Caramelized Banana Coconut Quinoa

Wow, the title of this one sounds fancy! It is actually really easy, nutritious and as a bonus makes your house smell just divine! The only difficult part is holding back the urge to take the hot caramelized bananas for yourself and pair them with some vanilla ice cream - and I don't even like bananas :) 

Quinoa is a wheat free grain that is kind of like a small little pearl and has a little "pop" when you bite it. It is almost like couscous, but a little "crunchier". It is a good alternative to oatmeal or rice to fill the whole grain requirement of your little one's diet.

1 cup water

1 13.5 oz can of whole fat coconut milk

1 cup quinoa

3 large bananas - overripe is good

2 tbls. butter, softened

A few dashes of cinnamon

1 tbls. vanilla flavored agave nectar (if you have plain just add in a little vanilla when you mash the bananas)

First, turn on your broiler and let it preheat while you start the quinoa. Add the water and 1 cup of coconut milk to a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add in the quinoa, give it a stir and let it come back up to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.

Now start on your bananas. Peel them and slice them in half lengthwise. Place them into a baking dish (I used a bread pan) and give them a good smear of butter and sprinkle them with a little cinnamon. Lastly, drizzle them with the agave nectar. Now place them under the broiler on an oven rack about 6 inches from the heat.

 

Heat them for about 15 minutes, watching them closely to make sure they don't get to brown. You want them to get a nice caramely brown color. The will start smelling really, really good when they get close to being done. They should look a little something like this...

Really, if you are a banana person, I dare you not to break out the vanilla ice cream right now. Maybe it is not a bad idea to add a 4th banana into the mix so that you can eat one ;)

Let your bananas cool down a bit, by this time your quinoa should be just about done and look like this...

The liquid should be absorbed and there should be a noticeable little white crescent shape on the grains.

Now mash your bananas with a fork and add them into the quinoa and mix them all together. As the mixture starts to cool it will get thicker, so I added the rest of the coconut milk, a little at a time to reach the right consistency. 

Now, if your little one is good with rice and small pasta, you can serve this as is. It has almost a crunchy texture. Since little A has not had it before I went ahead and pureed half of it in the food processor and then mixed it back together with the un-pureed half to ease him into it. If you have a younger baby I would recommend starting out by pureeing the whole thing.

By the way, this freezes just fine - the bananas get a little darker, but taste the same :)

Sauteed Brussels Sprouts with Cheese

the ingredients

I don't know if it was my mom's idea or my dad's idea, but somehow, growing up Brussels sprouts always had grated cheddar and bacon on top of them at our house. I think that was how they got us to eat them. Now I love them and am using my parents tricks to get little A to love them, too! I have not yet given little A bacon so I left it out of this recipe, if your little one is good with bacon, then go ahead and include a few slices of chopped fried bacon along with the cheese.

1 lb Brussels sprouts

1/2 white onion, slices

1 clove minced garlic

3 tbls. olive oil

1/4 cup chicken broth

3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Wash the sprouts, cut the bottom and peel off any damage leaves. If your sprouts are large, cut them in half. Heat olive oil in large skillet, add in onion and garlic, saute for a few minutes and add the sprouts and chicken broth. I used some left over broth that I froze from the pureed chicken recipe. Cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the sprouts are very tender when pricked with a fork, turn off the heat, add the grated cheese and pepper (and bacon it you want to use it). put the lid back on and let it steam for 5-10 minutes.

At this point, you can cut the sprouts into a smaller size and serve it to your older babies or you can puree it for the younger crowd. To puree, pour everything into a food processor, adding extra chicken broth and olive oil to help puree. Puree as smooth as you would like, adding the extra liquid as needed to get a smoother puree.

Serve or spoon into ice cube trays to freeze. Mixes well with sweet potatoes, butternut squash and chicken.

Maple Apple Acorn Squash

the finished product

Fall is my favorite season. Favorite foods. Favorite holidays. And it is just around the corner! The weather is starting to get cooler, so here is my first fall themed recipe. I make this in a sweet version with cinnamon and a savory version that I pair with chicken. Little A loves his squash! This recipe is for a puree, but if your little one is into self finger feeding, just mix the chunks of apples and squash together and serve as a finger food.

1 large acorn squash

2 small apples - whatever is your favorite type

4 tsp. olive oil

2 tsp. maple syrup

1 tbls. butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut acorn squash in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds - reminds you of pumpkin carving, doesn't it? Place on cookie sheet and brush each half with 2 tsp. olive oil. Peel and core apples and dice them. I left the peels on in this batch because I was feeling lazy...if your baby is older, feel free to leave the peels on, too!

Put 1/2 diced apples in the middle of each squash. Drizzle with maple syrup and dot the top of each squash with 1/2 tbls. butter. 

Bake for 45 - 60 minutes, depending on the size of your squash. You want the squash and apples to be fork tender. Remove from the oven and cool about 15 minutes. If your apples get a little burnt on top, don't worry - or just remove those apples, believe me there will be plenty of apples still!

Empty the apples into a food processor along with the juice. Peel the squash (it should come off easily), cut into chunks and place in the food processor with the apples. At this point, you need to decide if you want this to be a sweet or savory puree. If you want a sweet puree, add in apple juice to almost cover the squash and sprinkle in a little cinnamon. If your after a savory puree, add in a little more olive oil and chicken broth to almost cover the squash. Them puree to your desired consistency and serve or freeze in ice cube trays.

Just a little tip...

I don't know about you, but I am really sick of paying for overpriced organic baby yogurt. Little A eats yogurt daily, and I was paying $3.50 for 4 4 oz. containers of a single flavor - no variety at all and almost $1 per serving. The other day I got smart and found this - a big 32 oz. tub of organic whole milk plain yogurt for $4 - twice the servings so I am paying half of what I was for the little cartons. I can control everything, from the type of fruit to how much sugar is in them - because plain yogurt is a little "sour creamy" tasting, I add a little squirt of agave nectar.

So, I add 3 cubes of fruit puree to 1/2 cup yogurt and mix in a little baby oatmeal cereal to thicken it up a bit for my little one. I tried it, and it was sooooo much better tasting then the cartons!

Purple Applesauce

I bought beets at the farmers market as part of my "try a new veggie every week" plan. The only problem was that I really had no idea what to do with them. I recently read some good stuff about beets, that they are full of antioxidants and have a sweet flavor. No one told me to be really careful when cooking with them if you don't want pink splatter stains everywhere! I paired them with apples to take advantage of the sweetness.

3 beets, bottom and stems cut off 

3 apples - whatever type is your babies favorite, I used Fujis

Fill large saucepan with about 2" of water and bring to a boil. Peel the beets and peel and core the apples and chop into about 1" pieces. Put the chunks into a steamer basket in place in the saucepan. Cover and steam for about 15 minutes. Place soft chunks into a food processor and pour in a little bit of the steaming water (hello, nutrients!) to help puree. Puree to your desired consistency. Cool and serve or spoon into an ice cube tray to freeze individual portions.

Alternately, you can use a Babycook steamer on the vegetable setting or even boil them instead of steaming. Steaming keeps the most nutrients. You can also add a little butter and cinnamon to them. Make sure that your baby is wearing a bib or clothes that you don't care about when eating this, because I am pretty sure it will stain ;)

Ready to freeze

What to do with old packs of pudding mix

I have had this pack of fat free-sugar free vanilla pudding in my cupboard for a couple years now. My husband accidentally bought it and I just couldn't bring myself to throw away a fine pack of pudding mix. So one warm day I needed something to keep little A occupied so I broke out the pack of pudding and made some pudding finger paints. Since he is still in the "everything goes in my mouth" phase, he could paint and I could relax and not care if he tries to eat any!

Pudding Finger Paint

1 package cheap instant vanilla pudding

2 cups cold milk

2 or 3 different colors of food coloring

Pour milk into medium bowl and whisk in pudding mix for 2 minutes. Working quickly, divide and pour into as many small tupperware containers as you want different colors. Mix about 5 drops of food coloring in each container. They are pretty much ready to use right away. 

My son's Occupational Therapist loved this idea and said it would be really great for him to be messy and feel the slimy texture. I took little A outside and put him in just a diaper, because this is pretty messy. I was covered in pudding by the time it was all done with, too. He painted on cheap little flexible plastic cutting boards and when he was done, I sat with him and gave him a little bucket of water to splash and clean off in and then let the dog do the clean up of the pudding paintings :)

Best Cookies Ever. No Really.

I think I need some milk, please...

These are easy, and yummy fresh and warm out of the oven as well as a few days later. And the dough is pretty darn good, too, if your into that sort of thing, which I am :)

Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

1 cup toffee bits (I use health)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream together butter, sugars and vanilla. When mixture is light and fluffy, beat in eggs, one at a time. Measure 1 cup of flour and mix in salt and soda right into the measuring cup. Add to butter/sugar/eggs and mix. Add remaining flour and mix until completely incorporated. Gently stir in chocolate chips and toffee bits.

Here is where you get to eat some of the dough (this step of course, is optional). Drop cookies by the tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet, preferably lined with a baking mat or parchment paper. Bake for about 10 minutes - depending on your oven, start watching around 8 minutes. Cool on wire rack and enjoy. Makes about 4 dozen.

Basic Chicken Puree

The only ingredients you need!

I won't lie, making pureed meat is not my favorite thing to do. I much prefer making fruit purees or cupcakes. Pureeing meat is yucky and messy, but I realize that protein is a necessity of my baby's diet and helps him develop and grow, so i suck it up and make it. I can't wait until the day that little A is OK with shreds or cubes of meat. It is actually really easy, I am just kind of a baby when it comes to meat ;) This is a basic recipe for chicken but it works for turkey as well. Oh, and just a tip - you can blend this for hours and it will NEVER be as smooth as the jarred baby food...which is fine with me because adds a bit of texture to things like sweet potatoes, and since little A loves the taste, it really helped him get past the "smooth puree only" phase.

I use chicken thighs instead of breasts because they are moister, more flavorful and yep, have more calories and fat. I read that poultry thighs have more iron, but breasts have more protein - which I thought was interesting, and since little A is a little low in iron from time to time, that is another reason I chose thighs.  Occasionally, I throw in a chicken breast if I happen to have an extra one in the freezer.

1 - 1 1/2 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken or turkey thighs 
2-3 cups of low sodium chicken broth - I use organic, but you can use your favorite or home-made if your the "Martha" type ;)


Place the chicken thighs in a large saucepan and pour in enough broth to cover the chicken and turn the heat to high. Bring the broth to a boil and reduce heat to medium low. Cover and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the meat is no longer pink when you shred it with a fork.Take them off the heat and let them cool for 15 minutes.  

Take the chicken out of the pan, reserving the broth. Chop the chicken and put into the food processor. Using a soup ladle, ladle in enough broth to almost cover the chopped chicken. I use a ladle because I like to get has much of the top of the broth as possible (again with the calories!) but, you could also just pour it in. 

Blend the chicken until it reaches your desired consistency - it takes a little longer than fruit or veggies. Spoon into ice cube trays to freeze.

Tip: I hate, hate, hate tossing leftover broth, not only because the organic broth is more expensive but also because I have a lot of recipes that call for a tablespoon or so of broth - no one wants to open a whole carton/can of broth for such a small amount! I always freeze the rest of the broth in an ice cube tray and store them in a freezer bag to use later and to save a little cash.

To make lower cal use unused broth -not the cooking broth - to puree the chopped chicken or use a combination of thighs and breasts.

RazzMelon Puree

The whole time I was making this I could not get the Price song "Raspberry Beret" out of my head...only I was singing "RazzMelon Puree" instead. Yep, sometimes I entertain little A by singing horribly while I cook ;) Anyway,  I bought a melon at the farmers market, as kind of an afterthought on my way out. I was just planning on eating it myself but, later that day I was outside looking at the little raspberry bush that I planted in the beginning of the summer, and noticed it had a few berries on it.  So I decided to pair them with the melon and make it as a cool puree for little A. It turned out to be a really easy, sweet little summer puree.

1 small melon of your choice - cantaloupe, honeydew or whatever your favorite is

1 basket of raspberries

Cut the rind off the melon and scoop the seeds out. Cut into 1" chunks. Put into a food processor along with the raspberries and puree. No liquid is needed - the melon makes this a pretty thin puree. Little A likes this added to whole milk yogurt, it can be mixed with oatmeal or baby cereal also. I was a little concerned about how melon would freeze, but it actually turned out great.

Basic Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes are a staple of little A's diet. He is not a big fan of green veggies, so I make him a lot of orange & yellow veggies to make up for it. I make sweet potatoes several different ways, but this one uses coconut milk, which makes me feel a little better than loading them up with butter and cream. Although, I have been known to do that, too! Again, if you are not trying to fatten up your baby, just replace the full fat coconut milk for low fat or just use whatever you child's usual milk is or breast milk/formula for the under 1 crowd.

I always bake sweet potatoes, there is such a big difference in the taste of baked vs. steamed or boiled - baking brings out the sweetness. And can I just say - I still don't know the difference between yams and sweet potatoes, I call these sweet potatoes, but I use yams?!?! I don't get it ;)

Baked Sweet Potatoes with Coconut Milk

3 medium sized garnet or jewel yams (the ones with the red skin)

1/2 of a 14 oz. can of full fat coconut milk, about a cup

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Wash and dry the sweet potatoes - do not poke them! Place them on a piece of tin foil on the center wrack of the oven. The tin foil catches any juices that would otherwise light your oven on fire (just kidding, but they can make a mess). Bake them for 45-60 minutes, depending on how big they are - a fork should go right through them. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for 15 minutes.

Peel the skin off, it is usually pretty easy to do with just your fingers, but use a knife if you need to. Cut then into 1" chunks and place them in a food processor.

Add the coconut milk and puree until you reach your desired consistency, stirring occasionally. You may need to add a bit more milk to get a smoother puree.

 

 

Serve or spoon into ice cube trays for freezing. So easy! Minimal ingredients and not a lot of prep time! 

The best thing is that you have a good building block for a baby meal. Little A likes them with chicken and broccoli and LOVES them with apples or pears and a little cinnamon.

Homemade Strawberry Milk

Makes a good afternoon snack :)

I have a picky drinker. He doesn't like juice or water. Just milk. I know he loves chocolate milk - but don't really want him to have too much of that. I have been wanting to try strawberry milk with him for a little while now but was having trouble finding whole strawberry milk (found lots of 2%). Plus, I am not really sure what is in store bought strawberry milk. So I was talking to my sister in law about it and she said "is there some way to make your own?". She is a genius.

So here it is, homemade strawberry milk! And it was EASY! And it tastes GOOD! And I know that he is getting REAL fruit in it! Imagine all the possibilities - raspberry milk, blackberry milk - maybe even vanilla peach milk...

1 small basket of strawberries, stems cut off, preferably a little overripe

2-3 tbls. vanilla flavored agave nectar

Your preference of milk

Puree the strawberries. Puree em' good, make sure that there are no chunks and that it is as liquid-y as possible (liquid-y is probably not a word, is it?). 

Then run it through a sieve into a small bowl, pushing it through gently with a spatula. When it is through the sieve, add in the agave nectar and put it back into the RINSED food processor. Puree again for a minute or two, just to get it smoother. 

Run the berry puree back through the RINSED sieve. There will still be some small seed parts in it, but it should look a little something like this...

Stir in a heaping tablespoon of the puree into 4 oz. of milk and stir well. If there are still too many seed parts for you taste, run the milk/puree mix through the sieve and serve. Yum! I froze the rest of the puree in an ice cube tray in single serving amounts (which was a little messy, since strawberry does not freeze that solid - it took a knife to get the cubes out). When you are ready to make another glass, just thaw the puree cube and stir it into milk. Makes about 10 4oz. glasses of milk. Tip: if you are putting it into a sippy cup or bottle, run it through a tea ball strainer to get out all the pulp/seeds.