Cheesy Corncakes

Have you checked out Weelicious yet? The link is also in my sidebar, and I have loved all of her ideas and recipes. I've been convicted lately about the amount of junk my 3-year-old is eating, so I plan to come up with a lunchtime meal plan based on her recipes. We started the other day with big plans. I saw her recipe for Italian Parmesan Corncakes and knew they'd be a hit with my kids. I grilled some chicken breasts with Italian seasonings and got to work gathering the ingredients...until I realized I didn't have them. Bummer. I was able to scrounge up some stand-ins, and my version was, in our humble opinions, delicious! Our lunch of grilled chicken, cheesy corncakes, and a side of marinara sauce was incredible. Hope you'll try it!

Alicia's Cheesy Corncakes

(based on Weelicious' recipe)

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

sprinkle of Italian seasoning

sprinkle of garlic powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 cup milk

1 cup of finely chopped spinach

1 tablespoon canola oil and more for cooking

Mix the corn muffin mix, cheese, seasonings, and baking powder in a bowl. Create a well in the center. Add egg and milk, and stir to combine. Stir in spinach, and allow to sit for 10 minutes (this step is always important for any type of pancake to make them light and fluffy) while your skillet preheats to 375 degrees. Use the canola oil to grease the skillet, and fry them for 2-3 minutes on each side until they're golden brown. Serve warm with marinara sauce for dipping.

As with any pancake recipe, you can be very creative in your veggie additions. These would be great with some chopped chickpeas, peas, or even broccoli.

Babyfood Tip

So many easy finger foods are too slippery for tiny fingers to maneuver. So, when you're wanting to feed things like diced avocado, banana, peaches, pears, etc., I found a really easy solution. Just take a handful of Cheerios or a graham cracker or two, and crush them in a Ziploc bag. Throw in your slippery diced foods, and shake them until they're coated. The Cheerio/graham cracker dust makes them much easier to handle. And these graham cracker-coated bananas tasted just like banana pudding. Yum!

Another Babyfood Tip

A few months ago I stopped making purees for my approaching-toddlerhood baby. She was used to more texture, so I started mashing things or chopping things instead. But when I tried those veggie pancakes the other day, I decided to use purees so the pancakes would be a smooth texture. I recently made another batch with spinach, broccoli, garbanzo beans, and a little applesauce. I had quite a bit of the spinach and broccoli purees leftover. I keep them in the refrigerator in air-tight containers, and I've added them to everything lately. It's made me realize I need to start making purees again because they're not only good for beginner-eaters. I've used them in our food (ham and cheese quiche - I added a few spoonfuls of spinach) and in my one-year-olds. I've spread it on sandwiches and quesadillas, added a scoop to soups and sauces, and mixed it into beaten eggs for scrambled eggs and omlettes. It has been so handy.
So, if you're like me and you dismissed purees when your child was old enough to tolerate more texture, try steaming and pureeing some spinach to add a boost of leafy greens to your next pot of spaghetti or tomato soup. You'll never know it's there, and you'll benefit tremendously in the nutrition arena!

More Babyfood Ideas

I'm a member of a baby board made up of other moms to April 2008 babies. It's a great way to get ideas and advice from people going through exactly what I am. One of the ways it has helped me tremendously is in the homemade baby food category.

I am a huge advocate of filling our kids' tummies with healthy foods. When I taught, I called these "brain" foods. And I will say that through fun lessons and experimentation we got even the pickiest of eaters to try everything we made. It is so important to set the foundation for the future of healthy eating for our kids. And, in my family, where Hannah has inherited the genes for cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, it is important to start from day 1.

I'm blessed that Hannah is a great eater. She has quite the palate for all things healthy. I have be honest, though. One day I was being lazy and did not feel like preparing a healthy meal. I grabbed a box of macaroni and cheese, and whipped it up quickly. Hannah would not touch it! It was then I realized I've created a monster! She prefers healthy, homemade meals hands-down. The way I benefit, though, is that I might as well eat a healthy, well-balanced meal if I'm already making one for her!

Anyway, on a recent thread on my baby board, a mom posted a recipe for veggie pancakes. I couldn't wait to try them, so I got to work while Hannah ate lunch. I had some carrots, peas, and green beans, but you can use any veggie (can't wait to try this with spinach, broccoli, and cauliflower). The original recipe was a from-scratch pancake mix, but I had some Bisquick on hand and just used that. They turned out to be delicious! I even had two for lunch. Hannah was eating while I made these, but I wanted her to try one. After lunch I gave her a couple of bites, and she went nuts. She signed and said "more" incessantly until she had wolfed down two as well...after eating a full meal! These were a huge hit, and I got another couple of servings of veggies in her - win-win!

Veggie Pancakes

1 1/2 cups Bisquick

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1 1/2-2 cups veggie puree

I mixed the ingredients together and made these as I would any pancake. They are sweet, so you could absolutely top them with butter and syrup. But they were so flavorful that we ate them without accompaniment.

Enjoy!

Babyfood - Summer Squash and Rice

Summer Squash and Rice

Ingredients:

2 yellow squash

2 zucchini

1 sweet onion

1 tsp garlic

1 cup water

1/2 cup brown rice

Directions:

Cook the rice according to directions.

In a skillet, add about a teaspoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of butter. Cut the squash and onion into equal-sized pieces. Add to the pan with the garlic over medium heat and sautee until very tender. When the rice is done, stir into the veggies. Puree in small batches thinning with water or chicken broth as needed, and freeze in ice cube trays overnight. Serve with chicken or on its own.

Babyfood - Chicken Noodle Stew

I spent the entire day today in the kitchen making a bunch of baby food and thought I'd share some more recipes and a hint.
First, the hint. I decided to start making actual dinners last time I did a big cooking day instead of just doing one thing at a time. I whipped up some recipes, and it took quite awhile. But when I was done I realized I had a TON of just three different dinners. All that work didn't lead to much variety. This time I decided to do several recipes but to keep the chicken separate. That way I can add variety by adding it to one of the dinners or pairing it with something else entirely or serving it alone.

Okay, now for the recipe:

Homemade Chicken Noodle Stew

Ingredients:

Chicken broth (make your own without the salt or use a low-sodium variety)

Whole-Wheat Noodles (I use these:)

Celery

Carrots

Corn

Peas

Onion

Garlic

Chicken

(I typically just use handfuls of each and don't bother measuring. It really doesn't matter how much of each ingredient you use.)

Directions:

Cut up all the veggies to equal-sized pieces.

You can see I used canned corn (no salt added, drained, and rinsed) and frozen peas. In a skillet, add a sliver of butter and some olive oil. Throw in all of the veggies and sautee until tender stirring often.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the directions. I usually add a couple of minutes to the recommended cook time to make sure they are very, very soft.

When the veggies are tender and the noodles are cooked, stir everything together in a large bowl. Add the chicken (if desired), and stir to combine. Puree the mixture a little at a time, and add chicken broth to thin as needed. When it is a peanut butter consistency, spoon into ice cube trays and freeze overnight.

Crockpot Applesauce (Ages 6 months and up!)

This applesauce is easy, healthy, and delicious for babies or adults.

Crockpot Applesauce

Ingredients:

5-6 large apples (I use fuji, gala, or pink lady, but you can use any type you like)

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons sugar (optional)

Directions:

For baby food puree: Peel, core, and slice apples into equally-sized pieces. Add to the crock pot with the rest of the ingredients. I would leave out the sugar for babies unless you are using tart apples like granny smith. I had a half of a bag of granny smith apples leftover after making my Thanksgiving pies, so I used those with a couple of fuji apples, and my daughter gobbled them up even without sugar. Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours stirring every 30 minutes or so (although I've done this without stirring very often, and it works just fine). Remove from the crock pot, puree, and freeze in ice cube trays overnight.

For chunkier sauce: Instead of pureeing, use a pastry blender or Mix N Chop to crush apples into a chunky consistency.

For finger food for older babies: Instead of slicing the apples, dice them into finger food-sized pieces. They will not take quite as long to cook, so check them every once in awhile so they don't completely turn to mush. When they're cooked through, spoon the apple cubes into an ice cube tray and freeze overnight.

Butternut Squash for Babies, Two Ways

(Adding the face is optional. This little guy was sitting on my counter looking an awful lot like a Veggie Tales character, so we had a little fun.)

Oddly enough, I made butternut squash as one of my baby's first few foods. She hated it. But I was persistent because I had heard that it takes a baby trying a food 10 times before you know if they truly dislike it or if it is just a texture thing they have to get used to. It ended up being one of her favorite foods. I thought I'd share two baby food recipes that are her favorites using butternut squash.

Butternut Squash and Lentils

Ingredients:

1/2 butternut squash

1/2 cup lentils (I use green, but red are fine too)

4 cups water

1 tsp cinnamon

juice of one orange

optional ingredients: 1/4 sweet onion, 1/2 bell pepper, any color

Directions:

To a pot, add water and lentils, and bring to a boil. Meanwhile peel and chop one half butternut squash, and add to the pot. If you are using the onion and bell pepper, chop them and add them to the pot now. Sprinkle in the cinnamon, turn the heat to medium, and simmer for 40 minutes. By then, the lentils should have absorbed almost all of the water, and everything should be very, very tender. Squeeze in the juice from one orange. If you did not use the bell pepper, use your Mix n Chop or a pastry blender to mash everything together. If you did use bell pepper, use a food processor or blender to puree (this will chop the skin so it's not a choking hazard). I usually reserve enough for dinner, then freeze the rest in ice cube trays overnight.

Roasted Butternut Squash

Ingredients:

1/2 butternut squash

water

cinnamon

Directions:

Cut the butternut squash in half, and clean out the seeds and 'guts.' Add about an inch of water into the bottom of a baking dish. Sprinkle about 1 tsp. of cinnamon. Add the butternut squash cut-side down. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes or until the squash is tender to the touch.

(The poor little dude got a sunburn!)

Remove from oven and let cool enough to handle. Scoop the squash out of the skin and process in a food processor or blender until smooth. If your baby is old enough, like mine, a simple mash with the Mix n Chop will do. Freeze in ice cube trays overnight. Yum!

Homemade Babyfood Tutorial, Part Five

Meats

Okay, once again, I'm not going to make suggestions about when you should start different foods because this is very dependent upon each child and family's personal preferences. But here are the directions I've used for meats.



So far I've done turkey and chicken. I used our Thanksgiving turkey leftovers to make some babyfood, then I bought a whole chicken. My preference is to use free-range, organic poultry because it is antibiotic and growth hormone-free. Also, free-range birds are fed an all-grain, natural diet. The result is that there is a more lean, less fat bird that has grown naturally without the aid of growth hormones. Of course this is just my opinion and does not at all affect the recipes. I just feel like I'm saving a ton of money on baby food by making my own, so I'm able to spend a little more on the highest quality ingredients. (For example, one jar of baby food meat is around $1.29. I paid $5.49 for a whole chicken which made more than 25 servings. Great deal.)

This entire gallon-sized Ziploc is a combination of dinners made from just one small chicken.

Okay, moving on. Prepare your poultry either by baking, pan-frying (with as little oil as possible), or poaching. I tend to prefer poaching because I can further flavor the meat with onions, garlic, etc. in the cooking water, then I have that water to use to thin it in the food processor. Just make sure you do not use any salt to flavor the water.

Basically after the meat is fully-cooked, cut it into cubes, and add it to the food processor. Blend for 30 seconds, then thin with the cooking water to your desired consistency by adding a tablespoon at a time and blending for 5 seconds. When it is done, you can freeze as-is in ice cube trays, or you can combine with rice, veggies, or fruits like apples, blueberries, or pears before freezing.

Some helpful hints:

• There are great books with recipe ideas and food combinations for baby food. However, I always browse the baby food aisle in the grocery stores and get my ideas from the jars. It will give you a good idea for combining certain fruits and veggies as well as pastas and grains.
• It may be a good idea to freeze just plain meats (as in no combinations or dinners) at first until you get a sense of the combinations that your baby likes. Then you can thaw one cube of meat with one cube of apple, blueberry, corn, etc. If your baby doesn't like it, you haven't wasted an entire chicken.
• It is a good idea to use a whole chicken or turkey when you can because white meat does not blend quite as well. The fat content in dark meat lends itself to pureeing. Because of this, I always blend a combination of white and dark meats. By the way, a little dark meat goes a long way in the pureeing process, so there's no need to use equal parts.

Homemade Babyfood Tutorial, Part Four

Finger Foods

Once your baby is ready to start eating finger foods, food prep becomes very easy. I make the food ahead of time just as I did the purees and the mashes. I steam, saute, or bake the food, cut it into cubes, put in ice cube trays, then fill the cubes with the water I used to steam or homemade (salt-free!) broths.

Another easy option is to cut the fruit or veggie into matchsticks before cooking. Line them on a baking sheet after they are tender and cooled and freeze. Once they are frozen, put them in a zip-top bag in the freezer. You can pull out one or two sticks at a time, thaw them, then cut them into cubes.

Sometimes foods are difficult for your baby to pick up because they are slippery. To help them out, crush up some Cheerios in a ziploc bag until they are crumbs. Add the slippery finger foods to the bag and shake until they are coated. This will give your baby something to grip.

Homemade Babyfood Tutorial, Part Three

Once your baby is used to the new tastes of foods, he or she may be ready for more texture and thickness. At this point, try making foods in different ways - baking, sauteing, etc. Here I cubed a couple of sweet potatoes then baked them on a cookie sheet until they were able to be fork-mashed.

Once the food is slightly cooled, use a pastry blender or a mix 'n chop to mash. Then freeze the food as you did the purees.

For some reason my mashed foods were harder to remove from the ice cube trays. In this case, I would grab a 9x13 baking dish and fill it about an inch full with warm tap water. Set the trays in the water to loosen the cubes.

Here are a few suggestions on foods that are easy to mash:

• avocado - no need to cook first...avocado turns brown very quickly in the freezer. If this bothers you, just mash a bit as you go instead of making it ahead of time.
• banana - same as the avocado - mash as you go
• sweet potato
• butternut squash
• acorn squash
• pumpkin
• fingerling or new potatoes

Homemade Babyfood Tutorial, Part Two

Making the baby food is very easy. Here are a couple of things to remember when getting started:

• Babies may be allergic or sensitive to certain foods. Because of this, it is important that you only introduce one food at a time. I was careful to even change the water I steamed food in and to clean all of my appliances in between foods at first.
• When you're introducing a baby to solid foods, texture can be a huge part of their experience. To minimize their adverse reaction, make sure you get the first foods perfectly smooth, velvety, and thin.
• Certain foods absorb nitrates from the soil differently. For this reason, doctors recommend that homemade carrots and leafy greens be restricted until 12 months. This is a bit controversial, so ask your doctor and do what you feel comfortable with. We chose to use Gerber for carrots and spinach and other greens.
• Boiling fruits and veggies will cause them to lose their nutrients into the water. If you must boil them, make sure you use just a little bit of water and then puree that water with the food. When you steam a food, if the water is deep enough to touch the food, the same thing will apply.
• There are a few different theories out there on good first foods. I recommend that you do your research to find what makes the most sense to your family. For these tutorials I'm going to start with fruits and veggies then move on to proteins.

Making the food:

All steamers will come with directions on steaming certain foods. If you have trouble, there are some great Internet resources available. The basic instructions are to make sure the food in the basket is not touching the water, and steam until the veggies or fruits are tender enough to puree.

Let them cool slightly, dump them into the food processor, and puree for 1 minute. At this point, they may be too thick. I would recommend that you use the water used to steam to thin them as some of the nutrients will have dripped into it. This way you are adding back the nutrients that were lost. Other options are to use unsweetened fruit juice, water, or breastmilk. If you are making the food in batches to freeze, it is not recommended to use formula to thin the food. The proteins and nutrients in formula break down when frozen, so it will lose its nutritional value. You can use formula after you thaw the veggies or fruit to thin them. The desired consistency for babies being introduced to solids is a very smooth, runny consistency.

After the food is velvety-smooth, let it cool completely. Use a spoon to pour it into ice cube trays, and freeze overnight. When the cubes are frozen, put them into plastic zip-top food storage bags, label them with the food and the date, and store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. (Again, this is debatable, so store them for as long as you feel comfortable.)When it is time to feed, grab a couple of cubes, thaw in the microwave, and enjoy! Once you have determined that your baby is not allergic to a particular food, it is okay to mix them and make yummy combinations like pear blueberry...

or mango, strawberry kiwi.

At this point, you may choose to combine foods before freezing. I found it easiest to just keep them separate, however, so I could make different combinations each meal.

Here are some helpful hints for these first foods:

• When you thaw the food, if it is too thin, it can be thickened with a little rice cereal or oatmeal.
• Save the water that you used to steam the fruits, and freeze it into ice cube trays. You have basically made your own diluted fruit juice. You can either melt these cubes to give to your baby in a sippie cup later on or use the cubes in a mesh feeder when your baby is teething as a very slightly-flavored ice cube. Some fruit juices are a natural laxative and may come in handy to have on hand.
• Lastly, do not overdo it with the perfectly smooth purees. It won't be long before your baby will be able to handle texture, so you want to keep the purees to the amount your baby would consume in just a month or so.

Homemade Babyfood Tutorial, Part One

UPDATED TO ADD: Thank you so much, Jenny! I forgot to mention that it is not recommended to make your own cereals. There is absolutely no nutritional value in rice. So, even though it is easy and cheap, there is no need for a baby to have a homemade cereal - it would be a filler only and would keep them from being hungry enough for the nutritional things they need. Instead, the commercial cereals are fortified heavily in iron and other nutritional needs. Please keep commenting with your tips and suggestions throughout this blog series! I'd love to learn as we go.

I've been taking pictures here and there and filing away basic hints for making homemade babyfood. I know several of my friends are interested in a tutorial, so I thought I'd post it here. I make all of Hannah's food. My reasoning is strictly financial, but we have found enormous benefits additionally. Here is the basic argument for making your own baby food:

• You control what goes into the food - quality, quantity, and extras
• There are no preservatives (something we found out after the fact that Hannah is very sensitive to!)
• It is VERY cost-effective
• It's easy
• The purees taste just like the real thing, so the transition to table food is much easier
• The possibilities of food combinations are endless!

Okay, here are the tools I use most frequently. 1) Steamer - We got this one from WalMart on sale for $20. It has honestly been the best investment that I've ever made in an appliance. I almost use it once a day! I'd highly recommend this one because every part is dishwasher safe - awesome.

2) Ice Cube Trays - I go through these quickly. I'm about to invest in all silicone because I find the plastic ones break very easily with how frequently they're used around here.

3) Freezer Bags - I buy quart and gallon-sized

4) Food Processor - This one is the Cuisinart Mini Prep - cheap, high-quality, and all dishwasher safe

5) Pastry Blender - I rarely use the food processor at this point in Hannah's development. I typically mash everything with either this pastry blender or my mix n' chop (see #7).

6) Fine Mesh Strainer - After pureeing things like peas, green beans, corn, or anything that's stringy or has a skin to it, you'll want to press it through a fine or medium mesh strainer to achieve a more desirable consistency for your baby at first.

7) Pampered Chef Mix n' Chop - This has become my favorite all-purpose kitchen tool. It is safe for non-stick pans, so I can use it to chop up ground beef or turkey, it is very sturdy so I can use it to mash fairly firm things, and it was a very good buy at $9.50. Lucky for you, I'm hosting a Pampered Chef catalog show now through January 30th. Let me know if you're interested in buying one of these or anything else!

8) Steamer basket - I have only used this a couple of times, but I got it for $1 in Target's dollar section. It's worth it if you don't want to buy the countertop steamer or if you want to steam multiple things at once.