Black Garlic Pasta
This dish is easy to alter, super tasty, and good for the whole family.
Equipment
- 1 Pot for boiling pasta noodles
- 1 deep Pan for cooking main course and adding the cooked pasta to finish
- 1 strainer for straining pasta
- 1 knife
- 1 cutting board
- 1 spatula or cooking spoon
- 1 tongs I like to use tongs to toss everything together at the end
Ingredients
- 1 head black garlic rough chopped to desirable size
- 1 whole shallot thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced. optional, if you like the garlic flavor as black garlic doesn't taste much like garlic
- 1 whole zucchinni thin cut
- 1 bunch asparagus cut into 1 inch pieces
- 1 handful mushrooms any kind you prefer
- 1/2 cup white wine preferably something a little dryer, I use chardonnay
- 2-4 tbsp butter I use vegan myokos salt free butter for my son who is less than a year old
- 1/4 cup cream this is optional, but I like the addition and creamyness it adds. I used a little coconut cream
- 2 tsp miso paste optional, you could just add regular salt at the end, but I love the flavor this adds to the dish.
- 1/4 cup parmesan (Optional) I like to add Violife vegan Parmesan on top at the end.
- handful green onions chopped and added at the end as a garnish.
Instructions
- Warm up the butter in a deep dish pan over medium heat and start a pot of water for the noodles.
- Once the butter is melted, saute the shallots for a couple minutes or until starting to turn translucent. Next add in your asparagus and zucchinni, and 1/3 of your minced garlic. Cook for around 5 minutes till the veggies are still firm but starting to get tender.
- This is about when your pasta should start cooking.
- Now add your mushrooms and another 1/3 of your fresh garlic and saute for about a minute before adding in the black garlic. The black garlic should be mixed in and cooked for about a minute, and then add your half a cup of wine.
- Allow the wine to reduce a bit and add in the remainder of fresh garlic after the wine starts to reduce a bit. This is also when I tend to add in my cream to get the sauce to be a bit more creamy.
- Strain the noodles.
- This is when I take out a little of the mixture and noodles for my baby since he can't have a lot of salt yet, and set aside.
- Now add in the 2 teaspoons of miso and mix in for about a minute. Then toss in noodles and using tongs mix everything together as best as possible.
- I like to top this dish with some parmesan and fresh green onions. Enjoy!
Vegan Zucchini Millet Bread (Oil Free)
Moist oil-free Zucchini bread, with a little crunch.
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup apple sauce unsweetened
- 1/3 cup milk alternative of choice Better to use thicker milk like coconut, or soy.
- 1 cup date sugar or brown sugar Date sugar has more nutritional benefits
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp almond extract if you don't have, just add another tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup grated zucchini Pat mostly dry with a paper towel
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 cup millets if you don't have millets, replace with more flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 cup chocolate chips, nuts, or raisins optional
Instructions
- Turn on the oven to 350 degrees F. and have 9x5 inch bread loaf pan greased or lined with parchment paper.
- Mix together apple sauce, milk, zucchini, vanilla extract, almond extract, and date sugar.
- In another bowl, mix together flour, millets, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- After all dry ingredients except cinnamon are mixed, pour into bowl of wet mixture and sprinkle cinnamon on top.
- Carefully fold ingredients together without overmixing or the bread will turn out dense. (It's ok to have little pockets of flour that aren't totally mixed in).
- Pour into the bread pan, and bake for 45-55 minutes.
- Let it stand in it's pan for a few minutes, then transfer onto cooling rack.
- You can cut it right away and eat it, or let cool thoroughly for easier slicing. And enjoy!
Notes
Strawberry Banana Popsicle
Great for babies 6+ months, with no added sugar, only the natural sugar you get from fruit!
Equipment
- Blender
- Popsicle molds number of popsicles depends on size of molds.
Ingredients
- 1 lb. strawberries
- 1 whole banana
- 5 oz. plain unsweetened yogurt I used Culina vegan plain yogurt, since it has no added sugar and is simple clean ingredients
- 1/3 cup apple juice + a little to desired consistency, thicker is better for a good Popsicle consistency.
Instructions
- Blend ingredients together, fill molds, and freeze! That simple.
Butternut Squash Pasta
This is a simple recipe for baby on your pasta nights. Just put aside some of your noodles, add a little butternut squash puree and some spices, and voila!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup noodles of choice adjust this to how much your baby is generally eating in a meal. Or more for leftovers!
- 2 tbsp butternut squash puree I just use organic baby food puree. Or you can go through the process of making your own by blending up baked butternut squash.
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp dried basil or fresh if you have some available, very finely chopped.
Instructions
- Bring water to a boil.
- Add in pasta of choice when the water is boiling. (I generally choose noodles that baby can easily grab, like penne, or spirals).
- When pasta is done, pull aside your 1/3 cup for baby and let cool.
- Add in puree and spices and mix. Now it's ready for baby! Super easy.
Notes
I generally try to make meals that I can also use to make my son a meal. So on Pasta nights, I also make him a noodle dish. When I make stir fry, I just pull out his portion before I add in any salt or sugar ingredients like soy sauce, and I shred the veggies with my cheese grater instead of chopping them so that he is able to eat it. Why separate yourself from your baby? And it is so important to start introducing them to different spices from the get go so that they can really develop an eclectic palate.