Food for your Itty Bitty: Balsamic Chicken with Butter Pasta and Asparagus

I was talking with a friend about making dinners that are geared towards babies. I want Delilah to be exposed to flavors, textures, and all foods, not just "baby" foods. Now that she is only eating "real" food, I have modified my cooking. I make things a little softer, cook it longer, stay away from spicy (which is a tough one for me), and I always try to include a carb, a veggie, and a protein. I still season everything quite a bit, she loves Herbs de Provence and garlic. :) She always gets some sort of dessert too, whether is is fruit or her favorite ice cream sandwich. 

Anyways, my friend asked me if I look online for recipes and that she never knows what to make. I definitely have my inspiration sources, but for the most part, I use what my momma gave me (recipes of course) and come up with meals based on what I have in my pantry. I have also found it useful to plan out the week and shop for what I need, but if I haven't found the time to do that, we eat what we have! 

I will be happy to help with dinner ideas, just comment on what you have and I will help come up with a dinner!

Tonights menu: Balsamic Chicken with Pasta and Asparagus

I have wanted to start liking dark meat, but I am a white meat girl. I asked my husband to pick up thighs and I am glad I did. It was really good! I have to admit they look a little intimidating, but being the world's pickiest chicken eater, there wasn't a weird piece on the thigh! 

Start with boneless, skinless chicken thighs and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and a pinch of Herbs de Provence. 

Melt a couple tablespoons of butter, everything's better with butta, and start to brown your chicken. 

Flip the chicken to brown the other side and then pour in 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar. I never, ever measure, so this is more of an estimate.

I also sprinkled a little sugar once I flipped the chicken. I would have originally used honey, but not with the baby :)

Lower the temp to med heat and put a lid on it, let it cook for 15 minutes or so. 

I wanted a thick sauce, so after 15 minutes I opened the lid, turned up the heat to med high and let the sauce thicken for another 10 minutes, or until the desired consistency.

Get some pasta water boiling... cut up your asparagus...

... and add the pasta and asparagus into the water. Cook until everything is soft enough for baby. I squeezed in a lemon while the pasta and asparagus were cooking, I didn't want it to be too overpowering for the bebe, and it was perfect.

Put them back in the pot, throw in some salt, lemon pepper, garlic powder and a few tablespoons of butter, and you've got yourself a party!

I have stopped using vegetable oil, so butter is the new black in this house!

Hers:

Ours:

Balsamic Chicken

Chicken Thighs/Breasts

Salt & Pepper

1/4 t Garlic & Onion Powder

1/4 t Herbs de Provence

1 t Sugar

1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

2 T Butter

Season the chicken and melt the butter in a med high pan.

Brown both sides, on second side sprinkle the sugar. Add the vinegar and lower heat to med, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Take off the lid and let sauce reduce, over med high heat, until desired consistency. Done!

Pasta

Spiral Pasta (Any kind will do)

Asparagus

Lemon

Salt 

1 T Lemon Pepper

1/4 t Garlic Powder

3-4 T Butter

Boil water and squeeze lemon in the water. Cut up asparagus into 1 inch pieces. 

Throw, ok not really throw, gently place everything into pot. Cook until tender.

Return everything back into pot, put butter and seasonings in and stir it up. You can sing "Stir it up" by Bob Marley if you would like. Done!

This was a hit with everyone! Enjoy!

Oh hey Friday!

Food for your Itty Bitty: Chicken Meatballs

My daughter is now 9 months old and eating pretty much everything. We are not doing citrus because it gives her a little rash around her mouth anytime she eats it. Hopefully that is something she outgrows. This week is the first week I have been cooking for her. (Well, being mindful of what I am making for dinner so she can eat it too.) It is a lot of fun, but also overwhelming, deciding what to cook. For some reason it has gone really well (maybe because it is only Tuesday) and watching her eat the food I have cooked it pretty awesome! These little meatballs are great because they are soft enough for her to eat, yet sturdy enough for her to pick up. She is only letting me feed her a handful of foods lately, so I am trying to make things she can feed herself. The days of the pouches are ending…so sad… but hey, we will find other baby product to buy save lots of money!

I served these little yummy morsels with a roasted sweet potato, green beans, and sourdough bread. The green beans were totally from a can, but we get points back because the sourdough bread was fresh from our local farmers market. 

These can be done ahead if needed, if your life runs in 15 minute increments like mine does, you can split the recipe up in steps. Put chicken in food processor, take unknown object out of baby's mouth, make the balls, free baby's leg from gate, cook the balls, change baby's diaper, eat the balls, pick the balls up off floor, wash balls out of baby's ear, etc. I hope you enjoy!

Throw everything into the food processor. All of it. Do it.

And process away until it looks well blended. If the mixture still looks really wet, add more breadcrumbs. It should start holding together just a bit.

Get a melon baller, not even sure if that is what it is called. How about a small scoop? Make little balls with your hands. And place them into a hot skillet to brown up.

Add some water or chicken broth, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes or so. They don't technically look like balls, but Delilah loves them nonetheless ;)

Cut them up into little bite sized pieces for your itty bitty. And enjoy!

Four meatballs later…

Chicken Meatballs

2 Chicken Breasts cut into large pieces(you can use ground chicken if you would like, i think doing it yourself allows for the meat to be super fine, ha super fine)
1/4 cup Bread Crumbs
1 Egg
1/8 cup Cheese (shredded blend or parmesan)
1 tablespoon ketchup
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper
(Feel free to add any other spices to the meatballs, its your show!)

Literally throw all of the ingredients into a food processor.

In medium skillet, turn burner on med high, and put a tablespoon of oil to heat up.

Let skillet get pretty hot, then use melon baller or shape chicken into ping pong size balls, the place in skillet. Let brown, then turn over and brown other side. I usually brown three sides.

The meat is not necessarily cooked at this point. Once everything is browned, put 3/4 cup of water or chicken broth in skillet, scrape up bits from bottom, and cover and put heat to low.

Cook about 15 minutes, or until most of the water is cooked out. Let cool and serve to your itty bitty!