Pasta Casserole

I know other people have probably made their own versions of this, but I wanted to share my version, because it's awesome and delicious. LOL.

3 cups pasta
1 can of Hunt's Thick & Rich mushroom and basil spaghetti sauce
1 lb lean ground pork
6 mushrooms, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon parsley
Pinch red pepper flakes
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Cook pasta according to directions on package, drain and put in the bottom of a casserole dish.

Cook pork in large skillet until no longer pink. Drain. Add mushrooms, green pepper, onion and garlic and saute for 5 minutes. Add spaghetti sauce and spices, stir well. Cook for 5 more minutes.

Spread sauce evenly on top of pasta in casserole dish. Cover evenly with shredded cheese.

Bake in a 350F oven for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and hot. Remove from oven and let sit for 2-3 minutes before serving.

Ginger Beef Stir Fry

I wanted to try something a little different tonight. I had a steak and a package of frozen stir fry veggies, so I went looking for a decent stir fry recipe to try. I found this, and in spite of me not liking ginger that much, it was quite tasty and I'd make it again.

1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup plum sauce
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 pound boneless beef sirloin steak, cut into thin 2-inch strips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium sweet red pepper, julienned
1 1/2 cups fresh broccoli florets
2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
4 green onions, chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
3 tablespoons salted peanuts, chopped
Hot cooked rice
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

In a small bowl, whisk cornstarch and cold water until smooth. Stir in the plum sauce, ginger, soy sauce and pepper flakes; set aside. In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry beef in oil until no longer pink; remove and keep warm.

In the same pan, stir-fry the red pepper, broccoli, carrots, onions and garlic until tender. Return beef to the pan. Whisk the plum sauce mixture; stir into skillet. Cook and stir until slightly thickened. Stir in peanuts. Serve over rice if desired. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Notes: I used 1/2 cup water instead of 1/4. I didn't have fresh veggies, I used frozen ones. I didn't have plum sauce, so I used about sweet and sour sauce. I used a lot more garlic than it called for, and I didn't have fresh ginger, so I used the ginger from my spice rack. It's got a bit of a kick from the ginger and red pepper flakes, but like I said, it's quite good and I'd make it again.

Adventures in Baby-Led Weaning Part 5

I haven't posted about BLW in quite awhile, mainly because there's not much to talk about. But tonight I'm going to.

Back around Christmas, I stopped directly breastfeeding. Between Charlie biting me constantly and his poor latch causing open sores on my nipples, I had just had enough. I couldn't relax, and I wasn't enjoying it anymore. So, I started pumping and mixing what I pumped with whole milk and giving him that in addition to his food.

In the past couple of months, because I'm getting ready to go back to work, we've actually gotten him onto a type of schedule and it works out really well for us.

When he wakes up early in the morning (usually between 6-7 a.m.) he has about 5-6 oz of milk and goes back to bed. We get up for the day around 8-8:30 and at that time he has a couple more ounces of milk, half a banana and a cup of Minigo yogurt.

Lunch is usually between 11:30 and 12:30 (depending on his morning nap) and consists of about 4-6 oz of milk followed by sharing whatever I'm eating for lunch that day. Admittedly, our lunches aren't usually that great (but I try). It's usually things like hot dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches, soup, macaroni and cheese (not KD, although he has had that too) or if I'm really lucky, something left over from supper the night before.

His afternoon snack is usually around 3-3:30 p.m. (again, depending on naps) and is usually another 4 or so ounces of milk along with a dish of applesauce or some canned fruit (such as peaches...he loves peaches...). If his nap is late and his snack ends up being late, I just give him the milk.

We all sit down for supper around 6:30ish every night. Charlie drinks another 4-6 oz of milk, and shares whatever we're having for supper. A typical supper meal for him will be about 5-10 bites of mashed potato or rice, some vegetables (we usually have either carrots or green/yellow beans...he will eat 5-10 bites) and 5-10 bites of whatever meat we're having. I never really count how many bites he eats. His favorites are pork and chicken. Pretty much immediately after supper is bedtime for Charlie...it's usually around 7 p.m. If he wakes in the evening (which he's been doing a lot of lately), sometimes I'll give him a couple ounces of milk, sometimes I won't.

He's not afraid of spicy stuff, either. He loves the Mexican and curry recipes on this blog. He might make a face the first time he tries something like that, but he has never turned down more.

He's been getting really, really good at feeding himself. I cut everything up into bite-sized pieces and let him feed it to himself. However, we learned the hard way that if we want him to eat (which we do) we can't put more than one piece of anything on his tray at one time, or 99% of it ends up on the floor. If we give him one piece at a time, he will eat most, if not all, of his meal. We also know when he's done: he starts playing with it and smushing it into his clothes. What a kid.

There are some things that I spoon-feed him: yogurt, mashed potatoes, soup, and applesauce. He likes to grab the spoon and help me do it, and I let him sometimes, but not all (depends on what it is he's eating and how much of a mess I have time to clean up). For instance, he fed himself his mashed potatoes last night, but I generally won't let him feed himself soup unless I know we have time for a bath (because he'll need it, especially if it's tomato or vegetable soup...it gets EVERYWHERE...).

I'm really, really happy that we went the BLW route for introducing solids to him, instead of going the pureed, jarred baby food route. I have a child that will eat pretty much anything (he doesn't like plain pasta, but if it's got cheese on it, he'll eat it) and who is a total foodie just like his parents. I also know that when I got back to work in a few short days (yikes!) and he starts spending most of his time with Nannie and Grampie, they won't (or shouldn't) run into any issues feeding him.

And that's pretty awesome.

Mexican Rice

Found this recipe in a different issue of the magazine I got the vegetable mash casserole recipe in. We love Mexican-type stuff, so we had to try it. I made a couple of small changes (nothing major). My notes and changes will be at the end, but here is the recipe as printed in the magazine.

1 tablespoon butter or margarine
2 garlic cloves and 1 large onion, chopped
1 green pepper, diced
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 can of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup long-grain rice
1 1/2 cups corn kernels
1 1/2 cups salsa
1/2 cup water
2 cups grated cheddar cheese

In a large sauce pan, saute garlic, onions, green peppers and beef in melted butter.
Add spices and saute for 2 minutes.
Stir in kidney beans and rice and cook for 3 minutes.
Add the corn, salsa and water. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for about 20-25 minutes.
Serve in bowls and garnish with the shredded cheddar cheese

Notes: Alex doesn't like corn, so I omitted that and instead I used chopped red and yellow peppers (about a half cup of each). When I did the first step, I included them. I also didn't use a whole green pepper, I used about a half cup.

We also put some sour cream on top as well as the cheese.

I would highly recommend cooking the rice at least partially before adding it to this recipe (or else use pre-cooked long-grain rice). Because I used uncooked rice, I had to add probably an extra 3/4 cup of water and cook it longer to try to get the rice to cook.

Overall, all three of us LOVED this, and will definitely be making it again. Next time, in addition to pre-cooking the rice, I'm planning on making it with diced chicken instead of ground beef.

Baked Paprika-Parmesan Chicken

I had a whole, cut up chicken that needed to be cooked, but I didn't want to just do shake-n-bake. So I went looking and found an recipe to experiment with. This was quite possibly the moistest, tenderest and tastiest chicken I've ever had.

1/4 cup all purpose flour (I used 1/2 cup to be sure, but the 1/4 would have been enough)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (I used a heaping 1/2 cup)
2 teaspoons paprika (I used probably 4 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon salt (I used about 1/8 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons milk
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts (I used a whole cut up chicken, bone-in)
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350F
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl, set aside. In another bowl combine egg and milk.
Dip chicken pieces in the egg/milk mixture, then dredge in the flour mixture. Place in a baking dish.
Pour melted butter over the chicken.
Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes in the 350F oven, then to crisp it up some, raise the temperature of the oven to 450F and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes.

Lactation Cookies

I got this recipe off http:theleakyboob.com which is where I've spent a lot of my time since becoming a mother. Well, mostly their Facebook page, but still. Recently, since I've started pumping instead of directly breastfeeding, I've noticed a bit of a dip in my milk supply, so I decided to try lactation cookies to see if I could boost my supply back up. I can't tell you yet if it works or not as I just made these today, but I can tell you that even if they don't work, I think I'll be keeping some of these in the house constantly from now on. They are THAT good. Many thanks to Krista at TLB for the recipe. :)

1 cup butter (softened)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons flaxseed meal
4 tablespoons of water
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons brewer’s yeast
3 cup rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips

Soak the flaxseed in the water for a few minutes to soften.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.
In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar, add eggs, flaxseed and vanilla.
Add to dry ingredients, mix well.
Drop on cookie sheet, bake 8 – 12 minutes on 375F. (I actually baked mine for 14 minutes and they're perfect. Crispy around the edges, soft in the middle, just the way I like cookies). This recipe made 49 cookies (and I'm horrible at making all my cookies the same size, so it probably could have been more had I been more consistent with my cookie sizes).

Vegetable Mash Casserole

I found this recipe in a magazine we got in the mail, and decided to give it a try. I didn't follow the recipe exactly, so what I will do is provide the recipe as it was printed in the magazine and then detail what I did differently.

4 cups potatoes, peeled and cut into large pieces
1 cup carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces
1 cup cauliflower, cut into large pieces
1/2 cup onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups provolone cheese, diced
2 tablespoon parsley, freshly chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup breadcrumbs

In a large saucepan, boil some salted water
Add vegetables (potatoes, carrots and cauliflower) and cook 20 minutes or until tender
Preheat oven to 400F
Drain vegetables, add onion and garlic, then mash thoroughly with a potato masher
Add butter, 1/2 cup cheese and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper and mash again.
Spread mixture into a 9" baking dish (round or square)
Cover with remaining cheese and the breadcrumbs
Bake 10 minutes to melt the cheese and serve

Differences: Instead of the cauliflower, I used broccoli (because Alex and I both hate cauliflower), instead of the provolone, I used old cheddar, I used dried parsley flakes instead of fresh, I used 3 cloves of garlic instead of 2, and I did not use any salt or pepper. I also didn't really measure anything: I used 4 medium/large potatoes, 3 good sized carrots and one bunch of broccoli. I also don't have a 9" baking dish, so I used our large casserole dish and it worked quite well.

Verdict: Alex hasn't tried it yet, but Charles and I absolutely loved it. It's a fantastic way to get someone who doesn't like broccoli to eat it (I'm not a huge fan, and this is now a way I will eat it willingly) and I will most definitely be making it again. It makes a lot.

ETA: Alex loved it as well. This is definitely going to be something we make again and again and again!