FoodieTots.com

It’s amazing how many new products for kids have been developed even just in the four years between the births of my son and daughter, particularly in the natural and organic category. Take baby food — the first time around, there was only one organic alternative on the market. This time, there are all-natural and organic options everywhere you look, at health food stores and mainstream retailers alike. I still made most of my daughter’s food, but we also found ourselves picking up the new organic pouches for meals on the go — like these from Plum Organics. Because pouches allow the food to be heated to lower temperatures than traditional jarred food, the food tastes fresher and retains more nutrients (without additives or preservatives). Most importantly, they taste more like homemade and blend flavors I might not have thought of, like blueberry, pear and purple carrot.

While the youngest is a toddler now, and eating whatever we eat, purees can still provide an extra boost of nutrition at meal time. They can be mixed in to soups or pasta, used as a dip for veggies and crackers, or used like you would applesauce to reduce the fat (butter or oil) content in baked goods. Take these Carrot Oat Cakes I developed for Plum’s Little Foodies Cookbox campaign. Full of fiber and a little sweet, they’re perfect for a quick breakfast or after school snack.

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GIVEAWAY: Plum Organics has provided a “Yum Kit” for one lucky reader, which contains coupons, stickers, and a variety of Plum pouches. To enter, leave a comment below sharing your little one’s favorite early food. The giveaway closes at 11:59pm Eastern on Sunday, May 6. Please include a valid email in the comment form. Giveaway is open to US residents only.

Three ways to increase your odds of winning (must leave a separate comment indicating you’ve done them):

1. “follow” @foodietots AND @plumorganics on Twitter
2. “like” FoodieTots AND Plum Organics on Facebook
3. “pin” this post to Pinterest

Good luck!

Disclosure: I was compensated by Nest Collective, parent company of Plum Organics, for developing a recipe as part of the Little Foodies Cookbox campaign and received products for the purposes of hosting this giveaway. All comments and opinions are my own.

Springtime in Washington means cherry blossoms, strawberries at market, and bake sales — the Great American Bake Sale for Share our Strength, to be precise. DC food bloggers are once again coming together to bake up tasty treats to raise funds for Share our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign, because no child in America should go to bed hungry.

DC Food Blogger Bake Sale
Thursday, April 26, 2012
2:00 – 6:00pm
at the Washington Post building,
1150 15^th Street NW (inside on the first floor)
(Can’t make it? Donate here and help us raise $5,000 to fight child hunger.)

Not in Washington? Find a Food Blogger Bake Sale near you, or host your own! Even simpler, click here to take the No Kid Hungry pledge and learn more about how you can help.

If you are in DC, don’t miss your chance to purchase treats from these talented bloggers, cookbook authors and bakers:

Alla Cucina
Anna Saint John
Bon Appetit Foodie
Cook Like a Champion
Cookography
Domenica Marchetti
Feastie
Florida Girl in DC
Foodie Tots
Food Wanderings
Frijolita
Healthier Kitchen
Mother Would Know
Not Derby Pie
One Vanilla Bean
Pati’s Mexican Table
Remaking Christine
The Bitten Word
The 6?oclock Scramble
The Chubbette
Whisked DC
Washington Post Food Writers

I still can’t believe how early strawberry season began this year. We got our first Virginia berries of the year at the Falls Church Farmers Market last weekend, and a few more this weekend. The foodie tots have been ecstatic. The first week, they downed a pint at breakfast as soon as I returned from the market. This past weekend, the toddler went with me and somehow managed to leave strawberry stains on the front and back of her t-shirt, and stroller seat, just while snacking on a few as we shopped. (She was also a big fan of the fresh mini cider doughnuts from Mama’s Donut Bites, new at the market this year. Also spotted: asparagus, ramps & morels — the locavore’s holy trinity of spring.)

I’ve been wanting to make horchata, a frothy rice-based drink I first tasted in L.A., for an embarrassingly long time. Like, since my last trip to L.A. In 2009. Ahem. Anyway, the drink is simple enough to make but requires advanced planning and patience as the ground rice and water must soak overnight. So it’s a good opportunity to give the kids a lesson in delayed gratification. It’s a fun recipe for kids who enjoy pressing the buttons on the blender, too. It’s lighter than a smoothie and its sweet, refreshing taste goes well with spicy tacos.

While some recipes call for almonds, I chose one that used only rice to keep things simple. I added fresh strawberries which helped sweeten the drink, so it requires less added sugar. (If your berries are very sweet, you may get away with using even less sugar.) You may be tempted to taste the preliminary soaked rice concoction …. (I confess, I did it.) If you do, don’t despair. The drink vastly improves once sweetened. I don’t plan to let another three years pass before making this again — in fact, I’m already envisioning sipping a watermelon version on the deck later this summer.

Recipe: Strawberry Horchata
adapted from A Wooden Nest

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup long grain white rice
• 4 cups water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 cup cane sugar
• 1 cup fresh strawberries, hulled
• 1 cup whole milk

Instructions:

1. Place rice in blender and grind to a fine meal. Add to water in a pitcher, drop in cinnamon stick and stir to combine. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, preferably overnight.

2. Pour mixture back into the blender and blend until cinnamon stick is finely chopped. Pour through a fine mesh strainer, pressing on the rice solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids.

3. Return strained mixture to the blender and add sugar, strawberries and milk. Blend on high speed until well combined and frothy. Chill before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

Can’t wait overnight? Try our Strawberry Agua Fresca recipe.

Need a last minute activity for Earth Day this Sunday? Pottery Barn Kids has some adorable garden kits on sale, including a butterfly garden kit (in stores).

Of course, you can pick up a packet of seeds and reuse a cardboard egg carton to quickly jump start your garden.

In honor of Earth Day (Week/Month), we’ll bring you more kids in the garden ideas next week. And check out my guest column on why we “eat green” over on Blog for Family Dinner — along with other great advice for B4FD’s Green/Garden Month. (As added incentive, join the B4FD mailing list or comment on any April post and you could win The Heirloom Life Gardener and seeds for your own garden.)

Have you planted your garden yet?

Welcome spring! Everything seems to be blooming early this year, with the first strawberries arriving at the markets in DC already. The kids and I have only just planted our garden, but it feels like corn season is already just around the corner. It *is* egg season, though — did you know that chickens raised naturally lay fewer eggs in the winter? Warmer days mean our favorite vendors will have more eggs at the farmers market — and that is definitely a good thing.

Eggs play a prominent role in both Passover and Easter holiday celebrations and my kids have been delighted to have hard boiled eggs on hand. Flavor magazine’s latest issue had a great article explaining the difference between commercial and farm-raised eggs and a guide to help you decode the labels on eggs at the grocery store. We prefer to buy our eggs directly from the farmer, but in a pinch, look for cage-free, organic/vegetarian-fed eggs at the grocery. In real life, chickens aren’t vegetarians; when you aren’t buying directly from a farmer and want to avoid animal by-products and genetically-engineered feed, it’s important to get organic-fed eggs.

I first learned to make quiche in high school, when volunteering as a kitchen aide at a school retreat. There, the leftover vegetables from the previous night’s dinner were recycled into breakfast — but now I typically use fresh vegetables and serve the quiche for dinner. It’s so fast to put together — especially if you keep a pie crust on hand in the freezer — and I can steal some time in the yard with the kids while it bakes. This quiche works just fine with frozen corn, so enjoy it now and then make it again when sweet corn is available this summer.

Recipe: Corn and Feta Quiche

Ingredients:

• 1 crust for 9-inch pie
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 cup corn (if frozen, defrost)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• pinch dried thyme
• optional: green onion, thinly sliced

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and back chilled pie crust for 10 minutes. Remove and lower temperature to 325 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk and salt. Gently stir in cheese, corn, and green onion if using. Pour into pie crust.
3. Bake for 40 minutes, until set through. Makes 6-8 servings.

Note: If your kids will go for it, you can add color and a little spice with diced green pepper, Hatch chilies or jalapeño.

What’s your family’s favorite egg recipe?