We made it
through another Halloween with the kids keeping emotions of elation and terror
in balance.
The
Trick-or-Treat tradition of politely asking (begging) door to door for candy
has been customary since at least the early 1950’s in North America, so says
Wikipedia. In Scotland, “Guising” or knocking on doors
for food on Halloween dates back to 1895.
There, the little well intentioned charlatans would carry lanterns made of
hollowed out turnips and be compensated for their efforts at each door with
cakes, apples, nuts and money. Imagine
what a kid would think of receiving cake, apples or nuts in place of CANDY
today? It may be something reminiscent of
the thanks Mr. Cunningham of T.V.’s “Happy Days” received after giving out an
apple at his door on Halloween. “You broke my cookie you big ox!”
No matter
how you candy coat it, even if it’s with a candy coating, an apple is an apple
on Halloween and it just doesn’t cut it with our kid’s one track candy minds at
this momentous time of year.
It’s a good
thing they can’t eat Halloween candy for dinner or my meal preparation efforts would
be threatened at this time of year along with my dignity after dressing up for
the office Halloween party.
Today I’m
making Baby’s First Spaghetti! It’s
exciting when you can start making baby food that somewhat resembles the adult
versions in taste and texture. Baby is
growing up! Try this one at 8 months as
there is a bit of added texture with the ground beef and spaghetti that may be
a bit too much for a smaller baby to handle.
Ready…Set…Evolve…
Baby’s First Spaghetti & Meat
Sauce
Age – 8 months +
·
½
lb. of lean ground beef
·
5
plum tomatoes
·
1
small zucchini chopped
·
½
cup of chopped onion
·
1
clove of garlic minced
·
½
cup chopped green pepper
·
½
tsp. dried basil
·
½
cup of low sodium chicken, beef or veggie broth
·
½
cup of low sodium tomato sauce
·
225g.
of spaghetti pasta (about ¼ of an average 900g. package)
Baby Steps
1. Peel and seed tomatoes using the boiling water method, chop and set
aside.
2. Brown ground beef in large sauté pan over
medium/high heat until cooked, approx. 10 minutes. Crumble and set aside in bowl.
3. While beef is cooking chop onion,
zucchini, garlic and green pepper.
4. Add butter to empty sauté pan used to
cook beef and allow to melt, then add onions, garlic, green pepper and zucchini
to pan.
5. Cook veggies over medium heat until
they begin to soften, approx. 6 minutes.
6. Add tomatoes and basil, stir and
continue to cook for another 5 minutes.
7. Add broth and tomato sauce, stir well
and bring to a boil over high heat, then turn down heat to a simmer, cover and
cook for ½ hour stirring occasionally.
8. While sauce is simmering, boil water
in pot to cook pasta according to package directions but leave out the salt.
9. Once sauce is done simmering transfer
to a blender, food processor or deep bowl to use hand held blender to puree to
a smooth sauce.
10. Add sauce back into sauté pan and add
in cooked beef. Stir well and heat to
warm.
11. Drain pasta from water and put into a
large bowl to cut into small pieces with a knife and fork. Add pasta to meat sauce and combine well then
remove from heat.
12. Let cool then transfer to freezing
trays to store in the freezer to use within 3 months along with some in a food
storage container in the fridge to use within 48 hours.
Makes – 20 Servings (1 serving = 2
tbsps.)
Note:
Since this recipe makes a lot of spaghetti you may want to keep more in
the fridge for older siblings or even set some aside for your own lunch and
just add a bit of salt and pepper and even some dried chilli pepper if you like
a kick of heat.
