Porridge!

Life has been very busy lately, with little time for blogging. But I will try to do some more baby food entries before Nora becomes a toddler! She's now a very busy 9 1/2-month-old. Crawling, climbing, and dancing are some of her favorite activities!

There have been many new foods over the past couple of months, and a daily staple is "porridge." Porridge takes many forms, but always includes one or two grains*, a protein, and at least one fruit or vegetable. I mix it all together and serve it warm, and she usually loves it.

Some common combos include:

oatmeal - egg yolk - squash
oatmeal - egg yolk - banana
barley - tofu - broccoli - squash
millet - tofu - pumpkin
barley - tofu - broccoli - sweet potato
millet - garbanzo bean - green bean - peach (yes, really, she ate it!)
barley - lentil - green pea
barley - lentil - carrot

As long as you've got the basic ingredients on hand, you can make a quick, healthy meal in a short amount of time!

* I usually sprinkle a tablespoon or two of Earth's Best organic iron-fortified cereal into the porridge to increase its iron content.

Little Bird

I always thought of millet as "bird food," since it's a primary ingredient in many birdseeds. Today, I fed it to my own "little bird." This baby is spreading her wings! She crawls all over the house, can go up and down a single stair, and is starting to try to climb. We love to watch her.

I bought organic pearled millet in bulk from our nearby co-op grocery store. According to WholesomeBabyFood.Com, millet is rich in a variety of nutrients, including B vitamins and iron. I then used the recipe for "Millet Baby Cereal" on that same webpage. I cooked up half a cup of dry millet, and it made far more than she'll ever eat in three days. Next time I'll make less. I then pureed part of it in my blender, mixed in a little more hot water and some breastmilk, and served it up. She liked it pretty well!

Update: Since writing this entry, I have changed my millet-making procedure. I now grind the millet to a powder in the blender before cooking it. I had been afraid of doing this, but it's actually much easier than trying to blend cooked millet. It takes about a minute to do one cup of millet, and the powder can be stored for a few weeks, covered, in the refrigerator. To cook, I bring one cup of water to a boil with a tablespoon of olive oil, whisk in 4 tablespoons of millet powder, lower the heat, and simmer -- stirring frequently -- for ten minutes. I then divide the cooked millet into three portions, serve one portion that day, one the next day, and the rest the day after that. (The millet thickens as it cools, so if I am serving it a day later, I warm and thin it by stirring in spoonfuls of very hot water until it reaches the right consistency again.)