Did you know that the typical ice cube tray holds about one ounce of food? Or that one pear makes roughly four ounces of pureed food? You wouldn’t believe all the baby food tidbits I could spew at you these days.

When I was pregnant with my son I heard about homemade baby food and started to look into it. I read a lot about making baby food at home online, and researched books on the subject, trying to pick the right one for us. I heard a lot of good things about Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron, but I also heard a lot of not-so-good things about it too. Better Baby Food by Daina Kalnins was also recommended, and since I own the follow up book (Better Food for Kids) I thought that would be the one. I checked it out in the book store, and it was alright. Although it’s a good book, it wasn’t the right one for me. I needed a book on homemade baby food that would really give me stupid-proof step-by-step instructions.

Then I discovered a new book on homemade baby food that had a very high rating on Amazon.com. Blender Baby Food by Nicole Young most closely matched what I wanted to know. As a first time mother, I was understandably worried about how to properly make homemade baby food.

So far, so good. The book really helped to alleviate my fears about making homemade baby food. I’ve discovered that Will isn’t a big fan of sweet potatoes or butternut squash, but we keep trying nonetheless. He does love pears and likes apples though. I like that the book tells you exactly how to prepare single item baby foods – the first foods that new eaters eat. It seemed like a lot of books just glazed over first foods with a few general and brief paragraphs. Sorry, but as a homemade baby food newbie, I need more.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for clear direction to prepare homemade baby food for your child’s first meals.

I never thought about pesticide residue that could be on my produce before I had Will. And while I thought it was odd that apples in the store were so shiny and glossy, and broccoli had that white patina, I just didn’t put one and one together.

But while I was pregnant I began learning more and more about organic produce and why pesticides are bad. I was surprised to learn about how supermarket produce can have so much pesticide on it, and that certain fruits and vegetables absorb pesticides. It’s a little scary, actually, and it’s really impacted how I look at supermarket fruits and vegetables.

If I could, I’d have a completely organic kitchen from meat to fruit to veggies…even milk and eggs. But let’s face it: that is an expensive endeavor and, while it is worth it, I just can’t afford it.

What I can afford is fruit and veggie wash to get the icky stuff — like pesticides — off of my food. I found one that I like at Trader Joe’s a month ago. It’s called Environne (www.vegiwash.com) and is about $4 for the bottle of concentrated fruit and vegetable cleaner.

For easy access, I mix up a lot of the Environee with water in a spray bottle and just keep it next to the sink. Then, when I need to clean pesticides off of our fruits and vegetables, I just spray-spray a bit and rinse the fruits and vegetables off. Easy as pie.

So, if you can’t afford to go completely organic, you don’t have to accept pesticide covered fruit and vegetables. Simply use a fruit and vegetable wash to rinse away the pesticides and keep your family eating well.

Yesterday was a cooking day for me. I made butternut squash for the family, pasta, bread, chocolate chip cookies, green beans for the baby . . . I made so much that some of the cooking spilled into today.

Today, I made a nutritious filling for homemade ravioli. It’s awesome — adding a hearty dose of spinach packs a good health punch to this ravioli filling. I made my dough from scratch, but if you prefer you can use wonton wrappers to form the raviolis.

See also Easy Homemade Pierogies.

Spinach Beef Ravioli filling
makes enough to fill 1 lb pasta

1 lb ground beef
2 cloves garlic, sliced and roughly chopped
1 can whole spinach
salt
pepper

In frying pan, brown ground beef with garlic, breaking it up as you cook. Stir in spinach, with juices from the pan. Mix well over medium heat.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook for 3 minutes.

Remove from burner and let cool 5 minutes.

Transfer to a food processor or blender and puree.

I am so excited.

Shawn and I got hooked on sea salt with lavender last year. However, we finished our supply and I haven’t been able to locate more … until now. I found Grey Sea Salt with Lavender at Williams-Sonoma yesterday. Lavender is a great flavor addition for breads — used sparingly though since it can get overwhelming.

Homemade bread with lavender, here we come!

Well, my friend Carole requested a recipe for this weekend, so here it goes.

If you don’t like food to be too hot, then omit the cayenne pepper. My husband thought this was a bit spicy for his taste. Personally, I thought it was perfect — but I like food that packs a heat punch. The recipe calls for boneless turkey breasts, which you can find in most grocery stores. Turkey breasts are a great alternative to chicken breasts — a little variety.

Serve this over rice.

Baked Spicy Turkey Breasts with Mixed Vegetables
serves 4

1 14 ½ oz can diced tomatoes
¼ cup lemon juice
½ tsp. chili powder
¼ tsp cumin
¼ tsp dried minced onion
½ tsp cayenne pepper
dash salt
dash pepper
½ cup julienne cut carrots
6 strips of pepper (red, yellow or orange)
½ cup uncooked green beans
1 lb boneless turkey breasts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a 12” x 9” baking pan, create a foil bowl, folding up all four sides (you want the sides to be pretty tall so that you can seal it to cook)

In medium mixing bowl, combine tomatoes, lemon juice, chili powder, cumin, dried minced onion, and cayenne pepper. Stir until well blended.

Place turkey breasts in tomato mixture and cover. Let sit for at least 20 minutes.

Line bottom of foil bowl with carrots, pepper slices, and green beans. Place turkey breasts on top and pour tomato mixture over.

Sprinkle salt and pepper on mixture.

Seal the sides of the foil bowl by pulling them together and rolling over.

Cook in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until meat is fully cooked.

Serve over rice.

Soften a stick of butter or two – place on a microwave safe plate in a microwave and cook on high for 20 seconds for 2 sticks, 15 seconds for one.

Defrost a ice cube of baby food – plate in microwave safe bowl and cook on high for 25 seconds. Immediately remove from microwave and stir rapidly, breaking up any ice left into smaller pieces. Transfer to cool dish or container and stir until completely melted. The whole process takes about 1 minute from start to finish.

Make great (and easy) garlic mashed potatoes – boil 4 medium potatoes (cubed) and 2-3 cloves roughly chopped garlic until soft. Drain. Add 1 tbsp butter. Mash together with potato masher or hand mixer. Add milk slowly while stirring or beating until desired consistency (about ¼ cup works for us). Stir in salt and pepper to taste.

Make perfect rice in a rice cooker – rinse dry rice until water runs clear. In cooker bowl, stir together rice and water at a 1:2 ratio. Add a dash of olive oil and cook.

I learned something new and very important today at Williams-Sonoma: Never cool a hot pan in cold water or on a cold surface.

Why?

It causes thermal shock. Because rapidly lowering the temperature of a pan like that causes it to warp. Warping makes it so that the pan won’t sit flat and can “pop” when heated back up.

(Gosh, I wish I knew that last year! I’ve gone through three jelly roll pans and the latest one is warped!)

More Tips:

• Healthy Living Tip
• Bobby Flay on Cooking at Home
• Food Photography Tips