Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

Another tasty pasta recipe.  As my husband would say: "Good stuff Maynard."

1 C vegetable broth
12 sundried tomatoes
8 oz penne pasta, cooked
2 Tbsp pine nuts
1 Tbsp oil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
a few handfuls of spinach
Parmesan cheese  to garnish

Bring broth to boil.  Remove from heat.  Place tomatoes in broth for 15 minutes or until softened.  Remove tomatoes and dice them.

Place pine nuts in a skillet.  Cook over medium heat until lightly toasted.  Add oil and red pepper.  Saute garlic 1 minute.  Mix in spinach and cook until almost wilted.  Pour in broth  and add tomatoes.  Cook until heated through.  Toss with pasta.  Garnish with Parmesan.

And little boy is still eating away.  His next new food was carrots and he loved them from the very first bite.  More please?  (Yes, I know, the above picture isn't orange and therefore isn't carrots, but isn't he cute?)

Boil or steam 2 C washed, peeled carrot chunks with 3/4 C water until carrots are mushy.  Puree with cooking water.  Add water if needed for thinner consistency.  Freeze in ice cube trays.

Lemon Blossoms

When we were in Idaho for Ben's wedding, I spent some time in the hotel with the sleeping baby.  Which means I spent some time watching the food network.  This recipe was on one of the shows and I knew we needed to try it - and it was delicious! Thank you baby for needing to go to bed and thank you cooking show for delicious food in my belly.

Mini-Muffins:
Yellow Cake Mix
4 eggs
3.5 oz box lemon pudding
3/4 C oil

Beat all ingredients together for 2-3 minutes.  Drop batter into a sprayed mini muffin pan.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.  Dump baked muffins out onto a wire rack to cool.

Glaze:
2 C powdered sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 1/2 Tbsp water
1 1/2 Tbsp oil
1/4 C fresh lemon juice

Whisk together all ingredients.  Dunk muffins into glaze via a fork stabbed in the bottom of the muffin so you can cover the entire muffin.  Return to wire rack to allow glaze to dry.  If desired, re-dunk muffins into the glaze (if dunking twice, double the glaze recipe).

I use the word "muffins" lightly.  But it seems wrong to call them cupcakes since that doesn't seem the right word either.  I guess that's why the cooking show named them "lemon blossoms".  I mean really, what's a blossom?

And because we are mean parents and insist upon vegetable eating, little boy got to eat his first helping of peas instead of lemon blossoms.  He was not impressed that first night, though he likes them now (after about 6 tries).

Baby Peas

Boil or steam 1 C peas with 1/2 C water for 6-8 minutes.  Throw water and peas into food processor or blender.  Blend until smooth, adding water as needed for desired consistency.  Freeze in ice cube trays.  This made 6 servings, so double it for a full ice cube tray.

Easter Dinner

Hopefully you all had a wonderful Easter, celebrating the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ!  We had a lovely Easter - with a meal specially requested by my husband: ham and sour cream potatoes.  Not the healthiest meal in the world (though I did add a salad) but we can get away with unhealthy meals once a year.

My Easter boys!  Grandma made the bow tie for little Isaac.  It stayed on for over half of church - that's pretty good, right?

Not pictured is the adult's sweet potato.  My lovely husband took this picture for me but didn't know how much potato we got for dinner and how much needed to be saved for baby food.  Unlike baby, our sweet potato was not pureed and we added a touch of salt, pepper, and butter.

Ham Glaze (this is a very runny glaze.  Geoff thinks I should find a way to make it thicker but I quite like the glaze's flavor so I haven't played around with consistency):

Combine 1 can crushed pineapple (the small size), 1/2 C brown sugar, 1/4 C honey, and 1/4 C orange juice in a sauce pan.  Heat for 10 minutes.  Pour over ham and bake until ham is heated.

Sour Cream Potatoes:

30 oz hash browns (or 4-5 C diced potatoes)
1/4 C onion, chopped
3/4 C sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 C shredded cheddar cheese (if you use extra sharp cheddar, you can get away with cutting this amount back but still getting plenty of cheesy taste)
2 C cornflakes
1/3 C butter, melted

Mix onion, sour cream, soup, and cheese.  Stir in potatoes and mix well.  Press into a greased 9x13 baking dish.  Combine cornflakes and butter.  Evenly spread the cornflakes on top of the potatoes.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

And since the oven was going to be running for 1+ hours, I obviously needed to take the chance to cook up some sweet potatoes for us and the little guy.  And he ate those sweet potatoes like a champ!

Baby Sweet Potatoes

Wash, prick, and cover 2 sweet potatoes with foil.  Bake until very soft.  Remove foil.  Cut open potatoes and use a spoon to scoop the flesh of the potatoes into a blender or food processor.  Blend with water until smooth.  Use as much or as little water as needed to reach desired consistency for your baby's age (I didn't measure, but I would guess I used 1/2-1 C of water).  Spoon puree into ice cube trays.  Cover with plastic wrap and freeze.  Once frozen, pop the sweet potato cubes out of the trays and store in a labeled freezer bag or container.  Thaw as needed.

Two sweet potatoes made me 2 full ice cube trays of puree.  And cost me a mighty $1.20 to make.  Take that Gerber.

Rice Cereal

I'll admit, I personally didn't try this one out.  And it kind of looks bland and yucky tasting.  But one little bub-o at our house is loving his rice cereal!

Mix 2 Tbsp rice cereal with 3-6 oz formula to reach desired consistancy

Hmmm . . .

Whoa!  What was that?

!

Whatever it is, it's fun to spit out.

What a fun game this is, Mama.