Potatoes: I’m running out of ideas.

The good news is that our potato drawer is getting back in check.  The bad news is that I’m starting to feel like a potato and so is Storkbite.  She won’t even eat them anymore, unless of course they contain bacon.

I’m hitting a wall with feeding my toddler.  She needs high fat and high protein foods, and I don’t.  The good news is that she loves eggs.  The bad news is that yogurt is no longer her favorite food group. Yogurt was my easy button.

In keeping with the potato and toddler theme.  Here is what I have come up with to satisfy both:

Jacket Potatoes

There is a lot to love about a twice baked or “jacket potato”.  It’s way better that mashed or baked potatoes because it’s both.  They are simple.

I roasted whole sweet and regular potatoes for about an hour at 400 degrees.  I let them cool, cut their tops off, scoop their innards and throw everything in my KitchenAid mixer.  I mix on low, added 2 tbs. butter, chopped chives, crispy bacon bits and parmesan cheese.  I put that mixture back into the potato shells, sprinkled with bread crumbs and olive oil.  Put them back into a 350 degree oven and let them bake for 15 minutes.

I added some roasted carrots to the side and garnished with sour cream.  Delicious for dinner, even better for lunch!  Storkbite devoured these.  A real hit all around.

Toddler Lunch

I am hoping that any day now my brain will issue forth many fabulous ideas about what to feed my toddler.  Nothing in a box from the store will do.  It’s too expensive and contains too many items I cannot pronounce.  She isn’t eating her green veggies, so I’ve had to get sneaky.  These toddler size omelets were a real hit and so easy.  I made a whole stack of them and kept them on hand for lunches for a week.

It’s simple, saute chopped kale with some olive oil and garlic.  Chop it up again after it’s cooked.  Let it cool, mix in a beaten egg and then spoon a bit of it into a hot oily pan.  1 egg and about  1 cup of cooked kale made approximately six small omelets.

I cut them up in to chunks so she could grab pieces with her fingers. This was brilliant.  I need to make another stack soon with spinach, or carrot, or…

IKEA For Dinner

A trip to IKEA happens once a year and it’s almost always overwhelming.  However, this time I brought home IKEA FOOD in a large bag.  We had the whole experience right at home.  Meatballs and  ligonberries!  This was all just cause to eat more potatoes which in  this case I roasted for about 40 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

I can’t be expected to be clever every night of the week.

Stork Food

Storkbite has now reached her 1/2 year, so I have put her on the 100 mile diet. Her protein is very local since we are infrequently separated, I would say that the milk maid (me) is never more than 100 yards away at all times. However, before I started the dreaded solids, I was very concerned by ingredients and processing. So concerned that I thought about it for all of 10 minutes and just started steaming up the vegetables from our CSA farm box and fruits from the Saturday market outside our front door. The fruit men assured me their peaches were from a low spray orchard and then Storkbite’s grandma made her a whole load of organic applesauce. I think she is all set – and super lucky to eat local, organic and minimally processed food at the tender age of 6 months.

Peaches, Plums, Zucchini and Carrots

I thought that making baby food was much more complicated and time consuming than it actually is. In fact, it’s so easy and it’s so delicious that I find myself eating the leftover purees. If you have a steaming basket, simply cube whatever it is you wish to make and steam it on the stove top until it’s very tender. I then let the food cool and run it through a potato ricer – any food mill will do. If the fruit is very fibrous like peaches for example you may wish to puree it even further with a food processor. Storkbite seems fine to eat the lumpy food, so I do nothing more than freeze it in ice cube trays then defrost when she is ready to eat. I had no idea how delighted she would be by the flavor of something other than the boring old milk maid.