Sakura Bloom Sling Diaries: Communication + A Recipe

Cooking is how I communicate. Feeding them wholesome food is how I take care of my family and friends...how I show my love. Almost every day I find myself wrapping Phoenix in the sling and explaining to him what we are making that day. He likes tasting things along the way or helping me rinse vegetables. They say children become readers on the laps of their parents. I believe the same is true for food education. We learn to appreciate healthy and well prepared food if we are exposed to it throughout our lives. 

On this day, Phoenix and I were making a garlic scape pesto. He chomped on a garlic scape as we prepared it and then munched on some fresh basil. I prefer to blanch the garlic and basil as it makes the flavor a bit milder and also keeps the pesto a beautiful green color instead of turning brown. You can, of course, make pesto with regular garlic but we happened to receive these in our CSA this week and I thought it would make a delicious alternative.

Enjoy!

Garlic Scape Pesto

10 large garlic scapes

1/3 cup walnuts

1/3 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

salt

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

After wasting and blanching the garlic scapes and basil, puree with walnuts and Parmesan in a food processor until very finely chopped. With the motor running, slowly pour the oil through the opening. Season the pesto with salt to taste. (The pesto keeps in the fridge, covered, for 1 week or frozen for a month.)

Teaching A Class: Super Baby Food

If you live in the NYC area, and are free on June 16th, you should check out my class Super Baby: First Foods and Feeding Toddlers. It's going to be a lot of fun and at one of my favorite stores, Caribou Baby in Greenpoint. Hope to see you there!

When: Saturday, June 16th 12:30-1:30PM
Where: Caribou Baby
Price: $15
Sign Up: Email chefkarolina@gmail.comClass Details:

Let mom and holistic chef, Karolina Palmer, teach you how to prepare fresh, nutritious, and tasty mini meals that your baby and toddler will love to eat. This class will focus on:

• Teaching you how "adult" meals can turn into meals for the whole family

• Which superfoods are important for growing babies and how to use them in preparing meals

• Time saving tips for busy moms, dads, and care takers

• Tasty treats without sugar that keep energy up instead of a sugar crash

Munchkin Meals: Saag Paneer

Since Phoenix has been eating solids for a few weeks now, he has become more curious with what we are eating as well. Often, if I am feeding him while S and I are eating, he is not happy staring at our "regular" meals as he is eating his baby food. Now, I've been making all of his food from day one and intend to continue but I realized in the past few days that if I don't kick it up a notch I would have a jealous/cranky/protesting bebe. I have been incorporating a bit of the baby led weaning approach but definitely wanted to start him off with somewhat pureed meals. Well, he's pretty much ready to move on.
So when I was making one of my favorite Indian inspired meals last night for Scott and I, I made a baby version for little P.

I use Heidi's flawless recipe (really, aren't they all?) with the curry blend and all. The only adjustment I made was use very minimal salt during cooking (since I knew it would be for babe) and then I added more to taste for myself after. I didn't have any paneer but since it is a curd cheese (with the water pressed out), I used cottage cheese. Also, we had some kale that needed to be used up so I mixed that in with the spinach. I blended mine as well to make it more "saucy." Yum.

Now let me tell you what's great about this meal:

• It's green! That's right, bebe is eating spinach AND kale. Awesome.
• Buttermilk: It's got tons of beneficial bacteria (just like yogurt). Good for the belly.
• Cottage cheese: Protein! Plus, a new texture.
• Garlic and onions: Alliums (as they are called) have antibiotic properties. Good for babies sticking everything in their mouths. Ugh....
• Ginger: Helps with baby's digestion and um..trouble digesting also.
• Butter: Fatten that baby up! Whole, natural fats are important for not only brain development, but also to aid in absorption of important vitamins and minerals. 
• Curry/Spices: It's important to help your baby develop a taste for different flavors. Exposure to many different herbs and spices will shape their palette and (hopefully) lead to a more adventurous eater. 

So there you have it, baby's first Indian. No surprise, he LOVED IT. I say no surprise because this kid eats everything. So far, there is nothing he dislikes. Hopefully this trend continues. 

Try making this meal for yourself and baby! I ate mine over rice but you can also feed it to your baby with rice, if they are eating it. 

If you haven't yet, enter the Teething giveaway. I will announce two winners tomorrow!

Hi, I'm here.

I know you're on the edge of your seat waiting to hear about me.
Brace yourself.

I've been doing a whole lot of nothing.
Well, that's not entirely true.

I've been cooking. A LOT.
And now that I've officially stopped working (YES!), I am finding I have even less time to get everything done. It's one of those things when, the less time you have, the more you accomplish. And the more free time you have, the more you dilly-dally. Does that ever happen to you?

Sigh.

Anyway, I digress. Cooking - up - a - STORM.
Those photos are just a few that I managed to take before inhaling said meal. These last few weeks have consisted of pizza making, veggie burgers, baking english muffins, and tons of gazpacho, among other things. Oh yeah, and did I mention home made HOT POCKETS?! NO BIG DEAL!
This was meant to be a freezer item that we sampled for dinner that evening. Sadly, none of the pockets made it to the freezer before lunch the next day. Oops.

Other than cooking, I have been trying to really enjoy the remainder of the summer. Our last summer before baby. Our last summer of us two. While we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little guy, we are spending lot's of time just being together in the quiet of this last summer.

New York has been going through a heat wave, much like the rest of the country. Luckily, we have been able to go to the beach every week, which has been my saving grace. Every Sunday morning I bounce out of bed, as if it were Christmas morning, and we head out. I then proceed to spend the entirety of the day floating. It is absolute bliss. Ahhhhhh...

And how is baby?
Magical. Amazing.
I'm now officially in my third trimester. I can barely believe how quickly it is flying by. I'm in my 27th week, which means that baby boy could technically come in 10 weeks (when I'm considered full term). Is that crazy? I feel like I was just announcing my pregnancy on here.

Anyway, we are getting ready little by little. Our shower is in a few weeks and I am so excited to celebrate with all our friends and family and then begin preparing. I told Scott last night that after the shower, it was really go time. Eek!

Other than that, there has been a lot of picnicking, movie watching by the AC, and general loveliness.

Oh yeah, and here's my updated photo. I think this is 25/26 weeks...
It's just a crappy phone photo and the sun was shining in my eyes but you can see how much my belly has grown since my last photo update.

Summer lovin'

As summer is slowly passing us by, I realize I haven't had the time to cook even half the things I wanted to. With that said, these next few weeks will be filled with chopping, baking, eating, and full bellies for family and friends. Stay tuned for lovely summer recipes and stories of my tiny New York City kitchen. Hoping to plan a lovely rooftop end of summer soiree! What are some of your favorite summer recipes?

Hope you're having a happy weekend!

Image via Decorative Country Living