Foodie Baby: Egg Salad

It hit me not long ago that eggs are supposed to be one of the healthiest and easiest finger foods for babies and toddlers.  I incorporate eggs in many of Piper's dinners simply because they're part of the recipe, but hadn't tried hard-boiling a plain old egg and letting Piper feed it to herself.  Due to teething or dislike for the texture, she was not interested in the rubbery little pieces of egg placed on her tray. I tried a few days in a row to no avail and figured if I wanted her to get used to the taste of plain hard-boiled eggs, I could start with a nice, slightly chunky but mostly creamy, simple egg salad.  Here is the recipe I used and the reaction that was given!

~Ingredients~

1 hard-boiled egg

1 Tbsp. mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

1/2 tsp. yellow mustard

1/2 stalk of celery, chopped (equals about 2 Tbsp.)

1 Tbsp white onion, chopped (adjust this according to your baby/toddler's taste for onion)

1 Tbsp. whole milk

~Instructions~

1.  Blend all ingredients together in a food processor, adding any extra milk for desired thinness, based on your baby's preferences.

2.  Makes approximately 1 jar of baby food.

 Testing....testing....

 AND IT GETS THE PIPER STAMP OF APPROVAL!!!

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Patoodie Beauty - Oatmeal & Whole Milk Mask

My first escapade into natural home-based beauty needed to be simple. I can't go frying my face off with magic greases and voodoo oils right off the bat.  I have to give you folks something to look forward to.  I thought oatmeal was a good starting point. 

Oatmeal contains antioxidants that help defend the skin against harmful pollutants in your everyday environment. It also contains polysaccharides.  Have you ever wondered where that "gel" substance came from when you've fixed a bowl of oatmeal?  Those are the polysaccharides being released! That gel, when applied to your face, protects the skin from drying out, and also hardens to give that "mask" feel. Saponins in the oatmeal also help to remove dirt from pores.  In other words, it is a fresh and natural way to gently cleanse your skin without the addition of any harsh chemicals.

Milk has been used since ancient times for its natural beautification properties. It is rich in unsaturated fatty acids, natural sugars, vitamins, and lecithin. All of these leave your skin smooth and improve blood circulation which can help in resolving wrinkle issues. Milk byproducts such as cottage cheese, sour cream, and cream are also highly useful in improving skin quality!  

The first time I tried this (the day before yesterday), I just winged it.  I would not advise winging it. Or at least use more common sense than I did.  I just whipped up some oatmeal with whole milk in the microwave and put the hot concoction directly onto my face. The heat wasn't so bad, but the ginormous glops of oatmeal were a bit of a mess. 

Yesterday, I prepared it the exact same way but used the food processor to smooth it out. That helped, but it still was pretty gloppy. As for how it felt on my face after I let it dry and rinsed it off with warm water?  It felt amazing.  My skin felt smooth, tight, and clean.  I have oily, acne-prone skin and I have noticed a significant difference in just two treatments in the decrease of oil production and pimple pop-ups!  I am going to try this for the rest of the week before moving on and experimenting with other cleansing methods. Very exciting!

This evening, I plan on preparing the oatmeal with whole milk and letting it sit for an hour as I did a little research and found that that's what you're supposed to do anyway.  Here is my recipe for the Oatmeal & Whole Milk Mask!

~Ingredients~

2 Tbsp. rolled oats

4 Tbsp. whole milk

~Directions~

1.  Combine oats and milk and microwave for 1 minute at 50% power.

2.  Stir, and microwave another 30 seconds at 50% power.

3.  Let sit (for absorption), in or out of the refrigerator, for 1 hour.

4.  Spoon into food processor (add a little extra milk if needed) and puree until somewhat smooth.

5.  Leave mask on for 15-20.

6.  Rinse with warm water.

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Foodie Baby: Dijon Dill Baked Salmon

~Ingredients~

0.60 lb skinned salmon fillet (the butcher will skin it for you)
2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh dill
1/8 cup of whole milk or more

~Instructions~

1.  Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking pan with aluminum foil.
2.  Mix dill with the Dijon mustard. It should thicken up a bit.

3.  Baste the salmon with 1/2 the mustard & dill mixture.
4.  Refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

5.  Bake for 10 minutes.
6.  Baste with the rest of the mustard & dill mixture and bake another 10-15 minutes.
7.  Flake the salmon into chunks and place in a food processor.
8.  Add milk, starting with an 1/8 cup, until the desired consistency is reached.  Makes approximately 3 jars of baby food as a trial run...

Voila!  Your child should take couple bites of salmon, and apparently turn into a cross-eyed salmon-craving lunatic!  SUCCESS!!!

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What's For Breakfast? - German Pancakes

I received an easy and interesting-sounding recipe for German pancakes this morning from Allrecipes.com.  Piper and I jumped on it of course, and it proved to be a really pleasant breakfast dish.  I didn't know what to expect as I had never even heard of German pancakes before, and here is how I would describe it:  A mellow, dense, filling, and somehow sweet (although I don't know how as the recipe doesn't call for any sugar) breakfast that oddly resembles a combination of flan, quiche, and French toast.  I may rename it Germench Fluichoast (pronounced DJUR-MENCH, FLEESH-OST).

First of all you must realize that it is far too early to be doing anything on a Sunday morning besides popping the bubbles surrounding your head while aimlessly wandering through the house with your first mug of coffee.

 Shake it off, now let's get started!

~Ingredients~

1.  1/4 cup of butter  (4 tablespoons), (I used real butter, not margarine)
2.  1 cup of all-purpose flour
3.  1 cup milk (I used whole milk)
4.  6 eggs, lightly beaten
5.  1/8 tsp. salt

~Instructions~

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2.  Melt butter in a medium baking dish.

 3.  In a medium bowl, mix flour, milk, eggs, and salt.

 4.  Pour the mixture into prepared baking dish, in the center of the butter.  It should look like this:

 5.  Bake 30 to 40 minutes, until golden brown!

 6. Drizzle with maple syrup....ENJOY!

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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

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