Saturday 26 November 2011

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Well, it’s my baby’s 2nd birthday on Monday.   Not quite sure if I can still call him my “baby”.  At what point does the reference change from “baby” to “son, or child or kid”?  If it’s when they turn 2 I don’t think I’m ready. L

Here we all are a mere 12 months ago at Carter’s 1st. birthday party.  Oh how excited we were to think he had reached that magical age where we could put away the formula and bring on the cow’s milk!

It seems like just yesterday he was starting on solids and I was researching everything that he should and shouldn’t be eating at each point in time of his precious little existence.  As the baby vs. kid clock has been ticking over the past few months there have been very few baby food rules left to govern his menu.  There is one last criterion that I’m holding onto for dear life…full fat whole milk.  Once Monday arrives, my mission is complete…I’ve reached the summit of the baby food commandments.  He won’t even need to drink full fat whole milk anymore…say it ain’t so!
I suppose I’ll have to rely on all you fellow parents out there with wee ones just starting on your journeys to share stories, concerns and questions with me so I can live vicariously through all of you and hopefully help out some in the process.
All this reminiscing is triggering a walk down “the stages of solid food introduction” memory lane…
Baby, are you ready?
Baby’s 4 month mark is usually the time when they are ready to take on solids beginning with iron fortified rice baby cereal.  The Hospital for Sick Children’s book, “Better Baby Food”, written by Daina Kalnins, RD CNSD and Joanne Saab, RD suggests that baby’s digestive tract is mature enough to digest complex proteins, fats and carbs by 4 months.  This is the age when the majority of babies can sit if supported, and are physically able to swallow non-liquid foods.  Younger babies have an extrusion reflex so they aren’t able to swallow solids.
6 months + - Solid Food Apprentice
The 6 month mark is very exciting.  Baby is now ready for some new tastes and textures beyond baby cereal and is developing the ability to chew.  This is the time to introduce fruits, veggies and even some proteins as long as the consistency of the meals are a thin, smooth and liquidy puree.
Make sure to try one new food at a time and leave approx. 3 days in between the introduction of the next to watch out for any allergic reactions.

Some great first foods for your Solid Food Apprentice are, bananas, apples, pears, papayas, mangos, peaches, plums and blueberries.  As far as veggies go, begin with all root veggies including carrots, sweet potato, parsnips, rutabaga then go for butternut squash, zucchini, pumpkin, avocado, peas, green beans, broccoli and cauliflower.  Once your apprentice is accomplished with fruits and veggies you can begin adding a protein like chicken or beef to some veggie purees as long as they are minced very tiny and the puree you add them to is still very smooth and liquid.
Foods to avoid at this age include strawberries, raspberries, cow’s milk, egg whites, wheat, citrus, shell fish, pork and nuts due to potential allergic reactions.  It’s best to leave most of the introductions of these foods until 12 + months of age, except for strawberries and wheat which should be fine to try at 8 months, especially if there are no family history of allergic reactions to these foods.

8 Months + - Solid Food Intermediate
At 8 months baby is ready for a bit more texture in their food.  You can allow more of a thick cream consistency as they become more and more efficient at going through the chewing motions.

You can even add some herbs and spices to get baby used to some of the family favourites so that down the road when they truly join in and share in family meals they enjoy them just as much as you do.
Still stay away from salt…there is no need to add sodium to boost flavour when you can add spices such as cinnamon, cumin or coriander, or herbs like thyme, basil or oregano.

They are also able to experiment with picking up food with their fingers like small pieces of toast, crackers, dry cereal snacks (o’s) and teething biscuits.
Cheese and yogurt are great options for this stage.  Scrambled egg yolks and cheese were my son’s favourite, and still is although he can have the whole egg including the white now.

 12 Months + - Solid Food Professional
The 12 month mark is that magical age when there’s not much that baby can’t eat.  They can now have full fat cow’s milk in place of formula or breast milk.  I can still remember the cheerful celebration my husband and I had at the $ savings of switching from formula to cow’s milk! 

The earlier avoided foods can now be introduced such as egg white along with the yolk, and peanut butter on bread or crackers…but I would suggest adding a bit of jam with it so it’s not so sticky and dry making it tough for them to swallow.  If there are nut allergies in the family however, it is recommended to hold off longer.  In this case, you should check with your paediatrician just to be safe.
Baby is getting more and more dextrous and deft at using a spoon and picking up finger food at this stage making meal time a lot more messy for mom and dad, but a heck of a lot more fun for the little one.

At 12 months, baby is well on his/her way to becoming a participating member of the family at the dinner table.

My son got through all these stages with flying colours and now at 2 yrs. would rather have fruits and veggies over some of the more popular toddler fare.  It’s not uncommon to hear “eat some of your pizza and then you can have more carrots” at our dinner table.
Although I’ll miss all the food stages and milestones I suppose we still have many others to look forward to like school Christmas concerts, the first year he believes in Santa and the Easter Bunny,  lots of self-induced hugs and I love you’s and if he’s anything like his big brother Eric, highlight reel glove saves during the big game.  O.K. I feel a bit better now.

Happy Birthday Baby…Son…Child…Kid…Carter!

Friday 18 November 2011

I Care, I Cook

I tend to stock my car with 2 weeks worth of cd’s for my drives home from work.  I’m still drawn to cd’s rather than ipod’s, but to be honest, my Toyota Echo doesn’t have a plug in for an ipod…or power windows for that matter.  Anyway, tonight on my way home I was listening to Matthew Barber and got lost in some lyrics.  “If you want to know what love really means, it’s when the one you’re with goes and sews a patch in your jeans.”  “All the hugs and kisses in the world can’t compete when the one you’re with goes and sews a patch in your jeans.”

Doesn’t that just ooze warm feelings of being cared for??  If I ever sewed a patch on my husband’s or kid’s jeans they would wonder what happened to their wife and mother because I don’t sew.  So instead I cook.
There’s something warm-hearted about lingering in the kitchen preparing my family’s favourite meals to sit and share with them upon culmination.  Even throwing together something simple and easy is joy inducing because I know they will still appreciate it and ultimately feel cared for.  Maybe it’s just me, but I get immense happiness out of it.



Let’s get back on track to baby food specifics.  It’s always great to have some staple items in your pantry so you can make a quick meal for baby without having to run to the market.  Below is a list of some must haves to make your life and that little one you care for’s life a little easier.

·         Cow’s Milk – For babies 7 months + you can use cow’s milk to add to recipes to thin them out, or to make a nice versatile cheese sauce to add to veggie and pasta purees.

·         Yogurt – Great to have on hand for 7 months +.

·         Eggs – Cooked and scrambled egg yolk can be given to infants 7 months + but avoid the egg white until 12 months + due to potential allergic reactions.

·         Cheddar Cheese – Cheese is a great protein to add to the 7 months + veggie purees and scrambled egg yolks.

·         Mini Pasta – Mini pasta such as the tiny ABC’s or Orzo is a great staple grain to have on hand for baby.  You can cook the pasta following the package directions but don’t add salt to the water, then add the cooked pasta to various veggie purees with an easy tomato cheese sauce.  Stay tuned for detailed sauce recipes.

·         Rice – Just as pasta, rice is a fantastic grain to have on hand and can be used in a similar fashion.

·         Frozen Veggies – Frozen veggies such as peas, beans, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots are great to have on hand in a pinch to create cooked veggie purees or stews.  Most store bought frozen veggies are flash frozen at their peak of freshness which retains most of their nutrients.  Since they are originally frozen in their raw state, it is fine to take them out of the freezer, steam or cook them, puree them and re-freeze your batch of puree.  If they were cooked before freezing originally, which is rarely the case with store bought frozen vegetables, you cannot re-cook and then re-freeze them.

·         Frozen Berries – Blueberries for 6 months + and Strawberries for 8 months +.  Berries are perfect to cook over medium low heat in a sauce pan for about 10 minutes or until they are nice and juicy.  You can then let them cool and mash them and add to baby cereal or to some fresh mashed banana.  For 6 month old babies you may want to press the cooked, mashed blueberries through a strainer just to get rid of the tough skins.

·         Potatoes – Always great to have on hand for stews or cooked and pureed adding in some fresh spinach.

·         Canned Tuna in Oil – Cans of tuna are perfect to have on hand to mix with some tiny pasta and cheese sauce.  Tuna packed in oil is better for baby as it retains a lot of the healthy fats babies need for brain development.

·         Frozen Chicken – Cooked and crumbled chicken added into stews and veggie purees adds a protein punch that all babies require.

·         Veggie Broth – Homemade is great, but a store bought organic, low sodium variety works too.  Always good to have on hand for soups and stews.

·         Chicken Broth – Again homemade is great, but a store bought organic, low sodium variety is also o.k.

·         Iron Fortified Baby Cereals – Starting with rice cereal at 4 months + and then introducing barley, wheat and mixed baby cereal as baby grows is an essential part of baby’s feeding routine.

·         Flour – Always good to have on hand to thicken a nice cheese sauce or stew.

·         Unsalted Butter – Butter is a staple fat used to sauté chicken, add to sauces, to cook scrambled eggs, to add to veggie purees, etc. etc. etc.

With these basics on hand and a little imagination you can whip up some great meals for baby in no time.

Let’s all keep propagating those warm feelings of being cared for by sewing a patch on a loved one’s jeans, or for the darning impaired…cooking!

Saturday 12 November 2011

One Day at a Time

Let’s think for a moment about the thought of preparing your own baby food from scratch.  What things come to mind?  “I don’t have time”… “it’s way too complicated”… “how do I know if my baby will be getting all the proper nutrients?”  And so on.

Intimidation is the reality of taking the leap into preparing baby’s meals at home, but with a little research and taking a “one day at a time” approach, intimidation will cower to empowerment.
As all new moms and dads know, research is a huge component to the parenting gig.  Parenthood brings with it excessive amounts of the unknown so we try to read up on the subject, take advice from friends and family and analyze each tid bit in hopes of becoming the ultimate care giver. 

The research piece of the evolution from jarred baby food to home prepared almost takes care of itself if you switch your study from which jarred foods are the best, to that of the basics of making baby food at home.

Then if you take a “one day at a time” approach, you can resolve to make a puree or two to see how it goes without immediately committing to a personal title change of “Master Baby Chef” for the next 12 months or so.  If you take this kind of approach, there are no lofty aspirations to fail to achieve.

You may even be more comfortable doing a mix of both home prep and buying jarred foods at the beginning until you start to get into a happy culinary rhythm at home…which before long, I predict will happen.
You’re probably wondering why I would suggest buying jarred food if I’m a homemade food prep advocate.  I don’t want to convey that jarred food is the worst thing you can give to your baby and be a fear monger like those 6 o’clock news clip headlines, “How Christmas Tree Lights Can Turn into Mini Bombs.”  If doing a mix of jarred and homemade food to start with relieves some of the intimidation then at least the first step into a world of home prep has been made rather than avoided altogether.

There are endless amounts of information available on homemade baby food prep and some include painful, intricate steps that would make anyone think 5 times before attempting it themselves. 
As an example, I read an article on how to store frozen food cubes.  Once the cubes were transferred to a freezer bag the detailed instructions told me to insert a straw into the corner of the baggie and suck as much of the air out as possible and then seal it to keep the freshness in and excess air out.  When I translated that into my own routine, I just rolled the cubes over once in the bag to press the air out and then seal.  I’m sure the “suck out the air with a straw” method would allow for the ultimate in freshness, but I also think it would be the demise of many parent’s homemade baby food prep aspirations.

Never fear…here is a good basic veggie puree recipe.  Give it a try and see how it goes.
Ready…Set…Evolve…

Broccoli and Cauliflower Meets Carrots

Age – 6 months +

Ingredients

·         1 cup chopped carrots

·         2 cups chopped broccoli

·         2 cups chopped cauliflower

·         1 tbsp. unsalted butter

Baby Steps

·         Add carrots to a steamer over boiling water.  Cover and cook for 8 minutes.

·         Add broccoli and cauliflower to carrots, cover and continue to steam for another 10 minutes or until carrots are tender.

·         Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes

·         Transfer veggies to a blender, food processor or bowl if using a hand blender to puree.

·         Add 3 tbsps. or more of the liquid used to steam the veggies depending on how thin or thick you want the consistency to be.  Younger babies around 6-7 months old should have a nice thin smooth consistency, whereas older babies can handle a bit more texture.

·         Add the butter and puree until desired consistency is achieved.

·         Let cool and then transfer a few servings to a tightly sealed food storage container in the fridge to be used within 48 hrs. and the rest to freezing trays which will safely last in the freezer for up to 3 months.
As baby gets a bit older, this veggie combo is great to add to left over rice from a family meal for an instant lunch or dinner for baby.

Makes approx. 12 servings.  (1 serving = 2 tbsp.)

$ and cents – 1 head of broccoli + 1 head of cauliflower + 1 bunch of carrots costs about $6.00.  This would translate into more than 24 servings of this recipe.  Literally, pennies a serving and priceless in freshness and nutrients.

So what do you say?  Do you want to join me in my Baby Food Evolution by redirecting some of your parenthood research to the basics of baby food prep, and taking it one day at a time withholding any lofty aspirations?  Let’s do it!

Saturday 5 November 2011

Do What You Love to Do

Forgive me for my tardiness in blogging this week.  I was engaged in a 3 day “Win Back the Customer Sales Summit” at my real job.  It involved the coming together of our sales field reps and internal corporate teams to share thoughts and ideas to come up with a strategy to do what the summit title suggests.

Our coordinator had to take an emergency leave a week prior to this summit which left the coordination of the event details added to my proverbial plate.
It’s all the little details that seem meaningless to outsiders in their preparation that have the most disastrous effect if they aren’t taken care of.  I fret more over the coordination details than the sum of all the other parts which include, but by no means are limited to, my own presentation on consumer insights, supporting each colleague with sales and marketing data for their own presentations and supporting my boss, VP of Sales and Marketing, with anything and everything.
I was an event coordinator in the past so I know what happens when the gluten free bread doesn’t arrive with lunch, or breakfast isn’t included with the hotel bookings, or evening meal destinations aren’t preferred by all…hell breaks loose.

So given all of this, needless to say as I’m sitting in the boardroom waiting for my turn to present, the next person’s turn to make sure I’ve queued up their slides properly, and the arrival of the special order non-dairy sandwich with lunch, my stress level rises to the ultimate degree and remains there for the balance of the summit.
Our Thursday evening event was to take part in a cooking class at the Calphalon Centre in Toronto and then enjoy the personally prepared feast with our team.  When I walked into the professionally stocked kitchen and took in the view I could literally feel the stress drain from my body.  How cool is this?!?  In the midst of all the chaos of the summit, I was able to do something I love…cook!  Even though I cook a lot and think I’ve got my own methods down, to have a professional chef demonstrate their techniques was an incredible learning experience and not to mention a whole lot of fun.  I would recommend it to anyone…from those who love to cook, to those who love new experiences but don’t cook more than once in a blue moon.

That evening made the next and last day of the summit a breeze…it’s amazing how incorporating something you love into your day can make the not so great things a lot more bearable.
The dramatic drop in my stress level after stepping into that kitchen was the reassurance I needed that I’m on the right path for me…to cook and share recipes.  I want to do what I love to do.   

I try not to let a blog go by without sharing a baby food recipe so let’s talk plums and pears…a perfect combination.

Try to choose plums that are nice and ripe.  Avoid those that are hard with little colour, or very soft and bruised and spotted.  Ripe plums are fragrant and well coloured and relax to light finger pressure.
When choosing pears make sure they are smooth and firm but not too hard, and have no bruises.


Ready…Set…Evolve…

Plum Perfect Pear Puree

Age – 6 months +

Ingredients

-          5 plums

-          5 pears

Baby Steps

-          Peel, core and slice pears into 1cm. thick pieces.

-          Peel plums using the boiling water method if they are really ripe, or use a regular peeler if they are not so ripe.

-          To peel plums using the boiling water method, make an “x” shape cut with a knife on the bottom of the plum.  Place them in a bowl and pour boiling water over them and leave for 1 minute or so.  Take out of water with tongs and let stand for a few minutes.  If the plums were ripe you should be able to peel the skins off easily beginning with the flap that is exposed from the “x” you cut in the skin earlier.  If you’re still having trouble, don’t fret…just grab a regular peeler to finish the job.

-          Slice the plums into 1cm. thick pieces and discard the pit.

-          Add Pears alone to a large sauce pan with 1 tbsp. water.  Cover and cook over medium/low heat, stirring often for 10 mins.

-          Add the plums to the pears, cover and continue to cook for another 7 minutes.

-          Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes.

-          Transfer to a blender, food processor or bowl to use a hand blender to puree the fruit to a smooth consistency.

You can keep some in the fridge and transfer the rest to freezing trays.  The frozen puree will safely last up to 3 months and the refrigerated puree approx. 48 hrs.

Makes approx. 14 servings (1 serving is 2 tbsp.)

Maybe next year I’ll be coordinating a “Win Back the Homemade Baby Food Preparation Summit” rather than the customer sales one that I just did.