Baby Apple Sauce

Baby apple sauce with my secret ingredient..... dates!  Not just any dates, these are called "Sukkari" which literally mean sugar dates, and they in fact taste exactly like sugar! I had a bunch leftover from Ramadan and usually take one with my cup of black tea to avoid having to sweeten it with sugar. 

When making a healthy apple sauce for baby you want to also avoid the white refined (and even brown) sugars, in fact it's better to avoid most sweet all together I think to not get them hooked on it. Sugar is just as addictive as drugs. 

After giving birth I became quite addicted to it, now that I'm almost a year past I'm getting back to my normal self but because I never had much of a sweet tooth to begin with, even as a child I felt very strange all of a sudden craving all these sweets, in such an uncontrollable way, I would eat anything in my way, donuts, ice cream, chocolate on a daily basis, it was the only thing that really got me through my day and I looked forward to it. Whether I was addicted from starting a habit or it was hormonal due to post partum hormones or breastfeeding I'll never know but I'm glad I'm now away from it and it helps that I'm just not craving it any more and going back to my old self otherwise I would have had to put myself on some kind of diet to slowly stop. 

So back to the apple sauce, a super healthy treat for your baby and all home made. The easier thing to make as long as you don't burn it, like me. I'm always walking away from fruit on the stove and burning it so learn from my mistakes and stay close by. Its better to add more water than less because the sugars in the fruit tend to caramelize quickly once the water evaporates. 

I'm using ginger golds, home grown in Ontario here, they are slightly tart which is what I want. My secret ingredient, dates add just enough sweetness and I only throw in one or two upon removing the seed. 

Baby Apple Sauce 

Ingredients:

2 apples, peeled and cored, chopped into bite size pieces of slices for easy stewing

1-2 sukkari dates (of if you can't find 'em use Medjool) pits removed.

water, enough to cover. 

Directions:
Add all to the sauce pan and bring to a boil then simmer on low until fruit is soft. If there is too much water leftover allow the liquid to evaporate by removing the lid and staying close by to keep an eye on it and avoid burning the fruit. 

Once removed from heat and cooled add to blender and blend smooth. If you need to run it through a sieve to remove any date skins you can. 

Double the batch and freeze any extras for later if desired. 

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 :)