The last first of the year

This year has been a year of firsts for Josie. Many of these firsts have come at the dinner table. First high chair. First solid foods. First self-feeding. First teeth. 

To round out 2010, Josie ordered off a kids menu for the first time. Well, we ordered for her. "The little lady will have the cheese ravioli." So posh.

Normally, we'd piece together her meals out from our own plates. This time, she had a mini entree all to herself (and I have lunch for another day).
We went to Scalini's in Cobb County for her Uncle Terry's birthday. Josie was way into it. She had a captive audience. A pack of crayons. And all the garlic rolls she could get her little paws on.

Crayons are delicious. The yellow ones taste like lemon.

I doubt she understood that she was getting her own food. But she dug in and dug it. There was marinara sauce splattered here and there. Globs of ricotta cheese. It was a delicious Pollock painting. (Polack does Pollock....oh, that would have been a better blog title.)

Cheese! Ravioli!!!!!!!!

I've often worried about kid's menus. They all seem to be the same: grilled cheese, chicken fingers, burgers, fries. No wonder our society struggles with picky eaters and overweight children. While cheese ravioli isn't much of a stretch of the palate, it's a nice diversion from the fried and salted and fried offerings for tots. And while it's mostly cheese covered in cheese, there's at least a vegetable present.

Doing her best Jabba the Hutt impression

 A special shout out should go to Josie's cousin Katie, who has been a great babysitter...or baby wrangler. That's probably a better description. She so graciously sat on the other side of the hungry badger (Caution: If you sit in the front row, you will get splattered!) and entertained, taking a lot of pressure of Mommy and Daddy. I actually got to enjoy my pasta and glass of wine for longer than five minutes. So, thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Cousin Katie keeps Josie in line.

And thank you, Daddy Van, for documenting the occasion. 

Birthday girl

A picture paints a thousand words...but, uh, I can't think of any cool enough to describe these.
Today, we celebrated Josie's first birthday at day care. To make it more dramatic, it was also her last day before we head out of town.
But Josie loves drama.
And cupcakes.

Josie and her gal pal Clara

Daddy surprising Josie at day care

Josie holding court

(Im)patiently waiting on her cupcake

Suuuuu Garrrrrrrr!!!!!

Squishy frosting

Yums!

Chowing down on enormous cupcakes

Mommy trying to steal a sugar kiss

Aftermath

The wipe down

Sugar high

Lovin' on Miss Tabitha and Mrs. Jasmine

Weekend recipe: apple cranberry jiggle

No, that's not Chris' pet name for me. Though, it wouldn't be the worst he's come up with.
It's my (belated, again) recipe that blends a distinct flavor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday with gelatin, a wiggly fun food.
Ever since I decided to be a super adult and cook my own Thanksgiving a handful of years back, I've been making the cranberry sauce from scratch. Dear goddess of the harvest, it is the easiest recipe on earth...that involves cranberries. And it is super delicious. I can't look at the canned stuff the same.
Bonus! This is a recipe that can be used by adults as well as kids, or kids of all ages, or all immature adults.
Apple Cranberry Jiggle
Psstttt...hey y'all adults...I bet if you add extra powdered gelatin and a couple or dozen shots of vodka, this would make a great holiday shooter. Just sayin'... I mean, who doesn't feel like they need a drink during family holidays?

Time
15 minutes to prep and cook; must chill overnight
Ingredients and Equipment
This is going to be a two-parter. The first recipe is for the cranberry sauce, from which you'll strain off some juice to then make the jiggle. Adults get a delicious relish and babies get a fruity snack.
For the cranberry sauce, you'll need:
- 1 12-oz package of fresh cranberries (so available right now in the produce section of your grocery store; please do not use canned)
- 1 cup of unsweetened apple juice (like Motts for Tots or the natural stuff)
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 8 whole cloves (optional)
- sauce pan

For the jiggle, you'll need:
- 1/4 cup water (room temp is fine)
- 1 1/4-oz packet OR 1 tablespoon of plain gelatin (may be a little hard to find; check the baking aisle of your grocery store)
- 1 and 1/2 cups unsweetened apple juice
- 1/4 cup of strained cranberry sauce (just the liquid)
- sauce pan
- bowl
- sieve or other strainer
- 8-inch baking pan
- plastic wrap
Directions
To make the cranberry sauce:
- Add cranberries and 1 cup of apple juice to a sauce pan over medium heat.
- Mix in sugar and add cinnamon sticks and cloves.
- Bring to a simmer. Allow it to cook covered — though stir occasionally — until the berries have popped and softened and the mixture thickens into a syrupy stew.
- Remove from heat.

Magic

To make the jiggle:
- Mix the gelatin and water in a bowl.
- Once the cranberry sauce has cooled, ladle a portion into a sieve over a bowl and mash down to force out liquid. Strain 1/4 cup. (You can then add the mashed berry mixture back in with the rest of the cranberry sauce and store in the fridge.)

- Pour the cranberry sauce and 1 and 1/2 cups of apple juice into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Then, remove from heat.

- Add the juices to the gelatin in the bowl and stir until the gelatin is fully dissolved.

- Pour the mixture into the baking pan, cover with plastic wrap (careful not to let the wrap touch the top of the mixture) and place in the refrigerator to chill overnight.

- Once the gelatin has set, cut into postage stamp-sized squares and serve.

My grandma's old bake ware still works

Quick warning: This jiggle is such a pretty color, but less pretty once you realize how easily it stains clothes. Thus, bibs are a must...maybe for the adults, too, especially if there's vodka involved.

Weekend recipe: baby quiche

The other day I was soliciting breakfast ideas for Josie after falling into a rut of cereal and fruit. Thanks to kind hearted readers, I am regaining my mojo. Josie thanks you, too.

One of the ideas that has gone over really well so far is from my coworker Lisa. She said to bake eggs in a muffin pan, like quiches. I tweaked the idea by adding cottage cheese, which Josie is crazy about.

These quiches won my heart because they are easy to make, easy to store and made with whole foods. Josie fell in love with their eggy, cheesy goodness.

Breakfast bachelor No.1, step up and introduce yourself.

Baby Quiche

(Does not contain real baby)

Time

15 minutes

Ingredients and Equipment

This recipe should yield six quiches.

- 6 egg yolks (save the whites for a healthy grown-ups' omelet)

- 1 heaping cup cottage cheese

- pinch of dried chives (optional)

- muffin pan

Directions

In a bowl, mix the egg yolks, cottage cheese and chives. Pour the mixture evenly into a muffin pan and bake at 375 degrees for about 5-10 minutes, until the tops are firm and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

(NOTE: I didn't use a nonstick muffin pan and discovered I should have sprayed the bottom with oil. Also, my muffin pan had 12 muffin cups. So, I poured a little water into the six empty cups so that the heat would be even. I think the water also added some steam and helped keep the quiches from drying out.)

Weekend recipe: turkey meatballs

I need to air something out straight away: This recipe was inspired by those soft processed meat sticks sold as toddler food but are really Vienna sausages.

Now, let me explain. My husband and I passed them on a recent trip for baby supplies and I remember thinking, "Wow! Are those what I think they are? For babies?"

And while the snacks are marketed as healthy, easy ways to get your child to eat meat, I think you could still smoosh them onto a Ritz cracker and dot them with hot sauce.

But enough judgment, they got me thinking about what I could make that would deliver protein, allow Josie to eat with her hands and give me piece of mind that there are no unrecognizable animal parts (or lots of salt) in them.

To make it more of a challenge on myself, I also began plotting a way to sneak in vegetables. Not that I'm really worried about Josie rejecting veggies...yet. It's just that I've got a freezer of vegetable purees, she no longer will stand to be fed. (This goes back to her recent discovery of I-can-do-it-myself-edness.)

For more inspiration, I looked to my dad. While there are tons of trickery cook books out today that have recipes for brownies concealing spinach or mac'n'cheese(n'carrots), my dad invented "the sneak" as far as I'm concerned. I'm not braggin' or nothing. He was a master of getting veggies in very non-veggie stuff.

Though, to be fair, points would have to be deducted for his meatballs that were either alien shades of green or orange thanks to the plants lurking inside. The meatballs tasted great and, fortunately, my brother and I were intrigued by the color spectrum they painted on our plates.

Turkey meatballs

This recipe can make meatballs for the whole family. I made them for dinner in two sizes: nickel-sized for baby and tangerine-sized for grown-ups. I mixed one big batch out of the raw ingredients, but cooked them differently. For babies, I simmered them in unsalted chicken broth until they were thoroughly poached. For grown-ups, I baked them and then added them to a spicy marinara.

Time

Less than an hour

Ingredients and Equipment

- 1 1/2 pounds of ground turkey (We used very lean, 93/7 blend)

- 1 piece of whole wheat bread, dried out and pulsed into crumbs in a food processor

- 1 egg

- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

- 2 cubes pureed butternut squash (about two tablespoons)

- 2 cubes pureed sweet green peas (about two tablespoons)

- salt-free Italian herb seasoning (just a few pinches)

- several cups of salt-free or low sodium chicken broth

- food processor

- sauce pot

- slotted spoon

Directions

- Mix the ground turkey, bread crumbs, egg, olive oil, vegetable purees and seasoning in a mixing bowl. Combine using your hands to make sure everything is incorporated, but do not go crazy and over mix.

- Roll nickel-sized meatballs in the palms of your hands until relatively smooth. Lay them on parchment paper or a plate or really any clean, flat surface

- Bring the chicken broth up to a steady simmer, NOT A BOIL. Liquid that is bubbling and rolling too rapidly could cause the meatballs to break apart.

- Add just a few raw meatballs at a time to the simmering broth. They should float to the top, but make sure they have fully cooked before removing them. I allowed mine to simmer for at least 10 minutes (out of an abundance of caution). You may want to test the first one or two to make sure you have the timing down.

- Let cool and serve. I cut them in half for Josie, but older kids may be OK with whole ones.

As Josie gets older, I think I'll experiment with sauces and presentation, but I still think I may be employing "the sneak."

Biscuits and vigilance

Now that Josie has chompers, or rather the tips of the icebergs, and is pretty adept with finger foods, I thought we would see how she would like teething biscuits.

I have to admit I was anxious about giving them to her. I'm still anxious as she sits next to me in her high chair sucking away on one. That's because often I (FREAK OUT) am concerned about her choking. And I am (obsessed) vigilant.

But I try to trust my daughter and make sure I watch her while she's introduced to knew things.

This new thing. She likes this new thing.

It's part toy, part food. What's not to like?

She's alternating between rubbing it across her gums and sucking on it like a Rendezvous rib. Get it girl!

Meanwhile, I'll be right here to sneak away any too big bits she cracks off...you know, just in case.

Josie vs. tofu

If a picture paints a thousand words, then this video paints a gazillion.

Tonight, Josie was introduced to tofu. I heard it's a good finger food. It's soft. It packs protein. It's mild flavored.

But none of that mattered to Josie. She just thought NEW!!! AIGHT!!!!

Gotta love her excitement about new food, no matter how bland or squishy. (Though, I must say I personally love tofu...just not plain like she tried it.)

I think I'll adopt her gusto. Even when it's a plain tofu-sorta day.

What's yours is mine and what's mine is mine

That's apparently Josie's new fooditude (That's right. I'm combining words like peanut butter and jelly). But before I explain, allow me to do what I so frequently enjoy. Let's Tarantino this!

So as you may recall, today was Josie's first day eating big kid lunch at daycare. I was a little nervous, which I think may be my normal state now. As usual, all that worry was in vain. Head lady said Josie was super excited when she realized she was being seated with the table food-eaters and not the spoon-feeders this afternoon.

She ate pasta and corn and tropical fruit. Now, I'm not totally enthused about the corn and pasta. I don't count corn as a true vegetable. I count it as a starch. But I know Josie will get plenty of veggies, and apparently she really liked the corn.

In fact, I think lunchtime may have looked something like this:

That is if Josie were Godzilla (or Babyzilla) and corn were Tokyo.

Since she did so well at lunch, I thought she should have an all-finger-foods dinner. My parents were in town and we all went out to eat at an Italian restaurant. I toted along steamed carrots and peas in case there wasn't anything I thought Josie could eat off the menu.

BOY WAS I WRONG!

She snacked on the peas and carrots until my chicken parmigiana came. But it wasn't the chicken she had her eye on. Rather, the sides of rotini alfreddo and sauteed spinach caught her eye.

I spooned a few cut-up pieces of rotini (double pasta day) and spinach onto her place mat but didn't really think she'd be that into it since both were garlicky, and I don't just mean a little bit.

BOY WAS I WRONG!

She inhaled it. Looked up and demanded more. "Dedd darhhh jerrhhh!"

She ate off my plate for the rest of dinner.

By the end of the meal, her cheeks were smeared with cheese sauce and spinach. She smelled like a garlic roll. I almost took a bite.

And as I tried to scrape the scraps off her place mat, she looked up at me with a pouty face that said "No, mommy. No."

Apparently, little piggy doesn't share. But I gotta respect that. Girl don't play.

Land shark

The central Mississippi land shark may be a smallish creature during her infancy. But even at 20 pounds, she circles dens and dining rooms and kitchens with a ferocious appetite.

And though toothless, her jaws manage to overpower the unfortunate morsels that find themselves in her way.

Here, we see her helpless prey is a strawberry yogurt melt. She has not met many of these in her short lifetime. Still, it seems this cunning predator is set on attack.

Perhaps the most dangerous feature of the land shark, besides her appetite, is her lightning fast phalanges. Indeed, this is a feat of anatomy her oceanic cousins wished they possessed.

And what the land shark lacks in toothage, she more than makes up for with powerful grip and gaping jaw. CHOMP!

Poor yogurt melt never saw her coming. We can only hope it didn't have a family.

Football Saturday

I'm a Georgia Bulldog through and through. (Go Dawgs! Despite this lackluster season.) However, I've also been adopted by one of my husband's alma maters, the University of Southern Mississippi. In fact, I've taken to the Golden Eagles — and they to me — so strongly that I've been to more games in Hattiesburg than I attended in Athens (which is to say more than one). What brings me back is the accessibility, the friendliness of fans and, of course, the food. These people throw down.

This year, we wanted to include Josie in the tailgating festivities. But since she's not able to handle barbecued brisket or Zapp's potato chips, I was wondering what she could have.

I decided to pack foods that she is able feed herself, with flavors she likes and that have a bit more texture so she can practice chewing (though she still has no teeth?!).

On the menu for Josie:

- steamed sweet potato

- banana pieces

- cottage cheese

- pureed pears

- a biscuit

- puffs

It's (mostly) healthy and I think she'll like it. It doesn't scream tailgate food, but I'm holding down the junk food end of the spectrum. After all, I started my day with a giant eggs and biscuit breakfast followed by a handful of Junior Mints (those count as a vegetable).

You scream, I scream, we all scream for ... broccoli?

Josie has really gotten into this whole "I can feed myself, thanks" attitude. Chris and I wholly support it. So, during every meal, we try to include something she can pick up and get in her maw (or close enough). The other day it was broccoli. I had my doubts, yet she was certainly game to try.

Perhaps not her favorite texture judging by that endearing mug, but she steadily shoveled it in. And I couldn't help but feel a bit smug that my baby was eating broccoli without me having to goad her or bribe her or trick her (not that she would have understood any of those feats of trickery).

Yes indeedy. I was smug. Smug, smuggity, smug. My baby loves broccoli!

Jeez, I really hope I'm not jinxing it. (Well, the dog did eat what landed on the floor. Hmmm...My doggie loves broccoli! Eh, not as satisfying.)

I fought the puffs, but the puffs won

Yes, it's true. I gave in to peer pressure. Or rather, I gave in to pressure from Josie's peers.

You see, Chris and I try to emphasize whole foods in our diets and in our daughter's. We feel, whether rightly or wrongly, that foods closest in resemblance to their form when they sprang from the earth or pasture or a reaction between bacteria and milk...well, you get the point...are the best for our health.

Highly processed foods often lack nutrients or are full of chemical preservatives and stabilizers and fats and salts — ingredients that sure enough make 'em taste good and last on our shelf but don't seem to do a lot for us.

Still, Chris and I don't want to be THOSE parents. You know the ones who look down their noses every time you sneak the little one a french fry or a spoonful of soft serve ice cream. Sure, we don't want Josie to turn into a sugar monster or a carbetarian who goes all Guernica at the sight of broccoli. But we don't want her to be the kid looking forlorn and alone with her carrot sticks while her friends eat cake at birthday parties or who refuses Grammy's homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies because of parental doctrine.

It's a fine line. One we may have crossed a step or two.

It happened about two months ago. We had heard about them. We passed them in their sleek plastic tubes lined up on the grocery aisle and noted silently to ourselves that they must fit so snugly into diaper bags. (Crafty packaging engineers!) We had seen other parents handing them over to buy a few more precious seconds of silence and their kids gobbling them up like candy. We heard their reverse-of-ominous-and-in-fact-rather-cute name: puffs. But we suspected the evil lurking in those quick-dissolving snacks that come in a variety of innocuous flavors such as banana, blueberry and sweet potato.

"Not our child," we said. "No sir. It's a gateway food, you know." First the puffs, then the Cheetos. And we all know how hard a Cheeto habit is to break.

So, when daycare suggested we send some with Josie so she could give herself a snack in the afternoons, we were appalled.

"Oh no, no," we say. "We don't want Josie to have a lot of processed, artificial foods."

"Not even the organic ones?" one of the teachers asks like no one had ever said no to puffs before. Had no one ever said no to puffs before?

"Um. No. Can we send anything else?" We rack our brains. "Maybe some ripe banana pieces?"

"You can. But, you know, the puffs are easy for babies to pick up and they melt really fast in their mouths so they are less likely to choke," she says. Is she pushing puffs?

"Umm...," we stammer.

"We give all the other kids puffs and Josie looks at them like, 'Where are mine?'" she says, striking at our most vulnerable moment.

I don't even remember if we say anything after that. But we go to work feeling guilty. Guilty that Josie is left out during snack time. Guilty that we aren't like the other parents. Guilty that we feel the peer pressure and are caving a little.

I spend an inexcusable amount of time researching an alternative to puffs. And you know what? I couldn't really find one that I was comfortable with or wasn't some cousin of puffs.

Later, Chris goes to the grocery and, out of a weird sense of atonement, buys the most expensive, organic, low sugar, GREEN VEGETABLE flavored puffs. We send them to daycare. We fret.

At home, we wait for Josie to show signs of puff mania. We look for clues that she'll refuse any non-puffed foods, that she'll go on strike until we hand over more puffs, that she'll grow a third, puff-grabbing arm.

Spoiler alert: None of these things happen. Yep. Girl loves some puffs. I think she can even recognize the tube. But she doesn't get them all the time. And we have started sending ripe banana pieces to daycare to break up the snack monotony. We still buy the organic puffs, but only because they're a little lower in sugar and don't contain as many unpronounceable ingredients.

And because, we realize we are (somewhat) THOSE parents...

Ode to Saturday

On Saturdays, we try new things. We eat cottage cheese with our hands.

Big, globby handfuls of cottage cheese. We squish the curds through our chubby fingers.

Saturdays are good!