. So I think this real education is so important and I just think it’s nice that we’re having that conversation, because that goes into what we start at the beginning of the stress that that meal planning stress, the meal stress.

 

00;15;59;26 – 00;16;16;13

Dr. Mona

And I know we’re going to get into that about how we can actually bring joy back into meal times, because that is something that I think our modern parenting generation has really lost. Like, I don’t trust my kids not eating. I’m not doing this. I’m like, remember that this is social. Like, this is you’re going to be just fine.

 

00;16;16;13 – 00;16;18;09

Dr. Mona

Like, I need you not to pressure yourself.

 

00;16;18;16 – 00;16;46;17

Amy Palanjian

Oh, I was just going to say that. Like, if we can shift from the idea of, like, getting the kids to eat all of these foods to, like, how can I make mealtimes enjoyable for everyone, right? How can I help my child feel safe and comfortable in a range of food experiences? Because that’s what they’re going to need when they go to school or when they’re with grandma and grandpa, or like when they’re not with you, which I know is hard to imagine when you have a baby.

 

00;16;46;17 – 00;17;06;21

Amy Palanjian

But like, yeah, they will like, you know, they it just happened so fast that they’re in school and then like, they’re in a totally different environment and the safety and like the ability to say, no, I don’t like that. Like when my son went to a new daycare on the first day, his teacher tried to give him peace and he was like, no, thank you.

 

00;17;06;27 – 00;17;20;25

Amy Palanjian

And she tried again. And he was like, I said, no, thank you. And she like, related it to me as like she was about to say, like he’s thinking. I was like, he told you he doesn’t like them. Yeah. That’s what you would want. Like that’s a good thing.

 

00;17;21;00 – 00;17;38;05

Dr. Mona

And I don’t want peace sometimes. We talked about adults. Right? Like, why are we holding our kids to a higher standard than we would like? I go out and you know about the pickiness comment, like, I don’t know, a single adult who loves everything to eat every single moment. Like, sometimes we’re in moods. And why can’t kids have moods?

 

00;17;38;05 – 00;17;45;09

Dr. Mona

Why can’t kids say, I don’t want peas? Or maybe I want salt and pepper on my peas? Like I don’t want bland peas. Maybe they’re not making it that good. I have no idea.

 

00;17;45;09 – 00;17;47;03

Amy Palanjian

I’m like, you don’t know, right?

 

00;17;47;05 – 00;18;05;23

Dr. Mona

You mentioned that earlier about the standards we set for ourselves with like, diversity of food, you know, like how I eat the same four things for breakfast on rotation. Right? It’s the same five things on rotation. I’m not stressed about it. How we introduced diversity is switching up the fruit option, switching up the veggie option that we throw in there to add the diversity there.

 

00;18;05;23 – 00;18;24;14

Dr. Mona

But we’re not panicking so much that he eats the same six things five things on rotation. And then when my mom comes and makes something fancy, there you go. Like you said, special occasions, you know. But I love the simplicity is so important for all the other decisions that we make. This is something that happens so regularly, so simplifying it just makes so much sense.

 

00;18;24;14 – 00;18;44;12

Dr. Mona

And one of the things that you mentioned was about cost, right? You know, all this can lead to more cost. What’s your favorite ways to reduce food waste and lower grocery bills? You know, maybe storage tips, things like that. I know that the time of the supporting grocery bills are super high, and I recognize it when I go to the store, I’m like, wow, this used to be much like $4,030 less than what I was spending.

 

00;18;44;18 – 00;18;48;20

Dr. Mona

So what can parents do to kind of prove that cost and kind of plan that way?

 

00;18;48;22 – 00;19;13;26

Amy Palanjian

Okay, so a couple things. So I’m not going to just share all of my tips because this is like an area that I love. Yeah. So I would say that before you go to the store, shop your pantry in your freezer because sometimes we put stuff in there and we sort of forget that it’s. Yeah. So I often look there and see if there is something I can use in a meal, either before I go to the store or in the coming week, so that I can naturally buy less.

 

00;19;13;29 – 00;19;35;13

Amy Palanjian

With heating, kids start with smaller portions so that you don’t put like a pile of whatever food on their plate, and then they take a bite and decide they don’t want the rest, right? We try as much as we can with dinners to eat the same foods, so that if a child decides that they don’t like one of the elements, someone else can eat them.

 

00;19;35;16 – 00;19;58;16

Amy Palanjian

So that is where like I do usually include like four different foods in a meal so that people can sort of mix and match. But usually there’s someone who likes each of the foods, at least, so that we’re not wasting those. I don’t personally love leftovers, so the only things that I like batch cook are. Whenever I cook rice, I make twice as much rice.

 

00;19;58;18 – 00;20;17;20

Amy Palanjian

And then I started in the freezer for the next time. But I think you have to like, look at your own family and your own specific eating habits. If there is a chicken taco recipe that everybody loves, double it. Stick out from the freezer and then you have a meal for next week. But it’s so like context dependent.

 

00;20;17;23 – 00;20;36;06

Amy Palanjian

Like my husband eats all of our leftovers. If we have them. So like that’s not a good tip. But like I am aware that like unless it’s pasta or pizza or like beans, nobody is going to touch those leftovers except for him. So I try to not make it so much that that would be difficult for him to eat.

 

00;20;36;06 – 00;21;01;06

Amy Palanjian

Yeah, with groceries, like store brands are almost always less expensive. I usually wait to buy produce until I go to the store and see what’s on sale or what looks freshest, because that’s something that’s just harder to predict. And then, like, if I know I need something for a recipe, I can check the produce aisle. And then if it’s like really expensive, I can go buy it frozen usually.

 

00;21;01;08 – 00;21;20;00

Amy Palanjian

So that’s where like if you plan your meals, if you have categories for each night and you leave some flexibility with the produce, you can wait till you get to the store and see what is less expensive. And then this might be something that not everybody likes, but we don’t have meat every night. That is a thing that can be very expensive.

 

00;21;20;00 – 00;21;43;22

Amy Palanjian

So we do a lot of meals that are vegetarian or that are rely on beans or that rely on eggs, assuming eggs are not costing a fortune. But like I think this idea about protein, like there’s so many foods that have protein in them and most kids get plenty of protein without us trying. So you don’t have to have a meat entree at every dinner.

 

00;21;43;29 – 00;22;01;03

Amy Palanjian

Pasta has protein. Holy bread has protein. Like if kids drink milk, they’re probably getting enough protein for the day. So like, yeah, if you can let some of that go and still make meals that are filling and satisfying enough for everyone, that can be a very simple way to reduce your grocery bill.

 

00;22;01;03 – 00;22;17;28

Dr. Mona

So yeah, these are great tips. And I know you share things like, again, through social media and your blog, which will link again all these amazing tips and resources, like I mentioned at the beginning, that are just relatable and obviously having a family yourself and being a cooking like a food lover. Obviously I can tell. I really appreciate that.

 

00;22;18;04 – 00;22;35;06

Dr. Mona

My last question for you. I have so many, but the last one today is we had alluded to already, which is ways to bring back that joy to meal time and reduce that stress, reduce that pressure, and actually be able to maybe eat your meal too, if you feel like you’re constantly being that, okay, let me go get this.

 

00;22;35;06 – 00;22;38;08

Dr. Mona

Let me go get this. How do we enjoy meals again?

 

00;22;38;11 – 00;22;56;08

Amy Palanjian

So this a little bit might, depending on your phase of life, if you have an infant this is going to be harder. But I think there are a few things you can do like simplify your cooking to start with, I didn’t buy salad kits until after I had my second child because I was like, I can put that together myself.

 

00;22;56;08 – 00;23;31;15

Amy Palanjian

And then I was like, oh no, no, like I understand why they are so valuable now. So like things like that. And then if you have like kids who are old enough or if you have a partner if you are constantly the last person getting to the table, and you are the person who is constantly the one who needs to get up to get things, have a conversation away from the meal about how we’re all going to do it together, and we’re all going to get everything to the table so that we can sit down and eat at the same time, so that the mom is not the one who is left sort of running

 

00;23;31;15 – 00;23;52;27

Amy Palanjian

around picking up the slack. And then when you get to the table, talk about other things. This is not the time to give a speech about the nutrition and carrots. This is the time to ask your kids if they’re verbal or even if they’re nonverbal. Like kids love listening to parents and interacting with people who are paying attention to them.

 

00;23;53;00 – 00;24;13;00

Amy Palanjian

And as soon as your kids are able to, like, verbally communicate with them, telling them stories and asking them questions about their day and telling jokes as they get older, like, the more you can talk about other things and just have it be a place that you can connect. Because a lot of the time, it is the only time that we’re actually all sitting down together.

 

00;24;13;03 – 00;24;35;10

Amy Palanjian

I think like that can really be the most helpful thing. The dinners where we’ve gotten all the kids to tell a joke, or sometimes if I’m alone with my kids, we tell several stories. So like, I’ll start a story and then we’ll go around the table and we’ll just like, keep going. And everyone adds on a part of the story and it’s like super silly and means nothing but it is like, yeah, funny.

 

00;24;35;10 – 00;24;45;15

Amy Palanjian

And it keeps them engaged and they feel like they’re part of the experience. So I think just like changing the perspective a little bit on that.

 

00;24;45;17 – 00;25;00;24

Dr. Mona

Yeah. And like you said, it takes the pressure off of picky eating like I did with so many families who have picky eating. And when you get into that label and that cycle, picky eating, you can’t get out of it. Like it’s really hard to bring back the joy and say, okay, because you’re so fixated on them eating.

 

00;25;00;24 – 00;25;14;23

Dr. Mona

And like you said, you’re like, I need to be honed in. But that honing in is pressure, that honing in is like, oh my God, like, can we just back up? Like it’s like I think about like my husband used to be very picky. And if I just stared at him the entire time while he was eating a meal, he wouldn’t have expanded his palate.

 

00;25;14;23 – 00;25;30;03

Dr. Mona

And through the ten years that we’ve known each other, he’s now eating all these adventurous foods, and I’m the one who helped him become less picky. And I’m so proud of myself. But, you know, with my son, it’s like, you know that, you know that if they’re just staring at them for separating. Okay, what about that? You want to touch that?

 

00;25;30;05 – 00;25;44;29

Dr. Mona

It’s not going to serve anybody and it gives you the parent. Like I just feel like, again, we have so much stress and pressure of finishing meals, taking a bite, all of that stuff which staring at them, fixating on it. I hate to break it to you. It’s not going to make them eat it like it’s not.

 

00;25;45;04 – 00;26;03;11

Amy Palanjian

It’s also then taking you away from your own food. Yeah, and then you can’t tell if you’re hungry. You can’t tell if you’re enjoying your food. And that’s not fair to anybody in the equation. And one other thing I wanted to mention is like wherever possible, especially with little kids, just lighten the mood. Like, yeah, I often will.

 

00;26;03;11 – 00;26;20;04

Amy Palanjian

I can my son like a pair of tongs to eat with or like give him my fork or like a serving fork, or like some other silly. Yeah, yeah. Like let them pour their own water from like, a kid’s a pitcher. Like, I just think the worse, the more we can just, like, let our expectations come down a bit.

 

00;26;20;09 – 00;26;38;05

Amy Palanjian

And I really do want parents to be able to enjoy their food. Yeah. Because it’s not good for your digestion. It’s not good. Like, it’s just not something that you should have to do for years and years and years. And the only way that you can enjoy your food is if you mind your own plate a little bit more.

 

00;26;38;07 – 00;26;52;16

Dr. Mona

Well, yeah. And you also said about using the development of the child, I respect and understand that, yes, an infant, maybe a younger toddler is not going to be able to go get their own water. But when you start to see and foster that autonomy, Ryan, I would say he’s three and four months at the time of this recording.

 

00;26;52;16 – 00;27;09;10

Dr. Mona

We’re going to debut it much later than that, about four months, three months ago when he turned three. He’s now able to go through the entire fill up of his water on his own, like getting the stool, getting up to the refrigerator, the cup, the lid, the straw. And it was like I talked to my husband. I’m like, this is a new phase of parenting.

 

00;27;09;10 – 00;27;28;10

Dr. Mona

Like the fact that I can tell him, if you’re thirsty, you’re going to go get your water. And in your situation that you mentioned having the pitcher there, having them pour. And then I think a lot of the other thing is parents are afraid of masks and all this, but the only way they’re gonna learn is getting a little messy and trial and error and spilling that water, realizing, oh, I made a mess.

 

00;27;28;10 – 00;27;47;21

Dr. Mona

I don’t want that to happen again. What am I going to do differently? And that’s us also managing expectation and not being so stressed and being okay with all that. But if we’re already stressed about the meals and this and that and I’m not going to eat and I’m not eating, and then your child spills a glass of water trialing and sharing how to fill it up, you’re going to feel you’re not going to learn because you’re just going to do it for them.

 

00;27;47;21 – 00;27;59;03

Dr. Mona

And it’s a it’s a cycle. And I appreciate you bringing this information because it has a huge impact on quality of family time and meals and how we show up to our children. And at the dinner table, too.

 

00;27;59;08 – 00;28;00;14

Amy Palanjian

Yeah, totally.

 

00;28;00;16 – 00;28;11;11

Dr. Mona

And you have a book which I want to go into, and I think it recently came out. But what would be your final message before we get to that? For everyone listening today, you have so many great pearls.

 

00;28;11;14 – 00;28;33;05

Amy Palanjian

I mean, I think it’s really the like it’s okay to lower your expectations and just enjoy the phase where you are and like, really own it. Kind of like everyone is only going to be this age for a very short amount of time. And there are very specific things about the kids of ages that they are that you just get to enjoy.

 

00;28;33;05 – 00;28;44;19

Amy Palanjian

And I just think that we don’t need to rush so much through that. And so I think just like it’s fine, it’s on. It’s really okay. It’s all fine.

 

00;28;44;22 – 00;28;46;27

Dr. Mona

It’s like, that is a great final message. It’s was.

 

00;28;46;28 – 00;28;48;24

Amy Palanjian

Not like the most eloquent.

 

00;28;48;27 – 00;28;50;17

Dr. Mona

Know perfect. Exactly.

 

00;28;50;17 – 00;28;51;27

Amy Palanjian

No it’s fine, it’s fine.

 

00;28;51;27 – 00;29;01;18

Dr. Mona

Everyone’s fine I love it Amy. So yeah. Tell me more about your book. And then of course, where everyone can find you to stay connected, get your book, all of the resources that you have.

 

00;29;01;21 – 00;29;34;18

Amy Palanjian

So the book dinnertime S.O.S. is available anywhere books are sold. It is basically everything we’ve been talking about. So it’s 100 recipes that are like super streamlined. So I tried my hardest to like minimize shopping. There are no electric appliances needed, so you don’t need a blender, you don’t need a food processor. And I was imagining parents being in the kitchen at like 530 with their kids hungry and like, what can I put together to make quickly that we can all eat together?

 

00;29;34;18 – 00;30;07;00

Amy Palanjian

So there’s 75 main dish recipes and then 25 like super simple sides and then tips for serving everything throughout. So it’s meant to be the guide that you go to for those weeks where you just like have very little bandwidth for getting meals on the table. But you want easy ideas and I like I use frozen foods. I use jarred foods, like there are a lot of shortcuts in there, so I hope that overall it sort of helps reinforce that permission to make it easier.

 

00;30;07;03 – 00;30;21;08

Dr. Mona

I love it and I can’t wait to get it myself. I think this is so wonderful. I’m always looking for recipes that are easy to implement. I love you, but I mean sometimes I see recipes and I’m like when it’s more than like 20 ingredients, I’m like, oh yeah.

 

00;30;21;11 – 00;30;32;08

Amy Palanjian

We like it was already for sure. Streamline the ingredients. And also like, I didn’t want anyone to open a page of a recipe and be like, oh, there’s too many words. So just be aware of that.

 

00;30;32;11 – 00;30;37;26

Dr. Mona

And then of course, besides the book, where can people stay connected and get all of your resources and information?

 

00;30;37;29 – 00;30;43;27

Amy Palanjian

So everything is on yummy toddler fool.com and then on social media to add yummy toddler food.

 

00;30;43;29 – 00;31;00;15

Dr. Mona

And I will be attaching this to the Shownotes links to her book, as well as her Instagram page, as well as, her website as well and blog which has the recipes, info that she presents on her social media. Thank you so much for joining me today, Amy. It was such a pleasure chatting with you on the show.

 

00;31;00;15 – 00;31;06;05

Dr. Mona

Obviously I feel connected to you on social, but this is so nice for you to actually be able to come on the podcast.

 

00;31;06;08 – 00;31;07;29

Amy Palanjian

Yeah, I’m so glad we could do it.

 

00;31;08;02 – 00;31;24;25

Dr. Mona

And for everyone listening, I know you got some great tips from Amy, and if you’re not following her already, you must follow her at Yummy Toddler Food on social media. I loved having her on, sharing her tips, sharing her expertise. If you love what you heard, make sure you leave a review and call her out. Call out the episode that you loved it.

 

00;31;24;25 – 00;31;29;19

Dr. Mona

That’s how this show continues to grow, and I can’t wait to have another guest on next time.

 

00;31;29;19 – 00;31;44;08

Dr. Mona

Thank you for tuning in for this week’s episode. As always, please leave a review. Share this episode with a friend. Share it on your social media. Make sure to follow me at PedsDocTalk on Instagram and subscribe to my YouTube channel, PedsDocTalk TV.

 

00;31;44;10 – 00;31;45;11

Dr. Mona

We’ll talk to you soon.