Baby Food Recipes 3/31/12

Here are the recipes for some of the new foods Eliana has been eating lately. I’m still mashing food (as opposed to pureeing it) by putting it in the food processor, so there are still small chunks for her to pick up.

Roasted Beet Sticks

- Medium beets with skin on

Cover beets individually with tin foil. Place in roasting pan and roast at 400 for around 30 minutes depending on their size. Let beets cool before touching them. Unwrap them and peel. The peel will come off easily in your hands. Then cut into 1/2 inch thick sticks. Can serve either warm or cold to baby. 

What is this tasty thing?

Vampire Baby

Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Spinach

- 1 sweet potato, scrubbed with skin on

- 1 small onion, chopped

- 1/8 teaspoon chopped garlic  

- 1 handful organic baby spinach, washed and patted dry

- ¼ cup part-skim ricotta (room temperature)

- 1/8 cup shredded parmesan (room temperature)

- ¼ tablespoon unsalted butter (room temperature)

Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, cinnamon and olive oil to taste

Bake sweet potato at 375 for an hour or until tender. Let rest until it can be held. Heat olive oil on medium heat and sauté onions with a dash of salt for around 3-4 minutes until they begin to turn yellow. Add garlic, stir and cook another minute. Add spinach, and some of the salt, pepper, and the red pepper flakes. Stir and cook around a minute until spinach is bright green. Set aside. Put ricotta, parmesan, butter and rest of salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and cinnamon into a blender. Add onion mixture and puree on high until smooth. Cut open sweet potato and scoop out flesh and put into a small bowl. Add pureed mixture and mix with a large rubber spoon.

Let cool slightly before serving to baby.

She LOVED the sweet potato mixture.  

Broccolette-Ricotta-Cumin Puree 

- 1 cup chopped broccolette

- Around ¼ cup ricotta

- Cumin, salt, pepper, and chopped garlic to taste

- Reserved cooking liquid

Steam garlic and broccolette. Add a bit of cooking liquid, the ricotta, salt, pepper and cumin and puree. Taste and adjust seasonings, liquid and ricotta as desired.

Let cool slightly before serving to baby.
Since Eliana hasn't really been letting me feed her, it is hard to give her something pureed. I've gotten around it by spreading purees on toast or mashing them with brown rice.

Very tasty despite how it looks.

Food as a tasty and nutritious finger paint.

Baked Tofu with Asian Marinade

- 1 container extra firm tofu, drained and pressed

The following ingredients to taste:

- Grated fresh ginger

- Low sodium soy sauce or Tamari

- Toasted sesame oil

- Safflower oil

- Chinese 5 spice

- Dijon mustard

- Orange juice

- Shaoxing Hua Diao cooking wine or Rice wine (the alcohol will cook off in the oven but it can be omitted or replaced with white grape juice)

Press the tofu to drain out the excess water. Begin by cutting it down the middle lengthwise. Then place the two halves side by side on top of a plate lined with paper towels. Cover the tofu with more paper towels and another plate. Then put heavy books on top of the plate to press out the excess water in the tofu. I like to leave it for up to 3 hours but no less than 40 minutes. In a medium bowl, add the rest of the ingredients whisking and tasting often to adjust flavors to your liking. After the tofu is pressed, cut into ½ inch strips. Place in a large zip top bag with the marinade and shake the bag so the marinade covers the tofu. Marinate the tofu in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or up to an hour. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. Shake off marinade and place tofu strips on the baking sheet. Keep the marinade to spoon over the tofu after it is cooked. Bake tofu for 20 minutes, turning once. Heat the marinade in a small saucepan on medium heat for around 5 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving to baby. 

Happy Cooking!

The Good, The Bad and The Messy- Part 2 (The Good and The Messy)

The Good

Along the way on our food adventures, there have been a lot of fun and many funny times to account for “The Good.” Especially after I revised my outlook the other night. (See: The Bad-Revisited.) What has made this adventure fun is: creating recipes for her to eat, the ways in which she reacts to eating, and watching her get excited about food. It is also especially gratifying to see her like something now that she didn’t like before. Steamed carrots were not a huge hit the first time she had them a month or two ago. Last week, she ate them up.

Carrots (and fingers) are yummy!

Even though I mentioned it in “The Bad”, the act of preparing her food falls much more heavily into “The Good” category. I really enjoy cooking. Usually, I find it relaxing. And especially now that I’m not spending a lot of time doing work to prepare for teaching, (I took the year off from teaching elementary school) I feel like I have time to explore recipes and learn more about food. I’m nurturing my own inner foodie and chef.  So, to me, it’s fun to see what fruits and vegetables are organic at the grocery store or in the organic or “What’s Good” category from Fresh Direct. (I can have fresh groceries delivered to me?  I will definitely take advantage of that!)

Broccolette with ricotta and cumin. Eliana loved it.

And, I need to say that in an ideal world, we would live somewhere warm and tropical where a variety of organic fruits and vegetables would be available year -round from local sources. But, I live in New York City so that’s not my reality. I’ve decided that I’m going to give Eliana organic and local fruits and vegetables as much as possible. When that doesn’t work, I can use frozen organic produce from Wild Harvest or Cascadian Farm. And when all else fails, if at least the majority of the produce I feed her is organic, some non-organic produce shouldn’t ruin my day.

Anyway, after I shop, I have to figure out what to do with all the food. What interesting recipes do I already know or are available online and in my cookbooks? It’s an exciting challenge. Since I’m going the route of making Eliana’s food, and at this point, just mashing up whatever we are eating, I’m totally stepping up my cooking game (ask Matt, I’m pretty sure he agrees). I want her to have a variety of tastes, textures and flavors. So, variety I try to supply. I can now add red pepper flakes, cumin, cayenne pepper, hot sauce, and Chinese 5-spice blend to the list of flavors she recently tried.

Broccolette mixture

When Eliana first gets the food in her mouth, she makes this funny, confused face for a moment. She squints her eyes, draws her eyebrows together and purses her lips. It’s like she is saying, “Huh. Well, now what do I do?” Then, if she likes the food, she leans forward, begins flapping her arms and makes either an, “OOOH!” or a ”MMMM!” sound. It’s so cute. Or, when she ate hummus for the first time, it was so sticky that she had a hard time eating it. I know she liked it because she made those “yummy” sounds and kept lunging at the spoon. But then she would close her eyes and try to open her mouth, too. Imagine a dog with peanut butter in its mouth. I probably could have added more oil or lemon juice. Oops! 

How do I eat this thing?

Like this?

And now that she “feeds” herself? It’s a full-body experience. I guess on the plus side, I don’t have so much food to freeze because I offer her more food at each meal. I need to account for almost half of the food ending up on the floor, on various parts of her chair, in her hair, all over her hands, face and bib, and, all over my hands and sometimes hair and clothes. Maybe I need a bib, too. Or a smock.

I found that banana "sticks" were easiest for her to grab.

The Messy

I’m working on getting better about this one. Really, I am. You all will be so proud of me. AND, I’ve got some photos to prove it. I’ve learned that eating becomes a whole lot less fun for Eliana when I constantly wipe her face. So, I try to only do it once or twice during her meal, rather than after every bite. I try very hard not to wipe her hands too, because there is no point. She eats with her hands so they are full of food the whole time. (Eliana will NOT let me offer her a spoon. She swipes the food right off it.) I’m not completely reformed, though. I can’t help but grab at least some of the huge mounds of mashed food that land on her chest or hang out on her cheek. I will admit, I still get a little anxious as I look at her hands all covered in whatever she is eating. But I love that she is enjoying eating and I know that touching the food is part of her experience so I take a lot of deep, calming breaths. (Give me a little credit, here. I’m working on my issues!)

Eating and finger painting.

Do you see the tilapia hanging off her cheek?

More messy photos to come!

The Bad- Revisited

We went to see the pediatrician on Tuesday for Eliana’s 9-month check-up. (9 months!!) We talked a lot about food again at this appointment. As I knew, Eliana is now supposed to eat 3 meals per day. Breakfast, lunch and dinner along with bottles around bedtime and naps. Mash rather than puree her food. Give her things like “sticks” of roasted vegetables, soft cheeses and fruit as “finger food” too. If I thought I was feeding her all day long before, I truly am now! That night, I spent a little bit of time feeling guilty and bad that I hadn’t figured out all the meals before. It’s a life skill she needs to learn and if I want to make her a teeny tiny foodie- she needs to be eating regularly, right? And then, I had an epiphany. I am making this SO MUCH HARDER than it actually is and needs to be. (That’s not atypical for me.) I decided to take the advice I’d give to someone else: Don’t overthink it, just do it and you’ll figure it out. So I did.

And this is how it went the last few days:

-Nursing/a bottle when she wakes up

-When she wakes up from her first nap, we do Breakfast

-Nursing/a bottle before her second nap

-Lunch when she wakes up

-Nursing/a bottle before her third nap

-Dinner when she wakes up

-Nursing/ a bottle before bed

And you know what? It has been so much fun!!

Why didn’t I do this before?

I'm such a big girl!

The Good, The Bad and The Messy - Part 1 (The Bad)

I’ve been thinking a lot about this whole experience of giving Eliana solid foods. It is humbling because it is such a huge responsibility. Not that the pregnancy or earlier Mommy-hood was easy or care-free, but teaching her to eat well and to like healthier foods can overwhelm me sometimes. I totally buy into the idea that the foods I ate while pregnant will be foods that she will like and want to eat. So, great! She will like a variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans and tofu. (As well as some pizza, peanut M&Ms and organic strawberry milk--strictly Organic Valley brand.) But, now Eliana has to do this eating healthier thing on her own. In utero, she was my captive.

7 months pregnant in our old apartment.

At our new apartment days before Eliana was born.

Since she was stuck in there, she had no choice but to “eat” what I did. I guess she still does to a certain degree through nursing. But now, she can actually refuse food!  This leads me to The Bad about feeding Eliana solid foods. (I like to end on a good note, so let’s get the bad stuff out of the way first!)

The Bad

So, obviously if she doesn’t want to eat healthier foods, I’m not going to be happy about it. I want her to like healthier foods and then seek them out when she isn’t with me or my husband there to offer them to her. Sure, there will be a time and place for the unhealthy stuff, but I envision that those times and places will be limited. I’ve already decided that when she is a bit older and officially eating dinner with us, I will do my best to make only one meal for our entire family and she will eat it or nothing at all. (Yikes!) I think the idea of a kid’s menu is kind of insulting to kids and sets parents up for battles at home. But, that is in the future. You can read about that drama as she gets older! The Bad (for now) has been: figuring out the timing in our day to give her solids, making something she likes, stressing about whether or not she has eaten enough and not beating myself up when the above does not go well.

Our pediatrician warned me at our 6-month visit that feeding her solids would take over our day for a while. That was mid-December. I would say I didn’t really start all of this full-force until the first days of January. So, we’ve been at it for around two months. I have to find times when she isn’t starving because then she might not want anything “new”—at those times she will prefer a bottle or nursing vs. solids. But, she shouldn’t be full because she won’t want more food. And then there is the nap issue. She usually takes 3 of them a day and since we don’t have an official "schedule", I watch her like a hawk for tell-tale signs of sleepiness (e.g., glazed eyes or yawning). As you know from reading Fungus Among Us- Part 1 it takes forever to change her diaper and/or clothes since she won’t stay still- so that sucks up a good part of our day too. It may not sound like it, but that is a whole ton of stuff to try to pack into a 12-hour day. Much less go outside, see our friends or make it to a Mommy-Baby class at the YMCA. I literally feel like I am either feeding her or trying to do something nap-related at any given moment. There is only so much I can fit into a day! I’m not Super Mommy!! (But don’t tell Matt that. I like to keep him in the dark about that one.) So, timing has been hard and there are days when she eats two "meals", one "meal" or even no "meals." I feel super guilty about the “no meals” days.

As you know, I like to cook. You’ve probably figured out, I also like to eat! (My first word as a baby was “more” as in more food!)  I think it's fun to take recipes and play around with them to make them a little healthier and/or vegetarian. I spend time thinking about how to do these things and then put a lot of effort and love into it. Of course, I’ve done this for Eliana as well. As you’ve seen in my recipes, I add a bit of seasoning and/or spices and some onion to her vegetables or ginger to her pear purees. When I’m not sure about how to make something or if it is totally wacky to consider giving it to her, I will reference Cooking for Baby by Lisa Barnes and then I take the suggestions and make the recipe my own by changing it up. And you’ve seen that Eliana has also eaten the more typical baby foods of applesauce and sweet pea puree but then I go out on a limb and make yam soup, pan-fried trout with mustard, or give her potatoes and kale. I have fun making it all... And then, get totally bummed out, and maybe a little insulted, when she doesn’t like it. Hello! I made it just for her! (Did I really just say that I get insulted by the behavior of an almost-9-month-old? Oh, boy! I’m sure I’ll address these issues with a shrink one day.)

But, back to her eating…

Yuck!  I STILL don't like red pepper puree!

Thankfully, she has only rejected solids a handful of times. And I can’t always blame her. I don’t particularly like bell peppers, but they are an essential ingredient of vegetarian chili. I had extras lying around after I made chili for the grown-ups, so I figured I’d make some peppers for Eliana. Unfortunately, she didn’t like them very much. (I re-confirmed this today when I tried giving red pepper puree to her again.)  And she is on the fence about sweet pea puree. She liked it one night but then not the next day. What made her reject these foods? The taste? The time of day? Her level of hunger? Aargh!  But, at least the list of rejected solids is short.

On top of all that, I need to make sure she eats enough quantity. I think I’m “safe” in that most of her nutrients and calories are still supposed to come from breast milk and formula. But, we Mommies talk and I know that some of my friends’ babies are eating ounces of solids at a time! I’m psyched when I get a few spoonfuls of food in her mouth or even an actual tablespoon during one sitting. Of course, each time I actually measure out her food, she won’t finish it. When I don’t measure it out, she eats it all and even wants more. Obviously, right? Since she doesn’t eat a ton, combined with the fact that her food is only good for up to 3 days, and that I have to put at least a cup of food in the machine so it will actually blend and puree, I end up freezing a lot of it, too. 

Alright, enough whining! This hasn’t been an all-bad experience. It’s actually been really fun when I’m not stressing about how much she eats, when she eats, and if the food is ruining her clothes. (The potential stains on her clothes was an obvious “Bad.” You didn’t really need me to mention it, did you?) 

That’s it for now, but check back soon for The Good and The Messy.

Baby Food Recipes 3/5/12

Lately, I’ve begun leaving even more small chunks in Eliana's food- but I’m still calling them purees for lack of a better description. (If you have any ideas for what to call this, please leave a comment after this post.)  At this point, Eliana just assumes she should eat whatever Matt and I are eating. Organic, seasonal and pureed, or not! She will look at our food and make a sort of demanding and questioning, “Eh!?” sound as if to say, “And where’s mine?” For that reason, we’ve been letting her lick more of different types of foods even if it's just for a taste. 

My daddy thought he would eat this Cara Cara orange by himself. Silly Daddy!

Forget Butterfinger. Nobody better lay a finger on my asparagus! 

Here are some more of the recipes I’ve made for Eliana over the last few weeks.

Lentil Puree

-½ cup dried lentils (rinsed and drained)

-Olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste

-Reserved cooking liquid

Bring a small pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add lentils and boil for two minutes. Then let simmer until tender- around an hour. Drain and reserve some liquid in case you need it for pureeing. Add lentils, olive oil, salt and pepper to blender and puree. Add cooking liquid as needed to loosen mixture.

Let cool slightly before serving to baby.

Lentil puree with a little bit of fried egg whites. 

Applesauce with Kale-Potato Puree

I came upon this one by mistake. I had intended to give her the applesauce in some bites and the kale and potato puree in other bites. Since it was mixing together in her spoon, I tasted them together and the combination was really tasty. (I had to make sure it was good because I wouldn't give her anything to eat that I wouldn't eat myself. Well, except for meat- but that is a whole other conversation.) So, I mixed the two and she ate it up. And, it gave me ideas of how to make tastier and healthier potato pancakes in the future!

-Mix 2 parts applesauce to 1 part warmed kale and potato puree.

Apple-Spinach Puree

Much tastier than it looks!

-1 apple, peeled and chopped (not a Granny Smith)

-1 handful of spinach leaves

-Juice of ½ lemon

Steam apple and spinach together. Blend and add lemon juice. Mix.

Let cool slightly before serving to baby.

Variation: Add cinnamon with or without lemon juice.

And even tastier with a teething ring.

Apple-Banana Puree

-1 Fuji apple peeled and chopped

-½ banana, chopped

-Few shakes of cinnamon

-Around ¼ cup of water

Put apple, cinnamon and about half the water in a small pot on medium heat and bring up to a simmer. Stir. Let simmer around 4 or 5 minutes. Keep an eye on the water level so the mixture does not burn. Add banana and stir.  Continue to cook another 1-2 minutes. Add more water as needed so there is always some liquid on the bottom of the pot. Remove from heat and stir. Mash with a fork or puree in a blender.

Let cool slightly before serving to baby.

Variations: Substitute fresh nutmeg for cinnamon. Add Greek yogurt and/or oatmeal. 

Using her travel seat at Grandma Lauren's and Grandpa Pat's in Florida.

I'm in charge of the spoon!

I've also been making her a lot of egg whites that I fry in olive oil and cook a bit longer than I would typically so there are no undercooked parts. I crack them into a bowl, whisk them, add a bit of salt and pepper and sometimes Parmesan cheese. Then I fry them in olive oil or olive oil cooking spray. I also peel off the skin that forms because I worry about it being a choking hazard like the skin on a blueberry or apple. I use egg whites and Parmesan cheese just because it is what I make for myself and Eliana began trying to get them off my plate about a two months ago. I break or cut it into small pieces, around the size of her fingernail, before giving it to her. 

I make her French toast too which, again, I cook a bit longer than probably necessary so all the egg is cooked through. 

French Toast

-2 egg whites and 1 whole egg

-1 slice of whole wheat bread

-Vanilla extract to taste

-1 tablespoon of milk (I use skim because that’s what we keep in the house but use whatever you prefer)

-Cooking spray or butter

Whisk eggs, milk and vanilla in a bowl and pour into a square baking dish. Let bread soak in mixture for 5 minutes per side. On a griddle or in a large non-stick pan, heat cooking spray or butter on medium heat. Shake excess egg mixture off bread and cook for 4-5 minutes per side.

Cut into pieces around the size of baby’s fingernail before serving to baby.

My plate before I broke up small pieces for Eliana.

Hey! You got any more of that?

Happy Cooking!