We’re getting ready to introduce solids to David in the next few weeks as he turns six months old. I’m getting excited for it, he’s a chunky little boy who loves to nurse and I have a feeling that he’ll love food, too.

David, 5 months old. Look at those rolls!

I’m proud to say that with Joshua we followed baby-led weaning and he never had rice cereal or commercial baby food. I also never made homemade baby food, either. I gave him chunks of food to gnaw on, mashed it up or cut it into little pieces for him to pick up. He always ate whatever we were eating. My best tip for not having to spend a ton of time making baby food is to choose raw foods that are already soft.

From the time Joshua was about six months old until he was well over a year old, I packed a banana and an avocado in his lunch bag to bring to daycare. These were the perfect foods because I didn’t have to do anything to get them ready, and as a working mom I love that. His caregivers would simply peel them and either mash, chop or give it to him whole. Joshua loved exploring the tastes, aromas and textures of these foods.

Joshua, 7 months old, smooshing an avocado at supper time

While we don’t follow a “raw food” diet, we do eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, especially in season on my family’s farm. One of my favorite tricks for a when Joshua was teething was to give him a cold slice of apple (or a whole peeled apple). He liked the sweetness and it was hard enough that he could get tiny shreds off but not bite it into big chunks. Once he got teeth, I was much more cautions about it because I was worried he would be able to bite off pieces he might choke on.

Joshua, 6 months, teething on a cold apple slice

As Joshua got older and grew more teeth, we branched out into berries and other fruits and vegetables. Strawberries and raspberries are still among his favorite foods three years later! He loves to pull off the strawberry’s green leaves or pop raspberries onto the tips of his fingers.

Joshua, 15 months, enjoying some fresh strawberries from my family’s farm

Joshua, 17 months, devouring a peach

Some ideas for enjoying raw first foods

• Choose soft foods to start, and serve them however you feel most comfortable and your baby enjoys them: mashed, in large chunks, in tiny pieces, or whole. Great options are bananas, avocados, ripe berries, peaches, nectarines, plums, cherries, grapes, melons, tomatoes, cucumbers, and summer squash. It’s a safer to slice round foods like grapes and cherry tomatoes into halves or quarters instead of serving them whole.
• There’s no need to introduce foods one at a time unless you’re concerned about a likelihood of food allergies, so get creative and serve a few different colors in each meal. Try contrasting the bright orange of a ripe peach with magenta raspberries and deep blue blueberries in a fruit salad.
• Be realistic with portion sizes. A small child may take only a few bites of food. Even if he only sucks on a slice of apple, he’s still getting some nutrition. Remember the saying “Food before one is just for fun.” So don’t worry if most of it misses his mouth.
• As your baby gets older and gets more teeth, move on to fruits and veggies that are a little tougher to chew, like snap peas, string beans, carrots, celery, lettuces, apples and pears. Peel them or not, depending on your child’s preference or your own.
• Visit a local farm or grow a garden. Children love to explore how food grows and I’ve found Joshua was more likely to try something if he picked it himself.
• Allow little ones to help in the kitchen. Joshua has always loved to watch me prepare supper each night and now he is excited to help me. His current favorite thing to do is slice up strawberries. In fact, if I’m making something that is a “grown up” type of recipe, I’ll often keep strawberries on hand in the fridge so I can give him something to keep him occupied. Tossing a salad is another fun job for toddlers or preschoolers.

What were your experiences with first foods for your children?
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Please take a moment to visit the blogs of our other Festival of Food participants. The links in this list will be live by the end of the day, as participants are all in different time zones.

• Gone are the days where dairy-free, gluten-free deserts mean a fruit platter! This “raw” cheesecake from Luschka at Diary of a First Child is a wonderful introduction to raw food, and is pretty simple to make too! You can also find Luschka on Facebook.
• Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares Tropical Twist Kale Chips, a recipe guaranteed to take your taste buds to the tropics! Kid love these tangy treats too!  You can also find Jennifer on Facebook.
• Sarah at Why Food Works discusses the importance of fat and enzymes – and offers up a recipe for a raw, 5-minute blender gazpacho that’s perfect for warmer weather. You can also find Sarah on Facebook.
• Abbie at Farmer’s Daughter shares tips for introducing Raw First Foods based on her experiences following baby-led weaning with her older son. You can also find Farmer’s Daughter on Facebook.
• Destany at They Are All of Me shows to how she made coconut oil, coconut milk and coconut flour in her own kitchen, using whole coconuts. You can also fine They Are All of Me on Facebook.

Welcome to the April 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Family Recipes

This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants are sharing their recipes, their stories, their pictures, and their memories.

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Pie is the quintessential dessert served in farmhouse kitchens all over America, and it’s our family’s favorite thing to bake together.

As a teenager I spent a ton of time in the kitchen at my family’s farm market baking apple and pumpkin pies by the dozen to sell to the families who came to spend the day picking apples and going on hayrides. Now it’s a tradition that I love to share with my own children, though we admittedly only bake one or two pies at a time.

Pies can range from simple to extraordinary, rustic to elegant. Served alone or with ice cream, sharp cheese or whipped cream, it’s hard to turn down a piece of pie. Here are some of my best pies, which I bake when the fruit is fresh and in season. There’s no better way to use up a glut of tasty fruit.

Start with the Crust

I like to make pie dough using butter, since I’m not a fan of the hydrogenated oils in shortening. This recipe makes a flaky crust that can get tough if it is overworked. This recipe will make dough for a one-crusted pie, since that’s what I usually make. Double it for a two-crusted pie.

I love the bottom crust of a pie. It has to be cooked through, not underdone, so I tend to put the pie on the lowest rack of the oven for the last 10-15 minutes of baking.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) of cold butter, diced
• 1/8-1/4 cup ice water

Directions

I use a food processor because it is the fastest way I have found to make pie dough. Pulse the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor to combine. Add the butter to the food processor. Pulse until the butter is blended into the flour but you can still see small pieces. With the machine on, slowly stream in the water until the dough just comes together.  The amount of water needed will depend on the humidity and other factors, so you have to pay attention to the dough. The dough should be just sticky enough to hold together.  If you add too much water until it’s one mass, your dough can become tough. Dump the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, form it into a flattened ball and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes.

If all this seems to complicated, check out my Pie Dough Tutorial with lots of pictures to guide you. Once the dough is done and chilled, we’re ready to roll!

Top Crust?

I don’t usually make two-crusted pies because I like to do something a little bit fancier on top of the pie. I tend to like a lattice crust on top for pies that are filled with brightly colored fruit. I also like the sweetness of a crumb topping or whipped cream on top of pie. And some pies don’t need any topping at all. The recipes I share will have a bit of everything, but feel free to mix and match them to get what you like best. They all have a bottom crust though, so go ahead and roll that out and fit it to the pan. Rolling dough is fun for little kids, too! Though you may need to readjust your expectations for a perfect looking crust.

Filling

Choose fresh, ripe fruit in season. Visiting a U-Pick farm or growing your own fruit is a fun way for kids to learn where their food comes from and help make the pie. You don’t want to use fruit that is too over-ripe, but a little soft is okay. Some fruits are juicier than others, so you may need to adjust thickeners like flour or cornstarch accordingly. I like to use less sugar than most recipes call for since fresh local fruit in season is much sweeter than fruit that’s shipped from who knows where to your supermarket. The recipes are fluid, and the measurements I suggest for the fillings are mostly just guidelines that can be adjusted.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Lattice Crust

Late spring is the beginning of the year for pie in our home. Filled with tart rhubarb and sweet fresh strawberries (which don’t appear here until June), it’s the perfect way to end a spring meal. Strawberries are easy to chop, so children can help with this task. Top it with fresh whipped cream for added decadence.

Ingredients

• 1 quart strawberries, hulled and chopped into large pieces
• 3-4 big stalks of rhubarb, sliced
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 heaping Tbsp cornstarch
• dough for 2-crusted pie
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp sugar

Directions

Combine strawberries, rhubarb, sugar and cornstarch in a bowl.  Line a pie pan with one crust, then roll out the second crust and slice it into 1-inch strips.  I find a pizza cutter works well for this task.  Pour the filling into the bottom crust, then lay out the top crust.  It looks impressive, but it’s easy to weave the crust.  Just start in the middle with a long strip and work your way out.  Trim and tuck in the ends, then crimp the edges.  Beat the egg and brush it onto the crust, then sprinkle with sugar.  I usually don’t like an egg wash on pies, but I think it adds a nice shimmer to the lattice top.  Bake at 350°F for 60-70 minutes until the filling is bubbly and the crust is browned.  It’s a good idea to place it on a baking sheet to catch any bubbled-over filling.

Don’t let the lattice crust intimidate you. Check out my Lattice Pie Crust Tutorial for step-by-step instructions.

Peach Raspberry Crumb Pie

This pie is a treat in the hot summer months when peaches and raspberries are in season. The crumb topping gives an added sweetness to the pie. Our son loves raspberries, so make sure to get extra for eating fresh.

Ingredients

• dough for one-crust pie
• 6 cups peeled, sliced ripe peaches
• 1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 heaping Tbsp flour
• 1 stick butter, softened and diced
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• dash cinnamon

Directions

Line the pie plate with the pie crust and crimp the edges.  Combine peaches, raspberries, sugar and flour in a large bowl.  Pour into the crust.  Combine all remaining ingredients for the crumb topping, using your fingers to mix until crumbly.  Top pie with crumbs, and bake in a 350°F oven until the fruit is bubbly and the crust is golden brown.  You probably want to put it on a tray to prevent drips in your oven.

Fresh Glazed Blueberry Pie

This pie comes from our family’s friend Ruth who lives in Maine, and it is so refreshing on hot summer nights. It’s made of both uncooked blueberries and cooked ones in a pre-baked pie shell.  I really like it with the smaller wild Maine blueberries.

Ingredients

• pre-baked and cooled pie shell
• cream cheese
• fresh blueberries
• glaze*
• sweetened whipped cream

*To make the glaze:

• Simmer 2/3 cups blueberries and 1 cup water for 5 minutes
• In a bowl, combine 1 cup sugar, 3 rounded Tbsp cornstarch, 1/2 cup water.
• Add the sugar mixture to the simmering blueberries and cook, stirring, until thickened.
• Cool.

To assemble the pie:

• Spread the baked, cooled pie shell with a thin layer of softened cream cheese.  Just enough to  cover the bottom crust to keep it from getting soggy.
• Spread a layer of glaze over the cream cheese, then a layer of fresh blueberries.  Continue alternating until the pie is full, and end with a layer of fresh blueberries.
• Cool in the fridge.
• Top with fresh whipped cream and serve.

Check out how to make a pre-baked pie shell (and my mother-in-law’s recipe for Lemon Meringue Pie) here.

Best In Show Butternut Squash Pie

This is my all-time favorite pie in autumn. It is a recipe that I adapted from my great-grandma’s, and I have won lots of blue ribbons with this pie. I even won Best In Show at one fair! To make the puree, split 1 butternut squash in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds and remove the stem.  Place squash cut side down on a baking pan and bake at 375°F for about 1 hour, until soft.  Allow to cool, then scoop pulp into a food processor and puree.

Ingredients

• 1 cup squash puree
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 beaten eggs
• 2 Tbsp water
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• pie dough for one 9-10″ crust

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Line a pie pan with the dough and crimp the edges.  Combine all ingredients in a large bowl with a whisk until smooth.  Pour into the pie crust and bake for 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to 300 and bake for 50-60 more minutes until the filling is slightly puffed and the bottom crust is golden brown.  I use a glass baking dish so I can monitor the crust, and if it’s not browning nicely you can put it on the bottom rack of the oven for 10 minutes.  Let the pie cool completely so the filling will set before you cut it.  I think it tastes even better on the second day when it’s cold from the fridge.

What’s your family’s favorite pie? Do you have any tips to share?

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Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting!

Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

(This list will be live and updated by afternoon April 9 with all the carnival links.)

• German Red Cabbage: A Family Tradition — At Living Peacefully with Children, Mandy shares her favorite dish and a part of her family’s history.
• Rotisserie Chicken Recipes for Meal Planning — Becky at Crafty Garden Mama shares a new recipe that is in her family’s meal-planning rotation. Check out how she uses a rotisserie chicken to get through the week.
• Grandma Wicken’s Sugar Cookies — Jana Falls at Jananas talks about how special her Grandma’s sugar cookies made her feel.
• Recipe: Seed and Bean Burgers — ANonyMous at Radical Ramblings shares one of her favourite frugal recipes that is also super-healthy and totally delicious.
• Pulled Pork Sandwich — Lisa at The Squishable Baby PULLS dinner together for the kids.
• The Best Banana Muffin Recipe (Gluten Free & Vegan) — Dionna of Code Name: Mama’s adventures in gluten free baking have not been 100% successful. But today she is guest posting at Fine and Fair to share a banana muffin recipe that will knock your socks off!
• The Pierogie Mama Whips Up Strawberry Pierogies! — Bianca at The Pierogie Mama shares her family’s recipe for strawberry pierogies…a sweet, summery version of the Polish dumplings that she affectionately named her daughter after.
• Mom’s Cookbook — Tree at Mom Grooves digs into the big book her mom created for her six daughters and shares a favorite family recipe.
• Crispy Duck Confit — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama takes the liberty of starting a family recipe tradition with this super simple, totally delicious crispy duck confit.
• Stovetop BBQ Chicken — Amy at Me, Mothering, and Making it All Work shares a yummy BBQ chicken recipe that you can make on the stovetop in less than 25 minutes, fridge to table!
• Twice-Baked Sweet Potato Casserole w/Bacon — Martine at Whey Beyond the Naked Truth shares a naked food twist on an old family favorite!
• Strawberry Panna Cotta — KerryAnn at CookingTF.com shows you her favorite dessert, a quick and easy Strawberry Panna Cotta that she enjoys so much, she had it instead of a birthday cake this year.
• Special crepes for a special day — Mikko at Hobo Mama is learning to cook his grandma’s signature holiday meal alongside his dad.
• Three Favorite Family Recipes: To Eat, To Wash, To Play — Kristin at Intrepid Murmurings is back with three family favorites: gluten-free shortbread, DIY powdered laundry detergent, and something fun for the kids: homemade “Flubber”!
• Black Bean Soup Forever — Mercedes at Project Procrastinot shares a soup recipe that’s been around forever.
• Do you want to know a secret? — SRB at Little Chicken Nuggets lets go of her mac and cheese recipe, a comfort food favourite for friends and family for years.
• Creating Our Own Family Recipes — Emily at S.A.H.M. i AM shares how she’s trying to create meals that her girls will want to pass down to their own children some day.
• Vranameer Chicken: A Family Recipe — Luschka at Diary of a First Child shares a recipe that reminds her of childhood and more specifically, of her mother. It’s a South African take on sweet and sour chicken and what it lacks in healthy it makes up for in tantalising to the taste buds.
• One Recipe, Three Uses: Dishwasher Liquid Detergent, Dish Soap, and Hand Soap — If you love saving money and time, you’ll love this green recipe from Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama, guest posting at Natural Parents Network.
• Our Family’s Favorite Pies — Abbie at Farmer’s Daughter shares recipes and tutorials for the quintessential American dessert.
• Deliciously Easy Crock Pot Chili — Lactating Girl shares her crock pot chili that is not only quick and easy, but awesome.
• All-Purpose Crock Pot Pork — Crunchy Con Mommy‘s simple “recipe” for cooking perfect pork in the crock pot is for whatever mood her family is in!
• Family Rules: A Recipe for Harmony — Cooped-up kids + winter weather + frazzled parents can all blend together into a recipe for disaster. Dionna at Code Name: Mama shares what brought back the peace in her house.
• Favorite Healthy Family Recipes — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now shares her family’s healthy eating experiences along with links to free printable vegetarian recipes that her family has created with love.
• Grandma’s Banana Bread — Megan at The Boho Mama has early and fond memories of her grandma’s banana bread. It’s love in a loaf!
• Family Comfort Food — Jorje of Momma Jorje shares a recipe handed down that moms have made for their kids, for regular meals as well as to comfort.

Me, helping a calf learn to drink milk from a pail back in 2008

They have a few recipes for homemade formula including one based on cow’s milk and one on goat’s milk. My initial reaction was this: WHO is guaranteeing the diet of the COW or the GOAT? They recommend milk from pastured animals,  and in a perfect world that would be available without a problem. However, the reality is that the vast majority of dairy produced in the US is fed a diet that they did not evolve (or were not designed, your choice) to eat. In the best case scenario, the cows eat a lot of grain. In the worst case, well… I’ve heard tales of cows being fed chicken carcasses, stale bread, gum still in wrappers, not to mention growth hormones, antibiotics and concerns about how the cows are treated.

My friend’s son visits their cows while out for a stroll

Let me back up here a moment, because sometimes I assume that people understand farm animals better than they really do. Both of my parents grew up on working diary farms here in Connecticut, but I didn’t because the dairy barn on the farm where I grew up burned down in the 1970′s and many of the cows were lost, and my dad’s family reinvented the farm as an orchard (that’s a story for another day). So although I didn’t grow up milking cows twice a day (thank goodness!), my parents, grandparents and aunts and uncles did. I’ve heard quite a few stories around the dinner table about milking cows, so what seems to be common knowledge to me is most likely not common knowledge to most people. Although my parents grew up on traditional, small family dairies in New England that were a far cry from today’s industrial dairies, I have always found dairy farming to be an interesting topic. (I even briefly dated a guy who raised “Show Cows” when I was in college, and to be honest I probably liked the cows more than I liked him. Moving on…)

A neighbor’s cows momentarily escaped into our apple orchard

So, let’s assume that the good folks at WAPF did their research and discovered that milk from raw, pasture-fed cows isn’t available (or even legal) for most people. One alternative they offer is their homemade formula recipe using goat’s milk. And this is where I get really offended. Because I thought it was common knowledge that GOATS EAT EVERYTHING. Didn’t you have a children’s book with a picture of a billy goat chewing on a tin can? Oh, you didn’t? Well, let me tell you a story. We’ve had goats in the petting zoo at our farm off and on since I was a little kid, mostly pygmy goats. It’s true, they do eat everything. They had an adorable little house, they could climb up onto the balcony and guess what they ate? They ate the SHINGLES OFF THE ROOF. Yup, the goats ate the shingles. So the idea that the people at WAPF think a homemade forumula made with goat’s milk is HEALTHIER for my child than my own breast milk is completely offensive. My diet may not be WAPF perfect, and I don’t take daily doses of fermented cod liver oil, and I may sneak some treats here and there, but I DO NOT EAT ROOF SHINGLES.

The goat house with Annabelle the Shire (also a lactivist!) standing next to it. 

So, while my family’s farm has five baby goats this year (two sets of twins!) and therefore three lactating goats, you won’t find me milking them to make formula for my baby.  I stand by my previous statement that homemade formula is the ultimate in inconvenience anyway. I’ll just breastfeed my children and know that I’m giving them the best I can.

This year’s baby goats! How sweet!

Cow milk is best for calves, goat milk is best for kids, horse milk is best for foals, and human milk is for human babies. This is my gut reaction as a farmer’s daughter. But of course, that’s not the only facet of who I am. I’m also a scientist; I have a BS and MS in Biology and I’m certified by the state of Connecticut to teach Biology and Physics. So, as a scientifically minded person, my reaction to the claim that homemade formula is better for babies than breast milk is this: PROVE IT. Where is your peer-reviewed research? If there were multiple studies (or even a single study) comparing the nutrients in thousands of samples WAPF’s homemade formula recipes versus the breast milk of thousands of mothers on a variety of diets, then I could understand your conclusion. But if the study doesn’t exist, and I haven’t found one, then your claim is nothing more than conjecture based on your own preconceived notions that the WAPF diet is required for an individual to be healthy and produce healthy breast milk. It’s opinion, not scientific fact, and should be presented as such.

As a biologist, I am aware that we do not understand the workings of the human body in its entirety. We don’t understand exactly how all nutrients work in our cells, and new discoveries are constantly made. We don’t know what component of breast milk could be discovered tomorrow that we simply did not know existed. Take a look at this chart comparing the contents of breast milk and commercial formula. There are so many components of breast milk not found in commercial formula, and we can assume that a similar chart of breast milk vs. homemade formula would be equally revealing, though not an exact duplicate.

Now, I’m not arguing that homemade formula is a bad thing. I understand that many women struggle with breastfeeding, as I myself have struggled the second time around. I understand that many women cannot fully breastfeed or choose to supplement with formula or exclusively formula feed. That’s fine; that’s their choice. My problem is that it is being touted as better than breast milk, and I see no evidence of that claim. I think, however, a better way for WAPF to spread the word about their recipes for homemade formula would be with posts such as this one from Food Renegade. This anecdote of a mother who struggled to breastfeed after reduction surgery and turned to donor milk, a supplemental nursing system and homemade formula is a relatable, interesting story that demonstrate’s one mother’s journey to feed her child in the most nutritious way possible, yet makes no claims that homemade formula is more nutritious than breast milk.

In summation, I disagree with WAPF’s claim that their homemade formula is healthier than my breast milk.

I woke up on Wednesday feeling so sick of the cold weather that I bundeled up the boys and headed to our local garden center. We strolled through the greenhouses and warmed up, then picked out some plants for Easter gifts.

These are gorgeous old fashioned daffodils, and on our walk last night we finally dug some up from the abandoned house up the road and transplanted them into our garden. I’ve been planning to transplant some since I took this picture five years ago. I figure that whoever planted the bulbs would be happy to know we still appreciate them all these years later. There are still a ton of daffodils left there so hopefully I’ll be able to scavenge a bouquet, too.

We also took advantage of the blustery but sunny afternoon to try out the kite Joshua got for his birthday. We were amazed with how well he was able to keep it in the air, after a quick lesson from daddy.

We’re so thrilled that spring is finally here!