One Rotisserie Chicken

August was in his stroller, looking around with disinterest as we passed rows of boxes and cans.  When his wandering eyes fell on me, I began to dance to the disco music playing over the speakers.  Upon seeing my animated face and my flailing arms, his eyes softened and his lips curled into a grin.  Behind us, Jon-Michael was pushing our cart with one hand.  Evelyn's sleeping form was slung over his shoulder, and his other arm was cradling her as she napped.

Cases of beer were stacked into lofty pyramids that dotted the layout like an Egyptian horizon, a beacon of excess serving as a not-so-subtle reminder that Labor Day was a mere 24 hours away.  Shining carts pushed by scowling customers were full of the things of national secular holidays:  Immodest amounts of meat and alcohol, brightly-colored condiments.  The swarm of people hummed like an angry hive as they buzzed noisily past each other.  I wanted nothing more than to escape - but instead, I danced and I sang as I waited for my husband to pick out a taco kit.

"What are we doing for dinner tonight?" he asked.  We gave each other a look of understanding and headed toward the prepared foods department.  It was already late in the day, and the thought of cooking had hardly even passed my mind.

What can I get that I can share with Evie? I thought to myself as I passed by a salad bar, steaming soups, fried chicken pieces, sushi.  Rotisserie chicken.  Duh.  

That night, I made a simple meal in five minutes.  In the time it took me to steam a potato in the microwave, I had a cucumber peeled and seeded, cut into bite-size pieces and sprinkled with kosher salt and a generous shake of dill and mixed together with a dab of mayonnaise.  A buttery potato, cucumber salad and a rotisserie chicken thigh went over really well and took minimal work.  That's my idea of a Sunday dinner.

For dinner that Monday, I was inspired by the bok choy I had purchased the day before and I made a simple chicken fried rice.  I sauteed the bok choy with salt, pepper, turmeric, garlic powder, olive oil (admittedly not a very "fried rice" flavor) and soy sauce, then I added small pieces of the leftover chicken breast and some brown rice I had prepared earlier that day.  Making a small pit in the middle of the rice mixture, I cracked an egg and whisked it.  When it was nearly set, I stirred it all together so the egg coated some of the rice and vegetable.

Evelyn devoured it.  She didn't wait for small spoonfuls; she grabbed giant handfuls and shoved it into her mouth as quickly as she could manage.  In toddler etiquette, that is a compliment to the chef and it certainly makes me feel good.  Another (nearly) five-minute meal.

When you're in a bind and it's almost dinner time, a $5.00 rotisserie chicken can be worth its weight in gold.  And minutes.

Some other ideas:  Shred it for tacos, burritos or enchiladas; cut it up and add it to chicken broth, vegetables and rice or noodles for a quick, easy chicken soup; cut into strips to add to a green salad.

The Baby Pantry: Eggs

"That's a potential allergen."

That's how I explained my fear to my very confused mother when I told her I wasn't sure if I was comfortable with my daughter, Evelyn, trying a scrambled egg.  Neither I nor my husband suffer any food allergies, nor do our parents; other risk factors that increase the likelihood of food allergies, such as asthma, aren't an issue, either.  It would seem that my daughter would be in a low-risk category of developing a food allergy.  

However, there is still a risk involved when introducing your child to a potential allergen.  There are eight major allergens responsible for 90 percent of all the food allergies suffered in the United States, and a certain level of care must be taken when introducing them to your child:

• Wheat
• Cow's Milk
• Eggs
• Fish
• Shellfish (shrimp, prawns, lobster, crab, etc.)
• Tree nuts (almonds, cashews, pecans, etc.)
• Peanuts
• Soy

I was especially nervous about Evie being given egg.  She had a flu shot (I didn't want her to get it, but it's an enraging story that I refuse to recount again), and reacted terribly to it.  We ended up in the ER with our baby clearly in pain, bawling her eyes out and terrified after projectile vomiting food she had taken in nearly six hours prior.  Because doctors seem to refuse to believe that the flu shot could possibly make someone ill, they always look for that "coincidental" thing that made your child sick:  A virus, a reaction to something they ate, etc.  In this case, our pediatrician thought it might have been an allergic reaction to the egg upon which the virus in the vaccine is grown.

It was, of course, a ridiculous suggestion.  I knew that it wasn't the case, that my daughter was one of the many kids I know personally who had terrible reactions to the flu shot.  But it sunk in.  Allergic to eggs?  Could she really be?

Then my mom adamantly declared that the whole idea of her being allergic to eggs was silly, and I knew better about that damn flu shot.  So I relented, and let her feed my daughter a scrambled egg.  My breath caught in my throat as I kept asking questions, like "Is she turning red?  She's not wheezing, right?  She isn't getting a rash?"

Looking back, it's pretty hilarious how overly concerned and terrified I was.  The only reaction my daughter had was "Wow, this is awesome.  I want to eat eggs everyday.  They are the best thing you ever put before me."  Big smile, giggles.  Sheer enjoyment.

And who can blame her?  Eggs are amazing.

Cheap, nutritious, versatile.

Eggs are one of the best values you can have in your kitchen.  For a small price, in that thin shell, they pack quite a nutritious punch, featuring the highest-quality protein available and some pretty impressive health benefits:

• The lutein in eggs is great for eye health, and it is more readily available to us from eggs than from nearly any other source.  Studies show a lower risk of cataracts and macular degeneration among those who eat eggs as a normal part of their diet.
• Contrary to popular belief, regular consumption of eggs doesn't negatively impact cholesterol levels in most people, and in fact eggs can actually help prevent cardiac events such as blood clots, strokes and heart attacks.
• Eggs are one of the few foods with naturally-occurring Vitamin D, which is essential for bone health and proper calcium absorption.  
• Women who consume high amounts of choline are 24% less likely to develop breast cancer than their choline-deficient counterparts.  One large egg provides 30% of your daily choline needs.

Eggs last a long time when stored properly:  Raw and stored in the refrigerator in their original carton, not in the door where they are subject to heat and light every time the fridge is opened, they can last nearly a month (hard-boiled eggs last about a week).  You can even freeze them for up to a year by beating the whites and yolks together, and portioning them out in freezer-safe containers.

Think about everything you can do with a humble egg, from the simple to the complex and the savory to the sweet.  Boiled eggs, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, fried eggs; omelet, frittata, stratta; deviled eggs, pickled eggs, Scotch eggs; mayonnaise, Caesar dressing; custard, meringue, all sorts of baked goods.  If you can name it, you can put eggs in it.

Stick to the Basics

Evelyn and I stick to the basics:  Scrambled eggs and toast.  She gets her eggs in a simplistic Florentine style - cooked with spinach, Parmesan cheese and milk, served with whole wheat toast squares and a fresh fruit.  I always "accidentally" make too much so I'm guaranteed to get some leftovers for myself.  

Unstuffed Cabbage, or Cabbage Unrolls

I'm married to one of the pickiest eaters in America, which has made it all the more important to me to present our children with a variety of tastes and textures early on in an effort to keep their culinary horizons broad.  Thankfully, he agrees with my mission and has agreed to some very important rules:

1. Dad is not allowed to sneer at, say "Ew!" to or otherwise show any signs of revulsion to any food he is presented with.
2. Dad is not allowed to suggest in any way that vegetables are disgusting.
3. If the baby looks a little less than enthused with a first bite of a new food, Dad is not allowed to say, "I know, that's gross!" or sympathize in a manner suggesting that a second bite should be completely shunned.

So long as he applies these three simple rules to mealtime, my job is easy:  Cook without stereotypes.  That means to cook without stereotyping my child or the food.  One vegetable that I notice receives more undeserved hatred than most is cabbage.  I've heard it described as "Mushy," which immediately leads me to believe that those who primarily don't like cabbage have only had it poorly prepared, and are primarily children.  Though I can assure you that picky adults even think they don't like cabbage, despite having it shredded and added to salads for his lunch sometimes...

Cabbage could easily be described as a super-food.  It's full of antioxidants, it has anti-inflammatory properties, it's full of powerful enzymes that help keep your digestive tract healthy, and has been the subject of many studies regarding it's anti-cancer benefits.  Full of Vitamins A, K and C, folate and fiber, cabbage should be a normal part of anybody's diet.

Introduction to Cabbage

Up until today, my daughter has never had cabbage.  The opportunity never seemed to arise, and I'm sure in my earlier days of motherhood full of worry, I came up with the potential for gas as a reason not to give it to her.

I decided today to introduce it with a take on one of my favorite classics, stuffed cabbage. Stuffed cabbage traditionally contains a filling of beef and rice or barley with onions, wrapped in a boiled cabbage leaf and finished in a casserole dish with tomato sauce.  As it is primarily a Central European dish, it's not unusual to have it served with potatoes of some kind.

In making it baby-friendly, I tried to keep a fairly even ratio of meat to grains and cabbage, whereas you would normally get a large portion of meat in an adult version.  I prepared brown rice for the filling, but because my pans are horrible and let out too much steam apparently, it burned ten minutes before it should have even been done cooking, so I used whole wheat noodles in place of it.  I mashed a potato with butter and whole milk and served the Unstuffed Cabbage over it.  

Like my Inside-Out Ravioli, preparing pocketed foods for babies is the best, because you don't really have to stuff anything, but you still get the spirit of the dish!  

Unstuffed Cabbage, or Cabbage Unrolls

Ingredients

Half of a small yellow onion, chopped (the very small variety that fit in the palm of your hand)

Quarter of a small clove of garlic, diced

Equal portions of ground beef and prepared brown rice

A few good-sized leaves of cabbage

Tomato sauce, a low-salt commercial variety or homemade

Tiny sprinkle of pepper

Small pat of butter

Technique

1.  Melt the butter over medium heat in a pan, and then add the onions to caramelize, stirring often.  When they start to become golden, add the garlic.  Don't cook too much longer, as burnt garlic is horrifically bitter. Remove from heat, drain and set aside.

2.  Wipe remaining grease from your pan, and then brown your ground beef.  Sprinkle with a tiny bit of pepper, or any other spice you'd like to introduce your baby too.  Keep it extremely subtle, however, and do not add salt.  Drain your beef, and set it aside with your prepared brown rice.

3.  You can prepare the cabbage one of two ways:  Steaming or boiling.  Steaming maintains the most nutrients and enzymes and is the superior option, however.  Do not overcook, but cook it enough so that it's tender.  When this is done, set it aside as well. 

4.  Dice all your components - you don't have to use all the onions if it looks like too much. You can dice it all together, or do it separately.  I prefer to dice the beef separately to ensure that the pieces are small enough that she can chew them, and then dice everything else and mix it all together.

5.  Spoon the mixture back into the pan, add enough tomato sauce to moisten it up, and heat through.  Don't heat it too much; cooking in such small amounts and then dicing them cools your ingredients off quite quickly and you just want to warm them with the sauce.  Give it a quick taste to make sure it's not too warm, and then spoon over a small mashed potato and serve.

My daughter absolutely loved her first taste of Cabbage Unrolls, and when the bowl was empty, she kept pointing to it and looking at me with a huge grin on her face.  For her, that means "I want more!" and for me, that means "We have a winner!"