zucchini – The Simple Elements

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: 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 Food

Sauteed Summer Squash and Zucchini with Chevre and Thyme

April 19, 2013April 19, 2013 Ashley

Let’s keep the veggie side dishes coming! One of the best parts about spring are the vibrant, fresh veggies available at the grocery store. It makes prepping a dinner side easy, and healthy! And let’s be honest…anything with Chevre on top is fabulous. You can also use Feta cheese if you prefer a saltier, firmer cheese. A quick way to turn this into a whole meal? Throw in some whole wheat pasta, a little more olive oil and some lemon. Yum! Don’t mind my extremely bright out of focus photo on this one…my kitchen is quite dark and we just installed some under cabinet lighting…that gives off a not so photo friendly light!

Recipe adapted from Gluten Free in the City http://www.gfinthecity.com A fantastic blog full of wonderful gluten free recipes.

Ingredients

3-4 Zucchini Squash and Summer Squash, sliced
3 sprigs of fresh Thyme, minced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 ounces of Chevre or Feta, crumbled

Directions

In a medium bowl, toss the sliced squash, thyme, garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper together, making sure all of the squash slices are coated.

Heat a medium saute pan and saute the squash on medium high, stirring occasionally until tender, about 10 minutes. You want them to still have a little crunch.

Remove from the heat, and plate. Top with crumbled cheese.

Enjoy!