DIY homemade soft cheese

hi there,
ufff had no internet connection for 3 days and already wanna write so much, so will try to catch up with all those thoughts and ideas in my mind.
You already perhaps know that dairy products are very important part of your baby's diet. Try to give them variety of dairy products, such as milk, yogurt (flavored or plain), different smoothies or milk porridge or soft cheese. One of the stored here sells really good soft cheese which is great for babies, they are sold in small containers which are also perfect for one portion meal. However, with all these good things it is still quite expensive. I used to make soft cheese like this at home and still remember my mom making such things so I thought if I could do it before why not starting it again for my baby to enjoy natural homemade cheese. Besides you can use it to create many other yummy dishes both for your baby and you.

I started giving whole dairy products for my baby when she was around 9 months.

It is really easy to make soft cheese at home and requires only 4 things:

1. plain fresh full creme yogurt (use whole dairy products for your baby only. However, if you make cheese for yourself low fat yogurt will do just fine)
2. cheesecloth (if you can't find cheese cloth, any cloth which looks like it will do, as long as it is made of natural material like linen or muslin, but it shouldn't to thick or dyed, choose white or natural off white color) the size of the cloth I usually use is about 40/45 cm by 70 cm, but it totally depends on your needs and the amount of cheese you plan to make.
3. a string to hang the cloth with yogurt
4. time  (at least overnight)

So, line the sieve with the cloth you are using, if the weave is too loose I make two or three layers.

I do the whole making process in the sink, just a quick reminder. ;)

Put yogurt into the cloth, cover loosely with the edges of cloth and let it drain a bit (wait for about an hour or so).

This way you won't have so much liquid when you finally hang it to drain thus won't have splashes or drops around. To make this process faster my mom recommends to heat yogurt slightly in a pot before placing it in cloth. It actually separates liquid from the cheese mass and should be easier and faster. If you use this method don't strain warm yogurt with the liquid through the cloth, take out only the cheese mass that you get and keep whey away. In the end of the day this is what we are trying to do.
This is some whey after an hour of straining

When yogurt is strained a bit, mix it with a spoon, tie the ends of cloth, wrap the string around and tie so that you have a loop for hanging.

I have cupboard right above the sink so I use the nob to hang cheese-to-be :) ( don't know if I can actually say that)

Leave it overnight or for at least 8-10 hours. When you think it is done open and check the consistency. If that is what you want, put your cheese in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for about 10 days. (I don't know how long it will stay as I never had it longer than a week).

And here it is fresh yummy homemade cheese at a cost of yogurt.

To be noted that 1 kg of yogurt makes about 370 g of soft cheese, but it all depends on how much liquid you actually want to leave in your cheese.

I would recommend not to make it too thick for your baby as they try to swallow the whole thing at once and may start choking.

You can serve just like that or with some berry sauce or honey, make some delicious cheesecake or berry fruit fool. (recipes to come soon, check back later).

Please feel free to tell me what you think or what you got.

But for now that's all...

take care there.

my baby's strawpeary smoothie

Hi there,
here I am again posting another smoothie for my baby. As you can see from the title the main ingredients are strawberries and pears. It is thick and grainy due to pears but my baby still enjoyed it a lot.
This smoothies can be given to your baby after 8 months, however, if you are confident about the ingredients try to give a teaspoon at a time to your baby a bit earlier but not earlier than 6 months.
It yielded about two portions (I mean two 300ml cups), so I gave half to my little one and the rest was in the fridge waiting for its turn.

For this smoothie you will need:

• 3 soft ripe pears, quartered and seeds removed
• 3 big or 5 small strawberries, halved
• 300 ml apple juice, go for the one with no sugar.

Preparation:

Blend pears and strawberries to smooth consistency, I mixed it for quite long as wanted to make it a bit smoother and maybe get rid of some grainy texture of pears.

Once the desired consistency is reached add the apple juice, give a good stir and voila your baby's strawpeary smoothie is done and ready to try.

Enjoy and let me know how it went.

That's all for now...

take care there.

peachy berry smoothie

Hi there,
here is another smoothies that I made for my baby. This time I diluted it with water with the ratio 2:1 (2 parts of juice and 1 part of water).

It is very difficult to find organic berries in the area I live so I got  pack of frozen organic berries for my baby and used them in this drink. I am fully aware that these kinds of berries lost some of their goodness while frozen. Nevertheless they're still good and yummy in this smoothie.
All these ingredients separately can be given from 6 months onward, so I believe it is quite safe to give this smoothie to your little one if they are around 8-9 months. (I would still wait a bit before giving complex thick mixes like this one).
For this yumminess you will need:

• 1 and 1/2 peaches (mine were quite small, so I believe 1 big is enough), although the skin is delicate I still remove it (maybe I shouldn't next time it also has some good nutrients). Cut peaches into quarters and then each piece in halves across.
• about 2 tbsp organic berry mix (to be more precise I got 4 raspberries, 3 blackberries, 4 red currants and 3 black currants)
• segments of 2 oranges

Preparation:

Let the berries thaw in a small sieve, then press them through it to extract the juice. Remember to put some bowl under the sieve not to end up with the juice in the sink or a table top. Set aside.

In a blender process peaches and orange segments to smooth consistency. Add berry juice and stir until well mixed.

As I already mentioned I diluted it with some water otherwise you can serve it as it is.

I gave it to my baby in a cup and kept the rest in the fridge (if there is any left) for her to finish it later. She was walking holding her cup and sipping it from times to times. She definitely liked it.

That's all for now...

take care there.

sunny citrus healthy smoothie

It's been quite a few days I haven't posted anything, My husband decided to change the router and of course didn't remember for his account password so instead of improving the connection, we ended up with no internet for several days.
Anyways hi there. Last week I was shopping in the grocery store and saw some really cute pouches with some baby smoothies. And of course I thought why not making something like that but fresher at home. So I just got some fruit and berries and started mixing and matching.
Fruit smoothies and juices are great for babies and kids. They love drinking juices, the latter are packed with vitamins and nutrients, and at the same time it's a great way to give this 5-a-day portion to your little ones. They don't even have to chew it.
My daughter will not eat pears or pineapples just like that, I guess she just thinks they are too grainy and sour but once in smoothie she can sip it with her meals or after a walk, whenever she wants. You can hide veggies or fruit your baby doesn't like.
You can start giving simple one or two ingredients juices to your baby from 6 months. I started with small portions of diluted in water juice. I guess by the age of 8-9 months I was giving my little one simple juices as well as mixed juices which were made specially for babies. Later smoothies joined our diet.
This recipe contains 3 ingredients.
You'll need:

• segments of 3 oranges ( once I cut out all the segments I squeeze the rest of pulp not to waste juice)
• 6 medium ripe strawberries, cut in halves (make sure you wash them thoroughly)
• about 2 tbsps carrot juice (I finely grated one medium carrot and squeezed the juice out of the pulp - I added the pulp to my baby turkey soup later)

Preparation:
Put the orange segments and strawberries in blender and process to a smooth consistency. Once it's done, add carrot juice, give  a stir and voila your simple smoothies is ready.

Put in a sippy cup and give it to your baby or dilute with some water first if you'd like. I discovered that non-spil cup that my baby usually has gets clogged very fast. So I removed the rubber membrane from the straw to make it easy to drink. If you can;t do it I advise to get a simple cup with medium size holes otherwise, try to either make a smoothie less thick or strain it to remove the pulp (I never tries it myself and don't know if it will work though).

TIP:
When choosing strawberries as well as most of other berries or some fruit like peaches, nectarines or pears, make sure they don't have dark spots and are fragrant. Try not to press on soft fruit as you can easily damage them causing bruising to begin a while later.

That's all for now...
take care there.

these precious moments

Hi there,

for those whose chilrenare growing so fast and all the rest, just wanted to remind you that use every single chance to save those precious moments as they pass by so quickly. Who knows maybe it will never happen again the way it just did.

Last evening I was singing a song to my daughter right before herbedtimeand suddenly she started laughing sooo hard that she even got hick ups. I showed it to my husband and he asked me to make a video but it was too late and I didn't want to. I just replied she would doit the next day again and we would make a video. He was insisting andfinally my dd was starring in one more video laughing like crazy.

Well the next day came and I thought I would make another clip as previously I forgot somewords and messed up the song and to my surprise and dismay while Iwas singingexactlythe same song in the same way my baby didn't even smile. She looked at me as if I've gone crazy.And then I remembered my husband's words: " Tomorrow she childwill hange her mind and will not do it."

So if your baby or babies do something extraordinary and funny don't wait for a better setting, catch these moments and document them right here and now, later they DO change their little minds. 

see ya later,

take care there..

hidden vegetables mince meat

Hi there. Ready for another recipe???
Originally this one is from Annabel Karmel's book, however I made some changes in my version.
This meat sauce turned out to be so good that I would it eat myself with some pasta. Despite the fact it is beef dish, the sauce is loaded with goodness of vegetables and the good part is that if your baby is a fussy eater and doesn't like veggies, he/she won't feel them there so easily.
(12 months +) - but you can blend it in very smooth paste and give to your baby starting from 9 months.

Hidden vegetables mince meat.

You'll need:

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 stick celery, cubed

1/2 big or 1 medium size floret of cauliflower, cut into smaller pieces

1 small carrot, cut into small cubes

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1/3 apple, chopped

1 large tomato, skin and seeds removed (I don't bother to remove all the seeds just the ones I see when I cut it into quarters)

200 - 250 g mince meat

3 tbsp tomato puree

150 ml water

salt and pepper to taste

The list might scare you as it's quite long but believe me it is not really a time-consuming recipe and simple to make.

Preparation:

Heat small amount of oil in a pan, add first 6 ingredients and saute until quite soft but not mushy. I took me about 15 minutes I believe. In the mean time I put the tomato in a blender and made puree out of it. Once the vegetables are ready, add them to the tomato puree (be careful the mixture is hot) and process until smooth or almost smooth. Set it aside for now.

Fry the mince meat in a pan with a little bit of oil (if meat has some fat in it I don't use any oil at all). Mash the mince while frying to achieve the desired consistency. Cook meat until brown. If you want it to be very smooth without any lumps you can use the blender once the meat is cooked through.

I cooked the meat in a pot. This way when I mixed all the ingredients it was easier to stir. So once the beef is cooked add the tomato and veggie sauce, tomato puree and water into it. Mix well, bring to boil, lower the heat to minimum and simmer for 45-60 minutes until the sauce thickens. Season  to taste.

And voila! It is ready. I got five 5oz portions.

As you can see in the picture this time I served it with some mashed potatoes. Last time I cooked a small handful of vermicelli and mixed it into the sauce. My daughter loved it.

Let me know what you think.

That's all for now...

take care there.

my baby yummy meatballs

Here we are again,
I posted some recipes earlier using these yummy meatballs however, I haven't shared the recipes of meatballs itself yet.
I actually made these meatballs in a different way before but then well I forgot the recipe and created a new one which came out even better. You can steam them for about 30 minutes and serve with some steamed veggies or potatoes, rice or other grains. You can boil a couple of them with some vegetables and blend to the desired consistency or maybe serve with some simple white cheesy sauce your baby likes.
I started giving these meatballs for my baby after she was 1 but I saw some recipes with meat for little ones who are 9 months old.
So here is the recipe.
You'll need:

• 500 g mince turkey breast (you can substitute with chicken breast, Turkey is considered to be the leanest meat and is good for you and your baby, but if you don't like the taste feel free to use chicken.)
• about 300 g mince beef (I wash the meat through the sieve  - make sure it is a separate sieve for meat only or if not then wash it very very very well after use maybe even a couple of times and with boiling water. I noticed that when I wash meat and get rid of the rest of blood that is left there, meat gets better taste and is more tender somehow and of course less waste and toxins that blood contain)
• 1 big onion, chopped
• 2,5 handfuls cooked red kidney beans
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Making these meatballs is fast and easy, the only thing that takes time is cooking kidney beans. Soak them over night, change water while soaking if possible. After soaking, put the beans in a pot, cover them with fresh water, put on high heat and bring to boil. When the water starts boiling, change it again, bring to boil and then simmer for about 60-80 minutes. I add the salt in the end about 10 minutes before taking off the heat.

When the beans are cooled I blend them into paste. Since the beans usually turn out to be quite salty I don't add much salt in the meatball mix.

In large bowl mix together turkey, beef, onion, kidney bean paste. add salt and pepper to taste.

Make balls of the size of a mini cupcake, about 2 inches in size. I got 36 meatballs.

I place them on the lined baking sheet, cover loosely with tin foil and freeze. Once frozen I transfer in a zip lock bag, squeeze the air as much as possible and keep up to 1 month. (I usually finish them earlier).

TIP:

It's difficult to get mince turkey in shops, so I make it myself. Once I mince all the turkey I put onions that way I clean up the mincer from meat as well as mincing onions without having to irritate my eyes. :)

Try these meatballs and let me know what you think.

That's all for now...

take care there.

berrylicious sauce

Hi there,
I usually make some porridge for my little precious one for breakfast but oats in milk are a bit boring if you eat them just like this.
So I made this easy berry sauce you can add to porridge or some other dishes.
(6 months onward)

You will need:

4-5 strawberries
half a peach, skin off
3-4 orange segments

Put everything in a mixing cup and blend until smooth. If your strawberries are not sweet you might end up with a bit too tart taste in that case I would recommend to add a squeeze of maple syrup. (you can add honey for children of 1 year or older)
Enjoy and let me know what you think.

That's all for now...
take care there.