Fix & Freeze – The Simple Elements

Fall has arrived! I was so thrilled to find that winter squashes have started appearing at our grocery store.. Marielle has started “chewing” her food a little more, and seems more interested in things with a bit more texture. This recipe is great because you can puree one or more of the ingredients leaving the others a bit chunkier, and cater to your little ones preferences.

Ingredients

1 small organic butternut squash, washed, peeled and cubed ( I always wash things before peeling because then you’re not transferring any dirt or bacteria from the store when you cut into them)
6 small organic yukon gold potatoes, washed, peeled and cubed
2 large organic Honeycrisp apples, washed, peeled and cubed (I used Honeycrisp because I wanted to eat the leftovers :

Directions

Using your Beaba, steam the butternut squash and the potatoes until tender. You can steam these two veggies together because they both use level 3 water. However, I find that separating them allows me to better measure how much of each ingredient I put into the final dish. Reserve the cooking liquid from either the squash or the potatoes.
Instead of pureeing the squash and potatoes in the Beaba, I mashed them by hand using a fork so that I could give them a chunkier texture. I added the reserved cooking liquid to make a consistency that was easy to blend.
Steam the apples using water level 2 and blend into a smooth puree.
In a large bowl, mix the squash, potato and apple together. You can use any ratio you like, mine was heavier on the squash, then potato, and lighter on the apple as to not make it too sweet. The butternut squash is sweet enough on its own.

This medley can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Elements of Baby, Fix & Freeze

Beaba Babycook: Millet, Apple and Zucchini Medley

September 17, 2014 Ashley

Once your babe has gotten used to eating single ingredient foods, mixing multiple flavors and textures together is a new, fun culinary adventure for your little one. The easiest way to start this is by mixing your little one’s favorite foods together. Gradually, you can introduce new ingredients and textures into various mixtures. This is a great way for your child to become accustomed to new flavors. Not sure what flavors to mix together? Really, anything. But for some inspiration take a look at pre made purees at the grocery store, or buy a baby cookbook. I love my Cooking for Baby by Lisa Barnes book. Lots of great recipes and inspiration and you can change things up a little as you see fit to cater to your baby. I found this recipe in the book and Marielle loved it. It was a great way to introduce another healthy grain into her diet as well as some fresh herbs. Marielle already loves zucchini and apple on their own, so I thought this was a perfect combination. Millet is a small , easily digestible, nutritious grain, about the size of couscous. It takes about 35 minutes to cook, so plan ahead. You can make a batch and freeze any leftovers for mixing into various purees for a new texture. I found organic millet at Whole Foods.

I prepared my apple and zucchini purees in my Beaba and prepared the millet on the stove. You can buy the grain basket for the Beaba, but I find it is just as easy to put it in my own saucepan. I combined them into one mixture and finished it off with fresh chopped basil. She loved this combination! She also thought playing with it was a lot of fun…the texture was something new for her.

Millet, Apple and Zucchini Medley

1/2 cup organic millet, cooked in 2 cups of boiling water for about 35-40 minutes. Simmer the millet on low heat. You will get about 2 cups of cooked Millet.
4-5 Tablespoons apple puree
1 cup zucchini puree
chopped basil

Mix all ingredients together. Use the cooking liquid from either the zucchini or apple to thin out mixture if needed.

Mixture can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Bon Appetit!

Elements of Baby, Fix & Freeze

Béaba Babycook: Purée Parfait

August 21, 2014August 21, 2014 Ashley

Making Marielle’s baby food has become a lot more interesting in the past week. Now that she basically eats anything that’s put in front of her, we’re going from single ingredient purées to multiple ingredient purées. It’s always best to use foods your baby has already tried when mixing purées together. Marielle loves sweet potatoes and apples, and I wanted to make sure she learned to like proteins as well. I call this recipe, Baby’s Thanksgiving. Why? It’s a turkey, sweet potato and apple purée parfait. Why parfait? I don’t know, aesthetically it’s more appetizing to layer the ingredients and then freeze them than mix them together 🙂 This way, she can have varying amounts of each food with each bite. I mean, as appetizing as baby foods can possibly look, right?

Ingredients

1/2 pound of organic ground turkey, cooked on the stove with 1/4 cup of water and blended in a food processor until smooth. You may need to add additional water to get to the right consistency.
Organic Apple Purée
Organic Sweet Potato Purée

Bring all finished purées to room temperature and layer them in 4 ounce baby food containers. Freeze for up to 1 month*

*Fruit and veggie purées may be frozen up to 3 months, but meats should be eaten within 1 month.

Elements of Baby, Elements of Food, Fix & Freeze

Béaba Babycook: Baby’s First Chicken & Apples

August 4, 2014 Ashley

The time has come to introduce Marielle to her first protein. At 7 months old, she hasn’t rejected a single type of food that we’ve offered her, but I was definitely skeptical about steaming chicken and pureeing it…First of all, have you ever seen anything look so unappetizing? But, I have to say, it tasted great, just like chicken should. My concern was that the texture would freak her out a little, and it definitely did. She didn’t spit it out, because the flavor is good. But the texture is definitely strange for a baby. This is definitely one to have the camera ready for! The look was priceless. Unfortunately for babies, they don’t get to slather BBQ sauce on their chicken…so it’s a little dry and pasty when pureed.

To help her with the texture, I added her pureed apples into the chicken and mixed them together, and she LOVED it! You can try adding pureed sweet potato, apple, pear or whatever food is familiar to your baby to make the introduction to proteins a little more tolerable.

To make pureed chicken breast, fill your Babycook with Level 3 water. Cut one or two organic, boneless chicken breasts into 1/2 inch cubes and place in the steaming basket. Turn on the Babycook and let it cook away. Once it’s finished, puree the chicken with a little of the water until it forms the consistency your baby will tolerate. I think I added about 4 tablespoons of water total to create the puree, and then added her apples to the mixture just before serving.

As your babies tastes develop, try adding in some fresh herbs such as basil or parsley for a savory treat!

Elements of Baby, Fix & Freeze

Béaba Babycook: D’Anjou Pears & Zucchini

July 30, 2014 Ashley

At 6.5 months, Marielle has started enjoying all sorts of foods, which makes cooking for her a lot of fun. I’m pretty sure she’s a little mini foodie, and loves all types of cuisine, just like her daddy! Our pediatrician said at this point, Marielle can try anything she wants (pureed or chopped fine of course) with the exception of honey, due to botulism. I’ve introduced her to several flavors of yogurt, green veggie puffs, spices such as cinnamon and nutmeg, bananas, sweet potatoes, green peas, and now we’ve added pears and zucchini to the list! I was a little worried she wouldn’t like the zucchini because unlike sweet potatoes and green peas, there isn’t even a hint of sweetness. I steamed and pureed a couple of organic zucchini for her to try and much to my surprise, she LOVED them! A huge smile came across her face as she tasted the bright green squash for the first time. I have no doubts that she wouldn’t love pears…I used organic D’Anjou pears for her puree. As always, I try all her foods before I give them to her and the pears were definitely a winner. I love how easy it is for me to create nutritious, homemade food using the Beaba Babycook! In another week or so, we can introduce her to a couple of meats, such as chicken and turkey. This will be a whole new flavor profile and texture for her, so we will see how it goes! If for some reason baby doesn’t enjoy green veggies, try mixing in a little pear or apple puree to begin with, and gradually eliminate the sweetness until they are eating the veggie on its own.

When buying produce to create purees, keep this in mind. To make a 2 ounce container of babyfood, it takes 1 small apple or 1 small pear, for example. My containers are all 2 ounces so it’s easy to determine how much produce I need to buy to make a full batch. Fruits are generally cooked with Level 2 water in the Beaba and veggies are usually Level 3.

Elements of Baby, Elements of Food, Fix & Freeze

Béaba Babycook: Baby’s First Applesauce

July 17, 2014July 18, 2014 Ashley

The time has come to introduce Marielle to her first fruits. Besides yogurt, she has only had veggies and cereals. I wanted her to get used to the not so sweet foods before introducing the fruits, which I am sure she will absolutely love. There were a few options for her first fruit. I wanted to do pears, but I couldn’t find good organic pears, so I decided to try apples first. It’s important to choose an apple that has low acidity and is naturally sweet. This will make it easy to digest and yummy in their little tummy! This is truly a treat…I think I ate about 1/3 of the recipe myself…What? It’s important to try it before feeding it to baby! 🙂 I used 6 organic Gala apples, peeled, cored and chopped into cubes. Using water level 2 in my Beaba, I steamed the apples until the Beaba was finished (about 15 minutes) I poured the cooking water into a measuring cup and placed the steamed apples back into the Beaba. I pureed just the apples first to see what the consistency would be. While it was very smooth, I wanted to thin it out just a bit. I added about 1/4 cup of cooking water to the puree and processed until velvety smooth. I have a feeling she’s going to love this one. Clearly, I did!

Because apples cook down so much, 6 small apples made about 6-7 containers of applesauce.

Elements of Baby, Elements of Food, Fix & Freeze

Béaba Babycook: Puréed Sweet Peas

July 15, 2014July 15, 2014 Ashley

This was one of the easiest meals I have made for Marielle. While you can make it more difficult on yourself by shelling fresh peas yourself, it’s a lot easier, and just as nutritious to use organic frozen peas. Frozen veggies actual contain tons of nutrients and steaming them retains those nutrients. Simply fill the Babycook steaming basket full of frozen peas, add water (level 3) to the reservoir and press steam. The peas cook in about 15 minutes. I ended up using all of the cooking water to thin out this particular puree, since they are pretty thick and starchy. They turned out perfect! Vibrant green, fresh tasting, and just a little bit sweet. I wasn’t sure Marielle would love the peas on their own, but she did! They have become one of her favorite foods so far. One bag of peas made 10 containers of food for Marielle.

Elements of Baby, Elements of Food, Fix & Freeze

Béaba Babycook: Puréed Sweet Potatoes

July 9, 2014July 9, 2014 Ashley

When I first found out we were expecting, one of things I was most excited about (besides becoming a new mama!) was the opportunity I was going to have to make my own homemade baby food. The first item I registered for was a Beaba Babycook baby food maker. I had done my research and this was the one that everyone raved about. Steamed foods retain the most nutrients. There are so many benefits to making your own baby food if you have the time. One, you can control exactly what is going in to your baby’s food. Two, you can eat organically without the cost of prepackaged organic baby food. Three, it’s really quite simple and with the right equipment, it doesn’t take much time at all. Baby’s first solid foods are single ingredient foods such as sweet potatoes, sweet peas and rice cereal. If baby isn’t interested in the taste of the puree, try mixing a little breastmilk or formula into the puree when serving for a more familiar taste.

Marielle has already mastered organic rice cereal, so the next step was to introduce sweet potatoes. I used one large, organic jewel sweet potato. Make sure you are using the types that are orange. They have more vitamins than the white/yellow sweet potatoes. But, you can use both.

This is a huge money saver as well. My organic sweet potato cost about a dollar and I made several meals out of it. If you were to buy a jar of organic sweet potato baby food, it would cost you over a dollar PER jar!

Step One: Wash and peel the potato and cut into cubes. I did half inch to one inch cubes and it worked perfectly.

Step Two: Place cubed sweet potatoes into the steaming basket of the Beaba. Fill the water reservoir using water level three.

Step Three: Press the steam button on your Beaba, and leave it! It’s that easy. Water level 3 foods take 15 minutes. When the timer dings, it’s done!

Step Four: Remove the steaming basket using the provided spatula. I tasted the potato to make sure it was done…not going to lie, it was delicious! Pour the cooking liquid into a separate container. Place the sweet potatoes back into the Beaba to puree. Turn the button to pulse the machine, pureeing your food to the desired consistency. Use the cooking water to thin out the puree if you wish.

Step Five: Let the puree sit at room temp for an hour or so before refrigerating or freezing. Spoon puree into your freezing containers of choice. You can use covered ice cube trays or containers specifically for storing baby food. I personally like the OXO Tot Baby Blocks freezer storage system.

Make sure you label your foods with the type and dates. Homemade baby food can be frozen for up to 3 months for optimal quality and nutrient retention.

Elements of Food, Fix & Freeze

Homemade Pasty

August 7, 2013 Ashley

I can’t help it…but once August rolls around, I’m just about ready for Fall. By August, the flowers are starting to stop blooming, the nights get just a bit cooler, and I start seeing cute Fall clothes in the stores. Along with that, I start getting ready for delicious fall foods! One of my most favorite meals growing up were homemade pasties (pronounced past-ee). My grandmother is the original recipe holder, and we use the same recipe today. What exactly is a Pasty? It’s essentially a meat and vegetable handheld pie. Although I eat mine with a fork, the point was that you could have a satisfying meal wherever you went. My husband LOVES these…and what guy wouldn’t? It’s meat, potatoes, onion and carrots bundled together in an English pastry crust. The best part about these, is that the recipe makes 4 pasties, just enough for dinner and two frozen pasties for later! This is also a great Fix and Freeze recipe.

Ingredients

English Pastry

2 cups unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
1 egg yolk
1/2 cup hot water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt until well combined. With a fork, combine the flour mixture with the vegetable shortening and egg yolk.
Add the hot water and lemon juice and mix until a soft dough forms.
Chill for at least 2-3 hours

Ingredients

Filling

1 pound ground beef
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 cup chopped carrot
1.5 cups chopped russet potato
Butter

Directions

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef and onion together until cooked through.
Add the carrots and potatoes to the ground beef and onion and mix to combine.
You can fancy this recipe up if you like…adding fresh herbs such as thyme or rosemary, but our family recipe is basic, and I love it for that.
Cut your pastry dough into 4 equal sections, and roll into balls.
On a floured surface, roll out each ball into a 7-8 inch diameter circle.
Place the ground beef filling, as much as you can fit on one side, into the pastry leaving an edge to seal the pasty.
Add a couple small pats of butter on top of the filling and fold the other side of the dough over to create a half moon.
Fold the edges up around the pasty to seal in the filling and use a fork to seal the edge. Pierce the top of each pasty four times with a fork to vent.
Place the pasties on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hours at 350 degrees.
After the hour of baking, pull out the pasties and place a dish towel over the top. Let the pasties steam for 15 minutes before serving.
We like to put ketchup all over ours, but you can eat it plain as well.

Enjoy!

Elements of Food, Fix & Freeze

Fix it & Freeze it – Coconut Chicken Curry

October 16, 2012October 17, 2012 Ashley

When Fall arrives, there is nothing I love more than firing up the slow cooker and letting a meal simmer all day long. The house smells amazing and you can literally leave it alone, cooking all day. Who doesn’t love to come home to dinner that’s ready? I do! Especially this time of year when my hubby works crazy hours. I can at least guarantee him a hot dinner. Last week, my sister in law Tiffany and I decided to take the whole day to prepare slow cooker meals that could be made in advance, frozen and prepared when you need them. Essentially, you can take any slow cooker recipe and modify it to a fix and freeze meal. Fall and winter are the best times to do this, as many slow cooker recipes are your typical comfort foods. But, slow cooker doesn’t necessarily mean canned soup…although it can, I do enjoy those once and awhile as well. Tiffany and I made the trip to Costco and bought all of our ingredients for our food prep extravaganza! Tiff hates Costco, but I think this trip maybe made her like it a little more. Or maybe it was the Caramel Spiced Apple Cider we got afterwards 🙂 I had picked out the recipes in advance, made a shopping list and off we went. 1.5 hours later we had our ingredients and we were ready to go. I will do separate blog posts about these recipes as I make them. The first out of the bunch was a modified version of Martha Stewart’s Coconut Curry Chicken from this blog. I altered some of the ingredients as I went along. Tiffany and I both agreed it could use a little more kick!

*NOTE: While this dish is super easy to make as a fix and freeze, I do think having it frozen first allows a lot of water to release during the cooking process. For this reason, I really recommend using the full fat version of coconut milk and not the light. You need the extra thickness to get the right consistency. The other thing I should have done is once I had fully thawed my ziplock, I should have discarded the extra water. Oh well, live and learn! 🙂

Ingredients

3 pounds of boneless chicken breasts
2 pounds chopped butternut squash
2 onions thinly sliced or chopped
10 garlic cloves, chopped
4 tablespoons ground curry powder
1 ounce of grated ginger
1.5 teaspoons ground coriander
1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
Coarse Salt
1 package of green peas
2 cans coconut milk (don’t use light)
Cayenne pepper

Directions

Assemble the first 9 ingredients into a gallon freezer zip lock bag. (Or, what I would probably do next time, since I cook for just me and my husband, is divide it into 2 freezer bags) That’s it, you’re done! Now put it in the freezer. There are a couple ways you can prepare it when you’re ready. The first is to slow cook it all day (and by all day I mean, starting at 8am) from the completely frozen state. I took mine out of the freezer, left it on the counter for 4 hours the night before, and then in the fridge the rest of the night. It cooks faster this way.
From Frozen: Add one can of coconut milk and cook on low, all day. Once tender, shred the chicken into pieces and let simmer in the slow cooker on low. While you’re prepping your rice, add the last can of coconut milk and the bag of frozen peas and let simmer for another 20-25 minutes.
From Thawed: Add one can of coconut milk and cook on high 4-5 hours, or low 6-8 hours. Once tender, shred the chicken into pieces and let simmer in the slow cooker on low. While you’re prepping your rice, add the last can of coconut milk and the bag of frozen peas and let simmer for another 20-25 minutes.
Add cayenne pepper for a kick if you like.
Serve with rice. Enjoy!