Author: @foodiegoogoo

Raw Zucchini Pasta

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Anyone familiar with the RAW movement?  These are people who believe that food is really only nutritious when it isn’t cooked.   Raw is just one of those things that involves a heavy duty commitment and because I can’t commit to watering my plants, I doubt it is for me.   Me, in my 1950’s style ignorance-is-bliss attitude towards food is starting to hear the whispers from the Raw people and not every whisper is totally nonsense.  Some of it is actually good common sense. Yikes. What I am mostly reacting to is a note I saw about how 51% of any diet should be raw. Anyone see that too? And here is the Uh-Oh moment I had- my little chalice of snuggles and giggles hardly ever eats raw food.  I mean she gets the grapes and cucumber finger foods like anyone else but that is pretty much it.  Most things I feed her are cooked, steamed and baked.  Perhaps I need to take it down a notch. So I went hunting for some raw …

Meaty Intro: Veal Cutlet Stew

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If your family eats meat, it won’t be long before your child should do the same.   And for whatever reason, I found introducing meat a bit of  a tricky one.  First of all, it just feels like it would be tough to chew.  I mean, am I the only adult that has trouble with meat sometimes? Secondly, I think we can all agree that there is literally nothing more disgusting than pureed beef.  Try the ‘baby food’ beef in the little pots- grey, flavorless and just YUCK. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t need a crystal ball to tell you that there will be months where the blender will be your new bestie and the beef is it’s number one victim. It will happen but it shouldn’t happen for long.  You, my friend, have options.  As soon as you stop pureeing EVERYTHING, as soon as you start to introduce more solid textures like rice and you can offer food that were merely mashed using back of a spoon, as soon as all that starts to happen, …

Baby Salmon Teriyaki

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Posting this recipe, I have to remind myself to be brave.  Jeff Tweedy, Wilco front man once said at a concert that I attended, that he has become more and more insightful talking to the ‘ibis’.  In this case, he was talking about the audience of darkness.  He knew we were all out there but he couldn’t see us. It helped him work through a few things I guess.  Blogging can be much the same. I am worried that ‘you’ my dark audience aren’t going to like this recipe. Certainly, I am delivering on delicious and nutritious.  However, there are a few points to this recipe that may be a pain point for some.  Specifically, Baby Teriyaki involves soya sauce and a little brown sugar. Silence. I am/am not afraid of brown sugar.  I am sure that one of these days I’ll do the proper research to know the types of sugar that are best to use for household health.  I’m not totally convinced by brown sugar but I am still too afraid to use honey …

Know Your Tomatoes: Perfect Low Acid Sauce

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I was going to start this post with some affirmation like ‘I love tomato sauce’ but that is basically redundant. Who doesn’t like tomato sauce?  Practically every culture under the sun has found a way to take tomatoes and make a delicious and velvety sauce.  When weaning our little ones, one can almost be sure that tomato sauce is the perfect vehicle to get us from liquid to solid.  Start with just the tomato sauce and slowly add rice, peas, macaroni…you get the idea.  I’ve heard of mothers ‘hiding’ other vegetables inside a tomato sauce.  News flash: your kids know there are vegetables in there but the trade off is worth it because everyone loves tomato sauce. Sadly there is always a catch.  In this case the catch is citric acid and salt.  Habnabit! What are those things doing in an unsuspecting can of tomatoes? Well, it turns out that tomatoes are already a high acid food but they don’t can that well without the addition of MORE acid. Once the tomato canneries ADD acid, well, …

Tilapia- Fishing for Victory

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This is just one of those things. I use Tilapia for this recipe because I can’t resist a sustainable and cost efficient fish.  That being said, any white fish will do. Think of this as a deconstructed fish finger with a few nibbletts mixed in for good measure. Ready in no more than 15 minutes (prep included), you are probably going to thank me for this recipe on a weekly basis. Oh yes, it is that good. Ingredients: 2 x 225g Tilapia fillet, skinned and cut into large chunks 1/2 cup matzoh meal or breadcrumbs 1/4 cup butter, salted.  If your child is under 1 year, unsalted works just as well but isn’t quite as zippy. 1 cup frozen corn kernels 1/2 cup frozen peas Preparation: Take a large skillet and warm to a medium heat. Add the butter and once melted add the matzoh meal or breadcrumbs to brown. This take no more than a minute. Add the Tilapia, corn and peas all at once. Stir continuously, breaking the fish down to appropriate size …

Baby Weaning Basics: An Introduction

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You are probably a sophisticated eater. Doubtful? Let’s take this mini-quiz I just made up on the spot. It’s based on what I see most of my friends have in their pantry. You can mark yourself according to how many you have but let’s just say that if you have any of these ingredients or if even know what they are, you are probably falling in the sophisticated territory.  Do you have: Dried spices Chilies: fresh, frozen or pastie Hot sauce Any vinegar that isn’t white (red wine, white wine, balsamic) Any grain that isn’t rice (quinoa, bulgar, couscous) See where I am going with this? I bet it was pretty hard to scale back when it came time to weaning your baby and family cooking?  In our house, the idea that spice was not going to be front and center was something we all mourned for awhile.  I love things hot and so does my husband.  It has certainly been an adjustment.  I prefer to think of this change as an adjustment.  Taking spice out …

Simple, Clean and Fast Chicken Broth

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Obviously we can’t serve our little ones chicken soup from the can, from the cube or from the carton. Obviously. How did our pantries stoop to such low levels that we can’t use…soup. (see what I did there).  Salt, a natural preservative is the culprit here and frankly, very few people are healthy enough to endure the amount of salt and sodium found in a can of condensed soup.  Not my dad with high blood pressure.  Not my anemic sister and certainly not my little munchkin. That being said, I’m really not the type to sit around skimming junk off the top of a boiling cauldron of chickens that are meeting a rubbery end.  Ironically I always find this method, the old fashioned way of boiling fresh chicken to the ends of the earth and back, well, tasteless.  What a conundrum. My solution is to boil chicken that has already been roasted and enjoyed.  I boil the bones and the results are delish.  It is a much faster system and while it may not yield …

Sanity is my #1 rule

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I’ve been feeding my tiny, itsy bitsy daughter solids since she was 4 months old. The doctor looked at my daughter who may have been around 6 pounds at that point ( she was born 3 lbs 14 oz) and cheerfully said ‘time for solids!’.  Did he see what I saw?  Did he see what the world saw?!  I mean, my daughter could technically still fit in my stomach and I was going to start to feed her solids?  Simply put, I was skeptical.  Perhaps this was the end game to happiness, weight gain and sleeping the night? I should learn that things are not that easy and that introducing solids at whatever age is tricky but I had to hit a wall before I could appreciate this new found wisdom.   I had to cook and cook and cook and read and read and read before I set up some ground rules for my beloved, darling, fusspot of a daughter.  So friends, here they are: Rule #1- Sanity comes first.  This means that everyone in …

Kedgeree

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Kedgeree offers fish, rice and egg in a delicious and effortless way.  It can be served for any meal of the day and always will deliver on flavor, nutrition and satisfaction. You may never have experienced the wonders of ‘adult’ kedgeree. If you have, kedgeree may seem a little exotic for little palates.  This version is modified and perfect for even the littlest eater at the table. Ingredients: 1/2 cup Basmati rice, cooked 2 eggs, hard boiled and chopped 1 tbs olive oil 1 tbs butter 1 tsp curry powder (optional) 1 medium onion, chopped 1/2 pound fish: traditionally this recipe calls for an undyed smoked fish but I would suggest that any fish will do.  If you do want to use smoked fish, become acquainted with the ingredients as there may be unwanted preservatives involved. Juice of 1/4 fresh lemon 2 tbs fresh coriander, chopped 2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped Greek yoghurt to serve Preparation: Heat a deep skillet at medium heat.  Add the butter, olive oil and curry powder if using. Once the butter …

French Toast- Goo Goo Style

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French toast is a smart food because it offers the trio of family health: fats, carbs and protein. To get the early morning smiles I crave, I mix in banana, orange juice and a touch of cream.  I have yet to see any baby, child or adult turn these delicious morsels down. Ingredients: 2 Eggs, Beaten 1/4 cup, Orange Juice 2 tbs half and half cream 1/2 tbs all purpose flour 1 mashed ripe banana 1 tbs (or less or none at all ) brown sugar 1/4 tsp cinnamon 1-2 tbs butter 2-3 Slices Whole Wheat Bread Preparation: Step 1-Whip the eggs until they begin to froth. Add the flour, orange juice, cream, mashed banana, brown sugar and cinnamon and mix well. If you find the flour became a little clumpy, mix the batter harder or just go with the flow.  It doesn’t need to be a very smooth batter to taste great in the end. Step 2-De-crust the bread and slice into small squares.   I find a matrix of 3×2 or 6 squares in total to …