Indian Food Kick

I have been on an Indian food kick, which means that I've been attempting to make it since it's quite expensive.  Bonus: when we make it at home, Calvin is more likely to try it than when we are at a restaurant in the most distracting of all distracting environments.

I have discovered a couple of recipes that Calvin seems to very much enjoy (as long as I keep the hot peppers moderated).

I might as well mention that I"ve put these on my Pinterest Page, which I use less to find things and more as a bulletin board for online recipes.


Saag Paneer, the famous spinach and cheese dish that is the perfect balance of creamy and spicy, courtesy of the Food Network.


This particular recipe calls for yogurt.  I used full fat FAGE yogurt, and I should also mention that I omitted the paneer (cheese) altogether.  You can use potatoes, too, to make a dish that is called "aloo saag."  In addition, I used a pound of fresh spinach cooked for 2 minutes in hot water rather than frozen.  I then used an immersion blender to make it smooth.

Note: this recipe tastes wayyyyyy better after it has settled for a few hours.  I would recommend making it ahead of time.

Red Bean Curry from the Smitten Kitchen



This recipe is probably my current favorite DIY Indian dish because it really does come close to tasting like what you might have at a restaurant, or even better.

I use red beans made from scratch in the crockpot.  Ideally, the beans would soak for 6-8 hours and then cook in a crockpot overnight with onions and salt.  They don't need much more time than that.  If using black beans instead of red beans with a crock pot, then I cook them for 24 hours.

I serve both of these recipes over rice.  Sometimes I use basmati rice when I have it on hand, but otherwise, I use long grain brown rice.  The trick is really how the rice is prepared.

Lindsay's rice that is fit to serve with Indian dishes:
1 cup rice (basmati or brown long grain rice)
Water
       If using basmati rice, then use 1 3/4 cup water.
       If using brown rice, then use 2 cups water.
10 or so cumin seeds
1 tbsp butter or olive oil or a combination thereof
1/2 tsp  - 1 tsp salt

Cover in a pan, cook until rice is done (approx 10 min for basmati and 40 min for brown rice).  Optional:  Add 5-10 safron fronds, stir in.  Set aside and fluff 3 minutes later.

These recipes have broken up an otherwise monotonous menu plan of black beans, kale, and some kind of grain, whether it be quinoa or rice or noodles.  It's nice to mix things up a bit, isn't it?  I know Calvin likes it, but let's be honest: so do I.

I just give him food.

An article in the New York Times recently documented the baby food industry's reaction to its decreasing number of sales due to more parents making -- shhh -- FOOD for their babies.

That's right.  Can you believe it?  Rather than purchasing costly (and often ghastly) jars or pouches of baby food, some people are just giving their children food?

Some of the reasons acknowledged by the food companies are that parents are wanting to offer their children as close to the whole food as possible, avoiding things like preservatives.  Some parents want their kids to be eating only organic food.  Some parents are making their own purees to cut down on costs.  Still other parents are finding that higher cost but higher convenience pouches work for them.  All of those are valid points.

But I think they've missed one of the big points.  A lot of parents just want to give their kids regular food

A new era in holiday treats

My son has a confirmed nut allergy, so our family is needing to reconceive what a few holiday treats look like.  These family heirloom recipes have been transmuted and perfected, passed down over generations.  Our Cream Cheese Mints, one flavor of which is almond (my favorite) is now off-limits.  What will replace the pink "Cream Cheese Mint?" -- Cherry?  That will do.

OK, that one was easy.  Hit me with a harder one.

Oh, You mean, the peanut butter creams?  Can't help ya there.

Oh, sure, there's sunflower seed butter, which is definitely tasty once you get used to it.  I did a trial run substituting "sunbutter" for peanut butter, but it's not anywhere close to the same.  And, unlike the peanut butter creams, they definitely need the chocolate in order to taste good.

So has gone the conversation about holiday treats since his nut allergy was confirmed on November 18 in the second scariest doctor's appointment he's had.  (The first scariest was the one where we found out he wasn't gaining enough weight due to his then-undiagnosed lip tie.)  We have phased the peanuts, walnuts, and pecans out of the home, and just a few almonds remain, locked in a cabinet far away.  We should probably just toss them.

What scares me most is not what we can control under our roof, but how nut avoidance will be operationalized for a kid who likes to try what other kids are trying.  

When, what, and how to feed a baby

New studies have come out recently showing that the introduction of solid food both too early and too late seems to be linked with increased likelihood of later developing diabetes.  My mad auntie-in-law recently shared this study with me from her ScienceDaily feed, originally published in a well-regarded peer-reviewed journal, so I trust its contents pretty well.

From the new evidence, it appears that the sweet spot lies somewhere in the 4-6 month range, depending on the child's readiness.  What's "readiness" mean?  The usual signs are that the child has ceased tongue-thrusting and is reaching for your food.  

This study contradicts current official recommendations to breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months, introducing not even solid foods until then.  But it seems that if you introduce solid foods much later than that, you're likely to increase risk for diabetes.  Generally speaking, when diabetes risk is high, so are other inflammatory diseases like coronary heart disease and hypertension.  

OK, enough of the sciency-talk.  So, what did we do with Calvin?  He was 5 months old when he lunged forward and grabbed the banana out of my cereal bowl.  So that's when we started letting him play around with solids.  We didn't do formal "meals" with him until he was closer to 7 months, and we sort of followed the principles of baby-led weaning.  Rather than letting him lunge for anything and everything, we followed the recommended schedule for food introduction because of possible food sensitivities, but we also pretty much skipped purees with him.  Sure, we steamed food and chopped stuff up nice and small, but he only condescended to be fed by others for about three weeks.  He wanted to hold things himself!  And eating went a lot smoother when I put him in charge of it.  

According to Ellyn Satter, author of Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense, it's important to let your child make as many decisions about eating as plausible.  She writes that the best thing to do is to put the food on the table and let your kid decide how much, if anything, they'll eat.  Meals were messy battle-grounds until I truly followed that advice.

National Cancer Panel's Report on Environmental Exposures

I tend to be a fairly moderate person and don't react too strongly to things like carcinogens and the like, given that our power to do much about it is soooooo small.  The best we can do is try to avoid taking in too many known carcinogens from our food and our care products, and our home.  For that information, I rely on the works of EWG, which researches environmental health risks and produces consumer-friendly reports.  That having been said, nothing makes me more paranoid than I have ever felt in my life like the readings from my Environmental and Occupational Health class, like this President's Cancer Panel Report on environmental cancer exposure.

In their opening letter, authors Lafalle and Kripke write,

"Most also are unaware that children are far more vulnerable to environmental toxins and radiation than adults. Efforts to inform the public of such harmful exposures and how to prevent them must be increased. All levels of government, from federal to local, must work to protect every American from needless disease through rigorous regulation of environmental pollutants.

Environmental exposures that increase the national cancer burden do not represent a new front in the ongoing war on cancer. However, the grievous harm from this group of carcinogens has not been addressed adequately by the National Cancer Program. The American people—even before they are born—are bombarded continually with myriad combinations of these dangerous exposures. The Panel urges you most strongly to use the power of your office to remove the carcinogens and other toxins from our food, water, and air that needlessly increase health care costs, cripple our Nation’s productivity, and devastate American lives."

Yikes.  Until then, it's on us.