To my left, my baby boy Lloyd. And he is clapping because Baby Bolognese Dinner is so darn tasty! I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making some beef based dinners for Lloyd, but hadn’t found any meat that I was willing to cook for him (the ground beef I normally buy for T. and me is not organic) and thought that I’d have to make a special trip to Whole Foods this week – until yesterday when I was at the store I happened to check out the clearance meat section and found two packages, each a little over a pound, of Laura’s Lean Beef, which is hormone and antibiotic free at my normal grocery store! It was on sale, 50% off for quick sale, to be purchased [... To read more, click here ...]
Feb 052008
Welcome to the final post for this week’s homemade chicken baby-food dinner series! With one package of organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs (my package was about $7.00 and had about 6 thighs in it) and with other ingredients I already had at home, I made three batches of homemade, organic, meat-based baby foods, with three different starches and various flavors. In total, I probably only spent about $9.00 on ingredients for enough baby food dinners to last me a month, at least. Considering most organic, level 3 dinners are about $1.00/6 oz jar, I probably saved our family about $20 a month PLUS I know the freshness and quality of the meals LL is eating can’t be matched AND he is getting used to the flavors that I cook with; [... To read more, click here ...]
Baby’s Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli & Riceadapted from “The Baby Bistro Cookbook” by Joohee Muromcew 1/2 cup organic brown rice, uncooked (or 1 cup, cooked brown rice, see instructions beginning at step two, below) 3 cups organic, low-sodium chicken broth, divided (if using pre-cooked brown rice, you will only need 1 cup of broth)* 1 cup broccoli florets, chopped (I used frozen) 1 cup diced, cooked chicken thighs* 1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat cook the brown rice with 2 cups of stock, about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Test for doneness, you want the rice almost overcooked for an adult palate and very soft. Add more liquid if you need to and cook a bit longer. Once the rice is cooked (or, if you are [... To read more, click here ...]
To start off, let’s cook some chicken, you’ll be using this in this recipe as well as later this week in one or two others. Didn’t anyone tell you? It’s baby-food-dinner-cooking-week! Batch-Cooked Chicken and Stock for Baby Food In a medium saucepan bring to a low boil:6 cups or so of filtered water10 peppercorns1 stalk of celery, roughly chopped into about six pieces2 carrots, washed (not peeled) and roughly chopped into about four pieces eachthree stalks of fresh thymeOne green onion, washed and cut into about three pieces Once water is simmering, add organic boneless, skinless chicken thighs (my package had six thighs in it) and keep at a low simmer, making sure that chicken is completely submerged, for about twenty minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for a [... To read more, click here ...]
Mama’s little Popeye! Though that bright green goodness on his face isn’t spinach, but kale. I made my first batch of dark green, leafy baby food this weekend and it was a rousing success! Kale is considered to be one of the most highly nutritious vegetables, with powerful antioxidant properties and is anti-inflammatory. Kale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C, lutein and zeaxanthin and reasonably rich in calcium. I want LL to enjoy a wide range of foods and vegetables and decided to start adding this into his diet a few times a week. Making kale baby food was, admittedly, a bit more work than other baby foods I’ve made, but well worth it (and really not that hard or long, just more difficult [... To read more, click here ...]
Jan 082008
LL just turned nine months a bit over a week ago and I was so excited because now I can make him (cue theme music – dum, da, da, dum!) SUPER PORRIDGE! As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I make a lot of Lloyd’s food, but I hadn’t yet made him baby cereal. It was easier just purchasing instant organic brown rice or oatmeal cereal at the store than whirring it up in my blender each week. But now that he is getting bigger, I wanted to add more protein to his diet, without adding more meat, hence, Super Porridge from the Super Baby Food book. When you mix two/thirds whole grain with one/third legume, you create a perfect protein. I don’t know the science behind it, but I [... To read more, click here ...]
Sep 212007
About six weeks ago I bought Ruth Yaron’s “Super Baby Food” to read while we were at the cabin and to prepare for feeding the little guy. I loved it! Not only does it have baby food recipes, but it teaches you what foods are appropriate at what age and, about half the book is suggestions for the home from making home-made baby safe cleaners to crafts to feeding a toddler. I had planned on nursing exclusively until Lloyd was six months old, but around four and a half months old, he began reverting back to feeding every 2 hours around the clock. It was driving me crazy. Unfortunately this was after we had moved out of our house in the Bay area, and before we moved to Santa Monica; [... To read more, click here ...]
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