Alfredo Pasta with Veggies (not pretty but tasty)

I had a craving for Fettuccine Alfredo a few months ago and found this great recipe that is super easy because I don't have to cook the sauce.  I added chicken and veggies to make it a complete and easy meal I can make with no planning and in a small amount of time.

Ingredients

6 oz off pasta (I prefer whole wheat in shapes easy for little ones to pick up)

1/2 cup of half and half, light cream, or whipping cream (I have also used whole milk and it came out fine)

1 tbs of butter

3/4 cup of grated or shaved Parmesan cheese

Cracked black pepper and salt to taste

1/2 cup of peas

1/2 cup of broccoli

1 cup of chicken

Method

1. Cook pasta according to directions

2. Cook chicken.  I season the chicken with salt, pepper and garlic and then heat a tablespoon of olive oil a saute pan.  I cook the chicken and then chop it into pieces Hayden pick up and eat.  You can also use leftover chicken to save on time and cleanup.

3. Steam veggies.

4. Drain pasta and combine cream, cheese, butter and salt and pepper in pan.  Toss in pasta, chicken and veggies.  Allow it to thicken (just a few minutes) and serve.

Spaghetti

My recipe for spaghetti has evolved over many years and turned into something that combines elements from my grandmother, my mom and my dad.  It has a lot of stuff in it and lots of flavor.  Hayden loves it and cannot get enough.  I have served it to him with many different types of pasta, I started with pasta rings and then graduated to mini cheese ravioli and pesto tortellini (all available at Trader Joes with the other dried pastas).  Spaghetti is a once a week kind of meal in our house that provides lots of leftovers. 

Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients

2 8oz cans of tomato sauce                 

1 can of diced tomatoes

1 can of tomato paste                                    

1 pkg of Italian sausage

1 med onion, chopped                                    

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 pkg mushrooms, sliced                  

1 cup of red wine

2 teaspoon of basil                                    

1 teaspoon of oregano

½ teaspoon of rosemary                  

½ teaspoon of parsley

¼ teaspoon of thyme                                   

¼ teaspoon of sage

1 bay leaf                                                                        

1 teaspoon of sugar

Salt and pepper

Method

1.      Remove sausage from casing and saute until pink is almost gone.  Add onion, garlic and mushrooms.  Cook until onion is translucent. 

2.     Add tomato sauce, tomatoes and tomato paste.  Rinse cans with water and pour into sauce.  Stir in red wine.  While simmering sauce add spices and sugar.

3.     Simmer, the longer, the better.  (about 40 min)

4.     Taste, add water if necessary.

Meatloaf

I rediscovered meatloaf during my pregnancy.  I ate it around 24 weeks  and couldn't get enough.  I use the Quaker Oats recipe my mom used when I was young, with some variation.  Sometimes I will add bell pepper, chopped celery or pureed carrots.  Hayden loves it, once he ate it so fast he threw up! (not my goal but I guess it was a compliment).  I like this because I mix it, throw it in the oven and then its done in an hour.  Not to mention leftovers are delicious!

1 1/2 pounds of ground beef or turkey

3/4 cup of oats

3/4 cup of chopped onion

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 cup of ketchup

1 egg lightly beaten

1 tablespoon of worchester sauce

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/4 teaspoon of pepper

1. Mix ingredients with your hands (don't over mix)

2. Transfer to 8"x8" pan and shape (I make a dome but you can also bake it in a loaf pan or make mini meatloafs in muffin tins)

3. Bake at 350 for 50 to 55 minutes.

Enjoy!

How I got Hayden to eat spinach two times a day

Smoothies

One of my friends got me started making smoothies for Hayden everyday.  It sounds weird, but it is delicious, my husband and I drink it with him now too!

Smoothie for one little one

3 strawberries

1 small handful of blueberries

1 small handful of spinach

1/4 of an avocado

1/2 banana

1 YoBaby yogurt (organic whole milk yogurt)

Top off with orange juice

Blend until smooth and I serve it in a straw cup (so no mess!)  Sometimes I add blackberries, mango or peaches, basically whatever frozen fruit I have on hand.

Juice

My mother in law bought me a juicer (Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer) and I love it.  Hayden asks for juice ("duce") every time he walks into the kitchen.  I make him fresh juice for a snack almost everyday and he sucks it down before I am done cleaning up.  The juicer comes with recipes but here is my go to combo:

Apple-Carrot Juice ("Sponge Bob Juice" when I make it for my 4 year old nephew)

1 Cup of Juice

2 carrots

1 apple

1 handful of spinach 

4 strawberries

1/2 lemon

What I love about this juicer is that I don't have to peel or core anything.  Just trow it in as is after you cut off the carrot tops and lemon/apple stems.  It is so easy and delicious!  I asked my pediatrician about it and he said that counts as fruit and veggie servings.  As long as you drink it within 20 minutes, you get all the nutrients.

Sauteed Spinach

It took Hayden a little time to believe be that this was food.  He would put it in his mouth and not quite know what to do with it.  But now, he will willingly eat and and ask for more.

1 giant handful of spinach

1 garlic clove

1/4 lemon

sea salt

olive oil 

Saute garlic in olive oil.  Add spinach and cook until all leaves are soft (not any longer).  Toss in sea salt and squeeze in lemon.

First Tastes

Hayden is now 18 months old.  Recipes I have posted so far, are the foods he has been eating more recently.  When I started feeding Hayden solids at 6 months, I batch cooked purees and froze them.  His first food after rice cereal was sweet potato, then banana, carrots, apple and other non-green veggies (a recommendation from my pediatrician).

How I did it:

1. Steam or bake the fruit or vegetable.

2. Mash or puree, adding cooking liquid or water to achieve the consistency I wanted

3. Spoon into ice cube trays

4. Freeze and transfer to freezer bags

5. Label and store for up to six weeks

Some of Hayden's favorite combinations:

Sweet potato, parsnip and potato puree

Cheesy potato, spinach and broccoli puree

Pear and blueberry puree

Potato, leek and pea puree

Carrot and apple puree

His absolute favorite when he was an infant and now, avocado.  

Sometimes Hayden would spit out a food he had previously loved.  Around 8 months, Hayden lost his taste for sweet potato.  In order to "trick" him into eating it, I would get a spoon full of sweet potato and then dip it in vanilla yogurt.  It sounds gross, but he loved it and I was happy because he was getting a the goodness of sweet potato disguised as yogurt.

My Dirty Little Secret... I'm Lazy

I don't want to make two meals and I don't want eat hamburgers and hot dogs everyday.  Aside from all the glamorous ideas about developing healthy habits and good nutrition, I am lazy.  I want Hayden to eat what we eat because I like eating those things.  Motherhood is all about sacrifice, I have made countless sacrifices.  But I want to eat good food and I want to sit down and enjoy it, that is something I have not wanted to sacrifice.  

I have always operated on the thought that Hayden would only know he was eating food kids don't normally like if I or someone else told him.  So he eats hummus and tofu, and he likes it.  He eats these things because that is what I have always given him to eat.  If he is hungry, he will eat it and if he is not, then he will throw it (meal over).  It sounds harsh and I certainly would not deprive my child of food and that is not what I do.  Hayden eats the way he does because I have never said, "Oh, he wont like that."  He will try everything, up to 10 times, before I accept he doesn't like it.  To date, I have not found a food he wont eat after a few tries.

Kiwi Strawberry Cakes

Talk about beautiful food!

Kiwi Strawberry Cakes

1 brown rice cake (unsalted, avail. at Trader Joes)

1 tbs of strawberry cream cheese

1 kiwi, peeled and sliced

This was an instant hit!  I have also used plain cream cheese with strawberries and strawberry cream cheese with fresh blueberries.

Dips

When I started asking around about making my own baby food, one of my friends pointed me in the direction of a wonderful cookbook.  First Meals by Annabel Karmel is a great guide to feeding kiddos from 6 months to 7 years.  It has tips about successful feedings, recipes and fun ways to present food to little ones.  It really helped me get started and when I feel like we need a change now, I go back to it every few weeks. 

Here is one of my favorite dip recipes from her cookbook:

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

1 small red pepper (I used canned roasted red peppers, about 1/4 cup)

1/2 tsp of vegetable oil

1 shallot

1 ripe tomato, skinned, deseeded and chopped 

1 1/4 cup soft cream cheese

1. Roast the red pepper, peel and then roughly chop

2. Warm oil in pan, add the shallot, and saute until softened but not colored.

3. Add red pepper, tomato and cream cheese, and blend together to make a smooth cream.

Hayden LOVES to dip.  I use dips as a fun way to introduce new flavors.  Hayden especially likes the red pepper dip but I also make him avocado dip and hummus.  I usually buy my hummus at Trader Joes and there has never been a flavor he didn't love.  I started with the plain Mediterranean Style then then got into more complex flavors.  His favorite is Spicy Red Pepper.

Time

I can't think of anyone who thinks they have enough time.  I am a stay at home mom and I can't seem to find the time to do everything I want to do.  I cannot begin to imagine how working moms run a household.  I applaud you for being able to do it.

Making your own baby food sounds time consuming, probably nearly impossible.  It is not as bad as you would think.  All it takes is a little planning and preparation.

How I did it...  I would pick one day a week and prepare a new food for Hayden.  Since you are introducing one food at a time to infants, you only need to make one thing a week and then freeze it.  It took less than an hour a week to make the purees and I had a variety of foods on hand to feed Hayden.

Ambiance, Presentation and the Food

Ambiance

I quickly learned that my son felt the same way I did about eating meals.  I don' t like to eat alone, so when it is time for Hayden to eat, I sit and eat with him or at least sit with him.  This has been one of the most effective things I have tried.  If I am getting dinner ready or washing dishes, Hayden is watching me and not paying attention to his meal.  When I sit, he can focus and eats better than ever.  In the same spirit of my childhood, we turn off the TV and the phone and stay seated together until everyone is done.

Presentation

If food doesn't look good, you are already questioning how it tastes before you take your first bite.  Food can be beautiful.  Bright colors and unique shapes are naturally occurring in fresh foods, I try to use that to my full advantage.

My favorite mama, Roon, taught me that little ones do better with little food.  Too much food on the plate is overwhelming for little kiddos, so I limit what I put in front of Hayden to a few tablespoons and then reload.

The Food

A great meal doesn't have to take all day.  Food can be delicious and fun, just start with key ingredients and see where they take you.  Stay tuned for where the foods in my fridge take me.

About Me

Hello and welcome to monkey food. Here is a little bit about me and why I have created this blog. I am a mom, a wife, an artist, a cook and (as one of my favorite moms would say) "the brains of the operation." I am a baby wearing, all natural mom and because of that, after breast milk, I wanted my son to eat nothing but the best foods. I wanted him to love fresh foods as much as I do. I grew up on a vegetable farm in San Luis Obispo, California. There, I learned to cook, from both my mom and my dad. Each evening, my brother and I would head out onto the farm or into our family's garden to pick the vegetables for dinner (sounds cheesy, but completely true!). Every night, we turned off the TV, didn't answer the phone and sat down for a home cooked family dinner. These memories are so special to me and I knew when I became a mom, I would instill the same values into my family's routine.

My senior year of high school, I was off to culinary school in New York. I wanted to be a chef and open my own restaurant. Then at the last minute, I deiced to postpone culinary school and go to San Diego State University and study business. Here I met my husband and found that I loved everything about the dining experience. A good meal is about ambiance, presentation and of course, the food.

When my son was born, there were a lot of things I wanted to do and breastfeeding and cooking his food from scratch were at the top of my list. I was not one of those moms who loved breastfeeding. It wasn't that I didn't like it, I just didn't love it. I loved knowing what I was giving him and the benefits of breastfeeding but I was never comfortable nursing in front of others and often felt left out when I have to go into another room to feed Hayden.

I wasn't sure where to start when it came to making baby food. I wanted Hayden to have a balanced diet that included foods outside of the norm. I talked to my pediatrician, other moms, read baby books and a children's cookbook and felt confident that I could do it. When Hayden was 6 months old, I was so excited to try out making some baby food and see his reaction to real food. Now one year later, he eats everything, including spinach and he loves it all!