Baked squash

Isn't Fall just the best?  I love the crisp weather and yummy comfort foods.  Last week our CSA provided winter squash.  Now add this to the list of things I don't enjoy eating (I recall many a dinner ending with me sitting there, 2 bites of squash on my play, and me refusing to even choke that tiny bit down much to my mom's chagrine). But I was thrilled to see this in our box because squash is good for little ones, and Miss T loves sweet potatoes so I figured she would like this too.  The farmer provided tips for preparing the squash thank goodness!  It was so smooth!  

Directions:

Wash squash thoroughly

Using a sharp knife, cut squash in half length wise

Place cut side down in a glass baking dish in about 1/2"-1" of water.  Cover.

Bake at 400F for 45-60 minutes.  You can tell its done when the shell of the squash is soft.  

Remove the cover and continue baking for 10-15 minutes to caramelize 

Let cool, then either slice or scoop the meat out of the shell.

T ended up not liking the butternut squash we had last week.  It smelled delicious and I was half tempted to eat it myself!  My 7 year old inner child held me back though. A co worker told me to stir it into soups to thicken the broth and add nutrients.  I've got it in my crock pot chicken tortilla soup right now (don't tell my hubby), which also used some of my freezer peppers.  I will let you know how it turns out!  

Freezer Peppers

I love having fresh veggies in the freezer for those long, Minnesota winter months.  There's nothing like a hot bowl of homemade chicken tortilla soup made with fresh veggies that I froze over the winter.  Our CSA gave us a ton of peppers the past couple of weeks, plus some delicious onions.  My original plan was to make salsa using a freezer salsa recipe (wouldn't you love it?  Maybe I'll do a future post....or you can buy my mom's new book with all kinds of freezer recipes!) but somewhere in between ear infections 8 & 9 for my sweet little Miss T and working, plus building a house, I just didn't have the energy. 

 

Instead I cut the tops off the peppers, de-seeded, washed, and cut into 1" squares.  The best method for cutting peppers with minimal seed-spillage is to hold your knife vertically with the point down, and cut around the broad part of the top of the pepper like you were cutting the top of a pumpkin off.  Then I just do a little trimming to ensure all seeds are removed.  The final rinse will get any pesky strays.  I tossed these into my chopper from Tupperware, along with some onion wedges.  Once everything was diced, I spooned 1/2C portions into snack sized ziplock bags and tossed the whole collection into one gallon sized freezer bag.  Can't wait to pull those out this winter!

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Turkey + Spinach Meatballs

Turkey meatballs are Miss T's favorite food.  It's one of my favorites for her as well, because it has a great balance of protein, whole grains, and veggies.  On top of the nutritional benefit, they're pretty simple to make and SUPER easy to pull out of the freezer for a quick dinner or to send to daycare.  I had to make a new batch because the stock was running low, and I decided to see what purees I had leftover that she wouldn't eat anymore.  Right before she decided she didn't want purees, I'd made a big batch of cauliflower and another of spinach.  So to make this quick, I thawed both batches in the microwave, then tossed each one in a separate bowl.  Similar to the last time I made meatballs, I split the pound of ground turkey between the bowls and added a packet of steamed brown rice.  This time I tossed the rice in whole, without creaming it.  It seemed to work well, and I don't think she needed it creamed anyways.  Plus that was one less step (plus one less thing to clean!). 

She really likes the cauliflower + turkey meatballs, but took a little longer to warm up to the spinach ones.  I'm not sure if it was the color or what, because she liked creamed spinach.  But eventually she decided they were fine once I actually got a bite past her compressed lips.  :)

Notes:  This time I baked the batches for about 22 minutes, at 350F.  One thing I'd do differently next time is either using the freezer bag or freezing them flat on a cookie sheet.  Instead I stuck all 60 or so meatballs in a large Ziplock container before putting them in the freezer.  This resulted in one giant mass of frozen meatball.  Each time she wants some, I have to hack them apart.  Not super fun.

 

 

Zucchini Tots

My CSA partner gave me a recipe for Zucchini Tots to help us use up the abundance of zucchini in our weekly box.  I tweaked it based on my dairy restrictions and the tools I had on hand.  It kind of was a disaster, to be honest.  We're in temporary housing while our new house is constructed, and of course I realized that nearly everything needed for the recipe was packed away, somewhere in our POD or in the bowels of our closets.  And this was discovered mid-recipe construction.  Just my luck!  After a quick run to the nearby grocery store to grab muffin foils, I managed to make it work.  The taste was fine, but I'll definitely do some things differently next time.

Link to the original recipe

Ingredients:
1 egg (I used the Simply Basic organic brown eggs from Target)
1/2 C Panko
1 large zucchini
1/4 C diced onion
salt, pepper, or other seasoning to taste

The original idea is to grate the zucchini with a cheese grater, then strain the water out using a paper towel.  I'm sure this is the preferred method.  Well, I couldn't find my cheese grater, even after making my hubby pull apart one of our storage closets to get to the "kitchen" box at the very bottom.  Talk about frustrating!  I ended up dual-purposing the Baby Bullet and pureeing the zucchini.  Doing this meant I couldn't strain the extra water out.  Hence the double-dose of Panko!  I mixed all the ingredients together, then stuck them in the fridge for an hour since I was prepping them for dinner ahead of schedule.  This also helped solidify the mix too. 

The initial directions were to bake these in mini muffin tins, so the muffins came out more like tater tots.  I knew my mini muffin tins were in the POD, but thought I had left one of the big tins out.  Nope.  Failure #3 was when I discovered even my liners were packed away, probably never to be seen again.  This is what made me break down and go to the store.  Byerlys only had large liners, and since they were the sturdier foil ones, I ended up winging it and baking them without the tins.  It worked pretty well! 

Bake these for about 20 minutes at 375F, until the outsides are brown.  They tasted fine, but weren't really crispy like you'd expect for something that's supposed to be tater-tot'ish.  But they were nice and savory, and would be a good side dish.  Plus they're fairly healthy, a pretty green color, and a great way to use up that zucchini!

 

Purple Potatoes

Did anyone know there is such a thing as a purple potato?  Not this non-potato eater!  We received the little red potatoes in our CSA last week.  Well, while peeling the spuds, I was shocked to see the skin give way to vibrant purple veggies!  It was actually kind of exciting because vibrant colored fruits and veggies have more nutrients, and I'd been hesitant to give T potatoes because there isn't a ton of nutritional value to them.  Plus the purple color was really pretty (the photos don't do this veggie justice).  Since this was my first time making "real" potatoes (aka not sweet potatoes) I decided to try three different methods at the same time.  Normally as I make baby food I attempt a new method each time, determining which is best.  But this time I wanted to try multiple methods since I had plenty of potatoes. 

Ingredients/Tools:
Potatoes - I had about a dozen small potatoes
peeler
knife
tin foil
parchment paper

Note: all methods used the oven, at 400F, for about 25-30 min.

Method One: Foil wrapped potato sticks (with parchment paper)
This was the most time consuming method up-front.  I peeled the individual potatoes, then sliced and diced into thin sticks.  These potatoes are hard to peel because they're so small.  At one point I did end up slicing my finger.  I'd love to hear if people have better ways to peel small potatoes!

My mom read recently that the metal in foil can infuse harmful toxins in your food, so she recommended using parchment paper to line the foil.  I cut a sheet of aluminum foil, then made a matching sheet of parchment paper.  One these were prepared I laid the sticks in even lines on the paper.  Of course as soon as I started rolling the foil the lines disappeared in to a clump of potato sticks, but oh well.  I always add a little water (maybe 1 T worth) before sealing the foil. 

Once the potatoes were cooked I removed them from the oven and diced the sticks.  I didn't have to bake these as long, they were done probably within 20 minutes.  The downside to parchment paper is that the paper ended up sticking to the potato, pretty badly.  I had to cut a lot of potato away to get all the paper off.  Don't think I'll use it again when steaming something like that, especially something as starch-filled as potatoes.

Method Two: Foil wrapped skinned potatoes (whole)
One again, I peeled the potatoes then punctured them all over with a fork.  One they were prepared, I wrapped them in a foil pack with about 1 T of water.  No parchment paper this go-round.  After baking, approximately 25 minutes, I removed and sliced/diced.  Pretty simple!

aren't these just gorgeous? Reminds me of agates!

Method Three: Foil wrapped skin-on potatoes
This was the easiest method by far.  After washing the potatoes (it's always important to wash your veggies before cooking) I punctured them thoroughly then tossed them in the foil pack with 1 T of water.  These took longer to bake, at least 30 min.  After cooking them though, I sliced them in quarters and spent longer than I'd like scraping the skin off.  One of the downsides of this type of potato is the paper-thin, delicate skin.  I can understand why most red mashed potatoes have skin in them still! 

 

yes, we actually did have some red potatoes in our box too.

 

 



Miss T loved the potatoes, and they're really easy to heat up.  They're very easy for her to pick up and feed herself, which is the new thing.  She refuses to eat purees anymore, so I've got quite a bit in the freezer that I'm not sure how we're going to use.  She loves to give us a good challenge!  Don't tell my hubby that I may start working them into our pasta sauces etc. :) 

Allergies, sickness, and the sad effects

About two weeks ago I came down with a really bad cold, and then my allergies attacked.  Between the two my asthma was worse than ever, to the point my hubby nearly rushed me to the hospital twice last week in the middle of the night.  Neither of us got much sleep that week from all my gasping and coughing.  There aren't many medical options when nursing, because the meds dry up ALL your glands, not just your sinuses.  Anyways, I finally broke down Thursday and went to the doctor.  I was promised that the medication prescribed would help, and while I would have to "pump and dump" for a week it wouldn't impact my production.  My goal has always to make it a year and that's a battle that I've fought hard for.  Well, I'm on day 3 of the meds and my production and dropped.  Significantly.  As in I feel like I may not be able to nurse after this.  It nearly brings me to tears but health wise I cannot stop the meds and logistically I have enough milk stocked in freezers across the Twin Cities and Iowa to meet my year goal.  We will see how it goes, but this is devastating.  Oh, how I have wished and prayed for a better immune system and bronchial system for years.  At least I made it nearly 10 months.  

It's also been interesting over the past days getting into our new groove.  We are washing a.lot.of.bottles every day.  How do people stand using formula???  Plus we have to plan ahead to have milk thawed, then rush down to heat water and milk when she starts stirring with hunger.  Today we were visiting friends and she got hungry, and there was nothing we could do but load up and go home.  It hadn't occurred to me to pack a bottle, and I couldn't nurse.  We failed as parents.  From all aspects, nursing is the best way to go if you're able, in my opinion.  Plus it's free!!! (If you don't count the $300 pump, or the bags, or the pump parts;)).  On a positive note Mark is able to help with feedings now too.  

Turkey, Rice, + Veggie Meatballs, amongst other lessons

Chalk this one up to a learning experience.  Yes, it ended up pretty well but I really was questioning whether this meal would end up in the trash part way through.  To start at the beginning, my friend at work whose son is a month older than T was giving me tips on different solids to try.  One suggestion was meatballs.  I ended up taking her general recipe as an idea and made my own concoction.  Note at this point that I had never made meatballs, meat loaf, or anything of the sort because I'm just not a fan.  I'll eat it, but it's not something I crave.  This is something that occurred to me when I got to the point of actually baking the balls. 

Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey (I prefer Jenni-O 97% lean)
1 large patty pan
1 head of cauliflower
1 packet of Archer Farms steamable brown rice

I started by chopping up the patty pan and cauliflower, steaming them in the microwave (separate of course), and blending them (separate again) in the baby bullet.  Next I took the rice packet (lesson #2 of this post), tore the top to vent, and microwaved that.  As you may recall from a prior post, I don't eat rice and do not really know how to prepare it.  Luckily Archer Farms (Target Owned Brand) makes a great option that you just toss in the microwave.  Seemed to turn out well!  Our goal was to attempt rice for T soon, because daycare suggested we start working more grains into her diet. 

After everything was blended, I took the ground turkey and separated in half, each in a separate bowl.  I did the same with the brown rice, then added patty pan to one bowl and cauliflower to the other.  Note you will have some of each veggie left over.  Mix with your hands until everything is consistent and sticking together.  As my mom pointed out afterwards, the rice was my "bonding agent", acting similar to ketchup in meat loaf.  But much more healthy!  It shouldn't be too runny, so only add as much veggie as you can before it gets too soft. 

 

I made them into 1.5" or 2" balls, fitting about 16 on each cookie tray.  Then I baked them for approximately 30 minutes around 350F.  This is lesson #3.  I started off at 400F, and the outsides got brown very quickly but the insides were still liquid.  After several more attempts and repeated heat reductions, they were finally done.  Of course at this point I consulted my mom and learned what to look for to ensure they're cooked through.  Have I ever mentioned my mom writes cook books for a living and is a pretty awesome resource?  No?  Well I should know by now to always start with her.  She's better than Google! 

T loved the smell of the meat balls so much that she wouldn't even wait until dinner to eat them!  She finished one off as a snack, then two more while I prepped dinner.  So far she's only had the cauliflower version, but hopefully the patty pan version is as big a hit.  This recipe made about 35 meatballs and I froze them in a freezer bag for easy portioning later.

 

 

Raspberries

It was raspberry season, and I kept walking past all the berries wishing I could give them to my little Miss T.  I'd heard somewhere that babies couldn't have berries until they were over a year old, but after some research I learned that the guidance was outdated.  After 6 months berries are fair game! 

Now berries don't go far.  That was my #1 learning.  But isn't the color beautiful?  It's fairly runny, and I did not add any water.  My plan is to mix this in with other foods, similar to how I do the blue berries.  I mixed it with oatmeal and blueberries.  T thought it was ok, but they did not sit well with her little system.  I've got a bunch frozen if anyone wants it!

 

Kale Chips

Chalk one more thing up on the list of things I got the Mister to eat that I never expected!  We received kale in our CSA box, and I was just not sure what to do with it.  Part of it ended up as baby food for Miss T, and the rest was made into kale chips!  It was super easy.  I cut the kale off the stalk and into chip-sized chunks.  Then I tossed it slightly in EVOO and laid it on a baking sheet that was covered in parchment paper.  After sprinkling the leaves with sea salt, I baked for about 4 minutes until the edges were crispy and brown.  They were pretty tasty!  You can eat them as a snack, or as a dinner side like we did. By the way, T did not appreciate the nutritional value of kale and refused to open her mouth after the first bite ;)

Summer Squash

Does anyone else have squash coming out their ears this time of year?  Our CSA boxes have been filled with zucchini and patty pan the past two weeks.  Miss T isn't a fan of zucchini (sad!) so I've had to get creative.  In this week's newsletter, which comes with the box of veggies, there was a recipe for baked patty pan.  Now, while my intentions were to print the newsletter and follow the recipe, it just didn't happen that way.  Does anyone else feel that time gets away from them and their life is more than a little disorganized?  That's me right now.  It's tough for someone who thrives on organization.  Anyways.....I recalled one thing from the recipe and that was to season it with cilantro.  So I pulled together some stuff from my fridge and the CSA box, and threw this together as a side for dinner tonight.  We served it with marinated grilled chicken and tater tots.  Yep, I know, not healthy, but delicious! 

Ingredients
1 yellow patty pan (large)
1 fresh sweet onion (they're the smaller ones with stalks)
1-2 sweet red peppers
1/2 a large zucchini
~5 stalks of cilantro, shredded
1/2T EVOO
sea salt (to taste)

I diced it all and stirred everything together, then we tossed it on the grill pan for about 10 minutes.  It was delicious!  (I neglected to take a photo of the cooked product, because we dug right in!)

Kabobs

Another grill favorite of ours are shish kabobs.  We are pretty plain people, so the veggies tend to feature green peppers and onions.  Not much else.  I'm attempting to increase our veggie intake, and had a bag of sweet peppers in the fridge.  I added some of those to the mix, along with some wedges of lemon.  Those were quite the experiment, but I loved the way they looked on the kabobs as well as the scent. 

 

My mister was very hesitant to try lemons.  There may have been some complaining, and a request to keep them off his kabob.  I may have added a couple anyways :)  I have to admit, the lemons were challenging to grill.  They kind of fell apart, and off the stick.  But they added a nice taste to the meat.  Very refreshing.  I love kabobs because they generally leave leftovers that are easy to heat up for lunch the next day. 

 

 

 

Steamed Peaches

The latest batch of peaches purchased were on the tougher side, and after hacking at one with a knife I figured there just had to be a better way of peeling them.  Out came my little cook-book, and I found a recipe where you steam the peaches.  It was pretty easy.  You wash the peaches and cut a deep X into one side.  In about an inch of water (I only used about 1/2") in a large sauce pan, you steam the peaches on the stove top.  I always have the lid cocked on, so the steam can escape while gently cooking the fruit.  It took about 10 minutes on the stove top until the skin puckered.  I removed the peaches with tongs, set them aside in a bowl to cook, and reserved the peachy water in a giant mug for blending. 

Now, when I went to remove the skin it was actually quite the chore.  If you ever read my post about blanching tomatoes, you'll know what I mean.  It was right up there from a gross factor.  I had use my super-sharp Rada knife to peel off the skin.  Once the skin was off I used my thumbs to dig down to the pit, and peel the fruit off.  After every peach I had to wash my hands to get all the junk off, before I started on the next one.  I used seven peaches total, and made several containers of baby food. 

It's been fun trying different techniques of cooking her food, figuring out what is easiest and most efficient.  While I'm not a huge fan of this method, I learned more about peaches and honestly they were so tough I think trying to peel them normally would have been even tougher.  There is nothing better than the knowledge that my daughter is eating fresh food, whose source I am familiar with. 

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Zucchini + Patty Pan



This was our first "real" week of the community shared agriculture crop share.  After watching One Direction perform at work (hello fantastic perks!), my friend and I went to pick up our share.  This week they had tons of good things, including zucchini and patty pan squash.  Now I hate squash.  My mom could tell stories for days about how much we all hate squash.  While the main purpose of the CSA was to get a variety of veggies for T, I also wanted the hubby and me to try more veggies as well.  One of my co-workers, who is a CSA veteran, said the key to using your veggies is to make dishes with as many as possible. 

 

One of the tips given by the farmer was to grill the zucchini.  To spice it up, I drizzled olive oil over the zucchini and patty pan, then added fresh cilantro, basil, and garlic scape.  We cooked it on our trusty grill pan for a few minutes each side.  Delicious!  Mark wasn't a fan of the zucchini but had 2nd of the patty pan.

 

Now for Miss T's portion.  I chopped hers as well, then wrapped it in a foil pack with a little bit of water.  After sealing it up, we tossed it on the grill while the rest of our food was cooking.  I removed it from the grill after about 15 minutes, then set it on the stove top to cool/finish steaming while we ate.  It turned out perfectly!  They pureed well without having to add any liquid.

Veggie Chicken for the Grill



We love grilling in the summer.  We especially love our grill pan, because diced meat and veggies cook up so quickly.  Even though we work early hours, nights are still busy and quick dinners are key.  Yet we need something that is balanced and fills us up.  I've been trying to add veggies into our meals, especially to take advantage of the season.  These sweet peppers have become favorites.  My hubby grumbles (he's a veggie hater, unless it's corn...need I say we're from Iowa?), but he grudgingly will eat some. 

This dish turned out amazing, if I may say so.  I diced chicken as usual, and added some chopped peppers (yellow, orange, and red).  To spice it up I added diced purple onion, fresh oregano from my garden, fresh sage from our CSA, and some grilling seasoning.  It took about 8-10 minutes to grill on the pan, and we used it to top pasta.  It would also go well with rice.  Delish!

Exploring new frontiers

I've hit a point where I'm not sure what to feed miss T, so we're in a rut.  Luckily our community shared agriculture share starts officially next week, so we'll have all kinds of new veggies to try out.  Her little system is so sensitive that random things (aka green beans, avocado, bananas, etc.) set her off and cause endless misery.  For the past two weeks I haven't introduced anything new.  I just was at a loss of what to even try next.  Well, this week they had a test drive of the CSA and gave us all spinach.  And cucumbers.  That, in combination with me running low on frozen food, and a big move looming over us, got me motivated to figure out my new-food-introduction plan for the upcoming weeks. 

So today I baked a couple of sweet potatoes and blended them with raw spinach.  In hindsight I probably should have steamed it at the very least, but I just threw it in raw.  With some water.  It blended pretty well, if you ignore the fact that the bottom of the canister wasn't screwed on completely and I ended up having spinach juice leak completely through the motor of my Baby Bullet and out the bottom of the machine, causing a moment of panic for 1) electrocution and 2) complete ruination of the machine.  You can breath easy though, it seems to have survived. 

Anyways, she loved the spinach and sweet potato combination.  I'll be giving that to her for the next few days, then introducing either raspberries or cucumbers.  I'm undecided yet which will come first, although I still need to complete my research of raspberries.  I'd always heard those shouldn't be introduced until after the 1st or 2nd birthday, but recently I've heard they are fine to give to kids after 6 months of age.  I also have a can of garbanzo beans, and read an article that listed those as a great food for babies due to the high level of protein.  So who knows, I may decide to go with those next.  Regardless, I'm excited to have a plan in place again and I'm sure she will be excited to have something other than sweet potatoes, peas, cauliflower, or mango :)

Baked Sweet Potatoes

I've found my new favorite way to make T's favorite sweet potatoes: baking!  If you remember, I am not a potato girl.  I have no idea how to make them, and have had to stumble around when working with them.  Well, after perusing my cook-book I realized that there were directions for baking the potatoes vs. dicing and steaming on the stove top.  Cutting the potatoes into steam-able portions definitely has hurt my hand in the past, so I was really excited to find an alternative method.  It's so easy.  You take a potato, wash it thoroughly, puncture it with a fork repeatedly all over to allow steam to escape (you don't want exploded potato in your oven, believe me), wrap in foil, then bake at 400F for around 45 minutes.  The recipe said 30-60 minutes, but mine took about 50 minutes.  Also, I didn't wrap one of the potatoes fully because I didn't cut enough foil, and that was a mistake.  That one was difficult to peel. 

Yes, I said peel.  The best part of this is that the skin basically falls off!  I monitored the progress of the potatoes by checking every 15 minutes, peeling back the foil, and poking with my fork until it was very tender.  One the potatoes were baked, I unwrapped them from the foil, cut in half length-wise, and flipped the cut side down on my cutting board.  Then I could get an edge of the skin and practically peel it off in one swipe!  The less baked parts kind of stuck on, but I was able to easily pry those sections off with the tip of my knife (RADA knives are my fave!  Super sharp and beautiful to boot!  Plus they're made in my home town of Waverly, Iowa). 

So, if your kid likes sweet potatoes too, I would recommend this method over the other steamed method I tried in the past.  Good luck!

Mangos

T loves fruit, the sweeter the better.  She's a girl after my own heart (or stomach in this instance).  I've been trying to introduce more veggies than fruits, since those aren't as popular and I want her to have balanced tastes.  But she hasn't had any new fruits lately, and sometimes it's handy to mix veggies with the fruits.  Plus, mangos were on sale last week so that's what we're trying! 

Mangos are somewhat tricky to cut and peel.  The trick that works for me is to use this fantastic Pampered Chef tool called the hold 'n slice that my mother-in-law gave me several years ago.  I cut the mango in half (around the seed pod) then jam the tool into that side so it doesn't slide around while I cut the other side.  Then I'll cut the flesh away from the skin, and dice the fruit.  It was pretty slick!  For this batch, I used 5 mangos and my small sauce pan, plus about 1/2C water.  The fruit simmered on med-low heat for around 10 minutes, until soft.  My cook book said you can either lightly steam or puree raw for 6-8 month olds, but I went ahead and fully cooked the fruit for the first time. The mangos selected were more on the raw side, so they needed softening before she could eat them.  Since their so soft now, I shouldn't need to add any liquid when pureeing. 

T l.o.v.e.d mangos!  She wasn't sure of the texture for the first few bites, but quickly decided the taste was delicious.  We've been working with her, trying to teach her the sign for "more".  Once she finished her mangos today and realized the cup was empty, she immediately started signing "more" for the first time!  We were so proud, then had to quickly unfreeze more mangos to reward her for signing correctly. 

Stock Up + Chicken Introduction

We've had a hectic few weeks, and my stock pile of freezer food has dwindled to low levels.  Today after getting back from Grandpa's funeral, I started peeling, dicing, steaming, cooking, and baking to build up the food store for the next few weeks.  Since T has been really struggling with ear infections, teething, and now a really nasty case of diaper rash, I limited the new items to one: Mangos.  One the docket for today: crock pot carrots, mangos, baked sweet potatoes (a new method for me!), and peas.  I managed to get everything cooked, then stuck it away in the fridge to puree tomorrow.  My plan was to do it all today, or at least a portion, but T started having a really tough time and needed some cuddles so that too priority. 

Also, we started meat tonight!  (I know, I just mentioned how I wasn't going to start anything new due to all the misery from the past few weeks).  I pulled out my handy-dandy recipe book and realized that they had less-pureed food listed to begin between months 6-8, including meat.  Well, T is nearly 8 months old so of course I had a mini-panic attack thinking she was behind.  Then I remembered the pediatrician suggested meat around month 9.  Anyways, I was planning to grill some chicken tonight for dinner, and cut off a piece for her before marinating ours.  The hubby grilled it up and I stuck it in the baby bullet, then mixed it in with some of her previously-frozen green beans.  Notes for meat: use the smaller container for the baby bullet, use some liquid otherwise it practically vaporizes, and be prepared for an interesting reaction from the baby.  She liked the flavor, I believe, but wasn't sure how to eat it because the texture was different and had larger chunks.  Overall it seemed to go well though!  Anyways, I had major guilt after giving her something new and thinking that I was going to add to her issues, so we're going to hold off on meat again until at least the diaper rash clears up.

One of my concerns with her ear infection is dairy.  I'd slowly started working tiny bits into my diet to see if she could handle me eating ice cream at the cabin.  They were minute bits (we're talking potato chips with some seasoning that had dairy), but it's still dairy.  Well, looking back, her first ear infection started about the same time I started eating some dairy again.  Then this weekend, half way into her 2nd round of antibiotics, I had cheese bread after grandpa's visitation.  We also had zero non-dairy options after the funeral, so I had dairy there too.  These were huge leaps straight into dairy.  Well, suddenly last night she was fussing again and grabbing her ears, despite being partially through her meds.  Research showed that dairy can cause ear infections in kids with dairy allergies or sensitivities.  So now I have major guilt (again).  It's basically the story of my life.  Being a mom is so challenging!!!  I'm not ready to give up nursing yet, but it's episodes like this that make me question my sanity. 

Crock Pot Carrots

So, as I mentioned in my post about peachy pears, I'm continuously looking for ways to gain efficiencies (can you tell I work with logistics?) when making baby food.  It hit me that during the winter I let our crock pot run all day long, making soups for dinner.  Why not cook baby food overnight, let it cool during the day, and blend it in the evening?  Genius! 

While watching one of my DVR'd episodes of the Voice (I am SOOO behind since I never have a moment to sit anymore), I washed, peeled, and chopped organic carrots.  It actually was a very enjoyable evening task.  The nice thing about this was that I didn't have to dime the carrots.  I chopped each carrot into about 5 or 6 sections, then tossed it in the crock pot.  I added about 1C of water, then set it on low and let them cook overnight.  The next morning I turned it off to cool slightly while I got ready for work, then stuck it in the fridge.  Later that evening I pureed the carrots and froze in ice cube trays for the upcoming weeks.  Very simple and time effective!

Cauliflower Clouds

Cauliflower is another of those things I've never eaten or prepared, and had to kind of stumble through.  My dad was actually here when I was making it, and he made the comment, "oh, gross" when he saw what I was making.  Funny how that attitude gets passed on to your kids!  That is the #1 reason I'm trying so hard to get unique and variety of foods into her. 

Luckily a friend who made her child's food gave me some pointers.  Or rather, she said to just steam it!  I cut the organice cauliflower like I would broccoli, then tossed it in a big sauce pan with some water and my veggie steamer insert, and covered with a lid.  I cooked on medium for about 15 minutes, until the cauliflower was soft and kind of translucent.  After it was steamed, I set it aside in a bowl to cool while making the next batch (and since T was napping and I didn't want the BB to wake her).  When it was cool (and miss T was awake) I pureed half of each batch with about 1/2-3/4C water and froze in ice cube trays.  The single large head of cauliflower filled 3 ice cube trays!

Tips: When buying veggies, check to see who sells by the pound vs. per unit.  I've found in some cases (this being one of them, and sweet potatoes as another example) that it's actually cheaper to purchase by the unit.  You can find HUGE items and pay less per pound.  This cauliflower head was gigantic compared to the others.  It cost me $0.30/serving since T is eating about 3oz at each meal.  Much more economical than paying $1.50 per organic food pouch!

Crock Pot Peachy Pears

Since pears went over so well, and T seemed to like the Motts natural Peach medly apple sauce that she got at Grandma's last week, I decided to attempt to cook peaches and pears in the crock pot.  Since we are super busy, yet it's important to us to make her food, I'm trying to find ways to be more efficient.  I've got a great tip that I learned while making carrots and will share soon (bet you can't wait to read about that one!).

Now, one of the challenges with making T's food is that I haven't actually ever eaten or prepared a lot of the things we're having her try.  Peaches fall under that category.  I knew they had a pit in them, and that stone fruits are in season.  But I don't have a clue on how to pick out the ripe ones, how to cut them, or how to efficiently skin them.  These are the things I stumbled through while preparing, but if you know of better ways, I encourage you to follow your own instincts! 

I started with 6 pears and 6 peaches.  Pears are ripe when the place where the neck connects with the bulb is soft.  Peaches....well....I just squished a bunch until I found soft ones.  The peaches I selected were pretty soft, but that's fine for baby food.  When cutting up pears, I create 4 sections, then cut out the core, then use my knife to peel back the skin.  Peaches were pretty easy, especially the soft ones.  I cut it in 4 (around the pit) then used the knife to start peeling back the skin.  In about half the cases I was able to just use my fingers to peel the skin off.  Otherwise I kind of hacked away with the knife to get the rest of the skin off. 

I tossed everything into my crock pot on high for about 3 hours, then set it in the fridge to cool overnight.  The next day after work I pureed it all in my handy-dandy Baby Bullet and froze it into cubes.  I didn't need to add any additional liquid other than what was in the crock-pot.  The consistency was pretty thin. 

Notes:  The mixture is pretty runny, so I add about 1T of baby oatmeal before heating.  You may need to add more to thicken it up. 

Pinterest

Hi Everyone!!  So, to be honest, I'm not very tech savvy.  I try really hard to learn, but tend to give up quickly.  Today though I'm really proud to say I figured out how to add a Pinterest "pin" button to my blog posts!  So if you see something you like, and are on Pinterest, feel free to pin it!  Now I'm still working to figure out how to  make it prettier, but I'm getting started!

Veggified Tacos

One of our favorite summer meals are chicken tacos on the grill.  I have blogged about this in the past.  It is so easy to marinade the chicken during the day and toss it on the grill pan at night.  I am on a renewed focus to eat healthy, after several weeks of stress eating puppy chow and other junky food.  [I may have mentioned to a co-worker today that whoever invented puppy chow deserved a Nobel Peach prize].  This time when I prepped the tacos, I decided to add some veggies to make them healthier and try to distract myself from the missing cheese.  This week when I was at the grocery store I bought a bag of the mini-sweet peppers.  I chopped those up, added some white onion, and tossed them in a little bit of olive oil with a grilling seasoning.  Mark tossed those on the grill pan with the chicken (separated to prevent salmonella, of course).  I topped my taco meat with the veggies, then sliced some avocado on top.  We also used the Market Pantry whole wheat taco shells too, instead of our normal white flour ones.  Delicious and crunchy!

 

 

Butternut Squash Disaster

One of my goals is to have T try a variety of foods, particularly ones the adults in our family don't eat.  We tend to be very picky, and my goal is to prevent that trait in our child(ren).  Butternut squash is apparently very good for kids, and since the consistency is similar to her beloved sweet potatoes I thought I'd give them a whirl! 

Now, I have zero experience making squash.  Wasn't even sure what type to purchase, let alone how to even begin attempting to cook it.  Luckily my mom was in town and gave me some pointers.  I had two options: microwave or oven.  I, once again, was very short on time and chose microwave.  Unfortunately I chose to start this project around 10pm, after mom had gone home.  It didn't go quite as smoothly as she had described. 

The directions were to microwave the squash for a few minutes until the ball part was softened.  I then cut the squash in half, length-wise, and microwave face up for a few minutes until it was soft and I could scoop it out.  Mom warned me that the neck portion would take longer to cook.  Well, the whole thing was a bit of a disaster.  I managed to hack the gourd in half after it had "softened".  After zapping it for another few minutes, it was sizzling and bubbling, but not soft enough to scoop out with a big spoon (I had no idea how else to remove the flesh from the skin).  I just kept microwaving and attacking it with a spoon, burning my fingers in the process, until I had enough liberated to do my thing with the Baby Bullet.  I prayed after making my batch that T would hate it so I'd never have to make it again.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?) she loved it. 

After explaining my trials with mom, she recommended baking it next time.  I guess if you cut it in half lenth-wise (again, after softening it in the microwave), you can bake it at 300F in a little bit of water, with the flesh facing down.  I think you bake it for 45-60 minutes, then scoop the meat of the gourd out.  Since it was a hit, I guess I'll be attemping to make it again, this alternate way.  Once my fingers heal, of course.

 

Crock Pot pears

Pears have been our newest food addition.  I initially was planning to make these on the stove top, but then totally ran out of time. It was one of those days where I got home a little early and decided to whip up some food before picking T up at daycare.  Well everything takes longer of course, and before I knew it I had to run.  It occurred to me that I had success making apple sauce in the crock pot, and that pears were similar and may work that way too.  I cut the pears in half, removed the pit and peel, then chopped into smaller pieces.  I tossed the pears into the crock pot on high with about 1/2C of water, and cooked for 2 hours or so.  I probably didn't need the water, and will either reduce or eliminate the next time I make pears.  After they were fully cooked and soft I tossed them in the baby bullet and pureed.  Make sure you let the food cool in the fridge before freezing.

T loves the pears, but they are pretty thin.  I've found that adding some baby oatmeal before heating (in a glass cup) helps thicken the consistency and allows her to eat it more efficiently.

 

Avocados + Pea update

We had two new veggies last week.  On Saturday T started avocados.  This was super easy for me to make.  I cut an avocado in half, scooped out one quarter into one of the little Gladware containers, and mashed until smooth.  Very easy!  As my brothe-in-law (who also made most of my niece's food) said, avocados were his favorite!  T also really likes to eat them.  So great news all around!

We also started peas, which I made and froze ahead of time.  The first few times she ate them, she seemed to really like them.  This was pretty exciting because apparently I hated peas with a passion when I was little.  I love them now, and they are super easy to make so I'm really pulling for those to be a fave.  But today when we picked her up from daycare, we noticed she had green smears all over her outfit.  Hmmm, didn't remember those being there when we dropped her off!  Her teacher said peas weren't so popular today.  Welp.  The book said it takes 21 times eating something before they form an opinion, so we'll keep trying. 

This weekend we re-started bananas (officially).  You may remember that they were the very first thing we fed her (besides milk), before I read that you should start with veggies.  She once again gobbled the bananas down.  Tomorrow we get to start another food, and are introducing the green beans that I made last week.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Green Giant

To quote my mother-in-law: "Wait until you try green beans or peas".  As in, sweet potatoes are easy to get down because they taste yummy (supposedly), but the green veggies don't get quite the same reaction from kiddos.  Well, I took that as a challenge, and spent tonight making and freezing geen beans and peas for the next couple of weeks.  Today was day #4 for her first food, sweet potatoes.  Tomorrow we get to add a new one.  I think we're going to do avocados for two reasons.  1) I've heard that is one of the best three to start with, and 2) avocados were on sale today at the grocery store!  After avocados, I can't decide if we'll try bananas again to do fruit, or keep on our veggie train and go for one of the types I made tonight. 

I have to say, both green beans and peas were super easy to make.  My plan was to get the steamer bags, toss them in the microwave, and blend.  Well, a single little steamer bag is about $2.50, while a giant bag of peas that weighs approximately the same as T was $4.99.  It was a no brainer.  I went with the super-size bag and tossed half of it into my Pampered Chef microwavable steam pot.  The veggies steamed while I made dinner, then cooled while we ate.  After putting T to bed, I put half of the beans into my Baby Bullet (from now on to be called the BB) along with almost all of the water used for steaming.  This was the perfect amount to create a nice puree.  I had to use fresh water for the remaining beans, but it still turned out well.  Next up were the peas.  The Beans went into ice cube trays, and the peas went into my little Glad ware containers.  No significant reason for those storage containers, but the Glad containers were still drying when I made the beans. 

Notables:
- I don't use a lot of water when steaming veggies in the microwave, so don't use my directions as exact science.  I like to start with a little less water when pureeing, then slowly add until I have the right texture.
- The texture for both the beans and the peas was a little grainier.  I hope this isn't an issue for her when she tries them.
- I started using little round lables today to mark the contents of each container, as well as the date it was made. 
- The Gladware containers above are great for baby food!  I also adore the BB containers, but only have 12 of those.  Ice cube trays are my least favorite because you have to figure out something to put them in, both for storage and for feeding. 

So far T loves eating and is getting solids 3 times a day.  It's kind of a pain to feed her because she likes to grab the food part of the spoon, but she is very enthusiastic.  So far no tantrums!