Food Update

Someone is going to be 7 months old tomorrow.....

We started solids about 10 days before Baby Bink turned 6 months old. She's got a solid month of real food under her belt (ha, she doesn't even wear belts) so I figured I'd make a note of it. It's pretty exciting stuff around here, ya know? With all of the new textures and tastes and omg I have a little person who eats real food. Crazy. So far I've made all of Binka's* food, except for prunes (which she desperately needed....) and grains. Here's what she's tried so far, in order:

• Sweet Potatoes - love at third bite :-)
• Green Beans - a hard sell... she ate it all but I don't think she enjoyed it
• Organic Oatmeal - Gerber from a box, mixed with formula. I think she was pretty neutral on this one.
• Prunes - LOVED them
• Pears - Sweet and delicious. Love.
• Apples - Couldn't get enough... till they made her butt red and then we laid off the apples for a few days.
• Squash - Hatred to the point where she'd open her mouth for the spoon but would have tears streaming down her face. It was terrible. I think I gave her squash 4 or 5 times with the same effect (only a few spoonfuls each time, just to see if her reaction would change), then today I gave her some and she ate the whole cup without resistance.
• Carrots - Yucky face at first, but warmed up pretty quickly
• Avocado - the wild card.... she LOVED it! She ate half an avocado for dinner last night!! She did the whole mouth open, leaning forward, baby bird thing. It was awesome!
• Organic Brown Rice - Gerber from a box. Blah, I think, but I mixed it with the avocado and she was quite a piggy about it.

Binka's eating schedule generally goes like this:

Wake up between 6-6:30am and have a 5 oz bottle in bed with us.

She has fruit & oatmeal when she gets to school, and then 3 bottles throughout the day (7 oz each).

When we get home, I give her either 2 veggies or a veggie and brown rice. If she still is antsy, I give her a few ounces of a bottle. Then it's a bit of play time, a bath & lotion, and a 5 oz bottle before bed. We usually feed her down here, let her fall asleep on us, and then bring her up to her crib.

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All of that food? Lovingly made by me in my Beaba Babycook. Oh man, I love my Beaba. Honestly? It's a $150 steamer/food processor, and yes, you can do the same exact thing with 2 pieces of equipment for much cheaper. But you know what? It's so easy to use, makes the perfect portions (who needs a freezer full of homemade pearsauce?), and wouldn't you know, it's easy to clean, too. I have never been so happy to get an appliance for Christmas in my whole life - Ryan did good this year :-)

Here's the full run down - chop up fruit/veggies, place in steamer basket, put steamer basket into bowl attachment. Add water to the water tank. Close the lid and turn it on. It's self-timed and will go off when it's done steaming. Drain water, dump basket into bowl attachment. Pulse to desired consistency. That's all. And it makes the perfect amount of puree to fill an ice cube tray. It's my Working Mamma Partner-in-Crime. I can have a weeks worth of sweet potatoes ready to go in less than 20 minutes AND I only have to clean a basket, a bowl, and the blade. Well, and a knife if you want to be technical. A final thought: Worth every penny.

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A food update of my own... I'm .8 lbs away from my WW goal weight, with weigh in on Friday morning. Wish me luck!!!

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*We call our girl Binka Bink. Why? No clue. Sometimes I sing "Biiiiiiinkaaaaa Binka Binka, and Jelly" to her. you know, to the tune of "peeeeeeeaanutttt, peanut butter and jelly". Anyway, that's what I'm going with on the blog now. Just as an FYI :-)

First Bananas

I've mentioned it before, but we waited to introduce solids to Baby Bear because I just didn't see the need to start cereal at 4 months. I figured I'd skip the filler cereals and go right to fruits and veggies when she seemed ready. And 10 days before she turned 6 months old, I knew she was ready.

So I got her set up in her high chair and gave Ryan the camera. Mashing up Baby Bear's first banana was a little emotional. How lame is that?! I nursed this little baby for 5 full months, and in month 5 started to mix in a bit of formula here and there for that I could fully wean by 6 months.... and here I was, getting a bit teary about giving my little baby Big Girl food. Who does that?? At any rate...

That face is priceless!! Three bites in and she was hooked... I couldn't shovel it in fast enough. The next day we tried it again, and even though she gave me the same face at first, she ended up eating a freaking half a banana. I was cutting and mashing about an inch at a time, so I didn't realize how much she'd eaten until half the damn thing was gone!

The next weekend I cooked up a sweet potato for her (in my super fancy Beaba) and that was a hit, as well. Know what's not a hit? Big Girl "I eat real food now" Poop. OMG. That is all I have to say about that.

Bottles

One day, when my baby is a toddler and doing big girl things, I will be sad for a minute and wish she was still a little, tiny baby. And then I will remember all of the bottles and pump parts we wash and sterilize every evening....
... and I will probably still be a little bit sad because I love my little squishy girl. I will, however, be thrilled when I don't have to wash and sterilize bottles any more. Actually, Ryan will be thrilled since that's usually his nightly task. He actually said the other day that he can't wait for solids because she'll stop having so many bottles. He just about died when I told him that at least for the first few months the solids thing is just to practice eating and that milk is still where she gets the bulk of her nutrients. Yep, she's five months & 2 weeks old and Baby Bear still hasn't had her first taste of solids. Soon. I think. Oh man, she's getting big.... When did that happen? - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Snow + Soup

We made Roasted Red Pepper Soup for dinner last night and again got rave reviews from the husband. I added in homemade croutons, which were super easy to make. All I did was spray two slices of thick bread with some Pam and sprinkled on a bit of garlic powder. I threw them into the over on 350 degrees until one side got a bit crispy. I took them out, laid the two slices on the counter to cool a bit, and then cut them into squares. They were delish in the soup!

When I went grocery shopping for this recipe, our store was out of red peppers so I ended up using 2 orange and 2 yellow. We roasted them over an open flame on the stove (this was a two person job so they didn't totally burn to a crisp), and since I don't have an immersion blender, we just dumped the whole pot into a regular blender, hit pulse a few times, and everything turned out perfect!

Thumbs up on this one. It was a bit time consuming, but well worth it and totally do-able when you're snowed in (like we are now!).

And don't forget about the giveaway - it ends on Monday night!

Want a happy husband?

Tell him you're making Chipotle tonight. Be prepared for much skepticism and ridicule. Do not be deterred.

I made rice and shredded chicken last night. I made a nice bed of rice, layered the chicken and veggies over top, and dressed it with a little fat free sour cream and some Kraft Free cheddar.

And then a gave it to my highly skeptical, Chipotle-loving husband. Rave reviews spewed forth. It was a very good night at our nest.

The best part, of course, was that both recipes had WW points attached to them... the bad part was that I had a total disregard for the portion size when I tasted the rice. At least I know how many points I ate, right?

Trust me on this one.

Baltimore Restaurant Week

I love Restaurant Week because we go places we normally wouldn't, due to either cost or type of food. This go 'round we chose Pazo in the Inner Harbor, which is fairly pricey and has some exotic looking items on the menu.

Tonight, we're set for a prix-fixe $70 Dinner for Two menu that includes the following:
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First Course (all items included)

Butternut Squash Soup - Goat's cheese mousse and pepitas

Pugliese - Rustic bread of purgatory

Arbequina Olives - Marinated with orange zest

Arugula Salad - With Clementines and sherry vinaigrette

Empanadas - Spiced veal and pork in pastry, salsa verde

Seared Scallops a la Plancha - Romesco and mint

Sauteed Cauliflower - Walnut vinaigrette and Manchego

Montadito of Braised Pork Shoulder - Smoked paprika


Second Course (choice of one)

Wood Grilled Strip Steak Tapa with Aromatic peppercorn sauce

Wood Grilled Salmon Tapa with Avocado salsa verde

Malloreddus alla Norma - House made pasta with eggplant, tomato, garlic and pecorino




Third Course (choice of one )

Pazo Chocolate Cupcakes with White chocolate mousse and salted caramel

Crema Catalana with Traditional custard scented with lemon and cinnamon





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Does that not look amazing? I'm trying to decide between the steak and the salmon... and I'm for sure doing the chocolate cupcakes. I also pulled up the cocktail menu to check it out, and the Gingerbread Martini caught my eye (right hand side). Yum! Ryan and I hardly ever go out for fancy dinner dates (unless you count Chipotle; then we go a lot), so I'm super excited to dress up and enjoy the evening. Post dinner, we're heading to the Baltimore Comedy Factory with a bunch of friends from work, so it should be a great night.



Too bad there's work tomorrow.... otherwise, it's be perfect!