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?)

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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'...

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Foodie Baby: When Raising a Foodie Baby Backfires

Even the most motivated and doting new mothers around know that there are some mornings that one cup of coffee isn't doing the trick and the thought of hearing the food processor whirring at its eardrum-splitting decibel level sends a shiver down the back of your neck. Most days you do it anyway because, well, you love your baby and the look on their face when they hear the screeching devil machine is just too much to take:

Today was one of the rare occasions I fed Piper breakfast from *gasp* a jar. It was called "Country Breakfast," but as I opened the container it smelled more like dog food. I am from the country and I advise you to take that description with a grain of salt. I tasted a bit of it myself and almost gagged. "Oh well," I thought, "maybe she'll like it anyway."  Wrong.  I was given this face:

until I took the slop out of the jar, mixed it and reheated it with whole milk, sprinkled a large amount of pepper into it and about the same amount of celery seed, minced and lightly sauteed some onion and mixed it in, as well as a fair amount of garlic powder. I'm surprised the child didn't want her choice of sausage links or patties to accompany her gourmet meal. Yep, this is what we asked for when we wanted a foodie baby.  No one to blame but ourselves.

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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: 

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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!!

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Kitchen Goddess: Basting Your Hyperactive Infant

Yes, you heard me correctly.  Basting brushes can be used for more than just coating your Thanksgiving turkey with delicious melted butter.  You can now baste your child into a zombie-like trance when they have officially gone absolutely berserk! Adderall and Ritalin be gone! Basting brushes here we come! Thank me later.

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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!

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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.

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