Peach baby food

"Movin' to the country, gonna eat a lot peaches."  We ate a lot of peaches this summer.  At the beginning of the summer, we bought a huge basket of peaches and shared it with some of our friends.  They then sang this line of the song, "Millions of peaches, peaches for free."  Thank you, The Presidents of the United States of America. 

I decided Sarah needed to have some of our peaches so I froze some peach baby food for her.

 

To make the peaches easy to peel, I dropped them in boiling water for 30 seconds- 1 minute.  Then I transferred them to an ice bath.  The skin pulls right off leaving all of the peach flesh.  I put the peaches in the blender and pureed them.  You can add water to thin them if you need.  But I don't think I needed to thin them.  We are still giving Sarah vegetables first according to our pediatrician's instructions but soon we will try our millions of peaches.  Until then, here is how they remain:

Making Baby Food from Organic LMU Community Garden Squash

Nana came to visit us last weekend for Sarah's baptism.  She brought us some yellow summer squash that she grew at Lincoln Memorial University's Organic Community Garden (here is the link to the press release for the start of it:http://lmu1.lmunet.edu/cgi-bin/MySQLdb?VIEW=/news/view_one.txt&newsid=737).  For more information about Lincoln Memorial University's community garden, see this website: http://growappalachia.blogspot.com/search/label/LMU

I thought beautiful organic squash should be the start of Sarah's baby food.  With Sam, I made most of his baby food from produce from the farmer's market.  To make the baby food, I put about 1 in. of water in the bottom of our pot with the steamer basket (shown below). 

I brought the water in the bottom pot to a boil.  Then put 2 or 3 squash cut in 1 in. rounds in the steamer basket and covered the basket.  I steamed the squash for about 9 minutes until they were tender.  Then I used my immersion blender to puree the squash.  All of the water used for steaming was put back in the squash to get it thin enough for baby food.  

After pureeing, I put it in my Beaba multi-portion baby food freezer tray and an ice cube tray.  Ice cube trays work just as well as the fancy Beaba freezer tray.  After freezing, I transfer it to plastic freezer bags.  When it is time for her to eat it, I will drop a few cubes in a small skillet and heat it on low until it melts. 

Baby food can be made several other ways.  I also have a Beaba cooker but it is better used for individual meals.  A food processor or a blender could be used.  Generally, blenders aren't as consistent as a food processor or an immersion blender.



Portofino Restaurant Lexington, Kentucky

On the last weekend in July, we visited Lexington, Kentucky for my great nephew's wedding.  We had Scott's parents (Moomaw and Pappadoo) who could watch our kids while we went out to eat.  I decided to go with an Open Table selection because it seemed easier for me.  Pappadoo doesn't use Open Table.  He just has his favorite restaurants programmed into his phone.  Our selection, Portofino, made his phone list. 

Portofino had a nice patio area.  The patio area was fenced with flowers boxes covering the walls.  Unlike Paducah in July, the temperature at 7 p.m. was about 80 degrees.  It bills itself as an Italian restaurant.  I had the soup of the day:  Vegetable.  For secondo, I had diver's scallops described on the menu as "coriander-crusted and dressed with a blood orange gastrique alongside root vegetable fries with jalapeno aioli and shredded pecan brussel sprouts."  Scott had the goat cheese and apple salad and Seared Sesame Tuna: "Yellowfin Tuna with chili plum sauce and steamed baby bok choy tossed in Asian viniagrette with basmati-almond rice." 

A trick I have learned is to take a picture of the menu that way I can quote it later.  As a copyright attorney, I would argue my quotation of the menu is fair use for a news-related article or critique.

Our entrees were as well-prepared as they were described although I did have a question about Scott's rice.  Our waiter was very knowledgeable about the food and promptly answered my question about was in Scott's rice: orange lentils.  I don't think I have ever had ORANGE lentils.

When I saw gastrique on my selection, I immediately thought about the television show CHOPPED on the Food Network.  It seems that almost every contestant makes a gastrique.  I wasn't sure what a gastrique was so I consulted wikipedia.  Wikipedia says that it is "caramelized sugar, deglazed with vinegar, used as a flavoring for sauces."  Blood oranges are a prettier color than regular oranges.  Maybe they also taste a little better or maybe I am just convinced that they are special by their color.

The meal was fabulous!  We finished it off with a wonderful chocolate torte.