This week definitely flew by! I hope you had a great week yourself. Here’s my weekly musings on family, food, and fun…

Family – Joel is 49 weeks this week… we’re in the home stretch! He’s been doing well, especially in the food department. I love how he’s open with eating pretty much everything we give him. In fact, I’m really glad he’s not picky (at least, not yet!) with food. Since he’s eating what we’ve been eating, Joel has tried quite a few ethnic cuisines and so far, he hasn’t pushed food away. From Cuban, Puerto Rican, Jewish, Moroccan, Korean, Irish, Pakastani, Thai,… even maki sushi, I love he’s a little foodie. I think it’s safe to say that he’s probably the most comfortable in the kitchen. Whenever I’m in there, he’s often right there with me taking in all the sights, smells and sounds. One of his favorite things in the kitchen is watching the oven when the light is turned out and he gets mesmerized by the microwave when I’m heating things up. Pretty much anything that makes sounds like my food processor, stand mixer, immersion blender, etc all interest him. As a result, I’ve decided to start a new chapter in our baby/family blog…

Food/Restaurant News – Because Joel is now at a great age where he’s curious about food and able to try different foods, I’m taking advantage of this learning stage. Our baby/family blog will be changed to ‘What’s Cookin, Mama?,’ and will supplement my current food blog to specialize in kid friendly foods and foodie activities. I’m still in the process of redesigning the blog but hopefully it will be up within the next couple of weeks. In addition to this, I’ve also created a new social group by the same name to help encourage other moms to introduce foods to their children, regardless of age. So far we’ve got nearly 50 members! Within our social group, moms will be able to enjoy foodie activities with their children while helping children learn about food through colors, shapes, textures, numbers, etc. We’ve already got a few events planned so I’m anxious to meet with fellow moms where both Joel and I can make new friends in and out of the kitchen.

Although Joel is just about a year old, he has some cousins who are a bit older that love being in the kitchen with me. In my What’s Cookin, Mama blog, I’ll be sharing kid friendly cooking and baking activities and recipes for kids of all ages. Saturdays tend to be the day the cousins come over to play so we’re structuring kid friendly kitchen events where everyone will make lunch together, enjoy it and then have some play time. So stay tuned, especially if you have children! I know this new adventure will be fun, especially with Joel as my side kick!

Fun – It’s been a relaxing week yet again! I’m starting to think if this is the calm before the social storm when we will be busy with a lot of events. Nonetheless, we love our quiet days and look forward to summer!

Here’s a roundup of what I cooked up in the kitchen this past week…

Overnight Banana Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Rolls