Archive for the 'cooking' category
Even with the availability of “organic” baby food in mainstream stores — you can usually find both Gerber Organic and Earth’s Best at Target and Babies ‘R Us — there was no question that I would make the little guy’s food at home. I haven’t spent much time in the kitchen since bringing the baby home, so I was even more excited about going back in there, even if it’s just to make simple baby food.
The first thing I needed to do was figure out how to make purees. While I do own a large Cuisinart food processor, I felt that unless I was making HUGE batches of food, the thing was too cumbersome to use and clean. I ended up picking up the BabySteps Electric Food Mill by KidCo. Originally, I thought about getting a Magic Bullet or even a Cuisinart Mini Food Processor, but I ended up going with the KidCo one because the plastics are BPA- and phthalate-free. (I’m not that gung-ho on the whole BPA thing, but I do like to be cautious. In my opinion, it’s better to be safe than sorry, so when there are suitable alternatives, I’ll go with the BPA-free stuff.)
Next, I needed instructions. I realize the idea of pureeing food seems simple enough, but I’m anal and since what I’m about to make is going into my kid’s mouth, I wanted to be sure I was doing things correctly. Through various journals and message boards, I found wholesomebabyfood.com — it’s a great site that’s chock full of recipes for baby, as well as other helpful information. (Best of all, it’s FREE!) Another source I looked at (which is NOT FREE) is Annabel Karmel’s book First Meals. The book is a nice addition to my cookbook collection and it has recipes and ideas for older kids, but for the sake of making baby food, it was a splurge and an unnecessary purchase — I just keep telling myself that I’ll continue to have use for it down the line when my kid is older.
The final piece was figuring out how to store the food. I’ve pretty much swapped all my plastic food containers with glass ones — the plastic ones now help keep the junk drawer organized — and I wasn’t sure what would hold up best in the freezer. The simplest way would be to use ice cube trays, but since we have none (our freezer has an ice cube maker), I decided to pick up a couple of these Jumbo Baby Cubes from One Step Ahead instead. Each cube holds about 2oz of food, has a tethered lid (a good thing because I always manage to loose lids), is freezer/microwave/dishwasher-safe, and is made out of BPA- and phthalate-free plastic (as researched by SafeMama).
After a quick trip to our local Trader Joe’s yesterday to pick up some organic pears, carrots, and sweet potatoes, I made my first batches of baby food. They turned out OK, though I think they could have steamed for a little longer (I used a regular stainless steel saucepan and a collapsable steamer basket I already had in my kitchen). We’re good for at least a week since I only give the baby solid food twice a day — fruit in the morning, and veggies at night. And even though I think my pureeing skills need some help, it’s so good to know that I know exactly what I’m putting into baby’s mouth and tummy.
Categories: baby, cooking, food, gear, ideas, shopping
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For safe keeping, found on iVillage.
Serving: 4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp olive oil
4 large zucchinis, thinly sliced lengthwise
4 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
2 Vidalia onions, very thinly sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
salt and freshly ground pepper
1 cup grated cheese
DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Spread 1 tablespoon of the oil on the bottom of a large flameproof gratin dish or shallow casserole. Arrange half the zucchini over the bottom, then add a layer of half the tomatoes and then half the onions.
3. Add half the basil and thyme and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add half the cheese.
4. Repeat the layers with the remaining ingredients, topping the remaining cheese. (The dish can be made an hour or two ahead up to this point.)
5. Bake the lasagna for about 30 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender and the cheese is melted. Place under the broiler for the last 3 minutes of cooking.
Categories: cooking, food, recipes
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Saw this pass through the Inbox this morning. Looks interesting, so I’m saving it here. (From: iVillage)
Spaghetti Pie
Georgia family recipe
Serving: 6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
6 oz spaghetti
2 tablespoons butter
2 well-beaten eggs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup cottage cheese
1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
8 oz can (1 cup) tomatoes, cut up, with juice
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon oregano, crushed
1 teaspoon sugar
6 oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cook spaghetti according to package directions and drain (should be about 3 cups). Stir butter into hot noodles and add eggs and Parmesan. Form this mixture into a crust in a buttered 10-inch pie plate. Spread cottage cheese over bottom of crust. In a skillet, brown beef. Add onions and green peppers and cook until tender. Stir in undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, oregano and garlic salt. Heat well. Pour mixture into spagetti crust. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with mozzarella and bake for another 5 minutes.
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
Based on individual serving.
Calories: 455
Total Fat: 22 g
Carbohydrates: 33 g
Protein: 31 g
Categories: cooking, food, recipes
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 I came across this recipe today when The Daily Green e-mail hit my inbox. I’m excited about trying a whole wheat, more nutritious cookie recipe, but I have the little “no dairy and no soy diet” problem. (I don’t think I explained the story here, but basically, due to possible allergies, in order to continue giving my son mama’s milk, I have to cut out daily and soy from my diet.)
So I was checking out the recipe for this cookie and wondered about butter substitutes. After a quick Google search, I came across a site called Living Without Milk. Perfect! On their site they give a bit of advice on how (and what) to substitute for butter or margarine. One suggestion is combination of applesauce and shortening, both of which I already have handy in my pantry.
Looks like I’ll be baking this weekend!
SERVINGS
Makes 4 to 5 dozen cookies
INGREDIENTS
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened*
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup nuts, chopped **
PREPARATION
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet or cover with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Cream the butter with the brown sugar until light in color, about 4 minutes. Beat in the egg until well incorporated. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and blend well. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, and nuts.
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, or until brown. Cool on a wire rack.
* to be replaced with 7 and 1/2 tablespoons of applesauce and 2 and 1/2 tablespoons of shortening.
** I will most likely omit the nuts due to the high allergen probability.
Categories: cooking, food, recipes
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November 11, 2007 6:06 pm
While I generally buy multi-grain loaves of sandwich bread, I was recently hit with the homemade bread baking bug (probably due to this post on Lifehacker), and I currently have a whole wheat and oatmeal loaf on it’s second rise. The first rise went well, so I’ve got high hopes that this won’t turn out as a brick. It’s been a while since I’ve (tried) to make homemade bread and I had forgotten the simple pleasures that come with it.
I’ll take and post photos when it’s done. I’m awfully curious how it’ll taste toasted with a bit of soybean butter. It probably won’t have as much fiber as the multi-grain loaves I normally buy, but it sure is nice to know exactly what the ingredients are.
Another recipe I’ve been drooling over is this whole no-knead recipe from the NY Times. It looks super easy; the “hardest” part is timing the whole process due to long resting time (12-18 hours). The recipe also calls for the use of a heavy, lidded pot, which I don’t currently have in my arsenal. (I do have dutch oven pot, but it’s not the traditional cast iron type, so I’m hesitant to use it.) Considering how much I love my Lodge Cast Iron Skillet, I’m tempted to pick up their 5-Quart Dutch Oven (only $25 from Amazon) not just so I can use it for this no-knead bread recipe, but it’ll probably have a ton of uses as well.
Categories: cooking, food
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