Toddle Along Tuesday: Favorite Baby/Toddler Recipes

So, I am going to go way back with this post, to when I started exploring solids with Anneliese. It's kind of making me sad to think back :( I consulted a lot of different websites when I decided to make all of her food- www.wholesomebabyfood.com, a variety of cook books. My Favorite cookbook by far was the one by Tyler Florence. The book is awesome because not only does it have some great puree recipes with flavor (yes, babies hate bland food as much as you do), it also allows you to make the recipes for a range of ages without having to cook 9 different things for dinner.

The recipe that my daughter (and I!) loved was the roasted broccoli with parmesan. I added a little variation with some garlic. When I brought a cube into daycare, they said it smelled so good that they wanted to eat it!

Ingredients:
2 heads broccoli (about 3 pounds)
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2/3 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 clove of garlic, sliced paper thin

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Trim about 1 inch off the ends of the broccoli stalks and peel the stalks with a vegetable peeler. Then cut the broccoli lengthwise into spears. Arrange the broccoli in a baking dish, drizzle with some olive oil and season with a little bit of salt and freshly ground black pepper. Toss to coat evenly. Transfer to the oven and roast for 25 minutes.

3. Remove the broccoli from the oven. Let cool slightly before pureeing but process while warm enough to melt the parmesan. Process until desired consistency (do this in batches) adding the cheese to each batch by stirring in. Spoon into ice cube trays and freeze for future use. This recipe should fill about 2-3 trays.

Tasty Thursday: Kid Friendly Healthy Muffins

My struggle to find something quick for breakfast that me, my husband and my toddler would eat landed me into a sea of muffin recipes. I finally decided on these Zucchini Apple Muffins. Now, the recipe calls for A LOT of sugar and oil. I think you could probably cut a little sugar out. For the oil, I substituted 1/2 for 1/2C of plain Greek yogurt. It made me feel a little bit better.


Also keep in mind, these yielded 24 mini muffins and 12 regular muffins but if you wanted to make 24 regular sized muffins, have at it. I think the mini actually cooked a little bit better. These muffins also freeze well.
Recipe adapted from Savory Notes

Ingredients for Zucchini Apple Muffins

2 C grated zucchini
2 C diced granny smith apples
3 large eggs
1/2 C Canola oil
1/2 C Plain Greek yogurt
2 1/2 C sugar
3 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp fine salt
3 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°, and grease muffin pan with non-stick spray.
In bowl 1, whisk eggs, oil, vanilla and then add zucchini and apples.
In bowl 2, sift all dry ingredients (baking powder/soda, flour, cinnamon, and salt).
Add bowl 2 to bowl 1, and stir gently. Do not over-mix.
Dish into muffin cups, making sure you pick up the apples from the bottom of the bowl if they sink.
Bake at 350 for 20-25 or until toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

This is NOT good birth control, she will be such a good big sister, someday!