Corn & Oranges for Dinner

No matter how old we are, mom’s take care of us.  Whether of baby, toddler or full grown adult age they want to make sure we don’t endure any unnecessary hardships or inconveniences.

I car pool with a friend to work and we have an intricate set of kid, toddler and dog drop offs to carry out between the two of us to make sure everyone gets where they need to be on a daily basis.  A number of those drop offs and pick-ups are at our own parent’s houses. They have taken on the HUGE role of helping out a couple of days a week by taking care of their grandkids so their own kids can carry on with their (our) busy day to day lives with a little less to worry about.  Looking after a baby is one thing but as the little angels enter into toddlerhood and big kid status, grandma is run ragged but she always greets us at the door with a smile (probably because the hellions are going home now) and never a complaint.

This past Friday we picked my friend’s son up from Grandma’s and before he would leave he had to scope out the premises for anything he could bring home with him.  He scored an orange and 2 pieces of corn on the cob that Grandma had thoughtfully cooked up that day.  Now he was ready to go.

Instant entertainment was achieved making the rest of our long journey home seem miniscule as he chanted, “I’M HAVING CORN AND ORANGES FOR DINNER!!”  “I’M HAVING CORN AND ORANGES FOR DINNER?!”  Somehow without even realizing it, Grandma had taken care of everyone.

There’s something so simple but so good about corn on the cob.  As soon as Carter could pick one up by himself he would devour it leaving a bare cob with not one stray niblet to be found.

Of course all this talk of corn and oranges for dinner inspired this week’s baby food recipe.  Even as delightful (strange) as corn and oranges sounds as a flavour combo, I’m afraid I’ll have to leave the oranges out of this recipe.  Babies really shouldn’t have any citrus fruits until they are over a year old. The acidity in oranges is difficult for babies to handle which can translate into severe diaper rashes.  Read more about this at Momtastic’s Wholesome Baby Food website.

Corn is packed with folic acid, potassium and thiamine and has a tender, milky sweet flavour.  I wonder if babies like sweet and milky flavoured things…hmm?

Ready…Set…Evolve…

Sweet Corn and Peas Mash

Age – 8 months +

Ingredients

·         1 small corn on the cob

·         1 sweet potato

·         ½ cup frozen green peas

·         1 tbsp. butter

·         ¼ cup of milk

Baby Steps

1.      Remove husk from a small corn on the cob and place corn in pot of boiling water.  Cover and cook over high heat until tender, approx. 15 minutes.

2.      Remove from heat and carefully take corn out of boiling water with tongs and set aside.

3.      Peel and chop sweet potato into small chunks and add to a steamer set over boiling water and cook for approx. 15 minutes until tender.

4.      Add frozen peas to the sweet potato in steamer for the last 5 minutes of cooking time.

5.      Remove from heat and put cooked sweet potato and peas into a blender, food processor or large bowl if planning on using a hand blender to puree.

6.      Slice the cooked corn off the cob and add the corn niblets to the potato and peas along with the butter and milk.

7.      Mash or puree to desired consistency.  If you want a thinner consistency you can add a couple of tbsps. of the cooking water to the veggies and then puree.

8.      Add puree to freezing trays to keep in the freezer to use within 3 months, or to a food storage container in the fridge to be used within 48 hours.

Note:  If you’re having corn on the cob for a family meal one evening, cook one extra cob and keep to make this recipe for baby the next day…or if you’ve eaten your Wheaties that day and are really ambitious, whip it together later on.

Makes – Approx. 8 servings (1 serving = 2 tbsps.)

Happy early Mother’s Day to all those wonderful mothers and grandmothers out there who take care of us each and every day and let us have corn and oranges for dinner from time to time if that’s what we’re in to.