'A portrait a week of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013'
This one is from last week. I love meal-time with Soren. He is a blast to introduce to new foods and he is usually a terrific sport about it. Here he's munching on some Brown Cow maple yogurt and a peanut butter and apple jam sandwich on sprouted bread.... with some giggles in between:
02/52
Tilapia - a new addition to Soren's palette. I just read a wonderful book on feeding children and 'opening' tastebuds at an early age - French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon. A very interesting read - I highly recommend it. Inspired by the book and my own travels to Europe (and of course with the support of Rick), we are adjusting some of our own eating habits. Rick and I decided a year ago to become vegetarians. Not just the mac and cheese - scrambeled eggs kind (although, Soren does really enjoy scrambled eggs in the morning...), but the lentil, bean - balanced diet kind. And so far - so good. But what I realized when reading the book was how little fish and seafood we had on the menu (um... like non. Seriously). Since we are pescetarian, technically (the type of vegetarian that eat fish, milk and eggs), our lack of fish on the menu was really, tastefully (literally), unsatisfactory. Today - I joyfully snagged some tilapia from Whole Foods and dove right in! I mean, really - how hard could it be? And honestly - it wasn't. I was afraid, after not cooking meat for a year I would be wreck, worrying if the fillet's were cooked all the way - but fish is a bit simpler than the other meats. Maybe that is why our bodies digest it with more ease... who knows?
Either way - tilapia was a hit with our wee man and I have to say - I'm hooked! Since we have been experiencing some very chilly, hot cocoa inducing weather I quickly opened up a nostalgic oldie, my mother's very own Betty Crocker Cookbook. Soren and I fixed the best Chocolate Chip Cookies EVER and this very simple, very delicious Oven-Fried Tilapia (served with spinach puree and fresh corn).
Oven-Fried Fish (tilapia for us!)
1 pound fish (makes about 5 servings - our's six. I cut the fillets in half, easier for wee fingers)
1/4c milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2c breadcrumbs (ours were whole-wheat)
2 tbsp butter
Lemon wedges for garnish and extra flavor
Pre-heat the oven to 500 degrees and place a rack just above the middle. Mix the milk and salt in a bowl. Dredge the cut fillets in the milk/salt mixture - then toss with the breadcrumbs covering the entire fillet. Melt the butter. Put a small amount of the butter on a pan (I used a cookie sheet with ridges that would fit all the filets) to keep the fillets from sticking - spread around evenly. Place the breaded fillets on the pan. Pour the rest of the butter over the fillets equally. Place in the oven for 10-12 minutes. The top meat should be very flakey, our tilapia only took about 10 minutes. And voila! quick and easy meal for the whole family! Serve with lemon wedges and dig in!
Enjoy! (Soren and I did)
I know I mentioned this in my last post - but I feel it's necessary to bring it up again since we had the chance to visit GreenBEAN's farm this past weekend. WOW! I mean - truly, wow! I am so proud to be a part of such a wonderful business. I never realized how passionate I could be about food until now. I love to cook, and I love great produce, but now - I really love the business behind it. GreenBEAN delivery has partnered with the Cincinnati Zoo (love you Thane Maynard - woot! woot! 90 Second Naturalist!), to create EcOhio Farm.
And EcOhio? I am theorizing that it is derived from the farm's mission to create a sustainable, organic eco-system - which they described on the hayride. The Farm Fest was a blast - thanks GreenBEAN for hosting and being so awesome!
What do egg muffins and art have in common?? More than you think! Today, I was a refrigerator survivalist. Since we cleaned out the fridge before vacation and we have a constantly feasting toddler - our fridge is a blinding sight of white walls and shelves, so I had to get creative. On a pinning quest on pinterest last night, I ran across this recipe for Egg Muffins. Since we are vegetarians - Chorizo sausage is kinda out of the question (although I fondly remember the flavor from our meat eating days... Oh, Kroeger & Sons, such delicious Chorizo!). So instead - I used some of our All American Veggie patties form Amy's Kitchen and threw in a shallot and garlic - which you could say resulted in a piece of art.
But that's not the art I am talking about. While I was preparing dinner - our little man was at the table coloring. Yes! coloring.... didn't really see this day coming! You know, me in the kitchen making food with Soren in the other room, mumbling toddler speak (which sounds like fluent Russian), while creating a Crayola marker masterpiece. I feel like the evenings we spent with him in his high chair (because he could barely hold his head up...), listening to podcasts while I fixed dinner were just yesterday! This time is so fast and fleeting - grab it before it disappears! As soon as I put the muffins in the oven - I ran over, gave him a smooch on the cheek, told him how beautiful it was and snagged one more snuggle.
...the muffins weren't bad either, Soren ate two whole ones by himself!
Veggie Patty Egg Muffins
Ingredients:
2 All American Veggie Patties from Amy's Kitchen (really any veggie patties will do - but these ones are extra delicious)
1 1/2 cup broccoli florets
1 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot
1 clove garlic
8 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tbsp grape seed oil
1/2 tsp baking powder
salt & pepper to taste
Grated Colby Jack Cheese (what I had in the fridge - feel free to use parmesan or whatever you fancy...)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. In a large saute pan, heat olive oil over medium heat and cook shallot, garlic and veggie patties until patties start to crispen on the outside. Stir and break up the patties to create more of a ground mixture. About 5 minutes.
3. Whisk together eggs, milk, grape seed oil and baking powder. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Lightly oil, butter or use non-stick spray on a 12-cake muffin tin. Spoon out the pattie and broccoli mixture evenly into each cupcake.
5. Ladle the egg mixture over patties and broccoli.
6. Sprinkle with Colby-Jack cheese.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes.
Enjoy!
I mean really - Broccolette?! My auto-spell check doesn't even register the vegetable. I have used this veggie in place of both greens (believe it or not) and the obvious - broccoli. But this time, I wanted it to stand alone, well sort of.
I was inspired by a recipe I had found for snow peas (which I loathe!) and thought it even better for one of my favorite veggie sisters. Low and behold - it worked! Plus - I never miss a chance to enjoy the aroma of fresh garlic and ginger!
Broccolette with garlic-ginger sauce
Ingredients:
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch Broccolette (trim very tips - I cook the stems...it's where a lot of the flavor is at! You can even leave some of the healthier leaves on...)
Thumb size piece ginger, peeled and diced
2 large cloves garlic, diced
1 tablespoon soy sauce (low sodium in our case)
1 teaspoon honey
salt/pepper (I rolled with white pepper to compliment the asian flavors) to taste
Add 1-2 tablespoons olive oil into a large skillet (I made the mistake of using a medium sauce pan - which is fine, but you will have to cut the broccolette into halves to fit...no biggie) over medium heat. Add the broccolette and salt and pepper to taste. Cover the skillet and let cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally (cover to retain some of the water in the broccolette - you are almost steaming at this point). Add chopped ginger and garlic and remaining tablespoon olive oil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and stir occasionally for another 4-5 minutes. Depending on how crisp you like your broccolette, depends on how long you cook at this stage. I needed ours to be a little softer for the wee one (who loved it by the way...). This is a pretty self-explanatory saute situation, but none the less - very tasty! Enjoy!