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?

Sauteed Chicken and Sweet Potatoes Mash

Moving beyond pureed food has been a challenge. My hungry munchkin doesn't really want puree any more, but doesn't get much food when he feeds himself. Keeping this in mind, I feel like the food I offer him these days needs to pack a wallop!

Today I had a raging hit with the hungry munchkin: Sauteed Chicken and Sweet Potatoes Mash. This was great finger food because, although it was slimy and really messy, the pieces were easy for my hungry munchkin to grab. It was great practice for picking up slippery food. I served this as the main course and then followed it with apple sauce as dessert, a sure fire winner with my hungry munchkin!

Sauteed Chicken and Sweet Potatoes Mash - Makes 2 servings

1/4 cup ground chicken
spritz of olive oil
1/4 cup mashed sweet potatoes (or yams)

Heat up olive oil in frying pan. Saute chicken until well done, breaking it up into little hungry munchkin sized pieces. Add mashed sweet potatoes and heat through. I cooked until the sweet potatoes dried out a little, but the mix was still moist.

Let cool a bit and then feed as finger food to your hungry munchkin, making sure that the pieces aren't too large and that the food isn't too hot! Watch your kiddo enjoy!

More finger foods

Here are our latest favorite finger foods:

• scrambled egg yolk chunks
• canned carrot pieces - super soft!
• smooshed black beans
• soft fruit, like papaya, peach, kiwi, and mango
• green bean pieces

Weekly Organic Foods

This spring we've decided to join a local organic produce delivery service, J&P Organics. Every week they deliver a box of produce to a nearby location where I can walk with my hungry munchkin to pick up the goods. This week our box consists of many baby friendly options: Peas, cauliflower, broccoli, celery, onion, kale, spinach, yams, potatoes, carrots, and eggs.

A small sampling of the produce I got this week.

I've never cooked with kale before, so let me know if you have any great recipe ideas!

I am planning on serving hard boiled organic, free range eggs today to my hungry munchkin. Babies are not supposed to eat egg whites until they are older than one year. The easiest way to prepare an egg sans white is to hard boil it and then pop out the yoke. You can mash up the yoke and mix it with other things such as cooked and soft or pureed veggies. Apparently egg yokes freeze well, but I haven't tried doing it yet. Another way to prepare eggs is to do a yoke scramble with various baby appropriate fixins. I'll let you know how it goes!

Tofu Success

With great success I've been blending tofu in with a number of purees, the latest being sweet potatoes. Danny has been eagerly downing the mixes. Yes!

Quinoa for Baby?

Quinoa, a grain from South America, is a superfood indeed. This grain is a complete protein and is packed with lots of fiber, calcium, and iron. At our table, I'll sometimes use this grain for recipes that would otherwise require rice. It's fluffy like couscous and not too flavorful.

Considering how much my hungry munchkin loves rice, I wonder if he'd enjoy quinoa . According to wholesomebabyfood.com, quinoa can be offered to babies after 8 months (of course with pediatrician approval).

Today I made a Black Bean, Tomato, and quinoa salad for us, reserving a handful of Black Beans (finger food!) and cooked quinoa for Danny. Tomorrow is an "introduce new food day" in our house, so quinoa it is! I'll let you know how it goes.

Here is what I'm planning on offering:

Quinoa, Chicken & Peas

1/8 cup cooked quinoa
1 cube frozen chicken, defrosted
1 oz pureed peas

Mix them up and serve to hungry munchkin! I might even puree the mix in the mini chopper if the texture is more fitting.

Frozen Chicken Cubes

My hungry munchkin likes chicken from time to time. I'll make up a batch and then freeze it in cubes. This allows me to defrost a cube and mix it with fresh veggies or grains for a quick meal. There are many ways you can fix chicken for baby, including mixing with rice, peaches, potatoes, etc. Be creative.

Frozen Chicken Cubes - recipe from wholesomebabyfood.com

1/3 cup chopped & cooked boneless chicken
1/4 cup of Natural applesauce

Puree chicken/turkey with applesauce in a food processor or blender until desired consistency for baby is achieved.

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!