Recipe: Vegetable Soup

We're really branching out over here when it comes to food. Since Norah showed such an affinity for table food, I decided we'd just hold our noses and jump right in!

Next up, soup! It's really the perfect table food. Everything is soft, so even if there's chunks that are a bit too big, they just mash up in her mouth anyway.

Ingredients
1 cup cooked pastina pasta
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
Florets from one head of broccoli
3 c vegetable broth

Directions
Pour broth into a medium sized pot and heat on medium. When boiling, add pasta and veggies. Let boil for two minutes, then simmer for at least a half hour to get the veggies nice and soft. When cooled, portion out and refrigerate or freeze for later use. This recipe makes about three 4 oz. servings.

Note: Some broths can be very high in sodium, so make sure you choose a reduced sodium broth (or make from scratch.)

Do you like cooking more than you like babies? Check out my recipe blog, The Kitchen Canister. This week I started a challenge of 52 50 weeks of cooking new recipes.

Making the Leap to Table Food: Pancakes

For the last few weeks, I've been hesitant to give Norah "real" food. Partly because I didn't think she was ready, and partly because I was scared she'd choke. In the last week, she was getting very frustrated with someone feeding her with a spoon.

As much as I didn't want to, I tried giving her some chicken for dinner. I tore it up into the teeniest, tiniest bits to be positive she wouldn't choke. And what happened? She gobbled that stuff up like she'd been eating with her hands her whole life.

So that brings us to the next adventure. Now that I can't rely on a perfectly pureed meal anymore, what do I serve this child? I thought about what I eat for each meal and how to adapt it.

One thing we love to "treat" ourselves with is pancakes on Sunday morning. Surely pure carbs can't be good for a baby! I consulted my Baby Bullet recipe book and lo and behold, it included a recipe for "healthy" pancakes.


Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup milk - their recipe called for 3/4 cup, but I had to add some more to get it to pancake batter consistency
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 of a banana

Instructions
Add ingredients to a blender and blend baby blend! Apply thin layer of cooking spray to a pan heated to medium. Spoon out silver dollar sized blobs onto the pan and cook about 2-3 minutes per side.

Verdict
I gave Norah two for breakfast yesterday and she loved them, although she does need to work on eating a bit quicker. It took her almost an hour.

Next mission: LUNCH!

Baby Food Recipe - Broccoli, Cauliflower and Quinoa

What do you do when you have an entire freezer bag full of broccoli and cauliflower left over from a crudite tray for a party you threw over the weekend? Well, you don't let it go bad. Especially when there's a baby in the house who is eating twelve ounces of food a day. The answer is, you steam it, add some quinoa and some spices, and call it lunch!

Broccoli, Cauliflower and Quinoa

Ingredients
10 florets of broccoli and cauliflower
1/2 c quinoa
1/2 c water
1/2 tsp each of basil, pepper and garlic powder (you can probably amp up the spices a bit if you're baby is used to it, but since I just started using  spices, I kept it low-key.)

Steam broccoli and cauliflower until fork tender. While veggies are steaming, grind quinoa with a food mill and add to 1 c boiling water. Allow to come back to a boil, then turn to a simmer and let cook for about 10 minutes. Once steamed, add vegetables and 1/2 c water to blender (I used the Baby Bullet which works AWESOME!). Blend until desired consistency. Add quinoa and spices and blend a bit more to mix.

Let cool completely before serving, or portion out into an ice cube tray and freeze for later use. This made about ten 2-ounce servings.

Verdict: Norah is not so sure about this, but I think she'll come around. If there's one thing I'm learning, it's that she won't be joining broccoli's fan club anytime soon.

Baby Food Recipe - Broccoli Soup

I kind of cheated on this one, but I'll post it anyway. I have a tried and true recipe from Food Network for cream of broccoli soup, so I basically used that and pureed Norah's before I added the cream.