Foodie Patoodie!: baby

Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts

Showing posts with label baby. Show all posts

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Foodie Baby - Rosemary's Baby

I didn't know I wanted to raise a foodie baby. I knew I loved to cook. So when I had a baby it just seemed natural to incorporate her into my most favoritest room in the whole house. Side by side, as partners, in the kitchen. From the time she was able to hold up her own head she was sitting in her bouncy seat helping me dice, mince, boil, saute, mix, and best of all, experiment with new flavors. Tonight I decided to dig into some pictures of when Piper was brand new, almost 4 months old, and just entering the foodie world. This was her first exposure to fresh rosemary as I was making my Butternut and Acorn Squash Soup for the first time.

I would let her smell the rosemary first, then taste it, and she let me know right way that this was something she needed some time getting used to....

(Really? You're gonna eat that?)

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Another Apology...

Sorry folks, I have slipped off track once again. Normally I would blog at least every few days and due to family issues, I have not. My father was in the hospital for two months and has since come back home, and gone back into the hospital, and come back again last night. Gracious neighbors and family have brought dinners over intermittently so my mother and I don't have to cook while we take care of him. Not to mention, having a 13 and a 1/2 month old in the house who recently learned how to walk and throw Nutri-Grain Bars across the room is not uncomplicating the situation by any means. I'm definitely not making excuses (I hate excuses), I just wanted to let you all know why I dropped the ball yet again! Please bear with me and I will try to squeeze in some fun cooking here very, very shortly!!!

Monday, July 18, 2011

Kitchen Goddess: Laganophobia

Son of a muffin top! I've done it again! I've overshot the mark and must now pay the price.

For Piper's 1st birthday on July 27th I resolved to have a "small get-together." After all, the kid won't remember and it's pretty much for photo ops, right? WRONG. Apparently, you need to order the original square cupcake stand that holds 100 damn cupcakes for your "small get-together." By buying this cupcake stand, you have not just committed to baking eleventy billion cupcakes, but in order to make the entire thing not look totally amateur, you can't just slap on some frosting ghetto-style with a butter knife like you're used to doing. Oh no, you must figure out a way to make it all come together. A) You must have a theme (I chose a beach theme since she was born on an island), B) You must learn how to use a pastry bag, C) You must learn which nozzle to use on said pastry bag, D) You must buy or obtain trim/sand/seashells/sponge/driftwood to accommodate your theme, and E) You must learn how to perfect a homemade buttercream frosting as store-bought frosting from a tub is too thin and will not maintain body and style atop your stupid cupcakes.

It may sound as though I'm playing the victim a bit, and maybe I am. Perhaps I should seek help. I have a self-inflicted fear of cake. I suppose there's no better way to overcome a fear than to face it, so come July 27th, LET THEM EAT CUPCAKES!!! CARPE LAGANUM!

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Foodie Baby: Chinese Food!

It's old news that Piper fell in love with zesty Italian, smokey BBQ, spicy Mexican, pungent liver and onion, and creamy Parmesan flavors, but there were still a couple of taste sensations we had yet to explore. Tonight I tried baby food with an Asian flare! As I was preparing the food it smelled INCREDIBLE, but in the back of my mind a little voice was telling me that these flavors were too foreign (no pun intended) for a baby's new taste buds to actually enjoy. Wrong, again. I think the Chinese Five Spice created a sweetness that combined with the tang of soy sauce created an irresistible dynamic! This time, I managed to get a video of her reaction to the first bite!

~Ingredients~

1 large chicken breast, cut in small pieces
1 medium potato (not skinned), diced
1/2 cup diced white onion
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. of lite soy sauce
1/4 tsp. Chinese Five Spice
1 Tbsp. sweet and sour sauce
1 cup of water

~Instructions~
1. Melt butter in a large, non-stick skillet. Add soy sauce and stir over medium heat.
2. When the mixture just begins to boil and form small bubbles, add chicken, potatoes, and onion.

3. Stir until thoroughly coated.
4. When it comes to a high boil, stir and flip once, then reduce heat to med-low.

5. Pour into a bowl. Add the 1 Tbsp. sweet and sour sauce and stir until well coated.

6. Spoon into a blender.
7. Pour in the 1 cup of water and stir.
8. Puree to desired consistency.
Should make approximately 5 jars of baby food.

AND THE VERDICT!!!!

Monday, July 11, 2011

Kitchen Goddess: It's Never Too Early...

Jean Piaget is one of the most influential and respected scientists and developmental psychologists in history. In this study I found, Piaget describes many different theories describing play, learning, and imitation. He takes a look at Karl Groos's theory that play is a direct preparation for basic life function which was detailed in his book, "The Play of Animals," written in 1898. "Play, according to Groos, is 'pre-exercise' and not merely exercise because it contributes to the development of functions whose maturity is reached only at the end of childhood (Piaget, 1962)." I couldn't agree more! This is why I choose to let Piper help me load and unload the dishwasher any time she wishes. By all means, play with the silverware holder! Slide the rack in and out! Touch the dishes and place them where you feel they should be! Yes, play! Imitate! Learn! Cuz honey, the dishwasher ain't gonna load and unload itself. Just sayin'...

Friday, July 8, 2011

Foodie Baby: Chicken, Bacon, Avocado, Tomato, Cali-Style Yumminess

The combination of chicken, bacon, avocado, and tomato has to be one of the most refreshing and satisfying out there. Smokey and fresh. So different, yet couldn't be better suited for one another. They form an ideal relationship, one being understated and subdued, the other bold and zesty. They'd be delicious and would stand well on their own, but together they compensate for what the other lacks forming the perfect marriage. Someday, I will find the bacon to my avocado. The tomato to my chicken. But for now, I will live vicariously through my baby food...

~Ingredients~

2 medium chicken breasts, cooked through and browned in olive oil
4 slices of hickory smoked bacon, reserving 1 Tbsp. of grease
1 Tbsp. bacon grease (see above)
1 avocado
3 slices ripe tomato
pepper
1 cup of water

~Instructions~

1. Brown the two chicken breasts, sprinkling with pepper, in olive oil until cooked thoroughly and remove from skillet.
2. Pan fry the four slices of bacon until cooked to medium. Too crispy and it will not blend well, as well as detract from flavor. Reserve the 1 Tbsp. of bacon grease and keep separate in a ramekin.
3. Cut the avocado in half, de-seed, and scoop into a separate bowl.
4. Cut the three slices of ripe tomato and keep on a separate plate.
5. Place all ingredients into a blender with the 1 cup of water and puree to desired consistency.

6. This should make approximately 6 jars of baby food.

7. Your baby should look like this as he/she is devouring its smokey-fresh goodness:

8. Should your child not appreciate all of your hard work and does not care for your homemade baby food, this would be DELICIOUS if spread onto pita bread or crackers. Go ahead and pour that glass of wine I know you're contemplating, too. You have to be frustrated.

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Foodie Baby: Hummus on Whole Wheat

Yesterday for lunch I decided to make Piper a very basic hummus to see if chickpeas were her thing. The recipe is below, but I had to capture the priceless sequence of faces as she discovered this new and healthy food.

At first she was inquisitive:

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Foodie Baby: It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

I posted on my Facebook page yesterday that it would be the day Piper tried peanut butter for the first time. It caused a wave of comments ranging from both ends of the spectrum and I imagine that had there been a provocateur in the midst (which thankfully there wasn't), the debate would have continued for quite some time. As far as I could tell, there seemed to be two camps: The first camp believes that giving a child potentially allergenic foods increases their chances of being allergic to it as they get older and that it's best to leave them alone, and the other camp believes that if neither parent have an allergy to the food then it's basic common sense as to whether their child should be able to enjoy it or not. I'm not one to argue with pediatricians or those performing the research, but my gut was telling me to go ahead and let Piper try it at 10 and a 1/2 months old as neither parent or our extended families have any food allergies. I bought Smuckers All Natural Peanut Butter as the only ingredients listed are peanuts and salt. None of that hydrogenated this-and-that. As for the jelly, I bought Polaner All Fruit since it seems to have less sugar and more natural ingredients. As Piper ate her very first peanut butter and jelly sandwich I waited patiently to see if there were any reactions whatsoever and the only very obvious adverse effect was that quite a bit of it ended up in her hair. PEANUT ALLERGY CONQUERED!!! And in honor of this, I posted OUR FAVORITE BUCKWHEAT BOYZ SONG AFTER THE PICTURE!!

Friday, June 10, 2011

Prune Immune!!

The results are in, and my experimental baby colonic treatment (featured here) of pureed whole prunes and rolled oats was not a success. Although Piper was not constipated to begin with, I figured there would be a little more diaper action than there was, which was pretty much nothing out of the ordinary. I'm unsure if this is because prunes don't work their magic unless a person is log-jammed or because Piper is just not affected. I would be interested to hear if this method works for your infant, constipated or not. I'll be awaiting your comments!

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Foodie Baby: BABY COLONIC EXPERIMENT!

I know it doesn't seem like food and poop should really be used in the same sentence, and I don't really know why I got the sudden urge this morning to clean my baby's gastrointestinal tract. Maybe it's because she's just not one of those super poopy infants that blesses me with a ginormous pantload every day that had me feeling like I needed to get the gears working. At any rate, the method I used is below. Don't forget to click on THIS LINK to see a hilarious Saturday Night Live skit regarding blowing out your colon! I will get back to you all on the results...tick, tock, tick, tock....

~Ingredients~

3 whole pitted prunes
1/8 cup of rolled oats
1/4 cup of water

~Instructions~

1. Heat the rolled oats and water in a small bowl for 30 seconds on 60% power in your microwave.
2. Spoon the oatmeal into a food processor.
3. Plop the 3 prunes in the food processor as well.
4. Puree until a rich and creamy texture.
5. Make sure your baby eats all of it.
6. Wait for impending diaper explosion....or not...like I said, I'll get back to you.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Foodie Baby: Whole Wheat, Cheese, and Pickle Shapes

Food + shapes = DELICIOUS LEARNING FUN. Don't be disappointed when your shapes end up looking more like wet mush spread all over the high chair tray. It's the amount of mush left that really matters, and these are so yummy that I predict minimal mush. It's a blast to see which shape your baby is drawn more toward and it gives you the opportunity to teach them the basics in a fun and healthy way! Here ya go:

~Ingredients~

Whole wheat tortillas

Cream cheese

Pepper

1 slice of American cheese

Hamburger-sliced dill pickles

~Instructions~

1. Spread desired amount of cream cheese on one whole wheat tortilla.

2. Sprinkle fresh ground pepper on top of the cream cheese.

3. Break apart the one slice of American cheese and scatter on top.

4. Place desired amount of dill pickles on top of the cheese.

5. Spread a smaller amount of cream cheese on a 2nd whole wheat tortilla to act as "glue."

6. Cut shapes out with metal cookie cutters (Press hard! those pickles are tough!).

7. Voila!

8. Your baby should be so delighted that they stick cheese on their face, like so:

9. And let's not forget how fun PICKLE FACES are:

10. CHEESY PICKLY JOY VIDEO!!!:

Monday, June 6, 2011

Foodie Baby: Grilled BBQ Chicken with Rice

Today for lunch, the adults ate the most mouthwatering charcoal-grilled BBQ chicken with baked beans and grilled zucchini on the side. I know Piper loves smoky flavored things because of a baby food version of an adult dish that I appetizingly call "Cowboy Slop" (which I will be posting soon), so I figured this would be a hit as well. I used some Basmati rice that was leftover from a previous dinner to add a little manganese and iron. Piper ended up loving the taste, but had a little issue with the texture of the rice which doesn't puree quite as smoothly as the meat. It would be the only thing left on her tongue, and after a few inquisitive looks up at me as if I can swallow it for her, she figured it out. Enjoy, little foodie babies!

~Ingredients~

8 oz. chicken breast (one large one)
pepper
BBQ sauce of your choice
charcoal grill
1/2 cup of cooked rice
water

~Instructions~
1. Sprinkle the 8 oz chicken breast with fresh ground cracked pepper

2. Grill on first side for 5 minutes. Baste with BBQ sauce and flip so that breast is sauce-side down. Grill another 5 minutes.

3. Baste the other side again and grill for another 5 minutes.

4. Repeat and grill another 5 minutes.

5. The chicken is grilled for a total of 20 minutes at this point and should have a nice crispy-red BBQ sauce layer.
6. Remove from grill and cut into pieces. Place in a food processor.
7. Add 1/2 cup of cooked rice.
8. Add a little extra BBQ sauce (your discretion, depending on your baby's taste)

9. Add water until you have reached the desired consistency for your baby. The younger, the more smooth it should be. The older ones can handle their chunks pretty well. Maybe teeth has something to do with it?

10. It should make 4 jars of smoky delicious baby food.

11. Your child should look something like this after the first taste. ENJOY!

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Foodie Baby: Peppery Cottage Cheese With Black Olives

Today I thought I had made a boo-boo while preparing Piper's lunch by accidentally dumping far too much pepper in her cottage cheese, but was relieved when after the first bite came a satisfied "Mmmmm!" After doing some quick research on World's Heathiest Foods I found that all of the colored peppercorns come from the same pepper plant (Piper nigrum). Go figure.

On the same website, I found that olives are a good source of iron, vitamin E, fiber, and copper. Be aware of how many your baby eats as most olives are preserved in brine, which of course is very high in sodium. A little salt is healthy in everyone's diet so just find that happy medium! Not only are they healthy and easy for baby to gum, chew, and swallow, they are also fun to stick on your fingers as puppets (no one said you had to be mature simply because you're a parent). You may want to tear the olives in half so they are no longer perfectly esophagus-shaped....just sayin'.

~Ingredients~

2 Tblsp. 4% milkfat cottage cheese

Splash of whole milk (more or less depending on how thick or thin your baby prefers his/her food)

1/8 tsp. pepper (for freshly ground with a pepper mill, use slightly less as it is more potent)

4-5 black olives

--Puree the cottage cheese with the splash of whole milk.

--Add pepper.

--Serve with the black olives, cut in half

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Foodie Baby: Swiss Steak

The full recipe for Crock Pot Swiss Steak can be found by clicking right here!

This serves for a great baby food in that the London broil has been simmering for hours with the diced tomatoes making it extremely tender and flavorful. The tomatoes and their sauce also add a robust and tangy flavor to the meat that will knock their tiny little socks off.

While the Swiss Steak is still in the crock pot, cut off a small portion of the meat and place in a food processor. With a ladle, spoon a proportionate amount of diced tomatoes with onions onto it. The most important part is spooning a generous portion of the delicious red broth onto it.

Puree it to the consistency to which your baby is comfortable. I know it took Piper a little while to get used to any kind of chunks. I'm unsure if this is because until this month she had no teeth, but now she is fine with thicker and chunkier textures. In a case like this where thickness is an issue, add more of the broth from the crock pot until it is smooth enough.

This is what your infant should look like after eating her Crock Pot Swiss Steak.

I don't know if I can handle how GOOD this is, Mama.

You have any more?

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Tools of the Trade

First and most importantly, bring your sense of humor. This is the most important weapon in your arsenal. There will be black smoke triggering fire detectors, there will be ruined utensils and kitchenware, time will be wasted, energy will be spent, and you may have hallucinations of dollar signs floating out of the window alongside the billows of black smoke. Not to worry. The few times you do botch your family's meal it may seem to you like tragedy has struck, but in reality they're secretly rejoicing because now it is pizza delivery night. You will be harder on yourself than they will ever be, so relax and enjoy your pizza.

I also believe that every woman and man should own a sassy apron. For women, this can be a direct reflection of your personality and there are plenty of designs and styles out there to choose from. Men are a bit more simple and will probably appreciate one of the kind that make it look like they are a woman with big boobs when they tie it around their neck. A "Kiss the Cook" apron is always nice as well. If your husband or boyfriend is cooking in the kitchen while wearing and apron (or cooking at all), this is a man that deserves kisses. Lots of them.

As far as cooking for yourself and the fam, no special utensils are necessary whatsoever. Measuring spoons, measuring cups, mixing bowls, large and small pots and pans with lids, stirring devices, baking sheets, the basics. If anything, you can improvise and substitute with other common household items if some utensils are unavailable. As you will see in future posts, I have frequently used cans of Rave hairspray and dental floss...

Cooking for baby only requires a few more odds and ends, but nothing you probably don't already have. You will definitely need a food processor. It doesn't have to be a Baby Bullet, although I have wanted one for as long as I have been making baby food from scratch. It cuts out a few minor steps and has a pretty nifty dating system on the lids of the bowls and cups. Alas, I am a giganto procrastinator and never treated myself to this cool little gadget. You have undoubtedly already purchased some basic Gerber First Foods like squash, peas, green beans, pears, etc. for on-the-go situations and those evenings when not even cooking can turn that frown upside down. Save those jars and lids, every single one! Next, you will need labels. I use Multiuse Labels, Print & Write Removable ones from Staples. They are laser/inkjet compatible as well, although if you are taking the time to print out your baby food labels then you have way too much free time. And that's coming from me, so that's pretty sad.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

You Are What You Eat, And I Eat A Lot Of Fruit And Nuts

I feel more comfortable in the kitchen than in any other room. For me it is where I can be an artist, take out aggression, practice aromatherapy, find solace in the methodical chopping and slicing, be silly with my daughter, make a mess, reflect on days past, envision tomorrow, come to conclusions, or simply live in the moment. There is something gratifying in that every ingredient, every stir, and every degree of temperature plays an important role in a very tangible and satisfying (or not so satisfying) outcome. Maybe it's a control thing. The end result is in my hands and I have the power to steer it in any direction I wish. This is the part where I could become annoyingly philosophical and compare the many ingredients in a meal to "success being the sum of small efforts in yourself and society" or some such nonsense, but let's cut the crap. I love to eat. I love to try new things. I love my daughter. I love that she's an infant and everything she tries is new. Cooking is a way to incorporate all of these things, and at the end of the day I feel cleansed.

I hope that you all enjoy and actively participate in my and Piper's gastrointestinal escapades. I will include adult food recipes, baby food recipes, tips, shortcuts, step-by-step instructions with pictures, and let's not forget personal reflections. This is a blog after all. You will read them, and you will like it.

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