Clean Once Again

Yesterday, I ran out of food for Carter and he had to eat (gasp) mashed crap jarred baby food. (Organic, at least, but still, mommy didn’t make it). This is how he felt about it.

So, after a super long and sh*tty challenging day at work, followed by our weekly dinner with Billbo’s parents, I got to slaving away cooking for my little man. I couldn’t believe I ran out of food and although I know the jarred baby food is fine, I felt guilty because the sitter told me how hard of a time she had getting C to eat it because it tasted like crap wasn’t what he was used to.

I've been avoiding chicken, because I was terrified of all of the things that could go wrong (undercooked meat, overcooked meat, choking hazards, etc). I knew it was time, though, so I got going.

While you might think cooking chicken is pretty self explanatory, I assure you, I have some amazing tips for moms who are cooking for their babes.

First, bake the chicken. You can also boil it, but it maintains more nutrients (according to the one website I consulted) if you bake it. Make sure it is cooked thoroughly.

I also made butternut squash and apples. I mixed the chicken in these.
I also made some green beans as well as brown rice. I combined the green beans and brown rice.

The trick to perfectly cut chicken with no jagged edges is after you cook it, put it in the fridge or freezer for a bit and let the meat get cool to cold. I cooked the chicken first yesterday and then got to work on the beans, squash and apples while the chicken cooled in the freezer. Look at these perfect slices! I couldn't believe it.
See how nicely it chops up once it cools?
Put in food processor

Blend until it looks disgusting has a very fine consistency.

Mix about 1/3 cup of meat with 1/3 to 1/2 cup of fruit or vegetable. C-Note LOVED the chicken and apples combo!

All of this cooking made C really tired.

Tonight, I got back to cooking for the grown ups in the house as well. We had spaghetti squash and italian spinach.

I've never made italian spinach before, but I wanted to give it a go. Most of the recipes I saw online called for two packages of 10 oz frozen spinach, but all I had was a thing of fresh baby spinach, and I didn't end up following a recipe anyway because Bill took the computer containing said recipes.

First, I steamed all of the spinach we had (it didn't end up being enough because spinach cooks down so much. I knew this would happen)
Meanwhile C-Bizzle practiced putting cereal in his hair ate a snack.Most of the time, his aim was on.
Okay, for the spinach, I took some garlic (1-3 cloves, depending on how much spinach you're using and how much you like garlic), sauteed it in some EVOO, added the spinach and some sea salt, and then added an egg.
Voila. Here is our meal for the evening. It was delicious.
I got a little carried away with the salt on the spinach. For the most part, though, it was delicious!