How do I pit Cherries?

Hey all!

Who has trouble figuring out what the best way is to pit a cherry?  Why, you ask? Well I recently made Sawyer baby food that included some cherries, and boy I would have loved to know some easier ways to get that darn little pit out.  Instead I massacred the cherries just to get that dang pit!  I eventually pitted all the cherries, and started the baby food to cook.  While I waited for the baby food to finish cooking, I kicked up my feet to read my Real Simple magazine.  Well come to find out in the issue I was reading it had an article with multiple ways to pit cherries!  For heavens sake, someone above I guess just wanted to watch me get frustrated over pitting cherries!

I thought I would pass along the helpful ways to successfully pit cherries, because I know these methods would have definitely made my life easier had I know about them!  On this web page it gives 4 methods on how to pit them, and even has a video for you visual learners!  All the methods are so similar to pitting avocado (which I love) I can't believe I didn't think of that.  So if you are like me and stumped on how to successfully pit cherries check out these Pitting methods!

Eggplant on the grill

Hey all!

Did someone say eggplant? I sure did! Once again even though eggplant is not in my diet (not a fan of the texture or the flavor) I decided I can't let that hold back sawyer from trying eggplant. Well lets just say HE LOVED IT! My first go around with creating the first eggplant recipe I must say wasn't nearly as good as the second one I just made. However, here is the first recipe!

1 medium eggplant
Olive oil
1 tbsp rosemary
Salt to taste
Dash of Crushed red pepper flakes

First preheat your grill, medium heat.  In the meantime slice your eggplant in 1/4" thick circle discs. Place all slices on a plate (easier when seasoning) drizzle olive oil to cover the tops of each eggplant slice. Add rosemary, salt, and a dash of pepper flakes to each slice. Place on the grill seasoning side up. Cook each aside for roughly 7 minutes.  Turn grill off and remove to cool. Dice up the eggplant and add to the processor and purée!

Zucchini and Squash baby food recipes

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I know, I know it took forever to finally make up a zucchini and summer squash recipe!  I just have been waiting for baby food containers!  I had a huge supply of food in the freezer, and I need to make sure I made a dent in that before I started making anymore food.  Believe me it was killing me, not being able to make baby food.  Although I must say it is so nice having to pull the containers out the night before and stick them in the fridge for the next days use. Instead of making sure i even have food for the next day, and if i didn't I would have to get the store bought.

Here is the zucchini/squash recipe:

1 medium zucchini
3 fresh chives
1 TBSP. fresh tarragon or dried
3 fresh sage leaves
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

First slice the zucchini into half then half again, so there is about 6 pieces.  Chop up all herbs together.  Drizzle olive oil on the top of the zucchini to lightly coat, then sprinkle the herb combination over the top.  Add a dash of salt and pepper over each piece of zucchini.  Heat grill to medium heat.  Place slices right on the grill.  Cook on each side about 10 minutes for a total of 20 minutes.  Turn grill off and let cool on grill for another 10 minutes.  Remove from grill dice up into quarter size chunks and place in the processor.  Grind, chop, and purée away!

The Summer Squash recipe is exactly the same as the zucchini, but I used 2 small sized squashes with a total of 8 pieces of squash to place on the grill.

Nectarines with lemon basil baby food

Hey all!

Here is a basic food to try out, nectarines!  It's so delicious the nectarines are already sweet on their own, however when you add just a tad of spice it bursts with flavor.  Sawyer absolutely loves nectarines, but then again who doesn't!

4 small nectarines
5 fresh mint leaves
4 fresh lemon basil leaves
1/4 C brown sugar

Start by peeling and slicing the nectarines into chunks.  Add to a medium pot, along with the rest of the ingredients.  Then add water to cover the fruit, and Pu to cook on medium heat.  Cook for about 20 minutes.  Remove from the heat and cool for 3 minutes. With a slotted spoon, spoon out fruit and herbs into processor.  Gradually add  the juice from the pot until the nectarine consistency meets the smoothness you want, and viola!

Mustard Ham, baby food

Hey All!

Did someone say ham?  Sawyer said, yes please!  This ham recipe is his favorite meat I have made for him.  I actually impressed myself with this baby food recipe I created, and I don't like ham.  I will cut to the chase and get to the recipe!

Little over 2 lbs. of cooked sliced ham (I bought 2.3 lbs. and you can find it in the meat section)
2 tsp. mustard seasoning
Pinch of pepper
Pinch of garlic powder
1 chicken bouillon cube
7 oz. water

Dice the ham slices.  Put ham and all other ingredients in a medium pan and cook on medium-low for  20 minutes.  Turn heat down to low and cook for 10 minutes.  Cool for a couple minutes.  Strain out meat and add it to the food processor and grind.  Add broth from the pan a little at a time to the processor until the ham meets your standards, and viola!

A food list

Hey all!

Shall we discuss the reccommended food for babies?  Why not!  So by now I've looked up list after list to see what exactly I can purée for my hungry caterpillar, and the lists are pretty similar give or take a few items.  I found this list on www.parents.com I thought I would scroll through and give a yay or nay according to Sawyer's opinion.  Who doesn't like to know an 8 month olds take on food!  

So starting with BANANAS Sawyer absolutely loves bananas, and all I did with them was cut them up and stick them in the food processor.  Bananas are so sweet on their own I figured why add flavor to an already delicious fruit.

Sweet potatoes was so, so according to Sawyer.  I'm quite surprised because he loves Brussel Sprouts so much better!

Avocado is next, which guacamole was my craving when I was pregnant, so I for sure fixed him guacamole...but come to my surprise he wasn't a fan.  I was blown away, so I thought I would wait and try again.  A week later I cut the avocado into pieces and mashed each piece a bit and he loved it!  Probably the best food I buy that is usually always on sale.  I haven't tried guacamole again, but why go to the hassle when he enjoys it "plain Jane."

Eggs is next on the list, I haven't officially given him eggs yet...but when he was with his grandparents he was made a side of scrambled eggs.  He was only 6 1/2 months, and he seemed to do ok, but I better wait to verify with the doctor if its ok to do eggs on a regular basis.

Carrots, surprisingly Sawyer could careless about carrots.  He would rather have bell peppers!  I'm sure if he could talk he would say "not bad."  I haven't posted the carrot recipe yet, I'm thinking of a new recipe.  Plus the time I made carrots it was with my old processor that didn't really get the food creamy and smooth.

Yogurt, I have not tried since it has dairy products in it.  However, I have seen the little dissolvable yogurt drops "munchies" that are for "sitters".  I think I will try them, but will have to ask the doctor his opinion on actual yogurt to Sawyer's diet.

Who hasn't tried baby cereal?  I will say Sawyer wants nothing to do with the rice cereal and is all about the oatmeal.  Check out the picture below, he was not a fan of the rice cereal.

Did someone say cheese? Yes please!  Sawyer has only has tastes of cheese when ever I'm eating cheese.  A pinch of American from a sandwich, a little taste of cheddar from a dip, but what cheese he really enjoys is queso dip!  We usually go to El Vaquero Mexican Restaurant every weekend and when Sawyer tags along he of course has to have a taste.  I scoop a little on a chip and spoon it in his mouth and he sucks off that cheese like its candy!   He absolutely loves it and all it is, is white American cheese melted with jalapeños.  Baby's do like a touch a spice, like I mentioned before...try it!

I have made him chicken from leftovers, he seemed to enjoy it.  Out of the meets he has had I would say chicken is probably third in line behind ham and beef.  I've posted my leftover chicken recipe.  Once my protein supply dies down in my freezer I have a recipe I've been wanting to try for him...to be posted at a later date.

Citrus fruits, he hasn't really tried.  I think now that he can chew mushy food I will try some clementines.

Red meat, lie I mentioned before beef is on his top protein list. Coming in second behind ham.  I made Sawyer beef stew meat, a little time consuming with that recipe, but he seemed to really like it. He actually had it tonight with collard greens and blueberry/kiwi!

Butternut squash I can't wait to create a recipe.  I haven't tried that out because it just really isn't in season till towards the end of the season...TBA at a later date.

Sawyer has not tried fish, probably not going to attempt that till he is at least close to being 2 years old.

I get excited when I see tomatoes on the list!  Check my articles page to read an in depth reading on tomatoes.  But I have given sawyer a quick spaghetti that included fresh tomatoes and he seemed to really enjoy that, which is a good thing! I'm not sure what I would do if he didn't like spaghetti.

Sawyer hasn't tried just peas, but rather snap peas!  He loves them.  I actually cooked them for myself one night, and I had enough leftover to purée for him.  It's probably one of his favorite veggies.

Broccoli, I have made for Sawyer, he ate it.  Lets just say he isn't loosing sleep if he never ate broccoli again.  He would rather scarf down Swiss chard.  I think my son will have such a great food palette!  Never in a million years would I have guessed my son would be picking vegetables I dislike over the ones I'm in love with!

Lastly pasta, I'm part Italian and I thank The Lord that he loves pasta!  Pasta is an important food group in my book!  Thankfully he loves it.  He has only had the basic and easy spaghetti but I'm sure he will love my grandmas spaghetti, my Alfredo and my moms lasagna!

I would love to know what type of food you would like a recipe for, so let me know what you want to cook!

Shut the front door, Red Bell Peppers!

Hey all!

I wanted to share with you one of Sawyer's favorites!  He loves Red BEll Peppers! Definitely was a trial and error, but I have developed a recipe he really enjoys!  The first time I made them he wasn't to impressed, after a couple times of eating them they grew on him.  The next time i made them he definitely couldn't get enough fast enough .  The first time I sautéed them in a pan with olive oil, but the smoothness wasn't quite right. I figured the skin was the problem.  And the second time around I grilled the peppers whole!

2 large red bell peppers
5 purple basil leaves
1 tsp. garlic powdered
2 tsp. Olive oil

Grill peppers until the skin is charred, about 20 minutes.  Let the peppers cool for roughly 2 minutes, and then peel gently away the skin of the pepper (it should peel pretty easily).  Then slice up the peppers and add to the processor along with the rest of the ingredients.  As usual chop and grind away. I puréed till it was velvety smooth!

Enjoy!