My little monkey

Josie's got Daddy reeled in, and it's so cute.
But Daddy's got strategy. He's setting a good example. For instance, snacking. That's not a Twinkie in his hand.
I think by seeing us enjoy good food, Josie tries good food. And she can think she's in charge.

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.

To meat or not to meat?

Here's my omnivore's dilemma: I eat some meat. Fish, fowl, reptiles. No mammals. I have vegetarian tendencies. My reasoning is a long, not exciting story, but my position is essentially that, as delicious as some animals may be, I can't bring myself to eat up the food chain in such proximity to humans.
And as an aside, I fear the hormones, antibiotics and chemicals used in mass farming of meat animals even though I'm a bit ignorant overall on the subject.
My husband eats any meat, though in very moderate amounts. He may have a steak once a quarter and pork on the rare occasions that A) someone else made it and invited him for dinner, B) it's a hotdog at a baseball park. He's also amenable to tofu, beans and meatless dishes, but holds none of my warm, furry aversions.
So where does that place Josie?

Turkey and green beans

I want her to eat what we eat, and that's been fairly easy except for this point where Mommy and Daddy diverge.

How do we introduce her to meats? Do we limit her meat eating until she is old enough to decide for herself? How do we talk to day care about what proteins we'd like for her to eat and which ones we'd like for her to avoid? Will she miss out on foods that are important to our culture or her friends' cultures? Are we limiting her palate? Are we being too controlling? Is there a compromise?

To meat or not to meat, that is the question.

She's had a few meats already. She's had chicken and turkey, both foods our family eats regularly. We're holding off on fish and seafood until she's at least a year old (which, gulp, is in weeks). 

And I know day care has given her a beef patty at least once. Not sure how she liked it, but there were no problems on the back end, if you know what I mean.
Still, I kind of which I had come to a decision, a solution to this dilemma before that happened. Shoulda paid more attention to the day care menu, too.
I have several momma mentors who probably have considered this before. So if y'all are reading, please weigh in. How did y'all do it? Would you do it differently? Am I just freaking out again?

CHOMP!

Back to our regularly scheduled programming

Friday, my man and I packed up and headed out of town. It was such a needed relief after a hellacious week. The timing was serendipitous though. We had planned this trip a while ago.
My husband's alma mater, the University of Southern Mississippi, was playing Tulane in New Orleans, a city we die for — or at least look for any excuse to visit. And it would be my first night away from baby, a trial run for the upcoming Birthday Beach Bash. (I believe it should have a proper title; I am turning 30 after all).
Friday was spent eating and shopping and eating along Magazine Street. My first 24 hours in NOLA I ate: truffled butternut squash bisque and grilled marlin in a satsuma beurre blanc at Martinque Bistro, a pistachio and cherry pastry and chocolate and hazelnut mousse at Sucré, duck confit with lentils and figs, julienned kale salad with beets and citrus and seared tuna over fingerling potatoes, fennel and olives at Gautreau's. I think I ate all the butter and cream from the Croissant, I mean Crescent, City.
But enough of what I ate. This blog ain't Feeding Momma.
Still, this is somewhat about me. The trip was important not just to see how Josie would do during an extended time without me but also to see how I would do.
And, if successful, it would mean Josie was fully weaned.
As usual, she did lovely. My wonderful gal has made every transition we've asked her to. She took her bottles, she ate, she played, she slept.
I sort of did the same thing. And I may have whined a little. But I had an epiphany.
I always felt guilty about leaving the babe behind. The root of that is because for so long I couldn't be more than a few hours away. My boobs and her needs wouldn't let me.
Now, she doesn't need me like that. It makes me kind of sad to admit, but she doesn't.
In fact, she really hasn't been all that interested in nursing for the last few weeks. So, even if I wanted to, she's not as in to it. Though today, she did sidle up to me and pull into standing like she wanted to be held. As I reached for her, she extended one index finger and poked me right in the boob. Poked me good and laughed.
It's also amazing how my body has adjusted. No longer do my (to use Sue Sylvester's terms) vine-ripened chest fruit become swollen grapefruits after 2 hours, 4 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, a day without nursing.
So gals, looks like a I got you back, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

BRAT

Nope. That doesn't refer to Josie. In fact, she has been anything but despite apparently catching my tummy bug. Poor gal. Poor Charles Barfley. Poor Bob Barfer.
She woke up about 4 a.m. today, around the usual time we change her, give her a bottle and rock her back to sleep. Except this time, we were greeted with splotches of upchuck in her crib. Nothing a quick change couldn't handle. She eventually took the bottle and went back to sleep. Half hour later she wakes us up with a sad little cry.
I rush in just in time to witness the projectile show. I was half frightened and half impressed. I hadn't seen that kind of velocity since college, and she didn't even cry about it later.
After another change and much wiping down, she is playing in her nursery like nothing happened. But her daddy and I are shaken. We've been through some ear infections, but never the yaks. And all the scary stuff I've read about dehydration comes rushing to the front of my conscience at once. I am worry monster mommy.
Fast forward to 8 a.m., when she's slept a little, dirty sheets and jammies have whirred in the washer and I've catnapped on the floor by her crib. Chris is taking the day off to watch the urpy baby and I am heading to work, but not before lecturing him to give her plenty of liquids — BUT DON'T FORCE THEM — and to follow the BRAT diet. That's bananas, rice, apple sauce and toast. All foods that are supposed to be gentle on the tummy.
Poor guy is exhausted and can only nod, waiting for me to leave them in peace. And heaven of heavens, I get this update at work around noon:
"Toast and apple sauce. So far, so good. She seems hungry."

Sorry I puked.

I guess good sleep, a light bottle and some BRAT make a curative recipe. I'm crossing my fingers and toes it's true.

Anyone out there have any other good ways to soothe the upset baby tums?

The end of an era

As Josie grows closer to becoming fully weaned, I find myself mourning the loss of the tender moments of nursing.
I mean hurray Upcoming Weeklong Surprise Birthday Trip to Somewhere Beachy! But also, boo hoo. (Or should that be boob who?)
I miss nursing times more than I thought I would. Did I cherish those times enough? When it was just the two of us snuggled close in the wee hours of dawn, in the thick dark of the evening, in the fading glow of late afternoon following a long day at work? When I could lull her to sleep, skin against skin?
Perhaps, part of my woe is that Josie is almost a toddler. That means no longer a baby, my baby.
So I am replaying the nursings in my mind sometimes — sort of like I did her birth — to savor them a little longer, to squeeze out the last drops of warm fuzziness until the memories dissipate and are eventually replaced.
And to help with the mourning, I celebrate the new. The pulling up on everything and beaming at her new found stance. The constant gibberish chatter that almost sounds like language. The recognition of people and places that are constants in her life.
She's also helped me overcome the mourning in her own charming way. Like earlier this morning when instead of allowing me to nurse her in bed (which I do to coax her into letting me sleep just a half hour longer), she snuggled up in a crescent across my chest, laid her head in the crook of my elbow and patted my face.
Then, without warning, she bit the stew out of my forearm. Teeth! Ah yes, like razors. And so maybe I mourn the nursing times a little less.

Weekend recipe: back to basics

First off, an apology. Sorry this weekend recipe is late. I'm not a fan of tardiness (Thanks Kim Zolciak for making that word hip). I'm also not a fan of tummy bugs, and this bug was mean and nasty. Let's just say I was in no shape to write, much less think, about food.
But after swigging some Pedialyte and balling up on the couch for 36 hours, I'm on the mend. And I'm ready to talk baby food makin'. Let's get it on.
When I decided to make Josie's food, I knew I wanted her first bite to be something nutritious, gentle and sweet but not too sugary. So I picked sweet potato.
Whatever you pick, making purees is actually pretty easy, is cheaper than buying premade, doesn't require any special kitchen appliances (as long as you have, pots and pans and a blender or food processor) and takes less time than slapping on sweats and shoes and driving to the grocery store.
Back to basics
Here's the basic recipe for any single fruit or veggie puree. For first stage food, the texture should be similar to cream. Once baby has been introduced to a variety and has moved on to stage two, you are free to mix and match as you please. Also, if you find yourself lacking ideas, go peruse the baby food aisles.
Time
30 minutes or less
Ingredients and Equipment
Here's where you have options. I'm lucky enough to have access to a farmers market from summer to mid-fall, and I really enjoyed picking out produce that was in season. I knew it was fresh and flavorful. But truth be told, I found some frozen vegetables worked just as well. I never used canned because of the high salt content and general not-fresh flavor.
I've listed some of our favorite fruits and vegetables, though feel free to run wild.
- Fresh vegetable: Sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, broccoli
- Frozen vegetable: sweet peas, green beans, lima beans, spinach
- Fresh fruits: peaches, mango, apple, blueberries, pears (fruits such as bananas and avocados can be pureed and served raw)
- Frozen fruits: peaches, mango, blueberries, cherries
- Steamer pot, stew pot, oven or microwave
- blender or food processor
- sieve (optional)
Directions
Again, more options when it comes to cooking methods.
- Wash all fruits and vegetables and remove any peels, skins, rinds or seeds. Then, cut into manageable pieces.
- Steaming: great for squash, carrots, broccoli. Place pieces in a slotted or colander like basket over boiling water, cover and cook until tender.
- Baking: great for sweet potatoes, yams or any kind of potato. (In a hurry? Just prick some holes in the skin with a fork, pop in the microwave and nuke until the flesh is tender. Cut in half and scoop out.)
- Stewing: great for any fruit or frozen vegetables. Add a little water to the pot and simmer until tender.
You see, tender is the optimal condition here.
- Puree: Place the fruit or vegetable in a blender or food processor. Thin with breastmilk, formula or cooking liquid and blend until smooth.
- Strain: This is really only necessary for stringy or fibrous vegetables and fruits (green beans, mango, sweet peas)
- Store: Pour purees into ice cube trays and allow them to freeze overnight. Pop out the cubes (pre-portioned; about a tablespoon each) into a plastic freezer bag, label and keep up to a month.
Ta da! Now get on it, y'all!