The people of Japan enjoy a long, healthy life. So much so, that according to research, Japan has the longest lifespan of any country in the world. The Japanese diet has been shown to play a big role in this long, healthy life.
Here are some delicious Japanese recipes from our April newsletter your family is sure to enjoy!
Shitake and Edamame Puree for Baby
Grilled Salmon with Red Miso Sauce
As the first vegetable of spring, asparagus is ready to harvest weeks before most vegetables even begin to sprout. Asparagus is a perennial vegetable, which means you plant it once and it will come back every year. An asparagus plant can continue to produce tasty shoots for up to 20 years. How is that for low maintenance vegetable gardening?
Asparagus is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. Nutrients include Vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium, zinc, dietary fiber, protein, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folic acid and Vitamins A, C, E and K.
Asparagus plants do require some patience. It can take up to three years to produce an edible crop. However, all good things do come to those who wait. You will still have 17 years of edible asparagus as a reward for patience. I planted asparagus in my garden two years ago and I am getting ready to harvest my first edible crop in a few weeks. As someone who is new to gardening, I decided asparagus is my favorite crop. Anything that continues to grow for 20 years is A-Okay with me.
If you prefer to gather your asparagus at the local market, look for asparagus that is displayed upright in water. If you are not going to eat it right away, store asparagus in the refrigerator upright in a cup with about an inch of water covering the ends, or wrap the ends in a damp paper towel. You will find fresh asparagus in the markets as early as February, and it will be at its lowest price in April and May. Buying asparagus when it is in season at a good price and freezing it for later use is a great idea.
Trim the base end of asparagus before cooking. The best way to do this is to hold the stalk between your thumb and index finger and bend it until it snaps. This is a fun job to give your kids.
Asparagus can be grilled, steamed, boiled, stir-fried, sautéed, roasted, and pureed in soups, added to eggs, pasta, casseroles… the possibilities are endless with this amazing, nutrient packed first vegetable of spring!
Cream of Asparagus Soup
(From the Fresh Baby So Easy Toddler Cookbook)
Ingredients:
1 pound asparagus, cleaned and chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 medium potato, peeled and cubed (to save time use 1 cup uncooked frozen hash browns)
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup milk
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Over medium heat, put oil, onions, and garlic in a large soup pot. Sauté until soft (about 5 minutes). Add the asparagus, potato, and soup stock. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover, and simmer 20 minutes. Puree the soup until smooth with a hand blender, food processor, or blender. Stir in the milk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve warm.
Makes 8-10 toddler servings or 4-5 adult servings
-- Rose Straebel
Preparing Thai food is quick and easy. Most recipes are cooked on a stovetop for a short period of time making Thai food ideal for weeknight dinners. Plus soups and curries can be made ahead of time, frozen and reheated for serving.
Here are some fantastic Thai recipes to please everyone from babies to grown-ups!
Lemon and lime juice cubes
I buy limes and lemons when they are on sale and juice them. I fill the trays with juice and freeze. I always have juice cubes handy. I have found the cubes are fresher tasting than the bottled stuff and it saves me money because I don’t have to buy citrus fruits when they are out of season and expensive.
Canned leftovers
I “cube” leftover canned goods. When a recipe calls for a small amount of a canned ingredient. I hate to waste the leftovers, so I pour it into a tray. I find the cube size prefect for future use. Right now in my freezer you can find coconut milk, tomato paste and chipotle pepper cubes.
- Cheryl Tallman, Fresh Baby founder
Leftover chicken stock
It’s a great way to prevent waste and to always have some on hand when preparing the family meals.
Pesto
A couple of cubes of fresh, frozen pesto added to hot pasta makes a great lunch for any toddler!
Ice painting
A summertime favorite for my toddler. Freeze washable paints in the trays either alone or with some Popsicle sticks stuck in there. When the temperature rises, pull out the colorful cubes and put them to paper or old cloth!
Smoothies
Freeze yogurt to make smoothies later on.
- Nannette Melamed, Fresh Baby Media Director
Mashed Potatoes
I have two trays with mashed potatoes in my freezer. It’s my teenager’s favorite food. For a quick snack she pops out cubes and adds veggies or just seasons to her taste.
- Becky Doan, Fresh Baby Account Manager
Raise Healthy Eaters with Eco-Friendly Products
Fresh Baby supports parents with new biodegradable products
(January 23, 2012) For almost a decade, Fresh Baby has supported parents in their desire to raise healthy eaters. The simple and straight-forward solutions have helped millions of parents provide fresh and healthy meals to their children from the first bite. Today, with a change in material to their bestselling So Easy Baby Food Trays and the release of their new So Easy Portion Storage Bags, Fresh Baby is helping those parents keep the earth clean for the future generations they are feeding.
Available for purchase now, the company’s newest product, So Easy Portion Storage Bags, are made from biodegradable plastic. It is one of many steps Fresh Baby is taking to make convenience less taxing on our environment. “No one wants the bag they used to store their baby’s first bites to still be in a landfill when that baby is in college,” remarks Cheryl Tallman, CEO. These new zipper-sealed storage bags are freezer-safe, self-standing and include a write-on area as well as measurement marks in both ounces and cups. The bags can be purchased online for $13.95 for a 50 count package.
Fresh Baby is also revamping one of its most popular products to be made with biodegradable plastic as well. “While our So Easy Baby Food Trays are most often handed down from one parent to the next, we felt that it was best to make certain that if they did get tossed, they didn’t leave a lasting imprint on the environment,” commented Tallman on the change. The trays, most commonly used for breast milk and baby food puree storage, are still made in the USA and have all of the same features that make them a top-seller.
Fresh Baby products are available nationally at independent boutiques and online at retailers including Amazon, Walmart, Target and Diapers.com. For more information visit www.freshbaby.com.
About Fresh Baby
Since 2002, Fresh Baby has helped parents foster their children’s healthy eating habits and proactively respond to the childhood obesity epidemic that plagues our nation. Founded on the belief that all parents want to raise healthy children, but can lack the tools, skills, and knowledge needed to be effective, Fresh Baby puts a modern twist on the conventional wisdom that when you make it yourself, you know its better. From writing easy-to-follow, tasty recipes for using fresh ingredients, to recommending simple activities that build good eating habits, to answering all the questions and eliminating the guesswork, Fresh Baby has thought of it all.
For More Information Contact: Nannette Melamed via email: Nannette@freshbaby.com or Call:(770) 374-3966.
The bright orange color of butternut squash is a seasonal addition to your holiday meal. For families with babies over 8 months old, this soup can be easily made into baby food by thickening it with mashed rice, potato, or baby cereal.
Ingredients:
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds and fibers. Using a vegetable peeler or a paring knife, remove the skin from the squash and cut the flesh into 1-inch thick slices.
In a roasting pan, combine the squash and garlic cloves. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil and toss with a spoon until well coated. Pour in the water. Roast, stirring occasionally, until the squash and garlic are soft and golden, about 50-60 minutes. Add a bit more water if the squash begins to look dry or scorched. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.
Combine roasted squash and garlic with 2 cups of the stock in a blender or food processor. Puree until very smooth, about 1 minute. (You may need to work in batches to prevent overflowing the blender). Transfer the puree to a large soup pan. Stir in the remaining soup stock, coconut milk (or Half & Half), tarragon, and lemon zest.
To serve, warm soup thoroughly and ladle into soup bowls. Sprinkle with chopped chives or parsley.
Makes 8 servings
Note: Can be made 1-2 days ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator or frozen up to 2 months.
Here are a few ideas to serve up a Holiday Dinner for your baby:
Baby’s Age: about 6 months:
Common first food purees that have a Holiday Flavor
Recipe: Apple or Pumpkin Cutie Pie
For the “crust”: combine a crushed graham cracker with oatmeal cereal and breast milk (or formula) in a small bowl
For the pie filling:
Baby’s Age: 7-12 Months:
Turkey (2 options):
Roast Beef (2 options):
Note: Use broth or soup stock instead of gravy to puree your baby’s meals. Gravy tends to be high in fat and salt.
1-Dish Casserole Ideas:
Make a yummy casserole by combining vegetables, fruits, and meat together to make one-dish meal. Depending on your baby’s feeding skills, choose the appropriate texture for these meals: smooth puree, lumpy (fork mashed) or finger foods.
Gobble Gobble Casserole:
Roast Beast Feast:
Baby’s Age: over 12 Months:
If your baby has been introduced to most foods and is ready to enjoy the feast like a big kid, here are few tips:
Planning your baby’s meal:
If the Holiday dinner is at your house, you can prepare your little ones meal right alongside the rest of the family’s. Simply remove foods you would like for your baby before adding seasonings, butter and salt. Then make the appropriate texture (i.e. puree or mash) for your baby.
If you are the guest of another family, you can bring the fruits and vegetable for your baby in a small tote bag. Simply add the main course, such as turkey or roast beef before the meal begins. If you plan to puree the main course, bring a small amount of broth (chicken of beef) with you in the tote bag.
Arabic legend tells of the date palm’s creation: "After God had finished molding Man from earth; He took the remaining material and shaped it into a date palm which he placed in the Garden of Paradise (Eden)."
While this is legend, it’s acutally not to far from the truth. Dates were an original food of early civilization, in fact drawings of the date palm are depicted in the caves of Neolithic man (about 7000 years old). Dates could also very well be the first cultivated tree. The Sumerians were cultivating date palms about 5,000 BC in lower Mesopotamia.
Dates were the main-stay food for travelers of the trading route from the Indus Valley of Pakistan across the Arabian and Saharan deserts to the western coast of Africa. The high sugar content of the fruit allows it to stay fresh for months which made dates an ideal food for these long journies. Travelers would eat the fruit and toss the pits, which created a scattering of date palm trees among the many oases lining the caravan route.
Dates were brought to the United States by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). After testing a couple locations, they found the Coachella Valley of California to be a perfect place to grow dates. Today, this area produces more than 30 million pounds of dates annually, and there are approximately 250,000 date palms planted across this valley.
Dates are high in natural sugar and carbohydrates, so they are terrific source of energy. With about 24 calories a date, they are also high in iron and contain more potassium than bananas. Yet they are virtually fat, cholesterol and sodium free! Dates are beneficial for anemia, constipation and fatigue. A small handful of five to six dates are equal to one fruit serving.
In the US, dates are mostly used in baking and this is unfortunate. Dates are much more versatile and in other countries they are added to salads, side dishes, sauces, stews, and much more.
Age to introduce: 10-12 months (pureed) Dates are like prunes, they are a natural remedy for constipation. If your baby is not constipated, dates may create more movement.
Chutney is a popular Indian Condiment that is made from fruits or vegetables with vinegar, spices, and sugar. It is commonly served with roasted meats or vegetables and curries. It also makes a great snack with cream cheese and crackers.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Onion, chopped
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and stir well. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 40 minutes. Let cool. Pour into a blender or food processor and process to a smooth texture. Pour the sauce into an ice cube tray, cover and freeze until ready to use.
Serving: Remove a chutney cube from the freezer, defrost and combine it with pureed or mashed beans, meats rice or vegetables. At the beginning, try a small amount of chutney and work your way up to more. Here are some winning combinations for tasty chutney-infused dining:
