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.