Fast forward about 20 years later.  While living in France I didn’t really need to stock the fridge because I survived on baguettes, cheese, and pain au chocolat.  While living in England I was often too busy to prepare meals so I opted for Mark’s and Spencer’s “take-away” meals.

I learnt many lessons (not just about food) while living abroad, but I can say that everything I needed to know about food I learned in Italy (cliché but true!)  I learned three important lessons:
1.  Grocery shopping is done on a daily a basis. Buy what you need!
2.  Even if the fridge is half empty you can still find inspiration to prepare a healthy meal.
3.  Use up everything before it goes bad. (Obviously this is easy to do because there’s so little in the fridge.)

I am proud to say that I have become a resourceful and waste-not advocate!!  The other day, while sipping my Grande Soy Tazo Chai at Starbucks, I was inspired to compile a list of cooking and storage tips that I use on a daily basis to facilitate meal prep, and to save many fruits and veggies from a short lived life!

Here’s what I came up with:

STORAGE TIPS

• Store fruits, such as ripe bananas and strawberries in the freezer to use in smoothies.
• Chop entire bunch of parsley and chives and store in a freezer bag or Tupperware.  Use as needed. Note: basil and mint do NOT freeze well!
• Line veggie and fruit drawers with paper towels to absorb excess moisture.
• Wrap lettuce, scallions, and other greens in paper towels to absorb moisture. They will stay fresher longer.
• Store loaves of bread in quarters.  Remove when needed and/or defrost in a toaster oven or microwave.
• If lemons or limes are starting to brown squeeze the juice into ice cube trays.
• Pour leftover wine in ice cube trays and use individual cubes when preparing risotto or stews.
• Label and date baby cubes!
• Store homemade broth in ice cube trays. Use as needed to cool down soups or to add to reheated foods to moisten them.

COOKING TIPS

• Frozen fruits, such as strawberries and ripe bananas are great in smoothies.
• Use ground flax to replace eggs in baking recipes (one egg=1 tbsp. flax seed + 2-3 tbsp water)
• Use applesauce in baked goods instead of oil or butter.
• Make a “pastasciutta” frittata with leftover dry pasta.
• Take out green core of garlic, which tends to be very bitter.
• When making “sauce-free” pasta dishes, always add pasta to the pan with condiment and some pasta water so it doesn’t become too dry.
• In recipes that call for honey, maple, syrup etc, and oil, always put oil in measuring cup first. The other syrupy ingredient will just slide out without sticking to the cup.
• Try to avoid taking off the pith (the white part under skin) when zesting lemons, limes or oranges. It has a very bitter taste!

After compiling my own list of ideas I was inspired to find more and came across the website  www.lovefoodhatewaste.com.  It has all you need to know about meal planning, reading labels, storage tips, recipes, and more!

I’m sure some of you have wondered how it’s possible that someone who is so keen on using herbs and spices in her cooking, does not use garlic. Well, you’ll find this hard to believe seeing that I’m Italian, but I don’t eat garlic!! For starters, I simply do not digest it, and secondly, I hate smelling like garlic!! Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate it for all the flavour it adds to dishes.  I usually add whole garlic cloves during the cooking process then remove them before eating-that way I still get the flavour without the indigestion and garlic breath!

I’m completely aware of the health benefits for adults, as well as babies, and I’m constantly being reminded of that by my good friend, let’s call her “the Garlic Aficionado!!” Apparently, her girls LOVE garlic and lap it up at any chance they get! Well, you can imagine my surprise when one day while having a chat with one of them, a pungent waft of garlic came my way!! I was so perplexed to smell garlic on a child’s breath!! Don’t get me wrong, I give kudos to my friend who is so adamant about giving her children healthy food, however, I often wonder,  if I can’t take the smell on my own breath, would I be able to handle my son’s garlicky breath on a daily basis? (Does that make me a bad mom to think that way?!)

Maybe I should content myself with the fact that everything else I feed him makes up for his lack of garlic intake!  Anyway, for those of you who choose to use garlic in your cooking, the more power to you!  Why not check out these web sites for more info on nutritional facts?

http://blog.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/the-goodness-of-garlic-for-baby/

http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/news/2011/10/roasted-garlic-babies-dont-need-bland-and-boring-food-when-can-babies-have-garlic/

When we left for Italy my son was 4 months old…and already eating solids!  I know, “you’re not supposed to give babies solids until they’re 6 months!!”  Strange but true, my son just seemed “ready” to me! Just like the textbooks said he was eyeing us and smacking his lips together whenever we ate, and so I thought I would give it a go!
I fed him rice cereal from a spoon one week shy of 4 months old-and he ate it, and liked it! I continued to feed him rice cereal for another two weeks in Italy (much to the dismay of my mother-in-law), which is when the novelty wore off-for both my son and I!

Babies first foods in Italy are usually fruits, such as apples and bananas, followed by veggies and meats.  Much to the dismay of my mother-in-law AND Italian mamas, I was adamant about following the North American diet so I started with veggies.  Needless to say, pureed veggies weren’t  a hot commodity on store shelves (and if you find them there’s not much variety) so I alternated between buying jarred veggies and pureeing my own.  My turning point came when I started to buy pureed meats (ok, I have to add that I hadn’t entirely evolved into “Signora Holly Homemaker” yet!).

I thought I had everything mostly figured out, but my son’s feeding schedule still did not make sense to me! It was difficult enough to know the exact quantity of food to give him but more so the timing of each meal! After a few weeks of frustration I came up with two options:

1.  Feed him every other hour alternating between solids and formula.
2.  Continue to mix pasty veggie purees and gelatinous meat with formula.
3.  Give in and book an appointment with a pediatrician.

I choose the third option (much to the APPROVAL of my mother-in-law!)

The paediatrician gave me the following meal plan: (to introduce at 6 months)

Breakfast:  200-250 ml formula
Mid-Morning Snack:  ½ grated fruit
Lunch:  150ml broth with pureed veggies, a tsp. of olive oil and 1 tsp. of parmesan
(I love it! How much more Italian can you get?!)
Afternoon Snack:  ½ tub of full-fat yogurt with crumbled biscotti (seriously? my 6 month old gets to eat biscotti?!)
Dinner:  200-250ml of formula

After seeing the paediatrician I stopped by the local supermarket to pick up the ingredients needed to start the meal plan.  To tell you how surprised I was when I discovered the variety of baby food that stacked the shelves is an understatement! (In retrospect, I should have figured that much-I mean, if anyone knows food, it’s Italians, right?!)

To prove my point, have you found baby food like THIS in North America?! (Looks good enough for adults to eat!)

Prosciutto and Cheese

Salmon (obviously!)

Yogurt with biscotti

Ok, I didn’t do EXACTLY as the Romans do…I just added these for good measure! I DID say they had a lot of variety!

For the sake of the blog I realized that all the recipes I’ve been preparing over the last 4 months would need to be logged!  I kid you not when I say that I re-prepared over 37 recipes in 3 1/2 weeks!! Being the organized mom (to the point of being annoying) and multi-tasker that I am, this was actually not that difficult for me, yes busy, but not difficult. I have to also add that I have been blessed with the most patient and independent child who, often times, sits in his high chair and watches my “cooking” show live without a sound!

I realized early on that staple recipes were essential for minimizing prep time, as well as helping with inspiration for meals.  For example, while preparing green beans for my husband and I the other day, I set a portion aside for my son. I took a peak at my frozen baby cubes and realized the variety of options that I had before me, beans with rice, beans with chopped beef, and what ended up being his lunch, beans with tomato sauce and ground chicken.

I’m humble enough to admit that my son does not eat “gourmet” meals everyday, and on lazy days, I opt for quick meals, like pastina with broth and veggies.  Before trying my recipes I recommend preparing staple ingredients in advance and freezing them.  By avoiding last-minute preparation you avoid the risk of feeling overwhelmed, and just a little more “organized” (even if you’re not!) which essentially will make your cooking “journey” an enjoyable experience!

Here are some staple foods to get you started:

• chicken, vegetable or beef broth
• tomato sauce
• ground chicken, beef, turkey or veal
• ratatouille (tastes great with ANYTHING)
• risotto, rice or quinoa
• pureed or mashed salmon, halibut, or fish of your choice
• a variety of pureed or mashed veggies

Try some of these food and spice/herb combinations during preparation to add variety to baby’s meals:

• carrot + ginger
• cauliflower + nutmeg
• chicken + rosemary
• eggplant + oregano or basil
• ground beef + cumin or oregano
• ground veal + fennel
• halibut/haddock + turmeric
• lamb + mint
• lentils + cumin, coriander or curry
• mushrooms + parsley or sage
• peas or edamame + mint.
• potatoes + chives or dill
• tomato + basil or oregano
• salmon + dill
• squash or yam + nutmeg
• turkey + thyme
• zucchini + saffron