beets really aren't that bad

I put so much effort into feeding B. a healthy, balanced diet that I've really felt the need to step it up myself, get healthy and set a better example. Which fits in with this great Mark Bittman article about making family meals a priority. To boil it down, don't say you're too busy to cook and then settle in to watch an hour of TV says Bittman. (Busted!) Just make the time. Which brings us to these beets. I've been meaning to experiment with more veggies, including some golden yellow beets I found at the farmer's market. I roasted them up to make a nice grown-up salad and, bonus, B. was perfectly happy to eat chopped up beets (which is way more adventurous than I was at his age, or even six months ago!).

Roasted Beets with Orange Vinaigrette and Goats Cheese
6 beets with stems cut off but skin on
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 ounces fresh goat cheese
1/2 orange
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the beets (skin on) in a baking dish, drizzle with two tablespoons of olive oil and cover well with aluminum foil. Roast for about 40 minutes or until the beets are tender. Once the beets have cooled, the skin peels off easily. Cut the beets into chunky slices and arrange on a serving platter. Zest and juice the orange and whisk together with the leftover tablespoon of olive oil. Drizzle the beets with the orange vinaigrette. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with crumbled goats cheese.

*This is a modified recipe from New Flavors for Vegetables

1st best pasta sauce

This comes from "Cooking for Baby." There's probably tons of other great, healthful pasta sauces I just like how easy this one is.

Roasted Red Pepper & Goat Cheese Puree

1 large red pepper
1 1/2 ozs goat cheese

You can either buy the roasted red pepper in a jar or make your own. I toast the red pepper in my toaster oven for 20 minutes. While it's still hot, put the pepper in a baggie and seal which helps steam off the skin. Once it's cool enough to handle, peel off all the skin and remove the seeds and stem. Puree the red pepper and goat cheese until smooth and creamy. Add about 1 spoonful of red pepper cheese mix for each bowl of pasta. So good!

2nd best pasta sauce

This recipe is a little more effort but so yummy plus healthier than mac and cheese every night. I don't remember where I found this, it's actually a zucchini spread that's meant to go on crostini but I tossed it with noodles and Ben ate it up.

Zucchini Puree

1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 small onion chopped
4 zucchini chopped (with the tops and bottoms removed)
4 cloves of garlic
12 basil leaves chopped
parmesan to taste
salt & pepper to taste

Saute the onions in the olive oil on low heat until soft and translucent. Add the zucchini, garlic and basil. Cook over medium heat until the zucchini is well cooked and squishy. Puree the zucchini mix. It works out to about a heaping spoonful of zucchini mix to one bowl of warm noodles. Then top with salt & pepper and parmesan. Stir well. Then you can freeze the rest of the mix in individual baggies so it's easy to reheat a little bit at a time.

positive thinking

Having watched Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution last night (so good and so surprising that it's exec produced by Ryan Seacrest?!) I decided that I should be a little more positive about Ben's diet since at least he doesn't mind eating some vegetables and hasn't eaten a nugget yet (seriously gross when you see how they're made). He's been doing sweet potato puree since he could eat solids but a couple of months ago, once he started gumming solids, I roasted chopped sweet potatoes with regular potatoes and carrots and he can't get enough. Plus now that he can pick up little pieces (that start around 9 months) he loves to feed it to himself.

Roast Root Vegetables
1 peeled sweet potato, chopped into bite size pieces
3 carrots, chopped into bite size pieces
3 small red potatoes, chopped into bite size pieces
About 2 tablespoons olive oil
Fresh rosemary or thyme if you have it

Preheat oven to 400 degree. Peel and chop all the vegetables. Put on a baking sheet or baking dish and toss with olive oil and pinch of herbs if you've got them (totally not necessary). Roast in the oven for about 20 minutes until the veggies are soft.

*I'm totally on board with everything Jamie does but I wonder if other people thought the show was preachy?

peas. really? really?!

Nanny just texted me: "does ben always eat a TON of peas?" I don't get it. I couldn't get him to eat his peas the night before but now he's gobbling them up? She tells me the same thing about the Dr. Pragers veggie burgers. For her, he apparently eats the whole thing but I can't get him to have more than a bite or two. Is she just a more convincing veggie pusher?? Is she making this stuff up to make me happy?? Or do vegetables just taste better at lunchtime? It's a mystery to me.

so much for keen-wa

I'd heard so many good things about quinoa (pronounced keen-wa I recently learned) that I figured it was a sure thing. It's a grain, it's a green leafy vegetable, it's high in protein -- fricking steak, spinach and whole wheat goodness all rolled into one little nutty brown bead. So I steamed some quinoa up couscous-style with vegetable stock and added a mess of sauteed veggies (1 diced red pepper, 1 diced zucchini, 1 bunch diced asparagus, 1/2 diced onion and 4 cloves diced garlic). The reaction was instant, he spit it right out. Wah-wah. But I thought it was delicious (and way tastier than brown rice if you're looking for a substitute). Oh well, tomorrow I try again but this time I'm gonna coat it with tomato sauce and see if that makes a difference...