Alien Patties (Avocado Soy Patties)

My husband is much better about adding the fun spin on foods to encourage our little epicuties to eat hence the name of this recipe--ALIEN PATTIES.  I was not at home when our little ones sampled these peculiar patties, but I heard it received rave reviews.

The dairy free recipe hunt is on for our Little Asher; I have noticed that dairy (cheeses, yogurt, milk, etc.) tends to be a common ingredient in foods that are good finger foods so the search can be difficult at times.  However, I am determined to conquer this challenge!

Again, I was skeptical about this recipe, thinking it would taste terrible.  Why am I always so skeptical, because it was surprisingly delicious?  Little Asher is still young enough that every new food is exciting and Little Joy tends to like most foods the first go round.  Little Joy tends to get bored with the same foods unless its mac and cheese or PB&J.  She still eats what is presented, the quantity she eats varies if monotony  exists :)

This is adapted from a recipe in "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium avocado
• 1 cup cooked soy beans (I used fresh frozen and steamed them in my steamer)
• 1/2 cooked brown rice (I prefer to use short grain brown rice, it is simply delicious in taste and texture)
• 1/4 cup onion
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard (I used stone ground mustard, see picture)
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 tablespoons wheat germ
• 1/3 cup (give or take) bread crumbs (I use the kind with herbs/spices already in it)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Steps:

1. Cook brown rice according to package instructions (this takes the longest).
2. Steam/cook soy beans according to package instructions; I steamed using a steam.
3. Coarsely chop onion and place in small food chopper; I almost make a puree out of my onions when feeding it to my kids because I am not the best chopper.  Place in medium bowl, set aside.
4. Place cooked soybeans in small food chopper **you do not need to rinse the chopper between uses because all the ingredients will be mixed together at the end** and chop as finely as possible (without adding water); place in bowl with onion
5. Place avocado meat in small food chopper and puree; place in bowl with onion and soy beans.
6. Mix remaining ingredients together in the medium bowl; add more or less bread crumbs to make the mixture into patties.  Make them thinner than you think so they will hold together while cooking.
7. Heat olive oil in large skillet.
8. "Fry" patties in hot oil until browned on both sides.
9. Serve warm.

Serve:  Warm

Yield:  Depends on the size you make the patties.

Difficulty:  2 out of 5; pretty easy as long as you have made the rice and soy beans ahead.

Tip:  Make the patties a little thinner than you think because the crispy outside is the best part!

Storage:  I have not tried to freeze these, but I imagine they would freeze well.  If I froze them, I would thaw and then toast in the toaster oven.  They would be fin in the fridge for several days.

Timing:  10 Months; Since I pureed the soy beans, avocado and onions it was very soft.  Little Asher only has his two bottom teeth all the way in with the top just barely poking out and he gobbled this up just fine.  As always, be sure to introduce the ingredients individually before testing this on your Epicutie.

Epicutie Rating (see left side of page for rating descriptions):

Little Joy (2 years):  Yummy in the Tummy; she liked it the first time but did not enjoy it as much as a left over.

Little Asher (9 months):  Yummy in the Tummy; he loved this every time I served last week!

Ingredients

Avocado puree

Soy bean puree

Not a great photo but this is them cooking; not sure why it looks so yellow in the pan; there was not much olive oil in there.

Plating/presentation has never been my strong suit

mmmmm

Chewing

Pretty good stuff.