Baby Dinner Date!

Dinner date was a little different this week - it was created with Lizzy in mind! When Abby was a baby, I lovingly made all sorts of meals with just her in mind. Lizzy, on the other hand, is always just fed whatever bits and pieces she can manage of what I've made for the rest of us. So this week, I created a dinner for Lizzy (and for all the babies out there who are mastering table foods but don't quite have the teeth for a lot of chewing yet). I also used the Day 18 of the Month of Veggies recipe! Multi-tasking!

Multi-Grain Bean Patties with Curried Acorn Squash

Multi-Grain Bean Patties

1 cup cooked grains (I used a mix of amaranth, quinoa, and barley)
1 can of white beans (or 1 2/3 cup prepared beans), rinsed and drained
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 clove garlic
salt & pepper

Mash all ingredients together in a bowl until a paste forms. (You may want to add some breadcrumbs if you think the mixture is too wet). Drop by small blobs onto either a skillet or an electric grill - these worked surprisingly well on my Foreman grill. Cook for about 5 minutes in the grill, or about 5 minutes per side on the skillet. Crumble up to serve to baby, or serve on a bun for big kids!

(we pretended they were burgers for the big girls!)

Curried Acorn Squash

1 acorn squash, sliced into wedges
1/4 cup apricot preserves
1/2 tsp curry powder
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 375F. Place squash wedges with 1 Tbsp of water into a covered dish. Bake for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, stir together the apricot preserves and the curry powder. Brush the apricot mixture over the wedges and season with salt and pepper. Return wedges (uncovered) to the oven for 10 minutes more.

Roasted Berry "Sundaes"

2-3 cups fruit (as appropriate for your baby), diced. We had blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and kiwi.
1 Tbsp butter
nutmeg and cinnamon
plain Greek yogurt
agave nectar

Preheat oven to 350F. Spread the fruit in a baking dish. Dice the butter and scatter over the berries. Sprinkle the fruit with cinnamon and nutmeg. Bake for 15 minutes; stir and let cool.

Scoop a little Greek yogurt into bowls; top with some roasted fruit and drizzle with agave nectar. Roasting the fruit should ensure that it is soft enough for a toothless baby - but beware, this will make a big mess!

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This dinner was a big hit with Lizzy - she cleaned her plate! Since Lizzy is a little older, I like to add herbs and spices to what she eats to help her develop a palate for all sorts of foods - hence the basil, oregano, garlic, curry, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The big girls liked the dinner okay, but they were awfully busy playing to settle down and eat. Luckily, they both wolfed down dessert - and since they had just the merest drizzle of agave, their "sundaes" were a safe way to let them feel like they were having a treat!