Baby Led Eating, 8 months

Easy and Healthy Banana Coconut Polka Dot Crepes- Gluten and sugar freefamily breakfasts with a toddler

Ok, sugar free is a bit of a misnomer, because these do have fruit which of course is sugar, but otherwise, there is no refined sugar in these. Best part though- they are delicious and very easy to make. Second best part, my daughter loved them as much as I did. Third best part, a homemade crepe sounds even fancier than a pancake and actually my day is already off to a more refined start (in my head. In reality, I'm still in pj's with no make up and my Birdie just peed on the kitchen floor).  Forth best part, these have sesame, flax, and chia seeds in them which make them "polka dotted" but also even more healthy.

Banana Coconut Polka Dot Crepes

Made 3 large Crepes

(Gluten free, refined sugar free. Recipe adapted from Super Nutrition for Babies)

Ingredients

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 mashed banana
1/4 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/4 cup +2 Tbsp arrowroot starch
1/4 tsp. chia seeds
1/2 tsp. black sesame seeds
1/2 tsp. flax seeds

Butter for pan

Instructions

Mix eggs vanilla cinnamon and banana and a medium bowl. Add arrowroot and mix to form batter. Heat a small pan over low heat melting butter. Continue to heat butter until it begins to brown, about 2 to 4 minutes. Once butter browns for in just enough batter to cover the bottom of the pan. Tilt and turn pan so batter coats the  pan creating a flat crepe. Let cook ~1 minute until edges easily lift. Flip the crepe and cook for another minute then remove from heat, top with whatever delicious topping you want and serve.  Add a bit more butter to pan between each crepe.

Topping ideas:

Berries

Peaches or nectarines
Homemade Ricotta

Bananas and chopped walnuts

Applesauce

Peanut butter or any other nut/seed butter

Baby Led Family Meal Ideas

I really dislike the phrase "baby food."  Food is food and when we decide that only certain foods (or certain preparations of foods) are appropriate for a baby, we miss a big opportunity for helping a baby learn to chew, to swallow safely, to clear their mouth. We also miss the chance to help our babies learn how to be in control of their own hunger and interest and learn to love all foods and flavors that are important to a family.  It's also a slippery slope.  We are willing to cook and prepare special foods just for baby but at some point we hope/expect toddlers will eat the same foods as the family.  If we don't show them how to do this from the get go and set that expectation early, we run the risk of them refusing when they get to toddlerhood (hello, feisty toddlers and picky eating!)  

Why spend a bunch of extra time making homemade "baby food" for a 6-12 month old, when you can just make delicious meals for your whole family so everyone can enjoy and eat together.  Your baby gets the benefit of watching you model eating what they are eating, as well as smelling the delicious food you have cooked, while they eat the same foods.  You get the benefits of not cooking two separate meals.  Win-win!

Here are a few ideas of meals that my family loves.  Family meals but baby led in that I knew my 6 month old could at least attempt to eat these foods.  We all ate them together.  I served each of these meals when my daughter was 6-12 months old and she still loves and eats them now that she is 21 months. At 6 months, she was mostly squishing these foods, mouthing them and spitting them out- very little swallowing of the food but lots of tasting. At 21 months, she eats them.  Some days, she devours them.   

1st small picture down & large picture on right:  Sautéed kale, onion, bell pepper, and chicken sausage in puff pastry pockets.  

I didn't follow a recipe, I just chopped up the veggies I had on hand and one sausage, sautéed it all with a  little olive oil, salt and pepper.  I laid out one sheet of puff pastry, put the sautéed stuff in half then folded the pastry in half enclosing the sautéed veggies and sausage inside.  I poked some holes with a fork then baked according to the package instructions on the puff pastry.  I served this with some beautiful fresh seasonal fruit.  

2nd small picture down: mini quiche with broccoli and zucchini, & cherry tomatoes.  I love this quiche recipe.  It is incredible easy to make and to add in whatever you have on hand. 

3rd small picture down: Baked sea bass with roasted peppers and balsamic reduction over arugula (Suzanne Goin recipe from Sunday Suppers at Luques).  No recipe, sorry but let the picture and description inspire you, because it was DELICIOUS.   Suzanne Goin's cookbook is full of phenomenal, though somewhat labor intensive recipes.  However, if you are saving time not pureeing up a bunch "baby"foods, you'll have a bunch of extra time to cook amazing meals for your whole family to enjoy, including your baby!

Family Breakfast Ideas: Greek Yogurt Pancakes

These pancakes are really really fabulous.  I'm not a pancakes eater usually but I love these and so does Birdie (18 months) and my husband.  Win, win, win.  (As I was typing that, the second "win" turned into "wine" which is exactly what I want right now on this lovely Friday afternoon.  But, back to pancakes!)

My sister turned me on to this recipe from this blog: http://www.everydaybelle.com/greek-yogurt-pancakes/ .  This blogger keeps it very simple- just 4 ingredients.  She also has lovely pictures of the pancakes and a video of how she makes them if you're interested.  In the video she uses peach flavored yogurt and suggests adding sugar if using plain yogurt but I never add sugar and always use plain yogurt and I think they are delicious like that (though certainly not very sweet).  I usually serve fruit or applesauce on top and that adds enough sweet for me.

We made them her way at first- just the 4 ingredients- and they really are just prefect.  But then I decided to health them up a bit and by adding flax seeds, chia seeds, and sesame seeds.  I think it makes them even better personally.  Also, I have totally played around with the amounts of yogurt and egg and flour (not on purpose but mainly because I go to make these gems and turns out I am down to only 1 egg or running low on yogurt, etc.) and the pancakes still seem to turn out fine.  So, don't worry if you play around with the ingredient volumes a bit.  Here is the way I usually make these:

Greek Yogurt Pancakes (Based on this recipe from http://www.everydaybelle.com/greek-yogurt-pancakes/)  Serves 2 adults and a child for breakfast with some left-overs.  Serve with sautéed bananas or fresh fruit or applesauce or anything else you like!

10oz plain greek yogurt
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1-2 tsp flax seeds
1-2 tsp black sesame seeds

1-2 tsp chia seeds

Mix yogurt and egg together in a medium sized bowl.  Mix flour, baking soda, flax, and sesame seeds in another bowl.  Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir to combine.  Batter will be thick and sometimes kind of almost foamy from the baking soda I think...don't worry about that.  Spoon a large dollup onto a hot buttered skillet (medium-high heat) and cook until you start to see small bubbles/holes in the batter, usually 1-2 minutes  Flip it and cook the other side until golden brown.  Serve warm with any topping you'd like.  Our favorite is sautéed bananas and blueberries. Chopped strawberries are fabulous too as is a little applesauce.

UPDATE 5.9.14

I used 1 cup of trader joes gluten free flour instead of the regular all purpose flour and they turned out just as fabulous as the original! 

These pancakes are well liked and happily consumed by this messy haired, messy sleeved, messy faced, back pack obsessed lady. 

Veggieful Shepherd's Pie: Family Meal Ideas

Veggie-ful Shepherd's Pie

I hate having to cook dinner after work.  I know I am not alone in this sentiment (I'm pretty sure I just heard a collective "amen, sister.")  So any make-ahead-and-quickly-reheat or one-pan-meal ideas make me happy.  Because of this, and despite the fact that it's still summer and I should be making only raw salads, I decided to make Shepherd's pie.  And it was delicious.  This dish was identified by my sister, who came to eat with us, as the "best Shepherd's pie" she's ever had.  On top of that, all three kiddos ate it (3 year old, 1 year old, 18 month old) and it was loaded with veggies.

I found this recipe from Pink of Perfection and I modified it a bit.  First off, I grabbed all the veggies left in my refrigerator in order to healthy the dish up a bit.  So for me that was bell pepper, zucchini, broccoli, onion, and mushrooms.  The quantities on these veggies is definitely open to wiggle room but I'll give you an estimation of what I used just so you have an idea.  I really think the extra veggies helped elevate this recipe. 

Veggie-ful Shepherd's Pie

Serves ~6 depending on appetites and if you serve it with sides

Ingredients:

For the mashed potatoes:

3 cloves garlic (smashed but whole)

1.5 lbs yukon gold potatoes (skin on cut up into ~2 inch chunks)

2 tbsp butter

For the meat & veggie filling:

1-2 tbsp. butter (cut up into small chunks, and possibly a bit more as you cook)

1/2 a yellow onion (cut into thin slices)

~8 smallish crimini mushrooms

~3/4 of a bell pepper (I used several small colorful ones but still it was at most about 3/4 of a regular large bell pepper)

1/2 of a zucchini

1 medium head of broccoli

2 cloves garlic (diced)

1 lb of grassfed, sustainably raised, antibiotic free ground beef

1 tsp coarse kosher salt

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. cayanne 

1 tbsp. flour

1.5 tsp. of tomato paste

1 cup stock (I used a homemade beef stock but the original recipe calls for chicken so you can use that or veggie I'm sure, if that's what you have)

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese (I like Dubliner)

Directions:

Put potatoes and garlic cloves in a large pot and add water to cover.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low simmer and cook for an additional 25-30 minutes.  When potatoes are soft, turn off heat, strain the water, remove garlic (or just leave it if you like things garlicy) and return to stove.  Let rest for ~5 minutes then add butter, salt.  Coarsely mash potatoes to desired consistency and set aside. 

Heat some of the butter in skillet or heavy bottom saute pan then toss in onions.  Cook on medium-low heat until carmelized.  Remove from pan and put carmelized onion into a bowl and then saute mushrooms in same pan, adding more butter if needed.  Once cooked, remove from pan, add to bowl of onions, then throw rest of veggies into pan (I cooked the zucchini, bell pepper, and broccoli all together.  I am not 100% sure why I decided to cook the onion and mushrooms separately and then the rest of the veggies together, but for some reason I thought the broc/zuc/peppers would be fine in a bunch, and I think it worked out fine.)  Again, add more butter if needed and cook for ~5 minutes with a lid on the pot to help steam the veggies.  Once tender, remove from pan, add to bowl of mushrooms and onions.  Keep pan on med-low heat.

Add diced garlic and saute for ~1 minute until fragrant then add ground beef, salt, oregano, cumin, and cayanne to pan.  Cook until meat is no longer pink (I think ~8 minutes) then pour out excess fat from pan.  Put pan back on stove, add flour to meat and mix in well.  Then add tomato paste, mix in well and cook for another minute or 2.  Finally, add stock and put the sauteed veggies from earlier back in pan.  Simmer for ~3 minutes to reduce the sauce a bit.  

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees and then assemble Shepherd's pie: layer meat/veggie mixture in bottom of 9x13 baking dish then spoon mashed potatoes on top, using spoon to smooth them into a flat layer.  once it looks lovely, sprinkle the cheddar on top and then pop it in the oven for ~20-30 minutes until golden brown on top.  Or if you are not eating it until that evening or the next night, don't preheat oven :) let the assembled pie cool, cover with a lid or foil, and store in fridge until ready to cook.

I served this with a very simple green salad.  

Also, the leftovers keep fabulously, taste even better the next day, and make perfect toddler lunches.  (I believe I heard an "hallelujah!" that time.)

Baby Led Eating: corn on the cob

Corn on the cob: easy to hold and manipulate, great oral sensory input, sweet and delicious, difficult to bite off large choking hazard sized pieces.

Lentil Ricotta "Meat"balls

I love these not-meat meatballs and they make a perfect meal for young feeders (baby led weaning- style or toddler snacks). The original recipe can be found on the blog In Jennies Kitchen but I modified it slightly.  I do indeed make the ricotta instead of buying it, mainly because it's not nearly as hard as it seems, it's delicious, and it also makes me feel very fancy!

Lentil-Ricotta “Meat”balls

Serves 2 adults and 1 baby with leftovers

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked lentils, pureed

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 cup fresh ricotta (or store bought is fine too)

4 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon chopped parsley

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.  (I suggest making the lentils and the ricotta yourself as it’s pretty easy to do.  A quick google search will pull up several options for ricotta recipes, but I like the one from Smitten Kitchen.  I use the lentil recipe from In Jennies Kitchen.  Otherwise, Trader Joes has pre-cooked lentils and you can find ricotta anywhere.)  Mix all ingredients in a bowl, cover and put in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to an hour.  Take out of fridge, form into 1.5” balls, brush with olive oil and put on a lined baking sheet.  Cook in the oven for 15 minutes, flip them and continue cooking for an additional 15 minutes.  Remove from oven, let cool, and serve to baby as is.  For adults: simmer “meat”balls in a sauce of your choice (any marinara is fine) for 5 minutes and serve over pasta.

You can also add bits of veggies, like broccoli, zucchini, peas, corn, etc. to the mix, prior to baking, to give them more nutrients. 

These are great as a quick snack, easy to throw into a quick lunch (especially easy for day care lunches!) or perfect with pasta. My husband and I love them in a salad (sort of like a falafel) or soaked in marinara sauce served over spaghetti.

For a very quick, easy lunch on days I work and my daughter goes to day care: in morning, I pop some frozen broccoli and a few "meat"balls into a container .  These will get heated together briefy to serve warm. My daughter loves feeding them to herself.