Curry Carrots

My little man has dropped carrots like a girlfriend caught cheating.  When he was little, he'd eat them puréed and I've had success sneaking them into other food, like these muffins.  Lately, he's avoided them like the plague.  I had this crazy idea as his "I'm hungry, please feed me" meltdown began that I would make carrot galette for him this evening.  I didn't have a recipe, I've never done this before, and I had a 21 pound sack attached to my leg.  It wasn't the best time to fiddle with something complex and new.  I only got as far as shredding the carrots in my Beaba before I quickly abandoned the original plan.  Curry Carrots evolved as my (extremely successful) Plan B.

Curry Carrots

Curry Carrots in the pan.
Simple and quick for desperate times.

• 2 large carrots
• 1 medium shallot
• Ghee
• Green Curry Paste (I like Thai Kitchen!)

Directions

• Wash and roughly chop the carrots
• Grate the carrots in a food processor or Beaba
• Heat about 1 Tbsp of Ghee in a frying pan
• Add the grated carrots into the mixture, stirring to incorporate with the Ghee
• Dice the shallot and add to the Carrots
• Add about 1.5 Tbsp of Green Curry Paste to the carrot mixture.  Use more or less depending on your baby's spice tolerance
• Stir all ingredients together and cook over medium low heat until the carrots are soft (about 5-8 minutes)

First Muffins

A fellow new mom brought a version of the One Handed Cooks' Sweet Potato, Carrot & Apple Spelt muffins to a little get together last week.  Robert got a hold of some and devoured an entire muffin, so I asked for the recipe.  I made a batch yesterday, and they are going quickly!  Robert ate 2 as part of his lunch today.  (Don't worry, they were dessert - he still got plenty of good vegetables!)

Ingredients

• 2 cups peeled and chopped sweet potato (this is one good sized, but not huge, potato)
• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3 Tbs coconut palm sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 carrot
• 1 peeled and chopped apple
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk

Directions

• Preheat your convection oven to 350
• Steam the sweet potato for about 15 minutes
• While steaming, mix the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg)
• Using a food processor (or a Beaba once the potatoes are steamed), blend the carrot and apple together.  Mix the carrot and apple into the dry mix
• Use the food processor to puree your sweet potato
• In a Kitchenaid or big bowl, beat your eggs and milk
• Add the sweet potato puree to the eggs and milk
• Fold in the dry mixture until just blended
• Either use cupcake wrappers or butter a muffin pan.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes  My muffins were perfect at the 25 minute mark - and that never happens!

This recipe made 12 muffins exactly.  My husband's comments about them are, "They are so moist and spongey!  I love that!"  Needless to say, I think 3 or 4 have found there way into his belly, too.

*** Update ***  I tried another variation with about 1 tsp of Mexican vanilla.  This added just a touch more flavor.

17 Basic Purees

After several months of feeding my first baby, I feel like I've got a pretty good list of basic purees that helped introduce different foods and flavors.  In a desperate attempt to not get bored - because let's face it, there are a lot of meals when you have to feed this little person something but I certainly don't have the brainpower, time, or ingredients to do something fancy - I've created a go-to list of purees that are simple.  These basics will most likely be the keystones for many more meals.  Just appropriate prep the food by peeling (if necessary) and cutting into chunks.  Steam, puree by adding enough reserved cooking liquid as needed, and you're ready to go:

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

For the Love of Carrots

Robert has a serious love affair with carrots.  He's liked them since the first puree, and I'm in full support of his carrot habit.  However, after making plain carrot puree several times, I felt it was time to mix it up a bit and add a new flavor - enter nutmeg.  He's been a champ with other spices, like cinnamon and even a small amount of pepper on the unexpected Christmas salmon.

As I grated the nutmeg into the carrot puree, I had a fleeting "Chicken of the Sea" moment when I wondered if I was exposing him to a nut akin to peanuts and he was about to go into anaphylactic shock.  I brushed it off and later reassured myself with a quick google search of "what age can babies have nutmeg?"  This reassured me that I had not just doomed myself with the spice.

After steaming and pureeing the carrot, I used a microplane to sprinkle a small amount of freshly grated nutmeg into my bowl.  I mixed it will, and the aroma of fresh nutmeg and sweet carrots was delicious.  Robert agreed!