Toddler Food - Beet & Bean Cakes

I forgot to write this recipe down as I made it so this is my best guess as to what I did. They're a little dry but she likes them slightly warm. The beets make them a bit sweet.

You could use any type of beets or beans here. I prefer to use yellow beets because we cloth diaper and don't want stains.

Beet & Bean Cakes
4 small yellow beets, steamed, peeled, and chopped
1/2 cup cooked pinto beans
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach, defrosted
1 large egg, lightly beaten
pinch nutmeg

Pulse the beets, beans, rice & spinach in a food processor or blender until they are finely chopped and combined. Stir in the egg & nutmeg. Shape into 2 tablespoon patties. Place on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes.

Toddler Food - Tuna Pea and Pumpkin Kale Croquettes

G. hates peas.

She used to eat peas every day like they were candy. Best thing ever. Peas were better than cereal in a circular shape.

G. turned one. Hates peas.

In true toddler fashion, make them look a little different, they are yummy. The ones on the left are the Tuna Pea Croquettes. The ones on the right are Pumpkin Kale.

Tuna Pea Croquettes
1 cup mashed potatoes with butter & soy milk (no salt)
1/2 cup frozen peas, defrosted and pulsed in a food processor or blender
5 ounces canned skipjack tuna (no added salt), drained
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Mix everything together. Shape into 2 tablespoon patties. Place on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes.

Pumpkin Kale Croquettes
15 ounces pumpkin puree
12 ounces tofu, pulsed in a food processor or blender to get small chunks
4 cups kale, cooked & chopped fine
1/4 cup flour
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Mix everything together. Shape into 2 tablespoon patties. Place on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes.

Toddler Food - Salmon, Sweet Potato Croquettes

Based on her sushi consumption, G. really likes fish. Cereal, raisins, they won't cut it. When's he getting back with more sushi?

She also loved the fish breakfast at Jack's in Aina Haina, the butterfish at Mr. Ojisan in Kapahulu, and the mahi from Fresh Catch in Kaimuki. We eat a lot of fish when we're in Hawaii but I'm picky and don't like a lot of the fish around here. Canned fish is a known quantity, though, and works great in croquettes. Add some sweet potato and they are a toddler favorite in this house.

Salmon Sweet Potato Croquettes
7.5 ounces canned red wild salmon, drained
8 ounces mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon minced green onion
pinch black pepper

Flake salmon carefully into small bits, being sure to crush up all the bones. Remove any bones you can't crush. Mix in remaining ingredients. Chill until cold, approximately 30 minutes. Drop in 1-1/2 tablespoon scoops onto a greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten slightly. Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes.

Toddler Food - Turkey Spinach Meatballs

I'd like to note that all of these little food bites taste really quite good to adults, too. The only thing I'd change is to add a little bit of salt.

These meatballs are sort of a success. She likes them slightly warmed, broken into smaller pieces, and only from Mommy. I think part of the problem is she ran into a tough bit of cartilage early on and decided they are kind of suspect. Still, given she doesn't really like the texture of meat in general, these work well.

Turkey Spinach Meatballs
4 ounces ground dark meat turkey
1-1/2 tablespoons applesauce
1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and drained
1/2 tablespoon minced shallot

Using hands, combine all ingredient thoroughly. Shape into 1 to 2 tablepoon size balls. Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes.

Toddler Food - Pumpkin Tofu Bites

So we are past the baby food. But in typical toddler fashion we have food issues.

Number 1: She is awfully picky about biting into things and textures. I'll admit, I'm just as likely to tear off pieces of bread-type things rather than take bites, but she just hates to take a bite out of anything! Even teething biscuits aren't worthy of biting.

Number 2: Sometimes she just won't eat something she used to love. For weeks. Peas were a daily favorite for months. Now, if she sees a pea, it's all over. It reminds me of feeding my grandmother with dementia.

Fortunately, she seems to eat anything I make into nugget/croquette form. This has been a theme for the last month and I figure it's best to document all these recipes in case I want to make them again.

Pumpkin and tofu were always favorite foods so I started with that. She really seems to like these and they freeze very well.

Pumpkin Tofu Bites with Broccoli

10 ounces firm tofu, drained and minced

8 ounces pumpkin puree (about 3/4 cup)

5 ounces cooked brown rice (about 3/4 cup)

1/4 cup flour

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 ounce frozen broccoli, defrosted and minced (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

Combine the tofu and pumpkin, mash slightly. 

Stir in remaining ingredients. Drop in 1 Tablespoon balls on a greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 400° F for 20 minutes.

1st Birthday Party Planning - first steps

It's amazing how quickly these things arrive. We're already planning her first birthday party. These are a really big deal in Hawaii with many parents throwing a party that's bigger than their wedding. We're not going that route, but it's still important to me for the party to be well planned, fun, and cute. It's also important to us that we start the tradition of a non-Christmas theme so her birthday stays separate and special.

Really, we're throwing 2 parties. The first in Hawaii for family & friends there, and another, later, at home. I found some really nice printable themed party supplies from Paper and Cake. They supply you with pdfs of various things like invitations, cupcake wrappers, signs, and decorations. You can customize, print, cut, and assemble them as you need. I'm transforming the Under the Sea Baby Shower package into a First Birthday for Hawaii, admittedly only possible on the invitations since I have more advanced design software than most people.

This is the test of the favor box with Halloween candy for scale. It's perfect since her favorite toy is this stuffed octopus she drags around by the tentacles. I'm going to add her name and birthday to personalize it. The invitations and envelopes are done and mostly sent. We're still deciding the menu and children's favors. And almost everything still needs printing, cutting, scoring, folding, and gluing. Oh my.

15th Century English/French Style Matched Scrolls

I finally made my first foray back into scribal things since G. was born.

Our good friends on Maui received their SCA peerages on the same day recently. Given the logistics of flying with a 10 month old baby, the cost of airline tickets, and our plans to be in Honolulu in December, we decided only J. would go.

Maui is part of the Kingdom of Caid, which does not give out original award scrolls to people without a name and arms registered with the SCA College of Heralds. Unfortunately, neither of our friends fell into this category. So I decided to create small, quick, "promissory" scrolls for them to receive on the day of the award with a more typical peerage scroll to be made once they get things registered.

The very loose inspiration was Newberry MS 166, a genealogy of the kings of England and France from 1465. Basically, I took the style of calligraphy and the bar with devices down the center from it. I added the symbol of the order to the bottom of each, a pelican for the Pelican and a white belt for the Chivalry.

For K's scroll, the central bar is in her color of purple with the symbols of her service awards, alternating with more symbols of the order, placed on top. For E's scroll, the central bar is red, the color of his squire's belt, with the arms of the knights in his SCA lineage leading down to the white belt.

Each scroll is done on 5" x 7" pergamenata paper. These were some of the quickest scrolls I have ever done, about 3 hours each, not including research and thought. Given the limited time I have right now with the Baby-Who-Will-Not-Nap, it was something of a miracle they were finished at all!