Lunch : Beet soup with Buckwheat crackers

Maybe it is the color or the self lingering sweetish taste of Beet itself, Veer almost jumps out of his seat when he can see Beets for lunch. As the weather is changing on us, he has caught a mild cold and a runny nose. So I thought maybe some warm beet soup may help soothe him. He was quite a happy baby after his meal and even tried to grab the spoon and eat himself ( obviously splashing the bright red all over himself)

If you care about what your baby is wearing or if you are planning to feed your baby outdoors, please carry a bib or better still an extra pair of clothes :)

Roasted tomato and Beet soup

Ingredients :

2 small roma tomatoes coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic
1 small beet ( peeled and grated fine) ***
1 small onion
salt and pepper to taste
Oregano to taste
Vegetable broth/warm water
Olive oil

Method :
 Place the coarsely chopped tomatoes on a cookie sheet and drizzle olive oil, garlic and oregano on it. Roast the tomatoes till they are soft at 350F (about 15 minutes).
Personally I am a fan of toasted or sauteing vegetables instead of steaming them. Roasted helps retain the nutrients and enhances the taste of the veggies.

****You also have the option to steam the beets  instead of grated and sauteing them. If your baby likes texture, the grated beets add a nice feel to the soup. If your baby is a fan of velvety soups, then I would steam the beets.***

In a deep pan, saute the onions and grated beets. Add the vegetable broth and roasted tomatoes. Bring to boil. Finally add salt and pepper and blend the soup to get a thick/chunky consistency. You can add more broth/water based on the consistency your baby likes.

We had this soup with Buckwheat crackers and a little quinoa on the side for a complete meal.
For the buckwheat crackers we use, please click here : Buckwheat Crackers

Tomato ricotta pasta sauce

Veer loves pasta! It's the only form of food he knows enough to ask me for it. I think it is extremely endearing when your baby says pasta without the "s". :)
Oh well, so I found a system that works. Tangy tomato pasta sauce with a veggie and protien boost. Say hello to our baby friendly pasta sauce that can be made husband friendly by adding hot sauce or chili flakes and yay - you can whip a meal for the household!

Our secret pasta recipe from our home to yours 😄 enjoy!

Ingredients :

Whole wheat cooked pasta sautéed in butter
2 plum tomatoes
Half a green pepper
Half a small carrot
Half a zucchini
One small onion
One clove garlic
Herbs : oregano and basil
2 tsp olive oil
2 tbs ricotta cheese
Parmasean cheese to garnish

Method :

Dice the onion, carrots, zucchini and garlic and sauté the vegetables in olive oil. Add the herbs to this mixture.
In an oven roast the green pepper and tomatoes for 30 minutes (drizzle olive oil on the veggies and place them on a cookie sheet to roast)
Once roasted, blend tomatoes and green peppers and add to the sauted vegetable mix. Add in a little water to get adjust the consistency to your liking. Add the ricotta to this mixture and mix well.

Season with pepper, herbs and a pinch of sugar. ( I usually avoid salt as parmasean has a salty taste to it)

Add the cooked pasta to this sauce and season with parmasean cheese.

This is a hearty and heavy meal that we enjoy once a month 😄

Dinner : Roasted asparagus soup

Yes you read it right .. asparagus! Roasting vegetables helps retain the nutrients and also enhances the taste. So I tried my luck with roasted asparagus. I paired it with brown rice but next time around i think quinoa or barley would go better with the soup.

Ingredients :

Asparagus (chopped the spears )
Quarter boiled white potato
Leeks (white only)
Small onion
Maple syrup (half teaspoon)
Salt and lime to taste
Olive oil

Method :

Drizzle olive oil on the asparagus in a baking sheet and bake it at 400F for 15 minutes or till it is extremely tender.
In a pan, sauté the onions, leeks and potatoes. Add the asparagus once roasted and some vegetable stock or water. Bring to boil.
Blend the veggies and use a strainer to seperate the asparagus chunks from the soup. If you baby can appreciate the silky asparagus feel free to leave the strands in.

Transfer this strained soup to the deep pan or crock pot and season with maple syrup, salt and lime.

Serve with brown rice or quinoa.

A good addition to this soup is sweet corn kernels.

Enjoy and stay healthy! 

Finger Food : Almond Roti

Teething is NEVER fun! But what it makes you do is give foods that the little one's can chew one. One random invention was this "Almond Roti"
I am all for teething biscuits/crackers once in a while, especially when they are doing well on meals. How much can they possibly munch on if they have eaten a good breakfast/lunch.
I somehow noticed that my cracker monster started spitting out the teething biscuits for a few days in a row. Maybe his taste buds are developing and he could taste what I taste - an after taste! Most of the baby crackers/biscuits etc have this funky after taste which is so not fun.

Anyways, that promoted me to experiment in the kitchen for something chewy and packed with nutrients!  I tried a go at this Almond roti.

Ingredients :
Whole wheat flour
Almond Meal ( Blended whole almonds)
Almond Butter
Almond milk

Method :
Mix the whole wheat flour and almond meal together and knead with almond milk to form a play-dough like texture.

Use a rolling pin to make small flat round rotis and roast them on the griddle. Once done, spread almond butter on the rotis, and serve small easy pieces.

It was fun to watch him say " Mooo" (MORE) and he chewed on a few pieces for quite some time.

Finger Food : Veggie Quesadilla with Guacamole

It is so difficult to think of quick, healthy snack options that will keep that little tummy for rumbling for some time. One option that has worked well for us is a Veggie Quesadilla. Ours is a Mexican food loving household and we want Veer to be able to learn about and enjoy the food as well. On our few vacations, we have taken him to Mexican restaurants and he has thoroughly feasted on guac ( avacado being his first food, it managed to stick! )
Here is a healthy and quick version of mini veggie Qs. Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Veggie Qs

Ingredients :

Whole wheat tortillas
Mexican cheese blend
Diced veggies of your choice, we have used : onions, green peppers, winter squash, zucchini
Taco seasoning ( teensy tiny bit )
Olive oil
Lime

Method :

Saute the veggies in olive oil and season as per your taste ( we use salt, taco seasoning and lime)
Take two whole wheat tortillas and coat with butter. Place one tortilla on the griddle. Sprinkle the veggies, layer with the cheese, cover with the other tortilla. Roast/Pan fry the tortillas on both sides, they will stick together as the cheese melts.
Use a pizza cutter to make small triangles and serve with some avocado or guac on the side.

Yum:)

Lunch : Roasted Tomato Soup and Grilled cheese sandwich

You can very rarely go wrong with the classic soup and grilled cheese combination. We have our own "lunch special" at home every once a week where we ditch the usual quinoa, brown rice and go straight for the yum grilled cheese sandwich as an accompaniment to the soup.

Today veer tried a yumilicious roasted tomato soup with sandwich where we played with the concept of dunking and eating :)  ofcourse it was messy but was so much fun! We took strips of grilled cheese sandwich and dipped it in the soup and made fun expressions while we ate together.

Now that the dunking and licking is on its way, I am sure oreos and milk will happen soon.. I hope soon is further away for now!! Would not want to lose my healthy veggie eater to processed foods JUST YET.

Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

Ingredients :
2 coarsely chopped big tomatoes
Half coarsely chopped green pepper
Half an onion
Handful of Zucchini chunks
2 cloves garlic
Herbs: Oregano(dried), Thyme(dried), Basil(fresh)
1 Tbs Olive oil
1 pinch of brown coconut palm sugar and sea salt

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350F. On a cookie sheet, place the tomatoes and green pepper. In a small bowl combine the oil and the dried herbs and drizzle the oil+herb mixture on the vegetables. Place the cookie sheet in the oven and roast for 30 minutes or till the veggies are soft and brown.

In a sauce pain saute the onion, garlic and zucchini together till the veggies are soft and the garlic is brown.

Blend the veggies from the cookie sheet and the sauce pan together with water/homemade broth. Add the basil and pulse till the basil is mixed in.

Pour the soup in a sauce pan, set to boil and add the sugar and salt to taste.

Enjoy with a plain ol' grilled cheese sandwich or a grain of your choice!

Dinner Soups : Veggie + Grain

I usually make a healthy veggie soup for dinner and pair it up with a grain of my/veer's choice. Its usually quinoa, barley or brown rice and sometimes white rice  If the soup has Italian seasonings, I toss some cooked whole grain pasta with butter and cheese (usually Parmesan)  and have Veer pick up the pasta from his table while he enjoys the soup.

The newest addition to our grain list is Orzo, it is a good size, easy to pick up and very yum!.

Two of our favorite soups :

1. Carrot and Butternut Squash

Ingredients :

Half a carrot (peeled)
Handful of butternut squash chunks
Half a zucchini
Pinch of brown sugar
Pinch of oregano
Parmesan cheese to drizzle on top

Method :
Steam and blend the veggies, add some vegetable stock ( I usually drain of the water used to steam the vegetables and use as stock) Bring to boil
Season with oregano, brown sugar and cheese.
Lately I have been using a dash of pepper too, to get Veer to join the spice/flavor club at some point :)

Drizzle with cheese and serve with your favorite grain.

2. Spinach and Zucchini Soup

Ingredients :
Two handfuls of spinach leaves
Half a carrot (peeled)
Half a zucchini
Quarter white potato
Lime
Cumin Powder
**Salt to taste ( it is recommended that babies under 2 should avoid/minimize their salt intake, I use a very minimum quantity, even less than a pinch )
FYI - A pinch of salt is approximated to 1/6th teaspoon which has about 150mg of sodium.

Method:

Blanch the spinach separately and drain all the water. Wash the blanched spinach with fresh water. It is best to not use that water as liquid to make your soup. Green leafy vegetables contain high level of nitrates which seep into cooking water during steaming/boiling/blanching

Read more here 

Separately, also steam the carrots,zucchini and potato. 

Blend all the veggies together, add vegetable stock to acheive the consistency you desire. Season with salt, cumin powder and lime. 

Enjoy with your choice of grain :)

Dinner : Very veggie curried quinoa

Veer has really developed a taste and liking for quinoa which is amazing for us veggies as it packs up a good amount of protien. This is our staple dinner routine which i gobble up as well. Thought it will be a tasty and healthy option for you to try out.

Ingredients :
Half a small carrot
Half a small green zucchini
Quarter white potato
Half a winter squash or bottle guord
Quarter of a small sweet onion
One small tomato
White quinoa
Spices : turneric, cumin powder, salt

Method :
Sauté the onions, tomatoes and steamed veggies, add in cooked quinoa and season with the spices. Super easy and extremely tasty 😄 and loaded with nutrients!

If your baby doesn't appreciate too much texture you can absolutely blend everything together with a little water or homemade vegetable stock. I usually add a little oregano for the yum smell..

Veer is very fond of looking for veggies and picking them out of the quinoa... That makes meal time a lot of fun.

Enjoy! 

Nap Situations

Veer is at 13 months now and he has successfully transitioned from 2 naps to 1. Doctors/Books usually say that most babies make that transition any time between 12 to 24 months. In my opinion, 13 months is a tad bit early and we were so NOT ready. I really enjoyed my 2, 1.5 hour chunks of quiet but now I have a good 2 hour long afternoon stretch.

A few cues I watched for to know its time -

1. Morning naps shorter than an hour (even 45 minutes is not really a full, restorative nap)

• this happened to us around the 9 month mark as well and we were advised to put him down 15 minutes later every day till he reaches his 1.5 hour sleep mark. At 9 months he transitioned to a later 1st nap ( awake time 3 hrs since he woke up in the morning which was 2 hrs of wake time initially)
• So following suit, I tried to put him down later everyday, just didn't seem tired enough! First cue for nap consolidation

2. Extremely playful before the afternoon nap, not ready to wind down. There were days he skipped his afternoon nap too, resulting into an extremely unhappy, overtired baby around the 5 PM mark. Obviously letting him nap then would mean a SUPER late bedtime and the only logical thing to do was to write off the day as a "bad nap" day and move on to a newer, brighter morning:)

3. Pushing ahead bed time ( OH PLEASE NO!)

We have been very schedule cautious for Veer, so it gives him consistency and gives us a method to the madness. Ambiguity kills me, structure makes me smile. So we worked very hard to put Veer down consistently at the same time every day for naps and at night, so when he started tweaking the schedule and staying up longer(happily) we started thinking about nap consolidation.

Now he is happily and actively awake for two  5/5.5 hour stretches and follows the following schedule -

6:30/7am wake up
12 noon - nap
2/2:30pm - wake up
7:30/8.00pm - down for the day

Although Veer is not the best night time sleeper, I feel that having this schedule makes the days easy to tackle and will eventually give him the push for a 11/12 hour uninterrupted sleep :)

Comments and thoughts always welcome!