Beets

Christi,

In response to your last post, here is a way to keep beets from going bad. Easy recipe and you don't even have to wash them before baking them. Weird, I know! They'd be good just sliced up with thinly sliced red onion and chunks of feta on a salad. Or just on their own.

http://www.recipezaar.com/Baked-Beets-72861

As far as the kiddies go, I used to puree these for Lucas on occasion. Read up on feeding kids lots of root veggies when they are infants because they say that the high nitrate content depletes their iron levels, but I think it's good for them to develop a taste for them. Lucas is still attracted to them on salad bars and will eat a few bites. I have a picture of him at 5 months looking like a clown with a beet mustache/beard. When I find it I will post it.

Natali

Pumpkin Yogurt

My friend, Shelly, sent out a link to an article in the New York Times that lists the 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating. We won't talk about the bunch of beets I bought from the farmer's market and then proceeded to let go bad in the fridge before I could get around to doing anything with them, but I am trying to eat more of these foods. As a result, I am also attempting to get Elsa to eat some of these, and decided to make pumpkin yogurt using canned pumpkin. She loves it. And, really, how could she not? It tastes pretty much like pumpkin pie filling! Note that this recipe also contains cinnamon, another food off of the list.

Pumpkin Yogurt

1 large (32-ounce) container yogurt (I used vanilla, but will probably opt for plain next time to cut down on the sugar)
1 can 100% pure pumpkin
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
honey to taste (I probably used just around a teaspoon since the yogurt I used already contained some sugar)

Mix all of the above ingredients together in a medium bowl. Set aside the amount you intend to eat immediately (because you won't be able to resist) and store the remaining yogurt in the now empty yogurt container.

Bon appetit!

Lovely Lentils

A friend of a friend posted this recipe (from Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel) as a comment to one of my posts awhile back, and I thought it deserved a post of its own. I made this last week for Elsa, and even though she wasn't feeling well, she still ate a good portion of it. I went ahead and froze the rest in an ice cube tray for meals down the road.

One thing I have come to realize lately is that if the food I am trying to feed Elsa requires the use of a spoon or a fork, it helps tremendously if I give her a utensil to hold onto and attempt to use to feed herself. This skill is proving to take her some time (perhaps due to the fact that I am a neat freak and have had some trouble relinquishing total control over the food during mealtime in an attempt to avoid serious messes and, therefore, she has not had a ton of practice), but she does manage to get food into her mouth here and there. Regardless, I think it makes her feel a bit more involved in the process and more interested in her food. I am looking forward to when she is able to stand stably on a stepstool and actually help to prepare the food she eats.

Lovely Lentils

1/2 cup chopped onion
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 Tablespoons chopped celery
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
1/4 cup split red lentils
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 3/4 cup reduced sodium chicken broth (you can also use water or half water/half broth)

Saute the onion, carrots, and celery in the vegetable oil for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the lentils and sweet potatoes and pour in the broth and/or water. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Puree in a blender. (You can also just mashed it with a potato masher and get a great consistency since the veggies and lentils are so soft after cooking.)

Grandma's Oatmeal Pancakes

I made these pancakes over the weekend with the intention of giving Elsa a nice, warm breakfast since she has been sick over the past week or so. Unfortunately, with her sickness has come even more of a decreased appetite, so she did not each much of what I offered her, but ate at least some. Jarrett and I, on the other hand, enjoyed them very much.

This is a recipe handed down from Jarrett's mom, and the pancakes were a favorite of Jarrett's during his high school/college years. They really are quite delicious. I think next time around I might try using brown sugar rather than the regular ole white, granulated variety. We served ours with a variety of toppings -- butter, pure maple syrup, pumpkin butter, and blackberry preserves.

Oatmeal Pancakes

2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups quick oats (uncooked)
1 cup all purpose flour (I used white whole wheat, but have also used regular whole wheat and half whole wheat/half all purpose)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (be sure it doesn't have aluminum in it)
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use canola oil)

1. Pour milk over oats and let stand.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. (Be sure to add the flakes that get sifted out back into the flour mixture if you use whole wheat flour.)

3. Gently stir eggs into oats/milk mixture.

4. Add sifted dry ingredients.

5. Stir in oil.

6. Bake on nonstick or lightly greased griddle until golden brown, turning only once.

7. Serve hot with syrup, preserves, jam, etc.

Variations:
Sprinkle one of the following on the pancakes before turning:
Chopped apples
Blueberries
Dried sweetened cranberries
Sausage or ham

A Very Adaptable Mexican Casserole

Unlike many of my fellow posters, I do not love to cook. While I don't hate to cook either, I often find the process of planning, shopping, preparing, eating (well, that part I love), and cleaning kind of cumbersome, especially with an eight month strapped to me and a two year old lingering. However, I have found a few things make my life much easier. First, easy to remember recipes are helpful so that I don't have to constantly refer to the recipe. Second, I need adaptable recipes so that I am likely to have the ingredients in the house and it isn't the same every time. Next, it is preferable for me to able to prepare something earlier in the day while my children are napping. An ideal recipe should also have steps that my children can help with or snack on during the process. Leftovers are also a must as I try to cook only every other day. This Mexican Casserole fits all of the requirements and Finnan will eat it!

Adaptable Mexican Casserole

Tortilla chips

1lb ground meat

2 cups salsa

1 can of beans (drained and rinsed)

Veggie mix-ins (see below)

2 cups of sour cream

Veggie toppings (see below)

Shredded cheese

1. Crush a layer of tortilla chips on the bottom of a 13x9 casserole dish. (Good job for the kiddos- and easy snaking for them as well.)

2. Cook ground meat. After meat is cooked add salsa and beans. At this point, I throw in whatever veggies I have around that sound good- onions (I add when cooking meat), bell peppers (I add when cooking meat), corn, spinach, shredded carrots, etc. When cooked through, layer meat mixture on top of crushed tortilla chips. (My two year old, Finnan, has also started to help me chop. He can't get very far with the dinner knife I give him, but he enjoys being part of the process and will pop a few veggies in his mouth in the process.)

3. Layer sour cream on top of meat mixture.

4. Layer fresh veggies- I use tomatoes and green onions (if I have them).

5. Top with cheese.

6. Cook in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

You can make this dish as basic or complex as you want and as healthy or unhealthy as you want. And Natali's guacamole would make the perfect dip for the pre-meal tortilla snackers!

Dilly Ricotta Dip

Christian loves any food that can referred to as "dip." He loves to dip crackers into this, and I can occassionally coax him to dip steamed carrots.

Dilly Ricotta Dip

1/3 c whole-milk ricotta cheese
1 T minced fresh dill
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in small bowl and stir until creamy.

Mac N Cheese with Vegetables

Here is a healthy, tasty recipe for macaroni and cheese. It is from the Petit Appetite cookbook, which I love. The recipe calls for either broccoli or cauliflower, but I highly recommend the cauliflower. It doesn't really affect the taste and it blends in so that little ones don't even realize it's there.

I always stop after step two, divide the mac n cheese into four containers, and freeze three of them. I never bother to do step 3, although I would if I were serving this a dish for the whole family.

The cheese seems to "settle" a bit in this dish, making it not the most attractive food to serve, but I think the health and taste make up for it. Christian loves it!

Mac N Cheese with Vegetables

8 oz whole wheat macaroni
1 1/2 c broccoli or cauliflower florets, cut into pieces
1 c whole milk
3 c (3/4 lb) sharp white cheddar cheese
Salt, to taste
1/4 t black pepper
3 T freshly grated parmesan cheese

1) Preheat oven to 350. Bring a pot of water to boil over high heat. Turn heat to medium and add pasta and vegetables. Simmer until pasta is tender and vegetables are cooked, 7-10 minutes. Drain and return to pot.

2) In a small saucepan, heat milk over low heat until hot. Add cheddar cheese and hot milk to veggies and pasta and toss. Season with salt and pepper.

3) Pour mixture into 8-inch square dish. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top and bake for 15 minutes, or until bubbling. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins

Last week was a muffin-baking-kind-of week. So, in addition to the cherry pecan muffins, I also made some whole wheat blueberry muffins. This recipe is based on Cook's Illustrated's Best Blueberry Muffin recipe, with some changes -- the most important being the substitution of King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour. The beauty of this flour is that it bakes just like all-purpose flour, so you can use it with ease in all different recipes. I love blueberry muffins, and I think these are fantastic. All other partakers seemed to enjoy them as well, including, of course, Elsa.

Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Makes 12 to 16 muffins

3 cups white whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/4 stick), softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries, defrosted and drained of excess liquid
1 Tablespoon flour

1. Adjust oven rack to the lower-middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a standard 12-muffin baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

3. Coat defrosted and drained frozen blueberries with 1 Tablespoon of flour.

4. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together, beating until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating until incorporated after each one. Beat in the grated lemon peel.

5. Beat in one-half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Beat in one-third of the yogurt. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients. Beat in a second third of the yogurt. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt. Again, be careful to beat until just incorporated to avoid overbeating. Fold in the berries.

6. Distribute muffin batter equally among the cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a toothpick or bamboo skewer to make sure the centers of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin and serve slightly warm.

Chicken-Zucchini Casserole

I made this casserole from a recipe from the cooking magazine, Cuisine at Home (February 2010 issue), intending for it to serve Jarrett and myself multiple meals last week. We ended up being less than impressed with the dish, Jarrett more so than I, so the leftovers seemed much less than desirable. I am not a big fan of chicken thighs, I have found -- I prefer white meat -- so I think that was a big problem for me. And I think the actual casserole part of the casserole appeared, at least, too eggy for Jarrett (if you do not already know, Jarrett has a strong aversion to eggs). Jarrett struggled through it for one more meal, but I then ate it (sans chicken) for lunch nearly everyday last week, and I actually thought the flavor of the zucchini-rice mixture improved with age. I was pleased to find out that Elsa actually loved it, and we ended up sharing it all week. So if I were to make this again, I believe I would most likely use cut-up chicken breast (or leave the chicken out altogether), would probably used brown rice, and would make it more for Elsa than anyone else!

All-American Chicken-Zucchini Casserole
Makes 8 servings

For the zucchini mixture:
1 1/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2/3 cup dry basmati rice
8 cups chopped zucchini (2 1/2 lb)
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup water
2 cloves garlic, minced

For the Cheddar mixture:
3 large eggs, beaten
1 1/4 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (5 oz)
3/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs, divided
1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon Tabasco
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Kosher salt and black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Bring broth to a boil in a small saucepan over high heat. Add rice, cover, and reduce heat to low; simmer until liquid is absorbed, 20 minutes.

3. Combine zucchini, onion, water, and garlic in a large saucepan; cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until zucchini is tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and lightly mash zucchini mixture.

4. Stir together eggs, Cheddar, sour cream, milk, 1/4 cup Parmesan, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt, Tabasco, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in large bowl.

5. Add the cooked rice along with the zucchini mixture to the Cheddar mixture in the bowl. Spoon the combined mixture into the prepared baking dish.

6. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to skillet; saute until golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes on each side.

7. Arrange chicken on rice mixture in the baking dish. Combine the remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan and the remaining 1/4 cup bread crumbs; sprinkle over the chicken and rice in the baking dish.

8. Bake chicken and rice until bubbly, about 30 minutes. Chicken is done when it reaches 165 degrees when tested with an instant-read thermometer.