Soren's Purple Plate

Babies, kids, and parents eat together. Simple, healthy food ideas.

Apple – Sweet Potato – Zucchini Pancakes

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Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. Snack. Travel food. An oldie but a goodie. Super easy to make. These pancakes can be made with a cooked sweet potato (think leftovers) or with raw. If using raw, make sure to finely grate it and squeeze excess liquid.

Apple Zucchini Sweet Potato PancakesApple Zucchini Sweet Potato Pancakes

Apple – Sweet Potato – Zucchini Pancakes
 
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These pancakes are perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack or travel. They take a bit longer to prep but are worth the wait. Enjoy.
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Ingredients
  • 1 zucchini
  • 1 small sweet potato
  • 1 apple
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup oat flour
  • ½ cup semolina flour
Instructions
  1. Grate zucchini and apple on medium grater. Squeeze the juice out with hands.
  2. Grate raw sweet potato on fine grater or mash cooked sweet potato with a fork.
  3. Combine apples, zucchinis, sweet potato and semolina. Let it sit for 20 minutes for the semolina to absorb the moisture and expand.
  4. Beat eggs with a fork and add to the mixture followed by the oat flour. Add salt for babies over 1.
  5. Panfry carefully. Serve with yogurt or sour cream.

 

Bok Choy Soba Noodles Sauté

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Ok, so this is one of our family’s favorite dishes. It’s easy to make, as most things I cook, and it’s also very yummy and nutritious. Noodles can be tricky with little babies who have just a few teeth but I would still encourage you not to exclude them, especially soba noodles (made of buckwheat). Every new texture, color and flavor adds invaluable experience to your baby’s early life setting a great foundation for diverse food tastes and flavor open-mindedness. You’ll thank yourself for offering as many new foods as possible when you see you toddler finish an adult-type dinner when the rest of the kids around are barely interested in mac&cheese. When cooked well, noodles can easily be gnawed by your little munchkin; just chop them up into small pieces.

Now, a word on bok choy. Did you know that it is one of the highest nutritionally ranked vegetables out there? One cup of cooked bok choy provides more than 100% of the recommended amount of vitamin A (it beats cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and broccoli) and close to two-thirds of vitamin C. It also has a ton of vitamin K, potassium, folate and Vitamin B6 (needed for proper brain development among other things).

A note on Baby Led Weaning. Go easy on the soy sauce for toddlers and skip all together if offering to babies under 1. I would have 2 pans going: you are chopping all the veggies anyway; it will take you no time to make 2 portions.

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Bok Choy Soba Noodle Sauté
 
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A quick go-to dish, this soba noodle sauté with bok choy provides a great source of Vitamin C, K and A. Easy to make and full of flavor. Babies can eat it as well if you skip soy sauce.
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Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients
  • 1 pack of soba noodles
  • 2-3 heads of portobello mushrooms
  • 1 large bunch of bok choy
  • 1 cup of frozen peas
  • 3 spring onions
  • 1 bunch of cilantro
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • lemon
  • 3-4 tbsp soy sauce
  • ½ -1 tbsp sesame oil
  • Optional: red pepper flakes
Instructions
  1. Cook soba noodles in boiling water for 6 minutes (or check the packaging for cook time). Drain, rinse with cold water. Set aside.
  2. Slice mushrooms and sauté them in olive oil together with minced garlic for 5 minutes stirring a few times (make sure garlic does't burn).
  3. Wash bok choy and slice each lengthwise into 3 strips. Add peas and bok choy to the pan. I also added a few broccoli stems (optional). Sauté for 6 minutes. If mushrooms didn't give enough water, add 1-2 tablespoons of water to create steam.
  4. When bok choy is wilted and almost cooked, add chopped spring onions, cilantro (the more the better), soy sauce, sesame oil, pepper, red pepper flakes. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for 2 minutes. Soy sauce is very salty but still check to see if you want to add more salt.
  5. Add soba noodles to the pan, spray with a little lemon, mix well and serve.

 

Pumpkin Oat Muffins

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Pumpkin muffins

When Soren turned ONE, we entered the unknown world of snacks. I’m not much of a snacker myself so to come up with diverse, colorful, nutritious snacks for the baby on a daily basis was kind of stressful for me. Fruits, vegetables and yogurt were the obvious choices but I wanted to also add some muffins, breads, scones, etc. I browsed the isles of Whole Foods and other supermarkets but couldn’t find any brand that didn’t have a long list of ingredients (some hard to pronounce). I try to stay away from foods like that. Baby crackers and snacks of all kinds have acceptable food labels but questionable nutritional value (too much of refined flours or too much sugar).

I decided to start learning to make my own breads and muffins. I’ve never been much of a baker. Firstly, the science is too precise for my impatient nature. Secondly, to bake with unrefined flours and unprocessed sweeteners is hard. Thirdly, because in my small New York apartment, the oven happens to be old and huge so to use it often with a baby roaming around is dangerous and messy (I store all my pots and pans in it). And lastly, my husband would divorce me. He actually has a sweet tooth and enjoys anything baked. The problem is he eats it all at once and then yells at me with accusations.

After a bit of talking him into it, we bought the Breville convection oven. Yes, we sacrificed the precious counter space. But it was totally worth it because now I can bake all kinds of delicious goodness from sweet potatoes to frittatas and cakes. No more excuses.

Today’s muffins are based on Cookie&Kate recipe. I love this girl’s blog. She is doing such an amazing job creating healthy and diverse foods.

I skipped salt and ginger called for in her recipe, used only 1/4 cup maple syrup. For a real breakfast treat, stick to half a cup of maple syrup.

Pumpkin Oat Muffins Pumpkin Oat Muffins Pumpkin Oat Muffins

 

Pumpkin Oat Muffins
 
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These Pumpkin muffins taste more like a breakfast bread than a dessert. If you like sweet baked goods, add more maple syrup. Enjoy!
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Serves: 10 muffins
Ingredients
  • ⅓ cup melted coconut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
  • ¼ cup maple syrup
  • 2 eggs at room temperature
  • 1 cup pumpkin purée
  • ¼ cup milk of choice (I used almond milk)
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling on top
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon allspice or cloves
  • 1¾ cups whole wheat flour
  • ⅓ cup old-fashioned oats, plus more for sprinkling on top
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, beat the oil and maple syrup together. Add eggs, and beat well.
  2. Mix in the pumpkin purée and milk, followed by the baking soda, vanilla extract, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice or cloves.
  3. Add the flour and oats to the bowl and mix with a large spoon, just until combined. If you’d like to add any additional mix-ins, like nuts, chocolate or dried fruit, fold them in now.
  4. Bake at 325F for 23-25 minutes. Cool before taking out of molds.

 

 

 

Salmon Risotto Balls

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I am constantly searching for foods that can be fun for Soren to eat. My family likes stews and ragus, which are delicious and nutrient-filled but require a spoon, are messy to take with us on a trip or if we are going out. These rice balls or risotto balls are so easy for any kind of activity, whether you have a kids’ party at home, need an adult appetizer, traveling, going out or looking for a healthy snack.

These are very easy to make. You can use leftover dinner or make them from scratch.

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Salmon Risotto Balls
 
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These colorful salmon balls are easy to grab for the little hands. Kids love to be independent at a table when given the opportunity. They can be used as a complete dinner for the little munchkins or as an appetizer for the adults. Use last night's dinner leftovers or make from scratch. Enjoy.
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Ingredients
  • 1 cup cooked salmon (I used baked)
  • 2.5 cups cooked arborio rice
  • 4 spring onions
  • 1 cup chopped steamed asparagus
  • 1 tsp of fresh thyme (or dried)
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ tsp of paprika
Instructions
  1. Rub salmon with olive oil and a little lemon juice (lemon juice is optional but nice). Season it with salt (skip for babies under 1), pepper and thyme. Bake salmon at 350F for 12 minutes. Cool. Flake with your hands making sure to remove any bones.
  2. Cook arborio rice. 1.5 cup uncooked rice yields about 2.5 cups of cooked rice. Arborio is a sticky rice and is ideal for this dish.
  3. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl with your hands.You can use asparagus or any other steamed vegetables (peas and/or zucchini would work great too).
  4. Form little round balls and bake for 20 minutes at 350F.