Okay, so the above photo doesn’t have anything to do with this post, but who wants to see another boring shot of baby food, anyway? This one’s way cuter. (From Halloween-ish, ’09. Photo by Erik.)
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I just wanted to take a quick moment to share with you Orion’s current favorite dish, pumpkin polenta. He had such a hard time last week (and so did I — OY VEY) what with random high fevers, teething, and probably missing his dad, who was on travel all week for work, and this was literally the only thing I could get him to eat.
This recipe is adapted from The Petit Appetit Cookbook (a great resource for cooking for babies and toddlers, btw. I highly recommend it) and is quick, easy and nutritious.
2 cups goat milk (or whatever kind of milk you use, preferably organic)
1 cup canned pumpkin (pumpkin is one of the rare veggies that is just as nutritious canned as it is fresh)
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
½ cup organic polenta (aka cornmeal. I buy this in the bulk food aisle but I think it’s probably also available in the cereal aisle)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or butter substitute
1 tablespoon maple syrup
Combine the first six ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Add in the polenta and whisk to combine. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, whisking occasionally until thick. Remove from heat and stir in butter and syrup.
Et voila! A tasty dish that’s hard to resist, even for finicky eaters. Another thing that’s nice about this one is that it’s super thick and easy for not-so-dexterous spoon eaters to feed themselves.
Pumpkin polenta stores nicely in the fridge for a few days, or you could do what I do and freeze up individual servings in ice cube trays. (Orion will eat two or three warmed cubes of this in one sitting.)
Enjoy, kiddos!

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