Peas!

Our adventures in homemade baby food have officially begun! I made all of Sophia’s food when she was a baby using the most amazing kit my mom bought me from Fresh Baby, and I really loved every step of the process. Of course, I already had a Cuisinart (also from my mom), which made everything so simple. 

Joseph started early on solids because he is so ginormous, so he has been eating organic oat cereal since May 10. Even though he was only 18 weeks old at the time, he took to solids very quickly and was really enjoying bites his second meal. At nearly five months, he already likes to grab the spoon away and feed himself, and really practices his chewing, and he’s generally eating four to five tablespoons of dry cereal, plus formula to mix, three times a day. This is a lot! 

I had planned on introducing other foods after our marathon trip to Chicago and Indianapolis, mostly to save myself the hassle of buying and/or making organic food on the road. However, we realized that if we waited it would be another three weeks, so last night we introduced organic peas.

We’re very lucky that everywhere we’re staying on the trip we’ll have a nice kitchen and access to a microwave, so it seemed feasible to make food while away. Yesterday afternoon I bought a Kid Co. food mill, which I like okay but don’t love, but which will certain suffice while we travel. It’s a bit cumbersome to assemble and use, and doesn’t puree foods as smoothly as I’d like, but it’s compact and will work anywhere. As soon as the trip is over it’s back to the Cuisinart and the Fresh Baby food trays for me!

We started with peas because I firmly believe that you should cultivate your baby’s taste for green things before introducing sweeter first foods like apples and bananas. Babies naturally prefer sweet tastes, so I think it makes sense to broaden their palate from the get-go. Our family doctor also prefers this approach, progressing from green to orange to yellow foods, and I feel it was successful with Sophia. She truly is the most omnivorous person I know, and I think this is at least in small part due to the fact that I always encouraged her to eat veggies, and that I fed her from the table from the beginning.

As soon as she started solids we all ate meals together, and we’ve always tried to model healthy eating habits and prepare beautiful, nutritious and dynamic meals. (I abhor the idea of kids’ menus at restaurants—who says kids don’t like what grownups like!) I also read a phenomenal book about kids and food, called Child of Mine by Ellyn Satter, and the author’s attitudes informed most or all of my choices in terms of food. I cannot recommend this book enough. (It’s also the only book I read that gives as much guidance about thoughtfully bottle feeding as it does about breast feeding.)

Anyway, on to peas. I think Joseph would give homemade organic peas three stars right now. He’s had them twice and spit most of them out last night and ate about half of his serving tonight. He made the most hilarious face after the first taste, which seemed to say something along the lines of, “what in the world!” I think we’ll continue to offer them once or twice a day until he learns to love them. Benji and I both tasted them and they’re really very sweet and delicious.

Such an awesome responsibility, introducing a small person to the world of food. And I just love every minute of it! A wonderful adventure for all of us. 

Cold, Lonely Kitchen

Quick update, mostly for posterity so I don’t wonder down the road where May went. Parvovirus + migraines + gastroenteritis = zero appetite and zero interest in cooking. I did make a lovely risotto last night with sweet petite peas, sautéed mushrooms and lemon zest, but only because if I didn’t there would be no dinner last night or tonight. Other than that I have pretty much subsisted on graham crackers, popsicles and peanut butter toast, when I’ve eaten at all. I am REALLY looking forward to June and reacquainting myself with the kitchen. I’ve been under the weather for 11 days now and that’s just waaaayyy too long. 

Joseph, on the other hand, has discovered solid food and is eating with a vengeance. I can’t believe he’s taken to it so beautifully, considering how young he is (we started when he was just four months/18 weeks old). All he’s had is organic oaties with formula, but I just love the way he hums and grunts at me to HURRY UP with the spoon, lady! He gets so excited! He has even grabbed the spoon, shoved it toward his mouth, scraped off the cereal and crammed it in his mouth himself. Hilarious!

We’re waiting to introduce other homemade organic foods until after our marathon Chicago/Indy trip, so it’s easier to travel with him, and I can’t wait to start blogging about our adventures together in the kitchen. A whole new chapter for him, and a really beloved part of motherhood for me. I made all of Sophia’s food and just loved the whole process. She is a truly omnivorous little person, and I can only hope that I can teach Joseph to love all kinds of flavors as well.

And, on a note completely unrelated to cooking, Sophia is really READING now, and I am loving it. She read Joseph three Sandra Boynton books today all by herself... really read them, and I was just bursting with pride. Such a big girl at four and a third! I know this has nothing to do with cooking, but what’s a mother to do?

Update: Homemade Pizza & Pizza Gear

While I try not to write more than once about things I make time and again, I do want to quickly revisit homemade pizza, since it was such a revelation for me and since we’ve made some interesting discoveries about ingredients and gear.

First of all, I’m still neutral on the whole Kitchenaid stand mixer issue, at least as far as pizza is concerned. I’ve learned to really enjoy kneading by hand. However, I do avoid making more than a single recipe (three 12-inch pizzas) if I’m cooking alone; we do make a double batch if Ben and I can both do one at the same time. Since I’ve learned how easy and delicious (and cheap!) homemade pizza is, well... we’re eating a lot more pizza! A stand mixer would probably encourage me to make multiple batches at the same time, which would be nice. But, that said, making crust by hand certainly hasn’t slowed down our consumption. We probably make this now once a week. Extra crust freezes wonderfully—we just thaw it on the counter the morning we want to make pizza and the results are great!

I’m still loving homemade sauce, using Hunt’s Organic crushed tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil. As a saucy pizza lover, I’ve had to learn not to over-sauce my crust, which I think is what led to the so-so results when my mom was here.

The biggest discovery, which was, frankly, kind of disappointing from a “foodie” perspective, is that while margherita-style pizza with fresh mozzarella is wonderful, we all prefer our pizza topped with regular-old, Kroger-brand, pre-shredded part-skim mozzarella. I used it the first time simply out of frugality, because I was making three pizzas, and fresh mozzarella is $8/lb. at the local cheese importers, and I seem to have some innate cheese spending limit. However, we all ultimately admitted that the part-skim shredded stuff was more satisfying and provided better all-over coverage without being too cheesy. We’ll definitely still make margherita-style pizza from time to time, particularly when we have basil in our garden this summer, but for day-to-day, the cheap generic stuff it is!

In terms of toppings, we’ve tried: canned mushrooms (a throwback to my old K.C. favorite, Original Pizza!), Kalamata olives (a favorite), fresh basil (always excellent), Volpi sausage (good but pricey), Hormel “natural,” nitrite-free pepperoni (fine) and fresh spinach (disappointing, because you expect it to taste like basil!). I try to always serve our pizza with a veggie-filled salad, so the meal’s more well-rounded.

In terms of gear, I’m starting to despise my 12-inch round pizza stone. It’s fairly impossible to get my amoeba-like 12-inch pizza centered on the stone without some of it dribbling over the edge. Next time I go shopping (which is never), I’m getting myself a larger, rectangular pizza stone. They’re about $40 and will be well worth it!

All in all, I will say that this one recipe has changed the way we eat more than any others during the past few years. No more Friday night happy hours at Proto’s, no more ordering in Nicolo’s delivery, and certainly no more $7 Amy’s frozen pizzas. 

Oh, and one last thing. I STILL don’t have a real rolling pin. I used to have one of those French rolling pins (with no handles), but it gradually warped over time and no longer makes meaningful and consistent contact with whatever I’m trying to roll. So (this is so sad), every time we make pizza, which as I mentioned is weekly, I have to dig out Sophia’s kid cooking set rolling pin, which she uses to play with Playdoh, scrub it down and let it air dry. Seriously, how hard would it be to just bop over to Target and buy myself a simple, grown-up rolling pin with handles? But no, I’m still using the four-inch kiddie rolling pin, which makes rolling the dough... challenging. If there is a culinary gear god out there somewhere, please remind me to get myself a rolling pin next time I’m at Target. The current state of affairs is just plain pathetic!

Easy Pot Roast with Rich Tomato Gravy

When Sophia was an infant, my mom bought me a Crock-Pot, knowing as all moms know that the easiest time of day to get anything done in the kitchen is mid-morning, particularly once your baby graduates from the sleeping-around-the-clock stage. Joseph is four months old now, so it seems a fitting time to dust off the old slow cooker. And, because Ben swears he doesn’t like beef, I decided to start with a wonderful pot roast recipe. Call me a sadist, but I secretly love serving him beef dishes I know he’ll enjoy. 

Here’s what I love about this recipe: the meat gets fall-apart tender, the gravy is delicious, and, if you leave the carrots and celery in large enough chunks, they're still intact and scrumptious after hours in the slow cooker. It probably took 20 minutes to prep this recipe in the morning, and it filled the house with the most tempting, savory, homey smell. 

Here’s where I went wrong: when given several options at the butcher, I foolishly chose the leanest pot roast they had, with really no marbling to speak of. Ergo, the roast was still a little... stringy, kind of like pulled pork. Next time I’ll pick something in the middle of the lean-to-fatty range, because I know my pot roast has been more tender in the past.

I served this with roasted Yukon Gold potatoes and a mixed green salad with Mom’s celery seed dressing. Perfect! The crispy little potato cubes are delicious dipped in the rich tomato gravy. Sophia wants mashed potatoes with it next time, but I’m not so sure. There’s something so divine about the juxtaposition of the rich, creamy sauce, the tender meat and veggies and the crispy little potato bites.

On the “not eating beef” front, Ben happily ate plates of this, so it was sufficiently delicious to push him beyond his objections. Wonderful, soothing comfort food for the end of a hectic, stressful week!

A Perfect Meal, or How I’m Getting My Groove Back

I have been absent from this personal space for far too long, because, frankly, I have been in a funk. I have felt fried and maxed out and wholly uninterested in anything but the day-to-day basics. I felt this way when Sophia was four-months-old, too, so it must have something to do with the rhythms of new motherhood. I’ve been trying to make sense of why I am where I am, and wonder if  there’s some burnout zone between the adrenaline-rush sprint that is caring for an infant and the long-haul marathon of raising a little person. Regardless, while we’ve still been eating well, my cookbooks have been growing lonely on the shelf and it is time I turn this around. This project is for me, and I’m hoping my return to this corner of my life helps me to commit a bit more each day to personal renewal. On that note, on to this perfect meal...

My expectations for Mother’s Day are fairly realistic. We have a busy four-year-old and a needy four-month-old and Ben only has two hands to do all of this tending. With that in mind, I helped plan three beautiful meals for Mother’s Day, which I happily shopped for (while Ben hung out with Joseph) and which I happily helped prepare. For breakfast, Ben and Sophia made waffles with fresh berries and whipped cream (yum) and, for lunch, we girls made homemade pizza with Kalamata olives, fresh spinach and Volpi sausage. Also yum.

But dinner. Oh, dinner! On Saturday, Sophia and I went to the Longmont Farmers’ Market and bought the most beautiful organic baby arugula from Ollin Farms here in town. Gorgeous, tender little leaves fresh from the garden. We also bought some spectacular cranberry walnut bread from the Styria Bakery, which we paired with Haystack Mountain’s Haystack Peak, a “creamy fresh-ripened goat cheese [with a] creamy interior enhanced by a bloom-rind surface that gives it character and complexity.” On Sunday, Ben made a simple vinaigrette of lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, and we topped the organic arugula with Parmigiano-Reggiano shavings and toasted pine nuts. To finish off this beautiful meal, a perfectly-grilled, medium-rare New York strip steak.

This meal was so simple, so divine, such an unbelievably perfect combination of fresh, seasonal flavors. It was truly perfect, and really reminded me of why I love spending time in the kitchen, enough so that I even love helping out with a little bit of cooking on Mother’s Day.

And for dessert? Well, dessert could not have been more special, and was my favorite moment of the whole day. At Montessori preschool, students made Mother’s Day cards and inside was a single peach tea bag. Preparing and serving tea with a friend is one of Sophia’s favorite works at school. So, at the end of our beautiful day together, Sophia and I got out my lovely little porcelain tea pot, filled it with hot water, and she made us tea to have with our walnut brownies. She steeped, stirred and served, just like a grown-up hostess, and we sat together, we two girls, and had our own little tea party. 

A beautiful moment, right here in my own kitchen, and one I hope will continue to inspire me as I work to reclaim my culinary groove.

Cooking (Minestrone) as Love

What do you do to help when there’s really nothing you can do? If you’re me, you cook. And cook and cook and cook. On Friday morning, my father-in-law, Bill, had emergency quadruple bypass surgery here in Longmont. As I know from personal experience, there is nothing more terrifying than seeing your parent so vulnerable and knowing there is not much you can do to ease their burden. As an in-law (and, really, an “ex” in-law at that), I felt hopeless to help Eryc and his family, and particularly Bill himself, as they struggled through these days of diagnosis, planning, surgery and recovery. The one thing I felt I could do was to feed everyone, and feed everyone I did.

With a mind on easy-to-transport, easy-to-reheat and heart-healthy meals, I made a huge batch of my homemade minestrone, adapted over the years from The New Moosewood Cookbook, an Earth mama classic. I love this cookbook, and this is my absolute favorite soup. Not to be too arrogant, but over the years I have modified it to make it really the perfect soup. I don’t make it as often as I should because it feels time-consuming, although I’m not sure it really does take that much longer than other soups. Just lots of chopping. 

My version is chockfull of veggies—carrots, celery, tomatoes, zucchini—plus garbanzo and kidney beans and a bit of organic whole wheat rotini. I’ve also started adding the leftover rinds I’ve been saving from my Parmigiano-Reggiano for a bit of added flavor. The soup is gorgeous (all of the veggies maintain their beautiful bright colors), delicious and incredibly healthy. The vegetables still have a nice crisp-tender texture, and the pasta and beans add some needed weight. It’s pretty fabulous soup, and feels entirely nourishing for body and soul, which I suppose was my real intention.

In a frenzy of cooking born entirely out of love, I also made homemade blueberry muffins, macaroni and cheese with Swiss chard, salad with mom’s celery seed dressing, dark chocolate brownies with walnuts (thank you Ghiradelli), dinner rolls to have with the soup (thank you Rhodes), homemade pizza with homemade sauce, dark chocolate chip cookies (Tollhouse recipe with Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips), Boar’s Head natural turkey and ham sandwiches, apples, assorted snacks and, for dinner tonight, tortellini with prosciutto and spinach (which I’ll write about later). 

Bill’s surgery was a huge success, and he is recovering wonderfully. Everyone at the hospital is amazed at his progress. Eryc and his family seem to be gradually emerging from a state of shock and breathing that first, deep sigh of relief. Me, I feel happy to have played a peripheral part in what has been an exhausting, but positive, weekend.