Hippie Mayo

I'm a Miracle Whip girl. I married a Mayonnaise guy. I have no idea what will happen with Jude. Except that so far I won't feed him either one. I read the ingredients for the first time on the back of the jar of MW and decided he wouldn't get to taste it. Enzyme modified egg yolks didn't sound all that yummy to me. But then neither did whipping up some raw egg yolks to make real mayo for my little man.

I decided to make some soy mayo using a recipe I found in an old recipe collection my boss got when she did Outward Bound in the 70's. Hand typed, thread bound, and full of gritty vegetarian and vegan fare that would make a hippie proud. I made a few adjustments for Jude, and was actually pretty impressed with the outcome. I quartered the recipe and it was still enough for his portion and a big bowl for me. Once you make your baby's salad, feel free to add a bit of spicy dijon mustard or more vinegar to your own. It's awesome on a bed of greens with some walnuts and dried cherries!


Baby Chicken Salad with Soy Mayo
Ingredients:
1 cup cooked chicken, chopped finely
1/4 c. cold soy milk
1/2 c. oil
2-3 tsp. white wine vinegar
dash of hot sauce
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
Pour soy milk into a blender. With the top off and the blender set on medium speed, pour oil into the blender in a very thin stream. Mixture will thicken to the consistency of whipped cream. Turn off the blender and stir in remaining ingredients. In a bowl, add a few tablespoons of mayo to the chicken and toss to coat.

Serving Ideas:
Stuff into a whole wheat pita or bread.
Serve over rice or cold pasta with yogurt.
Add finely chopped veggies or a little vegetable puree to make this a full meal. Jude likes his with beets!

Snort

Jude's favorite animal is a pig. He carries his tiny Little People pig all around the house and snorts enthusiastically. He snorts so much that I worry about his nasal passages. He will do it on command, like when you ask, "What sound does a pig make?" He will also do it random. Or at moments that border on the embarrassing, if they weren't so perfect. Like when an obnoxious lady at Target got all up in his grill in the carriage and shouted at him that he was "SOOO daaarling!" 

"SNORT!" She gave him a funny face, but I think his message was loud and clear. 

I wonder if he'll continue eating pork, once he eventually learns it comes from a pig. How do you teach kids about things like that? Take them to a farm to pet animals and then tell them how tasty they are? Traumatizing much? I guess I'll face that hurdle when I get to it in a few years. In the mean time, I'll continue prepping recipes that can be eaten by all of us, even if it's from a cute little pig.

Pulled Pork with Couscous

Ingredients:

2 lb. boneless pork roast

2 apples, peeled and cored

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced
14 oz can diced tomatoes, with juice
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 ounces molasses
2 teaspoons paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chili powder
3-4 Tbls. water

1 cup couscous

1/4 c. golden raisins

Preparation:

Place pork apples and onion in slow cooker. Whisk together remaining ingredients and pour over the pork. Cook on low for 6 hours, or on high for three. Remove pork from the slow cooker and shred, return to the pot. Remove apples and cut into chunks.

Place couscous and raisins in a bowl. Boil 1 cup of water and pour over couscous. Let sit for five minutes and then fluff with a fork. Spoon a portion into a bowl for baby. Add some apple, pork and sauce. 

*NOTE: Pork is wicked hard to chew. Jude has a lot of teeth, but without molars, chewing pork is like chewing bubble gum. He looks like a little cow. After shredding the pork, I set aside a portion for him on a cutting board and run the big knife through it a bunch of times until it is well chopped. Problem solved.

Also, here's an updated menu sample for you:) How things have changed since I made the last one!

Jude's Sample Menu - 12 Months

Going Nuts

Deciding that your baby is ready to eat nuts can make you nuts. Ask your own mom and she'll likely give you a quizzical stare (did you know anyone with a fatal nut allergy as a kid? I didn't.). Ask your pediatrician and they may say anything between 9 months to 36 months. Ask your friends and you'll get the same vague answers. Don't even think about searching online because the range there will just make you more dizzy. Personally, I take every warning I hear with a grain of salt, weigh my options, and do whatever I want. I'm lucky to have a child with no known food allergies, who has yet to ever have a big reaction to anything (knock on wood!). Nuts and seeds are such little protein powerhouses that I can't think of any reason not to include them in his diet. If you are ready to give nuts to your little, this recipe is perfect for a snack that includes protein and fruit, and it's delicious. It's actually like Baby Crack. If you aren't ready, bookmark this one for later, because it'll be a huge hit.

I made these based on the fact that I'm obsessed with Lara bars and have meant to make my own for ages. The name is a bit deceiving, because they actually don't include peanut butter. They taste like they do, though!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Baby Truffles

10 oz. pitted dried dates

1/2 cup dried strawberries

1/4 cup cashews

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Place everything in a food processor and pulse until a ball forms. Using a one inch cookie scoop (or fine, use a spoon) scoop into balls and roll in your palms. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment and chill for an hour. Then you can transfer them to a container without them sticking to each other and store in the fridge for up to a week. Freeze them if you won't eat them that fast. Depending on how many teeth your kiddo has, you may want to let them come to room temperature before serving!

Variations:

Substitute almonds for the cashews and apricots for the strawberries. That's my favorite:)

You can also use raisins, cranberries, prunes, dried pineapple with coconut... Let me know if you come up with any yummy flavor combos! 

Slacker Cake

Good Lord, I'm a slacker lately! The last time I waited a month between posts was when Jude was born. I have at least half a dozen baby food recipes sitting in a pile to be blogged, but haven't gotten around to it, yet. I have a pile of shop updates to do, but I haven't gotten around to that either. I think I've just been having too much fun with my kiddo and the shop to blog lately, and I'm not going to feel bad about it. If you want a shop update, you can pop over and visit:) If you want some new recipes, I swear I will get to them! Or email me, and I'll send you some:) If you want to bake a little monster cake, here you go! You'll need this ridiculous Big Top silicone cupcake mold for the shaped cake. Or get crafty and see what else you can come up with!

Jude's Monster Mash Birthday Cake


Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1 2/3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 cup water
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. allspice
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. white vinegar
For decorating:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
8 oz. cream cheese at room temperature
1 cup shredded carrots
White and dark chocolate melts

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together dry ingredients. Fold in wet ingredients until well combined. Pour into a well greased pair of cake pans or a 9x13 inch glass baking dish if you are not using the Big Top cupcake mold for the monster shaped cake). Bake 30 minutes or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. If you are making a monster, you'll want to bake it longer and keep checking every ten minutes or so, the top took at least 40 minutes and the bottom almost an hour! Allow to cool for ten minutes before inverting out of the pan to cool completly on a wire rack.

To create your monster:
Draw your monster arms, horns, mouth and eye onto a sheet of paper. Top with a sheet of wax paper. Melt candy melts according to the package instructions and pour into a squeeze bottle. Draw your monster parts according to the pattern you made and let them harden for at least an hour. Don't stick them in the fridge or they get all dewy! 
Beat powdered sugar into cream cheese. You may need to trim the top and bottom of your cupcake halves to make them flat. A serrated bread knife does this nicely. Smear a bit of frosting onto the top of the cupcake base and top with the em, top, duh. Frost with most of your icing, leaving a few tablespoons for just in case. Press the monster parts into your cake and secure with extra icing if needed. Press carrots into the icing to create fur. And done.

Good luck getting your kiddo to eat it. Mine just pulled off the carrots to snack on, so I ended up eating it all! How did I have a child with no sweet tooth!

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Happy Birthday, Jude!

Last Saturday our little man turned one. I still have to pinch myself. It's insane that the past year has flown by this fast, that he is this close to walking and really talking and spoon feeding himself and on and on into toddler-hood. I'm so not ready to have a toddler! Egad! But there it is. And so we had to celebrate with the familia in Little Rhody at least for the big One. We kept it casual and didn't go too crazy, though I was tempted. I have been so busy with the shop lately (yay!), that I had to keep the handicrafts under control. It was hard, but I handled it. In the end I only made salads, cupcakes, pom poms, a mini cake, and some monster crafts. Oh, and invitations, but those don't count :) And now for some photo overload...

Jude's Monster Themed Invitations

 The mini cake, made with my Aunt's Applesauce Cake Recipe tweaked for babykins. 

I'll do a recipe post pretty soon :)

Rocking his Maddie Bugs tee which I somehow don't have a full photo of!?

I don't think he liked our singing.

And he definitely didn't trust the cake.

 He ate two bites.

 Then he wanted to go play.

 And who could blame him when there's a bubble mower to push!

The last Picky Sticky. 

*le sigh* 

Happy Birthday, Jude!

Love, Your Mama

Beans and Greens and Bitchiness

It finally happened.

About a week ago I was in line with Jude at the grocery store behind a woman writing personal checks to pay for three separate orders. It was almost lunch time, so Jude was done with his toys and sitting in a cart. In order to keep the peace, I grabbed a container of Gerber puffs from the aisle behind me and poured him a big handful. "You're lucky," I told him, "You never get to have these!"

The woman paused and looked at me. "Why not?" she asked.

"Well," I replied, "I make most of his food."

She raised her eyebrows, "Oh, you're that kind of mom."

That kind of mom? Excuse me? Homegirl was lucky I was in a nice kind of mood or I would have said something along the lines of: "You mean the kind of mom who enjoys cooking? The kind who wants to know what's going into her baby's mouth? So maybe your kids were raised on blue box mac and cheese, and they grew up fine. That's great. So did my husband. So did I. But if you want to be all Judgy Judy let's start with that dye job. 1982 called and it wants its roots back."

Of course I didn't say any of that. But I was pissed. What is it about having children that makes people feel the right to pass out unsolicited advice or criticism? I was spared that when pregnant with Jude. Amazingly no one tried to touch my belly or asked if I was taking my pre-natals. Maybe it was the "Don't friggin touch me," look plastered on my face. Whatever it was, it has passed. Because obviously this woman felt the need to say something judgmental and nasty to me. Next time I'll be ready.

I went home and cooked. Another meal that works well for us and the babe. It's vegan and gluten free, too, in case you, like so many of my friends now, have dietary restrictions. Or babies with dietary restrictions. The only thing I can't figure out is how to lose the onions (sorry Jess!).


Garlicky Beans and Greens
Adapted from Bob's Red Mill
Ingredients:
3 cups cooked cranberry beans (canned cannelini or kidney beans are also fine!)
4 cups vegetable stock
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. kale, chopped
1 small can tomato paste
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
1-2 tsp. red pepper flakes, depending on your taste
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup water
juice of one lemon

Preparation:
In a large dutch oven, combine all but the last three ingredients. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until kale is tender, about 8-10 minutes. In a bowl, whisk cornmeal into water and lemon juice. Stir slowly into the pot and continue to simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes. Serve with crusty bread if you wish.

Adaptations for Young Babies:
Guess what, your baby can totally eat this. At about 7 months it's safe to introduce leafy greens and garlic, so go for it! You may want to do a few adaptations to reduce the amount of spices if your baby has yet to try them until you know he likes it.

Just start with the first five ingredients (beans through kale)  in the pot and simmer until tender. Puree as much as baby will eat and set it aside. Then you can add the tomato paste and seasonings to the pot and simmer for five minutes before adding the cornmeal mixture. That way you can still enjoy the full flavor of the meal and your baby can get a taste, too. Jude loves this. He's bean eating variations of greens and beans for months and it is one of my favorite go-to combos now!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Is it seriously March already? March used to be my least favorite month of the year. It's the longest month for teachers because there isn't any single day off. I know all of you with regular 9 to 5's are all, "Whaaa whaaa! Shut up about the easy teacher schedule!" but really! Kids get totally insane by the end of March and it totally drives you to drink. But not on the job or anything. Honestly, what do you take me for?

This year March is a bittersweet month. In 24 days the Boy Who Was Once the Bean will turn one year old. I can't even stand it. I'm planning a menu and picking out clothes and decorations and making favors. All while trying to ignore the fact that Jude is quickly becoming a toddler and not a baby. Thank God he isn't walking yet! He's eating me out of house and home already.

I'm getting more and more into the habit of feeding Jude whatever E and I eat for dinner. At least sometimes. He's not quite ready for buffalo calamari. Until then, I try to make at least two meals a week that I can adjust for him and freeze for later. Chicken soup is by far the easiest. You can use a rotisserie chicken and low sodium boxed stock if you're in a pinch. Last week I roasted a chicken, then made a huge pot of stock from the bones so I could fill up the freezer. After the stock finished cooking I just tossed all of the ingredients in for this soup, but I always have this stuff on hand in a pinch. Chicken soup doesn't have to take an hour, people. I'm not about to waste a nap making soup.

Quick Baby's Chicken Rice Soup
Ingredients:
4 quarts chicken stock
3 cups cooked, shredded chicken
1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
3 stalks of celery, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
1 Tbls. fresh chopped oregano and parsley, optional

Preparation:
Heat a little olive oil in a large pot. Add onions and carrots and saute two to three minutes. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add celery, chicken, herbs if using, and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cook until veggies are tender, about 7 minutes. Ladle soup into a blender of food processor and add some rice (it should be about 1 part broth, 1 part solids, 1 part rice. Very scientific.) Blend until smooth. Add more rice or broth as you need to get the desired consistency. Freeze whatever you don't serve in ice cube trays or store in the fridge for up to three days.

*To serve the rest of your soup to the big people, season with salt and pepper and add the rice to the pot to heat through.