I find it kinda funny how some recipes just seem to come to me out of thin air while others can be right in front of my eyes and I miss them completely. For example, Kenya LOVES eggs, peas and rice, so I can’t believe I didn’t think of making this dish sooner. This isn’t your usual “fried” rice, though, laden with oil and msg. This is a healthy version that has all the flavor of fried rice while still being super easy to make.
I usually prepare a big batch of brown rice to keep in the fridge for everyone in the house to nibble on all week. Also, since you can make so many fast simple sauces to mix in with brown rice, having some already cooked makes meal time that much simpler. I try as much as possible to give Kenya recipes without salt, but that would cut out a ton of Chinese and Japanese dishes I want to make him, so I use Bragg Liquid Aminos as an alternative. Bragg’s has less sodium than soy sauce and has 16 amino acids, the basic structural building blocks of proteins.
This is a great dish to take along when you don’t want to carry three different food groups on an outing. With this one, you have everything all in one dish!

Vegetable “Fried” Rice (Makes 6 Toddler Servings)

1 Cup Cooked Brown Rice
2 Eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp + 2 Tsps Oil, peanut or vegetable
1 Tbsp Scallions, diced
1 Tsp Ginger, minced
2 Tbsp Red Bell Pepper, chopped fine
1/2 Cup Peas
1/2 Tsp Sesame Oil
1 Tbsp Bragg Liquid Aminos or Low Sodium Soy Sauce

1. Heat 2 Tsp of oil in a wok or non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the eggs and coat the entire pan like a pancake. Scramble for 2-3 minutes or until cooked through. Place the eggs on a plate. Cut into bite size pieces.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in the same skillet over medium high heat and saute the scallions, ginger and red bell pepper for 2 minutes. Add the peas and rice and continue to stir and cook 1 minute.
3. Add the sesame oil, Bragg’s or soy sauce and cook another minute or until all the ingredients are throughly combined.
4. Serve.

I remember the first time I encountered seitan. It was at a vegetarian restaurant in New York City. So many of the ingredients on the menu were completely foreign to me and I felt like I was butchering their names. Seitan for example. Was it, “see-ten”, “s-e-i-ten”….oh, whatever!! Finally, the waiter came to my aid and told me that it was pronounced “say-tan”.
Anyway, seitan isn’t exactly a common ingredient in American kitchens — but luckily most health food stores carry it. Seitan is a great alternative to meat and its versatile texture is perfect for absorbing the full flavor of sauces and has a texture similar to chicken, although a bit spongier. Although it seems like and odd choice, this was my total craving when I was pregnant with Kenya. I wanted seitan for breakfast, lunch and dinner. That’s probably the reason Kenya loves it so much. I think he consumed pounds of it in utero.
Seitan, also know as wheat gluten or “wheat meat”, is made by rinsing away the starch in wheat, leaving a high-protein gluten behind. Seitan is popular in vegetarian cuisine because of its unique ability to replicate the texture and flavor of meat. It’s also easier for little ones to chew then beef.
When I made this dish, I had so much fun telling people it was chicken stir fry. Everyone got that it wasn’t chicken, but couldn’t figure out what it was. They were shocked at how delicious it tasted and couldn’t believe they hadn’t tried seitan before.
This dish only take minutes to prepare which is an added bonus. I like to make plenty to have leftovers for at least a day or two. Of all the people that tried it, though, Kenya seemed to enjoy it the most!

Seitan Stir fry (6 Toddler Servings)

1 Garlic Clove, minced
1 Tsp Ginger, minced
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Cup Broccoli, chopped
1/2 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1 Cup Shitake Mushrooms, julienned
1 Cup Seitan, chopped
2 Tbsp Braggs (or low sodium soy sauce)
1 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil

1. Heat a wok or saute pan over medium heat with olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic for one minute.
2. Add the broccoli, bell pepper and mushrooms. Continue to cook for 3 minutes. Add the seitan and the remaining ingredients and stirfry for 2 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
3. Cool and serve.

When I first moved to Los Angeles, several of my friends were regulars at Chin 
Chin restaurant, which is famous for its chinese chicken salad. One bite of this 
crisp, crunchy, fresh salad and you’ll immediately understand why it’s so darn popular.
I’m 
always trying to think of recipes that our entire family can eat together (this is yet another one of my tips for getting your little ones to eat since they love to have what mommy and daddy are having) and 
this one is a winner in my house. This is one of those dishes that Kenya better 
eat quick or Mommy and Daddy are definitely going to get to it first.
Steaming the chicken breast is the most complicated part — this recipe couldn’t be easier. You just 
toss all the ingredients in a food processor and whiz it up. The salad 
is packed with vitamin packed veggies and the dressing is almost creamy. 
You would never imagine a toddler eating “salad,” but trust me, 
this will change their minds.

Chin-wee-se Chicken Salad (Makes 8-10 Toddler Servings)

1 Chicken Breast
1 Large Carrot, peeled and cut into chunks (or 1 cup shredded carrots)
1 Cup Napa Cabbage (about 6 leaves)
1/2 Cup Red Bell Pepper
2 Tbsp Cilantro
2 Tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds

1. Place the chicken breast in a steamer pot over boiling water. Cook for 8 minutes or until cooked through.
2. Cool and cut into chunks.
3. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until all the in the ingredients are in small bite size pieces and combined.
4. The chin-wee-se chicken salad in a bowl and combine with the dressing to taste.
5. Serve.

Dressing (makes 1/4 cup)

1/2 Tsp Sesame Oil
1 Tbsp Braggs (tamari or soy sauce)
1/2 Tsp Ginger, chopped
1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
1 Tbsp Almond Butter
1 Tbsp Vegannaise (or mayonnaise)
2 Tbsp Oil

1 Place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree.

I don’t think there’s any good name for this recipe — believe me, I’ve been racking my brain for something better. Millet sounds like some small bug that you might have found in your bed at camp in the 6th 
grade or maybe a hairdo that is short on the sides and long in back. In reality, millet is a delicious grain that doesn’t seem to 
appear in too many recipes, but is fantastic for little ones. Kenya 
loved it so much, I got totally inspired and came up with several 
recipes using it.
These millets cakes are easy to prepare and take only minutes to cook. 
Their nutty flavor comes out even more when you add a yogurt tahini sauce for your little one to eat with it. Millet is one of the least allergic and most digestible grains. It’s 
nearly 15% protein, contains high amounts of fiber and B-complex 
vitamins and is a perfect in a gluten free diet. When you’re making 
the millet recipe below you might think you made it wrong because it’s 
very sticky. Don’t fret, you made it perfectly! The millet needs to be a 
little sticky in order to form the patties.
These are a great choice to serve in the summer, for parties, or for play dates, especially when 
it’s your turn to give the neighborhood kids dinner and you want 
to make something special.
And I’m all ears for better names for this recipe, so don’t be shy, send me suggestions. I’d love to hear them!

Millet Patties (Makes 16 Patties)

I Cup Water
1/3 Cup Millet
1/4 Cup Onion, chopped
1/4 Cup Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1/4 Cup Carrots, chopped
1 Garlic Clove
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 Tsp Italian Seasoning
1 Egg, beaten

1. Bring the water to a boil in a small pot.
2. Add the millet, cover and reduce to a simmer for 45 minutes or until fluffy and a little sticky.
3. Place the onion, bell pepper, carrot, garlic and italian herbs in food processor and pulse and until vegetables are in tiny pieces.
4. Heat 2 tsp of oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat and add the vegetables. Saute until for 3-4 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
5. Place the millet, vegetables and egg in a bowl and throughly combine.
6. Place 1 tbsp of the mixture between your hands and make patties. (You may need to moisten your hands with water so they don’t get too sticky).
7. Once all the patties are made and resting on a plate, heat 1 tbsp or oil in a saute pan over medium heat and saute the patties for 2 minutes on each side or until golden.
8. Cool on a paper towel lined plate and serve.

I can’t even begin to tell you how incredible this sauce tastes. So good, in fact, that when I finished pureeing it, the weelicious team stood over the food processor eating spoonful after spoonful. Wait, wasn’t the sauce supposed to be for Kenya?
I don’t know if it’s the particular mix of vegetables, the fact that all the produce comes straight from the farmers market or the that everything is roasted and caramelized in the oven, but whatever the reason, the taste is amazing. It’s so good that you could easily serve this recipe to a 10 month old as a puree minus the tomatoes (you don’t want to give them to babies under 1 year in case of allergies).
Plus, it only took me minutes to prepare, which is always great when you have a a million things going on.
The vibrant colors in the vegetables create a sauce so rich and visually beautiful, the uses for it are endless. It’s so versatile you could spread it on toast, fish, chicken, pasta….or just eat it on a spoon like Kenya and I did.

Roast Vegetable Sauce (2 Cups)

1 Small Eggplant, cubed
1 Whole Garlic Clove
1 Tomato, cut into 6 wedges
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Cup Carrots, chopped
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 Cup Tomato Sauce
Pasta (I used tortellini filled with parmesan cheese from Trader Joes, but any pasta your little one enjoys will work)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place the first 6 ingredients in a large glass dish dish or cookie sheet and combine. Make sure all of the vegetables are evenly coated with oil.
3. Bake for 45 minutes.
4. Cool for several minutes.
5. Place the vegetables in a food processor with the tomato sauce and puree until smooth.
6. Toss some of the sauce with pasta and serve.

I have been waiting since LAST summer to make this 
recipe. Gazpacho is one of my husband’s favorite foods (he begs me to make it even 
in the depth of winter but the thought of making it when tomatoes are not in season goes against everything I stand for!) and it is the quintessential summer soup — totally cool, light and refreshing. I was hoping and praying that 
it would be one of Kenya’s too. Well, I just made some and thank goodness he loves it.
The thing about gazpacho is that you really only want to make it when tomatoes are at their peak — fresh and ripe they taste sweet, beautifully acidic, tangy and juicy. To me, planning to make gazpacho is exactly what makes the farmers’ market so great: vegetables at their peak of perfection at a fraction of the cost of 
grocery store produce. I bought 25 heirloom tomatoes for $5! Yes, they 
were seconds, meaning they were extremely ripe with the occasional 
bruise, but when you’re making gazpacho, who cares!? The taste is as remarkable as you can imagine a tomato right off the vine would be 25 for $5!!!
This soup is a bounty of nutrition. Tomatoes are packed with beta-
carotene, vitamin C and E and lycopene, which research suggests can 
prevent certain types of cancer. With so many vegetables in this 
colorful puree, it’s like eating a big ol’ bowl of health. I filled a little cup for Kenya to hold himself. He sat in his high chair slurping away and in between every bite he looked up at me and smiled.

Gazpacho (10-12 Toddler Servings-freeze 1/2)

4 Tomatoes (make sure they’re ripe)
1 Large Garlic Clove
1 Cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 Celery Stalks, chopped
1/4 Red or Maui Onion, chopped
1/2 Bell Pepper, red, yellow or orange
1/2 Cup Tomato Juice (I use R.W. Knudsen Organic Juice)
2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
1 Tsp Lemon Juice
1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth (you want tiny pieces of vegetables to remain, but small enough for little ones to swallow).
2. Serve (it’s delicious served chilled too).

I know, I know, another red, white and blue recipe for the holiday. What can I say? I love holidays. This is one of my favorite recipes that I’ve ever made for weelicious.
I’m a firm believer that it’s important for little ones to spend their first year or so not eating added salt (some fruits and vegetables naturally have some sodium). You want them to love the fruits and vegetables they’re eating, not the salt that enhances or changes the flavor and does not add nutritional value.
Now that Kenya’s 16 months-old, I give him food with added salt every now and then just to introduce the flavor of it for him. When I was shopping for this recipe, you can buy salt-free blue corn chips, but I used organic blue chips from Garden of Eatin,’ which only has 60 mg of sodium.
These fish sticks are crunchy on the outside and tender inside. I tested this dish with tilapia and orange roughy which both turned out delicious, but you could use almost any white fish available such as snapper or halibut. Kenya loved watching me dip my fish stick into the sweet red pepper coulis (just a fancy word for sauce. He thought it was so funny, so I helped him dip his stick in and take a bite which he thought was even funnier. It’s amazing to see what entertains a little one.
Happy 4th of July!!!!

Blue Corn Chip Crusted Fish with Red Pepper Coulis (Make 8 Fish Sticks and 1/2 Cup of Coulis)

2 Cups Blue Corn Chips (about 30 chips)
1 Red Bell Pepper (you could also use roasted bell peppers in a jar)
2 Fish Fillets, cut in 4 pieces (tilapia, orange roughy, snapper or halibut will work)
1 Egg, beaten
2 Tbsp Flour
2-3 Tbsp Oil, olive, vegetable or canola

1. Place the chips in a food processor and pulse until completely fine, similar to sand.
2. Place the red bell pepper directly over a low flame on your stove.
You want the skin of the pepper to turn black in spots. Keep turning the pepper with tongs every few minutes until it’s charred all over and starting to soften.
3. Place the pepper in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a towel.
Let the pepper steam for several minutes.
4. Peel the skin off the pepper (it will easily peel off), cut it in half removing the seeds and stem.
5. Place the pepper in a food processor and puree until smooth. Pour the
coulis into a bowl.
6. Place the egg, flour and the blue chip crumbs each into separate shallow bowls.
7. Roll the fish pieces in the flour and tap off to remove any excess.
8. Dip the fish in the beaten egg, letting any excess liquid drip off.
9. Roll in the blue corn chip crumbs making sure the fish is completely coated.
10. Repeat with the remaining pieces of fish.
11. When all the fish pieces are coated, heat a large saute pan over medium heat.
12. Heat the oil for 30 seconds.
13. Place the fish pieces in the pan and cook 2 minutes on each side.
14. Place the cooked fish on a paper towel lined plate.
15. Cool to room temperature (very important for the little ones) and serve.

Long before that animated rat put it back on the map, my grandmother used to make the most mouthwatering ratatouille. I know that 
when she made it, she imagined as if she had been whisked off to the 
south of France to prepare it. Now, whenever I see bell pepper, zucchini or eggplant, 
it’s the first dish that comes to mind. Granted my grandmother’s version was delicious, but 
the cup of oil she used in her recipe would give it an orange hue and make it not so healthy.
 This baby version of ratatouille is not only healthy, it uses 6 main ingredients, all of which are in season right now at the farmers market. The vegetables 
in the dish are so vibrant and colorful, you know upon first sight that it has to be full of 
vitamins and minerals.
Did you know that weight for weight, bell 
peppers have more vitamin C then oranges? And tomatoes are 
actually a fruit, packed full of 
antioxidant vitamins which help protect your little ones immune system 
by fighting off harmful free radicals. These facts alone are just two reasons 
why a ratatouille a day keeps the doctor away

Ratatouille (Makes 8 Baby/Toddler Servings)

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/3 Cup Onion, chopped in bite size pieces
1 Garlic Clove, finely chopped
1/3 Cup Zucchini, chopped in bite size pieces
1/3 Cup Eggplant, chopped in bite size pieces
1/3 Cup Red, Orange or Yellow Bell Pepper, chopped in bite size pieces
1/2 Cup Tomatoes, chopped in bites size pieces (I like to use canned organic tomatoes)
1 Tsp. Parsley, chopped fine

*If you’re short on time, you could pulse all the vegetables into bite size pieces in a food processor instead of chopping them by hand

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.
2. Add the onions and lightly saute for 2 minutes (make sure not to brown them).
3. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
4. Add the remaining vegetables and saute for one minute, uncovered.
5. Cover and cook for 6-8 minutes.
6. Add the parsley and continue to cook uncovered for one more minute. Make sure all of the vegetables are cooked through and fork tender.
6. Cool and serve.

Kenya usually loves beans in any form, but for some reason when I gave him whole cannelini beans, he didn’t want to eat them. I tried several times, but no go and I didn’t want to throw them out so I came up with this puree.
Recently, I turned the sunny side of our yard into my own little garden.
This time of year, the herbs are growing like weeds, so I try to use them in as many of our dishes as possible. For this puree I added basil and a touch of mint. If you don’t have the mint, no worries, it will still be delicious.
Herbs have tons of vitamins and minerals and medicinal properties making them important for baby’s nutrition. They’re also great substitutes for salt and heighten your baby’s palate and taste buds. I guarantee you’ll be shocked at how a pinch of cilantro, oregano, thyme or any other herb can brighten a dish for you and your baby.

Cannelini Bean Puree (6 Baby Servings)

1 Cup Cannelini Beans, cooked
1/4 Cup Red Bell Pepper, chopped (you could also use orange or yellow)
1 Tsp Mint
2 Tsp Cilantro

1. Place all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree.
2. Serve.

Meatloaf is THE all-American food. I always think of it as the dish that you either love or absolutely hate. I’ve also seen hundreds of recipes for it and people are extremely passionate about what they think does and doesn’t belong inside. My mother must have used an entire bottle of ketchup on hers. I’ll refrain from commenting.
My version of meatloaf is perfect for the whole family, but especially for your little one. The best part is they’re cooked in mini muffin pans, so they only take 20 minutes to bake. I pack mine with vegetables and since there’s no salt or sugary ketchup, I add some cheese which makes every bite taste heavenly. Kenya had such a grin on his face when I gave him his first one. He tried to shove the entire thing in his mouth, but luckily I cajoled him into letting me cut it up.

Cheesy Turkey Meatloaf Bites (24 Mini Bites)

1 Zucchini, chopped
1/2 Cup Onion, chopped
1/2 Cup Red Bell Pepper
1/2 Cup Baby Carrots (about
1 Egg, beaten
1 Garlic Clove
1 Tbsp Worsteshire Sauce
1 Tsp Italian Herbs
1/2 Cup Bread Crumbs (whole wheat, preferably)
1/2 Cup Cheddar Cheese, white or orange, shredded
1 Lb. Ground Turkey (93% lean ground meat)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Spray a nonstick mini muffin tin with vegetable oil cooking spray or grease with oil.
3. Place all of the ingredients, except the turkey, in a food processor and pulse until everything is combined and the vegetables are in tiny pieces.
4. Place the ground turkey and vegetable mixture in a bowl and throughly combine (using your hands is the easiest way to do it).
5. Place about a tablespoon of the meatloaf mixture in the muffin pans and pack down with a spoon.
6. Bake until the mini turkey loaves are cooked through or an instant-read thermometer inserted in the center registers 165 degrees F, about 20 minutes.
7. Cool and serve.
garlic, worsheshire sauce, bread crumbs