Apple "Soup"

My daughter will be 3 in February (2017) and she is a very picky eater. She likes the strangest "foods". I say "foods" because she will stick her finger in ketchup..barbecue sauce..salad dressing - those types of things that aren't a food, but goes on foods or are used to dip. Yeah. She's that kind of kid. My brother is the same way, still to this day..maybe. We will see if she outgrows that or not.

But with a picky eater, she will almost always eat certain foods consistently. She LOVES pasta. So macaroni and cheese or just noodles with butter. Pretty simple kid. If my grandma makes chicken and dumplings - she will scarf that down too. If you eat salad with tomatoes, she will eat all of your tomatoes and try to steal your dressing.

Her latest thing is "soup". But to her, everything liquid is called "soup". If she's eating a fruit cup (peaches) the liquid is called soup. She will eat the peaches too - which is good, but she always wants to drink the "soup".

Sometimes it is hard to get her to finish what she is eating. Sometimes she just takes a few bites and that's it. Other times she's asking for more and actually eating it - which is rare lately..but with noodles and "soup" I've been lucky.

Today I made cinnamon apples. There's no real recipe. And it isn't really a "soup". It's more of a dessert apple or good on oatmeal. But I used apple juice to cook them in - added some brown sugar and cinnamon, then cooked them down until the liquid reduced a bit. The whole house smells like fall baking. Delish.

But she is eating her apple soup, apples and all..and I am happy about that.

Chicken Pot Pie Lasagna

I'm not a professional chef. And I am certainly not a professional blogger. I'm okay with that though.
Why? Because, I am confident that I can cook creative meals that I know my hubby will eat. The kid is still a little bit picky, though.

So how did I come up with this recipe?
 - A month or so ago we decided to take that shortcut and buy a frozen lasagna. We went with the veggie lasagna, with a white sauce. It was pretty good. My creative mind thought, "Hmm...it is missing chicken"...And then I thought...hmm that's close to a chicken pot pie. THEN I thought I could just plop a store bought crust on top and call it Chicken Pot Pie Lasagna. So, that's what I tried out tonight.

The ingredients can definitely be changed to your taste. If you don't like celery, leave it out. If you want to add in peas, toss them in before you bake (on top of the mixture in between layers). If you want to add cheese, then cheese it up! That's what I love about cooking.

You can also decide between cooking your lasagna noodles prior to assembly or buy the ones that bake in the oven. I found a box of the oven bake noodles at the Dollar Tree!
You can also turn this into a Pot Pie Casserole, just use any noodle you like and top with the crust.

*If you use dry noodles make sure the mixture is a bit runny. Wet enough to dampen the noodles so they cook thoroughly and to keep everything moist while it bakes so it doesn't turn out too dry.

The amount of liquid will depend on if the noodles are pre-cooked or dry (oven baked).
The amount of chicken also depends on how much meat you like. You can also use canned chicken, honestly if you really don't feel like dealing with raw chicken.


Here are the ingredients that I used for mine.

• 3 Chicken Breasts (use 2-3 small to medium ones, mine were large because that's what I had)
• 1 Package of pre-made pie crust. (There are 2 rolls to the package. We are just topping the pot pies with them. If you choose to line your baking pans with crust, you will need more. Also depending on the size of your pans, you may need another box. One box worked for 3 loaf pan pot pies)
• 1 can Cream of Chicken soup
• 1 can Cream of Celery soup (or use 2 Cream of Chicken soups if you don't like celery)
• 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of diced potatoes (fresh or frozen, add more if you prefer)
• 1/4 cup of diced carrots (fresh or frozen, peas and carrot mix works too)
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup diced onion
• 3/4 to 1 cup of diced celery
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• Water or Stock/Broth of choice. I used Chicken stock. 1/2 cup to cook the veggies in. 2-3 cups for entire mix (more or less depending on your noodles!)
• 1 box of lasagna noodles. The oven baked kind or the kind you have to pre-cook first, up to you.
• 1 to 1.5 teaspoons of Poultry Seasoning
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat your oven to 350F

First I boiled the chicken breasts until fully cooked. The time will depend on how large/thick your cuts of meat are. 20 to 30 minutes, be sure to check for pink. Cool off once done. Halfway through boiling your chicken would be when you'd want to boil your noodles if you are pre-cooking them. 

While the chicken was boiling I diced up some potatoes, carrots, celery and onion. I cooked them in about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chicken stock instead of using oil. I added a dash of the seasonings. When the veggies were tender I added in the 2 cans of soup. Added in more of the seasonings, more stock/liquid and when the chicken cooled I shredded/diced the meat and added to the mixture. 

I didn't have a big lasagna pan. Instead, all I could find were 3 loaf pans. It still worked!

I sprayed my pans with nonstick spray. I added a little bit of liquid mixture to the bottom of the pans and put in the first layer of noodles. 

Layer in until you are done with your pan, ending with the mixture on the top. Then you will roll out the crust and place it over the whole thing.

I used the oven bake noodles. So I baked my 3 pans for 45 to 50 minutes. Came out perfect! Not pretty, but just like chicken pot pie with some noodles added in.

Thanks for checking out this post! I hope you give it a try. Remember, you can add/subtract or substitute many of the ingredients. It would also work well with left over rotisserie chicken or Turkey. 

Baby Cereal Cookies

Infant Cereal Cookies 

(no added sugar & flour-free option) 

                                

With many moms on WIC (Women, Infants & Children), the accumulation of baby food can get a little bit overwhelming. Here in Ohio they offer infant cereals and jarred foods starting at 6 months of age. The cereals they allow are Gerber brand only (Rice, Oatmeal, Whole Wheat and MultiGrain). And a little goes a long way. Which means wasted or unwanted cereal. The picky stages of solid food feeding. My little Ems got teeth around 7 months and not long after that I tried more chunky foods with her, putting purées out of commission..mostly. And cereals until recently (before the cookie find). I would add whole milk and a fruit purée with a small dash of cinnamon in with her cereal and she seemed to love it.

----

So with that said...

Baby Ems has a crap ton of infant cereal (and jarred food). Since she eats more solid solids, the jarred Stage 2 variety have become unwanted, though I still try. Mainly I go the cereal and jarred fruit route + milk for the liquid, or to thicken some of her other foods.

I have been searching all over for some ways to use up some of the dozens of cereals and jars we have collected. I feel bad we have so many, but she can be picky, which is frustratingly normal.

I found two cookie recipes and made a few adjustments to each. I doubled each recipe and knocked out only one cereal container (which equals about 4 cups) and 3 jars of apples (equals about 1 cup). But even if I don't use even a quarter of them up by her first birthday (the end of February is around the corner) I will be donating them. I wanted to try these out and pass this along to anyone out there with these items collecting dust (not really)  in their pantries. 

I also adjusted the bake time and oven temperature according to my oven, but I will post links to the original versions.

Cookie #1 (not doubled) 

<< Original Recipe >> 

                                           

1 cup Infant cereal  -  (your choice, I used whole wheat)

1 cup flour -  (of your choice)

1/2 cup fruit or vegetable purée/mash -  (bananas, apples, sweet potato..etc.)

2 tsp coconut oil -  (or vegetable oil/substitute of your choice)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg  -  (or any spice/herb of your choice that goes well with the fruit/vegetable you chose)

1/2 cup water -  (or milk)

>> Original oven temperature is 400*

>> Original bake time is about 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

**Adjust according to your baby, especially if there are known/possible allergies.**

These cookies are firmer, but by no means a teething cookie (neither of these are hard enough in my opinion). They aren't as soft and moist as the 2nd cookie, so they take a bit more effort. I like that I don't have to add sugar. I don't care for the flour, unless I go with whole wheat or a nut flour. 

But little Emi seems to like them.

                                   

Cookie #2 (not doubled)

**My personal favorite**  

                            

<< The recipe I followed was written in the description from a pin here >>

(The image used for the pin is actually this cookie cereal recipe)

 >> Contains eggs <<

1 cup infant cereal 

2 mashed bananas

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 tbsp butter, unsalted (I used coconut oil)

>> Original oven temperature is 350*

>> Original bake time is 7-10 minutes

I liked these a lot better. More moist, almost muffin like, because of the egg and bananas. I added the same spices as the other recipe (cinnamon and nutmeg). Mommy and Daddy both thought these were yummy. And no added sugar! I ended up baking these in the bottom part of a cupcake tin, worked well to keep the size I wanted. 

                                            

Just add bacon (going to be M-I-A)

Hey everyone. Sorry to announce, but I'll be temporarily absent from my blog for a while. We are in the middle of moving, but before I go I wanted to share something with you all...

A while ago I decided to whip up my infamous pot of chili (not so infamous, just add spicy tomato juice for extra flavor and heat)... Sad to say I walked away for too long with the stove on a bit too high and burned the bottom of the pot. I was devastated. The boys (my fiancé and my brother) thought it was pretty good with some cheese added in and crackers to dunk. I still wasn't buying it. I had one bowl and stored away the leftovers thinking I had ruined any chance of recovery.

Then one day, my brother dragged out the last bag of chili from the freezer, put it into a pot with water to thaw it out. 

I got to wondering how I could make it better and hide the smoky burned flavor (not the good kind of smoky either..in my opinion). 

Add BACON! Duh.

I added a pound of bacon and a little bit of ground hot breakfast sausage...it helped some. I added more seasonings and brown sugar to add sweetness to try and hide the bitter burnt flavor. Gotta say, it worked.. I added some shredded cheese, crackers and I was satisfied.

So the moral of the story is, just add bacon.