Gingered Carrot

I love the combination of ginger with carrots.  

The sweetness of the carrots is the perfect vessel for the ginger which,

 in a larger amount can be a tad spicy.

Here we're adding just a small amount to brighten up a dish your baby is probably already used to.

Gingered Carrot
5 or 6 medium carrots (or the equivalent of 1 lb), peeled and sliced
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

I slice my carrots into 1/2 inch rounds (with the thin tips cut longer)
 because they steam faster in smaller pieces.
Steam in basket over 1 inch of water for about 15-20 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork.
Cook the minimum amount of time possible to retain the most nutrients for your babe.

Add your carrots and the freshly grated ginger and puree.
Use the water from the steamer to get your puree to the desired consistency.

*Variations
-Add 1/2 cup cooked, pureed chicken
-Add a small dollop of plain, whole yogurt
-Mix with pureed apple
-Add a pinch of mild curry
-Add 1/2 teaspoon of minced cilantro

*Storage
Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months

*Benefits
Carrots have loads of different kinds of carotenoids which work as anitoxidants,
convert to Vitamin A, boost the immune system
as well as protect and enhance your eyes.
Ginger has a soothing quality that calms the stomach and rids you of nausea.
It has also been known to increase circulation and immunity in addition to anti-inflammatory properties.
All wonderful things of for your little peanut.

This recipe is classified as 8-10 months because of the use of spices.
You may introduce spices earlier or later than this.

Simple Dried Fruit (Prunes, Apricots, etc)

Well, these aren't the prettiest of purees but they taste great and are very nutritious.

The drying process really concentrates the sugar, so you end up with a fantastically sweet puree.

Dried fruits compliment an incredible amount of foods.

Pictured above are both prune (the darker of the two) and apricot purees.

Off the top of my head you could use prunes, apricots, peaches, raisins, figs or dates... 

I'm sure there are a ton more out there.

For this recipe I used prunes

Dried Fruit Puree

1 cup prunes (you can do any amount of dried fruit)

water

Place your dried fruit in a small saucepan.

Add just enough water to cover the fruit.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 3 or 4 minutes.

The fruit should be easily pierced with a fork.

Just give it a test-mash in the pan.

Add the fruit to the blender or food processor and puree,  

adding as much liquid as needed.  

I used all my water but if you do have extra then don't toss that juice,

give the cooled juice to your little to drink.

Apples & Prunes

You can thin it all the way down to the consistency you would need to serve it to baby.

In this case you would most likely need more water.

I like to leave mine on the thick side and then freeze it into cubes.

This way, if I make something later on that needs to be sweetened and/or thickened

I already have some frozen purees ready.

Then I just pop in a cube or two to perfect the recipe.

~~~

Look for unsulfured fruit.  You want fruit that is naturally dried.

Read the ingredients and avoid sulfur dioxide or paraffin.

Some babies and adults may be allergic to sulfides.

Sulfur dioxide does preserve the lovely apricot color 

so keep in mind your unsulfured fruit will be brown, as shown in the pictures.

Try to find organic raisins or domestic raisins if you can as imported grapes fall on the "dirty dozen" list.

Yay, California raisins!

*Variations

-Mix with apples, pears or other fruit

-Great to mix with yogurt as it adds an intense sweetness to the tart yogurt

-Add to oatmeal or other grains

*Storage

Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months

*Benefits

Dried apricots are a good source of beta-carotene, vitamin A, potassium and iron.

Prunes are high in fiber, vitamins A and C, potassium, iron and tons of antioxidants.

Raisins also have antioxidants, potassium, calcium & magnesium.

Dates have calcium, magnesium, fiber and potassium.

Figs are packed with fiber, potassium and calcium.

Yummy, Yucky

A while back I stumbled upon A Little Yumminess and found that they had a tab dedicated to foodie books.  You can imagine how excited I was and still am. 

 I just had to jump on that idea as I'd started to look at food books before Peanut was even around.

Yummy Yucky by Leslie Paticelli is simple, colorful and fun.

It takes you thru a series of items that are both yummy and yucky.

The main character is very dramatic in his yummy and yucky expressions and he even leaves me giggling.

What are your favorite foodie children's books?

Simple Stone Fruit (Plum, Peach, Nectarine, etc)

This puree can be done with any stone fruit or any combination of.

I needed to use up several different kinds so I ended up with a combination
of donut peaches, nectarines and plums.

There are all 3 in both of the purees shown but one has more plums then the other.

There are a so many different types of stone fruit on the market these days.
There are different varieties of fruit as well as hybrids like apriums and pluots.

Simple Stone Fruit 
3 medium nectarines, plums or other stone fruit (or combination of)
-make sure your fruit is ripe-

Boil a pot of water.  Meanwhile wash your fruit and cut an X on the bottom of each piece.
Place the fruit in the boiling water for a few minutes.
Remove and run cold water over the tops and simply peel back the skin.
Cut the flesh from the pit and puree.

If you are using this as a first food and prefer to cook it
 you could also place the fruit in a small saucepan and simmer until fork tender, then puree.
~~~

Taste your puree.  If the end result is too tart
 you could add pureed dried apricot or prunes for additional sweetness.

*Variations
-Mix this puree with just about any fruit under the sun
-Mash with banana (another easy way to sweeten)
-Add 3/4 teaspoon minced mint
-Add a generous pinch of cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice (about 1/8 teaspoon)
-Mix with oatmeal or other cereal

*Storage
Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months

*Benefits
Peaches have lots of vitamin C and K as well as potassium, calcium and fiber.
Nectarines are high in antioxidants and vitamin A along with beta-carotene and potassium.
Plums are a good source of fiber, potassium, vitamin C, K and A.

What is your favorite stone fruit?

I'm particularly obsessed with donut (or saturn) peaches right now.
The white flesh is so full of flavor with a hint of almond and
are much sweeter than some of the other stone fruit.
They are really easy to eat as the tiny little pit can be removed easily,
leaving you with tons of the yummy flesh.

Blueberry & Apple with cinnamon

I promise this is the last blueberry post for a while!
It's just that I had all these blueberries and Peanut loves them, so I couldn't help myself.

I had this craving for pie the other day and ended up eating this mashed up and still warm with nilla wafers and graham crackers and topped with whipped cream.

Not that it's a replacement for pie. 

It was late and I wasn't about to whip up a pie.

Yes, I did give some to Peanut.

Only without the extra fixins.

Blueberry & Apple with cinnamon

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped into chunks (about 3 cups)

1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon water

Place the ingredients into a pot or saucepan with a lid.  

Simmer for about 4 minutes or until fork tender, stirring occasionally.

Blend to the desired consistency.

Taste test!  I suggest starting with the 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon and tasting to see if you would like to add more.  I ended up adding another generous pinch but I'm a big fan of cinnamon.

*Variation

-Switch things up a bit and try using 1/2 teaspoon of minced mint instead.

*Storage

Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months

*Benefits

Apples are a great source of fiber and contain nutrient that help regulate blood sugar.

Blueberries are full of antioxidants and vitamin C.  

Truly brain food, they help your little one maintain brain power.

Cinnamon has been said to lower blood sugar, improve blood flow, fight bacteria, relieve gas 

and reduce inflammation.

Pea, Edamame & Apple

I saw this recipe floating around the internet and am still unsure about it's origins.
From a source called Baby Love?

However, I found that the copies of this recipe I came across 

had different pieces of the directions missing.

I changed the ingredients just a tad as I had no apple juice, so I added apples.

My only hang up is all the boiling and rinsing of the ingredients.  

I don't mind as much with the peas and edamame but it seems a shame to boil and rinse apples.

Feel free to cook them separately (either steamed or simmered with a tbs of water)

 and skip the rinsing part completely.

Just make sure to cool the apples or you'll add them in and overcook your peas.

I also cut back on the amount of liquid added, which originally calls for 1/2 cup apple juice.

For simplicity's sake I followed directions and did it all together.

Peas, Edamame & Apple
(adapted from Baby Love)

1/4 lb frozen peas

1/4 lb frozen edamame (soybeans)

2 apples, peeled, cored and cut into small pieces

Fill a pot with 4 cups of water and bring to a boil.
Meanwhile get a large bowl and fill with ice and cold water.

Pour the peas and edamame into the colander and run cold water over them to remove any ice crystals.
Add your ingredients to the boiling water and cook for 3 or 4 minutes.
Pour the mixture back into the colander to drain
(reserving water- do this by putting a bowl under the colander)

and run cold water over the mixture.
Add everything into the ice bath to stop the cooking process.  Chill for a couple minutes.

Puree in a blender with reserved cooking liquid (or unsweetened apple juice if you have it)
until it is the desired consistency.

*Variations
-Substitute pears for the apples
-Bake the apples for a more intense apple flavor
-Leave out the edamame and use as a first food

*Storage
Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months

*Benefits
Did you know that peas are actually legumes?
Your peas, when cooked, should always be a bright green color.
They should not be the dull color of canned peas as the healthy chlorophyll and other nutrients have been destroyed during the cooking process.
Bright green means they have retained as much nutrients as possible.
Peas are a great source of fiber, vitamin A and protein.
Oh and vitamin K which will help your baby absorb the calcium in his/her diet.

Edamame is packed with protein and potassium.
It also provides fiber, calcium, magnesium, folate and vitamins A and C.

Apples provide fiber, antioxidants and vitamins A, B and lots of C.

Simple Vegetable Puree

This is just the basic recipe that you will use to build upon.

Although shown with carrot you can use this with a number of different veggies.

From here, the possibilities are endless.

Simple Vegetable Puree
5 or 6 medium carrots (about 1 lb), peeled and sliced

Place in a steamer basket over 1 inch of water and steam for about 15-20 minutes
(depending on the size of your sliced veggies) or until fork tender.

Puree your carrots with a bit of water from the steamer.
You may want to add just enough water to make the puree smooth
and then store it.

At the time of feeding add breast milk or formula thinning to the desired consistency for your little.

*Variations
-Try steaming other veggies like squash, parsnip, rutabaga, or peas
-Mix your veggies with first fruits like apples, pears or peaches

*Storage
Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months

Banana & Blueberry

This recipe is super simple and completely delicious.  This is one of those, throw together at the last minute purees and your baby will love it.

Banana & Blueberry

1 medium banana

1/2 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen

Place in food processor and puree.  

If using frozen blueberries just allow them to defrost a bit.  

Mine were still slightly frozen which worked out just fine.

*Variations

-Add a dollop of yogurt.  I usually do this when I've used a really ripe and sweet banana

-For some extra protein, add 1/4 cup of silken tofu.  It blends right in and the flavor hardly changes.
-Mash this with a fork for some texture
-Mix with prepared oatmeal

*Storage

This looks prettiest when eaten fresh as the banana will turn brown.

However, brown banana does not mean bad banana 

(unless of course we are talking about starting off with a rotten banana).

You can refrigerate for up to 3 days. 

I suggest placing cling wrap directly on the surface of the mixture to reduce browning if it bothers you.

You can also freeze this for up to 3 months (and I have frozen it) but it will brown as you thaw.

*Benefit

Blueberries are full of antioxidants and they help maintain memory. 

I'd say that's a huge perk considering the amount that your baby is learning on a daily basis.

Bananas are a great source of fiber and potassium.

They are also very good for the digestive system and have been known to remedy diarrhea(tmi?).

Simple Winter Squash

I thought we should really kick off summer by featuring a recipe for winter squash!  Yay!

Your winter squash are the hard shell squash like butternut squash, spaghetti squash and acorn.  I used acorn for this recipe simply because I have no idea if I would be able to cut a butternut squash without taking off at least one appendage.  I usually have B cut the squash because I'm pretty accident prone.  

I've read that you can partially cook a squash and then cut it.  

When I try that I will get back to you on the result.

Acorn squash is much more manageable.  And it's so tasty too!

Basic Winter Squash

1 acorn squash 

(look for a heavy squash with smooth skin and no dents or holes)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

Take a large, sharp chef's knife and cut your squash in half.  

I got stuck halfway thru.  What can I say... I have mush in the place of muscles.

If you are like me, you can use a rubber mallet to very carefully continue your cut.

Or I can send B to your house to cut your squash.

OR maybe you do have muscles, in which case I say, would you like to come cut squash for me?

Scoop out the stringy flesh and seeds and discard (although I wish I would have baked my seeds)

Place your acorn squash, cut sides down on a baking sheet.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes.

The skins will be soft and easily pierced with a fork.

Let your squash cool and blend or mash to your desired consistency, adding water as needed.

This puree turns out so smooth and creamy, it is absolutely delicious.

Do you see how the back half of the squash looks like it started to decay in the oven?

It didn't.

Those are fork marks where we were eating it hot out of the oven.

For a minute I thought about adding butter and real maple syrup, eating it 

and making baby food another day.

But then I remembered that Peanut needed some veggies made.

Motherhood can be such a nuisance :)

*Variations

-Add 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

-Puree with 2 baked or steamed apples or pears

-Use unsweetened apple or pear juice to puree

-Use as a thickener for other fruit or veggie purees

-Substitute with butternut squash
~Serve this for your dinner! Instead of water add a pat of butter and some milk.
Use the squash by itself or mashed with potatoes~

*Storage

Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months

*Benefits

Acorn squash is not surprisingly full of healthy fiber but it is also packed with potassium and iron.

Butternut squash has tons of vitamin A and beta-carotene.

~I have a new page/tab up top featuring pictures of Dandy Babies!

If you have a picture of your baby eating a Dandy Baby recipes and would like me to include it, 

please email me at dandy7321@yahoo.com

Minted Summer Peach

Stone fruit is in season and we've been getting the most amazing, gigantic, juicy and flavorful peaches from our CSA.  It always surprises me how much flavor farm fresh food can have.  

I mean the peaches taste like peach-scented products.  Does that make any sense?

It's just that occasionally you get food from the supermarket that looks like food 

but doesn't taste like much.

These have been so packed with flavor.

This recipe actually includes apples which I thought was great for the texture.  I'll have to admit that apples weren't in the original plan but we ate more peaches than I thought... 

so Peanut wasn't left with much.

That's what happens when you are lowest on the totem pole.

I wanted to start introducing Peanut to herbs and spices 

and mint sounded so refreshing for this time of year.

Minted Summer Peaches

1 large or 2 small peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 large or 2 small apples, peeled, cored and chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)

3/4 teaspoon minced mint leaves

1tablespoon water

Place your peaches and apples in a saucepan or pot with the 1 tablespoon of water.  Put a lid on (or piece of foil) and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Simmer for about 3 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the fruit is fork tender.

Take your fruit off the heat, removing lid and allow the mixture to cool.   Meanwhile, chop your mint.  When the fruit has cooled, blend or mash to desired consistency.  Add in your mint.  I like to add the mint to cooled fruit as hot fruit will turn it all brown.

Enjoy!

*Variation

-Feel free to use frozen peaches
-This would be fantastic done with all peaches, all apples or even nectarines.

-You can eliminate the mint and serve this as a first fruit.

-Add a little plain, whole milk yogurt 

--Serve this semi-frozen with some berries as a treat for you--

*Storage

Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months

*Benefits

Peaches are a great source of vitamins C & K as well as calcium and potassium.
They are also high in fiber.
Apples have lots of antioxidants as well as loads of fiber.
Mint (just fyi even though there is such a teensy amount) containes Vitamins A, C and B12, calcium, potassium and folic acid.  I think it's a great way to introduce herbs and it just screams summer.

This recipe is marked as 8-10 months because of the mint.  Many people (like me) may introduce herbs and spices younger than 8 months.

I'm looking for pictures of your baby eating some Dandy Baby food for my blog!  
If you have one to share please email it to me at dandy7321@yahoo.com

Blueberry Pear Oatmeal

This recipe came after a lot of experimenting with blueberries and pears.  

It all started with a great sale on organic blueberries.

I did some reading on the internet and found that almost all the recipes were nothing more then blending the 2 ingredients together. I did and it tasted great. It had a nice pear flavor with bits of blueberry in it. Although the skins look alarming, they are so soft I wouldn't worry about them in the puree.

My complaint was that once pureed it was almost completely liquid. My pears were extremely ripe and juicy.  Oh and pears brown almost immediately, so expect your puree to take on a tan tinge.

Some say that for babies younger than 8 months, or when you are trying a new fruit on a baby, that it's better to cook the fruit first.  Cooking the fruit should aid in digestion.  Although blueberries are recommended for 8 months and older anyway.

My next step was trying to cook the fruit first.  As you can see, the puree differs dramatically in appearance.

I decided to address the consistency by turning it into an oatmeal.

On the left is the final recipe, on the right was my attempt to add cooked oatmeal to my fresh puree.

Although the fresh blend was tasty I loved the cooked blend.  The blueberries take on this deep flavor that I couldn't get enough of.   Just the smell of the cooking fruit was enough to make me crave more.

I'd love the puree served warm over pancakes.  Yum.

The result of all this shenanigans is one simple recipe.

Blueberry Pear Oatmeal

1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen)

2 ripe pears, peeled, cored, chopped into chunks (about 2 cups)

1/2 cup oatmeal

Add blueberries and pears to a medium pot or saucepan and place over medium to high heat.  No additional liquid is needed.   Bring to a simmer and continue simmering 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  The fruit should be soft and the blueberries will be breaking down and letting out that gorgeous purple juice.  Take your pan off the heat and allow it to cool for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, grind your oatmeal.  This step allows you to control the amount of texture your baby gets in the finished product.  You can grind to a fine powder or not grind at all.  Transfer your oatmeal to a small bowl or cup.

Carefully place the fruit in the food processor and puree.  Transfer the pureed fruit back to the original pan and bring mixture up to a simmer.

Once the fruit is at a simmer, whisk in the ground oats.  Let the oats cook in the mixture, stirring occasionally.  I used quick cook oats and ground them down so it only took about 2 minutes to cook.  There are different types of oats so cook accordingly.

Let it cool and enjoy!

If the finished product is too thick for your little then go ahead and thin down with water.

Peanut approves!

*Variation

If you'd like to use the the oats as a thickener instead of as a main ingredient, simply cut down to 1/4 cup  of finely ground oats.

*Storage

Realistically I'm not sure I'll ever whip this up for breakfast.  I'm not a morning person, I don't get much done first thing in the morning.  Put this into an airtight container and you can keep refrigerated for up to 3 days.  Warm it and then check the consistency.
You may need to thin it out with water, formula or breast milk

Freeze for up to 3 months.  Once thawed it's slightly rubbery.  Simply warm it and add water, formula or breast milk until it is a good consistency for your little.

*Benefits

Blueberries are a super fruit when it comes to nutritional value. 

They are pure brain food, packed with antioxidants and vitamin C.

The list of health benefits go on and on, regardless of whether they are fresh or frozen.

Oats are a great source of both soluble and insoluble fiber. 
They are also a good source of manganese, vitamin E, zinc, and protein.
They are also a great way to introduce your little to different textures.

As compared to the commercial version.

Isn't ours pretty?