Stick Food!

Hi all, with the New York Renaissance Faire opening up this weekend in Tuxedo Park, NY, I thought I would commemorate this with Food in Stick Form (food on a stick doesn’t seem like a good idea for babies).  I made my son fish sticks, the frozen ones that we all remember so well from child hood, freak me out a bit.  They remind me of McDonald’s fish, which also freaks me out.  It was so easy to make and he liked them so much!  They were fresh, and healthy.  You could even make this for the adults in the family, just rather than cut them up into strips, serve as a fillet.

1 fillets of light fish (I used Tilapia, but feel free to use Cod or Haddock also)

2 eggs

1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs

1/3 cup of grated Parmesan cheese

2 tbsp apple juice

Preheat the oven to 375. Cut fillet into stripes. Combine the eggs and the apple juice together. Combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Those are your dredging station! Dip the fish into the egg mixture, then the bread crumb mixture. Put on a rimmed baking sheet. The baking sheet goes into the oven for about 20 minutes. Flip half way through. Depending on your oven you might need to keep these in there longer.

Summer Squash Sticks

1 large summer squash, cut into sticks

3 eggs

1 Cup rice flour

1 cup bread crumbs

½ cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450, and spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Dip the squash sticks into the rice flour, then the eggs

, then the breadcrumb/Parmesan mixture. Then put right onto baking tray. Continue this process until all are dredged. Bake for 10 minutes, flip the sticks over and bake for another 10 minutes. The rice flour makes everything nice and crunchy.

My LO loved both of these, they were easy for him to eat, and he loved the idea of biting something. ENJOY

Maple Roasted Spiced Carrots

This will be particularly good not only for your baby as a puree or a finger food, but also for your guests to serve at dinner, I think it tastes a little bit like Thanksgiving.

8 carrots, peeled and diced (or if serving for adults, just slice into rounds)

2 TBSP butter

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp Chinese Five Spice

Preheat oven to 350. Melt the butter in a skillet. Add the carrots and cook in the pan for about 10 minutes. Add the maple syrup and Chinese Five Spice and stir to coat.

Cook on stove top for an additional 10 minutes. Place pan into oven and cook carrots for an additional 15 minutes, until the carrots are tender and soft.

These taste very sweet, with a hint of spice.l

My son really enjoyed these carrots as a side dish. You could also place the softened carrots into the blender, add a hint of breast milk/formula/ water and make a smooth puree for a younger baby. Just be sure to remember the 4 day rule, and treat spices as a new ingredient.

Enjoy!

4 o'clock Pickle!!

I love pickles.  In fact I love pickles so much that I get a pickle delivery at the New York Renaissance Faire… wait let me explain. A few years back I was working at a booth at the faire called Perth Pewter (they make really amazing stuff, check them out at faire or online www.perthpewter.com), and it was hot, really really hot. The booth manager said to me “you look hot and dehydrated, I am getting you a pickle.” The time happened to be 4 o’clock. That pickle perked me right up, and from then on I told the pickle pirate (the guy at the faire the sells pickles) that if he came back everyday at 4 o’clock that he would have a guaranteed sale. So he did, everyday at 4 o’clock in front of Perth Pewter I got a pickle. It was great, he made a big show about it as time went on, and now 5 years later he still comes by for that pickle. But faire doesn’t start for another few weeks, and my son recently discovered his own loves for pickles while we were at dinner. He took a bit out of it and got so excited that he could bite food, he ate 2 pickles!

So while at the farmer’s market this week, we got Kirby cucmbers in the basket and my first reaction was “IM GONNA MAKE PICKLES!” They are a great snack food for older babies and toddlers, and moms and dads, and I couldn’t believe how easy it was! I do not have canning supplies so this is not the traditional bell jar pickles, this is a quicker pickle.

Half-Sour Pickles- DO NOT PUREE

4 kirby cucmbers (About a pound), sliced into halves

½ cup of boiling water

3 Tbps. Salt

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 TBSP of dill

½ tsp of Coriander seeds

Mix the salt and boiling water together. Add ice to the mixture to cool off the water.  Add the cucumbers to the salt water mixture. Then add the rest of your ingredients and cover with water.

You will then need a bowl or a plate that fits inside the bowl your currently using to weigh down the cucumbers.  Let them sit for 8 hours in room temp, then after 8 hours transfer to the fridge. Voila you have pickles!!

This is a great snack for your older baby or toddler, my son especially loves the “crunch” noise he gets from  biting it.

Don’t be intimidated, this is so quick and easy! ENJOY!!!

Live from New Jersey, Lets Talk About Beets!!

Daycare is closed this week for vacation, so my little boy is staying at grandma’s house!  The last few weeks he is getting a bit picky with his intake of meat products, as a whole, so I decided to hide some turkey… some kids you need to hide to veggies, mine you need to hide the meat apparently lol.  I have been making this for him for a few weeks now and he loves it so much, he pushes other food away. I thought that was a sign to share it with you lovely folks =).

My son has taking a real liking to beets, which is very exciting to me since so many people have issues with them, probably because they have never tried them. The World's Healthiest Foods is a website that rates foods according to their nutritional value. This is the nutritional rating for beets!

Nutrient	Amount	DV (%)	Nutrient Density	World's Healthiest Foods Rating
folate	148.24 mcg	37.1	11.4	excellent
manganese	0.45 mg	22.5	6.9	very good
fiber	3.81 g	15.2	4.7	very good
potassium	442.00 mg	12.6	3.9	very good
vitamin C	6.66 mg	11.1	3.4	very good
tryptophan	0.03 g	9.4	2.9	good
magnesium	31.28 mg	7.8	2.4	good
iron	1.09 mg	6.1	1.9	good
phosphorus	54.40 mg	5.4	1.7	good
copper	0.10 mg	5.0	1.5	good

Roasted Beets and Apples with hidden turkey….shhh

3 beets, cleaned, and roasted (in tin foil in oven at 375 for an hour)

2 apples

The tops of beets (otherwise known as beet greens)

3 oz of roasted turkey

When the beets are done roasting, simply take a paper towel and the peel the skin right off.

Chop the beets and get them into a skillet with the apples and turkey and apple juice. Everything will turn pink, don’t think it is abnormal! Lastly, put in the beet greens and let that wilt down, should take 10 minutes.

Simply put this into your food processor, process it and serve! Like I said, my son loved this, I feel good knowing he is getting some protein into him and he loves it!

ENJOY!!!

Daddy Makes Real Food!

With all the fun I have been having making my little boy food, my husband wanted to join in on the action.  Actually, he does all the cooking for him and I. He has really come a long way in his cooking, when we first met I did most of the cooking, and now it has slowly shifted to his responsibility, at least on the nights we eat dinner together.

In the winter, my husband makes a great stew, he makes it in the crock-pot and lets it cook, and it is amazing.  Our son, much to his dismay, has indicated a distaste to beef as of now, so he decided to make him a roasted vegetarian version.  Rather than have him slave over a pot in the summer heat, he decided to turn on the oven, let the oven do all the work and get the same flavors!

1 LBS. carrots, washed, peeled and sliced

3 turnips, washed peeled and sliced

3 scallions, sliced

A few sprigs of time

Rosemary

Oregano

Basil

Chives (ok he literally just went to my herb garden and picked a little bit of everything)

Place all of that on a baking sheet with some olive oil, and put it in a 400-degree oven for 30 minutes.

Hit it in the food processor, and then add ¼ cup of apple cider/juice/water/stock/breast milk/formula, whatever your liquid preference.  We added apple cider since we had just purchased it that morning from our local farmer’s market. The liquid will help bring it all together into a nice chunky puree. 

If you have a younger baby that you are making this for, then you definitely want to use breast milk or formula and do this in a blender, as the blender will create a smoother consistency for baby.

My husband tasted this and said that it was so good he will have to make this as a side dish going forward (not pureed though).

So there you have it folks, real daddies can make real food as well!

ENJOY!