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!

Lovely Lentil Stew

This is another great one from Dr Joel Fuhrman.  Its probably the easiest family food I’ve made, and can be eaten at as young as 8 months (as long as you leave out the pepper)!

Items:

• 1 cup lentils
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 3 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, finely chopped

Steps:

1. Cook lentils in water for 30 minutes with onion, pepper, and basil.
2. Add tomatoes and celery and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

Difficulty: 1 out of 5!  Its so easy and only takes one pot, my kind of dish!

Timing: 8 months.  I would leave out the pepper and add it later if serving to children under 1 and using it as a family good.

Epicutie Rating: (See left side of the page for descriptions) Somewhat Yummy.  Little Frances ate this like a champ, but I wouldn’t say that she loved it.  For the record, mom and dad liked it pretty well for such a healthy food with no salt added!

Bean Nachos with Enchilada Variation

This yummy little recipe was taken from Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman and modified to my tastes and kitchen ingredients. It also happens to be gluten-free, dairy-free if you are interested in that! This recipe seems like it would be great for working moms as it makes up in such a short amount of time.

Ingredients:

• 2 medium bell peppers, any color
• 1 small white onion
• 1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
• 2 cans black, kidney or pinto beans
• 1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed or fresh corn off the cobb
• 1 tablespoon dried or fresh cilantro
• 1 1/2 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• cayenne pepper to taste (optional)
• 8 corn tortillas OR a bag of corn chips

Steps:

1. In a food processor or chopper, dice bell peppers and onion
2. Combine all ingredients on low heat until warmed through (approximately 10 minutes)
3. For nacho variation: Sprinkle bean mixture over nacho chips and serve.
4. For enchilada variation: Spoon bean mixture into corn tortillas, wrap and put in the oven and bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. Remove and serve.

Yield: Approximately 4 servings.

Miscellaneous:

• The original recipe called for the veggies to be more thoroughly cooked, but these particular veggies are so delicious and fresh tasting raw, especially with the cilantro, that I recommend just letting the recipe heat up enough to be warm.
• The original recipe also called for more corn, I do not like corn so I reduced the amount of corn.  I also used canned corn instead of frozen or fresh.
• I pureed one can of beans before adding it as Little Frances has been so picky about eating beans lately!
• Although Little Frances and I had this completely dairy free with some avocado on the side (I also added some jalapenos to mine), her dad added shredded cheese to the top.  I find that the flavors are delicious enough without the cheese.

Storage: Store bean mixture or enchiladas in the fridge for up to one week, reheat before use.

Timing: If you wanted to puree the bean mixture after cooking, this can be introduced as early as one year, however in its normal form, I recommend waiting until your child is a toddler as some of the chopped veggies and chips require molars to grind.  As with many foods, it is not ingredients, so much as how finely you chop them that determines how easily your little one can eat them.

Difficulty: I am giving this a 1 out of 5, although since it does involve using your stove I probably should give it a low 2.  It’s so easy – just chop, mix, warm, serve!

Epicutie Rating: Somewhat yummy! (See left side of the page for descriptions)

This gets a solid Yummy in the Tummy in enchilada form from Little Frances, however in nacho form she realized that she could hold the chip a certain way and all of the bean mixture would just slide right off so that she could get to what she really wanted – the chips!

Daddy, with his mountain of cheese!

Little Frances, so excited because she managed to get her hands on some of it!

Here is Little Frances eating this at a previous time in enchilada form (with white tortillas).

Vegetarian Chili

Recently I have been reading a book called, “Eat to Live” by Joel Fuhrman, and it has been making me seriously rethink how I view nutrition… well long story short, it made me pull out a cookbook called “My Father’s Daughter” that I bought last year and then subsequently forgot about because it just didn’t suit my cooking style and the recipes called for all kinds of weird ingredients that I can’t find in Russia.  Anyway, I reread and sifted through the recipes and I came up with a few that I have been testing at home that I plan to share on this blog. 

Side note: I am so excited to finally be adding a recipe that calls for lentils!  Its about time I helped out Kelly with this particular category of foods.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 large onion, peeled and finely diced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 1/2 large, red bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed, cut into 1/4 inch dice
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 3/4 teaspoon mild chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon, freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon chipotle in adobo
• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes with their juices
• 1/2 dark lentils
• 1 14-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 14-ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• Big pinch coarse salt
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste

Steps:

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium soup pot over medium heat.
2. Add the onion, carrot, bell pepper, garlic, chili power, cumin and black pepper.  Cook, stirring for 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are softened.
3. Add the chipotle, stir and combine.
4. Turn the heat up to high, add the tomatoes and their juice, crushing them a bit with your wooden spoon, and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 40 minutes.
6. Add the lentils and the beans.
7. Fill one 14-ounce can with water and add it to the pot, along with the salt.
8. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 40 minutes.
9. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 20 mire minutes, or until the lentils are soft and the flavors melted.

**My mom called right before Isla started eating so I didn’t get any pictures of her eating or the final product. Mea culpa.

Yield: The book says 4, but I would say that in my family we could stretch it to at least 6.  I’d call this a generous 4.

Miscellaneous:

1. I just rinsed the beans and lentils together since I didn’t want to get more than one colander dirty.  It worked fine.
2. I used kidney and white beans since I cannot buy black beans.
3. Also, I left out the chipotle in adobo! I don’t have it and I am not a fan of the flavor.  I still enjoyed the taste.
4. I also left my apartment for over two hours and left it simmering, instead of the 40 minutes the recipes requires, before adding the tomato paste.  Again, it was fine.

Difficulty Rating:  3 or 4. This one is a tough one for me.  I am giving it a 3 because it only dirtied one pot and one colander.  Normally it would have been a 4 because you had to come back 3 times to add things in, and it takes about 2 hours.

Epicutie Rating: Somewhat Yummy! <----See left side of the page for descriptions.

Sources say that Little Frances really enjoyed this, but she had had a long, tough day, so she didn’t gobble it down.  Considering her usual touchy evening taste buds, I think she must have liked it!

Turkey and White Bean Chili

This is one that I found in The South Beach Diet Quick and Easy Cookbook.  While I am definitely not putting Little Frances on the South Beach Diet, this recipe looked like one that she might enjoy.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 lb turkey cutlets, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 (15 oz) cannellini beans. rinsed and drained
• 1 (14.5 oz) can Mexican diced tomatoes
• 1 cup lower-sodium chicken broth
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Steps:

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
2. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more.
4. Add turkey, chili powder, and cumin; cook, stirring often, until turkey is no long pink inside, about 5 minutes.
5. Add beans, tomatoes with juice, and broth; bring to a boil.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until flavors blend, about 15 minutes.
7. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Timing: This can be served as early as 9 months, however in certain cases I would wait until as late as 12 months depending the broth you used or your babies teeth and comfort in chewing meat.

Difficulty: I would give this 1 out of 5 – especially since I cheated and used already made rotisserie chicken that I bought from the grocery store!

Miscellaneous:

• If you don’t have white beans on hand, almost any bean will work with this versatile dish.
• Consider topping with a sprinkle of cheese, onions, or even avocado.

Epicutie Rating: Somewhat yummy! --- See left side of the page for descriptions.

Little Frances gobbled up the first few bites, but even after that she was still receptive to my encouraging her to eat it!

Roasted Vegetable and Red Lentil Soup

As you may have read from a few posts ago, we welcomed epicutie Asher to the world about 3 weeks ago.  Friends (some people we knew, some people we did not know) blessed with dinners for the past few weeks.  While there were many dishes that we loved, I wanted to highlight this one brought to us by Rachel.  Epicuite Joy was I-N L-O-V-E with this dish, as was I!!  I am posting this before I personally make this dish, but it was too good not to share now.  I will try to make it with a few of my own alterations when I am back into the swing of cooking as a good Little Tummy Yummies author should.

Ingredients:

• Approximately 4.5 pounds of your choice of vegetables (red onions, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, parsnips, carrots etc.; Rachel used butternut squash, sweet potatoes, red onion, carrots and a bit of tomato)
• half a head of garlic, peeled
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chermoula spice mix (OR Rachel did a combination of cumin, tumeric, and paprika adding up to 2 tablespoons)
• sea salt and black pepper to taste
• 6 1/3 cup vegetable stock
• 1 cup red lentils

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.
2. Peel and cut all the vegetables into even cubes. Place in a large bowl with the olive oil, spice mix, salt and pepper then combine.
3. Pour into a roasting tin and roast slowly for an hour or two until tender. Turn them from time to time. You don’t want the vegetables to brown and go crisp.
4. Puree or mash up veggies slightly (depending on what texture soup you want).
5. Pour into a big pot
6. Add the vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
7. Add red lentil and bring the soup back up to the boil then let it simmer for 15 minutes or until the lentils are cooked/tender.
8. Serve warm.

Timing:  I think this could be served as early as 9 months depending on how much you puree the veggies.  This does not require teeth.  Use your judgement and remember to always introduce foods individually first.

Serve:  We ate this along side a salad and bread.  Little Joy enjoyed the soup along side some turkey loaf (my go to), although this soup could stand alone for a little one.

Potential Alterations in the Future:  When I make it, I will try adding some red wine vinegar and dijon mustard.  I had a friend, who is a great cook, suggested always adding these two ingredients to lentil soups.

Epicutie Rating:  YUMMY IN THE TUMMY--see right side of page for descriptions

Little Joy ate THREE kid sized bowl fulls and she even fed herself!!!  Although it was messy, it was wonderful to see her scarfing this down!

Lentil Minestrone Soup

This recipe was submitted by my dear friend Heather; she always cooks fresh, healthy, organic and FUN things. I LOVE dinner parties with her family :) Her Epicutie Little Ray is still a little young to be sampling something like this, but I have a feeling very soon I will be featuring some of her recipes!!! Heather adapted this Lentil Minestrone Soup from "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison.

Ingredients:

• 2 T olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 T tomato paste
• 1/4 c chopped parsley
• 3-4 cloves chopped garlic
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 carrots, diced
• 2-3 ribs celery, diced
• 1 c green lentils, sorted for rocks and rinsed
• Aromatics: 2 bay leaves, 8 parsley branches or celery leaf stalks, 6 thyme sprigs (or whatever herbs you have on hand)
• 9 cups water
• 2 c small pasta, cooked
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 T Dijon mustard (KEY ingredient)
• 1 T red wine vinegar (KEY ingredient)

Steps:

1. Heat oil and onion in soup pot over high heat, stirring regularly, until lightly browned, about 10 mins.
2. Add tomato paste, parsley, garlic, veggies, and salt and cook 3 mins more.
3. Add lentils, aromatics, and water and bring to a boil.
4. Lower heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
5. Add pasta, stir and cook for an additional 15 minutes.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Remove aromatics from soup before serving.
8. Serve warm.

Yeild: About 8 servings

Serve: Serve with 7 Grain Bread (post coming soon!) or other bread along with a salad for the adults.

Timing: Everything in the soup is very soft so if your little one demonstrates the ability to chew and has several teeth I would think this appropriate. Keep in mind, there is a lot going on in this dish and it can be messy since its a soup. So it might be more appropriate for the pre-toddler (12-18 months). Since Little Joy had teeth and loved finger foods, I would have offered it to her as early as 10-12 months I think.

Variations: Although I have not tried it, I think sliced mushrooms or lima beans or cut up green beans would be a great addition to the soup. Be adventurous and add more veggies your family likes!!

Difficulty: 3 out of 5; I only give it a 3 vs 2 because of the overall time involved including cook time. This is VERY easy and worth the effort.

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

Little Joy loved this...especially the lentils, she calls them beans (and she loves beans for some reason). She made a big ole mess with it, but really liked it. Little Joy is starting to like leftovers so by the third day she was kinda over it :)

No pictures this time, with Baby #2 due TWO DAYS AGO I am not totally on my game with documenting our food adventures!

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!

Leftover Legume Loaf

Not going to lie, reading this receipe from "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron I thought "ew". Then I reminded myself, that there are many foods I like and others hate and vice versa, so I decided to give it a whirl especially considering it is a nutrition packed lil loaf! Leftover lentils in my fridge from the last time I made Bananas and Lentils compelled me to make this as well!

As I have mentioned in several previous posts, lentils are a fabulous source of fiber, protein, iron and many other nutrients. Check out wholesomebabyfood.coms nutritional information on legumes/lentils/beans.

This was the first time I have prepared anything for Little Joy with Wheat Germ and I was excited a) to finally find it in my grocery store and b) to finally get to use some!!! Wheat Germ is fabulously nutritious...it is a great source of iron, folic acid, protein and more. Again I encourage you to Check out wholesomebabyfood.coms nutritional information on Wheat Germ and Wheat and Baby Food.

Allergy Alert: Wheat is a common allergen so be careful as you introduce anything containing wheat. Some publications recommend waiting to introduce wheat until 12 months, others 8-9 months and even others...earlier. As always, when in doubt always consult with your pediatrician.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked legumes/lentils (I used red lentils; for information on cooking lentils check out this "How-To" cook lentils site)
• 1 cup wheat germ, ground nuts or whole grain bread crumbs (I used wheat germ)
• 1 cup liquid such as milk, soy milk or tomato juice with no salt (I used milk, I may try tomato juice next time I make this)
• Seasonings: parsley, powdered or minced garlic, onions and other seasonings (I used two dashes garlic powder, about 2 tablespoons diced onion, dash of basil, tiny bit of thyme....basically I made it up as I went along)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix all ingredients throughly
3. Place mixture into a loaf pan (I greased mine with a tiny bit of olive oil)
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until firm
5. Serve warm as finger food

Yield: One loaf; see photos

Storage: Refrigerated for 3-5 days and frozen for up to 1-2 months. Let me remind you, this is not scientific--just how I plan to store my "supply"/

Difficulty: 2 out of 5, this is super fast and easy especially if you are using left over cooked lentils from another recipe.

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

I was shocked but Little Joy LOVED this nutrient packed loaf...wow. Goes to show I should not underestimate her "sophisticated pallet" (as my mother calls it). I hope she continues to like it, this will be a go to for me since I always have left over lentils!

Ingredients

Step 3: Place Mixture in pan

After baking

First bite...I just knew she would not like it...

Washing it down...

But going back for more....This epicutie loved it!

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 :)

Bananas and Lentils

Lentils are a fabulous source of protein and fiber and many other nutrients; for more

nutritional information, check out wholesomebabyfood.com's page on Lentils and Legumes. Since they are packed with so much protein, this is a great option for baby's that may not be too keen on meats (which is not uncommon). This is sort of a sneaky way to get some extra protien in your baby's diet or promote good bowel health :)

Little Joy loved this simple little side dish along with her normal lunch. Its easy and fun to let me test their self feeding with a utensil abilities!

Ingredients:

• 2-2.5 tablespoons cooked red lentils (I made more than this at a time since I was using the lentils for other recipes too)
• 1/2 medium sized banana

Steps:

• Prepare red lentils according to package instructions (or check out this website with some lentil cooking guidelines)
• Mash banana to desired consistency (by 8 months, most babies can handle chunkier soft foods)
• Add lentils
• Mash or mix until well blended

Yield: 1 serving

Serve: Serve this as a side dish or a snack.

Timing: 8-10 months according to Wholesomebabyfood.com I believe lentils are a little tough to digest for younger babies.

Difficulty: 1 our of 5

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

Little Joy loved this simple dish and LOVED trying to feed herself with a spoon!!!

She got a lil excited there at the end! HA!

Take 2