Cooking Spring Break

It feels like everyone is thinking about Spring Break (even all of us not in school!) Well this week even though MJ and I are stuck at home (although it will be in the 70s all week!!) I unintentionally went international. A Moroccan breakfast, Indian Lunch and Portuguese Dinner. I was feeling so good that I even made dessert!

Foods being introduced this week: Brown Rice Couscous & White Potatoes

Breakfast: Baked Apples & Nutmeg Couscous

I baked diced apples in the oven and used brown rice couscous, since MJ has not been introduced to wheat yet and cooked it in the apple "broth" from the baked apples and a couple pinches of nutmeg.

Baked diced apples drained

Baked apples and couscous sprinkled with cinnamon

Lunch: Curried Chickpeas in Coconut Milk & Brown Rice
Recipe via The Vegan Stoner
Substitutions: Canned coconut milk instead of coconut yogurt

Chopped green peppers and shredded carrots

Added to drained chickpeas and a can of coconut milk.

Add 1/2 tbsp of curry paste (or powder) and cook until chickpeas soft.

Finished.

Serve on top of brown rice (or in MJ's case mix in baby brown rice). This recipe was literally so easy and so delicious I don't know if it will make it til the end of the week because 3 people in the house LOVED this! If I made any other alterations I think it would taste fantastic with pineapple chunks.

Dinner: "Caldo Verde" (Kale and Potato Soup)
Recipe

Substitutions: I used vegetable broth instead of water and the taste is so deep and flavorful I think it really made the difference.

Saute garlic, onions, diced potatoes.

Add 8 cups of vegetable broth & chopped parsley. Simmer until potatoes are soft

.

Either mash or blend potatoes in (immersion blender would make this super easy)

Pureed kale for baby.

Cook for 10 more minutes

Delicious!

Dessert!: Raspberry Banana Raw "Ice Cream"
Recipe

This literally only needs one picture because it is such a simple recipe. Throw some frozen raspberries into the food processor with 2 tbsp of coconut milk when it looks like sorbet add a cup of frozen sliced bananas. Voila.

So delicious. Must restrain myself from gobbling it all up.

Meals for the Week

We didn't go grocery shopping this weekend, so I found a breakfast and lunch recipe close to what produce we had leftover and tweaked them it a bit and dinner is an easy stand-by with a grain. New foods of the week are pineapple, which will be incorporated through juicing, and coconut milk.

Breakfast: Sweet Potato & Oatmeal Pancakes

I scoured the internet (well did a quick 5 minute search) and couldn't find a pancake mix that incorporated the ingredients I wanted and didn't include ingredients that MJ isn't eating (milk, eggs, wheat, excessive sugar), so I fudged my own recipe and it didn't turn out too bad. I'll include notes on adjustments I plan to make next time around though.

Ingredients:
1 baked sweet potato
1 cup of oat flour (Easily made by throwing some oats into the food processor)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tbsp brown sugar
Coconut milk added as needed

I mixed all the ingredients to a pancake mix consistency.

Added a very small amount of coconut oil to the skillet and cooked pancakes on low

Added raisins to a couple for fun.

Finished product ready to be frozen.

First Samples: Mine with water, MJ's with coconut milk

This recipe yielded about 8 small pancakes, although MJ and I each had one so now there are enough to last til Saturday. He wasn't a big fan of the raisins so I'm glad I only put them in a couple. I will most likely top with pureed blueberry or applesauce.

Note: Next time I plan on adding more liquid to thin the mixture because oat flour is pretty dense and the first couple pancakes I had trouble gauging when the insides were done because the outsides browned pretty quickly even on low, but the insides were not thoroughly cooked. I also had no other  sweetener aside from honey, which isn't safe for babies, but next time I would probably prefer to use maple syrup--yum!

Lunch: Brussels Sprouts and Portobello Mushroom Soup
adapted from this recipe

Replacements: Portobello Mushroom instead of Shiitakes
Cannellini beans instead of Great Northern

Chopped Brussels Sprouts, Portobello Mushrooms, Onion, Garlic

Sauteed in olive oil

Added rice, vegetable broth, water, spices

Simmered for 40 min

Done when rice has cooked

Added beans

Done.

After being food processed--ready to eat.

 Pop it in the food processor for easier eating for the toothless. MJ sampled it and liked it, so this seems like a good Brussels Sprouts recipe for him.

Dinner: Kale Chips and Barley

Look at this delicious kale....yum. Now chop off the stems.

Add a little olive oil & spices. Pop them in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Kale chips! So easy!!

 Realistically between MJ & my own snacking on these they won't last. So either I'll make more or go the healthy route and give him steamed kale once the chips are done.

Monday Cooking

After a week of 60-70 degree weather this weekend I froze my butt off going to the farmer's market and I didn't get my regular grocery store items until Sunday and thus made the week's meals Monday instead of Sunday.

New Foods Being Introduced this Week:

• Mon-Wed: Portobello Mushrooms
• Thu-Sat: Barley

Menu:

Breakfast: Pureed sweet potato

 Pureed baked sweet potato

 One batch for the fridge

One batch for the freezer

Lunch: Yellow Split Pea Soup w/ Carrots, Celery, Onions, Garlic & Parsley (Barley to be added Thur.)

 Added the ingredients to some vegetable broth, water, spices

Stuck it in the crockpot for 8 hours...

After 8 hours cooking.

 Blend it up real quick

Done.

Dinner: Portobello Mushroom, Green Pepper, Cilantro, Red Onion

 Half about to go in the freezer

Half about to go into the food processor

Sunday Cooking

Usually Sunday is when I prepare meals for the week for MJ. There are some things that I make on the fly (like bananas, avocado, etc.) but most other meals I store in the fridge/freezer for the week.

Today I cooked while jamming to my "Burnin in the Kitchen" playlist and was finished cooking with only dishes left to do by the time the playlist ended. (So approximately an hour and 15 minutes worth of work---not bad right??).






Prep: Rinse all vegetables, slice Brussels Sprouts, slice zucchinis, rinse beans, rinse quinoa

Chopped zuchinni perfect for toothless chewing.

I don't cook zucchini ahead of time because it doesn't freeze well (in my opinion), but I chopped it for quick 2-3 minute steaming before the meal.

Cooking: Bake sweet potatoes, roast Brussels Sprouts, slow cook beans with low sodium vegetable broth and spices, cook quinoa in low sodium vegetable broth.

Sweet potatoes going into the oven.

Brussels Sprouts going in to roast.

Kidney beans starting to simmer

Red kidney beans & sweet potatoes

The chunks looked a little too big so I threw it in the food processor for a few seconds.

I adapted this recipe  Red Kidney Bean Chili with Sweet Potatoes
(I made necessary adaptations to fit MJ's dietary restrictions, but did use the suggested combination of spices which was DELICIOUS!)


Storing: Store each item separately to allow for additional meal combinations through the week. I left food for 2-3 days in the fridge and froze the rest for later in the week.

8 servings of Brussels Sprouts (2 in the fridge & 6 in the freezer)

Kidney Bean & Sweet Potato Chili (1 container in fridge & 2 in freezer)

Lunch & dinner for the week: 14+ meals (L-R quinoa, chopped zucchini, Brussels Sprouts, red kidney bean & sweet potato chili)

Surprise! I have enough Brussels Sprouts left over for me to eat or juice throughout the week AND 1 sweet potato was enough for the chili, so I had extra left over for finger food.

Leftover Uncooked Brussels Sprouts

Finger Food!

Cleaning: Not a lot of dishes huh?

Did he like it??

MJ waiting for his Chili & Brown Rice

All done! (and he demanded seconds)