Baby Chef: T Burgers

Now that our little guy has turned one, the doors to a whole new world have opened.  Most (but not all) of the food restrictions that apply to newborns and infants are gone.  After one year, a baby can eat just about anything, although it takes time to get him or her to accept these new foods.

Our little guy was more than ready for this transition.  Over the past couple of months, it became clear to both my beautiful Angel and myself that our little guy was more interested in eating what we were eating than what we thought he should have.  We accommodated, giving him small bites of our food, which he quickly scooped up and stuffed in his mouth. 

As I look back, I did not cook for our little guy as much as I had hoped or planned.  (To be honest, I did not cook for my Angel and myself as much as I wanted.)  Work has been especially busy and having an energetic and fun-loving little kid also takes up a lot of time.  My hope going forward is that I can cook for him more often, making "kiddie" versions of recipes and experimenting with ways to open our little guy's mind and taste buds to different foods.  

This recipe is the start.  I call it "T Burgers" for "Toddler Burgers."  The recipe is very simple ... steamed carrots, onions and ground meat.  This recipe is the start because iron is an important mineral for young kids.  When they are born, they start out with a lot of iron, but they lose it over time.  Doctors often prescribe iron supplements or suggest certain diets to help maintain iron levels. There are formulas that are fortified in iron.  However, once the child transitions from formula to whole milk, you need to look at ways to ensure that he or she continues to get enough iron.

The choice is between vegetables and beef.  Like most toddlers, green food is not very eye-pleasing or appetizing.  So, vegetables like spinach are "off-the-table."  They can be introduced in time, but I think it is better to start with a little beef.  

In this case, I paid a little extra to get grass-fed, locally raised ground meat.  With all of the news surrounding  industrial cattle production, especially with regard to the use of antibiotics, it is worth the extra cost to get something that is more than likely better for your child.  The only option that I had was 80/20 (80% meat, 20% fat).  With the beef in hand, I decided to add some carrots and onions.  I decided to steam both vegetables to ensure that they are soft and, in the case of the carrots, to ensure that as much of the nutrients remain as possible.  

In the end, the test is whether our little guy will eat the T Burgers.  It took him a little time, but he started to come around.  When introducing new foods, it is a challenge to get the child to like both the taste and the texture of the food.  Our little guy can often be a little apprehensive at first, but he usually comes around and eats the food.  It takes time, but the work in preparing the food and introducing it to our little guy is definitely worth it.

BABY CHEF: T BURGERS

A Chef Bolek Original

Makes many burgers

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground meat

3 carrots, peeled

1/2 onion, peeled

Directions:

1.  Steam the carrots and onions.  Rinse the carrots and onions thoroughly.  Place in a steamer and steam for about 10 to 15 minutes, until both the carrots and onions are soft.  Remove from the steamer and plunge in an ice bath.  Once the carrots and onions are cool, mince them finely.

2.  Make the burgers.  Once the vegetables are cooled and minced, add them to the ground meat and mix well with your hands.  Take small portions of the meat mixture and make small patties, slightly smaller than a slider.  Make as many sliders as you can with the mixture, which will produce about fifteen or sixteen patties.

3.  Cook the burgers.  Heat a pan on medium high heat.  Cook the burgers in batches (adding a little oil if necessary), about 2 to 3 minutes on each side.  It is important that the burgers are cooked to well done.

ENJOY!

Baby Chef: Ground Beef and Carrot Puree

As our little guy grows older, it is important to introduce him to new foods, textures and tastes.  I have to admit that it is difficult, especially with our busy schedules and a little guy who is now moving and moving fast.  Still, I have committed myself to make some new things for our little guy to try. 

During a recent business trip, I took a baby food cookbook to read on the plane.  I came across a recipe for beef and carrot puree.  The recipe called for cooked ground beef, carrot puree, yogurt and chicken broth.  It was a very interesting recipe, although I was a little concerned about a couple of the ingredients.  First, from what I have read, there is some concern about feeding yogurt or milk based products to a baby that is less than one year old.  Second, chicken broth has a lot of salt.  Even the reduced sodium chicken broth has a lot of salt.  There is a much greater consensus about not feeding salty things to a small one.  So, while I really liked the recipe, I wanted to skip the yogurt and chicken broth when I made it.

There was one other consideration.  I do not ordinarily buy regular beef for myself, given all of the issues with beef produced by mass-agricultural concerns.  (That is a post for another day.)  I usually buy locally raised, grass-fed beef (or at least grass-fed beef).  When it comes to our little guy, only the best would do.  So, I bought some grass-fed ground beef to use in the recipe.

As with just about every baby food recipe, this dish is really easy to make.  Just cook some ground beef in a pan (with no oil or butter) until it is cooked thoroughly.  Steam some carrots.  Add the beef and carrots to a food processor, and, pulse with some water until you reach the desired consistency.  The end product is certainly not haute cuisine, but then again, the clientele is not looking for something fancy.  

One last note ... when making the puree, I started with just a little amount of water, and added water in small amounts.  In the end, I did not puree the mixture all the way, because I wanted there to be some texture.  I have that, after having fed an infant with purree after puree, it takes some time for them to get use to changes in texture. 

After all was said and done, the puree got mixed reviews from our little one.  He was skeptical at first, but he ate the first few spoonfuls readily.  After several spoonfuls, he tired of the food and did not want any more.  He did eat the rest of it, which means I'll be making more and, perhaps tweaking the recipe.  Perhaps a little spice for the little guy?

GROUND BEEF AND CARROT PUREE

Recipe adapted from The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet

Page 88

Ingredients:

2 ounces of cooked ground beef (do not add salt or oil)

2 tablespoons of pureed carrots

2 tablespoons of water

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend to the desired consistency.  You can use additional water if necessary.

ENJOY!

Baby Chef: Three Apple Medley

Recently, I decided to take a day off from work (and, it just happened that the day-off coincided with a federal holiday, which meant that the office was closed).  I decided to spend a good part of that day cooking.  I first began making food for our little guy.  I made some more pear puree, but I also decided to make a "Chef Bolek" original for my little guy ... a Three Apple Medley Puree.

To be sure, our little guy has already had a good amount of pureed apples.  We went to an apple farm in northern Ohio and bought a bag of apples, most of which went to puree for his breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We have also bought apples on occasion thereafter to make puree.  In making this food, however, we have limited ourselves to just one kind of apple for the puree.

So, this is where the "originality" comes in, to the extent there is any originality at all.  I was pursuing the selection of organic apples at our local store.  I decided that, rather than buying all of one type of apple, I would buy a couple of a few different apples and then combine them together.  This presented a minor challenge: what apples to choose?  I immediately ruled out Granny Smith apples, because I was a little unsure about introducing tartness at this stage.  I ultimately chose Honeycrisp, Gala and Fuji apples. I selected each for a reason.  

First, Fuji apples are bigger, with denser flesh and sweetness.  These apples -- which derive their name from the town of Fujisaki, and not Mount Fuji -- were developed as a cross between two American apples, the Red Delicious and the Virginia Ralls Genet.  The Fuji apples, which were first grown in the Aomori Prefecture of Japan, are the most popular apples in Japan.  They are also some of the hardiest apples, with longer shelf lives than others.  I chose these apples because I wanted to add some some substance and texture to the medley puree.  Given their size, this also ensured that there would be more of the medley when I was finished pureeing the apples. 

Second, the Gala apples are very sweet and have a lighter, grainy texture.  These apples are very popular in the United States, primarily because they are fairly versatile. The Gala apple originated as a cross between the Golden Delicious and Kidd's Orange Red apple.  The first Gala apples were cultivated in New Zealand, although they are now the second most popular apple in the United States (behind the Red Delicious apple).  I selected the Gala apples because of their sweetness.  These apples are the primary contributor of sweetness to the medley, with the Fuji apples providing some additional sweetness.  

Finally, there are the Honeycrisp apples.  These apples are known for their sweetness and tartness.  These apples originated from a hybrid of the Macoun and Honeygold apples.  I chose these apples specifically for their balance between sweetness and tartness.  I wanted to introduce a little tartness into the medley so that our little guy could get just a little hint of it.  Babyfood cookbooks tell you to steer clear from tart apples, like Granny Smith apples, because the tartness is likely to be off-putting to the infant.  However, the balance of Honeycrisp apples, with the reinforcing sweetness of the Gala and Fuji apples, offered an opportunity to introduce a very little amount of tartness under the cover of the sweetness.  I want to expand my little guy's palate as early as possible, without turning him off of any food. 

Overall, I think the puree came out very well. Of course, my opinion does not matter.  It is all about the little guy.

THREE APPLE MEDLEY

A Chef Bolek Original

Ingredients:

2 Honeycrisp apples, quartered, cores and seeds removed

2 Gala apples, quartered, cores and seeds removed

2 Fuji apples, quartered, cores and seeds removed

Directions:

1.  Steam the apples.  Steam all of the apples in accordance with the directions of a steamer (or, create your own steamer by placing a steamer basket over a pot of boiling water and then cover the pot).  The apples should be tender after about fifteen to twenty minutes.  Remove the apples from the steam and let them cool. 

2.  Puree the apples.  Remove the skins and place the apples in a food processor. Blend until you reach your desired consistency, adding water, breast milk or formula to get that consistency.

ENJOY!

Baby Chef: Pear Puree

Several months ago, I announced a new part to Chef Bolek, which coincided with a major change in the lives of my beautiful Angel and myself.  We were welcoming a new addition to our family, a baby Chef Bolek.  I pledged early on to make baby food for our little guy once he was ready to eat something more than breast milk or formula.

Well, he has reached that point and, even with our very busy schedules, we have managed to make our own baby food.  The focus has been organic fruits and vegetables.  To this point, our little guy has eaten pea puree, sweet potato puree and peach puree.  At first, he did not care for the peas, which was obvious from the many funny faces that he made when he ate them.  He eventually came around and eats his peas.   It was also clear that our little guy did not like sweet potatoes; and, to this date, he has not changed his mind.  But, our little guy loves his peaches, which he eats with delight.

Our latest recipe -- and the first of the Baby Chef recipes for Chef Bolek is a pear puree.  This puree could be made with Bartlett, Anjou or Bosc pears.  Given that pears are in season right now, I bought four good sized, organic Bartlett pears and got to work.

The great thing about baby food recipes is that they are very easy to make.  It is important to make sure everything you use (including your hands) is very clean.  It is also important to make sure that the food is "clean" as well.  This means that the food is either organic (meaning that pesticides are not used) or, if organic food is too expensive or unavailable, that the food is washed thoroughly.

PEAR PUREE

Recipe adapted from from  

The Best Homemade Baby Food on the Planet, page 29

Ingredients:

4 pears, washed, peeled and quartered

1 to 2 cups of water (if using the stovetop method)

Directions:

1.  In a microwave.  Place the pears on a plate.  Microwave the pears for 5 minutes each or until soft.  Allow the pears to cool, then blend them for about 30 seconds or until the pear is completely pureed.

2.  On a stove.  Heat the water in a saucepan until it begins to boil.  Add the pear to the water, reduce heat and simmer the pears for about 10 minutes or until they are soft.  Remove the pears from the water and let them cool.  Reserve the water.  Puree the pears until they reach the desired consistency.  You can use some of the reserved water to achieve that consistency.

ENJOY!