In January 2012, my daughter Eliana began eating solid foods. I was really excited to make as much of her food as possible and to introduce her to all sorts of flavors and textures in both “traditional” purées (applesauce) and “non-traditional” purées (carrot onion farro purée). I wanted to create an eater with a wide and varied palate, aka a teeny tiny foodie. Based on the advice of her pediatrician, I added little bits of spices, herbs and oils, so that her food was tasty. I let her gnaw on slices of watermelon, banana, bread and apples, too. It
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Farmers Market Farro Ingredients: -1½ cups uncooked farro -2¼ cups water with a couple pinches of salt added -1-2 tablespoons reserved cooking liquid from the farro* -1-2 ounces Locatelli cheese, shaved (Parmesan is good here, too) -1 summer squash, grated -Kernels from 1 ear of corn -1 tomato, chopped -1 ounce greens, finely chopped (I used dandelion greens) -A handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped (I used basil, parsley and chives) -1 tablespoon olive oil -½ teaspoon salt -¼ teaspoon pepper -¼ teaspoon garlic powder -Red pepper flakes, to taste Preparation: Put farro and salted water
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A few weeks ago we planted our vegetable and herb garden! Woohoo! Last year was my first year being an urban gardener-or a gardener of any sort, other than houseplants (which saw better days before the Little Miss came along). So last year was definitely a learning experience in many ways. As much as Eliana and I tried to care for our little urban farm, most of our vegetables didn’t grow. Boo! But, despite our failure, I resolved to try again. I want to grow some vegetables and herbs for a few reasons: I want to be able use
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Eliana is a pasta loving fool just like her Mommy. If I allowed it, she’d blissfully eat pasta for three meals plus one snack each and every day. (And really, so would I!) Obviously, I don’t serve her pasta all day every day. But I know that when pasta is served, it will be gobbled up with no questions asked. What I didn’t expect was to feed her a third serving of pasta for dinner tonight! Now that fall is setting in and the weather is cooler, I decided I should use the remaining basil from our garden sooner rather
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How did our garden grow? Wellll, apparently, a green thumb I do not have. My visions of eating a homegrown salad of cucumbers, tomatoes and herbs did not happen. No recipes with our very own okra or squash were cooked either. Other than my being a newbie at this gardening thing, I think a few factors worked against me. First, we have a lovely, very big deck that is West-facing. It is a-ma-zing! Except for the mid- to late afternoon when the sun is so incredibly intense and it is unbearable to be outside. Those parts of the day might
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To me, part of making Eliana a teeny tiny foodie is teaching her not just to like a variety of tastes and textures but to have an interest in where her food comes from. On Mondays, we take our weekly trip to the grocery store and as we gather our goods I talk to her about all the foods we see and buy. We stop to touch, smell and, in her case, taste the green beans- see photo below. Or, whatever it is that we are looking at. A view from above. She’s in the carrier as we do our
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