Kick-Start

Okay. It's time I try to give this blog a kick-start and attempt to get some things posted in a more timely manner. It's been a busy summer, but now as the pool time and vacations wind down (now if only the heat would!) as we head toward fall, I know my desire to cook is going to go in the opposite direction and I will finally want to consider standing in front of that stove a bit more often.

To try to start things off, I have had a request for ideas for kids' school lunches. After awhile, the usual sandwich, fruit, and drink combo just does not cut it anymore. Kids desire variety just as much as we do, if not more. So if anyone out there with school-age children has some healthy, creative ideas for lunches, please do share!

There are two blogs I would like to share that both have really cute and appetizing ideas for the little ones: Vegan Lunch Box and Cooking for Monkeys. Though the creations on Vegan Lunch Box are, well, vegan, they could still be interspersed or taken piecemeal to adapt to an omnivore's diet. I especially recommend going back into her archives and reading some of her earlier posts. I have followed this blog for years at the advice of my dear friend, Kate. This blog alone made me want to have a kid just so I could pack lunches! Of course, now that I do have a kid, I am not sure how she finds the time to come up with all of these fantastic ideas, but it must be possible. The woman from Cooking for Monkeys has two children and goes to our church. She is a fantastic cook and also has some really great, healthy, super-cute lunchbox art.

Tex-Mex Quinoa Macaroni and Cheese

I have yet to write a blog post about the positive and negative aspects of eating gluten-free (not to mention trying to avoid chicken eggs and soy as well), but one of the challenges I have encountered is trying to come up with good, easy meals that we can cook while on our three-and-a-half week camping/hiking trip out in California next month -- specifically, meals that can be reduced to one or two cooking pots. And, on top of that, finding meals that Elsa will also find enticing. So we have been testing out quite a few ideas around the house and on camping trips closer to home. We found a definite winner that Elsa seemed to love on our last camping trip to Vogel State Park over Mother's Day weekend -- tex-mex quinoa macaroni and cheese. It is easy, it is tasty, it is fairly healthy, and you can cook it in two pots (really, you could probably do with one if you really had to). We are sold. It came out slightly spicy, but Elsa did not seem to have a problem with it. She finished her portion and had seconds.

Tex-Mex Quinoa Macaroni and Cheese
(Makes 4 to 6 servings)

1 box quinoa elbow macaroni

1 Tbs. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 pound ground meat (I used grass-fed ground sirloin)

1 package taco seasoning (I used Bearitos brand, as the ingredients seemed safe for me to use)

Water (however much your package of seasoning says to add)

1 can diced tomatoes with chilies

8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

8 oz. monterey jack cheese, shredded

Bring a pot of water to boil, add quinoa macaroni, and boil until al dente.

Meanwhile, saute onion in olive oil until slightly softened. Add ground meat, and continue to cook until meat is no longer pink. Drain liquid from pan and add taco seasoning and water. Cook until liquid has reduced some and is slightly thickened. Add diced tomatoes with chilies and bring to a simmer. Add both cheeses and stir well until melted through.

Once the pasta is ready, drain it and add it to the meat/cheese sauce. Stir well to combine and serve immediately. If it seems to thick, add some milk or heavy cream to thin it a bit (we did not have to do this, though -- the consistency turned our perfectly).

Smoothies

Now that the weather has warmed up -- and because Jarrett and I have started drinking protein shakes most mornings -- it seemed a good time to introduce smoothies into Elsa's breakfast repertoire. Below is a recipe I threw together, but the beautiful thing about smoothies is that you can really play around with them and make them new every time.

Elsa's Breakfast Smoothie

Servings: Approximately 2 child-sized portions

1 cup orange juice

1/2 cup whole milk plain yogurt

1 banana

1/2 cup frozen berries

1/2 to 1 teaspoon honey

Combine all ingredients together and blend until smooth (I use a handheld immersion blender, but obviously any blender or food processor would do the trick). Pour into cup appropriate for child, throw in a straw, and voila!

Great additions to this would be flax seeds, hemp protein powder, chia seed powder, a few greens, carrots, etc. I plan on playing around with ingredients as the months go on.

Starting on Solids

My neighbor Kendra is looking for tips as she prepares to start her chubby wubby on solids in the next couple of months. Could you all respond with your experiences of those very first meals? Maybe include when you started feeding solids, what your first foods were, did you make/buy/combination, etc.

Our experience:
We started Lucas out around 5.5 months. He didn't really show an interest in solids, but I really wanted to reduce nursings while we were on vacation in Vancouver and in general. We started him off on gerber applesauce and pears mixed with organic rice cereal. Strangely he did not like bananas and even had a reaction to them once in the form of a brief rash.

Lucas was not a huge fan of solids for a while. He was so off and on, I decided not to make most of my food. I ground steamed apples in my baby food grinder (this I would recommend to have on hand - you can quickly mash whatever is on the dinner table - veggies, chili, etc .) Other than that I mostly bought organic jarred food and forgot about it.

Soon he was eating non-pureed foods and this was a better stage for me. I cooked with reasonable amounts of butter, broth and even salt making healthy stuff taste good. He LOVED soups and this is what I would order for him at restaurants before he could even walk. We tended to introduce foods early, like eggs, yogurt, etc. He was a berry monster and would devour mass quantities of blueberries on almost a daily basis.

I uploaded this video of my little angel eating yogurt in the tub at around the age of 10-11 months.

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.)