Zucchini & Eggplant Bake

Zucchini as it is known in Australia has many other names and they vary from country to country.  The other most common name is courgette - UK or baby marrow- South Africa. If anyone has a different name for this versatile veggie, we'd love to know about it.
I decided to come up with this bake as an alternate for littleRaf who happens to love zucchini.  Not only did he eat it, but so did his father and he finished it!  It keeps really well in the fridge and can be served cold as well as warm.

What you will need:

1x large zucchini

1/2 an eggplant

1 egg

120ml of fresh milk 

2 tbsp of maize flour

pinch of white pepper

1. Wash the veggies, after doing so thinly slice the zucchini and the egg plant.
2. In a bowl whisk the egg and milk mix.  Add the white pepper.
3. Place sliced veggies into the mix and mix it all through.
4. Grease a non- stick  baking dish with some spray olive oil.
5. Slowly start layering the veggies into the baking dish once all of them are in, pour remaining egg & milk mixture over the top.  
6. Cover with foil and place in 180 deg oven and cook until golden brown (about 45min)

Let it cool down , cut it into squares or other interesting shapes for your little one and enjoy!!

Sizzling Lamb Chops

littleRaf is at a stage now where all he wants to do is feed himself with his little hands(well pretty big for his age).
I was having lunch with a friend of mine mummyL and baby B-B, we sort of shared the same thoughts and disgusts on peoples appauling table manners, this of course was pre baby B-B & littleRaf. We sat back at a cafe and had a good laugh at the fact that there we were in the public eye, eating like we had so many times critised others for doing.  This involved burrowing through a wrapped sandwich to fish out the remaining beetrot for the bubs to eat followed by placing the remaining squished pieces in my own mouth to eat - because mommy's always become dustbins when there is a baby around.

So if you are in control with baby's food on a spoon, put it down for a little while and let those little hands to some self exploring ( PROVIDED THEY CAN HOLD THINGS THEMSELVES 6MNTH +). Its good fun to watch them enjoy their food and very very entertaining to watch too.  Yes there will be cleaning up, but Heinz has some great splash mats you can put down to catch all the excess food.

This was our dinner 2 nights ago..... something the whole family can enjoy not just baby!

Sizzling Lamb Chops

You will need:

(6 chops)

Lamb chops - Organic meat is best for baby& you  (remove excess fat)

1tbsp  of Paprika 

2 cloves of garlic

Some fresh rosemary 

Some fresh marjoram

A touch of ground black pepper

& a dash of olive oil.

1. Wash and chop all herbs together with garlic, very finely.
2. Add paprika and black pepper, drizzle olive oil over and mix it through.
3. Rub this mix onto both sides of the chops and let it stand before grilling them.
4. Grill them, making sure that it is well cook throughout.
5. Allow to cool and then serve to baby together with steamed broccoli or nay other veggie of babies choice.

If you are making the rest for your lunch or dinner, add some salt to your chops before grilling.

DO NOT ADD SALT TO  BABY'S FOOD AT ANY TIME, AVOID EXCESSIVE INTAKE OF SODIUM IN BABIES DIET.  TOO MUCH SALT IS NOT GOOD FOR MOMMY & DADDY EITHER! 

Bom Appetite!!

Pumpkin Sauce or Sandwich Spread, especially for littleJ

A couple of days ago a friend mommy J asked what she could put on baby J's little sandwiches.  They JJ's had been through all the standard spreads, cottage cheese, cream cheese, vegemite(marmite), avocado the options were running out in the spread department.  Just yesterday I had intentions of making a pasta sauce without the tomato, this is what i came up with.  Call it pasta pumpkin sauce, pumpkin dip(it makes a great one actually- my husband ate the rest) or simply leave it in the fridge and spread it on bread.  It was absolutely delicious.

 I call it the J' Spread

You will need :

1/4 pumpkin

1/2 Leek (only the white part)

olive oil 

fresh herbs (used chives and oregano)

1. Lightly brown the leek in the olive oil.
2. Slowly add the pumpkin, then once sealed add some hot water and let it all cook together.
3. Once all is cooked through, add the herbs and  blend all together with hand held blender.

Serve with pasta , as a pasta sauce.

Refrigerate for awhile then use as sandwich spread.

Or if you have made too match use it as a dip next time your friends come over for a visit.

Chicken & veggie burger

THIS IS A GREAT WAY TO ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING QUICK AN EASY TO COOK UP FOR THOSE LITTLE FINGERS TO NIBBLE ON.

What you will need:

o   Some chicken thigh fillets (4)

o   1/2 a leek

o   1 clove of garlic

o   1/2 capsicum

o   Fresh herbs ( I use parsley/majorim/oregano)

o   1 Egg

o   1/2 cup of bread crumbs

o   touch of olive oil

(THIS MAKES QUITE A FEW CHICKEN PATTIES, SO I FREEZE THEM WRAPPED IN SETS OF 2)

1. Chop chicken thighs, leek, garlic and capsicum into a food processor/blender.
2. In a bowl mix all chopped up ingredients add to this the whole egg and bread crumbs and olive oil.
3. Mix all this together, making sure all ingredients are mixed through.
4. Making sure your hands are wet roll into portion size (about the size of a golf ball). Freeze them in this form.

WITH THIS SIZE PORTION YOU ARE A VARIATION OF MEAL OPTIONS:

 o  CHICKEN MEAT BALLS

o  CHICKEN RISSOLES

o  CHICKEN BURGER PATTIES

    5. When your ready to use them, defrost(if frozen), pat down till about 1/2 cm thickness, grill in non stick 

         pan until cooked through. ( POKING AT THE PATTIE WITH A FORK, MAKING SURE NO JUICES ARE STILL 

           RUNNING OUT OF THE PATTIE ENSURES IT IS COOKED THROUGH).

    

     6. Steam whatever extra veggies you would like to add to this burger.  To do this use a veggie peeler or

        knife to thinly slicIe the veggies you will be laying in the burger.  (I USUALLY USE CARROT & FRESH 

          CUCUMBER).

"this may sound like alot of work, but it isn't really, once you have made this batch of patties or meat balls, they keep in the freezer for awhile.  making this burger generally only takes about 15mins"

FINALLY A BURGER IS NOT A BURGER WITHOUT SAUCE!!! INSTEAD OF TOMATOE SAUCE I USE PASSATA (plain tomatoe juice) AS AN ALTERNATIVE. 

I WILL POST A RECIPE FOR HOMEMADE TOMATOE SAUCE AT A LATER STAGE IN ANYONE IS INTERESTED, IT STILL HAS THE SUGAR IN IT, BUT GUARANTEES NO ADDED NASTIES!

Baby's French Toast

Tried this on littleRaf a couple of weeks ago and it was an absolute success.  Lets be honest there is not much variety out there in terms of breakfast selections for little mouths and tummies.

1x slice of wholemeal bread

1x Egg

some milk to dip the bread in (if there are any lactose in tolerante babies USE THE FORMULA MILK)

1/2 a banana

A touch of cinnamon.

• Add cinnamon to milk and dipped the bread in it.
• Beat the egg, then dip the bread through the egg.
• Place it on heated non stick pan (MED HEAT-not to burn toast)
• Cook until golden brown on both sides.
• Mash banana and place over the entire piece of toast.

(ADD A SPOON FULL OF PLAIN YOGHURT/ BABY YOGHURT)

Serve and let your little person go wild!!

To Eat or not to Eat that is the question.....

The question  I think troubles many mothers especially when their babies are reaching the 4 month mark.

Do I start solids with my child, or do I wait until they are 6 months?

No matter who you ask, midwife, doctor, friend, new mother, mother-in-law or your own mother, you will probably hear a different story from each and every one of them.  My advise, is go with what you think is best ,after all you are that child's mother and at the end of the day the old fashioned saying of 'mother knows best' seems to finally make sense.

I was a first time mom, with no family in sight to help me along with decisions I was to make regarding my sons needs.  So the pressure was on me, i found myself asking myself the questions and after a few minutes answerring my own questions.  At about 3mnths of age my son started to get extremely angry on the breast, not only would be pull and graze me due to this frustration, he would take hours to fall asleep and sleep then was very short.  After my first visit by the midwife, I was told that perhaps I did not have enough milk for my son.  This could not possibly be true, my breast were so engorged, I was a genuine  Moo-Cow as my husband put it, who would express 150ml from each breast within 10mins.

And so after no avail, I was told to start topping him up with formula feeds.   A couple of days into this my breast milk started to dry up 150ml came down to 50ml, and at this stage it was truly not enough.  At 4months my son was being predominately formula fed.  The guilt trip was still placed on me by every midwife who did his fortnighly weigh-ins at our local pharmacy. Questions on why I had stopped?, had i tried to stimulate more milk flow?  Inside part of me wanted to say "how about you chop off your boob and give it to me to take home and feed my son, because clealry mine are faulty and this of course makes me not normal."

No one should make you feel guilty on how or when you choose to feed your child.  Besides instead of putting big WARNING: BREAST MILK IS BEST FOR BABY, CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR OR HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL FOR ADVICE BEFORE DECIDING TO FORMULA FEED.

Perhaps what they should say is the truth and nothing but the truth, breast feeding is damn hard, it is not walk in the park and believe you me it ain't that beautiful when you have a bout of mastitis.

So yes my son at 4months was formula fed and was eating solids, a shock to some but pure bliss for me and him.  Littleraf was happy and that of course made mommy happy. 

And so starts our adventures in the kitchen, cooking for littleRaf, without all the added nasties that are packed into that ready made baby food in the supers.