Aprium & Peach - Double duty delight

Yum, stone fruits are in season. With our own homegrown May Pride peaches ready to rock and the generous helping of apriums in our produce box, I've been pining (or peachin' heehee) for something to do with them all. Fresh is best. But I've dried some. I've also made a mash up that does double duty as baby food/compote and fruit spread.

Inredients:

-5 Aprium

-5 Preaches

Optional-

-Sugar or agave to sweeten to taste

-Lemon juice

Directions:

1) Clean, peel, cut fruit into chunks

2) Steam until chunks are just cooked through (I do 10 min in the Brezza)

3) Drain off excess liquid, this is important to not have too runny of a spread

4) To make a smoother consistency blend as desired. Or remove mixture from steam basket and mash with a fork.

5) To make fruit spread I add about 1/5 tsp of lemon juice and 1 tsp agave to each 1/2c of fruit.

*Tip- Freeze the fruit spread in ice cube tray as you would baby food. Take out cubes as needed and heat in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds to put "fresh" spread on sandwiches, toast, yogurt, ice cream.

Much Ado about Daikon

What to do with Daikon Radishes? I've been pleasantly surprised by how versatile they can be. But before I get ahead of myself... what are they? Well, they look kinda like an albino carrot. I was worried by the name "radish" since radishes are not my favorite. In my boxes I've had some that are long and thin, very carrot like. And some that are a bit bigger, a bit more rounded and fatter. In my experience, the carrot-like ones have tasted very mild and almost like a carrot, with almost no radishness to them. The bigger, fatter ones had a familiar mild radish flavor. However, the flavor was slight without the heat of their red globe-like cousins. I had no "bleh" factor when eating them.

*TIP* Try 'em before you cook 'em! Try them raw before you decide how to use them. Peel them, cut off the ends, and sample a bit. Peeling them is especially good to avoid some spicy and bitter notes in the radish. If they are very mild steaming is a great way to go. If they're spicier (and you don't like spicy) baking can be a great way to draw out the sweetness and minimize spiciness.

So what to do with these guys? For our 11 month old, I choose the milder flavored daikons, diced them and steamed them until very tender. I actually snack on them like this too. I enjoy them plain, without seasoning. The mild flavor goes down easy. I imagine for the rest of the family, the mild daikons would be super yummy tossed with a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. But really, they're tasty as-is. 

For the slightly spicy ones, they are hidden wonderfully in oatbars. The combo of baking them and adding ingredients with mild and sweet flavors work well. For my picky preschooler, I add beets to make these "pink" oatmeal bars. (What 3 1/2 year-old princess-loving girl would deny a pink treat?!)

Sneaky Pinky Oat Bars (With Daikon Radish & Beets)

Ingredients:

2 cups rolled oats , uncooked

1 cup flour (we use whole wheat) 

1 cup orange juice

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup peeled grated mild daikon radish

1 beet (finely julienned, grated, or pureed)

Butter, oil, or cooking spray for greasing pan

(Optional, honey or agave to trickle over bars)

*For the newer eater, you may want to finely grate or puree ingredients.

*Keep in mind that the beet juice can stain!

Directions:

1 Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2 Generously grease a 9 x 13 inch pan, or two 8 inch by 8 inch pans. I like to use butter.

3 Combine all ingredients in bowl and mix well.

4 The mixture should be moist enough to form a ball, without extra liquid. If too dry add a bit of water or orange juice

5 Put mixture in prepared pans and spread evenly.

       (Optional - drizzle with honey or agave for extra sweetness)

6 Bake for 30 minutes.

7 Remove from oven and cut into squares while still hot.

8 Wait until the bars cool before trying to remove them from the pan.

*Try these slightly warmed with almond or peanut butter, yuuuum!

Steamed Daikon Radish & Sweet Potato

First, taste test your daikon radish to test for peppery flavor. The long-thin ones are often very mild tasting with no peppery zing familiar to radishes.

First prepare the radishes, by gently washing and peeling. Trim off both ends of the radish. Cut into small bite-size chunks. Steam until very tender (in my Baby Brezza, this takes about 15 mins). Test a piece by seeing if it will mash easily with a fork. While these are good all by themselves, I like to serve them along with sweet potato or apple.

Filling Sweet Potato Bars

 Ok, these are really sweet potato, banana, apple, spinach bars - Don't tell my kids!

These tasty little treats are yummy for all, but I made them especially for our 10 month old. He wants to feed himself, and of course the purees just won't do for that! I went with grated apple because it seems to hold things together a little better. This is a bit denser than a cake. I imagine a cream cheese frosting would be amazing on these. Makes a great "feed yourself" food for the older infant. My picky eater daughter also loves them. 





Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes
1 mashed banana
1 cup grated apple
3 oz pureed spinach (3 oz is approximately 1/3c + 1tbs) (can substitute or kale, or collard greens)
1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2) Grease pan with butter or cooking spray
3) In a medium bowl, combine flour,sugar,baking powder,allspice,salt.
4) In a large bowl, combine potatoes,melted butter bananas,eggs, blend well.
5) Gently toss grated apples in flour mixture
6) Add to flour mixture to wet ingredients and gently stir

7) Pour into pan. I used a glass 8" square baking dish. Cooking times will vary based on cooking dish!
8) Bake at 400 for 30 mins and test doneness. To test doneness, pierce in middle with fork or knife, it should come out clean. Continue baking until cake appears firm in the middle, is slightly golden on top, and passes the "doneness" test! Cooking times will vary.
* This should be done, but it will set more as it cools. Let cool to room temperature. (I know it smells delicious, but wait for it to rest!) I make small rectangles and store it in the refrigerator. They seem to get even a little denser after settling over night. A great breakfast for younguns.

Apples, and carrots, and cabbage, oh my! (Baby Food)

Ingredients:
- 2 apples
- 1 carrot
- 1/4 head small cabbage (our whole cabbage was about softball sized)

Yields: About 10 oz

1) Wash/clean, peel, and chop ingredients
2) Put about 1/2c water (or enough to cover about the bottom of the pan by about 1/2 an inch) in a medium sauce pan, place steamer basket in pan
3) Put chopped carrot in pan, cover, steam for 10 mins
4) Add chopped apples to pan, cover, steam additional 10 mins
5) Add chopped cabbage (or greens) in pan, cover, steam additional 10 mins
6) Check veggies, carrots and apples should easily pierce with fork. Cabbage leaves should be semi-transluscent
7) Remove from heat and remove lid from pan
8) Puree cooled veggies using hand blender or food processor

Another option, is to steam and puree these foods separately and experiment with ratios, this may be especially helpful if you have a picky eater that may be sensitive to new flavors. Also, if you have a little one prone to a lot of gassiness you may want to try lesser amounts of cabbage or subsitituting a different leafy green.

Carrots as a first finger food

Our 10 month old wants to be a big boy and eat on his own! So, just when I've got my baby food making down, now it's time to experiment with finger foods and new textures. See guidelines for finger foods here: http://kellymom.com/nutrition/starting-solids/finger-foods/.

I've started with carrots from our produce box and our little guy loves them. He is very excited to feed himself!


Finger food carrots for older infant

Ingredients:
-2 carrots

Directions:
1) Wash, peel, carrot
2) Slice into approximately 1/4 inch slices
3) Cut each slice into quarters or sixths (small chunks pea-sized or smaller)
4) Steam in steamer basket until easily pierced with a fork (approximately 15 mins) I steam on med-low heat, in a medium-sized pot with approximately 1/3-1/2 cup water, with pot covered.5) Test mushiness but taking out a few chunks and mashing them with a fork. The chunks should mash with little effort. This is important, you want your baby to be able to easily mash the carrots with their gums, otherwise, there is a choking risk.
6) Cool and serve (or store)

"Really Ugly Apples" = Really Tasty Applesauce

I love when Squeeze Play and Abundant Harvest Organics have deals on "ugly" and "really ugly" apples. These are apples that are cosmetically, not so cute. But in their imperfection are just as tasty as the so-called pretty apples. Last week I got an amazing deal on a 10 lbs bag of "really ugly" apples, so it's apple sauce time!

For a large batch, first I wash, peel, and chop the apples. I'll steam apples in a pot with a silicone steamer basket and shallow water. I put about 1/2 of an inch of water in the bottom a pan. I put chopped apples in the steamer basket, and steam on the stove top for about 10 mins. After that, I let the apples cool. I then put the apples in a large mixing bowl and mash them using my trusty hand blender. My variety is the Juiceman hand blender. It's got plenty of power and mushes things up pretty well.

For smaller batches, I use my trusty Baby Brezza. Again, wash, peel, and chop into bite size pieces. I set the the machine to steam/blend for 20 mins.

I don't season my apple sauce because I think it's delicious as-is, but these would be yummy with a bit of cinnamon too!

After that, I fill up ice cube trays with the apple sauce. Once frozen I pop out the cubes into freezer bags to be used as needed.

Here's a picture of my Baby Brezza in actioun making apple sauce for me.

The produce holy trinity - getting started with baby food

What I call the baby food "holy trinity" is basically my produce must-haves for baby food and really it's pretty simple...

*Something orange
*Something green
*Something sweet

I always have something from each of these categories on hand or in the freezer.

Here are my examples from each category.

*Orange*
Sweet potato, butternut squash, carrots, pumpkin, persimmon

*Green*
Spinach, kale, chard, collard greens

*Sweet*
Apples, bananas, pears

For small infants, it's often recommended to start slow and with single food items at a time. There are many guides available online as to how/when to introduce single food items. One thing that is good to note, with my daughter I started with rice cereal instead of veggies. I'd heard and even read that starting off with a mild grain cereal was best. But in a few short years, thoughts about that seem to be changing. Before introducing solids (at age 6 months) to my son, I did some research again. This time around I found more articles suggesting that there's no benefit to inroducing a cereal instead of fruits/veggies. This time around, I primarily started off with fruits/veggies and have a fantastic eater who loves his fresh purees. Could be coincidence, but I'm glad I didn't only offer cereals early on.

Now my little guy is older and can eat a more varied diet. Having one thing readily available form each of my "holy trinity" categories provides me with a nice variety to keep my little guy fed nutritiously.

Baby poo woes

So, most babies have problems with poo at one time or another. For our little man (9 months old) hard stools and slight constipation is sometimes a problem. What I've found keeps our little guy going like a champ is to have a good whole grain and a good leafy green. My favorites are bulgar and spinach. Bulgar is a whole grain, and high in fiber. Spinach is known to be very nutrient-rich, and a good colon-cleansing aid. I like to keep these on hand and little man gets at least one of these daily.



Bulgar-For bulgar I cook/boil it ahead of time, and freeze in an ice cube tray, this gives me ready-made 1 oz servings.

Spinach (or other leafy greens)-I usually get some type of dark leafy green from my weekly produce box. I like spinach best, but little guy eats it all- spinach, kale, chard, collard greens. For all of these, I remove the stems and large veins. If these are left in they often create little "strings" in the puree, and I won't my greens puree as smooth as possible. After removing the stems/veins, I wash the greens, then place in a silicone steaming basket in a large pot. I add water to the pot (enough to cover the bottom of the pan by about 1/2 an inch) and steam until the greens are tender. Then I puree/blend them using a hand bledner. Then into the ice cube tray & freezer they go.

Purees - Baby Food & Operation Veggie Sneak Attack

I've been blessed with one fantastic eater in our 10 month old son, and one okay eater in our 3 1/2 year old daugther. With our son, I'm able to feed him straight up fruit and veggie purees. With our daughter, we usually offer her fruits and veggies in their most purest form. These offerings are usually met with her barely touching her tongue to the fruit/veggie and quick "no thanks, momma." So, we have to be a bit more creative with her.

Ready, set, make purees - Steam, Puree, Freeze!
Here's where purees are a life saver and work great for the whole family. I love to steam and puree fruits and veggies and keep them stockpiled. If making small to medium batches I use the Baby Brezza. It is a baby food maker that steams/purees all in one step. I love it! When making large batches of purees, I'll steam on the stove top and either use the Baby Brezza for pureeing or use my hand blender. [If using the stove top method, make sure there's enough water in the pot to steam the veggies, but not so much that your veggies or steamer basket are submergered. Also, retain some or all of the water for pureeing with the fruits/veggies to make a smoother puree.] Now for storage- for me, I find that freezing in ice cube trays make it easy for me to determine portions. Each cube makes 1 ounce of puree. Next, pop the cubes of the trays and store in freezer bags, labeled with the date they were made. A couple important notes, don't store food in the trays too long, over 24 hours or so and they can get freezer burned, move them out of the trays quickly. Also, buy a good freezer bag. Not all storage bags work well as freezer bags. So, buy a thicker bag labeled as "freezer" bags.

For the babe-When we first introduced foods to our baby, it was one fruit/veggie at a time. But now a meal is usually a combo of 3-4 cubes of different fruits/veggies, with possibly a cube of protein and/or whole grain. For example for breakfast he had- 2 cubes apple sauce, 1 cube butternut squash, 1 cube chard, and 1 cube bulgar. Zapped the frozen cubes in the microwave for 75 sec, and tada, breakfast! (So usually he eats 4-5 cubes or ounces of food per meal.)

For the preschooler (and the rest of us)- I have waged a full-on fruit/veggie sneak attack. I put purees in everything- pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, mac n' cheese, muffins, and on and on. Really the family pretty much can never tell, but I get the satisfaction of knowing I snuck some good stuff into them :)

Ok, last thing... do NOT get discouraged! Find a way to make a healthy eating plan work for you!

Would it work better to take an afternoon and make big batches all at once to freeze? Or, would you find it easier to make small batches while you're preparing meals on a daily basis?

You don't have a weekly produce delivery? Our produce deliveries work great for us (it's cheaper and easier than going to the store on a weekly basis, bonus that it's fresh, organic, and I know where it comes from... I could go on). But, this isn't an option for everyone. So, get your veggies/fruits elsewhere! Farmer's Market, grocery store, fresh, frozen, or even canned. Anything is better than nothing!

The big switch (to Organic Produce)

We started getting organic produce delivered to us back in the fall. I love, love, love our service. It also helps that around that time our baby boy started eating solids, and man can the kid eat! Most of the items in our weekly delivery are predetermined by what's in season and available from the contributing farmers. I have been introduced to many produce items I'd rarely had and several I've never even heard of. I want to share what we do with some of these novel items.

But, let me start of by saying that there are several factors that made this switch to organic produce work for us. Boils down to it being affordable and convenient. It's delivered to our doorstep for a $5 delivery charge. Trust me, the gas to go to the store is more than that! I would say the next factor is a dedication to making the produce edible to my family.

So, coming soon are some of the ways I season, cook, sneak, and otherwise somehow get my family to eat their veggies! Even if you don't do organic produce, I hope the ideas will help!