Spinach Macaroni and Cheese (For age 15 months+)

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What you think about this picture? Cute, isn’t it? Yes, it is an adorable hungry little squirrel. I caught this picture while we were on the way to our son’s music class. He is obsessed with squirrels. He is a squirrel chaser; he runs them up the trees and calls them back when they disappeared. I like to see him bounces up and down as he watches the squirrel run across the grass. He calls them “Scuuu”, so cute.

Yesterday I decided to make a different version of Mac and Cheese. I know, mac and cheese is always a kid’s favorite food. What I found is add a bit of veggie to basic mac and cheese will taste even better than the classic mac and cheese. Also it is a great way to hide the veggies for those picky eaters. This spinach added mac and cheese is a great way to get the kids to eat healthy spinach. This Spinach Mac and Cheese is made on the stovetop, not baked in the oven.

Spinach Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients (For 3 servings)

Elbow macaroni- 4 oz

Spinach-2 oz

Big onion- 1 medium size, chopped

Cheese-1/2 cup

Butter- 1 Tbsp

Milk-1/2 cup

All-purpose flour-1 Tbsp

Olive oil- 1 Tsp

Pepper and salt, to taste

Method

Step 1: Heat a large pan over medium heat and sauté spinach by adding chopped big onion and olive oil. See my "Stir Fried Baby Spinach" recipe here.

Stir fried baby spinach Recipe

Step 2: Cook pasta as directed on the packet. My usual method is, boil water and add pasta with salt. Cook for 10 minutes and drain off water.

Step 3: Heat a pot over medium heat and melt butter. To the melted butter, add all-purpose flour and milk. Whisk well until you get a smooth creamy sauce. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 4: Add grated cheese to this creamy sauce and stir until completely melted.

Step 5: Add cooked macaroni and stir well until coated with cheese sauce. To this Mac and Cheese, add sauted spinach and stir.

Spinach Macaroni and Cheese is ready to serve. Serve warm.

Ingredients

Cooked Pasta

Stir fry spinach by adding chopped onion and olive oil

Creamy Sauce

Add grated cheese to creamy sauce

Mix pasta with cheese creamy sauce. Macaroni and Cheese is ready now.

Add stir fried spinach with mac and cheese. Serve warm.

HAPPY COOKING!

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Avocado Apple Puree (For age 5 months+)

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Avocados are wonderful fruit rich with good fat. It is a perfect food for baby’s brain and physical development. You can give avocado either by itself or mix with fruits, especially apple.  Because apple is naturally sweet and easy to mix with a variety of fruits. As an old saying “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, yes, apples are ideal first fruit for solid starters.

It is always a great idea to peel and steam apples to ensure that there are no tummy upsets for babies.

Ingredients (For 1 serving)

Avocado, medium size- ½

Apple, medium size- ½ (Since I chose small snack apple, I took one whole apple)

Process

Step 1: Wash, peel and cut the apple into chunks.

Step 2: Steam apple pieces. I used my "Fresh Starts Baby Food Steamer".
Cook them until they tender. You can use some of the boiled water from the bottom of the steamer to thin out the puree.

Step 3: Cut avocado in half, remove the stone and scoop out the flesh.

Step 4: Puree avocado and steamed apple in a blender until you get smooth consistency. Add breast milk/ formula/ water from the steamer to make desired consistency.

Avocado Apple Puree is ready to serve. Serve immediately since the puree turns brown very quickly.

Ingredients: Avocado and apple

Cut apple into chunk pieces

Steamed apple 

Avocado Apple Puree

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French Toast Sticks (For age 18 months+)

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Sitting down and eating together at breakfast time is a good way to start the day. Nowadays I really enjoy our breakfast time because our son started to share the breakfast table with us. He is a pretty slow eater, but I think that is OK, kids tend to take longer to eat than adults and as we know, slow eating is good for health too. I am very happy to watch him eating by himself and sharing them with his tiny toys. So sweet! 

I like to make variety of breakfast for my son each day. I've found that offering a variety of foods make him excited when he looks at his breakfast plate. I guess that is a very good way to handle a picky eater.

This time I am sharing one of his favorite breakfasts, French Toast Sticks. I usually make French toast in the same way, but these little french toast "sticks" are the perfect size for the little hands to hold. 

French Toast Sticks

Ingredients (For 2 servings)

Medium thick Bread slices-3

Egg-1

Milk-1/3 cup

Salt, a pinch

Sugar-2 Tbsp

Cinnamon-1/2 Tsp

Butter- 1 Tbsp

Method

Step 1: Cut each slice of bread into 3 pieces.

Step 2: In a bowl, mix together egg, milk and salt.

Step 3: In a plate, combine cinnamon and sugar.

Step 4: Heat a pan over medium heat and spread with butter. Dip each bread stick into the egg mixture and place them in the pan.

Step 5: Cook and flip them until both sides turn brown.

Step 6: Roll the toasts in cinnamon sugar mixture (This step is optional, mostly I do not roll them in sugar, instead I add cinnamon directly into the egg mixture).

French Toast Sticks are ready to serve. Serve them with warm milk.

My son LOVES them. I hope your kids will enjoy this tasty breakfast treat as well.

Ingredients: Bread, milk and egg

Cinnamon sugar mixture and Egg mixture

Butter the pan and cook them on both sides until they turn brown.

Roll them in Cinnamon sugar mixture

French Toast Sticks are ready to serve!

HAPPY COOKING

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ABC Vegetable Soup (For age 15 months+)

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Summer is almost over. But in Texas, it feels like, still summer is in a full swing. My favorite seasons are still quite distant. But I like warm whether, especially when I visit farmers markets. Farmers markets are more active in summer and with full of fresh produce. All of the produce is very fragrant, especially I love the smell of fresh berries and melons. Always I buy many different kinds of veggies and fruits, so that I can incorporate all the veggies in our meals.

Few days back, I was thinking of making something different or something new for my son maybe myself too, and SOUP came to my mind. I occasionally make chicken and vegetable soup, but this time, little different, “ABC Soup” or “Alphabet Vegetable Soup”. It is a great way to use up any leftover veggies in the fridge. The kids love to play with the alphabets and it is a fun way to practice letters too.

ABC Soup

Ingredients (for 5 servings)

Alphabets pasta- 100 Gram

Grape tomatoes- ~30, cut them half.

Onion- 1 large size, chopped

Celery stick-1, cut into very small pieces.

Carrot- 1 large size, chopped

Potato- 1medium size, cut into small pieces.

Garlic- 1 large clove, chopped

Paprika or Chilly powder- ½ Tsp

Black pepper- ½ Tsp

Turmeric powder- 1/3 Tsp

Salt, to taste

Oregano leaf flakes, a pinch

Method

Step 1: Heat a medium size pot over medium heat and cook pasta by adding salt. It took around 10 minutes to cook my alphabets pasta. Drain off the water and keep them aside.

Step 2: Heat olive oil in a pan and saute onion and garlic. When onion turns brown, add salt and spices (paprika, black pepper and turmeric powder). Stir them for 2 minutes and add ½ portion of tomatoes. Saute them well and add ½ cup of water and bring it to boil. Switch off the stove and allow this to cool. Put them in a blender and puree them.

Step 3: Cook all the vegetables (carrots, celery, potato and tomatoes) in a pressure cooker by adding salt, pepper and 1/3 cup of water (you can cook them in a large pot if you like). Wait for one whistle then switch off the stove and bring it to cool down. Open the lid and slightly mash the cooked vegetables.

Step 4: Heat a large pot over medium heat and add onion-tomato puree, pasta and cooked vegetables. Mix them together and add oregano flakes. Bring this to boil and season with additional pepper and salt as needed. 

So healthy and yummy ABC Soup is ready to serve. Serve warm.

This is a perfect summer soup. So delicious, and if you make in large quantity, you can freeze them and could use later.

Ingredients

Cook alphabets pasta by adding salt

Saute onion, garlic and tomatoes

Puree the onion-tomato mixture

Cook vegetables by adding salt and pepper

Mix onion-tomato puree, pasta and cooked vegetables. Bring this to boil.
ABC Soup is ready!

HAPPY COOKING!

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Scrambled Egg with Roasted Tomatoes (For age 15 months+)

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How many of you cook a separate meal for your kids? I know, there are many parents spending hours and hours in the kitchen preparing 3 or more separate meals for their kids and adults. Yes, we have to please our fussy eaters. Well, unfortunately, I too make separate meal for my son. Everyone including my mother told me not to cook separately for the kid and offer him what we eat. But for me it is heartbreaking to watch my son leaving his dinner table without eating. So I always make sure that, I have something on the table that my son can eat, like something which is not too spicy. Nowadays I started encouraging him to have at least a mouthful of whatever we are eating.

For me, one of the biggest challenges is finding out what to offer him for breakfast? Cereals and oats are very common choices, but getting him to eat oatmeal same day is not easy. We always have to make sure that they are getting enough protein and fat as nutritional boost at breakfast. Egg is a wonderful choice; eggs are packed with powerful nutrients and are a great source of protein as well.  There are so many ways you can offer egg as breakfast. Scrambled egg is so easy to make and yummy too. But when I offered for the first time, he liked it but not up to my expectation. Ya, he didn’t like the plain taste of egg. So I made roasted tomatoes and served with scrambled egg. YES, that worked, a great way to serve egg and veggie as breakfast.

Scrambled Egg and Roasted Tomato

Ingredients (1 serving)

Egg- 1

Milk- 2 Tsp

Salt and pepper, a pinch

Parsley flakes or curry leaves, to sprinkle

Tomato- 1 medium size or 5 cherry tomatoes

Butter- 1 Tsp

Process for making Scrambled Egg

Step 1: Crack the egg and beat it with milk.

Step 2: Add a pinch of salt.

Step 3: Heat the pan in low heat and melt the butter. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook for few minutes with constant stirring. Do not overcook the egg since it will loose the soft texture.

Scrambled egg is ready now. Sprinkle some pepper and parsley flakes on top.

Process for making Roasted tomato

Step 1: Cut the tomato into medium size pieces.

Step 2: Heat a pan over medium heat and add tomato pieces. Sprinkle some salt and pepper. Add few drops of cooking oil and cook them until they turn brown in color (turn them as needed, but do not stir constantly). 

Roasted tomato is ready to serve.

Serve them together. 

Ingredients for Scrambled Egg

Whisk egg with milk

Butter the pan and cook egg mixture until you get soft scrambled egg

Heat a pan add tomato pieces

Roast the tomato until they turn brown in color

Scrambled Egg and Roasted Tomato

HAPPY COOKING!

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Beetroot Rice (For age 12 months+)

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As per experts we can introduce beetroot to our babies at around 8 months of age. Kids will love this since it has a velvety color and beautiful texture and of course yummy too. While I introduced beetroot to my son, I started with beetroot puree. Very easy recipe. Wash and peel off beetroot, cut them into medium size pieces and cook/ steam them. Mash or puree them until you get desired consistency.

In this post I am sharing a very simple and easy "Beetroot Rice" recipe with you busy Moms. Hope your little-one will enjoy this!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Beetroot rice

Ingredients (For 2 servings)

Beetroot, grated- 3Tbsp

Cooked rice- 3Tbsp

Salt, to taste

Process

Step 1: Wash and peel off beetroot and grate them (using a grater) into very small pieces.

Step 2: Heat a pan over low heat and add grated beetroot to the pan. Add pinch of salt and cook it until the raw taste of beetroot gone (no need to add water). Stir in between with a spatula. You can add few drops of oil if you find the beetroot pieces are sticking on bottom of pan.

Step 3: When beetroot is fully cooked, add cooked rice into this. Now you can switch off the heat and stir them gently.

Wow beautiful beetroot rice is ready to serve.

Serve with yogurt.

Ingredients: Grated beetroot and cooked rice

Cook grated beetroot in a pan

Mix cooked beetroot with cooked rice and Beetroot rice is ready!

  

HAPPY COOKING!

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