Lucy isn't quite ready for baby food (that will come soon enough, since the little squirt just sprouted 2 teeth already!). And Frankie is generally a pretty good eater. His absolute favorite food is cottage cheese. But he'll also gobble up most fruit, raisins, carrots, peas, pasta, pizza, rice, potstickers, corn, toast, oatmeal, applesauce, yogurt, and of course anything sweet. He mostly avoids or ignores meat and potatoes.
He loves to help make smoothies. He'll eat most soups. We do homemade pasta every now and then and it's always a huge hit. I won't say he never gets processed food - animal crackers and goldfish are a standby snack. But I've really tried to stay away from it. At the lake this August, my mom tried to give him a microwave single serving cup of macaroni and cheese for the first time, and I was proud that he looked at it suspiciously for a long time before he tasted it. Naturally, he loved it. That stuff is like crack to kids. For his 2nd birthday I made a pseudo-homemade baked macaroni and cheese (it had a Velveeta and cheddar sauce) just to ensure the kids would eat it and it totally worked.
Frankie hasn't yet tried that old kid favorite canned SpaghettiO's yet, and I hope he never does. But Smitten Kitchen posted this dead simple recipe the other day that is PERFECT for families who need to get dinner on the table quick. I have no idea if it tastes like SpaghettiO's, but it looks like them and it is yummy. I liked the addition of chickpeas to amp up the nutritional value of the meal, but I can't lie to you...Frankie picked them all out. Next time I'll blend them into the boiling water sauce so he won't even know it's there.
I didn't have round circle pasta, but I had a bag of alphabet pasta that had been sitting in my cupboard since Frankie was in utero. In the past week, I've used that bag in this recipe, and two different soups. He loves picking out the letters. There seems to be a lot of "L - LUCY!" letters in this bag.
I recommend serving this with good bread and cheese (I had levain from Rustica and fresh smoked mozzarella), or a green salad, or both.
Homemade SpaghettiO's, adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Serves 4
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 can tomato paste
1 tsp salt
fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup small pasta shapes (orzo, alphabets, circles, etc)
5 cups boiling water
Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
Boil your water in a teapot or small pot.
In a large deep skillet, heat oil until shimmering over medium high heat.
Cook garlic for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, until fragrant and lightly browned. Add tomato paste, salt, and pepper and cook for 30 seconds more. Add chickpeas, pasta, and boiling water. Stir and reduce heat to low.
Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until pasta is soft. Taste and add more salt or pepper if needed. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
