Learn how to make a creamy toasted cinnamon quinoa porridge that’s layered with coconut yogurt and a blueberry compote!

OT FEEDING TIP:

6-12 months: When serving the porridge, you can spoon-feed the baby or give them a pre-loaded so they can bring the spoon to mouth. If the baby is not opening their mouth or taking the puree at first, you can place a small amount on the tray so they can explore the texture through touch and smell.

12 months and older: For yourself or an odler kiddo you could add a little sweetener (uch as honey) and toppings (such as coconut chips or crushed nuts) to give the puree a nice texture. 

Quinoa Porridge

Serving Size:

4

Time:

35 min.

Difficulty:

Easy

Ingredients

• 1 cup of quinoa
• 1/2 cup of almond milk 
• ⅛ teaspoon of cinnamon.
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions

1. Add oil to a cold saucepan until it starts to shimmer. Add the cinnamon and quinoa to the oil and stir them together until the spiced oil mixture coats the quinoa and you can smell the cinnamon becoming more fragrant (about 1-2minutes). 
2. Add the almond milk to the saucepan and stir the quinoa and milk together. Raise the heat until the mixture comes to a light simmer and let it cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently. 
3. Spoon the quinoa into a bowl and set aside. 
   

Blueberry Compote

Serving Size:

4

Time:

8 min.

Difficulty:

Easy

Ingredients

• 2 cups wild blueberries 
• Zest from 1 lemon
• Juice from ½ lemon

Directions

1. Add 2 cups of wild organic frozen blueberries to a saucepan. Break up any large clumps with a wooden spoon. 
2. Stir in the lemon zest and lemon juice. Sprinkle in 1/8 teaspoon of ground cardamom. Stir until combined.
3. Once the mixture comes to a gentle simmer and the juices start to release (about 5 min.) turn off the heat. 
4. Using a hand blender, blend the blueberries until they start to break apart and make a textured puree. 
5. Scoop the berries into a bowl and set aside. 
   

To assemble the porridge mixture into a 2 ounce container, first add a large scoop of quinoa porridge, then a large scoop of unsweetened coconut yogurt and then one spoonful of blueberry compote. Stir together to combine before serving. Enjoy! 

Grain variations: you could also follow the same porridge cooking steps using different grains such as rolled oats or millet. You may need to adjust the amount of milk you use due to the varying way the grains absorb the milk

Yogurt variations: you could also use unsweetened full fat Greek yogurt, sheep’s milk yogurt, goat’s milk yogurt, cashew yogurt, or almond yogurt. 

Milk variations: you could use peanut cow’s milk, pea protein milk, oat milk, coconut milk or any kind of nut milk

Fruit variations: you could follow the same directions for the compote but use different berries such as strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries. 

The post Make A Delicious Dish for your Baby-Quinoa Porridge with Blueberry Compote appeared first on Feeling Yum.

In the Tuscan episode in the Searching for Italy series, the star of the show, Stanley Tucci, and his parents cook this childhood favorite together. Tucci’s family lived in Italy for a year when he was a teenager and a neighbor, Maria Rosa, taught his mother this sauce. Tucci is now a father of five children, and has passed along the tradition of making this sauce for his family. 

You start with a base of so many Italian dishes, the soffitto, which is a mix of chopped onion, carrots and celery in a fat (i.e. olive oil or butter) on a pan. For example, this base could be used for bolognese sauce. 

When using canned tomatoes, the secret is to cook the sauce on a the long simmer, until it looses its metallic taste. When shopping for ingredients, try to buy San Marzano variety of tomato, which are very flavorful. 

Also look for whole peeled tomatoes. You can have your child help squeeze the tomatoes to break them down rather than buying them puréed or crushed, which are more processed and often contain a preservative. You could also blend the tomato before adding it to the sauce.

Salsa Maria Rosa

Serving Size:

4-6

Time:

1.15 hours

Difficulty:

Medium

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter (or vegan butter)
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 cup diced carrots (about 2 medium-sized carrots)
• ½ cup diced celery (about 2 small tender stalks)
• 1 cup diced onions (about 1/2 large onion)
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian, flat-leafed parsley
• 4 cups canned whole plum tomatoes (about one 35-ounce can)
• kosher salt
• black pepper
  

Directions

1. In a large saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter.
2. When the butter is foaming, add the carrots, celery, onions and garlic and cook them, stirring often, until they have softened, 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Stir in the parsley.
4. Stir in the tomatoes, crushing them with your hands or with the back of a slotted spoon as you add them to the pan.
5. Bring the sauce to a boil.
6. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, until the tomatoes are sweetened and cooked, about 45 minute.

Variations:

To create a less coarse version of this sauce, puree the tomatoes in a food mill or food processor before proceeding with this recipe. Also, you could add 1 pound of ground beef to the sauce before adding in the tomatoes. Cook until the beef is lightly browned and then proceed with the recipe.

The post Stanley Tucci Kid-Friendly Family Pasta Sauce Recipe appeared first on Feeling Yum.

OT Feeding Therapy Tips

*Ages 9 months- 2 years: If you’d like to share the crêpes with your baby, you can blend the ingredients without the added sugar and reserve some to the side for your baby, before adding sugar to the rest of the batter. If your baby is 9 months+, you could serve them strips or bite-sized pieces of the crêpes. To introduce hazelnuts to your baby, you could reserve the blended hazelnut butter for your baby before adding the chocolate mixture. When serving the nut butter, stir this into a puree, such as oatmeal.

**Ages 2 years +: If your child is a toddler or older, you could get them involved in the cooking process by helping add ingredients to the blender and/or food processor for both recipes. Emphasize how crêpes are like another food they might love, such as pancakes. To help encourage them to try some new foods, serve different fresh fruits or dried fruits with the chocolate hazelnut butter or chocolate dipping sauce, so they can practice touching the fruits and dipping them.

Cookbook Used in This Video

Cannelle et Vanille: Nourishing, Gluten-Free Recipes for Every Meal and Mood https://www.arangoyoaga.com/cookbooks

Products Mentioned in This Video

Chocolate chips: Guitarrd semi-sweet chocolate chips https://www.guittard.com/our-chocolat…

Fleur de Sel: Esprit Du Sel, 5.64 Ounce https://www.amazon.com/Esprit-Sel-Sal…

Maple Syrup: Tree Juice Pure Maple Syrup https://www.treejuicemaplesyrup.com/c…

Recipe Ingredients

Buckwheat Crepes

Serving Size:

15 10″ crêpes

Time:

30 min.

Difficulty:

Medium

Ingredients

• 2 cups filtered water
• 4 eggs
• 1 ¼ cup of buckwheat flour
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon vegan butter

Directions

1. Combine the water, flour, eggs. olive oil, sugar and salt in a blender, and puree on high speed until well mixed, about 30 seconds. *If serving some crêpes to your baby, reserve a portion of blended flour, eggs and olive oil batter to avoid the added sugar and salt. You can use the batter right away or chill it in the refrigerator overnight (which allows the flour to hydrate fully and results in more flavor, elasticity and crispiness).
2. When you are ready to cook the crêpes, give the batter one good stir, especially if it has been resting in the refrigerator. Heath a nonstick crêpe pan over medium- high heat. Brush the pan with a little bit of melted vegan butter, then pour in about ½ cup of the batter while swirling the pan to ensure it goes in as a thin layer. Small bubbles will appear around the batter as it cooks. Tuck in the edges with a rubber spatula and cook for 30 seconds, or until golden. Grab an edge with your fingers and gently grip the crêpe over, or use a spatula if the pan is too hot. Finish cooking for another 30 seconds, then slide onto a plate. Repeat with the remaining batter.
3. The crêpes can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
4. When ready to eat the crêpes, heat them on the stove until warm on both sides. Spread about a teaspoon of Chocolate-Hazelnut Butter over half of each crêpe, fold, and serve.

Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

Serving Size:

1 ¼ cup

Time:

45 min.

Difficulty:

Medium

Ingredients

• 2 cups roasted hazelnuts (optional: sprouted roasted hazelnuts)
• 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste ( or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
• 1/2 teaspoon of flakey sea salt (optional: fleur de sel)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 2 tbs. coconut oil or olive oil (add more if needed)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 300° F. Spread the hazelnuts on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until fragrant. Transfer the hazelnuts to a clean kitchen towel and rub them together to peel off the skins. It;s OK if you cannot remove them completely, but try to get as much as you can, as the skin is bitter. As an alternative, you can also use pre-roasted skinned hazelnuts.
2. Transfer the hazelnuts to a high-speed blender or food processor and blend until creamy, stopping to scrape the bowl a few times. It will take a few minutes to pulverize the hazelnuts; exactly how long depends on your machine. If the motor gets hot, stop and restart a few minutes later. *If sharing the nut butter with your baby, reserve a small portion of this nut butter before adding the chocolate ingredients (which contains caffeine, sugar and salt).
3. Meanwhile, bring a small pot with 2 inches of water to a simmer. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl (we used a glass bowl) and position over the pot. This is called the double broiler method. Reduce the heat to low and melt the chocolate, making sure no water gets into the bowl and no flames reach the sides. Add the melted chocolate to the blender and process until smooth and incorporated. Add the olive oil (or coconut oil), maple syrup, vanilla and salt and blend until combined.
4. Transfer the butter to a glass jar with an airtight lid, seal and store at room temperature for 2 weeks or in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. it will harden solid when refrigerated, so bring the butter to room temperature a couple of hours before using.

Chocolate-Covered Berries:

Serving Size:

4-6

Time:

30 min.

Difficulty:

Simple

Ingredients

• 3 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 container of strawberries
• 1 container of blackberries

Directions

1. Wash your berries and dry them very well so the chocolate will stick.
2. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
3. Bring a small pot with 2 inches of water to a simmer. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and position it over the pot. Reduce the heat to low and melt the chocolate, stirring frequently to avoid burning the chocolate. Once melted, remove the bowl from over the pot and place a handful of chocolate chips to melt in the bowl to temper the chocolate.
4. Holding a berry from the step or top, dip into the melted chocolate and then lift and twist slightly before lying it on the tray. Make sure to work quickly before the chocolate melts and hardens. **Kids may like to eat the dipped berries with melted chocolate before chilling the remainder of the berries. You could have your child help add toppings, such as shaved coconut or crushed nuts, to encourage additional food exploration.
5. Chill the tray of chocolate berries in the refrigerator until the chocolate sets, about 15 min.

The post Get Your Child to Try Different Foods with Fun Chocolate Recipes appeared first on Feeling Yum.

OT Feeding Therapy Tips:

Ages 8 months- 1.5 years: If you are serving the spaghetti squash to a child under the age of 18 months, you can cook a portion of the squash 5-10 min. longer, so it is softer for them. You could then serve the squash mashed or serve the squash in a bowl, so the child can practice grasping the strands. The vegan Parmesan is a great way to introduce your child to Brazil nuts, since they are ground up. When you’re blending up the ingredients, just save a portion for your little one, before adding salt to the remainder of the mix. You can then mix the nut mixture into a puree.

Ages 2 years+: You can share with your kids how a big yellow squash can turn into long spaghetti strands! We teach you how to cook spaghetti squash so your child can help you with the food prep by scooping out the squash flesh. They then could help mix it into their favorite pasta sauce.

Products Used in This Video

Brightland Olive Oil: Lucid, Lemon Infused Olive Oil

Nuvo Olive Oil: The Early Harvest-Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Himalayan Sea Salt: Himalania Himalayan Fine Pink Salt Shaker

Cacio e Pepe Spaghetti Squash

Serving Size:

6

Time:

1 hour

Difficulty:

Medium

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash
• Drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.
2. Slice the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds from each half. Drizzle the squash with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place the squash cut side down and make holes using a fork.
3. Place each half cut side down on a baking sheet and roast for 35-40 min. depending on the size of the squash. Once slightly browned on the outside and tender to the fork, remove from oven.
4. Flip the squash so it’s cut side up and let it cool to touch. Using a fork, scrape strands from the side until it is fluffed and has mostly only the skin remaining.
5. Scoop the flesh from the squash into a bowl and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and a generous amount of fresh pepper. Stir in vegan parmesan (recipe below) and sprinkle with your favorite herb, such as parsley.

Recipe Ingredients

Vegan Parmesan

Serving Size:

12

Time:

10 min.

Difficulty:

Simple

Ingredients

• ¾ cup Brazil nuts
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• ¼ teaspoon garlic flakes or powder
• ¼ teaspoon garlic flakes or powder
• ¾ sea salt

Directions

1. Add all of the ingredients to a food processor and blend until a fine crumb is achieved. Transfer to a jar and store in the fridge. Sprinkle on your favorite Italian dishes, grain bowls, and baked dishes!

The post Cacio e Pepe Spaghetti Squash with Vegan Parmesan appeared first on Feeling Yum.

OT Feeding Therapy Tips:

Ages 9 months-1.5 years: Both dips are purees that you could share with your little ones. When mixing the ingredients for the guacamole dip, reserve a portion to the side for your baby that does not include added salt or Serrano peppers. When blending the salsa, reserve a portion without the added salt, Anaheim and Serrano pepper. Serve a very small portion (i.e. ⅛ teaspoon) if introducing peppers for the first time. If you are serving the jicama to a child under the age of two, you could steam them until the strips are soft and serve them mashed or in wedge pieces.

Ages 2 years+: If you have any picky eaters at home, get them involved in the cooking process, such as having your child help mash and mix the avocado. When preparing the salsa, your child could use a and add chopped ingredients to the blender. When the child is old enough, they could help prepare the ingredients by helping chop them with a child-safe knife.

Products Used in This Video

Nuvo Olive Oil: The Early Harvest-Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Jacobsen Sea Salt: Pure Kosher Sea Salt

Tortilla Chips: Siete Maiz Sea Salt Totopos Corn Tortilla Chips

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Stores Visited

Antojitos Latinos Market:

25381 Alicia Parkway Laguna Hills, CA 92653

Whole Foods Market:

23932 Aliso Creek Road Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

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Recipes

Yummy Guacamole

Serving Size:

4-6

Time:

10 min.

Difficulty:

Easy

Ingredients

• 3 ripe avocados
• ¼ red onion (depending on size)
• 1 serrano pepper (optional)
• 1 handful of cilantro
• 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (to taste)
• A drizzle of olive oil

Directions

1. Slice the avocados in half, slice the avocado in chunks, and then scoop the flesh into a bowl. Mash the avocado with a large fork until you reach a desired consistency (we showed a chunky consistency in the video).
2. Dice the red onion, thinly slice the Serrano pepper (deseeded optional), and roughly chop a handful of cilantro. Mix these ingredients into the bowl with the avocado.
3. Add 1 teaspoon of sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil to taste.

The Best Green Salsa

Serving Size:

10-12

Time:

30 min.

Difficulty:

Easy

Ingredients

• 1 pasilla pepper
• 1 Anaheim pepper
• 1 Serrano pepper (optional)
• 2 large tomatoes
• 4 tomatillos
• ½ white onion
• 1 zucchini
• 1 handful of cilantro
• 1 lime
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• A drizzle of olive oil

Directions

1. Bring water in a sauté or sauce pan to a boil. Roughly chop tomatoes, tomatillos, white onion, and zucchini. Add them to the lightly salted boiled water and cook until softened (about 8 minutes).
2. Heat an oven to 400 degrees. Deseed and slice the pasilla, Anaheim and Serrano peppers and drizzle them with olive oil and salt. Roast them for 12 min. or until lightly blistered.
3. Blend the boiled and roasted ingredients until pureed. Add 1 handful of cilantro, a drizzle or and sea salt to taste.

Jicama Strips

Serving Size:

4-6

Time:

5 min.

Difficulty:

Easy

Ingredients

• 1 medium jicama

Directions

1. Slice off the top and bottom end of the jicama root.
2. Remove the outer skin using a knife.
3. Slice the peeled jicama in half lengthwise. Cut each half in ¼ inch sticks.

The post Delicious Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Dips for Gatherings appeared first on Feeling Yum.

Also, pestos are a great way to use herbs that droop quickly (aka soft herbs or greens that sat on your counter too long) that you’d like to use before they go brown. Once preserved in herbs and citrus, it will stay fresh in your fridge for at least a week. I love to use it for lunch grain bowls, which can be used in lieu of limp sad salad greens that are difficult to keep fresh on-the-go.

The key to obtaining a rustic creamy consistency with specks of herbs blended throughout, is the order you put in the ingredients. This helps ensure each ingredient’s texture is preserved as it gets processed, a technique I learned from Milk Street. 

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup of pine nuts
• 2 medium garlic clothes pressed and peeled
• 1 lemon (meyer lemon preferred)
• 1-2 tsp. of nutritional yeast
• 1 bunch of fresh basil
• Kosher salt to taste

Directions:

1. First, macerate the garlic by roughly chopping 1-2 garlic clothes and covering them with the juices of 1/2 squeezed lemon (preferably meyer lemon) and let it sit for 5-15 min.
2. Second, pour in ~¼ cup of sprouted pine nuts, a generous sprinkle of kosher salt, 1-2 tsp. Og nutritional yeast and macerated garlic into a food processor using the S blade and blitz until it becomes paste-like (similar to peanut butter)
3. Next, add 1 bunch of plucked basil leaves and pulse a few times until gently incorporated. With the food processor running, drizzle in ~¼ cup of olive oil until desired consistency.
4. Squeeze in other ½ of lemon juice, adding more or less to taste

Once you’ve experimented a bit, you can start to try other nut and herb concoctions, such as kale walnut pesto, tomato pesto or spring pea pesto.

The post Diary-Free Pesto Alla Genovese appeared first on Feeling Yum.

I have a solution! If you don’t have an immediate idea for another use, you can use your roasted red peppers to make a delicious spread that you can toss over vegetables, fish, on toast or with eggs. It’s flexible as well, so you can experiment with what you have on hand. It will also last more than a week in the fridge-theoretically. 

What is romesco sauce? For the unacquainted- it’s a sauce used in Spain that is often used for tapas. The first time I experienced eating this creamy goodness over a bed of roasted asparagus was on a trip in Barcelona, Spain. Since I cannot eat dairy, I almost subjected myself to  watching the others at the table enjoy this delicious tapa until I summoned enough courage to inquire about the main ingredients. To my delight, the creaminess was due to the almonds and it was diary free! Music to my ears.

However, I’ve made variations in the past and  although family members never complained about finishing the leftovers, I personally have found them too rich and never finished them. Also charing the bell pepper over a stove or under a broiler, peeling and cutting it is an extra fussy step that is too much of a headache to do with a grumbly stomach on a weekday. 

My inspo for the riffing on ingredients came from one of my favorite spots in Los Angeles, Botanica- thank you!

Pantry Romesco Sauce

• The remainder of a jar of roasted red pepper
• ½  cup of sprouted almonds (I prefer to do ½ cup almonds, ¼ cup hazelnuts)
• 2-3 roughly chopped garlic cloves
• 1-2 serrano peppers if you like some spice
• Splash of olive oil, add more to desired consistency
• Handful of cilantro
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Splash of vinegar and/or lemon juice

Directions: 

1. Blitz all ingredients in a food processor until desired thickness
2. Add more salt or vinegar/lemon to taste. 

The post Pantry Romesco Sauce appeared first on Feeling Yum.