Our Mommyhood

Posts Tagged ‘Cooking’

Lucinda Watrous, Staff Writer, My Baby Clothes Boutique

Have a new baby in the home? Making your own baby food is a quick, easy and economical way to make sure your baby gets all the nutrition he or she needs. All you need is a selection of fruits or vegetables, some storage containers and something to puree the food with.

Choosing the Right Equipment to Mash the Food With
For soft fruits and vegetables, a simple fork will do. Otherwise, a food processor, a blender, or baby food grinder is a good choice. You can also get a hand turned food mill to break down the food, too. Chances are, you already have a blender on hand, so you won’t have to buy anything special to process the food. Look online and read reviews before purchasing any equipment designed specifically for making baby food.

Choosing the Right Storage Containers
If you’ve previously purchased commercial baby food, wash and dry the jars and lids. Fill the jars with the food, and store. If you do not have any of these jars on hand, use ice cube trays to freeze portions, or find containers specifically designed for the storage of baby food, online and in conventional stores. Make sure the containers seal air tight, so you can freeze leftover portions. Leftovers will store in the freezer for up to three months.

Choosing the Right Foods
When possible, choose fresh fruits and vegetables. Do not buy more than you can use within two days or so, because the produce will waste. If fresh is not available, frozen is a good way to go. Canned options don’t have a lot of nutrition compared to fresh and frozen varieties, so try to avoid these. If you prefer organic, then you can take that route as well. To get the most of your produce, try “green” bags designed especially for storing it.

Good fruit choices to start with are:

• apples
• pears
• apricots
• bananas
• prunes
• blueberries

Good vegetable choices to start with are:

• carrots
• spinach
• peas
• green beans
• squash
• sweet potatoes
• avocados
• potatoes

Don’t add salt or sugar to the food. Steam it rather than boiling it to preserve more of the nutrients and make it soft. Squeeze in a little lemon juice to enhance the flavor and act as a natural preservative.
You can also puree meat and whole grains, and store them accordingly. Just be sure the meat is fully cooked, and bland (unless your baby is older and can handle the seasonings) before you puree it.

Remember, a good rule of thumb is to introduce one new food a week to watch for food allergies. Avoid fruits such as strawberries until your child is about a year old, especially if there is a history of allergies in your family.

When you make your baby the same foods the rest of your family is eating, it is a great time saving strategy. During the toddler years when picky eating is likely to start, it may lessen those issues.

Lucinda Watrous is a member of the Cooking Club and is trying to move to a healthier diet in the midst of exploring different recipes. She is a wife and mom and her goal is to make cooking fun and easy. You can also find her articles at My Baby Clothes Boutique. Find the cutest baby clothes, tutus, and baby headbands for those lovely babies.

By Betsy, Editor, Funky Mama Bird (@funkymamabird)

Like a lot of parents of toddlers I know, we are in the thick of potty training just now. I don’t know how it’s going for the rest of you, but my kid is stubborn. Kid has a bladder of steel and will actually hold all of his pee from the minute he wakes up until nap time when I put a diaper back on him just so he won’t have to go in the potty. Let’s not even talk about poop. Child can hold it for days when he’s so inclined. It’s frustrating to say the least.

So I looked at a few potty training books and they advised flooding the child with liquids, salt and sugar. Make him half to go, in other words.

Well of course my kid is so stubborn he won’t even drink when we prompt him to, so I needed a new trick. After a lot of thought, I came up with a way to get my kid going: Salty, sugary, Potty Training Peanut Butter Cookies. These things are amazing and they also require a lot of liquid to get them down.

They are also completely dairy and gluten free and taste pretty good even when you aren’t trying to sneak extra milk down your child’s throat. I highly recommend them, but then again I recommend anything that has peanut butter in it, so you may need to try them for yourself.

Ingredients

Makes 6 large cookies

• 1 cup of natural, salted peanut butter – we use Teddy, make sure to get the one with salt
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Combine the ingredients in a small bowl
2. Divide into size balls
3. Place on a cookie sheet and flatten with a fork
4. Cook at 350 degrees for 15 minutes until they are crisp around the edges but still soft in the centers
5. Let cool and enjoy with about a gallon of liquid per cookie.

So easy even my toddler can make them, which he does when I measure things out for him. Give it a try with your potty trainee and see if works for you.

By Brooke, Staff Writer, Baby and Sofia (@babyandsofia)

Since becoming a stay-at-home mom one year ago, my priorities have seriously shifted.  Now that I have been able to focus my energy on taking care of my family, I have found that my life has taken a new route.  I have been able to perfect my favorite recipes and learn to make new ones.  I work very hard to make our home much more environmentally-friendly.  I take my crazy toddler, Paolo, to his weekly music lessons, play groups, reading groups and playdates.  While I do sometimes miss have even an iota of “alone time,” it is absolutely worth it.

I especially love that I now have time to cook healthy meals for my family. (Also my Italian hubs places enormous value on homemade quality meals to be shared together as a family, which is also incredibly important to me.) My favorite dishes to prepare are authentic Italian, which are actually very, very different from what most Americans make. American pizza, for example, is considered inedible by most Italians’ standards. As is the idea of eating chicken in a pasta dish or the idea of “cheesy garlic bread.”  Don’t get me wrong, I think all of these dishes are pretty yummy, it’s just that they are not authentically Italian. Another dish that is quite different from its Italo-americano counterpart is lasagne. While I adore American lasagne, it is actually quite different from my Italian recipe. Lately, my lasagne has been pretty popular with friends and family, so I thought I’d share this gem of a receipe.

To prepare this dish, I like to use oven-ready lasagne noodles. (Even for me, making homemade pasta is a little ambitious, especially with a crazy toddler running around.) When I buy pasta, I usually go for Barilla (carried by most supermarkets) or Garofalo (can be found at Costco).  This dish requires two homemade sauces: the ragu` and the besciamella, so it is a multi-step process.

Setting Up

1. Heat oven to 425 F.

2. Coat a 9×13’ oven casserole dish with a luxurious coat of butter.

3. Grate a decent amount of fresh parmesan (preferably parmiggiano-reggiano), about 2 cups.

4. Set aside lasagne noodles.

Prepare the Ragu`

1. Use a food processor or blender to combine 70 grams of carrots, 70 grams of celery and 70 grams of onion until thoroughly blended.

2. In a large saucepan, heat 60 grams of extra-virgin olive oil. Add the vegetable mixture and heat until simmering, about 7 minutes, stirring continuously.

3. Add 400 grams (about 1 pound) of ground pork and 400 grams of ground steak to oil and veggie mixture to brown the meat, stir often.

4. After approximately 15 minutes of cooking, add 100 grams of white wine and cook for an additional 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Next, combine 300 grams of crushed tomatoes. Cover, let simmer, but stir occasionally for 20 minutes.

6. Add salt and pepper to taste.

7. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

Prepare the Besciamella

1.  In a large saucepan, melt 80 grams of butter over medium heat.

2. Whisk in 120 grams of flour.

3. Slowly pour in 1000 grams of milk (skim, lowfat and whole milk are all equally delicious in this recipe), constantly whisking.  (Similar to making gravy; the constant whisking will create flavor and prevent lumpiness.)

4. Season with salt and dash of ground nutmeg.

5. Simmer and stir for about 20 minutes until the sauce has a thicker, gravy-like texture.

6. Remove from heat.

Assemble the Lasagne

1. Cover the bottom of the greased pan with a layer of noodles.

2. Cover the noodles with a layer of ragu`.

3. Cover the ragu` with a layer of grated parmesan.

4. Cover the parmesan with a layer of besciamella sauce.

5. Repeat, until all ingredients are exhausted.

6. Cover with a double layer of aluminum foil and cook for 50-60 minutes, until lasagne noodles are tender when forked.

I have found that this recipe comes out best when cooked in a 9 x 13 inch stone baking casserole dish. If I am bringing the dish out to share at an event or potluck, I simply leave it covered and wrap it in a pair of dish towels; it will stay piping hot for a few hours.  This lasagne has a distinct Italian flavor, and you will find that is quite different from it’s American cousin.  It is delicious, though, and a nice change of pace from our classic dish.  Please note that the recipes for the ragu` and besciamella are both delicious on their own. I usually serve the ragu` with linguine noodles, with a bit of grated parmesan; the besciamella with a penne or wagon wheels, with a sprinkle of bread crumbs and grated parmesan atop.

Bon appetito!

By Anne, Guest Writer, Sugar Bowl Mix (@SugarBowlMix)

My girls say this delicious, creamy and simple-to-make chocolate fudge is “crazy good.” Caroline, my eight-year-old, helped me make this, but the recipe is great for younger kids, too. Kids can unwrap the butter and chocolate, pour the sugar, stir the mixture at various stages and smooth over the fudge in the pan. This is an especially fun baking project for kids since there are lots of tasting opportunities along the way.

What You’ll Need

• 6 ounces dark chocolate, broken up
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

How To Make It

1. Place the chocolate a large bowl.
2. Place the butter, sugar and evaporated milk in a medium saucepan.
3. Stir until the butter melts and increase the heat until the mixture is boiling. Let it boil for 6 minutes at a rolling boil.
4. Pour the mixture into the bowl with the chocolate.
5. Gently stir until the chocolate melts.
6. Add the vanilla.
7. Let the mixture cool slightly. I like to place the bowl in an ice water bath in the sink for 20 minutes. But you can also place the bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
8. Line an 8-inch pan with aluminum foil and grease it lightly with butter.
9. Beat the mixture until it is shiny and thick.
10. Spread it in the pan.
11. Place the fudge in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
12. Remove the fudge from the pan and gently peel away the aluminum foil.
13. Cut into squares or use cookie cutters to create different shapes. Caroline chose to cut the fudge into heart.

Anne is a former Hollywood executive who tries to parent 2 girls with grace, humor and lots of chocolate in Los Angeles. Baking is her distraction, her bliss, her therapy. She writes about Hollywood, girls, baking and Los Angeles at Sugar Bowl Mix.

By Betsy, Editor, Funky Mama Bird, (@funkymamabird)

I come from a long line of chefs. My great-grandfather was the head chef at the two hotels open on Cape Cod at the beginning of the 20th century. His daughter, my grandmother, went on to become a chef who wrote cookbooks, a weekly recipe column and hobnobbed with celebrities over a plate of her amazing cooking.

I love to cook nearly as much as they did and have amassed quite the collection of cookbooks in my time. So when I heard that bon appetit wanted to partner with Our Mommyhood for a review and giveaway of their new dessert cookbook, I jumped at the chance both to get my hands on this book**** and to offer our readers the chance to get one for themselves.

Whether you like to bake or you just like to eat, this cookbook will have you drooling by the end of the first section. It’s filled with hundreds of recipes and variations for pies, cakes, cheesecakes, cookies, tarts and more. I wanted to lick each and every picture to try to get a taste of each amazing confection.

As I mentioned, I own quite a lot of cookbooks, including the one penned by my grandmother, and what struck me most about this book was not just its great recipes and photos. Accompanying some of the more complicated recipes are tips and techniques that even the most amateur baker can follow with ease. Never made a crepe before? Don’t worry about it; this book can show you how to make it and how to present it smothered in caramel and pecans.

Want one for yourself? bon appetit is graciously giving away a copy to one of our readers. Giveaway entry details are below:

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- (Required) Follow Our Mommyhood (blog) in some way, and tell us how you do.

Additional Entries

-Follow @OurMommyhood on Twitter, and leave us your Twitter handle.

-Tweet about this giveaway, using @OurMommyhood in your tweet, then come back here and tell us you did.

*This giveaway will remain open until Saturday, December 18th at 1 pm EST.

**Giveaway open to U.S. residents only.

***If your email address is not linked, please leave it in a comment for us to contact you if you win. Gift certificate will be sent electronically.

****I was sent a copy of the book free of charge for review purposes. All opinions are my own.