Pesto

It's Wednesday, which means produce delivery at our house. This is one of those weeks when I just didn't have time to check out what was coming in our box and I was so excited to see all the goodies. Really, fresh strawberries, cherries, apriums, and peaches! Oh yes, and there were plenty of veggies too. Before I get on with one of my favorite easy recipes, here's a look at what was in my Abundant Harvest Organics box.

Ok, on with the PESTO! Included in my box were basil and green garlic, great items for pesto. To make pesto, you'll want to be able to blend all these yummy ingredients somehow (food processor, hand blender, Brezza)

Ingredients:

-1 bunch basil
-2 heads of green garlic (or 2-3 cloves)
-5 tablespoons olive oil
-1 lemon

-2 tablespoons parmigian cheese

-pinch of salt

Directions:

1) Remove basil leaves from stalks and wash them

2) Cut the ends of the green garlic so that you have just the white part of the green garlic (Confused? Check out the pic)

3) Combine all ingredients in food processor, bowl (if using a handblender), or my favorite the baby Brezza

4) Blend in pulses, add extra olive oil if consistency is more dry than paste-like

5) Serve however you like it! Over whole wheat pasta is our favorite way. My 12 month-old loved this, surprise, surprise!

Variations- Add nuts for a little crunch. If I wasn't giving this to our 12 month old, I would have added in almonds or pine nuts in the blending stage, it adds a little crunch to the texture. Sometimes I also add chopped green olives as well, but if you do so balance the saltiness with a bit more lemon juice. Wanna be sneaky, add in a cube (or two) of your pureed greens to warm pasta then toss in the pesto... trust me, know one will know.

Fava beans, a lotta work, a lotta tastiness

So what comes to mind when you hear "fava beans?" For me, all I think of is Silence of the Lambs of course! I'd never tried these myself just because of that fact. And really, there haven't been many opportunites to try them anyway. But alas, this week they arrived on my doorstep. So this was my chance to disconnect fava beans and Hannibal Lector.

Being as this was my first time with fava beans, I used the parboil and peel method. Basically this amounts to boiling the whole bean pod briefly, putting them in an ice bath, removing the beans from the pod, then carefully removing the thick waxy covering from each bean. Was this time consuming? For me, yes, it took me about 30 mins from start to finish. Would I do it again, for sure. To be honest, the end result tasted a bit like edamame to me. But, imagine a creamier, almost buttery, edamame. Lightly salted, and voila, very simply and quite tasty.

Here's a link to the Abundant Harvest newletter, with instructions for various ways to cook fava beans.

Fava beans in the pod



Beans remove from pod

Fava bean with coating removed. Colors varied from vibrant yellow to lime green.

Beans in waxy skin (left), completely shelled (right).

 

Asian-style Slaw

This recipe is easy-peasy and my favorite way to enjoy all the fresh little cabbages that have been coming in our produce box.

Ingredients:

-1 small head cabbage

-1/2 cup grated carrots

-2 daikon radishes

-1 tbs light mayonnaise

-1/4 cup Annie's Natural Shiitake Sesame Vinaigrette

Directions:

1) Using large-holed grater, grate all vegetables

2) In a large bowl mix vegetables with mayonnaise and Shiitake dressing

Tart Passion Fruit & Lemonade

I was so excited to get a sampler of passion fruit with my weekly produce delivery. I actually had no idea what it was at first. I know passion fruit can vary from sweet to tart. And this particular purple little guy made me pucker. I like sour, but I have to admit, between the tartness and the texture of the seeds, I just wasn't down to eat it alone. But, as the saying goes... when life gives you a tart passion fruit make... well, you get it. I'm sure the sweeter variety would also make a tasty drink.

Oh, and let me say something about the smell and texture of this drink. The fragrance of passion fruit was absolutely amazing. It may have been the best smelling drink I've ever had. And the juicy, crunchy, tart seeds were a thousand times yummier than boba. So get a passion fruit & drink up!

Ingredients:

1 passion fruit

1 tbs lemon juice

1 1/2 tbs agave nectar

1 1/2 cups water

Directions:

Gently scoop pulp and seeds from passion fruit. Mix with lemon juice, agave nectar and water. Serve over ice with a straw to suck up all that crunchy seed goodness!

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.

"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.

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!