Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Squishy Food

Ahah! Your little one is probably sitting up with some support and holding his little head high when he's carried around...well I know my man is! Once they are a 'supported sitter' its OK to try out some new foods! Easiest is bananas and apples. For bananas just puree them with some almond milk until they are runny. Don't expect your baby to gobble it up or be all that interested at first there may be disgusted faces or it might come out a few times before staying in but thats all fine. DONT replace breastmilk with food yet. Your baby still needs all the nutrients and antibodies in the milk you're makin'. The other I've made but he hasn't tried yet is apple sauce. It's super easy take some sweet apples, core them and bake them in a covered pan at 400 for about half an hour. they'll bubble up and get smooshy. Use a fork to pick out the skins and then puree in the blender or (my favorite) the magic bullet. (its as easy as 1-2-3...haha)
Baby spoons are so cute too!
Don't force the food it may not be time yet! The suggested thing to do is feed your baby an ounce of milk then try a spoonful of food.
But making your own foods has tons of advantages, especially for such a new body. You can feed them foods you grow in your own garden like carrots and peas, you can buy organic fruits and vegetables, you can buy local, it's way cheaper than buying baby food and you can make a bunch and freeze it in ice cube trays (see my "Boob Cube" blog entry) And lastly it's more fun =] They even make baby cook books.

Love
PlusPeace

Friday, September 3, 2010

Easy Kitchen Classics

Now cooking is not my thing, I'm getting better at it (for really good recipes go to my sisters blog Junk by KelseyJeanne ) but for the time being I have stuck to really easy recipes, ones that work well for the tired mom and thought I'd share.
Quiche and Italian Quesadillas are my favorite ones so far so we'll start there.

Quiche!
For crust:
-2 tbs rosemary
-1 tsp salt
-1 cup flour
-1/3 cup shortening
-5 tbs water

mix all rosemary, salt and flour in a bowl. Using a fork add in shortening and water. Use hands to finish mixing. When it seems pretty well mixed sprinkle flour on a flat surface and roll the dough until its about 12 inches wide (circle) Place in your pie pan and then cover with tinfoil. Bake for 5 minutes at 450 and then remove tinfoil and bake until golden brown (about another 5 minutes) and remove from oven. Turn heat down to 350

For filling you will need:
-1 cup of any leftover veggies you have in the fridge (last night I used peppers, onions and garlic because they were on the verge of going bad)
-5 strips of crispy cooked bacon or ham
-2 eggs
-1 cup milk
-1 tbs flour

Sate veggies in a skillet with 2 tbs olive oil then put in a bowl. Add meat, eggs, milk and flour. Mix well and pour into pie crust. Put in over, uncovered for 35 minutes. take out and enjoy! Makes 8 slices and you can use leftovers. It's pretty easy and fairly fast.

Italian Quesadillas!

You will need:
1/4 onion
1/2 red pepper
2 tbs chopped garlic
fresh basil (i buy the tube of basil they have in produce section)
cherry tomatoes (halved)
olive oil
perdu pre-cooked roast chicken strips
Italian shredded cheese blend
tortillas

Preheat oven to 350. In a pan sate onions, peppers, garlic until golden brown, add tomatoes and chicken and remove from heat. if you bought the tube of basil spread thin over on of the tortillas if you bought fresh mix with sate veggies. Add veggies to torilla evenly and coat with cheese. Put another tortilla on top and bake in oven for 12 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Yeah those are both fairly quick and the veggies can be whatever is in the fridge, same with the meat on both. So if you don't wanna shot and dont want to cook a whole big meal both of these have meat, dairy, vegetable and grain and work for lunch too.

Love,
PlusPeace