Recipe for Green Mashed Potatoes

On Tuesday afternoons, Eliana and I have a standing play date with our friends Meghan and Miles. This Tuesday, Meghan and I were swapping food stories and she told me that Miles currently loves mashed potatoes. That night I was thinking about new recipes and foods for Eliana. I got to thinking: Has Eliana eaten mashed potatoes? She has certainly had potatoes over the last 16 months. I made her a kale and potato puree when she was newly eating solids and she's had my potato leek soup, too. At restaurants she's had roasted potatoes and tried french fries, but she hasn't necessarily had mashed potatoes. 

Obviously, I had to fix that and introduce my teeny tiny foodie to potatoes in this other form. So, as part of her lunch yesterday she got my newest recipe: Green Mashed Potatoes. 

Green Mashed Potatoes

·    1 potato, chopped (I used a yellow potato and I left the skin on)

·    1 large handful of leafy greens (I used kale)

·    ½ tablespoon chopped scallions, white parts only

·    1-2 tablespoons milk (I used organic whole milk)

·    ½ small clove of garlic, peeled

·    1 tablespoon of butter, cut into little chunks

·    Reserved cooking liquid from steaming the potato, greens and garlic

·    Salt and pepper to taste

Steam the potato, greens and garlic. Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processer along with the scallions, a little bit of the milk, butter, reserved steaming liquid, salt and pepper. Puree it to your desired consistency. Taste and adjust flavors with more milk, butter and seasoning as needed.

Green Mashed Potatoes

With some baked chicken for lunch.

Aaaaahhhhh.

And, here are a few photos of Eliana and Miles from a play date this summer. This past Tuesday, both little people were a blur of "peek-a-boo" activity so none the most recent photos came out well. 

Hi there, Peeps!

Here I am driving them around. Poor Miles is so freaked out he's made Eliana's ear into the "Holy S!@t" handle of their pretend car.

Mommy! Save me from your friend who can't drive!!

O.M.G. She's starting again. Hold on, Eliana!

Happy Cooking!

Potato Leek Soup with Quinoa

I made this soup for Eliana when she was around 7 months old and froze some of it for later. Now at 10 months old, Eliana prefers to feed herself rather than allow me to spoon-feed her. And you know I’ve barely let her hold the spoon to practice using one! (I’m absolutely getting better at reforming my crazy Helicopter Mommy tendencies. But, there is only so much progress I can make at this point.) So, since she prefers finger foods, I’ve been working on ways to make soups and purees into something she can handle. Today I was inspired to try using quinoa for texture. I mixed it with the warmed soup and Eliana loved it! Here’s the soup recipe. It was still easier for her to eat the mixture off the spoon, but she got to play with it on her tray and did get some of it into her mouth.

Quinoa is yummy!

Potato Leek Soup with Fennel
-2 organic Russet potatoes, skin on, chopped
- 4 large leeks, white parts only, chopped
-1 small bulb of fennel, white parts only, chopped
-1 quart low-sodium vegetable broth
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-Salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large pot on medium heat. Sauté leeks, fennel and a pinch of salt for around 5 minutes. Add broth and potatoes and bring heat up to a boil for 5 more minutes. Simmer mixture for 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. Blend and season with salt and pepper.

Let cool slightly before serving to baby.

I do let her practice with the spoon. For about 1.5 seconds at a time before I snatch it back.

Don't mess with me, Woman! That was MY spoon.

Happy Cooking!

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!

Baby Food Recipes 2/20/12

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

Zucchini Puree

- 1 organic zucchini sliced or chopped

-  Olive oil, chopped garlic, salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Add zucchini and a pinch of salt and stir. Add garlic and pinch of pepper. Stir and let cook around 4 or 5 minutes till tender but not mushy. Blend.

Let cool slightly before serving to baby.

Kale-Potato Puree

- ½ small organic potato- chopped (any kind except sweet potato- leave skin on)

- ¼ small yellow onion- chopped

- Several leaves of organic purple or green kale- stalk removed- roughly chopped or torn

- Olive oil, chopped garlic, salt and pepper to taste

Steam potato and set aside. Steam kale and set aside. Heat olive oil in pan on low-medium heat and add onion, garlic and salt. Cook until golden- around 4 minutes. Combine all ingredients and blend.

  Let cool slightly before serving to baby. 

My daddy likes to call this photo: Kale and Potato Goatee

Blueberry Puree

- 1 cup frozen, organic blueberries, thawed

-  ¼ cup orange juice (or other juice with no sugar added) for sweetness (if needed)

Puree blueberries. If tart, add juice as needed for a bit of sweetness. 

Variation: Mix with oatmeal or yogurt.

My hands got stained while making it.

So why was I surprised that her lips were purple for a day?

I had dressed her in all black. Didn't anticipate eating (and staining) the strap though. Oops!

Happy Cooking!