Baked Chicken Nuggets

These are a hit at our house with all three little ones, ages 1-6; perfect for dipping in yummy sauces, if you're so inclined. Here's the basic recipe:

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1/2 cup milk with 1/2 T. vinegar (ie., buttermilk)
  

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cut chicken breasts into 1 1/2 inch size pieces. In a medium bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, cheese, salt, thyme and basil. Mix well. Put milk and vinegar in a bowl.
3. Soak chicken pieces in milk mixture for a few minutes, then coat with the breadcrumb mixture. Place well coated chicken pieces on a lightly greased cookie sheet in a single layer, and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or so.

We have a dairy allergy in the house, so I leave out the cheese and they're still great. Also don't have Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. The original recipe called for butter instead of the milk mixture, but again, allergies, and that also seemed an unnecessary caloric addition. Beaten egg could also be used as the pre-breadcrumb step. Another trick if you like them crispy is to bake them on a cooling rack so the heat is distributed evenly.

Hope you enjoy!

ps- my husband just made fun of me about this picture because of the meager amount of food...so I'll clarify that this is the 12 month old's plate :)

Cherry Pecan Bran Muffins with Flax

With a dreary, rainy day well set in, what else was I to do but bake muffins? The following recipe is an adaptation of the one posted on a blog I read fairly regularly, Pinch My Salt. Both Elsa and Jarrett deemed them quite tasty, and I think they will make an excellent breakfast/snack option this week. Obviously you will only want to feed these to your child if you have already introduced nuts into their diet.

Cherry Pecan Bran Muffins with Flax

1 cup oat bran
1/2 cup flax seed meal
1/2 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup dried tart cherries, roughly chopped
1/2 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 12-cup muffin tin with butter, nonstick baking spray, or paper liners.

2. In a medium bowl, stir together oat bran, flax seed, and boiling water; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. When the oat bran/flax mixture has cooled, whisk in the egg, milk, oil, and brown sugar. Pour wet bran/flax mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a large spoon until just combined. Fold in the chopped cherries and pecans.

3. Divide batter evenly between the twelve muffin cups. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

On Your Mark, Get Set, GO!

I present to you a guest post by my friend, Valerie, who lives in North Carolina, and is eight months pregnant with her third little boy.

When our son was about 2 1/2 years old, we wanted eating plain cooked broccoli (my husband's favorite choice for vegetables, thus a very frequent side dish at our home) to be a fun and enjoyable experience instead of coaxing and bribing.  So we started to have "broccoli races."  Everyone at the table gets a piece of broccoli on their fork, someone counts "1, 2, 3, GO!" and we all eat our broccoli at the same time.  When we're done eating, of course we display our open, empty mouths to the whole table.  The goal is for everyone at the table to finish, not necessarily to finish first.  My boys love this game and it turns any "blah" food into an exciting adventure.  We still use it for broccoli, but we also use it when we're learning to eat a new food.

Another game we play to make eating fun reveals the depraved mentality of our boys.  This game is called "Don't eat me!" and my son invented this game when he was almost 4 years old.  Sometimes our food talks.  It usually talks in a high pitched squeaky voice and says something like, "Please don't eat me!  Whatever you do, don't eat me!  Please!" At which point the boys gleefully take a bite of the food and laugh as the food screams "AHHHHHHhhhhhhh!"  The scream fades away as the food gets swallowed.   My boys, now ages 6 and 3 1/2, LOVE this game!

Note: Due to the high "giggle factor" in these games, it could pose a small choking hazard, so be attentive and chose foods that are appropriate to your child's chewing ability.  For example, don't play these games with a bowl full of grapes.

Individual Pizzas

This is a relatively easy dinner and a great way to involve kids. I prepare the pizzas with sauce and cheese and let Lucas top it. This time I pressed a clove of garlic on top of the sauce and went easy on the cheese because Lucas has the sniffles.

I used:
Mama Mary's pizza crusts (deli section of grocery store, near Boboli)
Greenwise organic tomato sauce (one little can makes about 5 pizzas)
Shredded Mozzarella

Toppings:
Broccoli (my new favorite pizza topping - and can you believe my phone text dictionary does not recognize this as a word?!)
Pepperoni
Sliced olives
Thinly sliced purple onion (the only topping Lucas avoided)

Guacamole Lunch

Last summer, Lucas and I had this for lunch about once a week. We took a break from it for a while and last Friday when I made it I remembered what a great toddler lunch this is! It is just a very basic recipe, but tasty. I like it because I can whip it up in less than 5 minutes.

I often break up the tortillas into bite-sized pre-dipped pieces and Lucas just picks them up. It is also on my list of allowable foods to hand-feed Lucas while he plays because it is green and has omega-3s.

This recipe makes a substantial snack for toddler and mommy and there are enough leftovers to make your husband happy with an appetizer when he gets home.

Recipe:

necessary:
2 avocados
1 small lime, juice of (I like it quite limey - you may want to reduce this)
salt, to taste

optional:
1-2 T onions, minced (I usually add as much as I think Lucas will tolerate)
chopped tomatoes
black pepper
dash of cumin

Half the avocados and remove the pit by striking it with a knife and wiggling it out. Score the avocado all the way to the skin into cubes. Scoop out and mash in a bowl. Stir in the remaining ingredients and serve with soft pitas or tortilla chips.

Still a Favorite

As I mentioned in a comment on Alison's pot pie post, I believe Elsa is going through a phase of texture anxiety when it comes to food. She will put something in her mouth -- like a cannellini bean, for instance -- barely bite down on it (if she even gets that far), and then immediately thrusts the offending food out of her mouth with her tongue and into her fingers, where she then usually smashes it and examines it closely. She will not eat unmelted cheese as of late because of this issue, and basically anything of substance that is not in the form of -- or on -- a carbohydrate, she turns her nose up at before even really giving it a try. She will eat certain fresh, cut-up fruit, but it depends on the day. Right now bananas and apples have the green light. I am sure many toddlers share this aversion to various textures, but it is quite frustrating when I spend the time to cook something for her and then she either spits it out or throws it on the floor (will I ever break her of this?!?!).

With hopes of getting something slightly more nutritious than bread and crackers into her, I went back to a broccoli and cauliflower puree, also from the aforementioned Feeding Baby by Joachim and Christine Splichal, that she loved months ago. She still loves it. She will not for the life of her put a steamed broccoli floret into her mouth, but she loves this puree. Apparently I just need to puree everything. But, then again, should she not just get used to all of these new textures?

And here is something that threw me for a loop this evening. If I covered bites of the chicken pot pie in the broccoli and cauliflower puree, that was okay for the most part. Who would have thought that I would be hiding food with vegetables. Things could be worse, right? So, without further adieu, here is Elsa's beloved veggie puree.

Broccoli and Cauliflower Puree

Makes 2 cups

1/2 pound broccoli florets, cut into 3-inch pieces

1/2 pound cauliflower florets, cut into 3-inch pieces, core trimmed away

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth, plus extra for pureeing, warmed

1. In a medium saucepan with a steamer, bring 2 inches of water to a boil.

2. Add the broccoli to the steamer, cover, and steam for 3 to 5 minutes until the broccoli is bright green and tender. When done, refresh the broccoli in ice water. Remove broccoli and drain.

3. Repeat the steaming procedure with fresh water for the cauliflower. Steam 5 to 7 minutes, until the cauliflower is tender. Remove the cauliflower from the steamer and set aside. Do not refresh it in ice water.

4. Melt the butter in a saute pan and saute the broccoli and cauliflower for 1 minute.

5. Combine the broccoli and cauliflower in a blender or food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse until smooth. Add the 1/2 cup broth to the mixture and pulse again until smooth. You may need to add a little more broth, depending upon the consistency of the puree.

6. Serve warm or at room temperature. Freeze leftover puree that won't be eaten the next day.

Snack Plates

Lucas, age 3

One of Lucas's favorite forms of sustenance are his beloved snack plates. They are served before nap and before bedtime in his bedroom. And because of the snack plates, I rarely have trouble starting his nap/bedtime routines.

A friend of mine from Japan, Rumiko, stressed the importance of presentation when preparing food. Everything should be beautiful. And these simple plates always put a smile on Lucas's face. He eats foods he would normally shy away from like raisins and walnuts because they are packaged with an organic granola bar or yummy dried mango.

Lucas has several guidelines that we must follow when preparing his snack plate:

1) It must include three or more foods.
2) Rarely will he let a plate slip by without a yummy carbohydrate.
3) Sometimes a bowl of cereal will be accepted as a substitute.

My own guidelines:
1) If it's bedtime I go easy on the fruit. Too hydrating.
2) Everything is usually healthy in some regard.

Ideas include:
Dried fruit
Nuts
Pretzels
A granola bar cut into bite-sized pieces
Cheese
Apple slices (can act as a toothbrush if necessary :)

Lentils

Elsa seems to favor lentils, which is actually a good dietary discretion on her part. I made a spinach and lentil soup over the weekend, taken from Terry Blonder Golson's cookbook, 1,000 Lowfat Recipes. I intended this to be more for me and Jarrett, but wanted to attempt giving some to Elsa as well. She liked it okay, but not as much as another one of our standby recipes, which will follow this one below. Jarrett and I, however, thought it was quite good, so it might be something to try for the entire family. I pureed this soup with an immersion blender as a final step, as Jarrett and I tend to prefer most of our soups pureed. You could also easily substitute vegetable broth for the chicken broth in this recipe to make it a vegetarian (vegan, even!) dish.

Spinach and Lentil Soup

Serves 5

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

1 cup chopped onions

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon paprika

One 10-oz package fresh spinach, washed and trimmed of tough stems

1/8 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 cup lentils, rinsed and picked through

7 cups reduced-sodium, defatted chicken broth

1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper, or more to taste

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

2 Tablespoons tomato paste

1. Heat the oil in a soup pot over low heat. Saute the onions and garlic in the oil until the onions are soft and golden. Add the cumin, coriander, and paprika. Stir and cook until the aromas intensify.

2. Coarsely chop the spinach. Add it to the saute and cook until it wilts.

3. Add the Tabasco, oregano, lentils, and broth to the pot.

4. Bring the soup to a boil, then immediately reduce to a simmer. Cook, covered for about 50 minutes until the lentils become very soft.

5. Stir in the salt, pepper, lemon juice, and tomato paste. Simmer for 10 minutes more. Add more salt and pepper to taste, if desired.

Elsa's more preferred lentil dish comes from Joachim and Christine Splichal's cookbook, Feeding Baby. Several friends and family members who have witnessed Elsa eating this concoction have commented on how disgusting it looks. Forget how it appears -- I've tasted it myself, and it's actually quite good. And if I can get Elsa to eat something with lentils, carrots, and shallots, it can look as disgusting as it gets. The recipe makes quite a lot, so I usually scoop the remainder in serving-size portions onto a sheet pan lined with wax paper. I then simply cover it with another sheet of wax paper and freeze it. Once frozen, I simply transfer the frozen clumps to a freezer bag. It reheats easily either on the stovetop or the microwave.

Green or Brown Lentils with Carrot and Shallot Puree

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

2 cups lentils, rinsed and picked over

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

1 teaspoon minced shallot or onion (optional)

1. In a large saucepan, combine the broth and lentils and bring to a boil. Add the carrots and shallot. Decrease the heat to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes, until the lentils and vegetables are tender. Drain and reserve the liquid.

2. Transfer the lentil mixture to a blender (I used a handheld immersion blender) and pulse until smooth, slowly adding the reserved cooking liquid.

3. Serve immediately. Freeze leftover puree that won't be eaten the next day.

Pot Pie!

No, what you are seeing is not staged. That is indeed a two year old piling peas onto his spoon.

I have been serving pot pie to my little cowboy weekly for about a year. He has yet to grow tired of this creamy, crusty, vegetable and meat filled dish. "Pot pie" was his first two word combination. His love for pot pie has even extended goodwill to other vegetable filled dishes. This weekend he picked up a pea from his pasta and said, "Pot pie!" I conferred that yes pot pie had peas and he gobbled up all the peas in the dish.

My pot pie recipe is an adaptation of Chicken Pot Pie IX from the website allrecipes.com.

Pot Pie

1 lb. of chicken or turkey breast (cooked and cubed)

3-4 cups of vegetables (I use a mix of carrots, celery, frozen broccoli and frozen peas)

1/3 cup butter

1/2 onion, chopped

1/3 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 3/4 cup chicken broth

2/3 cup milk

2 9-inch pie crusts

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Add vegetables to a saucepan, cover with water and boil until cooked (abut 20-25 minutes)

3. Drain vegetables. Add chicken to vegetables.

4. In saucepan, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Slowly stir in chicken broth and milk. Simmer over medium-low heat until in thickens.

5. Place vegetable-chicken mixture in the bottom pie crust. Pour liquid mixture over. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Make several slits in top of pie.

6. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool for 10 minutes before serving. (Note: When served hot the filling will ooze out of the slices.)

Enjoy!

Easy Whole Wheat Shells and White Cheddar with Broccoli

Last night I decided to cook a box of Annie's Homegrown Organic Whole Wheat Shells & White Cheddar that I had on hand. I made it according to the directions on the box, adding the optional two tablespoons unsalted butter for a richer flavor and simply for the addition of the good fat. In an attempt to get some vegetables into Elsa's little body as well, I also steamed some broccoli (about the equivalent of one broccoli crown) and then pureed it and mixed it in with the macaroni and cheese. The result? A decently healthy meal and a very happy Elsa. Whereas I cannot seem to get her to eat plain steamed broccoli as a fingerfood, she ate this without fuss and continued to sign for "more."

Delicious Oatmeal

We are blessed with a wonderful pediatrician. Dr. Herrmann loves to share articles and information on all sorts of parenting topics, including nutrition. A while back she gave us a recipe for quinoa, which I learned is a "pseudocereal" alternative to more common cereals such as wheat or oats. I thought it sounded good, so I went to the Farmer's Market in search of this new grain. I found it without much trouble, but it seemed really expensive, so I decided to adapt the recipe using steel cut oats instead. I also made a few other changes, such as increasing the blueberries and using golden raisins. The resulting purple oatmeal has been a hit with Lily since I first gave it to her.

Delicious Oatmeal

1 c steel cut oats

3 c water

1 c apple juice

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t allspice

1/4 c dried cranberries

1/4 c dried apricots, chopped

1/4 c golden raisins

1/2 to 1 c frozen blueberries (or 1/4 c dried blueberries)

Combine the apple juice and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir in the steel cut oats, the fruit, and the spices. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 25-30 minutes, or until the oats are of desired consistency.

I like to let this cool and spoon leftovers into an ice cube tray to freeze. I cover the tray with a piece of aluminum foil, freeze it, and then dump the cubes into a freezer bag to save for later. I pull out two or three and thaw them in the microwave for a quick and delicious breakfast.

Old Reliable

For the first recipe posted to this blog, I will lean on the old reliable recipe for mini banana apple bran muffins from one of the cookbooks I turn to quite often, The Petit Appetit Cookbook, by Lisa Barnes.


If you are looking for a healthy, yummy muffin recipe for your child (or yourself!), I highly recommend this recipe. I have made these several times, and Elsa is quite the fan of them, though I have to be careful not to over serve them, as she does become bored after awhile. As a word of warning, I realized the second time I made these that I actually made them incorrectly the first go around by mashing all three bananas and mixing them into the batter rather than mashing just one and slicing the others to place atop the batter once poured into the muffin cups. Regardless, they were still tasty, and I usually forgo the slice on top now, as Elsa usually won't eat it anyway. I also make these in large batches and freeze them, simply defrosting them by throwing them in the microwave for 30 seconds or so prior to serving. You can make them in mini or regular size, and they make for a fantastic, healthy snack or breakfast item -- or even served as a side to a lunch or dinner meal.

Mini Banana Apple Bran Muffins

Makes 24 mini muffins or 12 regular muffins

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oat bran

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

3/4 cup applesauce

3 medium bananas, 1 mashed (about 1/2 cup) and 2 sliced

1/2 cup packed brown sugar (the recipe calls for light, but I only had dark on hand, and they turned out fine)

2 eggs

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 24 mini muffin cups or 12 regular muffin cups.

Combine flour, bran, baking soda, and salt in a small mixing bowl. Melt butter and combine with applesauce, mashed banana, sugar, and eggs in a large bowl. Add flour mixture to applesauce mixture and stir until just blended. The batter will be lumpy and very moist.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling two-thirds full. Place banana slice on top of each muffin. Bake for 12 minutes, or until golden brown and set. Cool muffins on a wire rack for five minutes before removing from pan.

A New Blog

This blog has been an idea in the back of my mind for some time now. As my daughter, Elsa, grows before my eyes, I continue to struggle with how to nourish her to the best of my ability. As I am sure is the way with all parents, I feel the stress and aggravation that comes with taking time to cook healthy, wholesome meals for Elsa, only to have her toss them over the side of her highchair as if I just offered her something she could just never bear to allow touch her tastebuds. One day she will love a food; the next day she will completely turn her nose up at it. So this is the place I hope us moms can share ideas and information regarding feeding our children a wide variety of healthy food. This can be in the form of a favorite recipe (an original concoction or one from a cookbook), words of wisdom from experience, or general philosophies in the way of nutrition.

If you would like to become a contributor to this blog, please leave a comment or send an e-mail to helms.c@gmail.com, and I will happily add you to the list of contributors.