Stuffed Potatoes

Two small potatoes (organic) I used Trader Joe's Buttercream Organic Potatoes
Shredded cheese
Cooked chicken cut into small pieces, or shredded


Cut potatoes in half lengthwize.  Boil until tender (about 15 minutes).

When potatoes are done, drain.  Scoop out the middle, leaving a small "lining" on the inside of the potato skin.  Combine the inside of the potato with cheese and chicken.  Stuff this filling back into potato skins.  Serve.

Difficulty	Easy
Does it freeze well?	Did not freeze
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes: Lots of potential here!  In the future I plan to "hide" broccoli in these.  A really liked these, and even ate the potato skin, which surprised me!  He ate four halves in one sitting.  

Mushroom Stroganoff

Adapted from "Organic Baby & Toddler Cookbook" by Lizzie Vann

1 t olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
6 small button mushrooms
1/2 small garlic clove, crushed
1 small potato, chopped
2 T milk
3 T water
1/3 c small pasta shapes
1 t fresh parsley (optional)
Grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook pasta according to directions.  Set aside.

Heat oil in pan over medium heat.  Fry onion, mushrooms and garlic until soft, about 5 mins.  Add potato, milk, and water to the pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more liquid as needed.

Add pasta, add parsley or parmesan cheese if desired.

Difficulty	Easy
Does it freeze well?	Yes
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes: I found elbow pasta that says it is made with squash and carrot and I used it for this recipe.  I also used pre-cooked, diced frozen potatoes, since I had them in the freezer.  This probably sped up the cooking time.
Update: A loves this one!  I will want to add more mushrooms next time - I just used the rest of what I had leftover from another recipe the first time I made it.  Would be great with additional vegetables as well.  This works as a finger food, or as a spoon-fed meal.  

Moroccan Chicken

Adapted from "500 Baby and Toddler Dishes" by Beverly Glock

1 cup onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 T fresh cilantro
1/2 t each coriander and cumin
dash tumeric
1/4 c lemon juice
olive oil
2 skinless thin sliced chicken breasts
1 carrot diced
1 cup chicken broth
3 dried apricot halves, chopped
1/4 c cannelloni beans

Make marinade.  Place 1/2 c onion, garlic, herbs and spices, 2 T lemon juice and olive oil into a food processor and puree.  Chop the chicken and add to the marinade.  Let sit for 4 hours or overnight (I used my speedy marinador for 15 mins).

Heat oil in skillet.  Add chicken and marinade and cook over medium heat to brown.  Add the carrot and remaining onion with enough chicken broth to cover all ingredients.  Add apricots beans, and remaining lemon juice.  Bring to a simmer and cook 20-30 minutes until chicken is cooked and carrot is soft.

Serve with couscous or rice.

Difficulty	Easy
Does it freeze well?	Yes
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes: This is quite tart.  Maybe I used too much lemon juice or cilantro?  We'll have to see about this one.  Also, the carrots, even though I chopped them pretty small, took FOREVER to cook.  Instead of 20-30 minutes, it was more like 45+ minutes simmering.  And, I ended up covering it after 20 minutes passed and the carrots were still hard.
Update: A loves this!  After it cooled, it wasn't as tart as I thought.  Easy to freeze and tastes great.  

Vegetable Korma

Adapted from several recipes

Olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
2 t tomato paste
1/2 t ground ginger, cumin, coriander, turmeric
1 garlic clove, minced
1 small potato, chopped (about 1/2 c)
1/4 c broccoli
1/4 c cauliflour
2 T frozen peas
2 t grated coconut
1/2 c water or vegetable stock
1/2 c milk

Heat oil, and fry onion and carrot until soft, about 5 minutes.

Mix tomato paste and all spices including garlic in a small bowl.  Add to skillet and cook an additional 2 minutes.  Add potato, broccoli, cauliflour, peas, coconut, and water or stock.  Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until vegetables are soft.

Stir in milk and cook for an additional 3 minutes.

Difficulty	Easy
Does it freeze well?	Yes, but hard to get out of the tray.
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	TBD

Meatloaf

Adapted from "500 baby & toddler dishes" by Beverley Glock

3/4 cup shredded onion
1 cup shredded carrot
1 cup frozen organic spinach
12 oz lean ground beef
1/2 t assorted dried herbs (I used basil, oregano and parsley)
pinch cinnamon
2 cups whole wheat bread crumbs (I used two toasted burger buns and 1 slice toasted bread)
4 T grated mozzarella
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350.

Peel carrot, chop into large pieces and put through a food processor to grate.  Do the same with onion.

Defrost spinach.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, then press into greased pan.  Bake for 60-75 minutes until cooked through.

Difficulty	Easy (with use of food processor)
Does it freeze well?	Yes
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes: I totally forgot to put the milk into this, so I'll have to see how it turns out.  The consistency seemed all right though.  I also covered it with aluminum foil while cooking so it didn't dry out.  I cooked it for 75 minutes, then removed the foil and cooked for 7 additional minutes.  

Couscous, Carrots and Zucchini

Adapted from "The Everything Organic Cooking for any & Toddler Book" by Kim Lutz and Megan Hart

One 7.6 oz box of whole wheat couscous

1 t ground flaxseed

1/2 cup zucchini, small dice

1/2 cup carrot, small dice

1 small garlic clove

1 cup cannelini beans

Cook couscous according to package directions.  Once done, stir in flaxseed.

Steam zucchini and carrot until done.  

Cook garlic in a little bit of olive oil for about 3 minutes, then add beans, carrot and zucchini.  Stir and cook for a minute or two until warmed through.  

Add couscous and stir to combine.  

Difficulty	Easy
Does it freeze well?	Yes.  Make sure to pack it tightly in the tray.
Would I eat it?	Yes, I already did
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes: I used canned cannellini beans and cut them in half because A is still getting used to taking bigger bites.  I think this would also be great with chick peas or additional vegetables. 

Meatballs

1 lb ground beef

1/2 a medium onion

1/2 a medium green pepper

1 egg yolk

1 slice of whole wheat bread

1/4 cup ground flax seed

Herbs of your choice

oil (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Chop onion and green pepper coarsely, then put through a food processor to achieve a fine mince.  

Toast bread, and put through a food processor to create bread crumbs.  

Combine all ingredients except oil in a large bowl and "knead" it all together so it is combined, then form into small balls (see note below).

Heat oil in pan.  Add uncooked meatballs and cook until browned on all sides, about 5-10 minutes.  

Place meatballs on a baking sheet.  Cook at 350 for 30 minutes or until done.  

Meat, uncooked, ready to be cut into meatballs.  And yes, you should definitely have a glass of wine while making the meatballs!

Finished meatballs.

Difficulty	Easy
Does it freeze well?	Yes
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes: For ease of forming meatballs, I like to spread the uncooked meat in a large rectangle, then cut it into squares with a large knife.

I'll be honest.  These ended up a little burnt, so I ended up saving them for adult spaghetti and meatballs.  A did try one from Daddy though, and loved it!

Darn You Derecho!

The Derecho (storm) hit us on Friday night, June 30, and we lost power for almost 4 days.  Had to dump the entire contents of our fridge and deep freeze.  Of all the frozen baby food I had in there, I managed to save about 3 or 4 meals worth, dumping probably 20+ meals.

Power was restored on Tuesday night, at which point I hit the store and started replenishing A's food supply.  I feel lucky that we did not have any damage to our property, but am still frustrated that I lost nearly all of the food.  It will probably be a week or two before I try and publish any new recipes, since I need to ramp back up.

Stars with Tomato Sauce

Adapted from Organic Baby & Toddler Cookbook by Lizzie Vann

Olive Oil

3/4 cup onion, chopped fine

1 medium carrot, chopped fine

parsley

1 bay leaf

1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (no salt added)

2 T grated cheddar cheese

1/4 cup (heaping) of uncooked small pasta shapes

Heat oil in pan.  Add onion and carrot and cook 5 minutes.  

Add parsley to taste (just a shake or two if using dry), bay leaf and can of tomatoes.  Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.  

In the meantime, cook pasta according to directions on package.  Drain well.

Remove sauce from heat.  Stir in cheese.  Put through a food processor to reach desired consistency.  I liked mine just a little bit chunky.  

Combine pasta and sauce, stirring well.  

Difficulty	Easy
Does it freeze well?	Yes
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes: I ended up with even amounts of pasta and sauce, which I thought was great since this dish will cover several food groups.  I used mini stars which I had on hand, but any tiny pasta shape would work great.  

Dhal with Chicken

1 cup lentils (I used red)
1 cup chopped onion
olive oil
about 2 inches of ginger root, peeled and grated (tip - freeze the ginger first, it grates easier!)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 t ground coriander
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground turmeric
1 raw chicken breast, cut into 1 inch pieces
32 oz low sodium chicken or veg broth


Soak lentils for at least 1 hour.  Drain and rinse.  Simmer for 10 minutes then drain and rinse.

Peel and finely chop onion.  Cook onion in oil for about 10 minutes.

Add ginger and garlic, cook 1 minute.  Add chicken and all spices, cook for about 10 minutes or until chicken is done.

Remove chicken pieces and place in food processor.  Process until pieces are desired size.  Return to pan.

Add lentils and broth to pan.  Cover and simmer 20-30 minutes or until lentils are tender.

Difficulty	Easy
Does it freeze well?	Yes
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes: I made this for the "adult" dinner and froze the rest for A.  It made two adult dinner portions plus about 18 ounces which I froze.  It isn't much to look at, but is quite tasty!

Sweet Potato Pancakes

Your favorite pancake mix and its required extra ingredients
3-4 oz sweet potato puree
Milk

Combine ingredients as instructed on pancake mix.  Add sweet potato puree.  Add milk as needed to achieve desired consistency.  Follow instructions on pancake mix to cook pancakes.

Difficulty	Easy
Does it freeze well?	Yes
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes: I can't remember the last time I made pancakes, but these were very easy and very fast.  I used Arrowhead Mills Multigrain mix - started out with 1/2 cup of mix and 3 oz of sweet potato.  I had to add more milk than I anticipated.  The pancakes have a denser consistency than regular pancakes, but I thought they were great.  A ate two by himself!  Definitely a keeper.

Roasted Zucchini Squash

1 cup of small dice zucchinis (I used green, yellow, and light green from our local farmer's market)
olive oil spray
1/2 garlic clove, minced
1/4 t dried basil
1/4 t dried parsley
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400.  Chop zucchinis, small dice.  Place in bowl and mist with olive oil.  Toss with remaining ingredients.

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with olive oil.  Place vegetables on baking sheet.  Cook for 20 minutes, turning once.

Difficulty	Easy
Does it freeze well?	Not sure. Do not intend to freeze.
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	TBD

Before Cooking:

Finished Product:

Notes: I decided to make this since I was making roasted zucchini and potatoes for dinner for the adults, so all I needed to do was chop A's portion smaller, and use fewer spices.  You can see the adult portion on the photo, to the left of A's portion.  I don't intend to freeze this, but will use it throughout the week as a finger food.  I like this recipe since you can introduce spices with the vegetables.

Lentils Spinach & Quinoa

Adapted from "The Everything Organic Cooking for Baby & Toddler Book"

1 cup green lentils
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
2 cups chicken broth
1 garlic clove
olive oil
3 cups fresh baby spinach (packed)

Place quinoa and water in large bowl.  Cover loosely and microwave on high for 4 minutes.  Stir.  Cook for an additional 2 minutes.  Stir and set aside.  De-stem and chop spinach coarsely. Mince garlic.

Saute garlic & olive oil for 3 minutes over low heat

Add lentils to the pan with garlic and olive oil.  Add chicken broth.  Boil for 3 minutes.  Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender, about 10-12 minutes.

Add spinach to pan.  Cook for about 5 minutes or until spinach is wilted.  Toss.  Add quinoa and toss until combined.

Difficulty	Easy
Does it freeze well?	Yes, but make sure you pack it tightly.
Would I eat it?	Yes - would make a good side dish.
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes: Test the lentils at 10 minutes to see how much time you'll need to cook.  You may need to add more chicken broth.  Could probably increase spinach to 4 cups.

Cauliflour Potato Pea Curry

1 1/2 c split peas
3/4 c carrots, small dice (organic)
1 c cauliflower florets, small dice (organic)
2 small potatoes (organic - I like yukon gold)
1 garlic clove
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 1/2 t curry powder

Pick over peas and remove debris.  Rinse drain and place in a large pot.

Small dice carrots, cauliflower, and potatoes.  Mince garlic.  Put can of tomatoes through a food processor for 20-30 seconds.

Combine all ingredients in the pot, add 1/2 cup water.  Cover and simmer for 1.5 hours until all vegetables are tender.  Stir occasionally and add water as needed.

Difficulty	Takes a while with the chopping and time to simmer, but easy
Does it freeze well?	Yes
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes:
Keep checking this dish to see if it has dried out.  You may have to add water several times during cooking since the peas will suck a lot of it up.

Creamed Spinach

Creamed Spinach:
5 oz fresh organic baby spinach, stems removed (takes < 10 min to remove the stems from a 5 oz package)
1/2 slice whole wheat bread
1-2T diced onion
1/2 garlic clove, minced
2 T whole wheat flour
2-4 T whole milk
Salt & Pepper

Wilt spinach in a skillet with about 1 T water.  Place wilted spinach and bread in food processor, process until desired consistency.

Heat oil in skillet.  Add onion and garlic and sauté about 5 minutes, until almost browned.  Add flour and milk.  Add spinach mixture, season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add more milk if desired to reach desired consistency.

Difficulty	Easy and fast
Does it freeze well?	Decided not to, but I think it would.
Would I eat it?	Yes
Does A like it?	Yes

Notes:
Never underestimate the ability of spinach to wilt.  Started out with a 5-oz package of fresh organic baby spinach.  This recipe made EXACTLY five ounces of creamed spinach, which is 5 ice cubes worth.  I decided it wasn't worth freezing so I just refrigerated 5 1-oz servings.  It tastes yummy though.  Next time, I'll use frozen spinach and make a bigger batch.

5-oz fresh spinach cooks down to this much:

The end result:

First Finger Foods

When A started showing more interest in feeding himself, we tried to emphasize finger foods.  The following are his current "regulars".

Breakfast

• Blueberries
• Grapes
• Kiwi
• Pineapple
• Canteloupe
• Banana
• Scrambled Eggs (on weekends)

Dinner

• Cooked whole wheat elbow pasta
• Diced Potatoes
• Diced Carrots
• Diced toasted whole wheat bread

Baseline Purees

When I first started making purees, I made (and continue to make) a baseline of the following purees.  We're very fortunate in that A is not a very picky eater.  We introduced these one at a time and they continue to be staples of his diet, at 14 months.  The only food he rejected was the mango, but eventually he came to like it when mixed with other fruits.

Green Vegetables

• Peas (from frozen, organic)
• Broccoli (from frozen, organic)
• green beans (from frozen, organic)

Orange Vegetables

• Sweet potato (fresh, organic)
• Squash (fresh, conventional or organic)
• Carrot (fresh, organic)
• Cauliflower (fresh, organic)

Fruits

• Apples (fresh, organic)
• Pear (fresh, organic)
• Mango (frozen, organic)
• Peaches (frozen, organic)

Proteins

• Shredded chicken (fresh, conventional)
• Shredded pork (fresh, conventional)
• Black beans (dried, organic)

First Post

When A was still just on breast milk,  I gave little thought to how we would approach solid foods.  To tell the truth, I was just taking it one day at a time!  A is, after all, my first child so I had (and have) no prior experience.

When he was about 5 months old, my new mom's group held a baby food making party, and I was still unsure about the whole thing.  There were 8 or 9 moms, and everyone brought a fruit or veggie, and we ended up with a variety of foods.  It seemed simple enough, but I was still not convinced.  Plus, A was still a month away from solids.  He wasn't really showing much interest in rice cereal or oatmeal, and we didn't want to push it.  So I took my little variety pack home in three ice cube trays and froze it all.

Fast forward a month, and we decided A was ready!  We tried straight sweet potato puree, and though he was receptive, he shuddered at the first bite.  Adding breast milk to the puree helped a ton, and so began our journey.

There is a certain reward in picking out a raw vegetable, peeling it, steaming it, pureeing it, and feeding it to your child.  I have always enjoyed cooking.  I cook for myself, I cook for my husband, so it seemed a natural progression to cook for my child.  I have nothing at all against store bought baby food.  I use store bought baby food from time to time, especially prunes (I have no idea how I would make prune puree).  I also use a variety of frozen vegetables to make purees, so I'm not what you'd call a purist!