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).

Garam Marsala has one of those fabulous, exotic names that scare most people off when they see it in the spice aisle. It’s actually a mix of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, cumin, black pepper and coriander. This dish has a mix of protein, vegetables a starch and is vegetarian. You don’t need to add very much garam marsala which gives it a little kick and smells incredible.
I’m usually a stickler for farmers market fresh, but let’s be honest, not everyone has the option of keeping seasonal produce in the fridge at all times. Most of the items in this recipe can be canned or frozen.
I find canned organic tomatoes and beans to be a saving grace. They’re soft and the tomatoes have added juice which is nice when you’re thinning a puree. It’s not ideal, but when tomatoes are out of season, it’s a perfect time saving option.

Garbanzo Beans with Garam Marsala (12 Baby Servings, freeze 1/2)

1/2 Cup Cauliflower
1/4 Cup Peas (fresh or frozen)
1 Cup Brown Rice, steamed
1 Cup Garbanzo Beans, rinsed and drained(canned or fresh that have been soaked overnight and cooked)
1 Cup Tomatoes, chopped, canned or fresh
1/2 Tsp Garam Marsala

1. Add cauliflower to a steamer basket over boiling water.
2. Cover and cook for 3 minutes.
3. Add the peas and cook for a total of 5 minutes or until cauliflower is fork tender.
4. Place all the ingredients in a food processor and puree until smooth.
5. Cool and serve.

Recently I’ve gone on a “protein kick” cooking for Kenya. Chicken, beef, fish, but what about beans. Some people dread cooking beans because they think there are too many steps in the preparation. That’s where lentils come in handy. When mixed with a grain they become a protein and lentils are packed with iron, important for the creation of white blood cells and antibodies. Iron is more readily absorbed when eaten with vitamin C, so I added tomatoes to this dish.

*Don’t be freaked out by the purple color in the dish. I used purple cauliflower.

Indian Lentil Stew (15 Baby Servings, freeze 1/2)

1 Tbsp Onion, chopped
1 Garlic Clove, chopped
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Brown Rice
1/4 Cup Lentils
1 1/2 Cup Water
1/4 Tsp Cumin
1/4 Tsp Curry Powder
1/2 Cup Tomatoes, canned or fresh
1/2 Cup Cauliflower

1. Heat oil in a 2 quart saucepan and saute onion and garlic until soft.
2. Add water and bring to a boil.
3. Add lentils, cumin and curry powder. Cover and simmer for 50-60 or until soft.
4. 10 minutes before mixture is complete, add tomatoes and cauliflower. Cover.
5. Puree mixture until smooth.
6. Cool and serve

One of my favorite flavor combinations is found in the Moroccan dish known as “tagine”. It’s also a cooking vessel in which you put meat, vegetables, spices, cover and roast it for an hour or so. There are few restaurants that make it, so I decided to prepare the baby version for Kenya.
This is one of those dishes that I thought “there’s no way he’s going to like it”. When I tell you that he acted like a little piggy snarfing it down. I think the combination of the chicken, apricots and the mellow spices turned him on. And of course watching me cook and taste it made him want to be part of the fun even more.

*Feel free to to double the chicken breast or thighs if you don’t want to buy 2 different cuts

Chicken Tagine with Apricots (16 Baby Servings, freeze 1/2)

2 Chicken Thighs, skinless
1 Chicken Breast, boneless and skinless
15 Baby Carrots
1 Tbsp Onion, chopped
1 Garlic Clove, peeled
1 Zucchini, chopped
1/2 Cup Chopped Organic Tomatoes, canned or fresh
1/8 tsp Cinnamon
1/8 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Ginger or 1/4 tsp dried
2 Tbsp Apricot Puree

1. Put chicken. carrots, onion, garlic and zucchini in a steamer pot over boiling water.
2. Steam for 8 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
3. Remove chicken from the bone and put with remaining ingredients in a food processor.
4. Puree for 2 minutes or until smooth.
5. Cool and serve.

Somehow a rich sauce and pasta seemed too heavy for a baby. All I could picture was one of the Sopranos slurping up spaghetti bolognese with noodles dripping all over. Then I remembered my love of tiny letter and number pasta as a kid. It was so much fun making out what all the symbols and shapes were in soup or sauce. Kenya’s still under 1 years old, but he loves everything in bolognese, so why not make a baby version.
While I was making it for him, our friend Dana, the chinese Doctor, was over and wanted to know if she could try it. “Delicious”, she exclaimed. Perfect, now I know what we’re having for dinner. Kenya’s unpureed sauce. Bon Appetito!
*This is a thick sauce, so add more liquid if you want it more thin.

Baby Bolognese (Makes 20 Baby Servings (2 Cups extra for adults)
*You can 1/2 the recipe if just making it for baby

2 Tbsp Onion, diced (about 1/4 onion)
2 Garlic Cloves, chopped fine
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Cup Ground Meat (I used Bison)
1/4 Tsp Dried Basil
1/4 Tsp Dried Oregano
1 16 Ounce Can Chopped Tomatoes
6 Baby Carrots, cut into thin coins
1 Cup Mini Vegetable Pasta, numbers and shapes

1. In a wide skillet, heat oil over medium flame.
2. Saute onion for 3 minutes.
3. Add garlic, meat and herbs. With a spoon breakup meat into smaller pieces.
4. Saute for 6 minutes or until the meat is cooked through.
5. Add the tomatoes and carrots.
6. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover for 10 minutes.
7. Remove the lid and continue to simmer until desired thickness of sauce.
8. Puree for baby.
9. In a large pot bring 4 cups of water to a boil.
10. Add pasta, return to a boil and cook for 9-11 minutes.
11. Mix the pasta and pureed sauce.
12. Cool and serve.