Baby Food

I don't know how anyone else likes to feed their babies but I like to cook most of my daughter's food. There is of course definite need for baby food in the shops and I do utilise the fruits to give for desserts because lets face it, I ain't going to find stone fruits right now to stew and apples get a little boring after a while!
The way I usually do it is making large portion dinners and freezing them in those little portion 'ice cube' trays, then removing the amount of cubes I need for her lunch or dinner. I also tend to freeze plain cauliflower or pumpkin etc to 'add' to meals I make that are too thick or to jazz things up.
Some of my favourites meal combinations are 'sweet potato, tuna and creamed corn' this is sort of like tuna mornay without the fuss. I also do Ratatouille, I saute tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, onion (sometimes capsicum if I have it) until it is soft - sometimes to this I add some tomato sauce and puree just as a veggie mash or add tuna, chicken or mince OR rice or small pasta! - it really goes nice with any of these.
Another favourite is to start with a mash base like potato or sweet potato then steam any other veggies I can get my hands on broccoli, cauli, carrots, peas - this is the best way I find to use some veggies that really won't last another day (sounds bad but why waste them if they are still good?!?). This base also works because I tend just to make extra veggies or mash at dinner so I am not cooking twice for baby and us - she especially likes it when I add some of our gravy from dinner to the puree, mmmmmm
This homemade food ensures that I know what she is eating - as for her 'sweets' I am now buying "Only Organic" as it is cheaper than the Heinz organic version, I have seen the Only Organic brand in Coles and Foodland but haven't been to Woolworths to see if it is there.
As for breakfasts I use the Bellamy's Organic range of cereals and porridges to which I add a few tablespoons of the Only Organic fruits to change the flavour, they really are easy to use and I use far less than the other brands making it cheaper overall.
Something else which I have recently had to buy since I stopped breastfeeding is formula - man that is an expensive exercise!!! I wish she hadn't decided to wean herself! But, there is an organic formula now! This is again done by Bellamy's which have 3 stages the price is comparable to the S26 range so no big deal - but one small bonus that I noticed between the two is the scoop. In the S26 range the scoop has one hole in the top and when I tried to put it into a bottle of boiling water it would always get stuck in the scoop and on the rim of the bottle! I haven't had this with the Bellamys one as there are 2 holes in the scoop so it always seems to fall out easily - I know its not much but these things frustrate the hell out of you at 5/6am!!!

GM foods

So I don't pretend to know everything but I will give you my take on genetically modified foods and what the big deal is.
I am most definitely pro-science and GM foods are an amazing achievement to be able to produce high yeild, low disease crops - just by shifting around a few genes!
In essence, if we think of this in 'human' terms it is like moving/changing genes around to ensure the 'child' is strong, has healthy bones, skin, eyes, and low probability for disease. So what is wrong with that? Nothing really, if something is less likely to get disease there is less need for pesticides, if there are higher yeilds in crops then farmers are ensured good crops every year.
However...
The problem with GM foods is not the food but the politics. One has to think logically about the investment of money to make a you beaut' 'perfect' crop - who owns that GM seed?
Large companies will invest money to make the perfect seed then have farmers grow it for them. The farmer is locking into using that seed and selling to that company - only! If the seed it the property of one company the farmers cannot shop for the 'best price' for their goods they are stuck with what the company contracts the price to be.
Takes a lot of the competition out of the market, further more, I think it takes a lot of the 'farming' out of farming. While GM crops are the way of the future to feed out ever increasing population the seed that is produced from it 'should' be public property, rather than private.
Otherwise those 'perfect' crops will always sell to the company who made it and who else is left to sell to - the best price should really go to the best crops, but at what cost?

make-up (a bit off the subject, but relevent to me)

For the longest time I've had heyfever, ALL YEAR ROUND. I take every possible drug to feel 'normal' everyday, it rarely works. Recently i've gone back to work as a Dental Assisstant, I have to wear a sugical mask most of the day. My allergies seemed to have gotten worse when I re-started back at work. It just occurred to me the other day, it might have something to do with my make-up, foundation mainly. So I didn't wear any for a whole day. This was extremely hard, as I have promenant dark circles all around my eyes.
Guess what?
NO HAYFEVER! and my dark circles faded dramatically. Speaking to someone who knows a little about chemicals revealed, it was probably the micro-minerals in the foundation that soaked into my pores and caused the allergic reactions I was having. Isn't it crazy?!?
One little change of thought can create a whole new life for yourself!!

Burrr its cold outside

I am sitting here blogging while I am enjoying a bowl of my Pea and Ham Soup.
I made it last night and was surprised how simple it was compared to some of the recipes for it I have encountered over the years. 5 ingredients and minimal preparation I actually got the soup on while my daughter was awake! I just made a small version of it so you can increase as you see fit rather than the other way around. Two tips though, don't use stock instead of water because effectively the bacon bones are the 'stock' and for the love of God DON'T add salt - again the bacon bones will take care of that!
I added some thyme to my mixture, but it is really up to you which herbs you put in.
I might add some more peas next time to thicken it up some more, some of the best pea and ham soups I have had one could practically stand your spoon up in!
Anyway must get back to mopping up the bottom of the bowl with my buttered toast, mmmmmmmmmm

Thought on cordial...

Just had a thought about cordials, I remember when I was little and had cordial that the top was always sticky (like the one I just made) - oh that's right we had sugar in our cordial then!
The other interesting thing I noticed is when we used to get invaded by ants they would always be swarming over the cordial bottle, funny how they don't touch it anymore...

When life hands you citrus fruit, make cordial!

mmmm, mmm, mmm, mmm
I finally ran out of bought cordial so I made some of my own!!
Orange and Lemon Cordial is my first attempt at cordial and I am so chuffed with the results. It took a total of 30mins to make and was soooo simple even kids could make it.
In my haste to taste, the fact that it is a concentrate slipped my mind and I had a great big spoonful, much coughing and spluttering later.....
The recipe I got ended up making 3 litres which I think is a bit much for one family so I am going to put a halved version up for everyone. If you have family who will take some lovely fresh cordial off your hands by all means double the recipe.
I am not sure how long something like this would keep so please let me know if you find out (or drink it before then!) - I am going to keep mine in the fridge just in case.
Now I know there is a lot of sugar in there but look at the label on your 'normal' cordial - I certainly don't know half of it AND this was how cordial was originally made! My 'label' says fruit, sugar, acids and water. The actual amount I used in the glass was slightly less than 'normal' cordial - it is pretty strong, oh and wait till you see the colour! It looks like it IS already diluted! Made me think about the amount of colour in commercial cordial which is nearly opaque!

Eating Organic Meat

Dinner tonight was with my first purchase of 'ethically produced' meat. I bought Chicken to make Enchiladas. It was pretty expensive, but I realised with this meal, the meat was the main dish basically.
I can honestly say, the chicken really did seem different, not as fatty when cutting it, not as slippery and I kind of felt 'happier' when I was eating it. Don't think my partner can really tell the difference, but he's just eating the food!! Tomorrow night is Spag Bog with grass fed mince. Can't wait!
Suppose I should post the recipe....