Chicken, Veggies and Couscous

Couscous Pilaf with Pureed Chicken and Leeks

Daniel and I tried out a new recipe today, with great success. If doubled, this recipe is family worthy! Danny enjoyed the chicken, veggie and couscous pilaf, making a ginormous mess. Perhaps I shouldn't have let him feed himself?

Chicken, Veggies and Couscous

1 T butter

1/4 cup chopped leeks

1/4 cup chopped chicken

1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup couscous

• Heat butter over medium heat. Saute leeks until tender, about 8 minutes.
• Add chopped chicken. Saute until cooked through, about 4 minutes per side.
• For younger babies, puree leeks and chicken, thinning to desired consistency with water.
• Meanwhile, cook carrots and peas according to package.
• At the same time, boil water. Once boiling, stir in couscous, cover, and remove from heat. Let sit for five minutes to cook.
• Mix all ingredients in a bowl and allow to cool. Serve to hungry munchkin!
  

I really like this couscous, Ma!

What mess?

Dining Out: Japanese Food

These days eating out is a bit of a mission... finding a family friendly restaurant that actually has high chairs that aren't broken seems to be the least of our problems. These days you see wise parents who bring their own portable high chairs with them to restaurants.

Don't get caught without a high chair!

While we haven't gone so far as bringing a high chair to dinner, we have perfected the art of bringing toys, baby food, bibs, and towels for these meals on the go. Now that we're moving on to table food we can take the routine down a notch and just enjoy sharing food from our plates with our little hungry munchkin.

That brings us to Japanese restaurants. This week my family had an impromptu lunch on the go at Mikado Japanese in Los Altos. No bibs, no baby spoons, no sippy cups, no extra toys, oh my! At first I was a little nervous, but that quickly faded. What did we give our hungry munchkin? There was plenty of baby friendly options!

• tofu chunks
• teriyaki chicken (free of the sauce, mama bird style)
• sticky rice
• steamed vegetable (which was super soft and baby friendly)

I even gave him water by trapping it in a straw and releasing the water into his mouth. My hungry munchkin was deeply amused by this tactic.

Mikado in Los Altos, CA

Things we had to be wary of? Sesame seeds (highly allergenic), raw meats (no sashimi... yet!) and of course anything else that my hungry munchkin had never been introduced to before.

We received comments from diners in the restaurant about how fun it was to see a baby trying Japanese cuisine. Hopefully early exposure to these fun dining experiences will teach our hungry munchkin to be excited about all different kinds of food.

Mango Tofu Oatmeal

Sometimes introducing new foods is a challenge. I've been giving my hungry munchkin tofu in recent days and he doesn't really like it. Rather than giving him plain chunks to nibble on I have to sneak the tofu into foods. Here is a recipe that was a raging success!

Mango Tofu Oatmeal

1/2 cup mango chunks
1/8 cup tofu chunks
Baby Oatmeal for thickening

Preparation:

Blend mango and tofu together, thinning with water to desired consistency. Can be refrigerated until meal time. If using fresh ingredients, this mix can be frozen in cubes for future use.

Meal Time:

Take a portion of the Mango-Tofu mix and thicken with oatmeal. Serve and enjoy the "mmmmmms" that come from baby!