Hi, it’s me again

This time from a new kitchen and a new city, with a new recipe for my new favorite: puff pastry breakfast waffles!!

For a long time now I was planning to use my waffle maker for other things than just the plain ol’ waffles.

I’m still curious for things like tater tot waffles, potato waffles and grilled cheese waffles, but I’m not sure if I will really ever try those because puff pastry waffles are GENIUS!

You should definitely get a waffle maker if you don’t have one yet! I like a square one, as it’s easier to make puff pastry breakfast waffles with it.

For starters: you can easily put a whole sheet of puff pastry in a square waffle maker, for some plain puff pastry waffles.
Or you can cut up the puff pastry sheet in four equal squares to make stuffed waffles. What do you think of plain chocolate waffles, as you fill the puff pastry with chocolate chips. Or make it fancy, with white chocolate chips, cherries and sliced almond. Make easy apple turnovers using cubed apples, raisins, brown sugar and cinnamon. What about pear, goat cheese and honey?

Do you think that’s crazy? Okay, let’s make some breakfast waffles instead! The stuffing options are endless, but I kept it easy with some eggs, bacon (duh!), pesto and cheese.
We all love these, even little Stella!

Enjoy!

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– Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Boerenkool met worst quiche –

Sometimes you have to wait a little, but then you get a great reward! In this case the recipe for an amazing kale and sausage quiche! 

Life can be so busy, especially with an almost 1.5 year old toddler who crawls around. That’s the reason I don’t always have the energy for some elaborate cooking or to test recipes, let alone to make the effort to make nice pictures. Since becoming a mom I’m too busy with playdates (where the moms drink coffee or wine while the kids play), with being a -lousy- housewife and with sharing interesting articles, tips and recipes with my mom friends.

My BMFF (Best Mom Friend Forever) shared her recipe for a basic quiche with me & the others. It’s super easy to make the dough! I must confess that I have never previously made quiche dough myself, because I always used a store bought dough in the Netherlands and puff pastry here in America. But it was always a big miss with the puff pastry, I like my quiche dough a little flaky instead of greasy and crunchy.

So from now this will be my new go-to recipe, an easy and quick quiche crust with a delicious filling. This time I went for kale and sausage. And feta. And my oh my, this is so delicious!
Here in Los Angeles it seems fall has begun, so we can use some wintery meals!

Enjoy!

Thanks a million D! For sharing this recipe with me but most of all for your friendship!

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– Click here for this blog post in Dutch -> Baby finger foods 6+ maanden –

Let me start with helping a common misconception out of the way: a baby doesn’t need teeth to eat finger foods. In fact, my baby eats everything without teeth! Haha, her first tooth just broke through, and she’s already been eating finger foods for months now. Babies chew with their gums, because remember they only get molars around their second birthday.

I knew that Stella was ready to eat more solid food when she didn’t choke on chunky purees anymore, and really did chew her food. When she was 6 months old I started to offer breadsticks and bread crusts, to see how she would deal with it. Well, she knew what to do! We also got some Puffs and Yums from a friend and they also helped us really well with chewing and the pincer grasp.

So it was time to store the immersion blender and to read about so-called “finger foods” for babies. And when Stella was 9 months old we were already at the point that she would eat what we were eating, the so-called ‘table foods’. Very easy!

At this age, you don’t need to watch out for salt anymore. And I don’t need to tell you that sugars and other processed products are not such a good idea anyway? But basically your baby can eat everything except honey! Absolutely no honey, not even used to bake bread or cookies. Honey can contain a bacterium that can be very harmful to babies under 1 year. Read more on this website: Infant botulism honey

Where to start?
I bet your freezer is filled with homemade purees. Or am I the only one who had that? This was my way to transform the purees to finger foods:
The fruit purees can be mixed with plain whole milk yogurt (whole milk yogurt is more nutritious for babies than non-fat yogurt) or you can make a smoothie with it, which you then offer a straw cup.
With pureed vegetables and meats I made little frittatas. I thawed the purees and mixed them with some eggs and grated cheese and scooped the mixture into a greased muffin tin. I baked them in the oven until the frittatas were cooked. You can keep them in the fridge for a few days but they are also good to freeze. Think combinations like spinach/broccoli/salmon or other fish, or tomato/ground beef or, beets/quinoa/soft goat cheese. Always easy to have on hand, and they can be eaten for lunch or dinner.
With some purees you can make a soup, think about sweet peas, zucchini, parsnips or sweet potato.
With a batch of butternut squash puree I made American pancakes, just by stirring it in the pancake batter.
Because really, it’s a waste to throw it all away.

‘Finger foods’
I give Stella basically everything that we eat, but because we eat at other times (Stella at 6pm, we eat after 7.30pm) it’s not always easy. Also she doesn’t have much interest in eating with a spoon, so I offer everything to her in the form of finger foods. When we first started, I offered everything in larger pieces, sweet potato into wedges for example, or a slice of bread cut in half. But after a while she began to throw everything on the floor and she ate very little. Now I offer everything into bite-sized pieces and that works well for her. I made a handy list and I hope to inspire you with it:

Breakfast
– Whole wheat bread with Dutch apple butter, cream cheese, paté (no more than twice a week), hummus, peanut butter or almond butter
– Scrambled eggs with a side of sliced avocado (cover the avocado in ground flaxseed for better grip)
– Pumpkin pancake made with whole wheat flour
– Cracker with cream cheese
– Rye bread with apple butter
– Green smoothie (frozen mango, banana, coconut water or almond milk, spinach and avocado)
She often nibbles some of my overnight oats with banana, I fill up the spoon and offer it to her and she feeds herself. I also give her a side of seasonal fruits to nibble on. Currently: cherries, blueberries and peaches for example.

Lunch
– Whole wheat waffle
– Whole wheat sugar-free banana muffin
– Banana pancake (1 ripe banana mash and mix with 2 beaten eggs and a pinch of cinnamon, shape as small pancakes)
– Poffertjes (Dutch tiny pancakes made with buckwheat flour)
– Flaxseed cookies
– Whole grain bread (see Breakfast)
– Pita bread with hummus
– Cheese cubes
– Slices of turkey breast
– Fruit
– Cucumber and pickles
– Cooked carrots or green beans
– Raw tomatoes and bell pepper

Dinner
Stella’s dinner always consists for the most part (50%) of vegetables, also always some “protein” consisting of meat, fish, eggs or tofu and sometimes grains of pasta, noodles or sometimes quinoa that’s part of a frittata. I always put some fruit on her plate, she chooses whether she will save it as ‘dessert’ or be the first to eat.
Instead of purees my freezer is now full of cooked/grilled vegetables, cooked meat and tofu etc. Always handy to be able to act fast and thaw something!
– Frittata made in a muffin tin
– Oven roasted sweet potatoes
– Canned beans or chickpeas, corn, peas etc.
– Boiled or roasted vegetables
– Pieces of avocado rolled in ground flaxseed for better grip.
– Fish, eg breaded in coconut flakes or whole wheat flour with herbs
– Baked tofu (marinated in Asian oil and soy sauce etc and then bake in the oven)
– Socca
– Polenta pieces
– Sausage or meatballs
– Noodles or pasta
– Zucchini fritters
– Bean Burger Patties
– Ready cooked beets (store bought)

How do you actually fit this into your own mealplan?
Simply, by creating a ‘deconstructed bowl’ of the food you’re having
We eat a lot of ‘world’ foods, so curries, fried rice, taco’s etc., and this is how I do it: The adults have fish tacos for dinner, and Stella gets all the components on her plate: pieces of cooked fish, beans, corn, tomatoes, chunks of avocado (instead of guacamole), pieces of tortilla.
Or I make a pan of chicken madras curry and then try to feed Stella with a spoon. Well, she doesn’t want it. So it always end up placing the vegetables (peas, green beans, cauliflower) and the meat in front of her on the table so she can eat it herself.
Once or twice a week I’m making something that we can all eat like beans patties, falafel, zucchini fritters, meatballs in tomato sauce with slices of polenta, fish etc. I often cook a little extra so I can freeze a few servings for later use. Also handy when you go out for dinner (which we do at least once a week).

You wonder when I have time to cook?
I always prepare something in the afternoon when she sleeps. It took a while before I got used to that. The times I realized at 5.30pm that it was almost dinnertime for her and no way I would have any vegetables ready in time, can no longer be counted on one hand. But nowadays, I’m quite used to the routine of preparing the food and some cooking. And I have always something available in the freezer.
Good preparation is already half the job. I never thought I would ever do this: but I now make a weekly schedule and do a week’s worth of groceries on Monday. Also I say long live the slow cooker! If you want, you can always prepare food. I often cook double batches and if I really need to, I will prep things the night before.

Does my baby do anything else than eat?
I asked myself that for a long time! Milk feeding, pureed fruit, milk feeding, pureed veggies, milk feeding… Is there still time left to do something else?! But do not worry, soon enough you combine those eating moments because your baby can do a longer time without food and does not always need a feeding after waking up or before going to bed. Always follow the pediatrician’s instructions.

For a while now we are following this schedule:
7.30am bottle
8.30am breakfast
12pm lunch + bottle (I recently switched the order to make sure you would eat a full lunch)
3.30pm snack
6pm dinner
7.30pm bottle before bed

And to look at my own situation, my baby will ‘tell’ us when the schedule needs changes. Example: for two weeks she would only take 1-2 floz of her 6 oz bottle, while previously she’d always empty it. This was a sign that she didn’t need it anymore because her sleep schedule remained the same. The next step was to take that bottle off the schedule. And she’s still doing fine, sleeping until 6.30am / 7am without being hungry up. Nice!
You will eventually work towards a schedule in which the milk feeds will be replaced with cow’s milk, from 12 months. At that time, milk is no longer meal, but it is part of a meal. So for us, in a month when she turns 1, we will combine her 7.30 am bottle with breakfast, and the rest of the schedule remains the same.
Just make sure you don’t give any bottles more after their first birthday, only (sippy/straw) cups.

And finally, I know all the fun will be over in a year when Stella will start to refuse food. That’s what I’m aware of. So for now I’m just enjoying it immensely when she devours her food, and I’m never forcing her to eat anything. My rule is ‘I decide what’s on her plate, she decides how much she will eat’. So far I’m doing a good job if I may so myself

Do you have questions about baby food? Ask them!

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– Click here for this blog post in Dutch -> Baby’s eerste hapjes 4-5 maanden –

Baby’s first solids 4-6 months

Which mom doesn’t look forward to it, when her baby is ready to start solids? I sure did! After months of nothing else but preparing bottles with milk, I couldn’t wait to make something else for her.

Stella was just 4 months old and the pediatrician had given us the green light to start with solids. You all know that I’m a huge fan of fresh and healthy food, so Stella now it was Stella’s turn to endure it all

Before you start with solid foods you have to check a few things off your list:

• Check with your pediatrician if you can start with solids.
• Your baby should be able to sit upright and stable and she can hold her head upright. Stella’s pediatrician tested this by pulling her up her arms. When your baby is bringing her head up she is ready for her first solid snack! A highchair may only be used at 6 months old, but until then you can use a bouncer you naturally move up as far as possible.
• The baby is showing interest for what you eat? Stella did that absolutely! From 3 months old she followed my hand if I brought a fork or spoon to my mouth to eat something. And then starting salivating… she really wanted to eat too!
• Don’t give solid foods until your baby is 4 months old, because their intestines aren’t ready for it. Even though we started at 4 months, I preferred waiting until 5-6 months old. But do not wait too long as well, so between 5-7 months of age is a perfect time to start solid foods.
• The gag reflex which babies naturally have, has disappeared. Or, well, disappeared… with young babies the reflex is in front of the mouth, as they grow older it pulls backward. Everyone has this gag reflex, but to start with solids this reflex has to be pulled back far enough to eat normally. To practice this, we have fed Stella some milk with a spoon to see whether she could ‘eat’ this.

You can read everywhere that it is good to start with vegetables instead of fruit, and also to start with subtle and soft flavors. I don’t have a really strong opinion about this, but I think it’s good to offer the same foods two to three days in a row to detect a possible food allergy. And I also believe in getting your baby familiar with as many flavors as possible. Food allergies aren’t a known thing in both our families, and we noticed nothing of an allergy with Stella so after six weeks I no longer kept the rule that you offer the same foods for a few days. Also, she was almost 6 months at that time so I began with blending the flavors. Lentils with butternut squash for example, and peas with spinach.

Preparing food for your baby, how do you do that?
There all kinds of fancy devices on the market to make your own baby food at home, who hasn’t heard of the BEABA Babycook? I thought it was a waste to spend a lot of money on something like that, because my goal was to feed Stella the same things we are eating, as soon as possible. And also, my kitchen cabinets are already filled with devices, the one more fancy than the other

At Ikea we bought a steamer insert (for $ 9) for the pans that we already owned. Using this I steamed the veggies, because this way all healthy nutrients are remained. The pureed the steamed vegetables with a Hand Blender (small portions) or the Food Processor (large portions), which I already owned. Then I let them cool off slightly and serve immediately, and froze the remaining portions in a Beaba Multi-Portions Container. As soon as it was frozen I stored the portions in freezer bags, so I could use the container again.

I thought it was really a piece of cake, to steam, mash and freeze the vegetables. I made 2-3 different kinds of purees in a week and had a freezer filled with baby food in no-time.

The things I made:
I started with zucchini, because that just about the only vegetable that I could eat during my pregnancy So I thought she would like that because she was (hopefully) already familiar with it. And she liked it!
After three days of zucchini puree (which incidentally is very watery but good to thicken with rice cereal) we tried butternut squash. Also a hit!
Followed by:
Pear – prunes (for constipation) – sweet potato – peas (not so successful because of the texture) – banana – avocado – green beans (again that texture that she didn’t like) – cauliflower – carrot – mango – peach – parsnip – apple – broccoli – chickpeas – spinach… and after that I no longer held track.

By that time she was 6 months old and it was time to combine flavors and to introduce meat and fish. Chickpeas with spinach was a hit, but also lentils with tomato sauce and salmon with beets.

For fish it’s the same as with vegetables: steaming in the steamer, then purée with a hand blender (with cooking water added) or breaking up with a fork. Regarding meat puree I only made beef: cook ground beef in a skillet with some olive oil or butter and then puree with a hand blender.

Meanwhile, Stella was 6 months old and she ate more textured purees. So it was time for the next step!

But that’s a thing I will tell you about soon, in another blog post

Do you have questions about baby food? Ask them!

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– Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Gevulde sojasaus eieren –

Soy sauce deviled eggs
This recipe may or may not be accidentally on time for Easter Because who doesn’t know them, the deviled eggs? In the Netherlands we call them ‘filled eggs’, just plain simple as it is.

Because that’s what they are, really simple. But also great for different variations! I like to eat deviled eggs as an afternoon snack, just plain with some mustard into the filling. Or a drop of sriracha or black truffle salt.

But ever since I got the Japanese Soul Cooking cookbook for Christmas, I like to eat a medium cooked soy sauce egg as a snack. I know they taste better when served in a big bowl of steaming hot ramen soup, but that seems a bit too much as an afternoon snack

And why not combine my two favorites, into these amazing soy sauce deviled eggs? It’s perfect for Easter if you ask me! I jazzed the filling up with a bit of wasabi, sesame oil and ground ginger. But not too much, because the soy sauce taste is already good enough!

I might or might not have eaten the whole batch of 8 soy sauce deviled eggs… Who will tell? Maybe the Easter bunny?

Enjoy!

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– Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Kikkererwten komijn salade met bacon –

Chickpea cumin salad with bacon
Nowadays there is a lot needed to get me into blogging again. Life with a 9 month old baby is very busy, our week is filled with swimming lessons, mommy & me class, playdates, physical therapy and of course just housekeeping, grocery shopping and cooking. I am especially keeping myself occupied to create recipes for a baby which I prefer to serve unprocessed foods, rather than to create recipes for adults. Let alone testing, writing and photographing such a recipe.

In other words: it’s not so easy to get me to get working again. But Simone, of Simone’s Kitchen, succeeded! With not such a good reason actually, because 3 months ago Simone got into an accident during a sleigh trip in Norway, and ever since then she’s out of the running. She’s slowly recovering, but it’s also hard and it will probably never go back the way it was. And since I have a lot to thank Simone for, the least I could do was to work out a new recipe for her. Or well, working out… I have made this chickpea cumin salad with bacon several times before, in the time I was still breastfeeding Stella.

That’s because chickpeas and cumin are on the list of ‘galactagogue’ boosters, and galactagogue are substances that promote lactation. Because breastfeeding didn’t go well out of several reasons, I did everything possible to help my milk supply increase. I ate special cookies with brewers yeast, oatmeal and flaxseed, I drank special tea, took special pills. And I ate this salad.

Which incidentally is also very tasty and delicious if you have nothing to do with breastfeeding. And I still eat it! This delicious salad is amazing, so head to your kitchen and make this!

Enjoy!

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– Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Spruitjesstamppot met gepofte knoflook en mosterd –

These past weeks I like to go to the Farmers Market on Sundays. Leaving the house quite early (for a Sunday, and especially for us), taking the baby in the stroller and have breakfast at the market itself. And buy fruit and vegetables for the coming week of course. Always following the seasonal offerings. After buying the vegetables it’s time to meal plan for the week and go out for the rest of the groceries.

And almost every week I buy a bag of Brussels sprouts, which I always roast in the oven with some bacon.

But at P’s request I finally made a Dutch classic using the sprouts last week. I made a Brussels sprouts mash and came to the conclusion it’s a perfect side dish for Thanksgiving! To make it extra festive and special I added roasted garlic and a big spoon of dijon mustard.

I will perfectly pair with a big roasted Turkey, green bean casserole an roasted yams. But of course you can also serve it on a week day with some good sausage. Or on a weekend date night with a big roasted lamb rack. Go crazy!

Enjoy & Happy Thanksgiving!

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– Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Perfecte Dutch baby pancake –

This is not the first time that I’m writing about that glorious American oven pancake they’ve called ‘Dutch baby pancake’. In fact, I even shared recipes for Dutch baby pancake with blueberries and a chocolate Dutch baby pancake with strawberries before.

Well I don’t need to tell you anymore that this pancake has nothing to do with Dutch (a.k.a. the Netherlands). Because ‘we Dutch people’ don’t come up with baking pancake batter in an iron cast skillet in the oven

Last year I ate an amazingly fluffy and tasty Dutch baby pancake for breakfast during a weekend getaway in Palm Spring. Wow! To be honest the Dutch baby pancakes I had made before at home were never this tasty. Of course they were good but this pancake in Palm Springs was very fluffy and smooth. What was the secret?!

Countless test rounds later I can now finally make such a perfect Dutch baby pancake myself. It took some effort and lots of tries because usually the pancakes tasted just like an ordinary omelet due to the amount of eggs. And of course I also had to deal with a real Dutch baby here (haha, see what I did there? ;-)) So it took a while before I could finally share this recipe with you.

Because this is so tremendously good and perfect, I had to share this recipe! It is right now my favorite breakfast, and it’s also a ‘it’s so fluffy I’m gonna die!’ situation. Serve with lemon curd and fresh strawberries. Although here in California strawberry season is also already over… but I bet it also with some seasonal stone fruit!

Enjoy!

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It’s been three years ago since I posted this home made falafel recipe on my Dutch blog. But a lot can happen in three years, and I sure learned how to take better pictures!

So it was definitely time to update the photos. Same camera, same recipe… but hours of photography lessons, some new equipment (an amazing daylight lamp!) and lots of experience later I present you with… this amazing vegetarian recipe!

Falafel is one of my favorite vegetarian fast food meals. It doesn’t take a lot of time or skills to make this from scratch, and it’s even better with home made pita bread and home made garlic sauce (dice up 2 cloves of garlic and mix it with yogurt and mayonnaise, add some parsley and you’re ready to go!).

A food processor might come in handy with making falafel I bought this Hamilton Food Processor over a year ago and I still love it. I can also tell it makes the smoothest pureed baby foods

Enjoy!

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– Click here for this recipe in Dutch -> Poke bowl met tonijn –

Lately I am trying hard to catch up on all the raw fish I couldn’t eat for nine months. I eat pounds of raw fish weekly, in the form of sushi but preferably in the form of a poke bowl.

Poke is pronounced as Poh-kee, and it’s a Hawaiian raw fish salad. Add some rice and vegetables and you have a poke bowl, or better to say: dinner! Quite healthy (if you’re using more vegetables than rice of course) and also extremely tasty. So of course this is my new favorite!

During my pregnancy all those poke bars popped up in Los Angeles. That was so mean! I was craving raw fish so badly and that was just something that I couldn’t eat. After giving birth I therefore had a poke bowl delivered as soon as possible. And I also had it two days in a row

After three months I still eat a poke bowl weekly, so it was about time to make a poke bowl with pickled shiitakes myself.
And of course, a poke bowl is Hawaiian but it is heavily influenced by Japanese and other Asian cuisines. I have mine preferably with avocado, seaweed, soy beans (edamame) and pickled shiitake mushrooms. The pickled shiitake mushrooms give a delicious sweet and sour taste and it combines perfect with the freshness of the raw fish.

Enjoy!

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