I know I make a big deal about Babyman’s distaste for vegetables, but actually I’m not being entirely accurate. The truth is, he will eat a limited variety of vegetables, provided they are pureed beyond recognition. The slightest hint of a lump and he’ll reject it, but if prepared to taste he will happily eat broccoli, cauliflower, and spinach (though I have more success with the latter when mixed into “green eggs”). Perhaps I am giving him too much control by catering to this foible, but the sorry fact of the matter is that I want the little guy to eat his darn veggies, so if I must puree then I will puree.
The irony is that as much as Babyman likes purees, he absolutely hates the food processor. He calls it “The Sound” — like “The Abyss” or “the Predator”. When he is in mischief mode, opening kitchen drawers looking for sharp objects to play with, he will point at my green Cuisinart immersion blender and say “Look, Mommy! It’s The Sound!” In his less-daring moments he stands in the livingroom with his hands over his ears while I make his dinner. Which makes me feel sort of guilty…until I’m done and he comes scooting in and asks for a taste straight off the spatula (moral victory!).
Back in the early days of baby food obsession I made enormous batches of purees and had a whole system of storage and meal preparation. Of course, those were also the days when I a) was unemployed and b) had a baby who napped about four hours a day, so suffice to say I had a little more time on my hands. Maybe it’s the new year, but as I made this week’s store of broccoli and spinach over the weekend I found myself getting a bit nostalgic. Mushy peas with fresh mint…lentil mash with rosemary…avocado after avocado after avocado…and the Sound of all Sounds: brown rice being ground into powder for homemade rice cereal. Back in those days Babyman wolfed down everything I gave him, and he grew so round and rosy with all those arm and leg rolls.
Where does the time go? When, exactly, did he learn to use a fork? Such is parenthood, eh?
Spinach with Caramelized Onion Puree
1/2 bag frozen spinach
1 shallot
sprinkling of sugar
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp ricotta cheese
Peel the shallot and saute with butter and sugar until it becomes brown and translucent and the layers come apart. Defrost frozen spinach in a pan on low heat with a bit of water. Put spinach and shallot in a food processor with ricotta cheese and puree. Freeze in an ice-cube tray for individual serving sizes, perfect to add to pasta sauce or use in Green Eggs.
Green Eggs and Toast
I saw Paula Deen make a version of green eggs and ham the other day on the Food Network using food coloring, and it was kind of scary. This is a more natural version.
1 cube Spinach and Onion puree (see above)
2 eggs
1 slice whole wheat toast
1/4 avocado
Crack eggs into a bowl and beat with 1 cube of spinach puree until fully mixed. Cook as you would an omelet. Toast bread and spread with avocado in lieu of butter.
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