Pumpkin Ravioli

Pasta is always easy and fun for toddlers, so it's always on my short list. This recipe comes from Double Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld. Since the cheese is cooked and part skim we decided to try it on Little Asher, no horrible reactions just some lower stomach issues.

Ingredients:

• 1 (15 oz) can white kidney beans; drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup part skim ricotta
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 3/4 garlic powder
• dash of salt
• 1 egg
• 72 wonton papers
• cornstarch
• Your favorite marinara sauce microwaved until warm

Steps:

1. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.
2. Place beans, pumpkin, ricotta, Parmesan and garlic in a food processor and purée until smooth.
3. In a small bowl beat the egg with a tablespoon of water.
4. Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornstarch.
5. Set wonton papers on a cutting board. Place one tablespoon of the pumpkin mixture into the center of the wrapper. Brush the edges with the egg wash. Top off with another wonton paper. Press firmly together.
6. Place the ravioli on the baking sheet. When all the ravioli is ready, carefully place them in the lightly boiling water using a slotted spoon.
7. As soon as the rise to the top of the pot, about five minutes, they are done. Divide among 6 bowls and top with marinara sauce. Serve immediately.

Tip: Next time I make these I will use ONE wonton paper and half the filling to make the ravioli smaller and easier for toddlers to pick up. I will fold the wonton paper in half vs using two papers per ravioli.

Storage: After cooking, 3-5 days in the fridge. I recommend refrigerating IN the sauce. I froze some uncooked ravioli a for quick meal in the future.

Timing: 10 months; super easy to chew!

Difficulty: 4 out of 5; It's only high on the difficulty scale because filling the ravioli is time consuming and once out start making this recipe you can't really stop for long.

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

• Little Asher: Yummy In The Tummy; holy gobble fest!!!!! After I cut I the ravioli he devoured three!
• Little Joy: Yummy In The Tummy; Little Joy quickly ate two ravioli without prompting. She even loved it left over. Little Asher wasn't as big a fan of the left over version :)
• Kelly: love it!!!!!!

Ready to serve

Cutting her first bit; this was a messy food---bib required this time!

Trying it!

"HMMM Mommy!"

I didnt get his first reaction but as soon as I took Little Joys picture---look how much he had eaten!

MORE!!!

Minestrone Soup

This recipe was adapted from one I found on foodnetwork.com.  I love soups, there is something so homey about this one.  I particularly enjoyed this one because 1) its easy, 2) its a crock pot recipe and 3) it made my house smell awesome.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups reduced-sodium vegetable or chicken broth or combination
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (15-ounce) can white (cannellini or navy) beans, drained
• 1 cup uncooked lentils (sorted first)
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 celery stalk, chopped
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
• 3 bay leaves
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 2 cups cooked pasta (ditalini or other small pasta)
• 1-2 medium zucchini, chopped
• 1-9 oz package chopped frozen spinach, defrosted
• 4 tablespoons grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (omit for dairy free)

Steps:

1. In a slow cooker, combine broth, tomatoes, beans, lentils, carrots, celery, onion, thyme, sage, bay leaves, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.
2. Thirty minutes before the soup is done cooking, add pasta, zucchini and spinach.
3. Cover and cook 30 more minutes. Remove bay leaves and season, to taste, with salt and black pepper.
4. Ladle soup into bowls and sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top (omit for dairy free)

Tip:  I chopped my onion, celery and carrots the night before cooking and placed them in an air tight container in the fridge.  This really expedited the cooking the next morning when my house was filled with the usual morning chaos!

Yield:  The original recipe says 4, but I say more like 6

Storage:  Fridge for close to a week or freezer for 1-2 months.

Timing:  10 months; This is mild and since it is a soup everything is very soft.  When we served it to our 10 month old, we just pulled everything out of the broth.  Assuming each ingredients has been tried individually on your little one, I would say 10 months is plenty old enough to try this.

Difficulty:  2 out of 5; its a dump and go recipe---easy and fast!!

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

• Little Joy:  Somewhat yummy; we are at the fun age where Little Joy likes to exert her will.  She liked it, but did not want to admit she did.  My husband and I LOVED IT.  And when I eat it as leftovers for lunch, Little Joy is always asking for bites.
• Little Asher:  I refuse to comment on his ratings lately.  He is cutting eight teeth and only want purees.  So annoying!!!  I am ready to be DONE with teething!

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.

Cream of Spinach (revised for Dairy Free)

I love the Cream Spinach with Lentils Over Brown Rice that we posted in April 2011; I have made it countless times for Little Joy and still do!  Little Asher cannot have dairy at all until he is 15-18 months so this limits me on what I can cook for him and I prefer not to cook separate meals for my two epicuties (even though I know it is inevitable as this stage).

I decided to really test my cooking abilities and wing making this recipe dairy free, below is what I came up with and it was quite tasty, surprisingly.  If you look at our previous post, you will see it is very similar.  

Oh and for the record, this tasted great to me too!

Ingredients:

• One bag baby spinach
• 1 tablespoon grated sweet onion (about 1/3-1/2 of a large onion)
• 1 small clove garlic, minced or through a garlic press
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup imitation cream cheese (see photo below)
• 1/4 cup firm tofu
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp dried fresh basil
• Cooked red lentils (cooked according to package)

Steps:

1. Cook red lentils according to package instructions or if there are not any, check out this website about cooking lentils
2. Wash and trim  spinach (if needed), place in food processor along with minced/pressed garlic and grated onion.
3. Pulse it in food processor several times until the spinach reaches your desired consistency.  Be careful not to over process it, the goal is the finely and evenly chop it (in the previous post I said to chop it with a knife, but I found the spinach gets to a better size for a younger baby when the food processor is used--not to mention its MUCH quicker).
4. Combine cream cheese and tofu in small chopper and puree until smooth (you might be able to use 1/2 tofu and omit the imitation cream cheese but I wanted the consistency to be smooth since the original recipe called for yogurt).
5. Place spinach mixture in large sauce pan (spinach cooks down a lot so if your pan looks full...do not worry).
6. Cook over medium heat covered for approximately 5-8 minutes. Be sure to shake the pan often to ensure the veggies do not get burned.
7. Drain veggies well (if needed).
8. Stir in Olive Oil and continue to cook for 3-5 minutes, continue to stir constantly (I am not good at doing anything constantly when the epicuties are awake, so just do your best)
9. Remove from heat and stir in tofu mixture, salt, pepper and basil.
10. While warm, mix in about a 1/3 lentil to 2/3 spinach mixture.

Yield: 3-4 servings

Serve:  Warm; can be served over cooked brown rice.  I spoon fed this to my 10 month old (Little Asher) and my toddler fed herself with the cream of spinach on a cracker.

Variation for a Toddler:  Little Joy enjoyed the dairy version of this on top of crackers (in the original post it was served over brown rice, but tried something new to liven things up).  So it was kinda like a dip!

Timing: 10 months or later; there are some strong flavors in here and lentils are best to wait to introduce until 10 months. This food does not require much chewing/grinding so if your Little One does not have many teeth, do not despair!

Storage: I would say 3-5 days in the fridge; freezer for about a month.  I froze the dairy version of this and it tasted fine frozen and reheated.

Difficulty: 2 out of 5 using the food process made this quick and easy

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

• Little Joy:  Yummy in the Tummy: She loved eating this as a dip.  We also tried it in a quesadilla and she was not as keen on it.
• Little Asher:  Yummy in the Tummy:  He kept opening his mouth for more!!!  He even loved it on the second day.

Step 3:  Pulse spinach, onion and garlic in food processor

Step 9: After adding tofu mixture

Step 10:  Add lentils and stir

Little Asher's Meal; served with lima beans and tofu cubes dusted with graham crackers (post for that coming soon)

Little Joy's meal; cream spinach served over crackers with tofu cubes, cheese and lima beans

Little Joy trying it

She's saying "Its gonna be yummmmy"

"I like it Mommy" she said

Little Asher getting ready for the first bite

Seeing if Big Sister liked it

After several bites, he got into it and he liked it!!

Creamy Whole-Grain Risotto

Up next in my review of recipes from Jennifer Seinfeld's "Double Delicious" is her Creamy Whole Grain Risotto. This is another of her recipes that boasts its quick, which always catches my eye! I encourage all of you buy her book(s); they are great, healthy and live up to their DELICIOUSNESS!!!! Here is the recipe with a few of my minor alterations.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups short grain brown rice (this took me a week to find and it is not cheap; check your health/organic food aisle)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 large onion pureed or very finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves pureed or very finely chopped
• 2 cups low fat, reduced sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup cauliflower puree (if you are using the ice cube tray method, the conversion is approximately 1.5 cubes=1/4 cup)
• 1 cup carrot puree
• 1 spring fresh basil (big sprig, especially if it is from your backyard like mine)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 2 tablespoon trans fat free tub butter (can substitute with regular butter if you want)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Steps:

1. In medium saucepan, add brown rice and 4 cups water; bring to a boil, immediately cover and reduce heat to a low simmer.
2. Cook for 45-50 minutes (this is longer than the recipe said, but I wanted to be sure it was soft for Little Joy) or until tender.
3. Remove from heat and allow the rice to steam with the lid on for 5 minutes.
4. Drain, if needed (I did not need to).
5. Puree onion and garlic together, set aside.
6. Heat oil in a large pot/skillet over medium-high heat.
7. When oil is hot, add purred onion and garlic (step 5).
8. Cook until onions soften (10 minutes) but not brown.
9. Add rice (prepared in steps 1-4), broth, both purees, basil, salt and pepper.
10. Simmer on low heat until 1/4 of liquid evaporates (about 5-10 minutes).
11. Remove from heat, stir in butter and remove basil.
12. Serve immediately.
13. Sprinkle with Parmesan after you plate the item (to make sure each serving has Parmesan since this is a key ingredient if you ask me).

Yield: The book says 6 servings, but it was more like 7-8 for us.

Storage: Refrigerator for 2-3 days; freezer for a month. I have not tried heating from the freezer yet though!!

Timing: Based on your child's ability to chew, this can be given as early as around 10 months I would say.

Difficulty: 2 out of 3; if you do not count the separate steps of making the purees, this pulls together quickly and easily.

TIPS:

1. Make the rice ahead of time and set aside (steps 1-4).
2. I puree the onion and garlic vs. chop since I know my fine chopping skills are lacking and Little Joy like onion and garlic but not a BIG OLE chunk of it.
3. If you are using frozen purees, thaw them in the fridge the night before and ensure they are completely thawed before adding. This saves on the time the risotto has to cook in step 10.
4. Although this dish can stand alone, you may decide to serve with chicken on the side or mixed in if you want some variety. I would recommend making the chicken from the Pasta with Pea Pesto and Chicken Post; it went along nicely with it. Guys like the meat with this dish.

Epicutie Rating: Yummy in The Tummy--See right side of page for descriptions

Little Joy thought this was a funny finger food. She gobbled up over half what we served her right away and then slowed down. I beginning to learn Little Joy loves EVERYTHING the first 2-4 times she has something, then the newness wears off :)

I am not sure what I did with the pictures; I will add once I find them!!!

Easy, Healthy, Delicious Chili

Chili is such a great meal because it can usually be made quick, healthy, be eaten by the entire family, and covers all the food groups, which saves from needing to make multiple side dishes.  I also love Chili because everyone has their own special recipe that they love and they will compare notes with me! 

Before I found this recipe, I had my own that I could make in 10 minutes, but I have been converted.  This one takes a teeny bit longer, but its still very easy to make, and extremely healthy.  I started giving this to Little Frances at 10 months, mixed in with one part Chili, 3 parts carrot puree.  Now that she is a bit older, and has more teeth and is more open to seasonings, I give it to her as is.  I can also attest that this purees really well for younger babies or babies with fewer teeth.

I found this recipe in Deceptively Delicious with a few tiny alterations. 

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 chopped red onion
• 1 lb lean ground turkey or beef
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp chili powder, or to taste
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1 (15 oz) can chopped tomatoes
• 1 (26 oz) carton reduced fat, low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 finely chopped red pepper puree
• 1/2 cup carrot puree or finely chopped carrot if you don’t have any puree on hand
• 1/4 cup cornmeal (You cannot find regular degerminated ground corn meal in Russia like you can in the states, so I substituted it for a very coarsely ground corn meal that I found.  It was a happy accident because it turned out even more delicious and is probably a little bit healthier since it is pure corn without additives!  I encourage you to look for something similar in your local grocery.)
• 2 tbsp flaxseed meal
• 2 (15 oz) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Steps:

1. Coat the bottom of a large pot with cooking spray and set it over medium heat.
2. When the pot is hot, add the oil.
3. Add the onion and cook until it begins to soften, about 2 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, sprinkle the meat with the garlic, chili powder, salt, paprika, and pepper. (This is the only time I actually seasoned the meat before putting it in the pot as it seems like an unnecessary step and dirties an extra bowl.  Usually I just throw them on top of the meat afterwards and it turns out just fine.)
5. Add the meat to the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is no longer pink, 5 - 6 minutes.
6. Stir in the tomatoes.
7. Add the broth, red pepper, carrot, cornmeal, and flaxseed meal, and stir well.
8. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered 15 - 20 minutes, or until the flavors have blended.
9. Stir in the beans and cook a little longer, just to heat them through.

Yield: It all depends on how much you eat, for a regular adult, 8 servings, but for me only about 6… I love this recipe so much that I usually eat until I am totally stuffed!

Storage: I plan to store this in the refrigerator for 1 week and frozen for up to 2 months.  This is not scientific.

Difficulty: 2 out of 5. This is a really, easy quick recipe to make, and it doesn’t require a lot of ingredients, which I love.

Epicutie Rating: Somewhat Yummy--See right side of page for descriptions  Even though this is big hit with mommy, Little Frances doesn’t seem to love it quite as much.  Although she doesn’t giggle when she eats it and squeal for more, she will still eat quite a bit of it and doesn’t seem to hate it.

Miscellaneous: When I told the hubs and my MIL and that I wanted to give this to Little Frances, they both looked at me like I was crazy!  Apparently they had seem Mr. Mom one too many times.  I am happy to report that this Little Frances has tried this many times without any unwelcome side effects!

Meatballs for the Whole Family

I wrote a post several weeks ago for Baby Meatballs from my "Super Baby Food" book. I like that receipie because it is easy and fast, but I wanted to try something on Little Joy that we (her parents) would also give high ratings on! As I make my two week "menu" for what we will eat for dinner, I usually ask my husband for any special requests. He asked for spaghetti with meatballs. I have never made them before I thought "whew, the seem hard". NOT THE CASE! When we sampled these meatballs, I KNEW Little Joy would give it a Yummy In the Tummy, and that she did. This recipe comes from Rachel Ray on FoodNetwork.com (I have only tested the meatballs so far, but plan to try the sauce soon).

Serve this for the whole family by tossing with your favorite spaghetti sauce!!!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, eyeball it
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs, a couple of handfuls
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, Parmigiano-Reggiano or Romano cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• Salt and pepper (I omit salt from most of my recipes particularly those Little Joy will be eating)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Beat eggs slightly in medium-large bowl.
3. Mix in beef and Worcestershire, bread crumbs, cheese, garlic, salt and pepper.
4. Roll meat into 1 1/2 inch medium-sized meatballs (or whatever size your prefer really) and place on nonstick cookie sheet or a cookie sheet greased with extra-virgin olive oil.
5. Bake balls 10 to 12 minutes, until no longer pink.

Yield: 32 medium meatballs

Serve: Serve mashed up or cut into pieces appropriate for the age of your child. You can serve them alone along with some veggies OR mash/cut up and toss with some spaghetti (recipe review coming soon for spaghetti).

Timing: Beef is better left until 10 months. These should turn out fairly soft so if your little one can grind with his teeth some, then they should be ready to sample this food! As always, just watch your little one the first time they try a new food to ensure they are not having trouble swallowing/managing the food.

Storage: Freezer for about a month; fridge for a couple of days.

Miscellaneous: Little Joy has had these plain AND in spaghetti...either way she loved it.

Difficulty: 2 out of 5...easy, easy!!!

Epicutie Rating: Yummy In the Tummy (see right side of page for descriptions) Little Joy gobbles this up no matter how you serve it up!!!

Ingredients

Step 3: Meat mixture before forming into balls

Step 4: Shape into balls. I cooked mine on a silpat (here is one similar to mine)--I love using this anytime I bake!!!

Baby Beef Stew

I started writing this post on April 5 and just remembered about it!

When I made this according to the recipe on wholesomebabyfood.com, my Epictutie Little Joy did NOT like it AT ALL. Perplexed by her very sour review, I tried it I did not like it at all either. It was just too bland, esp the potatoes. After freezing this giant batch, I was frustrated because I did not want it to go to waste. After several weeks, it hit me---SPICE IT UP!!!! So I thawed/heated some, added a dash of garlic powder and basil...SUCCESS!!!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cubed cooked beef (or ground beef; I would use ground beef if your baby does not have as many teeth to grind with)
• 1 peeled potato
• ¼ cup shelled fresh or frozen peas
• 1 peeled carrot
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1/4 cup uncooked pasta (try ditalini as it's small and makes for great finger food.)
• 4 cups of water
• Dash of garlic powder and basil leaves or other seasonings you think would be yummy; I would add these to each individual serving rather than the whole batch

Steps:

1. Wash vegetables thoroughly
2. Chop veggies very fine.
3. Simmer the veggies in water for 20 minutes or until softened
4. Add the pasta and cook for 10 minutes longer or until very soft. Drain but save the water as a beef stock for other uses.
5. Mash or puree the mix until it is of a consistency adequate for your baby.
6. Serve Warm and add seasonings.

Yield: Sorry, I dont remember exactly but I would say about 10 servings for a 10-12 month old.

Storage: Freeze one serving size in a sandwich bag and place all the individual servings in a freezer bag for 2 months or so.

Difficulty: 3 out of 5; lots of chopping to do which always makes the difficulty higher since I am usually occupying Little Joy at the same time. Overall not too hard though, just lots to chop.

Epicutie Rating: (see right side of page for descriptions)

BEFORE adding seasonings: Sour Puss

AFTER adding seasonings: Yummy in the Tummy

All ingredients chopped and ready to add water to simmer

Simmering veggies and beef

Just before serving (without seasonings, hehe)

Chicken Sweet Potato Lentils

We continue on our journey into the wonderful world of lentils with this post. For more information about the goodness of lentils, check out wholesomebabyfood.com's great information on lentils. Also

I was perplexed when I started to actually prepare the "Chicken Potato Lentils" receipe on wholesomebabyfood.com's site. The directions listed ingredients that were not in ingredient list so, I improvised. If your little one does not like this dish---blame me because I kinda made it up!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of water
• 3/4 cup of red lentils (or check out this website with some lentil cooking guidelines)
• 1/4 cup brown rice
• 1 small sweet potato that has been peeled and diced
• 1/4 carrots diced/sliced
• 1 uncooked chicken breast diced into small pieces
• Dash of lemon pepper

Steps:

1. Spread lentils out in a single layer on a white kitchen towel or a light colored work surface. Check for and discard any dirt, tiny stones, and damage lentils.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a large or medium pot.
3. Bring to a boil
4. Reduce heat to simmer and allow to simmer approximately 20 minutes or until veggies are soft and lentils have melted (you will know what I mean by melted once you check your dish after 20 minutes; also I covered my pot for about 3/4 of the cooking to ensure the veggies got soft)
5. Allow to cool, but serve warm

Yield: Probably about 6-10 meals. Maybe, depends on how much your little one eats at each meal.

Storage: Refrigerator for about 3-5 days and freezer for a month maybe. Just guessing here

Timing: 10 months due to the chunks of chicken and lentils. The potatoes and carrots get very very soft so not many teeth are needed for that. It is really the lentils and chicken chunks that make me recommend this for an older baby.

Epicutie Rating: Somewhat Yummy -- See right side of page for descriptions

Little Joy liked the first few bites but became less and less enthusiastic with each bite. As we offered this meal again over the next few days, she started turning her nose up at it. I think I will freeze the right and try again in a week or two.

Ingredients

Step 1: Separate lentils

Step 3: Mix all ingredients together

Step 5: Allow to cool

First bite...hmmm

HEHEHE, that was good

I am pretending to like this mommy!

Cream of Spinach with Lentils over Brown Rice

Continuing with my theme of iron rich foods....what iron rich food theme would be complete without some spinach thrown in there? I was stoked to try this recipe because the other two dishes containing spinach, Little Joy Loved (scrambled eggs with steamed spinach and Vegetable Lasagna). This recipe came from wholesomebabyfood.com and southern food at about.com.

I tasted the cream of spinach and liked it too. The cream of spinach would taste great by itself too OR wholesomebabyfood.com offered an alternative of serving with Roux (which I had to google to find out what it was--basically butter and flour). If you want to make it with roux, check out the wholesomebabyfood.com site.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound fresh spinach (my stores were out or did not sell fresh so I used bagged spinach, sometimes you have to improvise)
• 1 tablespoons finely chopped or grated sweet onion
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 teasp minced fresh basil (I did not have fresh on hand so I used dried and it worked fine)
• Cooked brown rice (cooked according to package)
• Cooked red lentils (cooked according to package)

Steps:

1. Cook brown rice according to package instructions (this usually takes 45 minutes, so I would start this first)
2. Cook red lentils according to package instructions or if there are not any, check out this website about cooking lentils
3. Wash, trim and chop spinach into fairly small pieces.
4. Place spinach in large sauce pan (spinach cooks down a lot so if your pan looks full...do not worry)
5. Stir in sweet onion and garlic.
6. Cook over medium heat covered for approximately 5-8 minutes. Be sure to shake the pan often to ensure the veggies do not get burned.
7. Drain veggies well (mine did not need to be drained, maybe the water cooked out)
8. Stir in Olive Oil and continue to cook for 3-5 minutes, continue to stir constantly (I am not good at doing anything constantly when Little Joy is awake, so just do your best)
9. Remove from heat and stir in yogurt, salt, pepper and basil.
10. While warm, mix in about 2/3 serving spinach mixture with 1/3 lentils or 1/2 and 1/2, whatever proportions you think your Little One will enjoy. I would not mix everything all together until you see how your Little One likes it.
11. Pour spinach/lentil mixture over brown rice, stir and serve warm.

Yield: 3 servings for a 12 month old good eater :)

Timing: 10 months or later; there are some strong flavors in here and lentils are best to wait to introduce until 10 months. This food does not require much chewing/grinding so if your Little One does not have many teeth, do not despair!

Storage: I would say 3-5 days in the fridge and I would not recommend freezing this particular dish.

Miscellaneous: Little Joy does not like it when things hang/dangle out of her mouth...she MUST push it all in her mouth. For example, when the stringy spinach would not make it allll the way in her mouth she was using the back of her hand to get it all in her mouth---in other words, this got a bit messy even for my tidy baby to eat.

Difficulty: 3 out of 5 simply because you have to cook three different things all at once AND i consider it difficult when I cannot freeze something because that means I have to MAKE it more often.

Epicutie Rating: Yummy in the Tummy -- see right side of page for rating descriptions

In looking back at all my ratings I notice that my epicutie loves almost everything. I promise I am not exaggerating. She gobbled up a HUGE bowl of this.

Ingredients

Step 9: All ingredients incorporated for the cream of spinach

Step 11: Getting ready to mix the spinach/lentil mixture with rice then---serve!

Checking out the new food

After one bite, signing "more"

TRYING to feed herself, but very unsuccessful with this food.

Yummy in the Tummy!

See....loved it :)

Baby Meatballs

I am always always looking for beef recipes because Little Joy has slightly low iron (she is still within normal range, just the low end of normal range). This caught my eye because it was SO easy. This recipe came from "Super Baby Food" but I added the spices on my own...Little Joy loves her some flavor packed foods!

Ingredients:

• One part beef
• One part mashed potatoes or raw rolled oats (I used mashed potatoes because I did not have any rolled oats on hand)
• Pinch of garlic
• Pinch of pepper
• Two pinches basil leaves

Steps:

1. Preheatoven to 350 degrees
2. Mix well raw beef with all other ingredients
3. Form into one inch balls
4. Place on ungreased cooking sheet
5. *Bake at 350 degrees for at least 20 minutes or until cooked completely (you could use a meat thermometer but I do not have one so I just sliced into the middle of the biggest one and when it was cooked colored I pulled them; mine took more like 40 minutes)
6. Drain all fat
7. Allow to cool completely

*You can also cook in a pan

Yield: Depends on the amounts you use in your "parts" above

Storage: In the fridge for 24 hours, frozen up to a month

Serve: Serve as a finger food along with some other veggies. Also, be sure to avoid cutting this into any size similar to the windpipe (that is true for any food). Can also be spoon fed if yours are not firm enough like mine were :)

Timing: I would wait until 10 months or later. Be sure your baby demonstrates the ability to chew and grind and be sure to watch your baby closely when they eat it.

Miscellaneous: Mine were too soft so I think I had too much potato and not enough meat; but thats ok!! Add your "parts" slowly to avoid this.

Difficulty: 1 out of 5; super quick and easy!

Epicutie Rating: Somewhat Yummy --See right side of page for descriptions

I think when Little Joy tried this she was expecting Turkey Loaf so she took about four in her hand and crammed them in her mouth!! She sorta looked at me like "whaaat??", took and break and then pressed on. She ate about one and a half meatballs. She liked them but not LOVED them.

I recommend this...its an easy way to get some beef in the diet!

Step 2: Beef, herb and potato mixture. As you can see I have too much potato but it still worked.

Step 3: Formed into balls, ready to cook

Step 6: All the fat drained and cooling

Serving as finger food

Epicutie confused by this new thing

Well it's not so bad!

Yeah...I like it!