...with BIG boy food.

Ya know that feeling when you get a kitten or puppy and you think "oh my gosh, it's so cute and I wish it would stay this size forever and ever and ever", and then you jump up and down and squeal like a schoolgirl?

Yeah, that's how I feel about my kid. Emanuel.

My little sweet pea Emanuel is growing WAY too fast for me!

We started giving him BIG boy food at about 6.5 months (yes, I held off a little longer for selfish reasons). I thought I could stall time so that he wouldn't keep growing, but when that clearly didn't work I broke down and fed him.
Solid food.
Avocados to be exact.
He loved them.
I cried.
Ok, not really.
But I was secretly hoping he would look up at me and say "mom, I want to stay this size forever and ever and be your squishy little boy forever and ever".
But he didn't. (He did look up at me and think "hey, lady, shovel more of that food into my mouth, I am hungry"!)

So life goes on and since it does, I am back in the baby food making business! I dusted off the baby food cookbooks and got to cooking. I am following a similiar "path" as I did with Elena. First up was avocados. Fresh from Puerto Rico, I might add. He loved them. Next, we did the squashes (acorn and butternut), green peas, apples, sweet potatoes and I made some sort of "cereal"...it looks disgusting but he can't get enough of it.
He eats WAY more than Elena did and we thought she was a good eater!
The plan is that on Thanksgiving we will be giving him his first meat....steak.
Just kidding!
It will be turkey :D

Emanuel is also a big fan of those puffed treats. He is really fine tuning his pincer grasp, that's for sure!

I leave you with a picture:

...with Elena's homemade Apple Banana Bran muffins.

I recently wanted to try out a new toddler food recipe for Elena that is in one of our baby food cookbooks. I specifically wanted to make a breakfast recipe, as I have been making homemade pancakes of every flavor (beet, blackberry, cinnamon and vanilla are some of Elena's favorites) for Elena, so I wanted to try something different. I have made blueberry muffins before and Elena was interested in them, so I decided a muffin recipe would be a good one to try out. This recipe is for Apple Banana Bran muffins. It was simple to make and you can either make 24 mini muffins or 12 regular size muffins. I made the regular size muffins as I don't have a mini muffin pan. After cooling, I froze the muffins in the freezer, so I can grab them out and thaw as needed. Elena enjoyed her first muffin quite a bit!
Here's the recipe:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup applesauce or apple puree (I made my own apple puree)
1-3 medium banana's (1 mashed, 2 sliced***)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease muffin tins. (I used paper liners)
With a fork, combine first four ingredients in a small bowl.
Melt butter . In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, apple puree, mashed banana, sugar and eggs. Mix together with a rubber spatula. Add flour mixture to apple puree mixture and stir until just blended. Batter will be lumpy and moist.
Spoon batter into prepared muffin tins, filling 2/3 full. Place a banana slice on top of each muffin (***optional). Bake for 12 minutes (for mini muffins) or 15-18 minutes (for regular size muffins). Cool muffins in pan for 5 minutes before removing from muffin tin.
***I only say the sliced banana's on top of the muffins are optional because I forgot to add them! Oops. But Elena enjoyed them without the banana slice on top!

Enjoy!

...with a glimpse of what is on Elena's plate!

I am still going strong with making Elena's food homemade. I am slowly trying to have her eat the same food we eat, however we eat many things she just doesn't have the teeth for quite yet! Not only that, but she eats much healthier than we do and eats vegetables that even I don't eat ;) I could learn a thing or two from her.
So, here's a glimpse into what I have been serving Elena.

Lunch today included soybeans (from our CSA), Great Northern beans (canned), sweet potatoes, leftover banana from breakfast and homemade chicken "nuggets".






Dinner a few days ago included peas, acorn squash (from Grandma's garden), homemade blackberry yogurt and homemade turkey and veggies meatballs.








Here's the recipe for the veggie meatballs. I used ground turkey.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 - 4 medium carrots, finely grated)
2 medium (not massive!) zucchini, finely grated
1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
1/3 cup fine dried breadcrumbs
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary (or 1 tsp dried)
2 teaspoons finely chopped oregano (or 1 tsp dried)
2 teaspoons finely chopped thyme (or 1 tsp dried)
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley (nice, but you're okay without it)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

:: Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, add the onions and saute them for 7 - 10 minutes, stirring often, until they're soft and translucent. Add the garlic and saute for another minute. Add the carrots and zucchini and cook for another 10 - 15 minutes, until the mixture is tender (but not mushy) and sweet. Set aside to cool.

:: Add all the other ingredients to a large mixing bowl. Once the veggies are cooled, add them as well. Using a large wooden spoon (or your hands, if you aren't grossed out) mix everything together until evenly combined.

:: Preheat the oven to 375 F. Have a couple of baking sheets ready, lined with aluminum foil or with a Silpat. Start with slightly damp hands and roll the mixture into meatballs that are about the size of a ping pong ball, or a bit smaller if you want dainty appetizers. Bake for 35 minutes (5 - 10 minutes less if you're going for a smaller size).

...with the homemade yogurt.

I have been making homemade yogurt for Elena now for about a month or two. Once I started offering her dairy products I thought yogurt would be a good choice. I am not a yogurt eater myself, but it is something I really wanted Elena to eat and enjoy - for it's many healthy nutrients (provided you choose the right kind;)).

Being that she is a baby (and a small one), it's important to give her whole milk yogurt for the calories, fat and other obvious nutrients (calcium and protein).

At the grocery store, I can get a quart of plain whole milk yogurt for $4.19. I can't for the life of me find plain whole milk yogurt in those little 6 or 8 ounce cups...I suppose they don't make it that way. The only way I have found the smaller sized containers sold is in a 6 pack of 4-ounce single servings which is a total of 24 ounces of yogurt...and they cost $4.29. By making my own yogurt I save a few bucks. My batch that is culturing as I type will have cost me a grand total of $1.42 for one quart or 32 ounces!

I had vaguely heard of people making their own yogurt, but didn't want to invest in a yogurt maker as we already have enough single use appliances in our house, and we surely don't need another! Because the internet is so awesome, I found a recipe to make homemade yogurt in a crockpot (equally as awesome). Since I already have a crockpot, I decided to give it a whirl and see what happened!

The instructions are pretty simple:

1. Set your crockpot on low.
2. Add 1/2 gallon of milk and let it heat up for 2.5 hours.
3. After 2.5 hours, turn the crockpot off, leave the lid on and let it cool off for 3 hours.
4. After cooling for 3 hours, take out a small amount of the milk (I don't measure...maybe 1/2 a cup) and mix in your starter. Your starter is just a 1/2 cup of store bought plain yogurt (I use a plain low fat variety so that I only have to buy one small container of yogurt). Once you have made one batch of this yogurt successfully, you can set aside a 1/2 cup of it to use as your starter for the next batch you make.
5. Take the starter mixture and add it to the crockpot, stir and recover with the lid.
6. Take your whole crockpot and put it in the oven (TURNED OFF...of course!).
7. Tape a note to your range that says "Do not use oven" - I swear...this even helps ME remember not to use the oven....you'd be amazed at how quickly you forget that you have yogurt in there!
8. Let it "culture" for 8-12 hours. Just leave it in there....no peeking. If you open the door, or take the lid off to peek, it loses "heat" which is necessary to culture the yogurt!
9. Take the crockpot out of the oven, give the yogurt a stir (it should be thick by now) and put it in the fridge. For best results....let it chill in the fridge for 8+ hours before you use it.


Because the yogurt has to culture for such a long period of time, I generally start my yogurt in the early evening and before I go to bed I put the crockpot in the oven and let it culture while we sleep. I finish it up first thing in the morning :)


When the yogurt is finished, I use it to mix with many of Elena's other foods to thin it out...like egg yolks, beans, etc.
In addition, I flavor the yogurt myself with fruit purees. I'd have to say her favorite is blackberry yogurt.
I currently cut the above recipe in half and only make one quart of yogurt since Elena is the only one eating it. I do however have plans to get an ice cream maker and will hopefully use my homemade yogurt to make frozen yogurt. Yum!

...with more CSA baby food!

The CSA boxes continue to arrive every Friday afternoon. I haven't taken any pictures of the most recent boxes because they have been very similiar to the first one...with the exception of receiving our first pint of strawberries this past week and some white turnips.

We've been eating a lot of salads with all the various greens in the CSA box (red bibb lettuce, green leaf, arugula, spinach and romaine)! I thought the husband might be getting tired of eating a few salads per week, but I was pleasantly surprised when he said "I like that this forces us to eat healthy". That brought a smile to my face, since he frequently and jokingly refers to our CSA box as our "$300 veggies"!

Elena continues to benefit from our CSA box as well. We have received asparagus every week so far, and well, since the hubs and I still haven't given in to our dislike for asparagus, she continues to be the recipient of every ugly little green stalk :)

She eat up the asparagus puree with no problem, however I wanted to try something a little different for her this last time, so I found a new recipe for Asparagus risotto. The risotto was easy to whip up and the asparagus puree was just mixed right in. I did puree the whole concoction after it was prepared, because I wasn't sure how Elena would handle whole grains of the arborio rice. I did set aside a small amount of the risotto rice for her to try, and she loved it! She had no problems with the texture of it at all. Next up...Puerto Rican rice and beans???? Now that would make Daddy proud!

The picture shows Elena's asparagus risotto on the top left, asparagus puree on the top right and the risotto on the bottom.

...with my CSA creations!

Our first CSA box was a success! I was able to find something to do with all the veggies in the box! Even Elena benefited from the CSA box...she was the lucky recipient of the asparagus! Poor girl...the husband and I both hate asparagus, so I decided to whip up some asparagus puree and see if Elena would eat it! Surprisingly, the girl quite enjoyed it! Don't know who she gets that from!

Would you believe I have never eaten or cooked with rhubarb before! It was on the list of foods "that look weird, therefore I don't like them even though I've never tried it". Well, rhubarb has officially been removed from that list! I found a recipe online for rhubarb coffee cake. OMG. This was the best coffee cake I have ever made. Here's a picture of the final coffee cake...I'm not quite sure where the rest of the coffee cake went ;) And if you are interested in the recipe, you can find it here.
The other new recipe I made was Penne with Ricotta and Green Garlic Sauce. Our CSA box contained green garlic (which looks like scallions on steroids). This recipe was simple, easy and quick. The recipe can be found here.

I can't wait to see what the rest of the CSA season holds for us! I am looking forward to trying out more new recipes! The one thing I enjoy so far, is that it forces me to meal plan (I have not given up on that!).

...with baby millet and zucchini.

I have been a baby-food-making-machine! I don't know why, but I get so much satisfaction from making Elena's baby food. Each time I try a new food, I can't wait for the next three days when I can try another new food! I have been going through the recipes in my favorite baby-food cookbook like crazy. I think part of it, is that I am making her things I would have never known I could give a baby.....like herbs! Up until I started making her baby food, I always just assumed that baby food was plain and bland. I never even thought about introducing her to spices and herbs! But lo and behold, one of the things I have learned from the two cookbooks I have is that you can introduce herbs and spices to a baby just as you would any other new food...one at a time! So far Elena has had fresh mint (with green beans) and basil.

The latest "dish" I made for Elena was a combined concoction of millet, zucchini, apples and basil. As embarassing as it is to say, I had no idea what millet was!
I went to OutPost Foods though and looked around the bulk section until I found it. It's just a grain of some sort! A very healthy whole grain.
I never made/introduced Elena to rice cereal, so this was the first grain she ate. She loved it! I thought for sure that this was going to be the first food she spit out...but I was wrong. This girl loves her food! I relaly hope she continues to be a good eater!
Next, I am going to make her a dish containing plums and amaranth (again, another food that I had no idea what it was.....also a grain!). My sister in law gave me some organic plums, so I've already made a plum puree for the amaranth.

...with the plantain for Elena

Making Elena's baby food has become a little hobby of mine! I love trying out something new and seeing if she likes it! So far, she has been a great eater and has enjoyed all the foods we've offered to her. Since she just started on solids only a few weeks ago I am still only making her single-food entree's. However, we do offer her 2 things at a meal occasionally - a new food, plus something she has already had in the past. We do this so she doesn't "forget" about the foods she's already tried.
Since my husband is from Puerto Rico and we want Elena to love Puerto Rican food as much as we do, I wanted to offer to her some Puerto Rican food as soon as possible! What better food to offer her than a plantain! We have already given her banana's and she loved them, so since plantains and bananas are so similiar in taste, I thought it would be an easy transition for her. Since none of the baby food cookbooks I have mention plantains, I had to wing it on how I was going to prepare it.

I purchased a yellow plantain, because they are softer and sweeter. The one difference between a banana and plantain is that you must cook a plantain! So, I chopped the plantain into fourths and boiled the chunks in water for several minutes.













After boiling, I cut out the strip of seeds in the center. At first, I thought I would just smash the plantain with a fork like I did with bananas and it would be good to go. However, after trying this method, the plantain still had too much texture and Elena wasn't too fond of it.














Into the food process it went! After a few pulses in the food processor it was a nice smooth consistency and ready for Elena!
This time, she enjoyed the plantain!














Now I can't wait for her to try more Puerto Rican food!

...with Elena's first solids!

This past week Elena turned 6 months old and R and I started her on solids!
I chose not to start with rice cereal......no real reason, just thought she might like something more exciting than rice cereal...I know I would!
I have decided to make as much of Elena's baby food as possible. I have two baby food cookbooks that I am using to get ideas from. One, is Cooking for Baby . So far this book has been great! I like how they incorporate spices and herbs into many of the recipes!
The other book is The Petit Appetit Cookbook. The recipes are similar to the first book, but they also give nutritional information in the side bars.
So, for Elena's first tastes, we offered her avocados. I chose avocados because they are high in healthy fats......and what can I say, Elena is petite (check out her stats in the sidebar on the right!).
Preparing the avocado was super easy! Cut it in half, scoop out the avocado and mash it with a fork. I also added some breastmilk to thin it to a consistency she could handle. That was it.
At first, Elena wanted to helped, as you can see here!












But then, with her first taste, she wasn't so sure about it anymore!














She had quite the facial expressions, that's for sure!



























Since we knew she more than likely wouldn't eat very much of the avocado, we let her play with it when she was done, so she could explore and learn that it wasn't so bad after all!


























On day two of solids, she did manage to swallow more of the avocado. By day 3 and 4, she was loving it and couldn't get enough of it! On day 4, she ate 1/4th of an avocado in the morning and 1/2 of an avocado in the evening!
Two days ago, we started her on acorn squash. The acorn squash was grown in my parents garden. I baked the squash, pureed it and froze it in ice cube trays back in January. I grabbed a few cubes, thawed it, and it was ready to go! The first day, she didn't like it....she was probably thinkin "where's the green stuff I liked and got used to?". Yesterday she was used to the flavor and texture and gobbled it right down!
I hope she continues to be this agreeable to the foods we offer her!