Poached Pears with Juice & Blueberries

Pomegranates show up everywhere this time of year and as much as I love eating them I feel like I always end up with stained fingers and a mouth full of seeds... The nutritional health benefits of pomegranates are undeniable though, they are super high in antioxidants not to mention vitamin C, vitamin B and even calcium. But rather then going thru the process of deseeding and juicing I cheated and splurged on a bottle of Pomegranate Juice from Trader Joes. Rather than pouring the juice directly into her sipper cup, I instead scanned the internet and was pretty amazed by the numerous recipes available. I finally stumbled upon a pouched pear recipe that I found at pomwonderful.com which also has a bunch of other awesome recipe ideas... Anyway, knowing that I had some bartlett pears hanging around the kitchen I decided to go for it. The end result was an pretty exciting finger food creation even though her fingers were a very sticky shade of purple-red in the end.

Poached Pears with Juice & Blueberries:

2 cups pomegranate or other dark colored juice
1/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
2-4 ripe pears
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp agave

1. Skin pears and cut them into chunks.
2. In a pot mix juice, water & agave over low-medium heat.
3. When liquids begin to simmer add pears & blueberries.
4. Submerge fruit in juice mixture and stir until pears are cooked though.
5. Cool food and enjoy!

Broccoli, Potato & Leek Soup with Sauteed Mushrooms

Growing up as the daughter of a Unitarian Universalist minister I attended a lot of church potlucks; I remember long evenings of running around the grounds playing with friends and then finally coming inside to a buffet of homestyle comfort foods. A staple of these events was always potato & leek and something else soup, I remember at the time being excited about eating what seemed like fancy mashed potatoes with a side of pizza... It was only later in college that I realized how amazing leeks could be when added to most any dish.

So in my efforts to get my family eating more green vegetables I came up with this recipe. My daughter ate a good sized portion before deciding she was "done!", but between my husband and I there wasn't even enough leftover to freeze for another meal! Oh well, we will just have to make some more!

Broccoli, Potato & Leek Soup with Sauteed Mushrooms:

1 cup fresh or frozen broccoli
1 leek
2-3 yukon gold potatoes
8-10 baby portabello mushrooms
1 clove garlic
1 cup whole milk
1 cup chicken broth
1 Tsp olive oil.
sea salt to taste

1. Steam cook potatoes & broccoli.
2. Cut leek in half and add half to steamer pot with other vegetables.
3. In small pot boil milk & broth.
4. Mince garlic, mushrooms and remaining leek and set aside.
5. In a food processor mix steamed vegetables with simmered milk/broth.
6. Saute garlic, mushrooms and leek in olive oil and then add to food processor.
7. Puree until mixture is smooth.
8. Cool and eat.

Waffle Panini #2

I have been reading a lot of baby & toddler cookbooks lately; the other day I stumbled upon The Toddler Cafe By Jennifer Carden and could not put it down. 138 pages of all sorts of inspiring and kid friendly recipes; including some really surprisingly simple ways to approach getting your toddler excited about eating.

So today at lunch we tried "Waffle Grilled Cheese", it turned out really neat and looked just like a waffle but it was a no go. Sometimes I can sneak grated zucchini into a grilled cheese sandwich and sometimes I cannot, today was just one of those days...
Instead of giving up we tried it again, but this time with peanut butter, banana and dark chocolate, not surprisingly this one went down quickly.

Peanut butter & Banana Panini:

2 pieces bread of your choice (we used whole wheat white bread)
1/2 mashed banana
Dark Chocolate (greater than 70 % cocoa)
1 Tbsp Peanut Butter

1. Spread peanut butter on one piece of bread.
2. Spoon mashed banana over peanut butter.
3. Grate some dark chocolate over banana & peanut butter.
4. Cook in buttered waffle iron 2-4 minutes until light brown.
5. Cut into bite sized pieces.

Cauliflower, Spinach & Potato Puree

My daughter is usually fairly adventurous when it comes to eating and trying new foods with the big exception of green vegetables... She recently picked up the word "done" and time after time whether its avocado or broccoli as soon as she sees it on her plate she announces "done!" As a parent it is hard not to be discouraged by this behavior, especially when moments later she starts signing "hungry"! So I am very excited to report that today we stumbled upon a break thru with Cauliflower, Spinach & Potato Puree.

Cauliflower, Spinach & Potato Puree:

2-3 medium yukon gold potatoes
3-4 chunks cauliflower
1 bag fresh or frozen spinach
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp curry powder
sea salt to taste

1. Steam cook potatoes and cauliflower.
2. When potatoes & cauliflower are beginning to be folk tender add spinach on top. Keep steaming until spinach is dark green.
3. Combine remaining ingredients with steamed vegetables in a food processor.
4. Cool and serve.

After lunch I filled an empty ice cube tray with the leftovers and stuck it in the freezer for future meals. Maybe next time I will try serving this over some brown rice or water it down a bit with milk and try it as a soup.