Bow tie pasta with beef, peas, carrots, and garlic

Okay, another one of Giada's recipes inspired me to make this dish for my daughter.  

Here's the Adult version:

Here's the baby version:

Items needed are:

• 0.50 lb of beef ( I got mine from WF and is organic)
• 2 cloves of garlic (organic)
• 1 whole white onion (organic)
• 2 tomatoes (organic)
• 1 cup of farfalle pasta (organic)
• 0.50 cup of peas and carrots combined (so..that's 0.25 cup of peas and 0.25 cup of carrots)

Here steaming quarter chopped tomatoes.  I stop steaming until the skin is wrinkled.  Then I peel.

I boil 1 cup of bow-tie pasta (farfalle)

         I just take 2 cloves of garlic and use 1 whole onion.  You might say that might be a lot, but this recipe doesn't call for any salt or anything so these 2 will be the source of flavor for the dish besides the beef and tomatoes.

I use organic beef.  Yes, it's kind of expensive but when you think about all the hormones pumped in today's beef and chicken, it's kind of scary.  I myself don't want to eat it.  

I use frozen organic peas and carrots that is already prepared and ready to be used.  This is my shortcut to save time.

I  add 0.25 cups of water and throw in the cubed beef in a pot/pan.  After the beef is somewhat cooked I add in the tomatoes peas and carrots. 

After the sauce starts to boil I throw in the pasta and mix the sauce and pasta together.  I  heat it up over low heat for 3-5 minutes.  It's done!

I put the pasta in my new toy, my baby bullet, and puree it until it's the texture my daughter can eat without choking.   I place them in my containers and store in freezer!

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Lemon, Basil, and Salmon - Giada

This recipe from Giada inspired me to make a similar dish for my daughter minus the salt.  

Here's the adult version:

Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Lemon, Basil and Salmon by Giada

Here's the baby food version:

Here's my version of Giada's recipe:

•  8 oz of of whole wheat Spaghetti

• 2 cups of Spinach  ( I use more since spinach is good for you)
• 0.5 cup of basil  ( you can use more if you want more flavor)
• 0.5 lb of Salmon (cubed)
• 2 cloves of garlic (sliced)

•  Steam the Spinach along with half of the garlic.  Should only take a few minutes.  Don't over steam!

• Boil the spaghetti.  After it's been drained toss in the steamed spinach along with garlic

• Steam the salmon with rest of the garlic and basil for flavor

• After salmon is cooked toss in with the spaghetti and spinach.  
• Squeeze half a lemon.  

•  Put pasta in your food processor and blend depending on how chunky and smooth your baby is able to swallow.  

• You are done!

                             

Frozen Treats for Baby

As I was eating one of these:

I see my daughter drop what she is doing and starts crawling towards me.  I immediately try to finish my firecracker popsicle ASAP.  My daughter crawls towards me as fast as she can, determined to see what I am eating.  Once she is next to me, she stands up, sticks her tongue out, and wiggles it.  She wants a lick!  I hesitate since these things are pretty much 100% sugar, but I decide to just give her one lick.  After she licks it, she scrunches up her face. Yay!  She doesn't like it.  But then...she looks at me again and shows me her tongue...she wants more! 

I give her another and discover she loves popsicles, so I decide I'd make some for her.   I go online and look for ice popsicle molds.  Below are the molds I am thinking of getting:

Ultimate Zoku Pop Maker

Tovolo Green Star Ice Pop Molds

Tovolo Blue Rocket Ice Pop Molds

Annabelle Karmel Fill and Freeze Puree Pops

Tovolo Ice Cream Pop Molds

Tovolo Freezer Jewel Pops.  Wear a pop on your finger!

Kinderville Little Bites Ice Pop Molds

Will let you know which one I end up getting and will also share my own ice pop recipes! Stay tuned.....

Avocado Shake

I know for some of you, avocado shake may sound a little weird.  Believe it or not in Asia and Brazil, this delicious treat is very popular.  Here in California, you can order it in some restaurants...since avocado is very abundant over here.  Growing up, my mom would make us this avocado dessert with

• 3 medium ripe Avocados
• 2 scoops of Vanilla Ice Cream
• 3/4 cup Condensed Milk
• 3 cups Ice Cubes
• 1 Cup Milk
• Sugar to taste (Optional)

Sometimes she would serve it without the vanilla ice cream and just add sugar to sweeten the shake.  Either way...it's very yummy.  Just throw all the ingredients in a blender!

Well growing up drinking avocado shake, I decided to make a baby version for my Prince but in puree form.

• half rip Avocado
• 1 tbspn of breastmilk (you can add formula if you want)
• 1 tbspn of ripe banana or sweet apple (this will add the sweetness to the Avocado)

After you puree the avocado and the banana,  add some breast milk/formula to make the mixture more smoother and thinner.  This can vary depending on how you want it.

So now you and your baby can enjoy this dessert during the summer!  Enjoy!

Rosemary Chicken w/ Veggies

My daughter is a year older so that means more taste and variations are needed in her daily menu.  Now I  get inspired by adult food to create her meals.

This week's recipe of Rosemary Chicken with Veggies was inspired from this adult version:

Rosemary Chicken w/ Veggies:
(This makes 10 oz. ~ 2.5 servings for my daughter)

• 0.50 lb of chicken breast (I usually get the organic kind from Whole Foods)
• 3 sprigs of Rosemary (Figured this will be steamed so the more the better for taste)
• 1 cup of frozen corn, carrots, peas, and green beans (Again, I got the organic bag from Whole Foods) 
• Steam for 20 minutes
• After everything is cooked you can puree until smooth or chunky depending on your little one's ability to chew food.
• When everything has been pureed immediately put extras in freezer

I usually cube the chicken.  Ignore the 2 pieces that aren't cubed on the far left.  Those are for my dog.  

Here, I add 3 sprigs of Rosemary over the chicken.

Then fill up the tray with frozen veggies.

After 20 minutes everything is cooked and ready to be mixed!  Above is the final product.

Apricot Puree

Although I've only made apple puree and baby avocado shake for my son, I find making baby food fun.  Sure I don't have time to cook meals for my husband and myself, but for some reason finding time to make baby food always happens.  This week I tried making apricot puree.  I recently got a box of apricots from a friend of mine who has an apricot tree in her front yard.  Mama B and I decided to split the box and make baby food with it.  Since my son just started solids, he is still in Stage 1 so I just made apricot puree.  It's pretty straight forward and all you need are

• Apricots

• Steamer (I use my rice cooker)

• Food Processor (I use my Cuisinart hand held blender)

I simply cut the apricots in halves, take out the pit, and place them in my steamer basket

I love the gorgeous orange color.

I steam the apricots for about 15-20 minutes.  It really depends on your steamer and how hot it gets. Once the apricots are soft and tender they are ready.  Let them cool and begin to peel the skin off. After you peeled the skin off, the apricots are ready for puree!

Tender Apricots, cooling for peeling

Peeled Apricots

Ready to be Puree

Chopping the peeled apricots

 Ready!!

Yummy! Perfectly sweet.

A quick taste test and it's ready!  Perfectly smooth and sweet for my Prince.  Any extra Apricot Puree I have I store using the Munchkin Fresh Food storage cups and immediatly put them in the freezer!

Penne for Baby

Before going further I want to add this is baby food Stage 2.

I made this recipe last week for my daughter.  She loves it!  I also love it (which was odd since I personally dislike peas)!  Seriously, if she didn't finish it I probably would have eaten it.  Remember, if you can't  eat your own baby's food, then why would you expect them to? 

My simple version of baby pasta recipe :

• 2 handfuls of pasta (I use whole grain organic penne pasta.  My favorite pasta is penne pasta)
• 3 tomatoes (cut slices)
• 1 chicken tender (I use organic chicken. The pic shows 2 because 1 was for my dog)
• 1 clove of garlic (cut up)
• 1 handful of peas

Clockwise: Chicken,  tomatoes, peas, garlic

I placed the penne pasta in the rice cooker along with water.   I do not add salt to the water. 

Here, I place all the other ingredients on the steam rack.  I know when it's done when I see the tomato's skin start peeling.

All ingredients in the rice cooker have been pureed.  Baby food is done!

My 1st Puree

I'm starting solids with my little guy.  He's been eating rice cereal 3-4 weeks now, so I think it's time for some puree food.  I've been going back and forth to which one to expose him to...it will be the first puree food he is going to eat...so  I want to make sure he enjoys it.  Of course as a new mother you ask around, so that's what I did.  I was curious what other mother's chose as their baby's first puree food.  I even asked Mama B for some advice.  So which one did I choose...was it apple, banana, or avocado...hmmmmm. 

I ended up giving my son Red Delicious apples as his first Puree.

3 washed Red Delicious Apples

Here's the recipe, it's fairly simple and straight forward:

Placed quartered Red Delicious apples in a steamer.  I use my rice cooker to steam the apples

Quartered apples placed in the steamer basket

Once apples are tender, I let the apples cool. 

Tender Apples cooling

After the apples have cooled I remove the skin and puree it using my Cuisinart hand blender.

Puree Apple

I do a quick taste...delicious!  and it's now ready to serve.  Like Mama B, I place my purees in Munchkin's Fresh Food Freezer cups for storage.  Prior to serving, I usually mix in a little bit of breast milk.

Puree Apple in Munchkin's Fresh Food Freezer cups ready for storage.