Pumpkin French Toast

How do you get a picky toddler to eat more vegetables?

A few weeks ago I stumbled across a cookbook about how to hide vegetables inside kids' food so that they will consume more of them without realizing it. I do not agree with this philosophy at all, because I think that children have a right to know what they are eating, and because I don't believe it actually encourages kids to "like" eating vegetables! Parenting has to include building trust between the parent and the child, and I don't ever want my daughter to think that she can't trust me to tell her the truth about what I am giving her.

Instead, I prefer to capitalize on what N. does like and build from there. I continue to serve her a variety of foods each day that she has both liked and disliked in the past, and every once in a while she will decide to like a new food. (Recently: honeydew melon and grapes.) I also regularly serve her favorite nutritious foods so that I can be sure she's getting the vitamins she needs.

The cookbook did have some ideas I found intriguing, though; in particular, inserting vegetable purees into common everyday foods. I decided to try this myself, but WITHOUT HIDING! N. watches, and even helps, as I spread her quesadilla with pureed carrot or her grilled cheese sandwich with butternut squash. And one of her new favorite breakfasts is pumpkin french toast!

1/4 cup canned pureed pumpkin
1 egg
1 slice whole grain bread
a pinch of cinnamon
cooking spray or oil/margarine

1. Mix together the pumpkin, egg, and cinnamon in a bowl.
2. Soak the bread in the mixture, about 30 seconds each side.
3. Heat a pan that has been sprayed and/or dotted with oil or margarine.
4. When the pan is ready, place the bread in it. Pour any excess pumpkin-egg mixture on top of the bread (there will probably be a lot). Lower heat, cover, and cook for about two minutes.
5. Flip the slice of bread and cook the other side for about two minutes, or until it appears that the egg is all cooked. Continue flipping and cooking as needed until you are sure it is thoroughly cooked.
6. Cut, cool, and serve! Can be topped with maple syrup or powdered sugar if desired. Personally, I think it needs a little sweetener, but I try to serve it to her without much extra sugar.

Quinoa Casserole

Quinoa is an grain that originated in the Andes Mountains of South America. It is high in protein and iron, making it great for vegetarians. The grains are about the same size as couscous when uncooked.

When I first read about quinoa I was intimated by the need to rinse it before cooking. Once I tried it, though, I realized how easy it was. N. likes it some days, especially if I leave out the spices!

I usually bake it in a casserole using the following general guidelines:

1 T canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red or green bell pepper, diced (optional)
1 cup dried quinoa, rinsed in a wire strainer under cold running water for 2 minutes
1 can black or pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 T chili powder (optional)
1 tsp ground cumin (optional)
2 cups vegetable broth - approximately

1. Saute the onion, garlic, and pepper (if using) in oil until softened.
2. Mix all ingredients except the vegetable broth in a casserole dish.
3. Add the vegetable broth until the mixture is a couple of centimeters from the top of the dish.
4. Bake in 375 degree oven for 1 hour. Check after about 45 minutes, stir, add more broth if needed.
5. The quinoa is finished when it is puffy and translucent.

I think the photo shows some corn in there, too, but I usually leave that out.

Serve with grated cheddar (optional).

Tofu Shapes

Every once in a while I have an unusually satisfying success. Yesterday afternoon was one of those times.

I am always hoping to find more foods are both nutritious and easy to eat, especially if they don't involve bread or cheese. I also like recipes that are easy to make and to clean up afterward.

Several years ago, I stumbled across the Vegan Lunch Box, a blog written by a Washington mom with lots of great ideas. (I also have her first cookbook and am hoping to soon purchase her second.) She has a recipe for Tofu Fish Sticks that always interested me, and now I have a child old enough to eat them.

However, I myself hated fish sticks as a child, so I wasn't interested in making anything that tasted remotely fishy. I also have a daughter who doesn't like strong flavors right now, so I needed to make a plainer version than what Jennifer has on her blog. I ended up designing my own recipe, and it worked very well!

1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes (read here if you don't know what these are)
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
2 T sesame seeds
1/2 cup plain unsweetened soymilk
1 lb firm tofu

1. Preheat the oven to 400. Prepare a cookie sheet. (I like to use a Silpat.)
2. Mix the dry ingredients together in a cereal bowl or pie pan.
3. Pour the soymilk into a shallow bowl.
4. Cut the tofu into slices about 1/2-inch thick. Then use a cookie cutter or knife to create your desired shapes. You'll probably have leftover scraps -- they can be used, too!
5. One at a time, dip each piece of tofu into the soymilk and then the cornmeal mixture and cover both sides. Place on the cookie sheet.
6. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes on each side.
7. Let cool before serving, depending on the age of your child.

Nora didn't like these when I served them at 2pm, but when I served them again at 3:30, she ate three of the heart shapes! Robert ate about ten of the scraps, and I ate a few myself, dipped in ketchup and mustard.

It is somewhat time-consuming to do all the dipping in the two bowls, but I was able to complete most of it while Nora sat in her booster seat having a snack. Then she napped while they cooked in the oven.

Baby Stir-Fry

In search of a combination of finger food, vegetables, protein, and grains? Try a baby stir-fry. Easy and nutritious!

For protein, I have used cubed tofu and halved black beans. I think other beans would work as well.

For grains, I have used brown rice, brown rice spaghetti, and assorted quinoa pasta shapes. Her hands-down favorite is the brown rice spaghetti, despite its nutritional deficiency as compared to the quinoa pasta. I think she likes it because it clumps together nicely and she can actually get it into her mouth.

For vegetables, I like carrots, broccoli, green peas, onions, and green beans. Last night she had a bit of red bell pepper and mushroom. I keep the vegetables at an adult bite-size for the cooking, but cut them smaller before I put them on her tray.

I found a wheat-free tamari sauce (San-J brand) at Safeway. Of course, not wanting her to have too much sodium, I try to keep the tamari to a minimum. But she seems to really like it, especially on the tofu.

1) Cook rice or pasta according to package directions.

2) Chop all ingredients to desired size. (For stir-frys, a thin slice or dice is appropriate.)

3) Heat canola oil over medium or high heat. Fry tofu (if using) until golden. Spoon out and set aside.

4) Fry vegetables. Start with the hardest (e.g. carrots) and add additional vegetables every minute or two. End with the softest.

5) Mix all ingredients together. Let cool before serving to baby.

Lentil Balls

We're still not 100% sure Nora has a wheat allergy, but a nurse at our pediatrician's office told us to hold off on giving her any more wheat until we have more info. So, I'm now on a quest to find ways of offering the kinds of foods I'd like to see her eating -- things she can pick up, bite chew on, pull apart, etc -- without using any wheat. It's a challenge.

Last night I made a tray of "lentil balls." I put organic instant oats (no salt or sugar added -- just straight up oats from the bulk food bin at Whole Foods) in my mini-blender and ground them to a powder, as I often did when making her porridge. I then mashed it together with some cooked lentils, a little salt, and sauteed onion and carrot. I baked the lentil balls for 20 minutes. She loved them! She enjoyed being able to control the food by herself, though she did drop a lot down the sides of her chair. I gave her another this evening and it was a hit again.

The amounts below are approximate as I didn't do a good job of measuring, but I think different proportions could work as well.

2 cups lentils, cooked
2 cups instant organic rolled oats (before grinding), ground into a coarse powder
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 tsp salt
olive oil for sauteing

1. Saute the vegetables in the olive oil for about 5 minutes, until softened.
2. Leaving aside about 1/2 cup of the oatmeal powder, mix the remaining oatmeal, lentils, vegetables, and salt together in a large bowl.
3. Form the mixure into balls about 1 1/2 inch in diameter. Roll each ball in the leftover powdered oatmeal before laying it on a cookie sheet.
4. Bake the lentil balls at 350 for 20 minutes.

They can be frozen after cooking -- I would guess they'd keep well for 2-3 months.

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.

Thanksgiving Tofu

The vegetarian baby turned 8 months on Friday, so we decided to give her her first "protein" food for Thanksgiving dinner. I mashed up some organic extra-firm tofu with organic canned pumpkin and added a pinch of cinnamon. She seemed to like it! I also gave her a few tiny cubes of tofu for finger-food practice, most of which ended up somewhere in the depths of the high chair.

Garbanzo Beans with Spinach and Spices

One of my favorite quick-and-easy recipes -- very low-fat and nutritious!

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
2 T canola oil
2 T ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or less if you don't like it spicy)
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 10-oz package frozen spinach
2 tsp garam masala (Indian spice blend)
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

1. Saute the onion and garlic in the canola oil over medium heat until translucent.
2. Stir in the cumin, coriander, tumeric, and cayenne and heat for one minute.
3. Add the tomatoes and simmer five minutes.
4. Add the garbanzo beans and simmer five minutes.
5. Add the spinach and simmer until fully thawed. Stir it in.
6. Add the garam masala and salt to taste. Simmer a few more minutes and taste to adjust seasonings.

Serve over brown rice cooked with a little tumeric in the water for yellow coloring.
Optional: If you make it spicy, serve with plain nonfat yogurt on the side.

Fat-Free Stir-Fry

Finally having recovered from my delivery & postpartum complications, I decided it was time to work on losing the pregnancy weight. I gained a rather astonishing 45 lbs... of which the baby was less than seven. Three months of breastfeeding and limited exercise enabled me to drop 25lbs, and finally at the beginning of July I felt ready to start focusing on diet.

I lost 30 lbs on Weight Watchers in 2004 and I am a big fan of the program. I find it works very well with being vegetarian. Since starting to count points and increase my exercise in the middle of July, I have dropped another five pounds. This recipe for fat-free stir-fry has become one of my lunchtime favorites over the past couple of weeks.

Points Value: 6 (without egg) or 8 (with egg)
All ingredients are Core

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked brown rice or whole wheat pasta
1 1/2 cups frozen vegetables
1/5 block of firm or extra firm tofu, diced
vegetable broth
soy sauce

Optional: chopped onion, minced garlic, chopped hard-boiled egg, cayenne pepper, whatever else you want to throw in

1. Heat a frying pan and spray it with cooking spray. Saute the onion and garlic, if using, until the onion is starting to soften.
2. Saute the tofu until the sides are starting to turn golden. Add vegetable broth as needed to keep the tofu from sticking to the pan.
3. Add the frozen vegetables and saute until cooked through. Add more vegetable broth as needed, and soy sauce for flavor.
4. Add the cooked rice or pasta and saute until heated through. Add more soy sauce as needed.
5. Remove from heat and turn onto a plate. It will be a large pile of food! Mix in the egg, if using.

Hints: When taking care of a baby all day, I don't have time to spend cooking rice or chopping vegetables. I'll make a large pot of rice one day to keep in the refrigerator and use for several days. Same goes for eggs - boil a bunch at once and then eat over several days. The frozen vegetables are a big time-saver, and are often more nutritious than fresh ones anyway. I like the vegetable broth that comes in a rectangular carton that you can keep in the refrigerator, just using as much as you need at a time.

Crockpot Black Bean Soup

This recipe is adapted from my newest cookbook: Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. I have made it several times, and loved it every time! It's really quite easy, and the crockpot cooking method is very user-friendly. If you don't have a crockpot, I think you could make it in a regular pot, too.

Ingredients:

1 lb dried black beans, rinsed and soaked overnight
1 T canola oil
1 yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3-4 carrots, halved and sliced
1 green bell pepper, diced OR 1 14-oz can diced tomatoes with green chilies
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
2 cups vegetable broth, or more
2 bay leaves
1 T ground cumin
2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

1. Drain or partially drain* the beans and place in a crock pot with water to cover by three inches. Cook on low for 8 hours.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the onions, garlic, carrots, and green pepper if using, until softened.
3. Add the vegetables, tomatoes, broth, and spices to the the beans.** Cook for at least another half hour to let the flavors blend.
4. Ladle some of the soup into a blender and puree. Return it to the crockpot and stir it in. It will thicken the soup. You can continue to puree until all of it is smooth, or leave some in chunks.

I like to eat it with sour cream or grated sharp cheddar cheese. You can also make this recipe with canned beans. I would use 3 15-oz cans and reduce the cooking time to six hours, with the vegetables included for the whole cooking time.

Weight Watchers points: 3 per cup of soup.

* Draining the rinse water from the beans reduces flatulence but also eliminates many of the B-vitamins that have soaked out into the water. I usually do a partial drain to try and get the best of both options.
** You can add the sauteed vegetables and the spices before or after cooking the beans. However, the tomatoes, vegetable broth, and salt should not be added until after the beans are completely cooked.

Hummus

I tasted my first hummus in the summer of 1995, and have been a major fan ever since! It's nutritious and oh-so-delicious. Here is my basic recipe:

2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
2-6 cloves of garlic (depending on your preferences), peeled and halved
1/2 cup tahini paste (sesame paste)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup warm water
juice and pulp of one lemon, or 3-4 T lemon juice
1 T ground cumin
salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Put the beans and the garlic in a food processor with the large blade attached. Process until most of the beans are pureed.
2. Add the tahini, olive oil, water, and lemon juice. Process until smooth.
3. Add the cumin, salt, and pepper. Taste for flavor. Add more salt and pepper as needed.

Refrigerated, can last for up to a week. Eat with fresh vegetables, crackers, pita bread, or make into hummus-and-cheese sandwiches.

Optional additions: fresh basil leaves, fresh tomato, fresh parsley

Phil's Burritos

My stepfather, Phil, makes his own version of these, which are quite delicious. Mine are lower-fat and have less sauce somehow, but I still call them "Phil's Burritos." They are super easy and delicious!

Ingredients:

8 large tortillas (I like whole wheat)
3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 onion, chopped
1 very large or 2 medium jars of salsa
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (or a little more)
sour cream

1. In a large bowl, mix together the beans, onion, most of the salsa, and most of the cheese.
2. Put a couple of spoonfuls of the mixture into each tortilla and fold it into a burrito shape.
3. Bake the burritos in an oven pre-heated to 350 degrees, covered with tin foil, for 30 minutes. I prefer a glass baking dish -- or two, if they don't all fit -- but metal works just fine.
4. Remove the tin foil, sprinkle the burritos with the remaining cheese, and bake 15 minutes more.
5. Serve with salsa and sour cream on the side. Yum!

Spicy Bean Hot Pot

It's not chili... it's not soup... what is it? Spicy Bean Hot Pot!

This recipe comes from a cookbook my mom gave me several years ago called 30 Minute Vegetarian Recipes. All the recipes, while maybe taking a little longer than 30 minutes, are really very easy and don't require complex ingredients. This bean dish is surprisingly good, and has it's own unique taste. It's that type of favorite dish that I often don't remember to make, and then one day I make it, and think, "Why don't I eat this more often?"

I've pretty much stuck to the recipe in the book, but increased the amounts and changed the serving suggestions.

Ingredients:

1 medium or large onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 T canola oil
1 T ground cumin
1 28-oz can of diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup tomato paste
several tablespoons of Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce, to taste
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can white (cannelini) beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper to taste
grated cheddar cheese for serving

1. Heat the oil in a large pot. Saute the onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Stir in the cumin and saute another 1-2 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, and hot pepper sauce. Stir well and bring to a simmer, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the beans. Add a little bit of water if necessary, but not much. Cook until heated through, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes.
4. Season with salt, pepper, and additional hot pepper sauce to taste.
5. Serve with grated cheddar cheese. I like to have baked potatoes or fresh bread on the side.

Here is the cookbook -- I don't know why it's sideways.

Shepherds' Pie

On a cold, rainy night, of the sort we've had here in the Pacific Northwest recently, it's very nice to have a simple meal cooked in the oven. I first made a vegetarian shepherds' pie just over three years ago, but we liked it so much that I made it several times more before we left for Thailand. Though my original recipe -- a modification from The Joy of Cooking -- is currently buried in storage, I put together an attempt this evening. It turned out quite nicely.

Ingredients:

4 medium potatoes
1 T canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 large carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced, with leaves
3/4 cup fresh or frozen thawed green peas
equivalent of 1 lb. meat, in meat substitute form (I prefer White Wave traditional flavor seitan, but have also used Gimme Lean beef style), chopped or crumbled
1/2 to 1 cup vegetable broth
1 T fresh or dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
butter or margarine

1. Boil or bake the potatoes until soft. Remove skins and mash, with a little milk and butter if you like, or just plain is fine too.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet. Saute the onions and carrots until the onions are softened.
3. Stir in the meat substitute. If necessary, brown it. (I usually brown Gimme Lean products, but not seitan.)
4. Stir in the celery, rosemary, thyme, and vegetable broth. Continue cooking until broth is absorbed.
5. Stir in the peas. Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
6. Spread the mixture in a 9x9 pan. Cover with the mashed potatoes. Dot with butter or margarine.
7. Cook at 350 for 30 minutes, uncovered.

Fava Bean Snack

There are days when I have a hard time getting my protein in. And there are days when I don't have much time to cook. I recently discovered this tasty snack, and now I can't get enough!

I buy the frozen fava beans at Whole Foods. They aren't too expensive. I throw some in a bowl and microwave them for one minute. Then I take it out, add 1 teaspoon of olive oil and a few shakes of salt, stir it up, and put it back in for another 40-45 seconds. YUM! Warm, salty, and fairly nutritious. I eat them with a spoon.