Adventures in Baby Food

This is my third time around the baby food making business.  I have made the vast majority of my kids food.  The one thing that I did buy jarred is fruit since it is packed at it's freshest and we don't always have the variety of fruit, or tasty examples of said fruit available throughout the year.  I didn't do a lot of veg, meats, or combos of those because if I think it taste bad why would I feed it to my kid.  

I start with simple 1 ingredient purees, my favorites are yam to start since that is the easiest puree to make.  Applesauce and banana are great travel foods since you can buy regular pots of apple sauce and keep them with you. Bananas don't require refrigeration which is always a bonus.  Here are some of the first purees that I made for Little Man, on the left is carrots.  Top right is yams and bottom right is cauliflower.   Real simple and delicious.

Another day I made another bunch of purees.  This time I did some blended purees.  On the left large bowl is Leek, zucchini and butter.  Top small bowl is potato.  Right large bowl is potato and broccoli.  Right small bowl is broccoli.  

Another green puree that I have done but isn't shown here is Pea, which has the best colour imaginable, so bright.

Applesauce also won't be shown here since I was using up the stock that I had made last fall, and the rest I get from a jar.  Hard to mess up with jarred applesauce, just make sure it is unsweetened and there aren't any funky ingredients.  Ascorbic acid is ok since it is just vitamin C to keep the colour.

Yesterday, I decided to get a bit more adventurous with some purees since none of my kids have had allergy issues and Little Man doesn't seem to be showing any signs of them either.  So I made a lovely Lentil Stew (Large bowl) with red lentil, sweet potato, carrots, some chicken stock, and leeks.  Quite tasty, this can be made as an adult soup. 

I also tried out some kale with leeks and butter.  Wow, I wish that that little bowl wasn't a whole bunch of kale, since I would have happily eaten it all.  But I do loves me some kale.  The top small bowl is some more yams since they are always a favorite.

This morning, I wanted to try something different from his usual applesauce breakfast, so I took some of the frozen blueberries that we have in the freezer, cooked and pureed them and added applesauce and a scoop of yogurt.  He was squealing with joy with that one, and I can't blame him it was pretty good.



Now you ask what I do once I have these purees made. Well, I freeze them, of course.  I have a bunch of different freezing devices such little freezing pots and ice cube trays, and silicon trays.  I really like the silicon,  but I've misplaces them between children.  They are probably in my house some where, I just need to find where.  If using little pots or ice cube trays, they can hard to remove you frozen foods. try running the bottom under hot water for a bit and then try and push them loose from the bottom.

Here I have stacked the little pots ready to be put in the freezer for a few hours or overnight.  Then pop them out, and place in a labeled (which what it is and when you made it) freezer bag and place it back in the freezer.  

They usually don't take long to thaw, either by packing up lunch at breakfast time or by microwaving in short burst until it has thawed but without over heating since you want to be careful with little mouths.

Carrot Puree
~Carrots
~nub of butter

Peel and chop carrots.  Place in a pot with enough water to cover and simmer until  carrots are soft usually less then 10 min.  Remove from water and place in a blender or the cup of a hand blender (which is my preferred way of pureeing.)  I remember reading that you shouldn't use the water from carrots or beets to add to your purees, so I used boiled water because it was handy.  Add enough for the puree to get pretty smooth.  Apparently, beta carotene requires fat to make it more easily absorbed. So I add a bit of butter to the carrot puree.  Cool puree before portioning and freezing.

Yam
~Yam (orange fleshed yam)

Peel and slice the yam.  Place in a pot with enough water to cover and simmer until yam is soft.  Blend, adding back enough cooking liquid to make a smooth puree.  Cool puree before portioning and freezing.

Cauliflower
~Cauliflower, about 1/2 a head.

I use a steaming basket in a pot for cauliflower.  Steam for about 10 minutes, until soft. Blend, adding back enough cooking liquid to make a puree.  Cool puree before portioning and freezing.
Peas
~peas, fresh or frozen

I use frozen peas which are really great, just add some hot water until the peas are thawed, then puree with some water.  Thin to what ever consistency you want.  Cool puree before portioning and freezing.
Leek and Zucchini
~2 large Leeks, washed and finely chopped
~1 medium Zucchini, sliced
~1 -2 tbsp Butter

In a frying pan, melt the butter over medium and then saute the leeks until almost soft and buttery.  Add zucchini and cook through and have started to get a bit mushy.  Blend, adding extra liquid to make a smooth puree.  Cool puree before portioning and freezing.

Potato
~2-3 Potato
~Butter(optional)

Peel and cube potatoes, in a pan with enough water to cover, simmer until soft.  Mash potatoes with cooking liquid to make a puree.  *note* mash rather then blend potatoes to avoid the gummy mess that will result.   Cool puree before portioning and freezing.
Broccoli
~1 Head of Broccoli

Peel stock of broccoli, then chop and add it into a steam basket with broccoli florets.  Steam until soft.  Blend with cooking liquid, until smooth.   Cool puree before portioning and freezing.
Potato and Broccoli
Add mashed potato and pureed broccoli together and Voila!

Kale and Leek
~2 tbsp butter
~1 large Leek, washed and finely chopped
~1 bunch Kale, with spines removed and roughly chopped.

In a frying pan, melt butter and saute leeks until buttery and soft.  Add Kale and cover, stirring occasionally.  Once Kale is soft, blend with liquid to make a smooth puree.  Cool puree before portioning and freezing.

Blueberries
~1 cup or so frozen blueberries

In a sauce pan, heat the blueberries over medium until berries are soft.  Blend with a bit of liquid to make a smooth-ish puree.   Cool puree before portioning and freezing.
Lovely Lentil Stew
~1 large Leek, washed and finely chopped.
~1 large Sweet Potato (yellow fleshed)
~3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
~1/2 cup red lentils
~2 cups low sodium chicken or veggie broth

In a large saucepan, melt butter and saute leeks until soft and buttery.  Add Carrots and lentils and soften.  Then add sweet potato and add broth, enough to cover.  Cook until everything is soft.  I love my hand blender since this makes quite a lot, I used the hand blender in the pot to puree this tasty treat.   Cool puree before portioning and freezing.


Extra Notes:
~As the baby matures, you can make your purees thicker and chunkier as they go since that way they get used to different textures.
~Good food hygiene is important, so keep hot food hot and cold food cold, and keep the in between really short.

Easy Cheesy Butternut Squash Lasagna

It might seem like I love butternut squash especially butternut squash lasagna since I have a lot of recipes that I've created that with butternut squash.  Well it is true, I love how much flavour you can get out of it and how nutritious it is too boot.  Normally I peel and cube the squash before roasting but the squash were tiny and I was lazy so I just cut them in half, scooped out the guts and baked the cut-side down until soft. This will leave a bit more moisture in the flesh.

Made in an 8"x8" pan

This lasagna was originally made as a "I'm not going grocery shopping so I'm only using what I got" kind of meal.  The cheesy layer is loosely based upon a dip that a friend of my lovely MIL makes for most functions.  Basically it is cottage cheese, mayo, green onions and a crap-ton (yes, that is a word) of pepper and a bit and bit of salt.  Now, I'm not averse to baking with mayo but it has to serve a purpose and lasagna does not seem the proper vehicle. In place, I used light cream cheese which adds to the creaminess without the post bake pools of oil.

Made in an 11"x13" pan

I've made this in an 11x13 baking dish or an 8x8, it just depends how you want to layer it. 

In the 11x13 it was noodle, cheese, noodle, squash, noodle.

In the 8x8 it was noodle, cheese, squash, noodle, cheese, squash, noodle. 

I think I prefer the 8x8 configuration so that is how I've laid out the recipe.  Adjust the amount of noodles if do the 11x13. I used only 6 in the 8x8 which with trimming and using the trimmings make 3 layers of 3 noodles, the middle layer being the trimmings from all the other noodles.

Cheesy Butternut Squash Lasagna

Weight Watchers Points Plus value: 8 pts+ per serving
Makes 6 servings.

~Roasted Butternut Squash.  1 very large or 2 regular sized squash (you can always roast extra and use it on salads etc)
~6 lasagna noodles cooked according to the package directions.
~1-500ml tub 1% Cottage Cheese
~1- brick Light Cream Cheese
~1 whole bunch Green Onions, chopped
~1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
~Pepper
~Salt
~1/2 cup or so, shredded cheese (cheddar, or mozzarella, or I used pre-shredded Kraft Italiano light cheese.)

Instructions:

~I roasted the butternut squash either by cubing it, lightly coating with olive oil (or butter), salt and pepper and baking or by just cutting in half and putting cut side down on a tray and baking at 350 or 375 until it is soft.  Cubing it results in a dryer squash since there is more surface area to dry out while the halves of squash keep more moisture.  So really it depends on what texture you are looking for.  I like both ways, so it just depends on how lazy I am.

~Cook lasagna noodles according to the box directions and set aside.

~In a bowl cream the cream cheese with the cottage cheese, once that is mixed then add the green onions, and salt and pepper to taste.  I like a lot of pepper, so I put a lot of pepper, it goes really well with the cottage cheese.  You can add Parmesan to the cheese mixture or leave it out, it just depends on how cheesy you want it.

~Spray an 8"x8" pan and place 3 noodles down, trim to fit, but keep the trimmings since that will be the middle layer.  I usually trim all 6 noodles since that makes construction a little easier.

~On top of the noodles spread 1/2 of the cheese mixture, then top with 1/2 of the squash.  Top with the 2nd layer of noodles, rest of cheese, rest of squash, 3rd layer of noodles and then sprinkle with the shredded cheese.

~Bake at 350 until cheese looks melty and bubbly.  Since everything is cooked, you are just warming it through.

~Enjoy with some salad or other veggies.  Delicious!