14. Liza Huber | A "Passion" for Healthy Eating...

Hey guys, welcome back to the show. We are really excited to be back. I know we had a little break last week. This week's guest is a amazing mom. She's a super entrepreneur powerhouse. She runs a great. Business called Sage spoonfuls. She was also a star in the soap opera passions. Back in the day, we were really excited to have her on the show and, uh, Eddie blew up my spot by letting everyone know how excited I was to have her on.

[00:00:33] Cause I was a big fan of the show. We are real excited to have you listen to this episode because it was great resources. She brought a really great energy to the episode, so we're super pumped to have you listen to it. So please stay tuned and enjoy this episode with Liza Huber. And if you really enjoy this episode, please leave a review and share with a friend.

[00:01:49] Welcome Liza Eliza Huber from Sage spoonfuls. Thank you for joining us. Thank you so much for having me. We are super excited that every time I say that, it sounds not excited, but I am super excited. It's palatable on this side. It's insane. Like I'm cause I'm like a dog, so I'm just like feeling off of it.

[00:02:11] I'm very excited as well. So, but the, the anticipation is killing. Well, I think because originally I was excited to have you on as a guest and it was like, I hope someone would want to come on as a guest because you find other moms in this community, like throughout different. Portals in different ways.

[00:02:28] And, you know, we found each other through I fund women and through our connections that way. And it's rare to find another mom who I think is like juggling lots of hats who also lives in this little community world that we're in and shares the same experience. There's no matter what they might be. And so I kind of found you that way.

[00:02:50] And then. Really just was like, Oh, she looks so familiar. And Eddie was like, I don't know. I know, I know her from somewhere. She must be from something else. Like she must've done something else before this. And we used your products when our kids are smaller. And so I'm like, I know I use these. I don't think I saw her face before.

[00:03:09] And then I was like, she was on passions. I saw something you posted where you were on passions. And I was like, I watched passions when I was in high school and college, like obsessively every day after school, I was like, I have to watch passions. I was going to watch passions. Best job. It was so fun. We were all so young and it was like going to.

[00:03:34] Work, but like in a college dorm, I mean, my dressing room was right next to Eric Mark's office, which was across from Andrea Evans. And we would all go to the commissary and get our salads and hamburgers. And like the cast of Seinfeld. Was it Seinfeld? Not Seinfeld? It was, um, Oh, my gosh. I can't even remember what that 70 show filmed on our lot, like, um, at will and grace.

[00:03:55] And we would just like, bring our cheeseburgers back to our room and Eric and I would listen to like Neil diamond. I mean, it was so fun. It was, we would have our meal drive and lunches and it was just the most fun job ever. I'm so grateful for those years. Well, it must've been like a college dorm, cause I feel like everybody was so young on that cast too.

[00:04:12] We were so young. I was 22 when it started. I mean, remember Lindsey, Lindsey Hartly was like 19. Um, and we just, we all kind of grew up together when we started, we were so young. And then when the show finished, we were all married, had babies. Like it was, it was just a time I would never trade in for what a fun experience.

[00:04:31] I feel like that you have that opportunity. Yeah. Just like it was a fun show. It was hilarious. You never knew what you were going to walk into it all. Yeah, exactly. I feel like I just want to talk to anyone and like, um, I still watch general hospital, like faithfully it's this day. I've watched it since I was a little kid with my grandmother.

[00:04:49] I think that's what soap operas are. You watch them? Like I watched all the ABC soaps and my grandmother and my mother. It's a good tradition. It's like what you do, you grow up watching them. You keep watching them as you get older. And then. Passion's came on and was like, Oh, this is like, for me, like, this is like my generation's like soap opera that I can watch.

[00:05:06] It was like the best. It was like, everyone was young on the cast and it was like a sillier plot line and everything. It wasn't so serious. There wasn't so much drama. It was drama, but different drama. It was great. It was so campy. We had a blast. I'm so glad. I'm so glad you loved it. It was fun. I miss those days, I feel like we need something like that nowadays with all the COVID and the stress and the drama, like the negative, we need like a fun, can't be show that everyone just.

[00:05:29] It's gets behind. Well, you did say I should like to be a soap opera star, right? The next plan, the next step for us, we're just trying to get this off the ground. So that way I can get kind of like a, a little following and then boom. I'm going to do, right. Okay. Yeah. Cause the, you know, the ultimate goal of course would be to in general hospital, but you know, settle for like, is one like to list to one?

[00:05:52] No, I'll settle for one like, Oh, they're not even, that is so that's the transition. Here we are. We'll cut this out if you want. But one left to live. All my children are not on anymore. There's only, um, there's only, there's just general hospital general hospital and the restless daisies and the one on there's, like one on each network.

[00:06:13] That's it. Okay. Yeah.

[00:06:20] I'll bring it back. Watch I'll I'll come and I'll bring a new life to it. And then the soap operas will take off again and then I'll have to each one bringing them back, you know, you're crazy. He'll be great. Anyways. So, so anyway, so tell us your personal story. So Sage spoonfuls we know is like a baby food.

[00:06:37] It started as a homemade baby food system. Right. Okay. So tell us a little bit about before we get really into Sage spoonfuls, because I know we use it as a baby food system when we were, when our kids, when we, I love that. I actually, I had no idea. I love the, I love that like put two and two together until again.

[00:06:56] Cause when I first heard about you, it was like, it was just two moms and I was like, Oh, we have something in common. And then. I realized you had Sage spoonfuls. And I was like, I know that logo, we totally had those squeegee squeezies we called them squeegees, have those squeezies here. So tell us how your personal story a little bit, how are you connected to the community?

[00:07:14] So, um, actually Sage spoonfuls and how I'm connected to this community is, is kind of intertwined. I mean, like we said, I mean, I was an actress on passions for forever, right? And, uh, I had my first son Royce while I was on the show. And then about a year later, I was pregnant with Brendan and Brendan is my son who has cerebral palsy.

[00:07:36] And, um, I was five months pregnant with Brendan when passions finished up and then we moved back to New York and I had every intention of going to. You know, one of the new York-based soaps, but then Brendan was born nine weeks premature. And of course that was the game changer. So, um, he was in the NICU for six weeks.

[00:07:57] Uh, we almost lost him on two different occasions. Um, and I'm sure so many, um, parents in your community, uh, understand what that's like. I mean, it's just, that's your like, You just stopped. And I knew from that moment on that I, that I was not going to go back to work in the traditional sense. And I had had the idea for Sage spoonfuls after Royce was born.

[00:08:19] And when I was working so much, I mean, I'd often be on a set at six 30 in the morning, and a lot of times working and not get home till 10 at night. So I would. And I knew I wanted to make his food. So I would always make his food and put it in the freezer, but there was no system and it was just a mess.

[00:08:34] And there were only these little cubes which had BPA in them back in the day. I mean, it was still BPA in the plastics and it was just a mess. And I remember thinking in the back of my mind, There's gotta be a better way to do this for busy working parents or even just for all parents are busy, whether you're working or not.

[00:08:48] And, um, but I put the idea on the back burner and then once Brendan came home and was stable, uh, I still was thinking about the idea and there was still a huge hole in the market. And I sat my husband down and I said, look, you know, unbeknownst to you, I've done hundreds of hours of research. I, I, I'm gonna make a huge life pivot here.

[00:09:07] And, um, I basically pitched the idea to him, uh, and then to another family member as well. And they gave me some seed money to get started. Uh, cause I could work from home. Um, I knew it was going to be at least a two year concept to creation. And what became, you know, what. Was initially in my mind, going to be kind of a little like independent, small boutique mom brand kind of right out of the gate, because it really was, um, so new, uh, became a pretty Hardy player in the space, like right off the bat.

[00:09:40] So it was Brendan and w and it was really Brendan who. What was the catalyst to make the life change? Um, that's pretty awesome. Actress to entrepreneur. Yeah. So I could be home with him. Yeah. I mean, I think so. So many times moms, we make decisions that you wouldn't ever plan for your life. Like, it's not something you say, Oh, you know, and then I'm going to have kids and then I'm going to do this and this and this, and I'm going to be, I'm going to work from home and I'm going to stay home and I'm going to have a plan and.

[00:10:10] I'm going to quit my career and I'm going to pivot, like you don't think I'm going to, when I have kids, I'm going to quit this career and do this other career. Like, when I feel like when you're younger, you're like, I'm going to have a career and that's going to be my career for the next 30, 40, yeah.

[00:10:22] Forever. But I know even for myself, like so many times I've pivoted. And I'm still pivoting on a regular basis just based on what our family needs and when you're ready younger. You're like, I can't even imagine that would be like the worst thing ever, but really it's not you almost, I feel like every time I look back, I'm like, that was the best decision I made.

[00:10:45] It can be. It can be the, the, the best thing to happen to us. As long as we leave ourselves open to life surprises. And we allow ourselves to go with the flow instead of fighting against the flow. Um, if you would've told me 10 years ago that Hmm. Manufacturing and the supply chain be my passion, I would think.

[00:11:08] Say, how do you get there? How do you get there? But I, I love it. Yeah. I love making things. I love, um, being creative. I love helping parents. Um, and I'm my own customer as a mom of four young kids. And, um, It's just a wonderful feeling to be able to have an idea in your head and then just see it come to life and to build a team and work together towards a common goal.

[00:11:33] Was it a scary leap at that point? Like, it sounds like you, you had like, you know, you had your mindset and you were like, I'm doing all this research and I've been there where like all of a sudden I get my mind into something and I don't do any, I don't do it minimal. Did everything like to the max? So if I have in my mind on something I'm going a hundred percent, but it was when you finally were like, okay, and now we're doing this for real.

[00:11:56] And people, you know, you've talked to people and they're ready to give you some money. Is that, that transition to really go for it? Is that a scary, like, were you like in full fear mode at that point? No, I just, um, cause if you're going to do something unique, you got to go all in and go for speed or else what's the point.

[00:12:16] So I just, I. The idea, you know, we did a two year concept to creation and in those two years I had Hayden and then was pregnant with Mason the back. Yeah. All four kids in, uh, like just under six years. And so I just did it. I just did it, did it, did it, did it, did it. And then, you know, boom, we launched and five months later we were nationwide and buy, buy baby.

[00:12:41] And I remember. Um, Victoria Beckam I remember remember Perez Hilton. Like there was a, like, it was sort of like a TMZ website. I remember looking at Perez Hilton one day. Um, just to kind of like relax at the end of the day. And there was a picture of Victoria Beckham holding a Sage spoonfuls cooler, and her little girl Harper, um, was a baby.

[00:13:06] And I am telling you right now, I stared at that picture for like four hours and I couldn't believe it. And I remember turning to my husband. I said, Oh my goodness. Did I start a brand? Yeah. Wow. That's so it was like eight months in after launch when I was like, Oh my gosh, like we were already the, I mean the, the, the train had left the station back and had our cooler and I was like, Whoa, am I smart enough?

[00:13:31] Do I have enough money? Do I know what I'm doing? And it's like too late, just believe in yourself and do it. Yes. I mean, that's, that's the thing. Everyone is scared. Yeah. There's not one successful person who isn't. Scared to some degree, the point, but the differentiator is, do we, do we let that hold us back?

[00:13:50] Or do we just plow ahead? You know, and we just plow ahead. Same thing with being a special needs, parent, what are you going to do? Your child needs a crazy surgery to improve their life. Well, you just have to, you know, find the best surgeon and the best team. And just plow ahead. I mean, Brendan, Brendan just like got his feet rebuilt and.

[00:14:08] That's insane, but like, what are you going to do? You do it because it's for them. My fear is a mom is not important now. Oh, I agree. Wholeheartedly. I think there's so many times, and we said this on another episode where somebody saw many times somebody has said to me, well, do you think, you know, I think is that you think it's your personality that makes you kind of just go full force into research and find all these things for your kids or you're so strong.

[00:14:32] And I'm like, no, I think it's just being a parent. You just don't have that in your world. Like, if you did have, if these things are going on in your world, you would do the exact same thing we're doing. Yeah. Like it just, this is our reality. So we're just going full force. We don't know anything different.

[00:14:48] You know, we woke up, we went for gender ultrasound. They said, boom, this is what you've got for you. And we were like, okay, we don't really, what are our options? What else are we going to do? Say, uh, we'll sit back and see what happens. Like you don't, it's just not an option. Yeah. Not the best choice. Yeah.

[00:15:02] You can't just like sit back and let the kid figure it out. Like you have. I'm in control of the situation I have to be in control at all times, because if not, I'm watching them suffer. Right. And in control as much as we can be. I mean, at some point it's like we work and we work and we choose the best team and the best therapist and the best, you know, IEP and the best surgeons.

[00:15:22] And then, I mean, I remember in 2016, when Brendan had to selective dorsal rhizotomy, which is an insane surgery, it's, you know, they take a vertebrae like off the body, which is bananas. They pull out the. The nerves from inside the spinal cord, more bananas. I mean, and then they put, I call them zappers.

[00:15:42] They're not zappers, but I call them zappers for Brendan. He has, um, a spastic diplegia. So they put all these zappers on his legs and they were looking at the nerves from inside his spinal cord, like which nerves were over firing shooting. And then would like click them. I mean, So at that point, it's like, uh, uh, I've done my research.

[00:16:02] He's in the best hands ever. And now I'm going to throw my hands up to, to, to, to, to God, to the surgeons, to the powers that be, I've gone full force, and now I need to chill and let everyone do what they do well, cause otherwise it's just chaos right in your brain. I mean, otherwise you're having a panic attack.

[00:16:20] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, full force, make your great choices for your child and you do have to, it's hard to sometimes sit back and let other people kind of take the wheel for a little while who are trained and skilled and can do their thing. But man, some of these surgeries are just like, woof, they definitely, I know, test us.

[00:16:39] They test your faith for sure. I've had to be like, I'm just gonna have to go with my gut on this one and trust that my decision is the right decision. And then. Be okay with that. And because what else can you do? I mean, I ultimately have to make those choices. Like now he's getting older, we have a couple of surgeries that are coming up that we can say, how do you feel about this and their choice surgeries, you know?

[00:17:02] So we can say, D are you, are you, do you want this surgery? Because we can hold off and we can wait a couple of years until you're right. Like. There's going to be a point where if it's detrimental to him, then we're going to just go for it. Right. But if this is a elective type thing, that's just going to be, you know, for him, like one of them is straightening his legs.

[00:17:21] It's not affecting him one way or another, but if it's affecting him socially, okay. Big deal. But he's like, I don't care. Well then I'm not going to put you through a painful surgery where you're in two leg casts and you're in a wheelchair for six to 12 months for. Uh, to make your legs look nicer. Like that's not, you know, we're not having, we're not even up for discussion unless one it's hurting you.

[00:17:47] Like there's some future hurt and you know, and this is going to affect you in the long run or socially. We're having an issue here. Otherwise, if he's like, I don't care. Okay. Like, I don't care. My legs are crooked. Okay. Like, go with it. It's you it's who you are. It's you know, it's what made you, you, I'm not going to argue it.

[00:18:04] We all have something. That's so true. We all have something. Some you can see and some you can't. Exactly. Exactly. So, you know, to transition a little. So you started or to stay on the same topic you started the Sage spoonfuls. Um, Because, you know, you're you wanted to make this, you know, wanting to make baby healthy foods for your children at home, but where did that come from?

[00:18:29] What was your childhood like? Like did you grow up at home with homemade meals, healthy eating habits and stilled from the start? Or is that something that you were like, I want, I really want this inspiration. What inspired you to kind of go healthy, eating for your kids? Um, it's kind of just always felt right to me.

[00:18:49] And we always, I mean, you know, we want the best for our kids, even if we don't always want the best for ourselves, we always want the best for our kids. So making them, and I did not know how to cook. I never, I mean, I never cooked before I had kids. I mean, that's probably the first thing I cooked was Royce's homemade applesauce and you just figure it out.

[00:19:07] It was a decision I made, I knew it would be best for him. Um, But I couldn't believe how hard it was to. To, to, to, to make it easy because it really shouldn't be a big intimidating process. I mean, it's literally just pureeing, fresh fruits and veggies. It's not like preparing shrimp cocktail or anything like crazy.

[00:19:28] Um, so it was really just, you know, your, your mother's instinct to want to give your child the healthiest. Food, but I really, because I worked so much, I could not cook on demand. Um, so I really had to piece together a way to make it work for me. And I knew that there had to be a better way, because if I'm feeling this way, there must be other parents who were also feeling this way.

[00:19:47] Right. Exactly. Oh, I also feel like as a parent, I mean, I was in that situation, especially with Annabella when she was little. I, you know, I made the decision. I'm going to stay home with her for a little bit, and I'm going to try to do them in my head. I was so young, I'm going to do this thing or I'm all of a sudden, I'm not going to be.

[00:20:04] Focused on my working and going all the time. And I'm just going to be a stay at home mom, and I'm going to make my own food. I'm going to be a great wife. And I wish that was a crazy idea because that's just not my personality. And I need to be like going all the time. Actually, it was healthier going all the time.

[00:20:17] Then I was staying home all the time, but because I didn't have anything keeping me going, I was just there with my kid and I wasn't, we weren't keeping busy. We weren't doing anything, but in my brain, I was like, I'm going to make sure my biggest thing was I was to make sure I had healthy food for her.

[00:20:33] But then I did start going back to work and we were keeping really, really busy and it is so easy when it is a lot of work to make sure you have healthy food. And even when they started going to school like preschool and stuff, I wanted to make sure I was okay. Sending them with healthy meal choices.

[00:20:49] And when it's difficult to like, get all that together and have everything going and have a good system, it is so much easier to just go, Oh, well this on the shelf is just easy to grab. It's so true. And, and I think that, I mean, for all children, it's important to give them the healthiest start to life.

[00:21:06] But I think that when you get a rough start, like, you know, our children did, um, I think they need. The nutrition even more to get just jam with as much nutrients as possible so they can grow as strong as possible. No, I know for me, like, especially Eddie is like, okay, so he's got some other stuff going on.

[00:21:29] Let's focus on making sure he's strong and healthy and his brain is going as best as possible. I want to give him the best start possible. Absolutely. And also there's a lot of, um, pain, physical pain that can go along with, um, So many children, you know, um, who have special needs. And so I thought in Brendan, like his body was really titled at the time from the cerebral palsy.

[00:21:54] And I thought, you know what? This is actually one of the few things he can enjoy right now. Um, I'm not giving him some nasty food from a jar. Like this kid is like in pain and his body feels weird 24 seven, like giving him a freshman. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's the least I can do for sure. Now how'd you come up with the name Sage spoonfuls.

[00:22:16] What inspired that? I love this question. So. Again, funny how life, you know, you got to leave yourself open. I was absolutely sold on and married to the name. Mommy's kitchen. Oh my gosh. I love the name so much. Mommy's getting to mind. Ms. Gibson. I was so ready. There was this dude in New Jersey who owned mommy's kitchen.com and he was not giving it up.

[00:22:38] He didn't do anything with it. He was not giving me enough unless I gave him $8,000. Oh my goodness. I'm not giving you $8,000. I don't even have $8,000. And I was like, all right, I have no idea what I'm going to call this thing, but I know it's not going to be mommy's kitchen. Cause I'm not giving this guy $8,000.

[00:22:52] And like five nights later, I shot up at 2:00 AM with the idea Sage spoonfuls. That was it. I ran to the computer, the URLs, the trademarks like everything's available. And of course now sitting back as an experienced business owner, the name mommy's kitchen is crazy limiting. Yeah. You know, and, and Sage spoonfuls is just such so much of a better name.

[00:23:11] So it's just like, it's amazing how your brain just like moves and percolates things and it just hits you is so fine. I don't know where my brain came up with it. There was no thought process that I'm aware of adjust to am. Boom done. It is a great name though, because you can go so many places with it.

[00:23:27] Yeah, it doesn't limit you at all to food. It doesn't limit you at all to babies or parents or anything. You can really expand it everywhere, but it still holds true to what you're doing. Absolutely. So I'm grateful to the dude in New Jersey, the mommy's kitchen guy, wouldn't give it up. Now. He's going to be looking for is $8,000 in that way.

[00:23:51] So, you know, a lot of special needs parents. Are forced to make their own food for their children out of necessity for dietary restrictions, allergies. Do you find that your products are helping a lot of these families, you and we hear a lot from parents and caregivers in the special needs community, that our system really makes it easy for them.

[00:24:13] And that's just the greatest thing in the world for me to hear. I mean, because you, you, you, you hope that what you're putting out into the world is going to do the good. That it intended to. And, um, another community we hear from is the, on the way other end of the spectrum, which is the elderly community, a lot of, um, a lot of people in that community, like the, the adult children will say, you know what, we're using your blender and your larger jars to puree, like, you know, Roast chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy and peas.

[00:24:48] My, my dad loves them, but he, you know, he can't chew or he is, he needs to have pureed foods. So it's just, um, it's become this go-to system, um, for both ends of the spectrum. Um, and it just, it just makes it easier. I mean, giving. Our children, our babies, our loved ones, healthy food should not be a big, huge ordeal.

[00:25:08] It really, I mean, a lot of the store-bought baby food companies, it, it makes me so upset because the main nugget of their marketing is that we is that making your own baby food or making food for your kids takes too long. It just takes too long. It's a whole big deal. You can't do it. You don't have time.

[00:25:26] Let us do it. Like stop it. Please sometimes. Sure. Sometimes those things have a place. Absolutely. But it is processed food. It's, it's processed food, whether it's organic, um, well, whatever it's still processed. And if you think about it, We all enjoy McDonald's every now and then, but do we eat processed food for every meal every day?

[00:25:49] No. Why on earth would we do that for our babies? A lot of parents don't realize that even the most expensive organic food in the pouch, it has to be sterilized to have a shelf life of two years. And that. Process removes over 50% of the nutrients and the manufacturers artificially added back in. And for whatever reason, they're not obligated to tell the consumer.

[00:26:11] And there's a huge difference in the way the body reacts to natural nutrients and vitamins and artificial and synthetic nutrients and vitamins. And I am a firm believer that that is a huge reason why we have so many food allergies and intolerances, and God only knows what else. I think you, you made such a great point when you said like, you know, we like McDonald's or we like something every once in awhile, but we're not eating that every day for every meal.

[00:26:38] And the biggest part of that is also at the moment, most important brain development, part of our lives. And we're feeding them something that's processed for every meal. Sometimes bolt more than three times a day. It's not like they're having just three meals a day. You know, little ones are snacking and they're having, you know, when their babies are having sometimes four or five, six meals, like you're giving them food so many times a day and it's all processed.

[00:27:07] It's all processed. And, um, and the other problem is because it is processed. That's why it never tastes, looks or smells the same as the real thing. And then that a steady diet of that also leads to picky eating. Yes. And I always give this example if you're. At a restaurant and you order something and you were like, this is horrible.

[00:27:28] I do not like this. I don't like the way it was prepared. I don't like it either. If someone tells you like the restaurant down the road makes it great. Your taste buds, you're already kind of ruined on this meal and you're, you're kind of not willing to try it somewhere else. And it's the same thing with babies.

[00:27:42] If we're giving them Brown. Over processed peas that tastes and smell disgusting that you would need. Why, when they're two or three years old, will we expect them to love peas? When unfortunately they've been introduced to, you know, Oh, some process piece. So. That's kind of, my philosophy is to make it easy because we are all so busy these days, whether you're a working parent, a stay at home parent, and we're all working, stay at home parents these days, um, to just to just make it easy.

[00:28:12] I mean, I used to pour a giant goblet of wine on the Sunday when everyone was asleep and I make a month worth of baby food. Cause it's just so easy. You don't need to measure anything or follow a recipe. You can just mix holes. Foods together and done. That's the way I wrote my book. That's easy where you're just mixing whole foods together.

[00:28:31] So yeah. You can just like make a ton in 10 or 15 minutes or pour yourself a drink and spend an hour and make a month's work. Like it doesn't need, it can be a more, it is a more enjoyable process than a lot of people realize, you know, it was, I believe it was the 1940s when all of this. You you're going to hurt your baby.

[00:28:51] You know, you don't know how to feed them, or you're too busy or we know better than you, you know, this, this marketing and it's gotten ingrained in everyone's brain. Like, Oh, I'm going to do something wrong. I'm gonna do something wrong at the time. They're right. I don't have the time. And it's just, it's literally so ingrained in our brains.

[00:29:07] If you stop for a second, I can take a fork and mash it, a banana there, you know, I can do it or an avocado or put it in a blender. I mean, it's just, if you like. Get out of the marketing that that's been ingrained in all of our brains for so long. I mean, this was at the same time they were marketing, you know, seven up for baking soda.

[00:29:25] So now tell me with that being said, like tell us for those of us that haven't used. I mean, I have, but tell us for those that haven't used Sage spoonfuls, how, how do your products work? What makes them so much easier than just doing it yourself? Without the products. So when you have a system and like a go-to system, it's really easy because we have a blender that was specially designed to make baby food.

[00:29:49] You know, it's makes a puree, it makes a mash. It makes it a chunky. Here's everything I need, you know, you're not, I like consistency. I like ease of use. I like quality. Um, so that's what it is. We give you a system to grab and go system with our jars grab and go, basically, you know, you just put the food in the jar or the Sage squeeze it, you know, you don't need to put, you know, slop bag and put it in something else and put it in something that's a hassle plus you're contaminating the food by touching it so much with it saves people's you put it from the blender to the container and you never touch it again.

[00:30:23] And you put it in the freezer. Cause the homemade baby food is good for up to three months in the freezer or up to three days in the fridge. And you just, you just grab the jar and you serve them from the jar or the squeezy and you never have to touch the food again. It's a one-step process grab and go and you don't need to, it's not a hassle.

[00:30:41] We take the hassle out of it and yeah. And for parents who maybe it's their first baby or they're a little bit nervous. Um, you know, my book, simple recipes, healthy meals, happy babies. It just, it takes the intimidation factor out of, out of it completely. Um, because I wrote the book, the way I made the food is different than any other baby food book out there.

[00:31:00] It's about. Single simple whole foods. Well, I think the thing that, like, I love the fact that like, when you said like your blender, it's different than just using like my regular blender, because you can cater it towards your child. Like, you know, maybe when your kids younger, you need it much more pureed.

[00:31:17] Then as they get older, you can make a chunkier. I mean, that was, I think was the greatest, the GRA a great part of it is like when, when, when our kids are older or younger, all of a sudden in a snap, they're in a different stage. So true. You don't even know that's happening. And then all of a sudden they're ready for a different, a different texture of food.

[00:31:35] And you're like, Oh, I want to try this. You can try it right at home right there. You don't have to go buy a bunch of different things at the store. See if they like to taste that one, like to taste this one. Now you're just throwing stuff in the trash. Like it's. Yeah. And I think the biggest part that people don't realize.

[00:31:53] Just to kind of bring it back of what you had mentioned about picky eaters. If you're, if you're sitting down to dinner and you're having mashed potatoes and peas and chicken or whatever, you're having, you have a toddler sitting or almost a toddler, you have like, you know, a new eater sitting right next to you.

[00:32:10] You want them wanting to eat the same thing. That's on your plate. Exactly.

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[00:32:44] In your local area to shop and deliver groceries from your favorite stores, Instacart is offering our listeners free delivery on your first order, over $35. So listeners by following the link in our show notes, and we really hope that you do, you'll be letting Instacart, know that we sent you and your lease supporting our show.

[00:33:07] So you've transitioned a little bit from no baby making baby food to, it looks like some lunch options for older kids. Yeah, we, um, heard pretty quickly from our customer base that, you know, they wanted more from us. They wanted more than just, you know, baby food. They wanted to stay with the brand. So we really, um, about two years in started developing, um, mealtime essentials for toddlers and bigger kids too.

[00:33:35] And we have this wonderful, silly elephant plates are silly. Elephant plate was really. Aspired by Brendan and the CP community, because it is made of silicone and it's really sturdy, but it also suctions to the table or the counter or the high chair. And it is the strongest suction of any suction plate that you can find on the market.

[00:33:53] Even our 13 year old, can't rip it off. You really need to stick your finger under the thing. And it, it really helps promote. Independent and productive self-feeding I mean, that's so, so important. Independence is everything, especially for special needs kids. And, um, the silly elephant is really the ideal place to help, um, those children, productively selfie.

[00:34:14] Yeah, I definitely, and I'm sure like in it's helping with those fine motor skills, it's helping them really. Grow in that way. That's, that's definitely needed for any, any age. Really? Probably. Yeah. It's perfect to learn how to scoop, because it only has two compartments instead of five. So it helps you learn to scoop.

[00:34:32] It helps you learn your pincher grasp and the plate stays put, so. It, it just, it really helps. It's a really wonderful tool for, for all kids, but especially for special needs kids learning to self feed. Awesome. So what is your favorite recipe to make right now? So I'm going to be honest. I went through a big cooking drought.

[00:34:55] I've been so busy that, um, I went through a big cooking drown. I said, you know, something has got to happen. Cause now there's four kids. I've got one teenager, huge appetite businesses like exploding, like life is crazy. And so, um, I did like the hello, fresh, ask it purple carrots scenario. And I'm liking it because I love to cook, but I don't have time to meal plan or shops.

[00:35:20] So that's my thing. So like I love chicken tikka masala. I love that. I love roast chicken and veggies. Um, you know, I love making smoothies. They're so easy. Um, and I want to start baking again. I mean, because work can not. Like take over our life. And I was letting it kind of take over a little bit. And I did pull myself back because we could work seven days a week, 365 days a year.

[00:35:45] And there's still more work to do, but you blink and your kids are out of the house. So my husband and I were both just total workaholics. He said, you gotta know when to say when. And, um, I cut my, I stopped my day at 6:00 PM and I'm, I'm there for them and cooking and, and enjoying cooking again. I think we've been the same way.

[00:36:04] I think COVID made it worse almost, even though we've been conscious and tried to do more time together on the weekends or this, but at the same time it's so when you're working from home and you have such a space right here, I can wake up in the morning and I just write to work. And then I it's so easy to just get right back to work.

[00:36:23] Like there's no, there's no stopping. There's no break. I'm not taking breaks. I'm not eating lunch. When I go to a physical office. I'm conscious that everyone's taking a lunch or that, you know, Oh, is this somebody you want to go take a 15 minute break? Or I have to go to the bathroom. I'm walking upstairs to another office.

[00:36:39] I'm not doing any of that here. I was so sedentary. I'm not, there's no release of a break. I just, today I was like, you know, I could just say, I can take my lunch and I'm going to go for a walk with little lady. Get outside, get out so good. It's so good. I actually don't mind working from my garage because I leave the door open.

[00:37:00] Like you get some fresh air hasn't chipmunks running the other day, you know, it's just, uh, it's also hard too, because your kids don't understand that you're working. They think you're home. And now Brendan having had his feet rebuilt and he's in casts. He can't. He can't wait there for six weeks. I mean, what are you going to every time he used to go to the back room, so I have to carry him.

[00:37:21] So I have baby monitors, you know, around. So he's, um, I mean, I was in the middle of a zoom, huge zoom meeting earlier, and he's screaming. I got to go to the back. I mean, I'm like, I'll be right back guys, but you know, we're all in the same boat and we're all just doing the best. I think it's a new normal now, like in the past, I think if a parent.

[00:37:44] Was working from home and was interrupted. It was like this thing where everyone was like, Oh no, now. It's just understanding. Oh, okay. Well, don't worry. We'll see. In a sec, like it's just such a different, Oh, that's you have a cute kid. Like, it's just such a different energy and I'm like, good luck. I love it.

[00:38:03] I mean, Allison was on a call cause his company is based in California. So it was like a Friday night. It was like 8:00 PM. So it was only 5:00 PM for California, but he was on a call. I was like, you know what? It is 8:00 PM on a Friday and I'm going to make a drink. And I popped into his zoom and I was like, there's going to be a blender in a sec.

[00:38:21] Yeah. It's just a different environment, different energy. So where do you see Sage spoonfuls growing into now? So we have. So many wonderful plans for Sage spoonfuls. I mean, in the, in the short term, we're launching actually a ton of new products over the next six months. And we're also, um, going into different, um, areas of the juvenile product space as well, like expanding outside of, um, Mealtime as well.

[00:38:54] Um, I'm actually also going to be starting a YouTube show, um, where I'm going to be interviewing moms who I think are amazing and who have great stories to tell. And, uh, just, you know, Exploring other avenues and other products and different ways to grow the brand. And, um, really start looking into giving back to the CP community in a, in, in a meaningful way.

[00:39:21] It's very, very important to me. I think that's great. I mean, I think for sure, I mean, your Instagram is like one of my favorites. It's so much fun. I always think, how does she have time for all this? Like, I'm a never, like, I'm always like, Whoa, I should make an Instagram story and they'll look, yeah. Like anything else, it's just doing it right.

[00:39:38] Because who has time? None of us has time for anything. It's just like, once you start, you just like put the camera on yourself and like, Yeah, I know, but then I'm like, Oh, I don't like the way I look. I don't like the way the lighting filter on it. I know. I know. Can you turn off all the lights in the city and the lights off and the whole city?

[00:40:00] Um, I think that's exciting. I can't wait to see what, what comes of it and where are you guys go? And I'm definitely, you know, We'll be following you guys because we have been for so long and I'm super pumped to see what happens. So we ask no. Okay. We have a confession. I'm sorry. Like I just, it was like six months ago.

[00:40:20] Cause I got into like a crazy cleaning thing and we threw away those squeezing, squeezing. They were super old. They weren't, they were pretty, we threw them away. We should have, we should have donated them well, but you know what? Each one can be used about 50 times, you know? So they, they take the plate, like they're not indefinite forever, the glass jar or something.

[00:40:43] So you did the right thing. I mean, after you wash it like a million times, it's time for new ones. Exactly. Yeah. Our kids just don't eat them, like use them anymore. Like there. They're just outgrown that you were like, why'd you throw those out? I know I tried to save everything. Why did you get rid of those?

[00:41:00] We use those Eddie would still use those. I'll send you some new ones. We have an, we have some awesome new patterns and stuff launching very soon. Yeah. He might change. He gets into things back into things like now he's asking for Apple sauce all the time. He's eight, eight. His fine. Motor is not great though.

[00:41:16] So he like has trouble opening things and like, he doesn't like the Apple sauces in a little cup or jars. Like he doesn't want to open anything. And then I always want them to go, just grab a snack, especially now that they're home. Yeah. Before they were at school. So I have to worry about like, when they're at home, like.

[00:41:31] I think he asked me like 400 times a day. Can I have a snack? Can I have a banana? Can I have an Apple? Can I have a I'm like, yeah, let me get it. I'll cut it up for you. I'm like Ms. Bacon, just grab it. That's excellent. I love that. They're asking for fruit. Mason is like, can I have a chip? Which I would shit, which I only had one today.

[00:41:45] Can I have a chip on it? Listen, let's just say  the shoes. Oh my God. No, he has an Apple because he's had a bag of chips. Uh, rice crispy, like he's already tried the other snacks and he knows he's not going to get that out of me. So then he's asking for the Apple and the banana, but I didn't want to make myself look that terrible.

[00:42:06] It's been easier though. Lately. I'm like the people, Kristen, you can't gotta be real with the people. Cause we're all, there is not one person alive who is like every bite their child has. Super healthy. I mean, Oh my goodness. Yeah. My keys are frozen pizza tonight and you know what? We put some fresh spinach on top and it's a win, or we always try to throw some.

[00:42:28] We actually, every time we use most of the time, we like try to throw something on, but sometimes I'm just like, I don't have time for this. I'm tired. This is what you're eating. But like our reality is if I try to get them to eat healthy, 90% of the time, then the other 10%, I don't feel so guilty about, gosh, that's a huge way.

[00:42:42] I have this kind of saying something fresh and real with every meal and it doesn't need to be fancy if you're doing a PB and J throw a handful of grapes, right. Done it's raw. It's anti-oxidant rich. It's great carrots like cucumbers, sweet peppers, anything just like we have our happy foodie plates that have three compartments.

[00:43:01] So the smile goes for the main meal. And then the two littler compartments are to remind you put a fresh fruit and a fresh veggie in it. And it. Just grab it and put it in. You don't need to cut it. Doing anything too fancy. Just throw it in there. Something fresh and real with it. Yeah. Every meal with every meal.

[00:43:18] I like that. We're going to say that every time now that's a good one. I like it holds them accountable. That's a big one in our house. Do you want that to be a song project? Annabella we'll make a song out of it. I know. It's so cute. So we ask all our guests, if you had 30 seconds to speak to our community, what advice would you give them?

[00:43:39] So I think that. Sharing your story is so beneficial to the special needs community and also to your, to yourself, you don't even realize how important it is to share your story. When, when we shared Brendan's story, um, and his cerebral palsy journey, I mean, it, we didn't talk about it really until he was seven years old.

[00:44:10] And because I didn't want to. I just, I wasn't sure where the line was between sharing the story for information and throwing his privacy under the bus, you know, but then I thought, okay, hold on a second. If I don't talk, if we don't share his story and talk about it, is he going to feel like any kind of shame or weird.

[00:44:37] That it's like this family secret, like that's crazy. So we found a way to just share our experiences and share our story and share our journey. And, um, it w what we got in return was actually such a gift to us because we wound up sharing on a very big stage. I mean, we were on Dr. Oz. I mean, talk about.

[00:45:01] Kind of baptism by fire. I mean, you're not like telling your best friend, you know, on Dr. Oz and it wound up being the first time in the nine years that Dr. Ross was on the air that he ever even spoke about cerebral palsy. And after that aired. Um, I got hundreds of emails from parents, from grandparents of children with cerebral palsy.

[00:45:23] And so many of them told me about the selective dorsal rhizotomy. And, um, I wound up becoming, um, genuine friends with two of the people who had written to me. Um, one was a mom who was a physical therapist whose daughter was only one year younger than, um, Brendan. And she was like, look, can I like con you know, can I email you some information?

[00:45:46] And we wound up talking and I said, you know, I've heard about Dr. Park at St. Louis children's hospital and the selective dorsal rhizotomy. I've known about it since Brendan was too, but it's scary. It's really scary. And so, yeah. She wound. And now at this point, Brandon was seven and she wound up really talking me through the process.

[00:46:02] She said that it can change his life. It changed my daughter's life at the very least just fly out there, have a consultation. And, and she was right. And so while I know, or at least I would hope that we were able to shed, um, some light and, um, awareness on cerebral palsy. Um, You know, on our platform, like such a gift was given to me and ultimately to Brenda, because I would not have considered that surgery if, um, you know, I wouldn't have made those connections.

[00:46:30] And then, and then. A few years later in the waiting room for a followup, a woman came to me and she said, are you Leisa? And her daughter was three and she has her HFOs up to her nieces, are you lies? And I said, yes. And she said, I'm here because of you. Oh, wow. We both just started crying and, you know, And her daughter wound up getting the SDR from Dr.

[00:46:52] Park and it changed, um, it changed her life. So, you know, the woman who wrote to me shared her story with me, we got the surgery, it changed Brendan's life. I shared that story. Then Joanna wound up seeing it and you know, and it just so I know that's long ago, 30 seconds. No, it's great. I feel like don't be afraid to share your story.

[00:47:14] Um, Because it's important, not only for other people, but also for yourself. I think for sure. I think like, you know, the biggest part of that is it, you don't even really, those are the people, you know, you've touched and that you've made this domino effect trickle down effect. On each other, but imagine how many people you haven't connected with that you're also trickling down to, or also making a domino effect in their lives.

[00:47:44] It's it's, you know, it's unknowing, but it could be, it's so large and it's so important. Um, that as parents, we know that we're. Not alone. I mean, when Brendan was five, I would have all I wanted, all I wanted was to meet another mom whose child was 10 years ahead of Brendan all the time. That's all I want.

[00:48:06] And of course every child is different, but like, you know, w what is this going to look like? Is he going to be okay? I mean, I have 10,000 questions and, and now I have such a wonderful support community, but up until Brandon was seven, I really, my husband and I really just kept this to ourselves. Um, so now he has a support community too, which is such, I mean, you know, that's probably, I mean, we did it too though.

[00:48:28] Like we. We have said so many times, I wish. And we luckily recently have met someone in the, you know, with the same diagnosis as ed E who's an adult, or he's an adult. He's a, I say as a kid, but he's like 22. He's an adult. And see how, see how his life is. And. Cause so many times they're like, well, what is Eddie's life?

[00:48:54] What, what's the possibility of what Eddie's, life's going to look like. We don't know. You can hear so many things and especially, I'm sure it's the same for you with so many diagnoses. It's like the qual, the quantity of life was so much smaller. 15, 20 years ago, they were saying, Oh, you know, this diagnosis, your life expectancy is X or Y or whatever.

[00:49:15] Now everything is so different. Medical advances are so much larger. So it's like. That doesn't help me. I need to see with my own two eyes, someone who's like only a few years ahead, but doing this and having surgeries that weren't around 15 years ago, I just need to know what things are looking, right.

[00:49:33] Like in front of us. Yeah. Right. Absolutely. Um, yeah. And if we don't share our stories and talk about it, then we also can't share information. I've had dozens of people DM me on Instagram, um, wanting to know about who these surgeons are, because Brendan's had three surgeries at this point who if we use, you know, um, therapists and, you know, Where have you found therapists and, and it's just, it becomes this wonderful sharing network and also for the kids for Brendan.

[00:50:00] I mean, for all those years, I mean, people in the community, I mean, they were always so kind, I mean, people are for the most part, very kind, but. He wasn't invited really to birthday parties. Like he wasn't really invited to play dates because people knew that he was like this great boy, but you know, he walked with like, I like to call, I called up a big sweater and he's got a natural swagger swagger.

[00:50:23] Um, but once we shared our story and everyone knew quote unquote, what the deal was, it was like, the arms were just wrapped around him. Yeah. Okay. Okay. We're not, you know, we're not. Invading their privacy. We're not putting them out. Like, yeah, he can come to the birthday party. Yeah. He can do that. So it's, it's really a gift for everyone when you share, you know, and then the kids feel proud for sure.

[00:50:48] I think that's the key. They, they then feel proud versus they're they're concerned or they feel like they're a burden or they feel like anything on anyone else. Instead. It's like, Oh my parents, my mom's proud of me. Look at what she's sharing about me. Little lady says all the time, when can I be on your podcast?

[00:51:04] Or when, like, you know, when who'd you talk to you tonight and what'd you talk about, did you talk about me? Like, he's super excited about everything we share with everybody else versus being like don't no, don't talk about this. Don't talk about that. Like he's not it before. It would be like, don't tell anyone I have braces.

[00:51:24] When now he's like, what'd you talk about today? Who'd you talk to? Did you hear, I got new braces, did it? And I'm like, because you guys, as parents have opened the door to that because you talk about it. So freely, you've shown him that this is, this is. Like not something to feel bad about. It's normalized to like shine your light and you guys are shining his light and therefore he can shine his own light.

[00:51:47] Yeah. I mean, hopefully he does that as he gets older too. And he's his own advocate and, and that's the key right there, right? Oh my gosh. The way you have to advocate is amazing. That happens to everyone. Yeah. So where can everyone find you? Where can everyone find Sage spoonfuls? So we're on Instagram at Sage spoonfuls, or if you want to follow me personally, it's Allysa Huber.

[00:52:10] If you want to learn more about Sage spoonfuls@sagespoonfuls.com, easy to find. Awesome. We really appreciate you coming on and chatting with us and sharing your story. Oh, you know, just want to say if anyone. Um, has a child with CP, please, please, please feel free to DM me at Liza Huber on Instagram. Um, cause I'm so happy to share my resources, our doctors, our surgeons, um, please feel free to reach out.

[00:52:36] That's awesome. I mean, so many times people are always looking for someone to connect with and ours may be nervous to kind of reach out and ask those questions. So that's awesome for you to kind of welcome that. Well, of course again, all about sharing, right? Yes, exactly. Well, thanks so much. We really appreciate having you on and keep in touch with us.

[00:52:55] Let us know how everything's going. Thank you so much. Awesome. All right. I, well, thank you so much for listening. We really hope you enjoyed this episode as always, please make sure you share with a friend and leave a review. You can find all the resources mentioned in this episode, on our Facebook or Instagram on, at special about special.

[00:53:18] Thanks again. And we'll see you soon.