Recipe: Squash and Apple Soup

I got this recipe from my mom and made it for the first time this weekend.  You could garnish it and serve it in small portions as a chic appetizer for a dinner party, or in big bowls for a comforting meal on a cold day - and it's fantastic baby food, too!

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash

1/2 onion chopped

1 apple chopped

1 carrot chopped

2 1/2 cups chicken stock (use veggie stock instead for a vegetarian version)

1 tbsp (or more) fresh ginger, grated

1/2 cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Method:

Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds, then roast it until soft.  I put it in the oven at 350, but I can't remember how long it took.  45 minutes maybe?  this step could be done in advance and the squash refrigerated.

Sautee onion and carrot in olive oil until soft, then add apple, ginger and spice and cook for one minute.

Add stock and cook to very soft.

Add squash and simmer 5 minutes.

Remove cinnamon and blend to smooth,

Serve over a dollop of yogurt plain or lemon.

I served with fresh bread and homemade biscuits, and it was a big hit.  Next time I'm making a double batch for sure.

Chocolate Chip Cookies - good for you edition

During my pregnancy I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  Suddenly I wasn't allowed to eat much of anything - even fruit was problematic.  I tried a few recipes for cookies and other goodies that were recommended, but they didn't taste that great and they weren't satisfying.  So, I started doing some experimenting of my own.

This is what I came up with.  Not only did it not spike my blood sugar, the slow releasing carbs also helped prevent dips.  And they actually taste yummy!  Give'em a try.

Ingredients

1 cup margarine

1 cup brown sugar

2 tbs vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup ground flax

¾ cup whole flax

2 cups chocolate chips

Method

Cream together margarine and brown sugar until smooth.  Add eggs and vanilla, mix until even.  Add dry ingredients, mix until combined, then add chocolate chips.  Bake at 350-375ish, whatever works for you and your oven. 

It’s a lot of vanilla, but that adds flavour and keeps them from being too dry with all that flax.

They’re best fresh out of the oven (of course), but they keep in an airtight jar really well!

Recipe: Chai Poached Pears

I mash these with a fork, add whole grain baby cereal to thicken and feed them to my daughter, but they're fantastic for the rest of us too. Just add ice cream!

Ingredients

Herbal chai tea (I use the one from Silk Road. You want herbal so there's no caffeine for baby)

Pears, peeled, quartered and cored

Directions

Put the pears in a pot, cover with water, and add the tea ball. Simmer until the water reduces to a light syrup. Enjoy!

Baby Stew

My daughter, from the beginning, has preferred foods with flavour. Now that she's nine months old, I'm having a lot of fun experimenting. I called this one Baby Stew, and she loves it. So did a friend of ours, who had a lovely bowl of it for lunch one day!

The beauty of this recipe is that you can easily alter the veggies, and the proportions aren't really that important. I tried to provide something of a balance between protein, starch, etc so that it would be a meal in itself, and then I froze it in Baby Cubes so that I can easily serve it to her when I don't have time to make a meal.

Ingredients:

leek (white part only)

ginger (to taste)

garlic (to taste)

olive oil

red lentils

pot barley (pearl has the healthiest parts removed)

yam

sweet potato

carrot

fresh spinach (frozen would probably be fine too)

Method:

chop up all the veg. don't need to be too careful about how small. Panfry the leek until soft, then add the garlic and ginger. Toss in the lentils and barley to absorb the yummy flavours. Add the rest of the veggies, cover with water, and simmer until everything is soft. Add the spinach at the very last minute, so that it just barely wilts and doesn't overcook.

At this point, you could serve it to adults or older children. I used a hand blender to ensure there were no chunks bigger than the barley, but my daughter chews well. You could easily blend it longer for a younger child, or one who doesn't like texture as much.