Potato & Butternut Squash Stew

This week's new foods for Drew consisted of white potatoes and butternut squash. Potato & Butternut Squash Stew is yet another recipe from the Cooking for Baby cook book. If you couldn't already figure it out, I am a big fan of the cook book. The recipe is as follows...

Cut squash (1/2 small, peeled and seeded butternut squash), potato (6 small yellow, peeled), and apple (1 medium Fuji, peeled, cored and seeded) into 1 inch chunks. You should have about one cup of each. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add potato, squash and apple and cook, stirring occasionally (about 8-10 minutes). Apples will begin to turn golden. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until vegetables are soft, 30-35 minutes. Mash or blend to desired consistency.

I made a few minor changes based on what I had in the kitchen and Drew's taste. I only had frozen butternut squash and just used a half of a bag and one large white potato. Drew hates apples, but I wanted to try this to find other ways to sneak them into his diet. I only used one quarter of an apple. I also made this very thick and chunky because I am trying to get Drew used to more finger foods now.

Before I gave this to Drew I tried out just the butternut squash. I simply microwaved a half a bag of frozen butternut squash and blended it, no need for extra liquid. Butternut squash is possibly Drew's new favorite food. As for the stew, the first time Drew ate this he wasn't thrilled about it, but he gobbled it up the second go around. I've also Drew plain potatoes diced in small cubes as finger food and he loves it as well.

Barnes, Lisa. Cooking for Baby. Gold Street Press, page 46.

Happy Birthday Corinne!

Green Beans for Olivia!

Well, as usual, she loved them. There is nothing she doesn't like, she just doesn't want to eat a lot. Maybe she will be petite....

All I did was get a bag of frozen organic greens beans, and steam them in the Beaba. Then I pureed them with water, and they got pretty smooth. Not Gerber smooth, but pretty smooth. I froze the rest and they are good for 3 months. 

Turkey with Pear Puree

So I decided to start Drew on some meat this past week and turkey is said to be easy digest. Not to mention we had turkey spaghetti and just decided to save half the cook turkey for Drew to make it easy on us. I went ahead and followed the directions for cooking the turkey that are in my cooking for baby book. It states:

Combine 1/2 pound of ground turkey and 1 cup of water and cook over medium heat in a non-stick frying pan. Stir it constantly and break up the turkey as it is cooking. Heat until the meat is cooked through and no longer pink (about 3-5 minutes). Let it cool and drain the meat, saving the liquid. Transfer the turkey to your food processor and puree for a minute. With the machine running, add the reserved cooking fluid a little at a time until the texture is paste like. This can be stored for 1-2 days in the fridge or be frozen for up to 1 month.

The turkey looks and smells strange by itself. The book suggest that blending meat purees with fruit will make the easier on the taste buds. Personally, I'd have to disagree but I thought for Drew it would be better than the turkey by itself. The book states that pears go well with turkey.

The results: I was very worried that Drew would not eat this. My babysitter actually fed this to him for 3 days and said at first he had a funny look on his face, but she thinks it was more from the texture than the flavor. She said after the first few bites, he loved it. I took Drew this weekend to a restaurant and wanted to see for myself, so I pulled out the turkey and pears, mixed the two together, and he was not having it. It could be because we were in a restaurant and he was distracted and/or tired, or maybe he was tired of having turkey for so many days in a row. The good thing is he has eaten it in the past with no issues and no allergic reactions.


Note: Drew was 7 months and 3 weeks old for his first meat

Barnes, Lisa. Cooking for Baby. Gold Street Press, page 35.

More refined taste

On the gourmet menu this week: Green beans with mint & olive oil, white asparagus puree and sweet potatoes with a touch of cinnamon (Recipes from the cooking for baby book).

Drew loves sweet potatoes. We can pretty much mix anything he doesn't like with them so he will eat it. We decided to take it a step further and add a touch of cinnamon for some added flavor. Drew loves this.

Asparagus: When my husband was at the store this past week he was looking for regular green asparagus, but they only had white. So, we went ahead and made that. He doesn't seem to love them, but doesn't dislike them either. They have a pretty mild taste. We took a bunch of white asparagus and removed the woody ends. We than steamed them until tender (about 7-9 minutes) and rinsed them in cold water to stop the cooking. Finally, we pureed them in a food processor until smooth. The cookbook notes that if baby is reluctant to eat this, stir in apple or pear puree. Store in airtight container in fridge for up to three days or freeze for up to three months.

Green Beans with Mint & Olive Oil: Boil a half pound of fresh green beans until tender and bright green (about 7-9 minutes). Drain and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Puree beans with 2 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of fresh mint. After it is pureed, stir in 2 tbsp of olive oil (optional). Store in airtight container for up to three days (Note: I went ahead and froze some). I am not sure if it is because we used fresh green beans, and/or because they were boiled instead of steamed, but these pureed much better than the last batch. Drew also enjoys this much better than plain green beans.

Barnes, Lisa. Cooking for Baby. Gold Street Press, page 33.

New fave spoons!

I have had trouble finding spoons that really "work" well for Olivia. We have tried a couple different kinds, and they all seem to have some sort of flaw. 

I finally found some I love! (Also, the site I linked has them on sale!). They are natural bamboo, which is just a plus for my eco-loving self. They are super smooth and the bowl of the spoon is perfect!

Just thought I would share!

So this week our new foods were cauliflower and peaches. Cauliflower may just be Drew's new favorite food for now. For the cauliflower, we just took a half a head of cauliflower and steamed it until tender (about 10 minutes). We than used the food processor and blended it with a little bit of formula. I just give it to Drew straight up, I haven't mixed it with any other foods yet.

As for peaches, I bought a frozen bag a peach slices. This way, I get two uses out of them. First, I can put a frozen peach in Drew's mesh feeder to help with his teething. Second, I can thaw out a slice or two at a time (about 50 seconds in defrost mode in the microwave) and chop them into pieces for Drew to eat as regular. The are a little difficult for him to pick up with his hand yet, so most the time I use a spoon to feed it to him or stir in the pieces with his oatmeal for breakfast. He was not a fan of the peaches at first; in fact, he gagged a little than spit up his first try. But now he really enjoys them.

(Drew is 7 1/2 months now)