Spice, spice baby

Yes. I'm still here. And no. I haven't been stuck in Atlanta traffic all this time.
I will blame the lapse in transitioning and starting a new job because that's sounds better than laziness.
But don't lose heart; I've been doing a lot of feeding Josie — an activity that now includes more spices.
I've always been a gal who likes to mix it up. I've perked up butternut squash bisque with allspice and zinged plain, old steamed vegetables with a little smoked paprika. I ain't scared.
Yet, I was kind of shy when it came to whether I should spice Josie's food and with what. I wasn't quite sure what would agree with her, what she'd like, what would be too much to handle and what might just turn her into a werewolf. Fortunately, the latter hasn't happened...yet.
She likes sweet potatoes baked with a mix of ground cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves or scrambled eggs with a dash of dried oregano. She's a spunky chick like her momma. She's done well with spicier cuisines, as well: Indian, Ethopian and Thai. (Perhaps because I ate so much of it while pregnant and nursing.)
I'm not sure when I got comfortable with the notion of spicin' up Josie's meals. Perhaps, it happened when I just got too tired of making separate meals for her and decreed she'd eat the same thing as us.
Now, I don't put A LOT of spice in her food. I probably hold back a little more on seasoning than I normally would, and I stay away from the hot stuff. But all in all, she's been pro-spice.
Truth be told, she's been doing a little experimenting of her own:

(Warning: This video contains scenes of extreme cuteness, heightened by chubby legs and hiccups.)

Here are some links that I found helpful, too, during my quest to suss out the skinny on spices:
- http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/tipspices.htm
- http://www.babycenter.com.my/baby/startingsolids/spicesinbabyfoodexpert/
- http://www.livestrong.com/article/153972-what-herbs-spices-can-be-added-to-baby-foods/
- http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/tipcurry.htm

Weekend recipe: Chai tea

Baby, it's cold outside. And also iced over. And that's why we haven't gone past the front door in three straight days. Aghhhh...
Thank you for humoring my temporary freak out. Anyway, as I was saying, it's down right cold.
To combat the chill, I've taken to coffee, cocoa and my most favorite warm beverage: tea. And my favoritest of favorites is chai.
It's soothing and milky. It has a slight caffeine kick. It's spicy. It pretty much gets me through this rough patch of cabin fever. Fevah!
So while this is not a recipe for babies or toddlers, an occasional recipe for mommies and daddies is important, too. After all, it's rather hard to feed Josie if Mommy's all cross-eyed and itchy from being stuck indoors for 72 consecutive hours.

Chai tea
Time
About 20 minutes
Ingredients and Equipment
- 4 to 6 cups of water
- 3 to 4 bags of black tea (Don't used flavored black tea; just plain like assam or darjeeling or pekoe. And truthfully, plain old Lipton's is the best.)
- whole milk
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 6 whole cloves
- 6 green whole cardamom pods
- a dozen whole black peppercorns

- 1/2 to 1 cup white sugar (optional)

- saucepot
- ladle
- sieve
Directions
- Bring water to a boil in the saucepot and drop in the tea bags. Make sure to add enough bags to brew a strong, very dark tea.
- Also drop in the whole spices, though you should crush the cardamom pods in your hands before adding to the mix.
-Stir in the sugar. (Alternatively, you can leave the sugar out and sweeten my the mugful or leave it plain.)
- Turn the heat down to the lowest setting and cover with a lid. Let the tea and spices steep for 10 minutes.
- Turn the heat up just slightly and add several splashes of whole milk.
- Serve warm. (Place the sieve over a mug and ladle the chai into the sieve to strain out the whole spices.)

Snow day

Well, I was supposed to start my new job today. But Mother Nature had other plans and sent snow and ice to Atlanta.
Instead of hustling and bustling our way out the door, we are tucked into our home. Josie is playing. Maxine is napping. Mommy and Daddy are enjoying the together time, though slightly bummed about the work repercussions.
But we have chai tea and soup and cornbread later to cheer us up. (Fortunately, we have not lost power and so I won't have to come up with any creative baby recipes that involve canned goods and keeping the fridge door closed.)
Also, Josie has discovered the delicious joy of snowsleet.

Table scraps

Opah!
Josie crossed off two cuisines this weekend while in Birmingham (aka The Big Salty) celebrating her Grammy's birthday. She ate Greek and Thai within a 24-hour span.
We had birthday dinner at DoDiYos in Homewood kind of late — at least for people now accustomed to eastern time — but Josie was fine as long as there was food. There was bread with a garlicky feta spread and pita and hummus. After she got bored with it, she ran hummus through her fuzzy locks and "combed" them with the pita slices. Bizarre!
There was also roast chicken and potatoes. Seared grouper over truffle risotto. And salad. Yep. She's a crumbsnatcher, for real.
We'd give her food. I swear! Things she could eat that were cut or mashed into appropriate bits. But quickly, she discovered everything is better when snatched directly off Mommy's or Daddy's plate. Including salad. I don't know how she snuck the lettuce or why, but she was defiant when we tried to take it away.
And given that her tooth count remains at two (but good gravy is she trying for uppers!), she did fairly well gumming everything up.

How do you like them apples?
I must have the only child on Earth who doesn't care for apple juice.
After weeks of battling to get her to drink juicy water (that's about one part juice to about two or three parts water) out of her sippy cups, it finally dawned on me that maybe Josie doesn't like apple juice.
Sure enough, tried out some mango juice and she was all in. Blueberry juice? OK. White grape? Aight.
Just no apple, please. Wonder why?

Weekend recipe: Smoothie pops

Yeah, I know it's January. But in my head, I like to pretend it's June. Helps me get through the cold drizzly times.
Adding fuel to my is-it-summer-yet fire, is a sweet set of Tupperware popsicle molds I found tucked away in my father-in-laws cupboard. It's pretty much the exact same set I used as a child in the 19(ahem)80s(ahem) to make pudding pops (I was a cultish follower of Bill Cosby. It was the 80s.) and fruit pops and frozen Kool-Aid. Anyway, enough popsicle-induced flashback.
Suffice to say, I found inspiration. I added it up in my head, and the sum was "total yes."
- I'm trying to find different ways to get Josie to eat more fruit and take more liquids [TMI: But the switch to whole milk has created some problems...let's just say in the back porch area.]
- I wish it were summer.
- I love playing with popsicle molds.
- And, it turns out, my father-in-law is a huge fan of smoothies.
So here I go!

Smoothie pops

Very berry good!

Time
Prep time is about 15 minutes
Freeze time is a few hours
Ingredients and Equipment
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 cup frozen fruit (Go nuts. Mix and match. I like blueberries, strawberries, mango and peaches. You could also try pineapple. And grocery stores sell beaucoup kinds of frozen fruit mixes. Fresh fruit may be used, but you may have to add ice to get the smoothie effect, and I find that approach can yield watery drinks)
- A couple tablespoons of yogurt (I like vanilla yogurt, but fruit flavors or plain would work. With plain, you may have a tarter, less sweet smoothie)
- A few splashes of milk (just enough to get things moving in the blender. You could also use soy milk — just make sure your little one is OK with that.)
- Blender
- Popsicle mold set
Directions
- Dump everything in blender and puree until smooth and creamy.
- Pour the smoothie into the popsicle molds and freeze until hard.

"I wish it were summer, too, Mommy."

P.S. If you aren't down with the whole pops thing, just make the smoothie. Also, if you're not fortunate enough to find Tupperware popsicle-making treasure in your or someone else's pantry, go kitchen gangsta and pour the smoothie into Dixie cups and insert plastic spoons (preferably filched from a fastfood restaurant) as sticks.

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. 

Weekend recipe: turkey pasta bake

Ugh. I've thought about posting this for days. But between battling the laundry monster, scheduling and then fretting about job interviews, making lists, losing lists, making new lists and chasing around a toddler...I sorta forgot. Sorry, y'all. One week soon, maybe I'll actually post a weekend recipe on the weekend.
Then again, like this turkey pasta bake...perhaps the idea gets better the next day.
I came up with this recipe as a way to repurpose leftover Christmas turkey (like leftover Thanksgiving turkey, just jollier). Really, I ended up stretching the turkey out longer. But no one complained. Not even after the third day.
In fact, it really did get better the next day. And not only did my husband, father-in-law and teenage niece like it, so did my little gobbler Josie. Then again, who doesn't like a simple, warm meal to cheer us up after the post-Christmas doldrums set in?

Turkey Pasta Bake
Time
About an hour
Ingredients and Equipment
-13-oz box whole wheat thin spaghetti
-extra virgin olive oil
-1 bunch green onions
-1 clove of garlic
-leftover turkey, pulled off the bone and shredded
-14-oz can stewed tomatoes (you can add 2 cans if you like)
-1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (dried oregano, thyme, parsley)

-salt and pepper

-1 cup whole or reduced-fat milk
-2 tablespoons flour (preferred Wondra)
-1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra in reserve
-about 1 cup grated cheddar cheese (mozzarella or any other kind would work just as well)
-pasta pot
-large sauce pan or deep-sided skillet
-baking dish (9x13 or so)
-spray oil
Directions
- Boil spaghetti noodles in a large pot with lots of salted water.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Trim and finely slice green onions. Then add them to a large sauce pan or skillet with a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Saute over medium low heat.
- Mince garlic and add to pan.
- Once green onions and garlic cook down, add the turkey, stewed tomatoes, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste.
- In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, pour a cup of milk. Then dissolve the Wondra or flour in the milk before pouring the mixture into the pan with the turkey mixture.
- Add Parmesan cheese. Mix well and allow all ingredients to come to a simmer.
- Drain the pasta and add to the turkey sauce. Toss well.
- Add the pasta and sauce to a baking dish that has been lightly sprayed with oil. Then, top with shredded cheese and a sprinkling of Parmesan.
- Pop in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and there is a golden, bubbly crust.