Day- 17? Something...

If you have a toddler/preschooler like me, you're constantly trying to find creative ways of getting good nutrition into that little body. Mine has good days and bad days, like any other kid. To make up for the "bad" days of eating, I try my hardest to make the good days count even more. An easy way to load up extra nutrition (on a good day or a bad day) is to make what we've dubbed Sneaky Soup. My child simply loves soup, especially tomato-based ones. But like many toddlers, often has "texture issues" and therefore, likes only the "juice" from the soup and shoves aside anything solid. So to make the soup "juice" count, you can try pureeing a veggie soup though this still creates a bit of texture that the pickiest of eaters at which will turn up a nose. Or you can try this- keep a bottle plain V8 vegetable juice in the fridge. Pour some into a bowl and microwave for a minute or two on high until it's pretty warm/hot. Seperately, microwave 1/4 C of water until boiling. Add a beef bouillon cube to the water and smush up until mixed. If you have some on hand in the fridge, you can substitute this with actual beef stock. Mix the beef water with the warm V8 so that it's a very watery/soupy consistency. Sprinkle a tiny bit of salt and pepper. I add a little onion powder and garlic powder for extra flavoring. And there you go. At least one serving a veggies and some protein if you get real beef for the bouillon cube. Not too shabby. *You can also make your own beef broth/stock and freeze it in ice cube trays for easier (and healthier) Sneaky Soup creations.