it's been a long week...

Most of SATC2 sucked but there was one moment when Charlotte freaked out and locked herself in the pantry to get away from the kids. I watched the movie on a flight from L.A. to NYC and teared up while watching her meltdown - thanks god no one was paying any attention to my blubbering over such a crap movie with this one redeeming motherhood moment. Anyway, I had that moment today. Only instead of locking myself away I started hacking at a 3-pound Valrhona chocolate slab we have in the baking cupboard, (which was inevitable since we don't have any other kind of dessert in the house right now and we're out of liquor and/or wine).
Part of the frustration is I made some healthy-ish oatmeal cookies with B. earlier today (recipe below). He loves oatmeal so the idea behind this was to make a portable snack, sort of like a homemade granola bar, that he could enjoy. And he was totally into helping me add and stir ingredients. Only he refused to try the cookies once they were baked. So take that all you parenting books and blogs that say kids will try anything they've had a hand in making. Not true!
And then dinner (chicken sausages, pizza bread, which is basically homemade focaccia, and roasted brussel sprouts) went totally unappreciated by all dudes in the house--sidebar: I wasn't expecting anyone but me to enjoy the brussel sprouts--until I literally threw a piece of sausage in B.'s mouth while he was yawning (he was otherwise gritting his teeth) and then he loved it and ate a bunch. Except instead of being grateful that he was finally eating and enjoying the sausage, all I could think was, "You little mother effer, I knew you'd like it. Why couldn't you just trust me and eat it in the first place." Like I said, it's been a long week. So after chomping down on a bunch of Valrhona, I hacked up some more chocolate and added the chunks to the leftover oatmeal cookie dough. Somehow seems like a fortuitous salvage of the neglected cookies and my Friday night.

eat yer veggies!

Week 2 of being at home (I have some notes saved from last week that I'll be posting soon) and it's been mostly snot and Baby Einstein DVDs. We're all sick and had to skip the art and music classes I signed up for last week. With that in mind I made a tomato sauce last night with a ton of hidden vegetables for extra nutrients. B.'s been really picky and since I want him to keep eating (and not throw a fit and get all blubbery) I've been a real pushover lately. Poor boy doesn't realize the tough love in store once he gets better. Anyway, I grated one carrot, one zucchini and one eggplant into a pan with garlic, one chopped roasted red pepper and a 16 oz box of Pomi tomatoes and then pureed with a hand blender once everything had melted together over medium heat and tossed with macaroni and ricotta. That's five vegetables at once. Mommy FTW!

finally, family dinner

Over the past couple of week's B.'s finally agreed to eat more that one food at a time, which means we can actually share meals! Before this everything had to be separated out into neat little piles. Peas in one corner. Plain chicken in another. It was like a baby bento box. Now I've got him eating quesedillas with me (spinach snuck in last night and zucchini and red pepper tonight) with some mashed avocado on the side. All that's missing is the salsa, which he tried and immediately rejected. But we'll work on that next.

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.

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.

hot meal? no thanks

So I may have figured out why B. would eat leftover peas for the nanny (and not me). Last night I roasted some salmon fillets and tried to get him to eat a little. He was having no part of it. I tried again tonight with the leftovers and he ate a sizeable chunk...cold. I think that might be the trick because the peas the nanny fed him were out of the fridge as opposed to the fresh-cooked ones I tried to feed him. So despite the fact that most kids seem to prefer warm food, B. likes it chilled. As for my claim that he loves roasted carrots--he proved me a liar tonight. Slight problem with consistency this kid!

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?

early bird special

We went to Boa this weekend and (gasp!) brought Ben since there was no one to babysit while we went out for surf and turf. First reservation was at 5:30 and they did have high chairs so... We actually managed to get through drinks, appetizers and dinner in about 50 minutes with just a few squawks before it felt like we were pushing it. Question is, if you go for dinner at 5:30, no matter how nice the place is, shouldn't you expect some kids? I used to hate people that brought their children to nice restaurants but unless you're dealing with some crazy Mario Battali reservation system (the only table for two @ Babbo still seems to be at 5:30 or 10:30) then you just shouldn't be eating that early. Right? Or have I just drunk the mommy Kool-Aid?

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...

weeknights, woe is me

I just cannot get home from work early enough to get organized. I tried making cod fillets in a breadcrumb garlic crust but was rushing around and not paying enough attention. I overcooked the fish to the point that it got rubbery. So dinner was roasted root veggies and yogurt. Ben seemed to have no problem with that but at some point (when he can talk?) the kid is gonna say, "Uh, enough with the side dishes and dessert, where's dinner?" I really wonder how other parents do it? Especially when feeding time at the zoo is 5p.m. I want him to eat what we eat but cannot seem to get a homecooked meal on the table that early. Bah.

spaghetti night

Stealing inspiration from one of my favorite dishes at Rosti, we had spaghetti with tomato sauce and goat's cheese tonight (with broccoli on the side - semi success with the veggies).
Ben's had mac 'n' cheese before and noodles (De Cecco's Farfalline seem to be small enough for him to enjoy) with roasted red pepper and goat's cheese sauce but this was his very first bowl of spaghetti -- except I cheated and chopped it into little pieces rather than giving him long strands. We'll save that photogenic experience for the weekend when I've got more time to clean up.
FWIW, Pomi makes the very best chopped tomatoes that come in a box (the marinara version is meh). It's got such a clean, fresh flavor, you don't even need to do anything but toss the tomatoes with your pasta. (Of course I like to add a lot of garlic and so far Ben seems fine with that.) The only spot locally that I can find Pomi is @ Bay Cities Deli -- the best Italian spot for miles and I tend to stock up every time I visit. But I just found this awesome looking place online and now I gotta order something!

a little bit of this and that

@ 11 months

Complete disorganization today. We forgot to bring our wallets to Whole Foods (never mind Whole Paycheck, we didn't have a buck between us) so plans for a beautifully prepared meal were set aside just so I could feed Ben something, anything. Bah. Bad start to a baby food blog. So it was mashed avocado, whole wheat bread, bits of turkey and vanilla yogurt. All at the same time. His choice.