Category: <span>Tiny Tastebuds</span>

I finally had the chance to make ahead a few of Sophia’s meals. Until now, I would whip up her lunches and dinners à la minute. However, I find it difficult to whip up a healthy and delicious meal for our little eater especially since she sometimes is in the mood for something other than what is on the menu. While hubby and I agree that we will not give into Sophia’s temperamental eating habits, we are being more accommodating until she can speak her mind. Once she can talk, she’s eating what’s for dinner!

I also promised myself that I wouldn’t turn into my own mother (not that there is anything wrong with that) and serve my child soup every single day of her life. And this is exactly what is happening: I am turning into my mother and serving my child her daily dose of delicious soup. So, this past Friday I purchased potatoes, carrots, zucchini, broccoli, spinach and corn and my mom brought her chicken soup. I cooked the potatoes and zucchini in the chicken soup and then put that through a little child grinder not unlike this one. I put chicken meat through the same food mill, mixed in enough chicken brother to bring everything to the right consistency and proportioned everything into little ice trays. Variety is the spice of life and so I made another variation of the soup with just chicken and broccoli. While putzing with the chicken soups, I steamed spinach, carrots and corn and pureed those separately. I froze those off as well and they’ll become welcome sides to the soup during the coming weeks.

Here is hoping that our little diner enjoys her gourmet meals!

As you may remember, hubby and I were determined to avoid industrially-made baby food for Sophia. Since our decision, we have purchased several brands and several types of baby food. We buy Earth’s Best oatmeal cereal and prune puree because Sophia cannot chomp down on homemade oatmeal just yet and we like to keep digestion regular. Aside from that, the remainder of our purchases, Ella’s Kitchen and Plum Organics Just Fruit, have more or less been experimentation in order to see what we could use in a pinch while on-the-go. I am not surprised that so many people have challenges getting their kids used to texture. The store-made baby food is so pureed and so pasty that it resembles nothing of the original product. This is great for a fast meal, but I cannot imagine trying to get Sophia to eat anything that has texture after she’s been savoring these types of purees.

Industrially-made baby food is also quite boring in its menu offerings… prune, squash, banana, apple, pear, blueberry, carrot, etc. The most exciting thing I have seen there is mango. We’ve started to experiment with more exciting offerings such as fresh rasberries (with seeds) and baby kiwi. They’re so little, so cute and so delicious! Passed through a food mill they are never farther than a few minutes from being offered to Sophia for degustation.

Until now, little Sophia’s adventures with food have not expanded beyond apple and prune sauce, pea, carrot, potato and sweet potato puree and of course mashed banana. It is hard to believe that a little person will have preferences and likes but it seems that banana and apple are clear favorites.

A meal, however, is not gourmet unless it is prepared with care, passion, elaborate techniques and flavors. We are beginning to expose Sophia to gourmet, richly flavored food early and are hoping to avoid protests in ethnic locales later on. To that end, we have augmented plain old apple sauce with cinnamon. Cinnamon is a warm, rich spice that manages to permeate the house even when used in small quantities. Apple and cinnamon are an especially great combination and we were unsurprised when Sophia happily dove into her dinner. A word of caution: cinnamon is a significant allergen, and I would advise that you use a stick instead of powdered cinnamon when making apple sauce and leave it in for just a few minutes at first to make sure your child does not have a reaction.

Like most new parents, I could not wait until I could give real food to little Miss S. We finally got the go-ahead from our pediatrician to start solids when our daughter was 5 months old. Until recently, Sophia has liked everything. We’ve offered her oatmeal cereal, prune, apple, and banana. I could sense that our luck was about to change when we offered carrot, potato and peas. Just today, I prepared Mushy Peas and being true to my own conviction (presentation matters),  I presented them in a clear, shiny dish our Bubbie gave us.

Sophia tried a few spoonfuls and made it clear she was not impressed. She made a face, pursed her little lips and turned her head. Desperation took over me and I did what I promised myself I wouldn’t do: offered something else. I sprung into action grating a little bit of banana.

The soft, sweet, billowy banana went over with baby claps, smiles and lots of lip smacking. A quiet sense of panic took over me as I was spooning banana into our daughter’s mouth: am I destined to become one of those parents who is a short order cook at home?