Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Turkey with Sweet Potato

This is a perfect recipe to utilize some of your Holiday leftovers, but of course is a great meal for you little one at any time of the year.  You can also swap out the Turkey for Chicken if you have some leftover chicken.
 
What you need:
 - Basic Sweet Potato Puree
 - Turkey
 
What to do:
 - Break Turkey into small pieces
 - Combine with Sweet Potato Puree (or baked/steamed sweet potato)
 - Puree to the desired consistency
 
**Mommy Tip**
If you have an older baby who is starting to chew and beginning to eat things that have some consistency, shred or cube the Turkey instead of pureeing together. 

Pumpkin and Cranberry

This is a really good combo.  For Thanksgiving I even decided to make a pumpkin pie with whole cranberries in it and it was a hit and has already been requested for Christmas.  Once again, this is a great opportunity to let the Baby have a similar (more healthy version) of your holiday treats.

What you need:
 - Basic Pumpkin Puree 
 - Basic Cranberry Puree, as an alternative use the Cranberry Sauce with apples


What to do:
 - Combine (at a two to one ratio) the pumpkin puree and the Cranberry puree.
 - Mix to combine, or blend if necessary to get the desired consistency.

Split Pea Soup:

When you think of split pea soup you may think of the saltyness from the ham bone that you may include to the pot when cooking, but here is a more healthy version that is perfect for your little one.
 
What you need:
 - Split Peas
 - Water (chicken or veggie stock if desired)
 - Carrots
 - Onions, as desired
 - Cerlery, as desired (they can become stringy so you may want to leave them out)
 - Garlic, as desired
 
What to do:
 - Add the Carrots, onion, celery and garlic (as desired) to a medium sauce pan with water.
 - Once the water comes to a boil add the split peas.
 - Let it cook until everything is tender (about an hour and a half for the full bag of split peas)
 - Puree to the desired consistency for your little one
 
*Your cooking time and quantity of liquid will vary based on how much of the split peas you have decided to use.
 

Friday, December 3, 2010

Sweet Potato and Cranberry:

This is a great recipe for the holidays, especially if mashed sweet potato's will be served as part of your holiday meal. If you will not be serving sweet potato, chunk up a sweet potato and steam until soft and mash or puree the sweet potato.
 
What you need:
 - One baked (or steamed) Sweet Potato
 - Cranberry Puree or Cranberry Sauce with Apples
 
What to do:
 - Puree your baked (or steamed) Sweet Potato to the desired consistency for your baby
 - Add one scoop of the Cranberry Puree or Cranberry Sauce with Apples
 - Mix to combine

Cranberry Sauce with Apples

 
This recipe will be very similar to the basic cranberry puree with one simple addition....Apples.
 
What you need:
 - A 1 lb bag of Fresh Cranberries
 - 1 cup of fruit juice (you can use just about any kind - grape, cranberry, pomegranate, apple, apple cider) or water
 - 1 Apple (you can dice or chunk based on the consistency that you want to achieve)
 
What to do:
 - Rinse Cranberries and add to a medium saucepan
 - Add the 1 cup of the Juice of your choice (you can replace the juice with water, but I like the juice for added flavor)
 - Once the cranberries have begun to pop add the apple (For younger babies I say dice so that they cook down quickly to a consistency that will puree well, for older babies/toddlers leave the apples in chunks so that they will still have some texture to them once the cooking process is complete).
 - Cook until the berries and apples are soft and then puree to the desired consistency