DYI Baby Food

With recent reports about arsenic in formula and baby food snacks, I decided to do a post on making baby food instead of grown up food.

Not only does it save money, but it allows parents to control what their baby eats, and it really is not time consuming like many people think, especially if you have a food processor or even a blender (you don't need a special baby food maker, though I'm sure those are nice).

All this baby food, which will take awhile for him
to get through, was just recipe #3 below -
1 squash and 1 very small apple.

The great reference site I use for making baby food (or getting ideas) and for checking when to introduce certain foods is http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/.

Here's 4 recipes and 4 tips:

1. Mashed banana -- so easy and quick. I usually break it up with my hands first, into a bowl, and then mash it up with a fork. If you have pumped breast milk, it's nice to add that in a bit, but you don't have to. (Often grocery stores have really ripe bananas on sale for 29 cents/pound - great for baby food and muffins for mom and dad). You can also add in baby cereal, which takes me to #2.

2. Baby oat cereal -- with my first son, I bought a box of rice cereal, but it didn't really work for him, so I bought a box of oat cereal, which he ate a bit more of. Basically, though, I spent about $8 on organic baby cereal and ended up with two almost full boxes. Even if your baby likes the stuff, a little goes a long way. For baby #2, I make it myself by taking 1 cup of rolled oats (I get 3 pounds for $3, organic) and grinding them up in a food processor.

To turn the ground oats into baby oat "cereal" or oatmeal, put 1/4 cup ground oats in 1-1 1/4 cup boiling water and simmer until it reaches the correct consistency (or cook it in a rice cooker with the same water/oat ratio). Super simple, super cost-effective.

Oatmeal on the left, apple-squash puree on the right.

3. Squash/Apple Puree -- Cut your squash in half (I used acorn squash) and scoop out the seeds, fill the inside with diced (peeled) apple (organic is best). Place in a roasting pan filled with about 1/2 inch of water and roast in the oven for about 40-60 minutes (at 400 degrees), basically until the squash is soft and the skin will come off easily. (You can also just roast the squash, no apple). Peel the squash and puree the squash and apple together. You can add a dash of cinnamon if you like (and can also add a little breast milk or water to make it thinner, if you need to).

4. Applesauce -- This is more work, but I like making homemade applesauce, and this is a food item that everyone in the family can enjoy. I recommend getting (or borrowing an apple peeler). I also recommend pink lady apples. (A smart way to get organic apples for applesauce at a great price is to talk to the apple vendor at your local farmer's market and ask for apples that are typically considered "ugly" and thus don't do as well in the marketplace. I recently got 10 pounds of organic apples for $3 from my farmshare because the apples looked ugly. They tasted great and just needed to be peeled and produced wonderful applesauce).

Peel, core, and slice the apples (you'll need 5-8 if they are big apples, 12-15 if they are small -- this will make you about 4-6 adult servings of applesauce). Put the apples in a big pot filled with about 1 cup of water (almost covering the apples, but not quite) and simmer for 30-45 minutes (until apples are really soft). I recommend adding lemon juice and cinnamon to the pot. (Some people like to add nutmeg.) Mash with a potato masher or puree if for baby. I like to mix some oatmeal and applesauce together in the food processor for my little guy.

Tips:

1. Since even one squash can make a large batch of baby food, I like to sometimes double the recipe - using two squash and then use about 1/4-1/3 of the pureed vegetable for the baby and then spice up the rest for an adult vegetable side dish or soup (sometimes adding vegetable stock, herbs, etc.)

2. If you are worried about the big portions of baby food you make and the small amount the baby eats, simply freeze the baby food (in muffin tins makes it easy for later).

3. I know there are differing opinions about eggs and babies, but my first son was very underweight even though he breastfed often. I did not want to supplement with formula, and he was developmentally doing well, so our pediatrician recommended giving my son a hard boiled egg yolk. I had to mix it in with his mashed bananas to get him to eat it, but I appreciated this protein alternative. My son never had any reactions or problems with the egg and has grown and developed quite well. (He's now 2). I would ut se the hard-boiled egg white to make myself a healthier egg salad.

4. The ground oats you use for the baby's oat cereal also provide you with oat flour, which I like to use in a lot of recipes (pancakes, cookies, etc.) because it is gluten-free and has more nutrients than traditional flour. So much more affordable to make it yourself then to spend more $$ on fancy glutem-free flour.

Soup Week - Soup #3 - TPP Soup (Turnips, Potatoes and Pears)

I'm a few days past the official "week" of soup week, but I had to share today's soup inspiration. TPP soup may sound a bit odd to some, and I was a little worried about trying to make a soup with these key ingredients, but I also thought it just might work -- and it did. This soup is smooth and tasty. It is definitely one of my most creative and unusual recipes/soups, but was inspired by the items in my Farmshare box. I had lots of pears and some turnips, so I decided to try it all together in a soup.

Ingredients:

1 white onion (diced)
2 russet potatoes (diced, I didn't peel them, but you could)
3 pears (diced and peeled-make sure pears are ripe and soft)
4 turnips (diced, I didn't peel them, but you could)
1-2 pats of butter (or so)
About 4 cups of chicken stock (I used homemade, but you could use store bought or use vegetable stock to make it vegetarian).
1 tsp cinnamon
2-3 tsp thyme
2 tsp curry powder
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a large, heavy, thick-bottomed pot, melt the butter. then add the onions and cook until translucent about 5 minutes. Next, add the diced turnips and potatoes and stir to coat with the butter (add more butter, if necessary. I did).

2. Pour in enough chicken stock to just cover potatoes, turnips and onions. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low - adding salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the turnips and potatoes are tender, about 15-20 minutes.

3. Add pears and the rest of chicken stock and spices and stir. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10-15 more minutes, until all vegetables are tender. (This is the part where the soup starts to smell amazing because of the spices).

4. Puree in food processor or blender.

5. Enjoy!!

Soup Week - Soup #1 - Carrot Soup

I've been making a lot of soups lately. It seems appropriate as it's finally starting to feel like Fall here in SoCal. What's interesting about soup is that I always used to think I didn't like soup, until I started making my own soups. I had really only eaten soup out of can, and that I don't like, but I love making my own soups (and eating them!).

My latest new soup was created through a recipe blunder. My first attempt to make a carrot soup (motivated by a farmer selling me a bunch of carrots for basically $1) went awry, but my "fix" resulted in a soup that was rather delectable. I based my attempt on this recipe. It was not the recipe's fault that my soup didn't turn out. The problem came when I decided to add my own choice of spices (mainly because I didn't have on hand the herbs/spices recommended in the recipe). I added cumin, curry powder, thyme and then put in some cayenne pepper (for a little kick, or so I thought). I wasn't really measuring any of these, but was just eyeballing.

Apparently, I used too much cayenne because the soup was so spicy that it was not really edible. But, my "fix" led me to create a smooth carrot soup with a lot of depth of flavor and with protein. I added a white bean puree to it. So, here's how I did it.

Ingredients:

6 carrots (sliced)
Olive oil (or grapeseed or avocado oil), salt, black pepper
Vegetable Stock (probably 6-8 cups between the carrot and white bean puree - I always just eyeball my stock and don't measure)
1/2 white onion (diced)
6 garlic cloves (1/2 for carrot puree and 1/2 for white bean puree)
1 tsp each of cumin, curry powder, thyme
cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 cup dried white beans (or 1/2-1 can of white beans)

1. If you don't use organic carrots, then I recommend peeling them. If you do use organic, then you don't really need to peel them. Slice them into rounds, then toss the carrots with olive oil, salt and black pepper and spread them out on a baking sheet. Add 2-4 cloves of garlic to roast with the carrots as well. Broil for about 15-20 minutes (I stirred them up and turned them about halfway through)

2. Sautee onions in olive oil (I did this in my stock pot, so that I didn't dirty any extra dishes).

3. Add stock (probably 3-6 cups, it will depend on your carrots - you want to make sure you have a nice ratio to puree it) to onions and bring to a boil. Add carrots and garlic from oven and simmer until carrots get soft.

4. Put in food processor (or blender) and puree. Set aside and make white bean puree.

Since I used dried beans, I'll include instructions here for using dried beans, but you can also use canned. (First, you need to soak the white beans in water overnight the night before. Then, I bring the beans to boil in vegetable stock and then simmer for a few hours until they are soft. It usually takes about 3-4 hours with the white beans. I do this in my cast iron dutch oven and think it works really well and that the beans taste much better than canned).

5. Sautee garlic and add white beans with vegetable stock (make sure the white beans are covered with vegetable stock. You want to have enough stock to be able to puree them). Simmer for about 3-5 minutes.

6. Puree white beans, streaming in olive oil as you do (to taste).

7. Mix the two purees together.

This soup really is delicious. I think it could be a good choice for Thanksgiving (you'd probably need to make more. This is really 4 servings, max). It's a nice soup that is not expensive at all to make, but is an enjoyable Fall-inspired dish.

Wish I had pictures as it is a really pretty soup, but the friend I shared the soup with -- well, we enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take a picture.

Oh - I think it would be great to garnish it with diced avocado, caramelized onions or toasted almonds.

Taco soup recipe coming soon!

Avoiding Food Waste and Making Soup

According to some studies, on average, homes generate 474 pounds of food waste each year in America. That's a lot when people are starving here in America and in other countries.

I find that taking stock of the fridge, not going crazy at the grocery store, and cooking with what you have make a big difference. (My blog recipes are definitely based on what I have and I will make the same dish in different varieties based on what I need to use up). Sharing is also a great idea. I used to have a huge problem with produce going bad, but now I just share my produce if I think I won't be able to use it up. I've also discovered that when it comes to using up ingredients - soups are your best friend.

Here's my latest two soups both inspired by the contents of my fridge. Also, you don't have to eat all of the soup once you make it. You can freeze some for later, which I often do.

Soup #1 - Taco Soup

I had lots of leftovers from a taco bar we did at work, and I was leaving town and couldn't eat another taco, so I made taco soup using:

• Ground Turkey (seasoned with taco seasoning) - probably had 1/2 a package of cooked ground turkey left
• Black beans (seasoned with taco seasoning) - probably had 1/2 a can left
• Diced tomatoes (probably 1/2 cup)
• Frozen corn (between 1/2 and 1 full cup)
  
• Frozen tri-colored bell peppers (probably 1/2 cup)
• Canned tomatoes (with sauce) -- I diced them myself (I had used half of one large can of tomatoes in a soup the week before and the other half was in the fridge)
• 1/4 of a jar of salsa
• Vegetable stock (as needed to get the soup consistency that you want) - you could use water, if you don't have vegetable stock (if you use water, you may want to add more seasoning, though mine was seasoned perfectly with the taco seasoning that was on the beans and meat and the salsa)

Note: Of course you can omit meat and add more beans for a vegetarian version

The preparation was very simple -- aside from chopping the tomatoes, all I did was dump all of the leftovers into the crock pot along with the frozen items and turn the crock pot to high, stirring upon occasion. Perfect cooking style for someone with a 5 month old.

When you serve it, you can add shredded cheese, crushed chips, sour cream or avocado/guac if you have any left from your Mexican/Taco Fiesta.

This soup kicked ass! It was definitely one of my favorites. I didn't end up freezing any because I liked it so much that I ate it all before I left town. Thus, I avoided food waste and saved my self some money. Win. Win.

Soup #2 - "Miso" (sort of)

I made this soup this morning. I have a great miso paste that a friend gave me and I had some vegetable stock (that I had previously made) in the fridge, as well as some other veggies that were just taking up too much space, so I consolidated and my miso had:

• Tofu (about 1/4 of a package browned in a pan with peanut oil and soy sauce)
• Edamame (1/4 cup)
  
• Mushrooms (1/4 cup previously cooked with olive oil and garlic)
• Broccoli (I only had about 6 pieces of broccoli left and it was raw)

That's it. If I had green onion, I definitely would have added it. The mistake was adding the edamame -- it didn't really work out so well. The mushrooms were great, though.

Preparation -- again, simple. I put the veg stock in a pot and dumped in all of the vegetables and add in two solid tablespoons of miso paste. While I was bringing that up to a boil, I browned the tofu, dumped it in and let everything simmer. Then, I enjoyed the soup for lunch.

With both soups, these are suggestions -- see what you need to use up and create your own soup. Let me know how it goes!

Roasted Carrot Soup

Another vegetarian gem -- and this one I created purely on my own, no other recipes consulted or adjusted or used as inspiration. Instead, the inspiration was the veggies!

Ingredients

• Carrots, three sliced for roasting
• 1 Potato, cubed
• 2 small turnips, cubed (if you don't have turnips or don't want to use them, you could probably add another potato and an additional carrot or two)
• 2 shallots, diced
  
• Vegetable stock or broth (1/2-1 quart, depending on how thick you want it)
• Cumin
• Olive Oil
• Curry powder
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

1. Slice carrots for roasting - once sliced, place on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle salt, pepper and cumin (toss to coat evenly)
2. Roast at 450 degrees for about 20 minutes (start checking it at 15)
3. While the carrots are roasting, chop the other ingredients
4. Sautee shallots in olive oil (for about 5 minutes)
5. Add potatoes and turnips and cover with vegetable stock/broth - I only had 1/2 quart of stock, so it ended up being a thick puree, but I found I really liked it that way.
6. Cook until tender (typically about 15)
7. Combine ingredients in a food processor or blender (I use a blender, since I don't have a food processor) and puree. (You may need to stop and stir it around a bit to get everything to puree evenly). I recommend adding a bit more cumin as well as some curry powder during the puree process (I just add a little at a time and taste, instead of measuring).
8. Enjoy!

As you can see from my blog, I'm really getting into soups. They are easy and a great way to use a variety of vegetables (I had never used turnips before) and you can get several meals out of one batch or freeze some for later. This makes soups great for a new mom like me.

Coming soon -- my first attempt at making curry/Indian food and a blog about stock - making your own and store bought.

Winter Vegetable Soup with "Chorizo"

It's Vegan! Really!! I used Soy Chorizo (from Trader Joe's) and Veggie Stock. For people who eat meat, you could, of course, use pork chorizo or sausage and chicken or beef stock.

Ingredients

• 2 medium-sized carrots, diced
• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 small onion, diced
  
• 1 turnip, cubed/diced
• 1 potato, cubed
• Chorizo or Sausage (soy variety or meat, depending on your preference)
• Approx. 1 quart of vegetable stock or broth (or chicken or beef stock, if you prefer)
• 1 can kidney beans
• Thyme
  
• Salt, pepper
• Olive Oil

Preparation:
1. I chopped all the vegetables first and set them aside and then cooked up the chorizo over medium heat with olive oil in the pan. Then I set the chorizo aside.
2. In the same pan (as the chorizo was cooked), I cooked the turnip, carrots, onion and shallot in olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
3. Next, put the cooked vegetables in a crock pot with vegetable stock and turn on low.
4. Again in the same pan (you could use different pans, but I have a 3 1/2 month-old and no dishwasher, so I simplify), cover the potatoes in water and bring to a boil. Cook until tender.
5. Once the potatoes are tender drain them and add to the crock pot along with a can of kidney beans.
6. Add chorizo to the crock pot as well.
7. Add thyme, salt and pepper (this is all to taste)
8. Turn crock pot on high (I probably had the pot on high for an hour or so)
9. Switch to low (I did this when I left the house and left on low until I came home at the end of the day, at which point I just switched it to warm).

You don't have to make this in a crock pot. You could cook the soup on the stove for 40 minutes to an hour and be ready to serve it. The crock pot is just so easy that I used it instead. I also added some quinoa to the soup, which I had in the fridge. I think rice would also work well in this soup.

I love coming home to a warm pot of soup at the end of the day, especially when it is cool out. I hope you enjoy it as well!.