Tag Archives: 6 mo+

Lasting summer

Posted on by
1

Last night, I had a dream that it snowed.  I was really disappointed when I realized that it was already in the mid-70s at 7am.    Confession: Summer is not my favorite season.  I love the fresh food and the pool opportunities and all, but I really, really hate being hot.  Really a LOT.  I love all the summer fun, I just don’t like being hot.

However, when I pop open a jar of my jam in the dead of winter, I sure am grateful for that heat that helped the fruit grow and ripen!  This recipe was inspired by the Strawberry and Lemon Preserves from Canning for a New Generation.  I adjusted the flavors a bit to give the jam more what I was looking for: a sweet jam than that finishes with just a little bit of a tart zing!

Strawberry Lemonade Jam

  • 3 pounds strawberries; cleaned, hulled, chopped
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 lemons; skins washed and sliced thinly
Once all the fruit has been washed and sliced/chopped, place it in a large bowl or lidded container.  Sprinkle the sugar over the top and then stir to combine.  Cover and place in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.  This time allows for the berries to thoroughly macerate in the sugar and form a thick syrup.
Transfer the berry mixture to a large, heavy bottomed pan and mash well.  Heat over a medium heat, stirring frequently, until the syrup begins to thicken.  You will need to skim foam from the top of the jam after about 10 minutes of cooking and the jam was thickened to my liking at about 20 minutes of cook time.  Remove the lemons from the jam and do a final taste test to make sure the jam is sweet enough for you.  I wanted this jam to have the tartness of a lemon as a primary flavor, but if you need more sweetness, add up to another half a cup of sugar.
This jam only makes 4 half pints of jam, so clean and sterilize those jars, lids and rings.  Bring a pot of water to boil, making sure that there is enough water so that the top of the filled jars will be covered by an inch of water.  When the water is at a roiling boil, lower the filled and capped jars in using tongs, make sure the water height covers the jars sufficiently (if not, add more hot water to the pot) and return the water to a rolling boil.  Once the water is boiling, set your timer for 10 minutes and make sure the lid sets securely on top of the pot.
When the time is complete, remove the jars from the boiling water with tongs and place on a towel to cool.  The jars will need to remain on that towel for a minimum of 12 hours while they cool and set.  Once the jars are cool to the touch, you can check the lids to make sure they have sealed.  Place any unsealed jars in the refrigerator.  Label and store the jars… ready for a cold snowy day when you are longing for some summer fun!

Stuffed

Posted on by
Reply
Oh stuffing.  I grew up vegetarian, so Thanksgiving was one of the those holidays that we had to make some adaptations.  We always had pasta dishes to round out the menu, but those standard side dishes never altered.  So I spent all my Thanksgiving holidays eating mashed potatoes, yams, pasta and stuffing.  Carbs anyone?  When I finally started eating meat a few years ago, I was glad to leave the stuffing off my plate.  
And then, I had a little boy who loved stuffing.  When your baby boy loves something, you learn to make it and then you learn to love it.  For him.  
In my preparation for this dish, I purchased a loaf of French bread.  My aunt, who is in her mid-70s was horrified.  I’m not sure what other people use, but it’s French bread for me.  Stale French bread is the best, but I didn’t have the time to make the bread stale, so I toasted the cubed up bread in the oven.  Tada!  
French Bread Stuffing:
  • 1 large loaf, stale French bread cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1 quart chicken broth
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 3 stalks of celery, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 Tbsp. butter
  • 2 Tbsp. flour
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 tsp. dried thyme
  • 1 tsp. dried parsley

Melt the butter in a large skillet.   Add in the onions, celery and garlic.  When the onions are translucent, sprinkle in the flour until it’s thick and bubbly.  Add the seasonings and half of the broth.  Then, add the bread to a buttered 9 by 13 inch casserole dish.  Mix in the onion mixture from the skillet and then pour in the rest of the chicken broth until the bread is covered.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. 

My favorite

Posted on by
1
I’m glad I got back into making my own yogurt again.  Now, I have a fresh quart of plain yogurt whenever I need it to do neat things like marinate chicken.  For months, I’ve had to make a note and a specific trip to the store if I wanted to make a lot of the dishes I’m dying to try.  Sunday afternoon, while the Pear butter was simmering, I grabbed some chicken out of the fridge and coated it in a thick bath of yogurt and spices, fully intending to grill it up for supper.  But then, we got company and company that doesn’t like Indian food.  Well, company that hasn’t ever had Indian food and I’d love to challenge their opinion of it.  I let it marinate overnight and we had this on Monday night and my goodness, I didn’t make enough of this to share.  As it was, I wept a tiny tear when I gave up the leftovers so Matt could take them to work this morning. 
Chicken Tikka Masala one of my absolute favorite Indian dishes.  I always order it when we go to an Indian restaurant and whenever I see the sauce jarred in the grocery, I buy it to try.  I haven’t had any since about a week before I had Sylvia so I was just dying to savor every bite.  And this dish did not disappoint.  Creamy and with just a hint of spice this is a dish that even the 7 month old licked her fingers over.

Chicken Tikka Masala
  • 1 c. yogurt
  • 1 c. fresh cilantro or coriander
  • 3 Tbsp. fresh grated ginger
  • 3 Tbsp. fresh minced garlic
  • 3 Tbsp. garam masala
  • 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1 lb. chicken
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 jalapeno, minced  (this makes a fairly mild sauce, feel free to add more if you desire)
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 2 tsp. cumin
  • 2 tsp. paprika
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 8 oz. pureed tomatoes
  • 1 c. whole milk
  • Cilantro for garnish
  • Naan
 Mix the yogurt, cilantro, ginger, garlic, garam masala, and red pepper flakes.  Cover the chicken in the marinade.  Allow to set for at least 4 hours, but preferably over night. 
In a large saute pan, melt some ghee and saute the onion, garlic and jalapeno until tender.  Sprinkle the cumin, paprika and salt.  Saute until fragrant.  Pour in the tomatoes and simmer 5 minutes.  Add the milk and cook over low until the sauce thickens.  In the meantime, grill the chicken until cooked through.  Cut the chicken up into small pieces and add to the sauce.  Serve over brown or basmati rice and with warm naan.  

** For the Cheflets:  Liam ate this just fine, but I’ll admit he was more interested in the naan.  I gave Sylvia the rice with a small amount of sauce on it.  She got the flavor, but none of the zing.**

Chai and Pears

Posted on by
Reply
A few months after Matt and I got married, the pear tree in our back yard bloomed and we were amazed by the sweet smell that drifted into our windows.  We waited anxiously for the pears that we were sure would overload the tree.  In the 4 springs we had in that home, I’d say we got a total of 10 pears that were worth using.  Most of those pears came the year I tried making pear butter.  I swore I’d make it every year thereafter.  That was in 2008.  I have not made a single spoonful since.  Even the following year when Liam was starting solids and I was freezing everything in sight.
Anyway, I saw a recipe on Pinterest and started to drool.  I had planned to follow the recipe posted, but I noticed a box of chai in my cupboard this morning and decided to tweak the recipe a tad.  Here’s the thing: I LOVE spices and flavors and depth.  For this, I essentially took the spices for my traditional Chai recipe and added it to the pears.  I was surprised how juicy my pears were, so I had to let them cook down for quite a while.  While they were cooking, we went outside and started hanging the Christmas lights.  Even though it’s November in Ohio, the weather is quite nice and this was the perfect weekend to get the decorating underway!  When we came back in the house smelled heavenly and I’m just so excited to add these little jars to my Christmas gifts this year.
Vanilla Chai Spice Pear Butter
  • 7 lbs. Pears
  • 1/2 c. water
  • 1/4 C. Orange juice
  • 3 c. granulated sugar
  • 1 c. brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. Vanilla
  • 1 tsp. Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground Cardamon
  • 1/2 tsp. ground Cloves
  • 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
Wash and roughly chop the pears.  Place them in a stock pot with the water and cook until tender.  Run the pears through a food mill to remove the skins and seeds and puree the pears.  Return the pear puree to the stock pot and add in the remaining ingredients.  Turn the heat to a low setting and let the pear mixture simmer until it has reduced in volume and water no longer separates out.  When the pear butter is thick and fragrant, pour into sterilized half pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace.  Cap the jars and process in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes. 

**Note:  The word Chai in Hindi actually means tea.  So… it’s not Chai tea, it’s just plain old Chai.  Trust me.  I drank plenty of it in June in Calcutta.  Just plain Chai. **

Freezer ready Friday night

Posted on by
Reply
Tonight while I was diving home from the butcher shop, I heard an ad on the radio about not “losing money” to fast food restaraunts during the hectic holiday season.  Excited, I turned it up.  I was thinking it would be a nice ad for a local business or a healthy tip.  Nope.  It was instead an ad for brand specific products at Walmart.  I was a bit disasppointed. 
However, in my freezer at home, I have my own versions of the meals suggested by the announcer.  My favorite is Sweet and Sour Chicken.  The recipe below is for a double recipe.  I generally freeze both meals, but you could make one and freeze one.  Whatever suits your schedule!
Sweet and Sour Chicken Freezer Packs
  • 1 1/2 c. chicken broth
  • 1/4 c. cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup ketchup
  • 4 tsp. soy sauce
  • 6 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 tsp. sesame oil
  • 2 lbs. chicken
  • 5-6 cups vegetables
  • 2 cup brown rice
Thinly slice the chicken.  Place it uncooked in a quart-sized freezer bag.  In another freezer bag, place the vegetables.  Using a large mixing cup, heat the chicken broth in the microwave until it’s almost boiling.  Carefully whisk in the rest of the sauce ingredients.  Divide the sauce in half.  (I used a tall measuring cup to hold the freezer bag upright while I added in the sauce.)  Put all 3 bags in a large, gallon sized freezer bag.  I also add in 1 cup of uncooked rice per bag, but it’s not necessary.

 When you are ready to cook, put the rice in a saucepan with 2 cups of water, a dash of salt and 1 tsp. butter.  Bring the rice to a boil and allow to boil for 1 minute.  Turn the heat down to a simmer and cook, covered until the water is absorbed; about half an hour.  In the meantime, add some oil to a large skillet and cook the chicken.  Add in the vegetables (Note: I used an assortment of frozen “Asian vegetables”) and stir.  While it is easy to cook this with the meat and vegetables frozen, the sauce needs to be thawed out before it is added.  I thawed mine in the microwaved while the chicken was cooking.  Then, pour it into the pan and let it simmer for 10 minutes or until the chicken is fully cooked and the vegetables are warmed through.  (I know that there will be some gripe about the cornstarch, but I’ve tried this recipe with various flours in an attempt to thicken the sauce and while they did thicken it, they altered the flavor.  So, cornstarch won.)  

Who want to eat rice cereal when Mama lets you eat off her plate?!

When the sauce has thickened and the chicken and vegetables are cooked, serve over the cooked rice.  And with a side of homemade eggrolls!

Frozen fruit for a hot, hot day

Posted on by
Reply
Ahhhh… the silence of naptime.  For the first time this week, I’m sitting here doing what I want to do.  I have a toddler and a newborn, my days start at 530 and end around 11 or 12.  I’m back to making meals for supper, but I will admit that most of them are partially completed since I’m still drawing on my freezer stores.  My brain is slightly addled with the addition of nursing schedules to already busy days that are now spent primarily outside.  Oh.  And my toddler no longer likes food.  He only wants to eat “nacks”.  I haven’t been able to get him to eat breakfast for 3 weeks, he refuses to eat any fruit other than bananas and only wants to see bread, cheese, yogurt or ground beef on his plate at mealtimes.  As a result, I’ve started mashing, pureeing and grating as many vegetables and fruit into our meals as possible.  Sometimes, it works.  Others, not so much.  
One thing I can get him to eat is ice cream.  I decided that I could also make frozen yogurt pops for us to snack on in the afternoons and get some extra fruit in him (and me!) that way.  This is a basic recipe, so I’ll be trying more and more combinations as the summer progresses.  I’m watching the store to see if they get some frozen mangoes in so I can make peach mango pops.  Yum!  I bought my Popsicle molds at Target and they’re nice, but I’ll warn you, the addition of yogurt makes the homemade Popsicle firmer and therefore more difficult to remove from the mold.  I had to leave the mold out on the counter for 20 minutes before the pops were loose enough to come out.  The wait was worth it, though!
Peach “Cream” Freezies
  • 1 lb fresh fruit or 3 cups frozen fruit
  • 3/4 cup plain yogurt
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla
  • 1/4 cup water

Blend all ingredients until smooth.  Pour into Popsicle molds and freeze until firm.  

Breakfast for a Monkey

Posted on by
Reply
When Matt and I got married, Jack Johnson was just gaining popularity in the music world.  We bought his cd while we were on our honeymoon and I must tell you that every time I hear those songs, I am suddenly in the front seat of our rented Pontiac Grand Prix, driving around Georgia.  When Liam was a tiny baby, I would often play the cd for him to wind down to and eventually, we discovered that he would last for the hour-long drive to visit his grandparents much better if Jack was singing.  For years, Matt has asked me to come up with a version of banana pancakes that we could use to pretend it was the weekend.  Recently, I combined 2 recipes and Liam ate 4 pancakes the first time I introduced them!
This recipe is the perfect blend of comfort and convenience.  I tweaked the recipe for a pancake mix I found online keep a batch in my cupboard all the time.  When I want to make plain pancakes, I do, but when the mood strikes for a flavored option, it’s easy to change.  What’s even better is that these pancakes freeze very well and will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.  Since Liam and I are the only ones eating breakfast in the house right now, it works out for us!
Pancake Mix:
  • 4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup wheat germ
  • 3 1/2 cups ground whole oats
  • 3 Tbsp. sugar
  • 4 Tbsp. baking powder
  • 1 Tbsp. salt
Mix all the ingredients together thoroughly.  Sift if you’d like.  Store in an airtight container in the freezer indefinitely or on the counter/in your cabinet for up to 3 weeks.  When you are ready to prepare the pancakes, all you have to do is take 1 cup of the mix, 1 cup of water/milk/buttermilk and 1 whole egg.  Beat them together and cook them on an ungreased griddle until golden brown on both sides.
For the monkeys:  Replace the 1 egg with a whole banana, smashed as smoothly as you like.  I mash mine into a puree so I’m certain that the cake cooks the whole way through.  Add 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg to the mix, banana and milk.  Beat together and cook as above.  It’s like having dessert for breakfast!
* For the cheflets: This is a perfect way to introduce a wholesome breakfast to your budding foodie!  As long as you are certain your little one has no reactions to wheat, tear a cooled pancake into little strips and let your son/daughter go to town!  This is an excellent way to encourage self-feeding and also a good method to make sure there is a variety of nutrients in that meal!

Easy Peasy Rice Pilaf

Posted on by
Reply
Cooking rice has been hard for me.  Generally speaking, it turns out a bit crunchy still and for the longest time I just made orzo instead.  It’s taken me a while to get the hang of cooking rice in the first place, but I just wanted to make a pilaf that I could serve as a side dish instead of the ubiquitous potato.  A pilaf is simply rice that is cooked in broth.  Often people add vegetables or seasoning, but the broth will suffice.  And I think that the broth makes the rice more tender in it’s own right.  Since I make my own broth, minuscule bits of meat and the flavorings are also added into the rice.  I made this to go with some Indian butter chicken the other night and Liam couldn’t eat it fast enough!  In fact, Matt and I were long done with our suppers, just waiting for him to finish up so we could play!  Recently, he’s been a little picky about textures, so I was super excited that he ate the peas as well.  I made this dish with Indian flavors so it went well with our chicken, but you could leave those out, and put in some Cajun spices and have a totally different side!  I love how versatile this dish is and have plenty of ideas for the future.
Simple Pilaf
  • 2 Tbsp. Ghee
  • 1 1/2 c. Jasmine Rice
  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 c. peas
  • 3 c. Chicken stock
  • 1 tsp. Turmeric
  • 1 tsp. Garam Masala
  • Cilantro, salt and pepper to taste
Melt the Ghee in the bottom of a 2 qt pan on medium heat.  When the pan is coated, add in the onions and saute until tender.  Then, add in the rice, turmeric, and Garam Masala and saute until the rice is coated with the spices and ghee.  Carefully pour in the stock and bring to a boil.  Once the rice boils, turn the heat down to a simmer, add the peas and cover.  Cook, stirring from time to time for about another 20 minutes or until the stock is absorbed into the rice and is soft.  When the rice is done cooking, fluff with a fork and season to your taste.

For your cheflet: This is a great introduction to spices for your little one!  Depending on your tastes, you can use the rice and peas as a canvas to bring some variety into your little one’s palette.  Since peas and rice are such simple foods, I would actually start this with a child as young as 6-8 months.  Once they are at least 9 months, I would mince bits of tender chicken and add that to the mix as well.  Warning:  If you make this dish like I did, don’t be surprised if your little one’s clothes are stained yellow from the Turmeric.  I always make sure Liam is wearing something dark and a large bib when we eat Indian food!

Golden Mashed Potatoes

Posted on by
Reply
I think everyone has that one comfort food that soothes their soul no matter what.  For me, this food is mashed potatoes.  I love them so much and if you can make creamy, fluffy mashed potatoes you are my best friend if only by default.  I would have to think that when people read down through my list of foods to master, it may have been considered odd that I included mashed potatoes.  How hard are they, really?  Unless you’re all fancy and stuff, they’re simply some cooked tubers, butter, milk, salt and pepper.  But for me the sign of a really good mashed potato is that they reheat nicely.  You see, I don’t like to just make a few potatoes to be eaten for one meal and then forgotten.  I like to be able to sneak into the fridge and have a bowlful at 2 in the morning.  I want to be able to reheat them and not have a starchy mass settling on my plate.  Finally, after literally years of experimenting with potatoes, add-ins, and utensils, I have found myself a winner.
The difference lies in the fact that there are 3 kinds of potatoes in this dish: regular baking potatoes, Yukon gold potatoes and sweet potato.  The addition of the sweet potato gave me the consistency that I’ve been searching for, but it did change the color dramatically.  I’ve decided that this makes my dish special and with the added Vitamin A, I’m willing to let go of the ideal white potato cloud.
Mashed Potatoes
  • 1 lb regular baking potatoes
  • 1 lb Yukon gold potatoes
  • 1 large Sweet potato
  • 4 Tbsp. butter
  • 2 Tbsp. sour cream
  • salt and pepper to taste
Peel all the potatoes and then roughly chop them.  Place them carefully in a stockpot of boiling, salted water and cook until they are easily pierced with a fork.  Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, reserving the water in case you want thinner potatoes.  Put the potatoes in a bowl and beat on medium with an electric mixer.  Once they have mashed part way, add in the butter and sour cream.  Continue to beat them until they are fluffy and smooth.  Season to your taste.  To reheat, simply warm and if desired add some butter!

For your cheflet:  This is the easiest baby food ever and you have the bonus of 2 foods in one.  Feel free to plop a spoonful on your little one’s plate (as long as you are certain they have no reactions to any of the potatoes) and watch them enjoy the sensations of squishing the potatoes through their fingers before they taste!

Homemade Applesauce

Posted on by
3
Does your toddler love applesauce?  Mine does!  Oh my, I have to actually hide the jar in my fridge or he’ll cry if he doesn’t see it going on his plate.  No joke.  I did some calculations and realized I’d be saving myself a boatload if I just made it at home rather than paying money for someone else to cook and smash apples.  Seriously.  Half a bushel of apples made me roughly 6 quarts/12 pints of applesauce.  I had a fun time making this over the weekend and am looking forward to serving it to a very excited little boy this winter!
Applesauce
  • 1/2 bushel apples – use a variety so you can get lots of different flavors and colors.  For this batch, I used Goldens, Jona-Golds, Macintosh, and a few sad-looking Honeycrisps.
Traditionally, you would peel your apples first and then cook them down into a sauce, but I chose to do the opposite.  I cut the apples into eighths and then threw them stems, cores, peels and all into my crockpot.  I cooked them on high until they were soft (about an hour) and then put them through the Kitchenaid mixer attachment for straining.  Once they were pureed, seed and skin free, I put the sauce back into the crockpot to hold until I was ready to can.  I did it this way so I wasn’t using any of the burners on my gimpy stove.  I have 2 crockpots so I had them both running with batches of apples.  It was fun to see how each batch was effected by the skin color of the apples.  I had one that was reddish, one that was almost brown and another that was almost white!  Once all the sauce was done, I got my jars, rings and lids sterilized and filled them with the hot applesauce.  I filled 5 quart jars and the rest got eaten.  The jars were then processed in a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

Total I now have 18 pints and 5 quarts of applesauce to take us through the winter.  I’m doubtful that it will actually last unless Liam decides that he’s found something else he’s in love with, but I know better for next year.  Next year, I’ll have 2 babies… so maybe I’ll do 2 bushels?