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!