Homemade Baby Food: Red Pepper Risotto

Red Pepper Risotto

• 1/4 cup or 50g of long grain rice (I used brown rice instead)
• 300ml or 1 1/4 cup formula milk
• 75g red bell pepper
• 75g zucchini
• 50g celery (I opmitted this as I don't have it on hand)

1. Place the rice and milk in apan, bring to the boil and simmer uncovered for 5 minutes.
2. Discard the core and seeds from the pepper and trim the zucchini and celery. Rinse and wash the vegetables and chop them into small pieces.
3. Add the vegetables to the rice mixture, bring to boil, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the rice is soft.
4. Pree the rice mixture until smooth
5. Spoon a little into a bowl and serve. Freeze the remainder.

Verdict: Baby FAN doesn't really like this, I think may be due to the bell pepper, the taste can be quite strong.

Homemade Baby Food: Cheesy Pasta

Cheesy Pasta

• 1 carrot
• 1/4 cup of frozen corn
• a few broccoli florets (about 4 or 5)
• 50g or 2 oz dried pasta shapes
• 1 cup formula milk
• 50g or 2 oz cheddar or mild cheese

1. Peel the carrot, rinse and chop broccoli and carrot into pieces.
2. Place the prepared vegetables, corn, pasta and milk in a pan, bring to boil and then simmer, uncovered for 12 to 15 minutes, until the pasta is cooked.
3. Grate the cheese and add to the vegetables, stirring until the cheese has completely melted.
4. Process or mas just enough to give the desired consistency. Then spoon a little into a bowl. Test the temperature and cool if necessary before giving to the baby.
5. Freeze the remainder.

Variations: I actually cooked the pasta separately from the vegetables. Then I puree the vegetables and make it into a sauce before putting in the cheese. Once the cheese has melt, I pour the sauce over the cooked pasta and serve it to my boy. He loves it. Then I puree the pasta and mix it with the sauce for my baby girl.

Sweet Bun

Tried making sweet bun today as Baby FAN really loves bread. I tried to make it healthier by adding in some formula milk powder, was trying to get Baby FAN to take her formula milk as she just refuse to drink it. I tried putting everything she eats with formula milk and think I'm getting crazy. Well, the bun turns out too dense and more cake-like then bread-like, but it tasted quite good.

Here's the recipe that I get from my idol, Happy Home Baking:

Sweet Buns
Ingredients:
(make around nine 60g portions)

• 150g bread flour
• 150g cake flour
• 5g active dry yeast
• 3g salt
• 125g milk
• 1 egg
• 60g caster sugar
• 50g butter (1 egg, beaten, for glazing)

Method:

• Mix all dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add in milk, egg and butter. Mix into a dough.

• Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough until the gluten is fully developed (see tip below) and the dough is elastic, smooth and non-sticky. It will take about 25 mins to knead the dough by hand. Initially the dough will stick on to the work surface. Do not be tempted to add more flour or even give up kneading! After continuous kneading, the dough will no longer stick to the work surface.

• Place the dough in the mixing bowl and cover with a damp towel or cling wrap to seal in the moisture. Allow the dough to ferment(or proof) until double in bulk. This will take about 1 hr in our Singapore weather. To test whether the dough has been fully proofed, press a finger into the dough and withdraw quickly. It should leave a deep impression and spring back very slowly. For an insufficiently proofed dough, the impression will spring back instantly.

• Take out the dough and punch out the gas produced. Let the dough rest for about 15 minutes.

• Divide the dough into 60g portions. Shape and add fillings as desired. Arrange dough in a greased or lined pan. Rest for about another 15 minutes.

• Brush the top with whole egg mixture. Add almond flakes on the top of the buns, as desired.

• Bake for about 15 minutes in a preheated oven at 190 degC. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Tip:

To check whether the dough is fully developed, take a small piece of the dough and stretch it with your fingers. If it can be stretched into a thin layer without tearing easily, the dough is fully developed.

Spinach Pancake

It's a rainy Sunday, so decided to stay home and eat breakfast instead of our usual sunday breakfast at the Kopitiam downstairs. Tried my hand at making Spinach Pancake, it tasted quite nice, more like a crepe then pancake. SMALL FAN likes it with nutella and peanut butter. As for BIG FAN & myself we served it with a cheese and sausage cream sauce (see recipe below).

Spinach Pancake
(serve 2 to 3)

• 50g fresh spinach, leaves only (I used 2 cubes of spinach puree that I have made earlier on)
• 50g plain flour
• 1 egg yolk
• 150ml of milk
• 1 tbsp oil

1. Wash the spinach leaves well in cold water and then place in a frying pan, set over a medium heat. Cover and cook gently for 2-3 minutes until the spinach has just wilted, stirring ocassonally. Drain off any excess liquid and cool. (I skipped this step as I used spinach puree).
2. Put the flour, egg yolk and a little salt and pepper, if liked, into a bowl. Whisk in the milk to make a smooth batter. Finely chop the spinach and stir into the batter.
3. Heat a little oil in a frying pan, pour off excess, then add 2 tbsp pancake batter, tilting the pan so that the batter covers the base. Cook for a few minutes until browned, then flip over and cook the other side until golden. Slide the pancake on to a plate and keep warm.
4. Continue making pancakes until all the batter is used up.
5. Serve pancakes with your kids' favourite sauce.

Cream Sauce Filing

• 1 tbsp margarine (I used butter instead)
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• 25g grated mild cheese (I used cheddar cheese)
• 40g thinly sliced ham, chopped (as I don't have any ham, I used sausages instead)
• 40g button (white) mushrooms, thinly sliced (I opmited this as I don't have it on hand)

1. Melt margarine or butter in a pan, stir in the flour and then gradually stir in the milk and bring to boil, stirring continuously until smooth.
   
2. Add the cheese, ham and mushrooms and stir to mix.
   
3. Heat, cover and keep warm.
4. Fold the pancakes into quarters, then spoon a little of the cream sauce into each one. Arrange the pancakes on plates and serve.