what to expect?

It occurs to me that as I'm trying to find new and interesting (and nutritious) things to feed B., my own diet is pretty boring. I have my favorites and pretty much eat the same thing every day. Plus I hate lunch. Give me a nice big breakfast, a snack and then dinner and I'm way happier than having to eat something at noon (sandwiches are boring and anything cooked just puts me to sleep). So maybe I'm being unrealistic expecting him to eat new stuff all the time. Like, have I ever eaten green beans for lunch? Maybe once? (Funny thing is, now that I'm trying to convince B. to eat all this new stuff, I end up finishing a lot of it. And that veggie frittata was delicious.) The answer is yes, I probably am expecting too much. Then again, what else are kids for if not to be burdened with massive parental expectations to live up to everything we're not? I could eat pizza every night for dinner but B.'s gonna be different! Yeah, I'll let you know how that works out...

new foods this weekend

Waffles (at the Omelette Parlor on Main St.) were a massive success. Not surprising given how much he likes pancakes and French toast. Mashed pinto beans with cheese? Not unless they were hidden in mashed avocado--all we were missing was the tortilla wrap for a burrito :) Frittata with zucchini = 4 bites. But not a big fan. Pot roast, no, but filet, yes. Tilapia is for dinner tonight. We'll see what happens.

roasting veggies

Technically I'm supposed to be writing out thank you cards for B.'s birthday but instead I'm chopping parsnips, yams and purple potatoes to make roast veggie medley (and blogging about, natch). I added a tiny bit of salt because it seems unnatural to me to cook without seasoning, plus it seems like it'll bring out the flavors more (though I know you're not supposed to). I'll have to poll my mommy friends to find the consensus on seasoning. As for condiments, B. pulled the ketchup out of the fridge yesterday and was trying to lick the cap open. Boy likes his tomato sauce.

fruity goodness

Found this fruit puree at Starbucks yesterday. If I had the time I'd steal the fruit combo ideas and make myself but as that's never gonna happen I'm just as happy to buy these Peter Rabbit Organic pouches and feed to B. 100 % fruit with nothing extra according to ingredients list. And he gobbled up like I snarf warm chocolate chip cookies!

cake 'n' stuff

I'm not sure I'd describe it as the best birthday cake ever (the term I used to search for a recipe on Google) but it's a tasty cake that didn't droop in the middle and was made from organic ingredients with no yellow dye #17 in sight. Could have been a little fluffier but maybe I overmixed? I had some leftover batter and make 2 cupcakes which cooked faster and so were actually moister than the cake itself. Which should work out perfectly for the 3 dozen cupcakes I'm planning to make tonight for Birthday No. 2 at the beach.
Thanks to SmittenKitchen for the recipe...

Birthday Cake
4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, well-shaken

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans and line with circles of parchment paper, then butter parchment. (I used 8-inch pans and just kept a little batter out.)

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.

Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles. Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes (maybe the pan size but mine took a good 45 minutes to cook). Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely, about 1 hour.

birthday cake = success

B. ate the entire piece, frosting and all. Will post details tomorrow.

thanks but no thanks fussiness

Things B. has spit out this week: a black olive, grilled chicken, asparagus, cantaloupe and red beans. Not a fabulous food week. But he did have his first glass of milk today.
And the big B-day is tomorrow so I'll log on after making this yellow layer birthday cake to post my review. Fingers crossed.
Hmmm, just occurred to me. Cake and milk. No wonder he wanted to sample the white stuff today...talk about good timing.

it's not just me

I gotta step up my game. According to this NY Times article, people are snapping their every meal to post online. (One woman's been photographing her food since 1997!) Except it'll have to wait until tomorrow night since I didn't read about this parallel obsession until after B. had dinner. Chicken and green beans tossed with tomatoes. Only two beans made it down but maybe he'll eat more once they're chilled. Here's hoping.

trying new things

Big weekend for little B. He had scrambled eggs with melted cheese. Two bites of tuna salad sandwich. And instead of our regular pancake breakfast he tried French toast this morning. Okay, I admit it was easier to make and less messy but since I made it with whole wheat bread and a little applesauce I felt like it was just as nutritious if not more.
And for C. who said why not cook on weekends and freeze food, I would now like to say it's just about impossible to run after an 11-month-old and make soup or meatballs at the same time. I started making a cream of broccoli soup at 1 p.m. this afternoon and planned to finish up during naptime but he never took a siesta so I just finished pureeing and washing dishes at 7:30 tonight. Bleh.

French Toast
2 pieces whole wheat bread
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon apple sauce
pinch cinnamon

Preheat a Teflon pan on medium heat. Cut both pieces of bread into 4 strips. (For some reason a friend of mine calls this French Toast soldiers?) Whisk the egg, milk, apple sauce and cinnamon in a deep bowl. Dip each strip of bread in the mix so both sides are coated. Fry about 2 minutes on each side or until toasty brown.

birthday cake dilemma...

I'm researching baby's first birthday cake--hello, photo op!--and am running into a sugar problem. I thought we were holding off on cake because of the chocolate frosting but the only problem seems to be feeding kids refined sugar. Not to downplay if anyone is anti-sugar but...really? As long as its homemade I think I'm ahead of the game. Not like this suggestion I found on Baby Center:

since someone mentioned being concerned with heavy icing & tummy aches here's a simple solution. Mix 1 tub of cool whip with 1 small package of instant pudding...

RFLOL. Right, because Cool Whip and pudding mix are part of the healthy food pyramid. Oh I'm being a beeyotch but this just has me rolling.
Anyway, my mission now is to find the best cake recipe I can for B.'s first.