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!

* * * * *

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!

MEGA Omega Fish Nuggets

MEGA Omega Fish Nuggets

(makes 5 servings)

I've been really inspired lately to make foods that are nutrient dense...like, insanely nutrient dense. Jen's Smoothie is a very good example of this and is part of what is inspiring me. My other big source of inspiration is a book that Kara gave me called 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life by David Grotto. Its an A-Z book that lists 101 of the best foods for good health. While reading it I came up with the idea of making a nugget that contained 5 sources of either omega-3, 6 and 9 fatty acids. Here is a good article about why these fats are good for you and your family.

Ingredients
1 can (14oz) wild caught salmon (omega-3!)
1/2 tin (3.75oz) sardines packed in olive oil, drained (omega-3!)
1 Tbsp olive oil reserved from sardines (omega-9!)
1 egg (omega-6)
3 Tbsp. mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. flax meal (omega-3!)
1/2 c. seasoned or unseasoned bread crumbs (I used seasoned)
8-10 chives, minced (or cut into very small pieces using kitchen shears)
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
1/2 Tsp. Old Bay seasoning
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper
Olive oil spray

1. Remove the skin and bones from the salmon.
2. In a medium bowl mash the salmon and sardines to a smooth consistency.
3. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until well combined and mixture is of a smooth and even consistency.
4. Spray a mini-muffin pan with olive oil spray. Fill with fish mixture.
5. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, cool and serve with fresh lemon and tarter sauce!
I also froze a bunch to reheat for future lunches/dinners. To do this I arranged the nuggets on a freezer safe dish lined with wax paper and froze for 1 hour. Then I divided the nuggets into individual serving containers and put back into the freezer.

MoV Day 17: Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

My husband hates two vegetables: cauliflower and brussel sprouts. So this has been a great two days for him! Last night was Day 17 of the Month of Veggies: Brussel Sprouts with Bacon. I was kind of bemoaning having to make these, not being a huge fan myself, when my friend Sharon mentioned that Ina Garten roasts brussel sprouts and they are fabulous. So I ditched Parents Magazine's suggestion of boiling them (but kept their suggestion of bacon!). I thought these were fabulous. And indeed, I ate almost all of them. Lizzy ate some chopped-up hearts of the brussel sprouts with gusto. Abby studiously ignored them while she ate the rest of the dinner, and not one single trick worked to get her to try a bite. Geesh. (and my husband had to mysteriously work late and grab dinner at his firm rather than at home - I guess he really wanted to avoid those brussel sprouts!)

The roasting gives the outside leaves this awesome crunch, and the bacon and kosher salt give them serious yum.

Brussel Sprouts with Bacon

1/2 lb brussel sprouts, rinsed and trimmed
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt
ground pepper
2 slices turkey bacon, chopped

Preheat oven to 400F. Toss the brussel sprouts in olive oil. Spread on a rimmed baking sheet and sprinkle with kosher salt and ground pepper. Roast for 25 minutes. Sprinkle the chopped bacon over the sprouts. Continue to roast for about 10 minutes, until the hearts of the sprouts are tender and the bacon is crunchy. Serve.

(and yes, this made a small portion, so adjust as needed for your crowd. But I suspected that these would not go over well, and I didn't want to be swimming in leftover brussel sprouts!)

Jen's Smoothie

Jen's Smoothie

(serves 2)

My good friend Jen has been making smoothies for her 2 kids for breakfast for a couple years now. Over the years she has been tweaking it and now she will brag (facebook status style) that she "makes a mean smoothie" and you know what? She really does. I had her send me the recipe last week and I've been making it for about 5 days now. I have done a little tweaking of my own just to suit our personal tastes but this smoothie is going to stick around this house for awhile. What I like about it:

-It is ridiculously chock full of vitamins, protein and healthy fats. What a great way to start a kids day!
-Its a way for me to get a full serving of leafy greens and 2-3 servings of fruits not only into Neko but also MYSELF!
-It really, truly, honestly tastes really delicious...promise.

Ingredients:
2/3 c. goat or cow kefir: plain or flavored
1/3 c. vanilla yogurt
1/2 c. orange juice (100% juice)
1c. frozen fruit: blueberry, raspberry, strawberry, mango, or peach are good ones to try (today I did a combo of frozen strawberries, mango and blueberries. Also this week I have used frozen Acai berry packets which are delicious and super duper good for you!)
1 Tbsp. healthy oil - I used a flax/sunflower blend but even olive oil would be good
1 heaping spoonful of almond butter
1-1/2 c. of some sort of leafy green--baby spinach, red or green kale, red or rainbow chard (I've been using red chard this week)
1/2 large banana

Add all ingredients to blender. Blend until smooth. Add some milk or more juice if smoothie is too thick. Blend again until desired consistancy. Serve!

Ingredients that Jen includes that I left out are:
-3/8 tsp. evening primrose oil (I omitted because I'm not sure what its for. Knowing Jen its for something good but I didn't take the time to find out what.)
-3 tsp. liquid minerals
-powdered kids multivitamin...either 2-3 rainbow light packets or 1-1.5 kids Emergen-C multi
I left out vitamins/minerals because Neko takes a multi, an omega-3, an immunity booster and calcium all in gummi vitamin form.
-electrolytes

I took a video of Neko enjoying her smoothie to prove its goodness! :o)

MoV, Day 16: Roasted Cauliflower

What? Day 16? Yes, I'm totally skipping Day 15 of the Month of Veggies, Cheesy Spaghetti Squash. I checked two grocery stores and came up with zero spaghetti squash, and I'm thinking it's really the wrong season for it. See you in the fall, spaghetti squash!

Last night we moved on to Day 16, Cauliflower "Popcorn". Cute title, but it's just roasted cauliflower. I thought maybe it would come out all crunchy like popcorn, but no. False advertising! I had low hopes, as my husband (who will eat anything) hates cauliflower, so what are the odds that my kids would like it? But in fact, Abby ate about half of her serving without me having to say anything. And you know who loved it? Lizzy! I couldn't shovel it on her plate fast enough! And that is why it's great to expose babies to all sorts of tastes - they're such willing little taste-testers!

Roasted Cauliflower

1 head of cauliflower, rinsed and chopped into florets
2 Tbsp olive oil
ground pepper
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450F. Toss the cauliflower florets in the olive oil and spread on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with ground pepper. Roast for 20 minutes, stirring halfway through. (Roasting cauliflower will make your house stink to the high heavens. Just a warning.) Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese before serving.

(see? she loved it!)

MoV Day 14: Honey Glazed Carrots

We're back from vacation, which means it's time to get chomping down our vegetables again! I'm not sure Abby ate a single vegetable while we were gone. Maybe a carrot or two. We were so busy being spoiled by family!

So for Day 14 of the Month of Veggies, we had Honey Glazed Carrots. This was a relatively easy sell, as Abby loves raw carrots and Lizzy loves baked soft carrots. Abby's not usually big on cooked carrots, and I must admit I don't force it - since she loves raw carrots, why try to force her to eat carrots that are glazed with honey and butter? But if you have a kid who needs convincing to eat their carrots, this would be a great way. I love cooked carrots, and these were right up my alley.

Honey Glazed Carrots

1 lb baby carrots
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp honey
1/8 tsp ground ginger
dash salt

Boil the baby carrots to desired softness (I did mine pretty soft for Lizzy to be able to manage). Drain. In pot, melt butter and honey together. Add ginger and salt and stir for 2-3 minutes. Toss in carrots; serve.

Celeste has done something very similar to this dish in the past: Honey and Ginger Glazed Carrots (scroll down; they are part of the dinner date).

Easter Leftovers Dinner Date!

First, I want to thank Kara for all her work taking care of our blog for the past month. I recently had a close family member pass away and just haven't had the wherewithal to think creatively for blogging purposes. I am very appreciative to Kara for keeping our blog active in my absence but also for being a wonderful, supportive friend to me during this hard time. You're the best! I'm back now though and have had some good ideas rolling around in my brain that I can't wait to share with you.

So speaking of playing catch up...

I had planned this dinner date to go up on the blog the week of Easter (before all your Easter dinners had been cooked) but Kara and Co. had the bad stomach flu that has been going around so we postponed it for the following week (and I'm only getting around to posting it now).

The idea was to come up with a creative way to reinvent and use up Easter leftovers. I decided to give my leftovers a Japanese spin and the result was delicious and actually pretty well received by the toddlers!

The meal...

Ham and Pineapple Skewers
(serves 4)

Ingredients:
Pre-cooked ham (I actually used a non-nitrate ham steak) cut into bite sized chunks
1/2 large fresh pineapple cut into bite sized chunks
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. spicy brown mustard
1 tsp. sesame oil
wooden skewers, pre-soaked in water

1. Assemble alternating ham and pineapple chunks onto skewers
2. Line a broiler pan with heavy duty foil and turn the oven on broil
3. Combine the honey, mustard and oil in a small bowl
4. Put all the skewers onto the broiler pan and brush the sauce evenly over all the skewers.
5. Broil until the glaze on the ham starts to brown. Serve! Easy as can be!

Rice Balls
(serves 4)

These rice balls, also called onigiri are often found in those fun bento box meals. I hope to explore these little boxed meals soon on IBB as they are super cute and fun for kids!

Ingredients:
Sushi rice (must be sushi rice because the rice for these needs to be sticky)
2 stalks of asparagus
1 large carrot, peeled
2 tsp hoisin sauce
Gomasio
soy sauce for dipping

1. Cook sushi rice according to package directions. I made the 4 serving size.
2. While the rice is cooking, steam the carrot and asparagus for 5 minutes in a steamer or in a covered saucepan that has about an inch of water in it). Remove from steamer and let cool for 10 minutes. Dice both the asparagus and carrot into small pieces.
3. Mix the vegetables with the hoisin sauce. Set aside.
4. Line a small tea cup (or something similar) with a sheet of saran wrap. Scoop enough rice into the cup to almost fill it.
5. Using the end of a wooden spoon, make a hole in the center of the rice. Spoon in about a tablespoon of the veggies.
6. Bring up the sides of the saran wrap and, holding the ball of rice in the palm of your hand, twist the saran wrap closed.
7. Finish with the rest of the rice. Put all the rice balls onto a plate and refrigerate for at least one hour.
8. When ready to serve, remove rice balls from the saran wrap and sprinkle a little Gomasio on the tops of each ball. Serve with soy sauce for dipping.

Bunny Bars
(makes 8 servings)

So after Easter I had leftover sun drops from Neko's Easter basket, leftover marshmallows and coconut from a coconut lamb cake I made (see below!!) and leftover Annie's Organic Fruity Bunnies cereal that I used in some plastic eggs for her egg hunt. I decided to throw all these things together and boy was that a good idea!

Ingredients:
3 Tbsp. butter
3 c. mini marshmallows
5 c. Annies Fruity Bunnies cereal
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup sundrops candy

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan.
2. Add the marshmallows and cook over low heat until melted.
3. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
4. Press into a square pan. Cut and serve!

I meant to use those leftover plastic eggs to shape these into egg shapes but am trying to potty train Neko and she decided that she wanted to try a go on the potty right as I was stirring ingredients together. These things set up fast so I quickly pressed them into a pan and ran to the bathroom. Gah!

I hope you enjoy this little japmerican meal as much as we did! :o)

P.S. The lamb cake!

Fudgy Brownies

One of the hardest things to define is "healthy" eating. Is it low-cal? Low-fat? All homemade? Pre-packaged 100 calorie snacks? Trans-fat free? Raw diet? Vegan diet? South Beach?

For me and my family, "healthy" eating has meant a move towards "real" ingredients and away from ingredients developed in labs. I've taken this a step farther, lately, by making the final elimination of high-fructose corn syrup and artificial dyes from our diets. So whereas I always enjoyed baking from scratch, these days, it's pretty much a necessity.

In my quest to go HFCS-free, A Life Less Sweet has been an invaluable tool. She understands and explains the science behind it all, talks about the changes her family has made, and even taste-tests HFCS-free substitutions for former favorites. And the other day, she listed a recipe for her Favorite Brownies Ever.

A Life Less Sweet Brownies

(drool)

So maybe Favorite Brownies Ever aren't exactly healthy - but on the other hand, they are from-scratch and free of dyes, HFCS, and preservatives. I'm a brownie fanatic - and these are fantastic. Rich, deep, dark, and fudgy. YUM!

I cut the sugar down to 1 cup, but otherwise made them as directed. They were a huge hit with me and my playgroup buddies!

Five Tips for Trying New Foods

I'm on vacation this week - woo! - so no cooking for me! In this break from my Month of Veggies, I thought I would share my top five tactics for getting Abby to try new foods. They don't all always work, but usually at least one of them will!

1. A "two no thank-you bites" rule. Since Abby was very small, we have at least paid lip-service to this rule - Abby must take two bites of anything before she can say "no thank you" to finishing it. It is only very recently, as in after her 3rd birthday, that this has really set in. When she was younger, we would remind her of the rule, but not much would happen. Now, when she turns up her nose, I can usually just say "Abs, two no thank-you bites please" and she'll force them down. So with consistency, this rule is finally paying off.

2. "My turn, Your turn" I'll take a piece of the food off of Abby's plate and say "Okay, Mommy's turn first (eat it) Yum! Your turn!" Abby is usually game to try a bite once she's seen me do it, and we keep taking turns for as long as she's willing.

3. "You feed me, I'll feed you" Like "My turn, your turn", but I let Abby feed me with her fork and I feed her with mine. This usually gets lots of giggles, and she loves to feed me, so I can get her to go along with being fed herself.

4. "High Five" Abby is a high-five addict. So I'll count her bites on my fingers, and when she reaches 5, we High Five. She loves this one.

5. Bribery. Yeah, not my favorite option. I generally won't use bribery unless the bribe is a healthy treat I was probably going to serve her anyway - something like "Have three more bites of those potatoes, and then you can have grapes"

What are your favorite tactics to get a new food into an unwilling mouth? I'm always looking for new ideas!

Butternut Squash-Gorgonzola Pizza

The girls were finally all well enough for us to have dinner date last night, and since Celeste was hosting, that meant I took a night off from the Month of Veggies. But since the guest of dinner date always brings a "reheatable", I made these frozen butternut squash-gorgonzola pizzas!

I got the inspiration for this pizza from LaDue & Crew's recipe for Gorgonzola and Butternut Squash Pizza. I thought it looked delicious, but I knew that great big chunks of squash and pear would be a tough sell for Abby. So I took it down to toddler level - but if you are just making this for adults? Try LaDue & Crew's recipe! (And then go drool over her other recipes... yum!!)

I was shocked at how much Abby and Lizzy both liked these pizzas. I worried that the gorgonzola might be a bit strong, but the squash is so mild that they balance each other out well. My husband and I loved them, too!

Butternut Squash-Gorgonzola Pizza

1 recipe Super-Easy Pizza Dough, prepared into 4 pizza shells
2 cups butternut squash puree (make your own, use frozen, or heck - use baby food!)
4 oz gorgonzola
1-2 tsp dried rosemary
salt & pepper

Spread about 1/2 cup butternut squash puree over each pizza shell. Top each with about 1 oz of the gorgonzola (it's a strong taste, so a little will go a long way). Sprinkle with a little dried rosemary, salt, and pepper.

To bake: Preheat oven to 425F. Bake for about 15 minutes, until crust is golden.

To freeze: Put each pizza on a wax paper-covered plate in the freezer. Freeze for about 2-3 hours. Wrap well in plastic wrap and store in freezer bags. To bake from frozen, preheat oven to 425F and bake for about 20-25 minutes, until crust is golden.