Baby Shower Cupcakes

A friend had a baby shower last week, and I made these for it.  They are from the Hello, Cupcake! books (I have both, and I forgot which one, lol).  I think these were mostly eaten by the kids at the shower, but oh well.  Just take off the Nilla Wafer and you've got a delicious cupcake underneath!  

I opted for a simple version of these; no dipping nillas in melted frosting.  I just put the faces right onto the "naked" cookie.  The mouth is frosting, the eyes are nutella, and the dark hair is Nutella.  The pink noses are large sprinkles, and the brown noses (haha) are chocolate-covered sunflower seeds.  The yellow hair is also frosting.  You stick the faces onto a frosted, mini cupcake.  Pretty easy.  For any piping (Nutella, frosting), I just cut a tiny bit off of the corner of a ziplock snack-sized bag.  

A few days before the shower, a friend came over and we made lumpia together (to be fried right before the party), and then this diaper cake, below.  She did all the hard work; all I did was hold the diapers together occasionally while my baby climbed onto her lap and wouldn't leave her alone, while she was trying to work, because he loves her.  

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Puppy Dog Birthday Cake

Over three weeks ago, in August, while we were in Germany, my baby turned two.  His current favorite thing is puppies, so I looked for puppy cake ideas.  I found a picture of one with no directions, but it looked easy enough, so we attempted it.  

You just bake two round cakes (8 or 9-inch).  Leave one intact and cut the other into sort of a yin-yang shape.  (Bring back memories of the 90's, anyone?!)  Then trim the pieces if necessary to make them look more puppy-dog-ish.  Frost the head in one color, adding sophisticated texture, if desired, as shown above.  With a different color, make a mound of frosting for the "snout".  The mouth is two red fruit snacks & the nose is part of an Oreo.  The rest of the mouth is Nutella, piped from a sandwich bag.  The eyes are PB M&M's.  The cake is a simple yellow cake from my mom's old Betty Crocker cookbook.

Starlight Yellow Cake

from Betty Crocker, via Cinnamon Spice

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups milk

1.  Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease bottom and sides of 2 round pans 9 X 1 1/2 inches, with butter and lightly flour.

2.  In a large mixing bowl beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until combined.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternatively with milk, mixing until just combined. 

3.  Pour into pans, dividing equally. Bake 9-inch rounds 25 to 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

4.  Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack and cool completely before frosting.

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Mesa Verde National Park

A few weeks ago, we visited beautiful Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.  We LOVED this National Park.  Pictures do not do it justice- everyone visit here at least once in their lifetime.  The park is home to many, many ancient Anasazi ruins.  They are no longer called Anasazi though, just an FYI- now they are called Ancestral Pueblo People, and it is believed that some tribes that still exist today (Ute Tribe and some others) are descendants of these ancient people.  (I like the term Anasazi though!  I still use it; it's easier and more fun to say than Ancestral Pueblo People.)  

The two photos above are of the cliff dwelling called Cliff Palace.  We had to kind of hike down into this, and then use 3 or 4 8-foot ladders to get out.  If you have an infant or young toddler, you must wear them in a baby backpack, or they can't come down to these awesome places.  Luckily we don't go anywhere without our two carriers; Boba and Onya brands.  Here we are on one of the 8-foot ladders using the trusty Boba.  He loved the ride!

Although we were already pretty tired by early afternoon, we decided to hike down into another cliff dwelling, the Spruce Tree house (pic above).  This one is a free self-guided thing where the others are guided and you have to pay, also.  We loved this one, as well.  The kids and my husband climbed down into an ancient underground chamber, or Kiva (the round rooms shown in the first pics are kivas, missing their roofs. They were used for religious ceremonies and also living when it got cold outside.)

In the nearby town of Cortez, CO, we attended a free Native American Traditional dance.  It was very beautiful and interesting to watch.  The family that was dancing was from the Ute Native American Tribe.  

After the dance, there was a special talk by one of the last living Navajo Code Talkers.  Taken from the official website of the NCT, here is some info.  "Known as Navajo Code Talkers, they were young Navajo men who transmitted secret communications on the battlefields of WWII. At a time when America's best cryptographers were falling short, these modest sheepherders and farmers were able to fashion the most ingenious and successful code in military history."  My daughter and I enjoyed his talk and then got some photos with him.  (That's my sleeve in the pic-scandal!)

On our way home from Mesa Verde, we drove to a place called Newspaper Rock.  It's a large rock face with a huge number of ancient Native American Petroglyphs.  It was so awesome to see.  (Click on any pic to enlarge.)

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Toddler Trail Mix

The other day my baby wanted a snack and I decided to give him some yogurt-covered cranberries that we had on hand that nobody seemed to be eating.  Well, he LOVED them, so then I decided to try some leftover dried blueberries that again, nobody seemed to be eating.  He loved them too.  I added some pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds) to the mix, and he also loved those.  The last thing I added was sesame stick bits.  I got everything from Nuts.com; we order stuff from them often.  Baking supplies, snacks, nuts, dried fruit, etc.  We regularly get pepitas, shelled pistachios, sesame sticks, chocolate covered sunflower seeds, almond flour, etc.  I've gotten specialty items like pistachio paste for a special brownie recipe, and they have pectin for jam making too.  (I haven't tried it yet, though.)  

This mixture is a lot more filling and healthy than traditional toddler snack foods (goldfish crackers, etc.)  I'm not saying he never has the other stuff, because he does sometimes, but he definitely prefers this mix or something similar.  He's actually not a huge fan of the goldfish.  Anyway, I keep this mix in a portable container and keep it in the car for when we're out and about or out to lunch or something.  I'll give links for each ingredient below, in the recipe.  You can probably find similar items at a store with bulk foods.  I like that there's no trans-fats in the Nuts.com ones, though.  Whole Foods would be good.  You can add anything you want to Toddler Trail Mix!  Just make sure it's something your toddler likes, is safe (not a chocking hazard), will keep a while, and is won't crumble when combined with other other ingredients.  I left out dry cereal for this reason.

Toddler Trail Mix

by What a Dish!

Note: Measurements are approximate

1/2 cup small sesame stick bits

1/2 cup dried blueberries

1/2 cup yogurt-covered cranberries

1/2 cup pepitas (we use roasted & salted)

1.  Combine ingredients in an airtight container.  (Try different cominations of your toddler's favorite things!  Or introduce new foods this way.)

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Spinach-Pear Babyfood

We've been getting spinach from the Organic farm again, lately, and I wanted my baby to be able to partake of the spinachy goodness.  I wanted it to be a little bit sweetened for him, so I went with a spinach-pear combination.  The fresh pear made it sweet and juicy.  (Yes, I tasted it- it was good!!  It was like the baby version of a green smoothie).  I didn't bother steaming the pear; just chopped it up and used my immersion blender to puree that and the spinach together.  My baby loved it!!  He ate a big serving and we froze the rest in my silicone heart ice cube tray.

Spinach-Pear Baby Food
by What a Dish!

1 fresh pear (leave peel on for added fiber + nutrients)
2 small or one big handful baby spinach

1.  Rinse the pear and spinach.  Chop the pear into semi-large chunks.  Blend the pear and spinach together until smooth enough for your liking (can leave chunkier for older babies).  Serve right away or freeze for later.

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Homemade Baby Food

I've been meaning to write this post for about the past three months.  We waited until my baby's six-month birthday to start him on solid foods.  We've started earlier with other babies, but now they're saying there's really no reason to start until 6 months of age, so that's what we did.  We did oatmeal first.  I ground up regular, whole oats in my food processor and then cooked them for baby M.  That was ok, but it's too much trouble to cook 1-2 tablespoons of food on a regular basis, so I never did homemade oats for him again.  Today he is 9 months old, so he's been having solid food for a good 3 months now!  :)

At first, I only fed him homemade baby food.  The photo above is the frozen little cubes I made for him.  You make and puree the food, freeze it in ice cube trays, and once frozen, stick them into ziplock bags.  Pictured below is the silicone ice cube tray I got from Amazon that is PERFECT for this!  Going from left to right (pic above): peaches, pears, peas, blueberry-pear, sweet potato (they have pale sweet potatoes here!), carrot, and plum.  He loves pretty much everything.  The plum is really tart, so I always mix that with something.  Sometimes I'll do carrots/pears/plums!  Mix them up!  Babies don't know that plums and carrots usually don't go together.  :)

Now that baby M is bigger and eating more and more foods, I only feed him homemade baby food every few days now.  I'm using store bought most of the time, gasp!  It's convenient and cheap, and he loves it.  His absolute favorite food right now is sweet potatoes, and it's SO much easier to go get 2 containers of it for $.90 than it is to buy a sweet potato, peel it, steam it, puree it, and freeze it.  Plus, he prefers the storebought sweet potato babyfood over my homemade sweet potatoes, for some weird reason!  BUT, other frutis and veggies are a lot easier to make babyfood out of.  A hand/stick blender is very handy to have on hand for this!  Don't forget to use only glass or ceramic if you are warming this in the microwave!

Anyway, making your own baby food is fun, very easy, and rewarding.  You know exactly what goes into every batch.  Want to use organic fruits?  Go for it!  I encourage every parent to try it at least once and see if it's something they like.  For the fruits, you decide if you want to peel or not.  I leave the peel on plums and pears.  I've never done nectarine, but plan to this summer.

You can also freeze pureed table food meals.  For instance, I made this beef stew recently.  At dinnertime, we pureed it up for baby M.  I froze his leftovers in my heart cube tray, and he'll enjoy those some other time.  Now, he's old enough that we're just lightly mashing things and not always pureeing them.  We had Taco Rice this week and he thoroughly enjoyed some smashed brown rice, bits of cheese, avocado, and spiced ground beef.  :)

Fruit Babyfood

1 fruit (peach, pear, plum, nectarine), peeled, if desired

water

1.  Wash and cut the fruit into bite-sized pieces and steam, in a steamer basket, over boiling water, until softened.  Puree in a blender, food processor, or using a stick/immersion blender, until smooth (to your preference).  You might need to add some water, depending on the fruit.  Serve or freeze in ice cube trays.  When solid, pop out into ziplock bags, label, and freeze.  

Fresh Veggie Babyfood

carrots, green beans, OR frozen peas (or a mixture)

water

1.  Wash and cut bigger veggies into bite-size pieces.  Steam, in a steamer basket, over boiling water, until softened (not long for peas).  Puree in a blender, food processor, or using a stick/immersion blender, until smooth (to your preference). You might need to add some water, depending on the veggies. Serve or freeze in ice cube trays. When solid, pop out into ziplock bags, label, and freeze.

Pear Blueberry Babyfood

1 fresh pear

1 cup blueberries, frozen or fresh

1.  If using frozen blueberries, let them thaw out in the fridge overnight.  You can drain if you want, but I like to keep the juices.  Wash, cut and steam pear, unless it is very ripe, and then you don't have to steam.  Puree the pear and blueberries together, until they reach your desired consistency.  Freeze in ice cube trays.  When thawed, if it is too thin, you can mix in some baby oatmeal or brown rice cereal to thicken it up. 

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New Arrival

My island baby- August 10, 2011- 8 lb, 12 oz. of pure baby boy deliciousness.

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