Sweet Baby Mush

Or Sweet Mike Hyde Mush (Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids!)

Until recently my family has done its fair share of sugar consumption. We like sugar in all its forms- pretty much anything that ends in "ose." I've known for a long time that we needed to cut back on our excessive sugar intake (in all forms) and to be sure that the sugar we do consume is... well, just plain old natural sugar.

I started looking for substitutes a couple years ago and after a few recommendations tried stevia. For those who haven't tried stevia, it's like sin. Nothin' but good times till the guilt kicks in. It's sweet at first with a horrible bitter aftertaste... it doesn't help that it costs as much per ounce as sterling silver. Then came the sucralose (Splenda). This is as close to sugar as you're gonna get; tastes great, low calorie, low glycemic index... but upon using it I started getting terrible stomach aches and weird head pains. Quit the sucralose, side effects gone. Hmm. So after pretty much giving up on substitutes I decided that being careful about HFCS intake would have to suffice. Just recently I've taken up the search again.

Now, since our oldest child was born we've given each of our kids baby cereal for breakfast. The recipe is simple- dump some baby cereal in a cup with straw, add milk and sugar, and warm it up. The kids love it and I love that they're done with breakfast in under two minutes without any cleanup. OK, so about that sugar. Each time I've taken a hand full of brown sugar and thrown it in the cup I've felt one of two things: either, this is pretty bad, or, my kids are so gonna love me for this! When I tried putting stevia in my second daughter's mush one morning, she tried a sip and said, "Pleh-ah! What's wrong with my mush, Daddy?" Subs were out. Sarah and I are hyper-sensitive about honey spores and infant botulism, so what was I to do? Was there no way to provide sweet nourishing gruel for my children... without the guilt?

Agave Mush
Baby cereal- our kids like oatmeal and mixed best
Milk- everybody likes theirs with a different consistency
Agave Nectar- to taste

Our baby likes it hot or cold. He'll walk away from hot leaving 4 oz. He'll hang on to the chilled version until he's really sure he's done- must be like a cactus milkshake or something.