Category Archives: Baby Food

A Cherry Crumble with Rhubarb

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Summertime is long gone.  The days of warm sunny weather, no jackets, toques or wishing I had a car starter.  Even the days of Calla staying still long enough for me to go a little camera happy and snack a couple (or 50) photos of her playing with food.  In particular cherries were a delight, it’s a wonder how I forgot about these photos.

Totally fascinated with the stem and intrigued by the taste, she’d always get covered in red cherry juice.  She loves them even more as a little snack frozen. One of the best fruits to eat, cherries are high in antioxidants, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, Vitamin A, C, K and folate.

Super easy to carry around for a snack, but be sure to brings wipes or napkins since they can make a bit of a mess.  They’re also great mixed with oatmeal, yogurt, or mixed in with a fruit salad. No teeth yet?, just steam them for a few minutes them blend together with some water, milk, and mix with banana, couscous or chicken.

As your little one gets bigger though and their teeth come in, they acquire new tastes and you get to bridge the gap between purees to small bites to bigger bites. Try this recipe out on your little one. If you’re not interested in the tartness of the rhubarb you can add more cherries or opt for strawberries instead. I love to add a few extras so the flax meal, hemp hearts and almonds give it a little extra nutritional boost.  Serve as a breakfast with plain yogurt, a snack or a tasty treat with a little vanilla ice cream.

Cherry Crumble with Rhubarb
(adapted from Two Peas and their pod)

3 cups cherries, pitted
2 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 tbsp corn starch
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
2 tbsp whole wheat flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp flax meal
1/2 cup slivered almonds
2 tbsp hemp hearts
1/2 cup quinoa flakes

Preheat oven to 375. Grease an 8×8 inch baking dish with butter and set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine cherries, rhubarb and corn starch. Stir until well coated and set aside.
In a seperate bowl, combine rolled oats, quinoa flakes, flax meal, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Stir well. Mix butter into oat mixture, rubbing together with your fingers, until crumbly.  Mix in half the almonds and hemp hearts and stir. Drizzle with honey and stir.
Pour cherry mixture into baking dish, cover with oat mixture. Then sprinkle remaining almonds and hemp hearts on top. Bake 30-35 minutes or until fruit is soft and crisp is bubbly. Serve warm with greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream.

Toddler Tip

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Try offering small pieces of frozen fruit or veggies to ease teething pain. Always with supervision, and only if your little one is good with solids.  These mesh teething feeders work great as well, however Calla prefers to pick each one up separately. Blueberries, diced strawberries, pitted and halved cherries, corn, peas and diced peaches are some examples.  Blueberries and cherries being favorites in our house.

Calla turns 1

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Last week Calla turned one. I had envisioned her first party to be something magical.  Decorations everywhere, a cute theme with matching food to nibble on, and a spectacular cake to smash and eat.

Time got the best of me, as it usually does, and the party went on in a smaller, simpler scale.  A delicious carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for the guests, and an individual Carrot Frosted Cupcake for Calla to smash and taste.

Heirloom tomato & Boccocini salad, Quinoa Black Bean and Corn Salad, Greek Layer Dip, Spinach and Bacon Dip, Pasta Salad, some veggies, candies and Chocolates, and a few Pizzas ordered last minute, was the menu.

It was a warm September evening, friends and family mingled on the deck, and a few kids played amongst us. Calla, unaware the celebration was in her honor, had fun chasing the other kids, checking out the new toys and didn’t mind one bit as everyone watched her attack her cake inquisitively and lick the creamy sweet icing.

Over this last year, the phrase ‘this too shall pass’, has never rung so true. From laying, rolling, crawling and walking. To squealing, giggling, gibbering, laughing and talking. And of course, cuddling, playing, hiding and hugging.  The moments pass too quickly. Change comes and more excitement is welcomed. Each day is fun.  There is frustration, there are tears, some confusion, and doubt.  But there is also pride in being a mom, joy in playing with Calla, gratitude in having a healthy little girl, and love. So much love.

The only thing I know about this next year is that it will bring more of the above, in greater amounts. I know there will be some hard days, and some incredible days.  I don’t really know what to expect, but I can’t wait for it.

To Calla, the cutest, happiness little girl I know.  I’m so proud to be your mom and so grateful to have you in my life. I love you! xoxo Mom

I went back and forth deciding what kind of cake to make for Calla.  Healthy, no sugar, no fat, no excitement?  Well a first birthday is a pretty special occasion, one that happens only once, and so we decided a little sugar would be fun.  So we went with an incredibly moist carrot cake.

Carrot Cake  (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)
Makes 2 – 9inch cakes

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups canola oil
4 large eggs
3 cups finely grated carrots

Preheat oven to 350F

Grease two 9-inch round cake pans with butter, then lightly flour them.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. In a large bowl, whisk sugar and oil until blended. One at a time, whisk in the eggs. Then combine flour mixture to wet mixture. Stir in carrots.

Divide batter between two cake pans, as evenly as possible.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a cake tester (or toothpick) inserted into center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 15 minutes, then turn out onto cooling racks. Let cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting
2 pkgs cream cheese, softened
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 – 3 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt

With an electric mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until combined and smooth.  Mix in vanilla and salt.  Gradually add powdered sugar one cup at a time, and beat on high until light and fluffy.  For a sweeter icing, add more sugar if desired.

The Little Things (& Beets)

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I’ve been sitting on this post of awhile now.  Trying to gather my thoughts, wondering when the next ‘milestone’ will come for Calla.  Will it be the two front teeth that are slowly coming now, the little white specks peeking through?  Will it be new words, more than momma, dadda, dog and now hi. But as I watch her, and sit and play with her, she’s perfecting little milestones everyday.

Little ones like, climbing steps, even just a few, and being so thrilled of the accomplishment that she’ll go down just to climb up them again. Ones like finding a container, a tupperware or a small bag and perusing the house for other treasures to put in it. Ones like grabbing onto mom’s hand when the road gets bumpy, or to pull her in the direction she want to go. Even sitting quietly will a pile of books, going through them ever so carefully or sometimes anxiously to find that perfect book to flip through.  And now, taking that book and bringing it over to mom and dad to read with. These happen everyday and no matter how little they may seem, each and every one is it’s own milestone, and each one makes my heart melt.

Calla was very interested in Beets.  The greens she bypassed, the beet she would pick up, but the long root was what intrigued her the most.  Leaving them, looking back at a distance, then approaching again, so curiously.

Beets come in some pretty great colors, from purple, to red to yellow. You can steam them, roast them with olive oil, or bake them in a casserole.  You can puree them if needed or add them to soup.  You can cut them into shapes using cookie cutters or use them for finger food.  If you’re going with the later, you may want to dress you little one in a full bib or strip down to diaper with a bath after since these guys get messy.  Calla gets red beet juice everywhere when she eats them, so I usually opt for the bath routine.

Aside from the messy factor, Beets are very nutritious.  They are an excellent source of calcium, potassium and fiber. They’re also rich in Vitamin A & C, which is very important for healthy development.

Carrots

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It’s official, we have a water baby on our hands.  Running tap water, bath, lake, pool, Cliff’s water dish, sippy cup, water bottle, you name it, she loves it.. Oh, except when you’re trying to wipe her face with it, that she hates.

The knob on our water cooler is now leaking from Calla pushing it down so much, and if you share your glass of water with her, just beware she may put her hands in it.

Into the lake with a life jacket she was not stoked on, she floated calmly with me, curiously splashing the water.  I could not be happier.

We’re gradually heading away from the 4-day wait rule and more towards the table feeding foods.  She’s so interested in what we’re eating anyways these days it makes it easier.  I’m still going to head down my list of new foods though, since I would like to give her as much variety and new tastes as I can.

I did love making purees for her, with my little cube ice cube trays, felt like I was actually prepared and ready for meals. But I do love that she can eat more of what we are eating and that it will forever encourage us to eat as healthy as we can.

These carrots were possibly the funnest photo props to date.  She was so curious with the stems she sat quietly in the same spot playing with them. Where normally she’s crawling everywhere and trying to eat everything.

Steam or roast carrots for about 10 minutes for a healthy finger food snack. Add to pastas, casseroles or puree if that’s what you’re little one prefers.