Vaguely Moroccan Baby Cous Cous

Note: When I mixed up the first batch of this meal, I went gaga for it. I'd only made enough for E, but will be packing some for lunches for the whole family in the future.

I threw this meal together as a way to introduce baby E to some new textures and flavors. I had (unsulfered) dried apricots in the pantry, as well as raisins, and I thought that those might go well with cous cous and some spices. Sounds vaguely Moroccan, no? I did a little google search and it turns out I was right. I cooked up the apricots and raisins separately, boiling each in water until soft. Pureed each of the fruits and froze them in my freezer trays.


Vaguely Moroccan Baby Cous Cous
- 1/4 cup homemade veggie broth (see recipe here)
- 1/4 cup cous cous
- 1 cube (approx 2-3 Tbsp) pureed cauliflower
- 1-2 tsp each pureed apricot and raisin
- a dash-let cinnamon and cumin

Bring broth to a boil, add cous cous and remove from heat. Let sit for 5 minutes, until liquid is absorbed. I only used about 3 Tbsp of cous cous for this recipe, but make as much as your baby (and you) want to eat, adding more fruits/veggies if needed. To however much cous cous you want to eat add cauliflower, fruits and spices. Mix until well blended. Feed to baby.

What we're eating now

An updated list of popular fruit and veg combos from E (see previous post for more ideas). To be fair, she doesn't seem to dislike much.

Pear Banana Blueberry

Sweet Potato and Apple with cinnamon

Any combination of: Pureed Soup veggies (onion, carrot, celery and sweet potato with dill and parsley), Sweet Potato, Carrot, Cauliflower and/or Potato

Peas and Potatoes

Avocado and Banana

Pear (or Apple) Mango

Squeaches

Now that E has a few foods in her repertoire, I've started mixing fruits and veggies together. My reasons are several: 1. Variety 2. She seems to be more receptive to some flavors when they're mixed with flavors she's already familiar with.

This morning we tried peaches on their own. No go. So I gave her peach and banana with rice cereal, which she was happy to eat. Tonight for dinner, she was supposed to have butternut squash with rice cereal... I think now is a good time to remind any other parents making their own baby food to LABEL EVERYTHING. Lots of purees look alike, especially the orange ones. This is, of course, my way of saying that I grabbed the peaches instead of the squash. But that's not all, folks. I grabbed the squash, too, thinking I had two containers of the same thing. And mixed them both into the rice. Only when I noticed the different colors did I realize what I'd done. Since it was already mixed together, I figured I'd see what happened. Magic, that's what happened. She LOVED her squeaches and rice.