Friday, November 25, 2016

Baby Mujaddara and snacks


Here's a fun and healthy recipe I came up with after picking up these sprouted lentils from the health food store. I call the recipe baby Mujaddara!

Mujaddara is a popular middle eastern rice and lentil dish but I swapped out the rice for super fine brown bulgur, the type you would use for tabouleh.

Start by browning finely diced onion in a bit of olive oil then add lentils and bulgur wheat sauteeing to coat with oil. Finally add stock or water to simmer until tender.

These sprouted lentils say they need to cook in 5X the amount of water but they do tenderize quickly as it only takes 5 minutes to cook them. And the bulgur is a quick cooking variety too so the dish comes together very quickly. Add water/stock as you would with rice, 2 cups liquid per 1 cup of grain. Cover and simmer.  The browned onion gives a nice taste to the dish and you completely omit salt or lightly season (or as I do, use herbamare)

2 tbsp onion, finely chopped
2 tsp olive oil 
1 cup fine bulgur
1/2 cup sprouted lentils
2 cups water or broth
Sprinkling of salt or Herbamare

Add oil to pot, heat and add onions browning them on medium to medium low. Add bulgur and lentils stiring to coat. Add liquid and seasoning. Cover and simmer until tender.

Enjoy with a side of veggies and greens. 








A couple of interesting products at the health food store that I discovered along the way. Baby ancient grain blend instead of the typical rice or oatmeal cereals. Barley is super delicious too and usually I mix them all together for a hearty breakfast cereal.


Yoso is a cultured coconut dairy free "Yogurt" it's unsweetened if you buy the one without fruit and it's super delicious! Good for babes with eczema who are on a dairy free diet.

I was told by a health guru that the most important thing in a babies' diet is to build up a strong gut, and that's by using a probiotic as well as good cultured foods like the coconut kefir yogurt, lots of avocados too and stay away from toxins (meats) as well as contaminated fish (which is pretty much most of them)

DHA supplement or oil is a must and we like this one by Nordic.



And last but not least a couple of healthy treats for every now and then. We are not too big on rice products, and definitely no sugar so these fruit bars as well as some freeze dried fruit are perfect treats for when we're on the go.

Do feel free to share your favourite baby menu recipes with me as well as snacks and supplements, I'm all ears :)