Broccoli even your baby will love!

For New Years we headed down to San Diego to visit my Auntie Julie for a little stay-cation. She cooked dinner for us one night and Soluna loved her broccoli. This was a pleasant surprise considering Soluna has hated broccoli for the past few months. There was a time when she liked it, but that was short-lived. It's an easy recipe. So here goes:

Auntie Julie's Garlic Broccoli
olive oil
6 cloves of garlic (mashed)
broccoli with stems cut
water
salt and pepper (for taste)

Pour a small amount of olive oil into a pan and heat. When warm enough, saute the 6 cloves of garlic. Once lightly browned, add broccoli and add water so that broccoli is 1/2 submerged. Sprinkle salt and pepper, if desired. Cover pan and cook for 10-12 minutes until broccoli is desired consistently. Strain and serve!

Filipino Arroz Caldo for the family and the baby!

Feeding Soluna food that is healthy and makes her do the yummy-dance while saying "Mmmmmm ... Mmmmm ... Mmmmm" has been one of my greatest challenges as a new mama. The past few months there has been one recipe that has almost always led to the aforementioned positive feedback from our little 11.5 month old. I'd like to share it with y'all because f'real... where can you find ethnic recipes for babies online?!?

Aya's Arroz Caldo Recipe for the Family and the Baby
3 tablespoons of olive oil
2 tablespoons of garlic
2 1-inch slices of ginger
1 diced onion
1.5 cups of uncooked white rice (although you can experiment with brown rice)
10 cups of water
3 lbs of chicken (I prefer breast or drumstick, but you can choose what you want)
Patis or Filipino fish sauce
black pepper
1 chopped green onion
For extra veggies in babies food:
brocolli, carrots, cauliflower - I use a bag of veggies from Trader Joe's
water

Arroz Caldo directions:
In a large pot heat the olive oil. Lightly brown the garlic. Then add in the ginger and onion. Saute until the onion is translucent. Add the rice and saute for a few minutes. Add the water and bring to boil. Reduce the temperature and then add the chicken. Cook for 30 minutes. Add a small amount of patis for taste and a dash of black pepper. *** Set-aside what is for your baby! *** After the set-aside, you may want to add the rest of the patis and much more black pepper until you feel it tastes "right." Serve immediately and garnish bowl with green onion.

Baby's Arroz Caldo directions:
In a very small pot put a few pieces of brocolli, carrots, and cauliflower in about an inch of water. Cover the pot and cook for 10 minutes. When you are done cooking, mash up all the veggies or slice into small pieces depending on the texture your baby is eating at the time. Add as much of this mix into your Arroz Caldo set-aside as you want! Pull apart pieces of the chicken and add to the Arroz Caldo.

There you have it! YUM! Veggies, rice and chicken!