Fearless Kitchen

Recipe: Fearless Baby's Birthday Cupcakes

Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking.  The Countryman Press, Woodstock, 2006 pp. 368 - 9.

Fearless Baby had a birthday recently.  This is a big deal.  She turned two.  This technically means that she is no longer a baby and I should be calling her Fearless Toddler.  It's strange, though.  When I close my eyes I see her as she is now, long hair and distinct features and a human walk and human gestures.  When I look directly at her though she looks no different to me than she did when they first brought her to me in my hospital room.  Maybe this is normal and hormonal, something that happens to your neurochemistry once your body realizes that it is no longer pregnant.  Maybe my eyes need to be checked.  I don't know.

Anyway, this is not a Mommy blog, this is a food blog.  Birthdays mean food.  I tried not to do too much for this party, because I was already stretched to the fraying point before the party and at the end of the day it's not about the food it's about the toddler.  Still some things are expected.  Food is expected; I served a sandwich board with homemade bread, some basic hors d'oeuvres, chips, popcorn.  And cake is expected.  Fearless Baby is two.  She is not the neatest of eaters on the best of days.  Furthermore, she is a very mobile eater.  She wanders through the house gnawing her way through house and home.  (Before you criticize our parenting and say, "Well you need to strap her down and force her to sit still when she eats," this has been tried without success.  I will spare you the details but suffice it to say that the dog gained about a pound and we continue to pick peas out of the moulding.)  I decided that while I would infinitely prefer a chocolate cake, the guests would prefer not to have chocolate ground into their clothes.  Furthermore, chocolate is bad for dogs, so I left it out.  I made a few small changes to the recipe.  I made this a 100% whole wheat cake instead of mixing white and whole-wheat flour as called for in the original.  Everyone on our guest list is concerned for various reasons about health and sweets and I have really come to prefer whole-wheat products to white flour.  This necessitated adding more liquid in the form of yogurt.  Turning the cake into cupcakes was another alteration, although not exactly rocket science.  I frosted the cake with stabilized whipped cream, which is nothing more exciting than whipped cream with gelatin.

So there are two things to note about the results.  Flavor-wise I was very happy with them.  Structure-wise I was also very happy with them.  The color was less enthralling.  Originally I had intended to have a koala-themed party in honor of Fearless Baby's best friend in the whole wide world, Little Bear.  Unfortunately the party store had absolutely no koala bear things at all.  It became a Hello Kitty party very quickly, and I bought the official Hello Kitty food colorings.  When I was adding the official Hello Kitty Food Coloring to the stabilized whipped cream I sneezed.  This resulted in a whole lot more food coloring being added to the cream than intended.  I guess the color is okay.  I mean, I always kind of wanted hair that color.  The problem is that it stains, oh yes it does, which made avoiding chocolate kind of moot.  We have not yet received any dry cleaning bills.

The other item of note regarding this event is attendance.  So far Boston has received precisely one "storm" and it hit on the day of the party.  It's not so much the storm that kept people home, though.  It's the idiots.  Honestly.  People around here were for the most part born and raised in the same town where they currently reside.  It snows every year and has snowed every year since they were born.  Somehow, though, the snow makes people drive like flaming, flying morons.  While my perfectly sensible friends were more than capable of driving themselves in the snow they feared the morons on the road and stayed home.  Those who did show up proved the absentees right: there were spinouts all over the place (for the record, all-wheel drive does NOT mean impervious to snow and ice!) and at least one snowplow driving the wrong way on the high way.  At 50 miles per hour.  To make matters worse, about half my guest list attended a major science-fiction convention here in Boston the week before the party.  The main feature of said convention appears to have been an outbreak of norovirus, which then made the rounds of my friends and resulted in several very sensible cancellations.  So I had more food than it turns out I needed, but under the circumstances that's okay.

Fearless Baby's Birthday Cupcakes (makes 36; approx. $0.66/serving)

15 1/4 ounces whole wheat pastry flour

8 1/2 ounces whole wheat all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 sticks butter

21 ounces raw sugar

2 teaspoons salt

8 eggs

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

20 ounces low-fat Greek yogurt

Stabilized whipped cream

Equipment:

• Cupcake tins
• Cupcake liners
• Cooking spray
• Stand mixer with paddle attachment
• Disher
• Bowl
• Pastry bag with wide star tip

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Line the cupcake tins with the cupcake liners.  Spray the liners with cooking spray.
3. Combine the flours, baking powder, and baking soda in the bowl.  Set aside.
4. Combine the butter, sugar and salt in the stand mixer.  Cream until light and fluffy.
5. Add the eggs one at a time.  Scrape the bottoms and sides of the bowl frequently, after each addition is a good start.
6. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture.  Beat well.  Scrape.
7. Add 1/2 of the yogurt and 1/2 of the vanilla.  Mix well.  Scrape.
8. Repeat 6 and 7 in order until the ingredients are all mixed together.
9. Use the disher to portion out the cupcake batter between the tins.
10. Bake 22 - 24 minutes or until a tester inserted into a cupcake comes out clean.
11. Cool completely before frosting.
12. Load your frosting into the pastry bag with the wide star tip.
13. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcakes.  I decorated with an additional Hello Kitty decoration.  You can leave it out.
14. Serve.

Recipe: Christmas Cutout Cookies

Recipe Source: The Culinary Institute of America.  Baking & Pastry.  John Wiley & Sons, Hoboken, 2009 p. 316

My daughter is not quite two.  She's got a little friend, Nathan, who is precisely fifty weeks older than she is.  Fearless Baby stays at home with me all day.  Nathan stays at home with his carer.  Both sets of parents are concerned that our kids get some socialization with other children, and so we've made an effort to try to get Fearless Baby and her little friend together for at least semi-regular play dates.  I think they like it.  I mean, it's kind of hard to tell sometimes, but Nathan has a little song he sings about her when she's not around and Fearless Baby asks to see him frequently so I guess it's working out.  He willingly shares his carrots with her, and I guess he doesn't share them with just anyone.  Anyway, we try to get them together on a semi-regular basis to run around, explore, have fun and maybe if they can't help it learn something.  We've had outings to the indoor playspace at the local shopping mall, we've gone apple picking (where Nathan learned everything Fearless Baby's vocabulary could express about goats) and to a bird sanctuary.  I tried to think of something for them to do on a recent Tuesday and finally it occurred to me: Christmas cookies!  I used to love "helping" to decorate them when I was a kid, and I'm pretty sure my little sister wasn't much older than Fearless Baby when she started.

I did make a few changes to it, but they were minimal.  I used whole wheat flour and raw sugar.  I also used four eggs, which was about three-quarters of an egg more than the original called for (the original gave measurements by weight, you see.)  I figured it would be okay since the whole wheat flour would require more moisture anyway.  That's also why I increased the milk slightly.  They weren't hugely creative cookies or anything like that and they weren't supposed to be.  They were supposed to be a canvas for the kids to smear frosting upon.  For the frosting I used the same icing I used in the almond sweets recipe I made a few years ago, only using vanilla in place of almond.

I made the dough the night before.  The day of the event I rolled the dough out and cut out cookies using as many cookie cutters as I could find.  This is why my daughter now believes that bats are an integral part of Christmas.  (Really.  I suppose it could be worse.)  Anyway, I mixed up the frosting just before Nathan and his carer arrived.  We set out the bowls with some plastic knives, some sprinkles, and an extra supply of paper towels.

I'm not entirely sure what I expected to happen.  Nathan knew what to do more or less.  Fearless Baby was a little less clear on the subject.  Nathan picked up a cookie and slathered some white frosting on it.  FB picked up a cookie and ate it.  "No, no!" I laughed while Norah, Nathan's carer and a friend of mine, tried not to.  "You're supposed to put frosting on it!"  I handed her a plastic knife loaded up with blue frosting.  She looked at me, looked back at the cookie, looked at the knife and licked it.  Eventually we convinced her that she was supposed to actually decorate the cookies and she did - after biting each one she decorated.  Nathan, on the other hand, finally dispensed with the middleman.  We had these tubes of frosting that you're supposed to be able to use to write on the cookies and finally he just put his mouth on one and started drinking the frosting straight from the tube.  When we took that one away he switched to the other.  I'm including a couple of pictures of the finished products.  The pretty cookies are the ones Norah did.  None of Sophia's finished cookies made it onto this plate.  It's your best guess as to who made the rest of the cookies, I think the three-year-old and I have the same degree of artistic ability.

So while I sent half the cookies home with Norah and Nathan, I did not share the cookies outside my own family.  That's okay.  What matters is that Fearless Baby and Nathan had a wonderful time participating in a holiday that really is all about them at this point.  Hopefully this was the start of a new tradition that both kids can treasure as they grow and start their own families.

Merry Christmas to all.

Christmas Cutout Cookies (makes about 5 dozen cookies; approx. $0.13/ea.)

2 pounds whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound butter, soft

15 ounces raw sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 quantities frosting from the Almond Sweets recipe

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl
• Stand mixer with paddle attachment
• 4 zip-top plastic bags
• Rolling pin
• Cookie cutters
• Cookie sheets
• Bowls for frosting
• Food coloring
• Spatulas for frosting
• Drying racks

1. Begin the recipe the night before you want to decorate!
2. Combine the flour and the salt in the mixing bowl.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of the stand mixer until light and fluffy.
4. Combine the eggs, milk and vanilla.
5. Add the flour and the wet ingredients in alternating additions, adding 1/3 of the flour and 1/2 of the wet ingredients at each addition.  Begin and end with the dry ingredients.
6. Divide the dough into quarters and put one quarter of the dough in each zip-top bag.  Refrigerate overnight.
7. The next day, roll out your dough to about 1/8" thickness.  Use the cookie cutters to cut out shapes.  Older kids can help with this.  A kid who is not quite two cannot.  At least mine can't.
8. Preheat your oven to 375.
9. Bake the cookies about 12 minutes each.
10. Transfer the cookies to the racks to cool completely before continuing.
11. Prepare the frosting as described in the recipe linked above.  Divide into four bowls.
12. Leave one bowl white.  Color each of the remaining bowls with a different color.
13. Frost the cookies and decorate as you see fit.
14. Enjoy.

Recipe: Barley with Peas and Bok Choy

Near the end of October we took our wonderful daughter, the Fearless Baby, to an historical reenactment event down in Connecticut.  It was nice to go and see people I don't often get to see face to face, and of course Fearless Baby had a wonderful time.  She always does.  There was a feast at this event.  One of the dishes was a mustard soup with peas.  Ordinarily I wouldn't bother giving Fearless Baby soup.  She's a very independent little creature who insists on always feeding herself.  She also isn't yet two, so she doesn't have the kind of control over her movements that would allow her to eat soup without making an unholy mess.  This time, however, she was so interested in the soup that we couldn't avoid sharing it if we - or the people around us - wanted any peace at all.  We soon figured out what it was that she wanted: the peas.  In her infancy she wanted nothing to do with peas but those were pureed, a sort of nebulous green mush that even I wanted little to do with.  Proper peas, as it turns out, are a favorite.

So the idea of peas has been kind of stuck in my mind since then.  I read in a recent article somewhere that mixing vegetables into starchy dishes allows you to consume fewer carbohydrate calories, so I've been making a real effort to include more vegetables in the carbohydrate dishes my husband demands.  I decided to include some frozen peas that I've had on hand since July - I bought them to keep something cold on my way home from a farmers' market.  The bok choy was an impulse buy - I saw this huge carton of baby bok choy at Costco and it just hopped into my cart.  Still, some authorities suggest that some sort of cabbage-related vegetable should be consumed every day.  Baby bok choy certainly counts, so I used it here.  The leek was a leftover from the not-a-pie dish and the hulled barley just gives more fiber and nutritional value than other starches such as rice.  I've gotten to be quite fond of the stuff.

This dish went over very well with my husband.  I knew I'd like it so that was never an issue.  What I did not expect was Fearless Baby.  She escaped her pen, raced down the stairs and demanded every last bit of peas.  She ate plenty of the barley too, so that works well.

Barley with Peas and Bok Choy (serves 4; approx. $1.28/serving)

1 cup barley

3 cups water

1 pound frozen peas

1 leek, sliced

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

5 baby bok choy, sliced

2 tablespoons olive oil

Equipment:

• Medium saucepan with lid
• Wok

1. Combine the barley and water in the saucepan.  Bring to a boil.
2. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until the barley is tender, about an hour.
3. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a wok.
4. Add the leek and the pepper.  Saute until the leek is tender.
5. Add the bok choy.  Saute until the bok choy is tender.
6. Add the peas.  Saute until the peas are heated through.
7. Add the cooked barley.  Mix well.
8. Serve.

Recipe: Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

Recipe Source: Stewart, Martha.  Martha Stewart's Cookies.  Clarkson Potter Publishers, New York, 2008 p. 197

I know I've already posted about what I made for our Thanksgiving dinner.  The dessert was chocolate-pecan pie.  I was a little concerned about that.  According to our pediatrician the tendency to have food allergies runs in families, although the nature of that food allergy varies from person to person.  Because I have food allergies (three of them) they want me to avoid exposing Fearless Baby to certain very common allergens until she's older.  I can't say it's helped all that much in terms of avoiding food allergies - the slightest taste of blueberries will cause a rash that lasts for months.  I guess a rash is better than needing an epipen, though.  Anyway, she would be unable to partake of the pecan pie.  Ordinarily my husband would tell me to leave the nuts out or avoid making the dessert altogether, but in this case his tune was a little different.  He loves pecan pie, you see, and was unwilling to forgo it.  "She can eat a cookie," he pronounced.  On the one hand - great, I get to make the dessert I wanted.  On the other hand, I now had to make yet another dish.  This I was less than enthusiastic about.

I decided on this recipe because it included some vegetable.  She loves pumpkin and just about any other orange vegetable.  She's been on a protein kick recently, though, and hasn't wanted much to do with anything that wasn't meat, tofu or cheese.  (I'm told this is perfectly normal and even healthy; at this age their instincts still tell them what they need at that particular time and on average they will get the nutrients they need.  I distrust this theory but so far it seems to be working.)  Anyway I have yet to meet the toddler who will decline a cookie, even one packed with healthy pumpkin.  I used whole wheat flour on general principles.  I added some cloves and allspice just to give it a little more depth and fun.  Finally, I increased the evaporated milk slightly to accommodate the dryness of the whole wheat flour.

The results were frankly spectacular.  The cookies were incredibly moist even after several days.  They didn't look quite as fluffy as the photo in the book and the icing was definitely not as fluffy, but I'll cheerfully live with it.  My daughter could not get enough of them.  Neither could the adults and I couldn't keep any on the shelves after Friday.

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing (Makes about 24; approx. $0.33/serving)

2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/4 teaspoons ground ginger

3/4 teaspoons ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

3/4 cups butter

2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

2 extra-large eggs

1 14-oz can solid-pack pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie filling)

1 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners' sugar

10 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon evaporated milk, plus more if needed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Equipment:

• Stand mixer
• Small saucepan
• Cookie sheets
• Wire racks
• Whisk
• Mixing bowls

1. Preheat your oven to 375.
2. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices in a mixing bowl.  Stir to combine.
3. Put the 3/4 cup butter and the brown sugar in the bowl of the stand mixer.  Beat on medium speed until fluffy.
4. Mix in eggs.  I'm a scraper - I like to scrape the sides and bowl of the stand mixer at more or less random intervals.  Your preference may vary.
5. Reduce speed to low.  Add the pumpkin, 1 cup evaporated milk and vanilla.  Mix until blended.
6. Add flour mixture.  Mix until thoroughly combined.
7. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the batter onto a prepared cookie sheet.  Repeat until all the batter is used, spacing cookies about 1 1/2 inches apart.
8. Bake about 12 minutes, rotating once.
9. Cool on sheets 5 minutes.
10. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
11. Put the confectioners' sugar in the mixing bowl.
12. Melt the 10 tablespoons butter in the small saucepan.
13. Cook the butter until it is golden brown.
14. Pour the butter immediately into the bowl with the sugar and mix wel.
15. Add the evaporated milk and vanilla.  Mix thoroughly.
16. Ice the cookies.
17. Serve.

Recipe: Cauliflower Mac and Cheese

Recipe Source: Barnes, Lisa.  The Petit Appetit Cookbook.  The Penguin Group, New York, 2005 p. 129

When I first learned that Fearless Baby was on the way I made a promise to myself.  While I was not going to be one of those parents who micro-manages her child's diet, refusing to allow them to eat anything I had not made with my own hands even when not at home - I wanted to make sure she had a wholesome and nutritious diet.  Processed foods were fine - when we were away from the house.  At home, she would eat food that I had prepared myself.  That way if Grandma gave her a can of Spaghetti-Os or Auntie stopped at McDonalds there wouldn't be any harm.

Then, of course, reality set in.  On the one hand, (so far) I have the perfect child from a culinary standpoint.  She loves food, and she loves tasty food.  She will cheerfully eat just about any vegetable.  Spices are not a problem for Fearless Baby.  She tries new foods with glee and gusto, especially if she sees me eating it.  Unfortunately, she also has a strong preference for feeding herself.  My husband can sometimes convince her to let him feed her.  So can my mother.  Me?  Never.  So for the most part we've been feeding her things she can eat with her hands.  I am not proud of this, but when she got bored with grilled cheese sandwiches I started feeding her a lot of store-bought ravioli.  I tried to get the most wholesome ravioli I could, but there's only so much you can do.

Now, though, she's 21 months old.  Her fine motor skills are sufficent that she can eat with a fork - I wouldn't give her soup yet, but fork foods like pasta are fine.  I'd tried to make her mac and cheese once before.  While she liked it she quickly became frustrated by not being able to feed it to herself.  I figured I'd try to make some mac and cheese again for her, using a different recipe this time.  I made a few changes.  I used whole wheat pasta, but you should probably have expected that by now.  I wanted to use the whole package so doubled the quantities for the rest of the reicpe.  I used two percent milk instead of whole milk because that's what we keep on hand - Fearless Baby strongly prefers it.  I didn't add any salt, figuring that the cheese was quite sufficient in that regard.  I combined different types of cheddar.  I used pecorino instead of parmesan because it is cheaper.  Finally, I added mascarpone and some spices.

Now, FB loved this dish and now loudly demands "Mac and Cheese and Fork!"  What I didn't expect was for my husband to love it just as much as she does.  I've had to resort to hiding it under things in the refrigerator to make sure she gets her share!

Cauliflower Mac and Cheese (serves 8; approx. $2.41/serving)

1 pound whole wheat elbow macaroni

2 small cheddar cauliflowers, cut into small florets

2 cups 2% milk

3/4 pound sharp cheddar cheese

3/4 pound extra-sharp cheddar cheese

10 ounces mascarpone

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon hot chili powder

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

6 tablespoons grated pecorino

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Colander
• Medium saucepan
• Roasting pan

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Fill the large saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
3. Add the pasta and cauliflower.  Cook until the macaroni is done.  The cauliflower should be cooked but not mushy.
4. Drain, return to the cooking pot and set aside.
5. Heat the milk in the medium saucepan until hot.
6. Add the cheddars and spices.  Mix well until the cheddars are melted.
7. Remove from heat and add the mascarpone.  Mix well.
8. Mix into the macaroni and cauliflower.  Mix very well.
9. Pour into the roasting pan.  Sprinkle with pecorino.
10. Bake 15 minutes.
11. Remove from oven.  Allow to rest 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter

Recipe Source: The Silver Spoon.  Pahidon Press, New York, 2005 p. 260

What I'm about to say will probably sound like heresy to most of the real foodies out there.  It will probably destroy all of my food-snot cred if I had any to begin with.  I loathe sweet potatoes.  I dislike any kind of sweet vegetable - carrots, winter squash, whatever - but they are all my boon companions in comparison to sweet potatoes.  I have never, ever liked sweet potatoes.  In addition to their cloying sweetness, which makes spun sugar candy look bitter by comparison, they taste like sick.  As in vomit.  I hate them and I always have.  I've tried and tried to like them and I think it's safe to say that they are my official least favorite food ever.  For many folks this would not be a problem.  They simply would not buy sweet potatoes.  The problem is that they are a local ingredient, in season at the moment, and they came from my farm share.  I was unwilling to simply throw them away, and I'm told that chucking them at election campaigners is illegal in this state.  I racked my brain for something to do with the cursed things.  That was when it occurred to me: I have an entire army of willing diners every Sunday until the yard is too covered to fight in.  I also have a small child who adores all orange foods.

I decided I would make gnocchi with the sweet potatoes.  Gnocchi freeze well and they're really easy to use once you've made them.  The only problem with that is that I had never made gnocchi before.  They're so easy to buy prepared!  I still felt that I needed to do it for myself.  Making my own cuts down on the processed foods I purchase, it gives me more control over what goes into my meals, and (most importantly) it gets those (expletive) sweet potatoes off my counter.  I found a recipe I liked in The Silver Spoon, a very useful book that doubles as an offensive weapon.  I did make a couple of changes to the recipe.  I used whole wheat flour for the flour because more fiber is always a good thing, and I found I needed to supplement my sweet potatoes with regular potatoes.  You see, while I felt I was drowning in the things, I didn't have 2 1/4 pounds of them.  I had closer to 1 1/2 pounds.

The use of regular potatoes had an interesting effect: it mitigated the awfulness of the sweet potatoes to such an extent that I was able to stomach them. That's right.  I ate six whole gnocchis and they didn't make me want to return them!  Another guest, who as it turns out has roughly the same opinion of sweet potatoes as I do, actually had seconds.  I would therefore strongly recommend this recipe.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Butter (serves 8; approx. $1.35/serving)

1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

3/4 pound regular potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour, plus extra for dusting

1 egg, beaten

Kosher salt to taste

1 3/4 sticks butter

1 handful sage leaves, chopped

Equipment:

• Large saucepan
• Surface on which to work - I use a glass cutting board in circumstances like these
• Skimmer or large slotted spoon
• Potato masher
• Large saute pan or wok

1. Fill the large saucepan with water and bring to a boil.
2. Add the potatoes.  Boil until very tender.
3. Drain.  While still hot, return the potatoes to the saucepan and mash with the potato masher.  I enlisted my 21-month-old daughter's help here; she so much fun doing it that she became quite irate when I told her we were finished.
4. Add the flour and egg along with a little bit of salt to taste.  Mix well.
5. Set aside until the mixture is cool enough that you can work it with your hands.  Only you know how long that will take.
6. When you can touch the dough, grab a handful of dough.  Use your hands to roll in into a long log about 2/3" in diameter.  This works best on a floured surface, believe me.
7. Cut the log into small pieces about 1/2" long.  If you feel up to shaping them that's great.  If you don't, it's not a big deal.
8. Repeat until all the dough is used.
9. Clean out the saucepan.  Fill it with clean water and return to a boil.
10. Add a few handfuls of gnocchi to the boiling water.  Meanwhile, melt the butter with the sage and a little salt in the saute pan.
11. As the gnocchi cook they will rise to the surface.  Use the skimmer to transfer them from the saucepan to the melted butter.
12. Repeat until all the gnocchis are cooked and transferred to the butter.
13. Serve.  You can garnish with more chopped fresh sage if you feel so inclined.

Recipe: Kale Quesadillas

Have you ever noticed that reality rarely meets intentions?  When I found out that I was having a baby I knew I wanted to minimize the amount of processed food I gave her - especially in light of the fact that she was going to be a bottle baby.  It's not that I think processed food is evil, it's just that I wanted to have more control over what she eats.  Processed food is often less flavorful than homemade food and often involves more sugar than I really think is good for her.  That said, a lot of the time she gets frozen ravioli.  I try to get good quality frozen ravioli, but it's still made by someone else, in a factory.  When I have time, though, I do make an effort to prepare food for her rather than rely on other stuff.

This recipe was intended to be a healthy, delicious dish my daughter could enjoy.  I got whole-wheat wraps.  I had kale, which is always delicious.  I did use jarred salsa but mostly to use it up and get it out of my cabinet.  I made the dish.  I cooked the dish.  I set it on top of the stove to cool.  I turned around to put my daughter in her high chair.  I turned back.  Five of the six quesadillas were gone, and one of them looked partially eaten.

I did sample the one that was only partially eaten.  (Sounds gross, but I ate from an untouched side.)  I guess the dog was really taking one for the team, because I didn't like these quesadillas one bit and I love kale.  Feta mitigates the bitterness of the greens.  Cheddar, as it turns out, does not, or at least does not in the quantity I used.  Oh well.

Kale Quesadillas (serves 6, or one hungry and ill-mannered Golden Retriever.  Approx. $1.27/ea)

6 whole wheat wraps

1 bunch kale, chopped

2 ounces cheddar

2 ounces extra-sharp cheddar

1/2 jar mild salsa

1 red onion, sliced

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 teaspoons olive oil

Equipment:

• Saute pan
• Baking sheet

1. Preheat your broiler.
2. Heat your oil in the saute pan.
3. Add the onion and garlic with a little bit of salt if desired.
4. Saute until softened.
5. Add the kale.  Saute until wilted.
6. Lay out the wraps.
7. Sprinkle one half of each wrap with cheddar.
8. Layer 1/6 the kale on top of the cheddar, followed by the salsa and the extra sharp cheddar.
9. Fold the wraps over.
10. Broil about 5 minutes, until the cheese is melted.
11. Let cool.
12. Serve.  Or let them get eaten by the dog.  It's up to you.

Recipe: Whole-Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes

A few weeks ago - was it September? - I was in Syracuse visiting my family.  Fearless Baby was with me and we decided to all go out to brunch.  My daughter had pancakes for the first time.

Why, you may well ask, was this her first time having pancakes?  Well, we aren't really a breakfast-food type of family.  We only go out to breakfast if we're entertaining guests.  When we eat breakfast at all it's usually cereal, because neither my husband nor I should be trusted near a stove before we've had our morning coffee.  We also don't care for really heavy foods and most traditional American breakfast items tend to be on the fatty side.  So breakfast foods, like pancakes and waffles and omelets tend to be special treats.

Anyway, FB had her first taste of pancakes.  She was hooked, of course.  Now, she's still young and while she's enthusiastic about trying to use a fork she's not necessarily skilled at using a fork.  She sometimes gets a little bored with Fork and resorts to using her hands.  This is why she did not get maple syrup with her pancakes.  She probably would have loved it.  She didn't need it though because she just loved pancakes.  Every day since we got back she's asked for pancakes.  After I read somewhere - probably Martha Stewart Living but who knows - that you can wrap and freeze pancakes I no longer had an excuse not to make them, so I did.

On the whole I was pretty satisfied with how these came out.  I used about three or four different recipes to figure out proportions.  I knew I wanted them to be whole wheat, so that's what I used.  I used buttermilk because buttermilk pancakes are better than not-buttermilk pancakes.  I used honey instead of sugar because honey is tasty.  My only complaint about the finished product is the scorched appearance caused by the cooking spray.  As a general rule I like cooking spray - it prevents burning without adding fat.  In this case though I think just using butter would have been better.  The cooking spray didn't affect the flavor of the final product, but it did give it kind of a dismal appearance, didn't it?

Whole-Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes (makes 8; approx. $0.25/ea)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons honey

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

2 eggs

3 tablespoons olive oil

Equipment:

• Frying pan, preferably nonstick.
• Ice cream scoop
• Spatula
• Cooking spray (see above)
• Mixing bowl

1. Coat the pan with cooking spray.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl.
3. Combine the buttermilk, eggs and honey in the measuring cup.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Stir until the flour is smooth.
5. Heat the pan over medium heat.
6. Use the ice cream scoop to portion out the batter.  One scoop will make one pancake.  The number of pancakes you can make at a time will depend on the size of your pan; I was only able to get one at a time.  Do not overcrowd your pan.
7. Cook the pancake on one side until bubbles form and the edges are just starting to look dry.  Flip and repeat on the other side.
8. Repeat until all the batter is used.
9. Serve hot.

Recipe: Braised Tofu

Recipe Source: Mowe, Rosalind. Culinaria Southeast Asia. H. F. Ullmann, 2007 p. 44

Yes, I feed my kid tofu. What about it? I didn't set out to give her tofu, of course. I fully intended for this to be a grown-up meal one Friday night. We wound up going out to dinner. I then intended to serve it at a Sunday open house but ran out of time and energy. Finally I decided to feed it to the offspring. I was sick of giving her food cooked by someone else – frozen ravioli, that sort of thing – and wanted to give her something I made myself. I didn't know she'd like tofu, but I was reasonably confident. Tofu that isn't masquerading as something it isn't – such as steak – is actually a very acceptable protein source.

So I offered her the tofu, and she sat with as much patience while I prepared the dish as a nineteen-month-old child can muster. Then I gave her the tofu. She looked at it a little suspiciously, but when I told her she could use a fork she was delighted. Then she tried the tofu and it was all over. She was hooked.

I will say this, though. While Fearless Baby was quite excited to use the fork, she still considers utensils to be novelty items. Eventually she became frustrated by the slow pace of eating with a fork, threw the offensive utensil on the ground (where it was thoroughly cleaned by the dog before I could intervene) and dove in with both hands. This was messy. I'm not saying you shouldn't do it, I'm just saying that forewarned is forearmed.

I made a few changes, as is my wont. I increased the garlic and ginger because I like those flavors. I used firm light tofu instead of soft because of personal preference. (Actually only the firmness was personal preference; the market I chose that day didn't have firm regular tofu.) I increased the mushrooms slightly to avoid having excess left in my fridge – besides, mushrooms are healthy and filling. I omitted the rice wine because of a brain cramp. I also added some carrots and tomatoes, both for the sake of using them up and because they are two of Fearless Baby's favorite foods.

Braised Tofu (serves 4; approx. $2.28/serving)

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 package firm light tofu, drained and cut into bite-sized pieces (Bite-sized pieces for an adult will be different from bite-sized pieces for a baby.)

5 carrots, peeled and diced

2 scallions, sliced

1 ounce garlic paste

1 ounce ginger paste

1 6-oz package crimini mushrooms, chopped

2 teaspoons oyster sauce

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

3 tablespoons water

1 pound plum tomatoes, chopped

Equipment:

• Wok

1. Heat the oil in the wok.
2. Add the tofu. Fry on all sides until lightly browned, then evacuate.
3. If you need more oil in your pan, add it.
4. Add the garlic, ginger, scallions and carrots. Sauté until fragrant.
5. Add the mushrooms. Sauté until tender.
6. Add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, water and tomatoes. Sauté until the carrots are tender.
7. Return the tofu to the pan. Stir to combine, let the tofu and the vegetables reach the same temperature, and serve.

Recipe: Red Currant Scones

Recipe Source: DiVecchio, Jerry Anne. The New Easy Basics Cookbook. Sunset Books, Menlo Park, 1997 p. 153.

I made a pilgrimage – well, a few weeks ago now – to Ward's Berry Farm in Sharon, MA. I intended to get peaches, and quite a lot of peaches at that. I succeeded in that mission. I also found many bright shiny objects to catch my fancy, mostly of the fruit variety. I bought a bunch of gooseberries (which did in fact become jam). I also bought a bunch of red currants. I intended to make jam from them as well but I was thwarted. I told my husband what I'd purchased when I got home and he became very excited. "Now you can make red currant scones!" he exulted.

Really? I've been married to this guy since 2004 and I'm just now finding out that he's been secretly craving red currant scones all this time? Whatever. I dutifully sought out a scone recipe. Most of the recipes in my arsenal required buttermilk, which I did not have on hand. I found this recipe, though, which did not require buttermilk. I made a few minor changes and turned out the scones. They were reasonably good. I personally prefer for my baked goods to involve chocolate in some way, but they apparently really hit the spot for the Spouse. The Baby also delighted in these whole-grain treats. Unfortunately, the dog also found them to be irresistible. I don't think he really tried to resist them, because he ate a large portion of the first batch. The Spouse was so sad! When I went to the farmers' market a few days later I bought more and made this dish again, just for him.

If you're keeping track, the changes I made were the addition of the red currants (fairly obvious but I might as well state it), whole wheat flour for the all-purpose, raw sugar for granulated, and increased whipping cream to accommodate the drier nature of the whole-wheat flour.

Red Currant Scones (makes 8 scones; approx. $0.55/serving)

8 ounces whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons raw sugar

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup butter

2 eggs

½ cup whipping cream

½ pit red currants

Equipment:

• Mixing bowl
• Pastry cutter
• 2 baking sheets

1. Preheat your oven to 400 ̊.
2. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and 3 tablespoons sugar.
3. Add the butter. Use the pastry cutter to work the butter into the dry ingredients. You're done when the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
4. Separate one of the eggs and reserve the white. Add the yolk and the other egg to the bowl and mix well.
5. Add the whipping cream and red currants. Mix until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl, which sounds like it shouldn't make sense but does eventually.
6. Divide the dough into two equal parts and put one on each baking sheet. Roll each piece into a ball and then flatten into a disc.
7. Cut each piece into quarters and separate slightly.
8. Brush with the egg white and sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
9. Bake 12 minutes. Serve.