a bunch of carrots

Thanks to Matt Biddulph for the use of this photo.

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twofer :: carrots + parsnips

The answer to the question "What is your baby's favorite food?" is root vegetables.  Beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes, yams, yuca ... if it grows underground, our daughter loves it.  Carrots are ubiquitous in the "first foods" category, but since parsnips are similar to carrots in texture, appearance and availability, I introduced both foods to her diet around the same time.  

Unlike fresh beets, raw carrots and parsnips are very easy to clean.  Carrots are available year-round and I find that the best parsnips are available in the fall. Both foods store well as uncooked ingredients in the refrigerator, so it is easy to always keep them on hand.  When I introduced these two foods to my daughter as purées I introduced them individually.  Shortly after those introductions, I would make individual batches of each at once time and mix a portion of the batches together to add a little variety to her diet.  In other words, this one task produced three types of meals: carrots, parsnips and carrots + parsnips.  Of course you can also prepare carrots and parsnips all in the same pot.  I make my preparation decision according to how much time I have.  Making them in one batch saves a little time, but yields one type of meal as opposed to three (i.e. carrots, parsnips and carrots + parsnips).

Puréed Carrots and Parsnips

Nutritional Information for parsnips: This food is very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. It is also a good source of potassium, and a very good source of dietary fiber, Vitamin C, folate and manganese.  Source and more info.

Nutritional Information for carrots: The carrot gets its characteristic and bright orange color from β-carotene. The benefit of β-carotene is that it's both a powerful antioxidant protecting cells from free radical damage as a carotenoid and has the ability to convert to vitamin A (and like this post, it's a real twofer!).  Carrots are rich in dietary fiber, antioxidants, and minerals. Carrots do come in colors other than orange (like purple) which can be fun for your child as there aren’t many other purple foods!   Source and more info.

Don't be nervous about your baby turning orange as a result of "over eating" foods rich in  β-carotene.  Unless you put your baby on an all-carrot diet, you run little risk of carotenodermia.  If baby loves carrots, indulge.  After all, according to Bettina RD nurturing a carrot fiend's habit is a lot healthier than encouraging a juice box addiction.

Equipment:

Large sauce pot with lid

Steamer insert

Food processor

Vegetable peeler  (I think Y peelers function much more efficiently than traditional swivel peelers, but suit yourself)

Silicone ice trays – I use silicone because the food is easier to pop out, but you can use an ice tray made of any material.

4 oz. small single-serving containers. Good for storing fresh food or frozen food that you want to take with you.  Ice trays aren’t great for to-go situations.

Ingredients:

Raw carrots (one bag) and/or

Raw parsnips (2-4)

Water or low sodium stock

Instructions:

Wash and peel the carrots and parsnips.  Cut off and discard the ends.  Cut each root vegetable into one inch cubes.  Try to cut the pieces into uniform sizes so that they cook evenly.

Add water to the bottom of the saucepan.  Bring to a boil.

Drop the washed, peeled and cut contents of the carrot bag and/or the parsnips into the steamer insert.  Cover and steam for 7-10 minutes.  Use a fork to check the done-ness.  If the fork easily pierces the bigger pieces all the way through, your vegetables are ready.  If not, cook for another 2 minutes and check again until fully cooked.  To achieve highest nutritional values try to minimize the steam time as the carrots and parsnips will lose nutrients if overcooked. 

Allow the steamed vegetables to cool.  Drop batches into the large bowl of your food processor and purée with the large metal blade.  Add a small amount of reserved water from the bottom of the steam pot or low sodium stock to thin the mixture for a purée for a younger baby.  Don’t over-fill the food processor bowl as it will make it difficult to achieve a fully puréed result.  You may purée these vegetables individually or mix the two in one batch.  The flavors work well together.  If you’d like to add a little zing grate some fresh ginger root. According to Mark Bittman, you can freeze ginger root indefinitely.  I believe him, so I peel and cut mine into "individual size" pieces before I freeze so that I can grate or chop fresh-frozen ginger root for recipes in a snap.  Grate ginger root very finely -- I use a Microplane and it takes about 10 seconds.  Ginger can be quite strong -- a little goes a long way!  When you introduce this dish, start with plain unadulterated vegetables first, and layer flavors in a little later after your baby has developed an affinity for these tasty roots.

If you like the purée a little thicker, add a spoonful of baby rice cereal.  This will give it your purée a nutritional boost.  I love and continue to use Happy Bellies brand (available at diapers.com and Fresh Direct.  It is a very powdery probiotic that mixes beautifully into purées, milk and formula.

Spoon purées into ice trays, cover with freezer-wrap and freeze.  Our daughter started eating ½ a defrosted cube at a time, then progressed to one cube.  When she moved to two cubes, I started making and freezing more than one vegetable at a time so that she would have a little variety at each meal. I did not use a microwave to defrost frozen cubes.  I would simply take a cube out the night before and put it (or them) in a 4 oz. single-serving container and let the cube defrost gradually in the refrigerator. 

If you are an on-the-go type of person or send your child to day-care, you’ll want to have some meals saved in the single-serving containers so that they are easily packed up.  The ice trays are handy, but not so practical for when you are out and about or need to pack a set of meals for day-care!  I also advocate not freezing a small batch and storing the food you plan to serve your child for that week in single-serve containers. That way baby will get super-fresh foods (that have never been frozen) and as a side benefit, you can easily monitor the portions served during mealtime. 

Now that our sprout is older and has about a dozen teeth, I continue to use this recipe except I do NOT add liquid at the end and I pulse the carrots and parsnips a few times to achieve a chopped texture.  I call these meals “chops.”  Chops and purées are versatile for mixing into eggs and tofu scrambles.  More on egg dishes and tofu scrambles another time!

 

 

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it's okay if you don't diy

We returned from a week long vacation to a refrigerator with the following not-very-baby-friendly contents:

· Hot sauce

· Mayonnaise

· A six-pack of beer

· One bottle of seltzer

· A 1/2 container of grated Parmesan cheese

· One container of sheep's yogurt

· One bottle of champagne.

Lucky us, we live on an island where anything can be (and everything is) delivered. It was a snap for us to get stocked-up within hours of landing. Even luckier, in anticipation of this very vacation, the freezer was stocked. Baby had a home-[re]cooked meal for lunch even though the cupboards were bare. Quinoa and sweet potato mash mixed with a scoop of quick-thawed frozen corn and a side of squash -- all pulled from the freezer and quickly warmed up in a small sauce pot. Three cheers for freezable individual serving-size containers!

'Tis the happy and frenetic holiday season! It is likely that you are fully committed, possibly even double-booked, overwhelmed and kind of exhausted. Or, maybe that's just me.

Despite your best efforts and intentions, your freezer is devoid of gorgeous purees, chops or mashes. You carve a window of time out of your festive schedule and drag yourself to the market, because no matter how glamorous are you still need groceries. As a result, you find yourself on the baby food aisle.

It is completely understandable. It's the "most wonderful time of the year" which means you have a lot of plates (or dreidels) spinning. It is okay to stop being perfect for 10 delicious minutes. You need to take time during the holidays to savor the sparkle on the tree or the flame on the menorah and enjoy the twinkle in your baby's beautiful eyes at the magic of the season.

As you walk down the baby aisle you have two choices.

Option 1

Peruse and use the shelves for inspiration. "Look! Here's a puree mix I wouldn't have thought to try! I better get over to the fresh vegetables section so I can whip that up at home for Baby Wonderful!"

or

Option 2

Buy some baby food.

If you opt for option two (no judgments) go ahead! Here is a little extra info to help you be informed about the options that are the best.

According to Greenopia via Happy Green Babies the top-ranking organic baby food brands (in terms of flavor and sustainable manufacturing and packaging are (in this order): Tasty Baby, Earth’s Best and Plum Organics. Link to the Happy Green Babies blog for the full article.

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pretty sneaky

For the most part, Baby K is a champion eater, but she has certainly gone through less-than-charming stages when she simply will NOT eat vegetables that are orange or green.  That sort of limits things, doesn't it?  

There are a handful of white vegetables that have helped us maneuver around these finicky phases (i.e. cauliflower, parsnips) but a nutrient-rich diet includes vegetables that represent all the colors of the rainbow.  Baby needs bright greens for iron and vitamin K as well as deep oranges for beta carotene and vitamin C, which means sometimes you have to get sneaky. 

Thank goodness my mother-in-law introduced me to a creative use of deli meats to get us through these (thankfully fleeting) picky-pants periods.  Rolled-up thin-sliced deli turkey or ham (look for low-sodium, high quality deli meats) can very cleverly disguise stuffings like chopped broccoli, thick carrot or pea purees and mashed sweet potato.  Place a spoonful of stuffing onto a single slice of ham or turkey (or spread a puree across the slice like you would spread mustard across bread) and roll it up.  That's it.  

Your little rebel gets protein from the stuffed roll and a secret vegetable surprise as a nutritional bonus.  You get the satisfaction of knowing that you're serving up something healthy, tasty and tricky.  

See, it's true, what you don't see won't hurt you -- sometimes it's even good for you!

You actually don't need DIY 

purees, chops or mashes to use this technique.  Pre-prepared foods from jars will work too.

Looking for more ways to be sneaky with vegetables?  This article presents some additional easy options.

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fa la la la la la la quinoa

Photo attributed to nerissa's ring. 

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fluffy goodness

Quinoa.  Say it: KEEN-wah.  It's fun to say.

My introduction to quinoa was in a dessert at Moto in Chicago.  Moto is a molecular gastronomy destination, so it shouldn't have been a surprise that Homaro Cantu was able to miraculously tranform this versatile grain (technically a seed) into a delicious, healthy dessert.  What did come as a surprise to me about quinoa was how easy it is to prepare.  

The quinoa seed is gluten-free, high in protein, calcium and iron, a relatively good source of vitamin E and several of the B vitamins. It contains an almost perfect balance of all the essential amino acids needed for tissue development. It is exceptionally high in lysine, cystine and methionine-amino acids typically low in other grains. It is a good complement for legumes, which are often low in methionine and cystine. The protein in quinoa is considered to be a complete protein because it has all the essential amino acids in the necessary proportions, reflected by its amino acid score of 106 (a score above 100 means it is complete).  Click through to read tons more of interesting info about this terrific power-food.  My nutritional sage Bettina RD adds that despite the soft and fluffy texture of quinoa, it is really high in fiber.  One cup of cooked quinoa has 5.2g of fiber, a combination of both insoluble fiber and soluble fiber.  One of the benefits of the soluble fiber is that it acts as a prebiotic, promoting the growth of healthy gut bacteria. A baby with a healthy gut is a happy baby.

Fresh Direct sells red and white varieties.  I happen to like the red, but if your child is going through a white-food-only stage, go with white.  It is spectacularly easy to make.  Better yet, it is fantastically versatile and can mix into practically any vegetable mash giving your baby's food a little extra texture.   

I suggest that you make a cup of quinoa to share as a family as it is an easy side to prepare and one cup will produce an abundant amount.  

Equipment:

Sauce pot

Sieve or mesh strainer

Ingredients:

Quinoa

Water or low-sodium stock

Instructions:

Put a cup of quinoa into a sieve or mesh strainer and wash it well in running water.  

Drop washed quinoa into your pot.

Pour 1 1/2 cups of water (or low-sodium stock) into the pot with the quinoa.

Bring t o a boil.

Drop the flame to simmer for 20-25 minutes. 

Check the quinoa -- it shouldn't be completely soft but it shouldn't be hard or crunchy either.  It should have a pleasant fluffy-chewy texture. 

If you'd like to make the flavor a little more complex without over-complicating things, add a little olive oil to the pot first and sweat some finely diced shallots or a simple mirepoix (finely diced onions, carrots, celery) before you mix in the quinoa.

If you'd like to serve this on it's own you don't really need to add anything.  However, if you are feeling fancy, you may "dress it up" with raisins, almond slivers, butter, walnuts, salt & pepper, chopped mushrooms ... the list is quite endless.  I would reserve a portion of the simple unadulterated version for your baby and mix a separate version for yourself with the culinary accoutrements of your liking.  I happen to think that quinoa works well as poultry stuffing because of it's hearty texture.  It is also an excellent (and very satisfying) stuffing for a roasted acorn or dumpling squash.  

 

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baby a-go-go

From the time that our daughter was very young (weeks old), we would take her with us to our lovely friends' homes who kindly would invite us over for dinners and brunches.  Luckily, putting her to sleep in a different nest wasn't an issue; she was always a really good sport about it.  We would simply lay her her on top of her play quilt (something familiar to her) in a quiet, dark room and close the door to block noise and light. Of course we checked on her regularly, which wasn't a problem at all, but every time one of us opened the door we took the risk of the light or conversation waking her up. 

With Thanksgiving this week, I thought I'd share a genius idea I recently discovered that would have worked even better in parents-on-the-go-with-baby-in-tow settings.  Maybe this tip will help you navigate (and more peacefully participate in) a Thanksgiving meal away from home with your baby. Don't worry about traveling with a baby monitor (just one more thing to keep track of or forget to pack back up), simply use your cell phones.  Thank you Vanilla Pumpkin for this brilliant, easy and very practical idea.

 
Instead of packing the baby monitor, we use our cell phones. Call one phone with the other, put both on speaker phone, leave one in the baby’s room and mute the other. Be sure to mute the one you are using as the receiver, otherwise you risk waking baby!

I hope you will check back tomorrow for a special stress-free pre-Thanksgiving post.  You can effortlessly make it a special family holiday for baby too. Gobble, gobble!

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squash anyone?

Lovely photo attributed to Courtney McGough.

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little dumpling

 

Dumpling squash and acorn squash are easy, easy to find and make in the fall.  I bake mine and make two at a time.  One for baby and one to be shared with my witty, charming mister for dinner.  The one for baby will last for several meals, but we will gobble up a 1/2 a squash each in one sitting.

All squashes provide vitamin A and vitamin C, some of the B vitamins and are a good source of fiber. Deep-colored squashes have the most beta carotene. Winter squash does not lose any quality after picking, and, in storage, actually increases its carotenoid content, which adds even more vitamin A. Source and more info.  Bettina RD tells me that Vitamins A, B, and C are all important for baby's growth, including improved vision and bone development.  As a side benefit of this vitamin consumption, I suppose you could reinforce the message and good diet practices with your baby by singing the ABCs as you scoop morsels of squash during mealtime.  

Equipment:

• Baking dish
• Good sharp chef's knife
• Spoon
• Silicone ice trays – I use silicone because the food is easier to pop out, but you can use an ice tray made of any material.
• 4 oz. small single-serving containers. Good for storing fresh food or frozen food that you want to take with you.  Ice trays aren’t practical for to-go situations.

Ingredients:

• Two whole acorn or dumpling squashes
• Water

 

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

Wash and scrub the squash.  Cut each squash in half.  It really doesn't matter how you halve it.  I cut mine through the stem, but you can cut it the other way.  

Scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff with a spoon.

Cover the baking dish with a 1/4 inch of water.

Put the squash halves skin-side up/squash side down in the baking dish.  Bake for 45-55 minutes until tender.

For baby: Let cool.  Scoop out the squash.  It is ready to go.  You may mash it up more with a fork, but it is probably pretty mushy and ready to eat.  For a wee baby, you may want to mix  it (and amp up nutritional value) with baby cereal.  I love and continue to use Happy Bellies brand (available at diapers.com and Fresh Direct).  It is a powder-like probiotic and mixes seamlessly into purées, mashes, formula and milk.  If your baby is a little older, you may want to add a little butter to the squash and serve it with rice, quinoa or couscous.  At 18 months,  our daughter will eat 1/4 of a baked squash right out of the shell and about 4 oz. of grains for lunch or dinner.

To store, spoon mash into ice trays, cover with freezer-wrap and freeze.  

Our daughter started eating ½ a defrosted cube of purée at a time, then progressed to one cube.  When she moved to two cubes, I started making and freezing more than one vegetable at a time so that she would have a little variety at each meal.  I do not use a microwave to defrost.  I simply take a cube out the night before, place it (or them) in a 4 oz. single-serving container and let the food defrost gradually in the refrigerator. 

If you are an on-the-go type of person or you send your child to day-care, you’ll want to have some fresh and frozen meals saved in the single-serving containers so that they are easily packed up.  The ice trays are great, but not so practical for when you are out and about or need to pack a set of meals for day-care.  I also recommend storing meal-sized batches of food you plan to serve your child for that week in single-serve containers that you don’t freeze.   That way your baby will get super-fresh nutrient-rich foods (that have never been frozen) on a weekly basis.  The small single-serve containers also provide you with the benefit of monitoring (and communicating) how much food is to be served to your child at each meal if you're not the one feeding them all the time.

For you:  About once a week we go vegetarian for dinner.  A dumpling or acorn squash is a satisfying main especially when it is stuffed with wild rice or quinoa.  Unlike acorn squash, you can even eat the skin of a dumpling squash, but I wouldn't try this with baby -- might be a little rough on a young digestive system.  If you make this dish for yourself, making home-made baby food is barely an extra step!

 

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citybaby basics

My goal is to update citybaby once a week each Thursday.  If you are reading along (thank you!) and want to follow a recipe, this will give you a day or two before the weekend to gather the ingredient(s) I've covered.  If you're just starting out, you may want to cook on weekends when you have a little more time, energy and help from your other half.  I found that the bouncy seat was one of my greatest helpers during meal prep time until our daughter was about 12 months old.    
  
Most of the foods I write about are vegetables and fruits.  Once my daughter moved to two cubes per meal, I started pairing vegetables and fruits with a protein like tofu then plain whole milk yogurt (cow, goat, sheep or Greek) then ham, turkey or chicken.  RE: tofu -- I always have organic silken tofu on hand.  Sometimes when I'm feeling extra motivated, I go to the Japanese market and buy the single-serving packaged silken tofu.  I find it is easier to store and pack.  RE: yogurt -- I only feed my daughter plain yogurt and she loves it.  The fruit-on-the-bottom varieties are loaded with additional sugar and that is too much sugar for my tiny little person.  On a side note, there is a drawing of a cute sheep on the sheep's yogurt I buy. When I feed this to her she points at it, laughs and says "baaaaa!"  

I try to provide a little nutritional information and consult with a registered dietitian for each blog post but these notes are not even close to comprehensive.  If you want to be extra super sure that you are feeding your child a balanced diet, by all means talk to your pediatrician or consult an RD who specializes in pediatrics.  

Ingredients in the posts link out to Fresh Direct.  These links are meant to help you get your shopping done (just add to your cart!) if you are following a recipe and live in NYC.

We have a small shelf dedicated to our daughter's meals in the fridge.  I set it up that way so it would be easy to find and organize baby meals and snacks.  Anything found on that shelf is fair game to feed our baby for any meal situation including to-go packs and baby-sitter instructions.  This saves me from always being the only person who can put a meal on the tray or pack it up in the bag. 

It is possible that you will make a dish (or several) and your child doesn't embrace the new flavor.  Don't fret.  That's what the freezer is for.  Wrap up your batch of fresh cooked food, freeze it, give it a week or a month and try again.  Eggs also come in handy.  I can mix nearly anything into a scrambled egg and my daughter will devour it.

Making baby food is easy.  I'm hoping I can use this blog share some tips with you and help make it as easy as possible for you to try at home.  

Come on, give it a shot.

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