Tex Mex, Baby Style

I've been waiting for good, fresh tomatoes for Robert, and finally they came!  Farmhouse Delivery sent three gorgeous, local tomatoes in our bushel this week.  Since this is Texas, guacamole is practically its own food group, and should be introduced early.  We've already done plain avocado mash, but haven't quite made the jump to full on guacamole.  These tomatoes gave me the perfect opportunity to start introducing more flavor in an intermediate step.

Tomato Mash, Texified

First, remove the skin of the tomato (I had to look this one up)

• Bring a pot of water to a healthy boil and submerge the tomato for about 30 seconds
• Remove the tomato and dunk it in a bowl of ice water
• Use your fingers to peel of the skin

Then prepare

• Cut the tomato in half and scoop out the seeds
• Steam the tomato halves for about 10 minutes (you can reuse the pot that you just boiled the tomato in)
• Wash a few sprigs of cilantro
• Wash an avocado, then scoop out one half (mash with a fork if you need a mush)
• Blend the tomato and uncooked cilantro.  Don't add any cooking liquid as the tomato will be mash after just a few pulses
• Pour the tomato mixture into the center of the avocado half.
• Serve by taking a small sliver of avocado combined with tomato on each spoonful.

Cauliflower Overload

In my bushel from Farmhouse Delivery this week I had the largest cauliflower I have ever seen.  I mean huge.  Gigantic.  Larger than a basketball.  Cauliflower is ok, but what on earth do you do with a cauliflower that large?  Clearly the baby needs to try some.  I was a little reluctant because the Babycook Book suggestions introducing cauliflower much later, but I'm beginning to learn that these intro times are really vague suggestions that often contradict based on culture, pediatrician, and generation.  Everyone has their own opinion, and I have a giant cauliflower that needs to be consumed.

My bushel also contained some broccoli, which Robert is comfortable with.  I thought the two together could work well.  The creaminess of steamed and pureed cauliflower blended with gritty broccoli could work well together.  The blend would have a texture to it that Robert would (hopefully) like.

Cauliflower & Broccoli Blend

• Cut broccoli florets and cauliflower bits into similar sizes
• Wash all of the vegetables and pace in steamer basket
• Steam for 15 minutes (level 3 on the Babycook)
• Blend thoroughly using just a small amount of cooking liquid to get desired consistency

Robert really loved this combination - more so than broccoli by itself.  I think next time I'll try a blend with a slightly higher cauliflower to broccoli ratio.

Even More Root Vegetables

Since it is winter and root vegetables are everywhere these days, and squash and carrots are getting a little boring, we're branching out and trying new root vegetables.  So far, we've tried turnips and celery root.  Both have gone well.  We've put a little potato with dark leafy green purees to give them more oomph, and sweet potatoes are popular.  Our newest additions to the root vegetable group are sunchokes and parsnips.

Sunchokes are overlooked and delicious.  The hardest part of cooking with a sun choke is peeling it if it has lots of little nubs and crevices.  I try to find the straightest and smoothest sunchokes, but realistically you should factor in a little bit of time to peel them well.  With the peel, they look similar to a ginger root, and without the peel, they look similar to a potato.  I've heard they are really high in iron and are good prebiotics for digestive health, so they seem like a good thing to give a baby.  (I've also heard that they cause farts, but so far that hasn't been our experience.)  

Along with our sunchokes, I added some turnip and our old standby - leek.  

Sunchoke, Turnip, & Leek Puree

• Peel sunchoke and turnip
• Chop into small chunks
• Wash leek and slice white end
• Add sunchoke and turnip chunks & leeks to a steamer basket
• Steam for 15 minutes
• Blend with a small amount of cooking liquid for desired consistency

I scooped out several portions of this dish and set them aside for Robert.  Then I made a mistake.  I didn't taste it before altering for a more adult version.  If I had tasted it, I would have declared it practically done - just in need of a small amount of salt and pepper.  Unfortunately, I plowed ahead without thinking and added a generous block of butter (and salt and pepper.)  

Whoops.  Later, while feeding this to Robert, I had a bite of his, and it was delicious.  The adult version was overrun with butter.  It wasn't bad, it just didn't let the flavors of the veggies through.  

Our next root vegetable was the misunderstood parsnip.  I thought this would be a good addition because they can be even sweeter than carrots and are easy to prepare.  

Parsnip and Carrot Puree

• Peel parsnip and carrots
• Chop into small chunks
• Steam for 15 minutes
• Blend with a generous amount of cooking liquid to get a good mush

I used substantially more parsnip than carrot, and Robert loved this!  Since he's familiar with orange colored foods - and likes them a lot - he took the first bite willingly and cleaned his bowl.

Adventurous Food

We were doomed for a meltdown around lunch time today after Robert only took a short 30 minute nap this morning.  At noon, I strapped my fussy-but-not-quite-screaming baby into his high chair with a bowl of our carrot and celery root puree, said a silent prayer that he would actually eat something, and whipped out the baby spoon.  Mercifully, he opened his mouth and started to eat.

I had a tray of grocery store sushi for myself.  Nothing fancy, just a rainbow roll with a generous portion of wasabi and pickled ginger on the side.  I love the pickled ginger, especially soaking on piece in the soy sauce and having that tangy, salty bite near the end of my meal.  I alternated feeding Robert a bite of his orange mush and using chopsticks to feed myself a slice of sushi or a slice of ginger.  Robert thought this looked pretty cool, and was staring intently at the chopsticks.  

Without thinking, I took a piece of ginger in my chopsticks and held it out for him to try to grasp.  I didn't really think he'd get anywhere with it as the ginger can be slippery and his motor skills, especially pinching things, are lacking.  Somehow, he got that piece of ginger from my chopsticks and into his mouth.  He started sucking and exploring it.  I briefly thought it might be a choking hazard and tried to retrieve it, but came back with only a small sliver.  He swallowed the rest of the ginger and started looking at my plate for more.  A second slice quickly disappeared.

Yep, this is truly my kid.  We both love that ginger.

Mixed Meals

Last night I cooked up a big batch of baby food since we were running low.  My beloved Babycook is in New Jersey getting repaired.  I'm upset that it started beeping uncontrollably, but I've been moderately impressed by Beaba's customer service.  They are nice, though not entirely efficient or accurate.  As a result, I'm steaming in a big pot and using our Cuisinart to puree everything.  This clunky method has only made me fall more in love with the Babycook.  I prefer to make small batch meals that are easy to clean up, and it was much easier to make a variety of foods for Robert using the Babycook.

Since I was going to be cooking several big batches of food, I decided to make a good soup for Jon and myself with the remnants of Robert's baby food.  The first round was carrots and celery root, a new food for my little man.

Carrots & Celery Root

• Chop roughly
• Steam for 15 minutes
• Blend with cooking liquid for desire consistency

The carrots and celery root
are a hit!

As soon as I removed this first batch from my pot, I through in squash and the rest of the celery root for another flavor combination.  I blended the first batch while the second batch steamed.  I spooned out the carrot mixture, but didn't bother to clean out the Cuisinart before adding the squash and celery root mixture.  This was the basis for our soup, but I spooned out a 2 oz portion for Robert to try as well.

In a cast iron soup pot, I sautéed onions until they were soft, then added those to my Cuisinart.

Next, I changed out my cooking water and chopped apples for a separate puree for Robert.  Those steam for just 10 minutes.  During that time, I blended the onions with the rest of the Cuisinart mix and returned it to the soup pot.  I added some vegetable stock and set the soup to simmer.  I finished cleaning out the Cuisinart just in time for the apples to go in for their puree.  I spooned about the equivalent of one apple into the soup mixture and saved the rest for Robert.

As the soup simmered I added a little salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder to taste.  My sister gave us some of her delicious homemade bread, which I chopped into rough chunks and toasted for crunchy croutons to add.  The verdict?  A fine winter meal for the adults, and several days of food for my little man!

Winter Vegetable Soup

• Peeled and roughly chopped carrots, winter squash, and celery root
• Steamed for 15 minutes
• Chopped apple
• Steam the apple for 10 minutes
• Sautee onions
• Blend all veggies and apple together
• Add vegetable stock generously and set to simmer
• Add salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder
• Add croutons, if desired

Gritty Broccoli

I am apathetic about broccoli.  There's nothing wrong with it, but it doesn't do much taste-wise for me.  I recognize that it is nutritionally beneficial and therefore eat it on occasion.  Maybe I just don't know really good ways to prepare it for myself, so if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears!  For Robert, I'm not too concerned about flavor combinations and seasoning at this point, so plain-ish broccoli is just fine for him.  However, the first time I steamed and pureed straight broccoli florets, I was taken back by the gritty texture of the mix.  I didn't like the texture in my mouth, and I'm sure that came through for him.  He ate it, but like his mom, wasn't excited.

Fast forward a couple of weeks and I'm ready to try again.  This time, I took a couple more steps to get a better texture, and it really worked.

Steamed Broccoli

• Broccoli florets steamed in water for about 15 minutes
• Blend
• Mush through a strainer
• Blend and add cooking water to get a desired consistency

A much better mush!