Start Fresh: Your Child's Jump Start to Lifelong Healthy Eating: A Cookbook

Chef Tyler Florence believes that everybody deserves to eat delicious, flavorful food prepared with care and the freshest ingredients —and that goes for babies, too. In Start Fresh, he takes the expertise he has used to create his own line of organic baby food and presents quick, user-friendly recipes for 60 purees packed with simple, easy-to-digest fruits, vegetables, and grains straight from the earth—nothing fake or processed allowed.
A practical, charming little package from a caring dad and exceptional chef that thousands have come to trust , this book will give parents the tools they need to prepare nutritious food their babies will love to eat—for a truly fresh and healthy start.

TYLER FLORENCE is the author of six cookbooks, including the bestselling Stirring the Pot and Dinner at My Place, and the host of the Food Network show Tyler's Ultimate. He owns a kitchen retail store, The Tyler Florence Shop, in Mill Valley and Napa, CA, and has launched signature lines of babyfood and cookware and cutlery at major retailers across the United States. He opened the Wayfare Tavern restaurant in San Francisco in June 2010. He lives in Mill Valley, CA with his wife and two children.

The Basics

GETTING STARTED

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

Making baby food is easy, so we're not talking about accumulating a lot of unnecessary kitchen equipment. As a matter of fact, you probably already have everything you'll need on hand. Most of the recipes in this book use one of two cooking methods: steaming or roasting. Both are very straightforward techniques that can be accomplished with just a few essential pieces of equipment.

FOR STEAMING

You'll need a large pot with a tight-fitting lid. If you find a pot that comes with its own steamer basket that fits inside, fantastic; if not, you can manage just fine without it--a pasta colander that can sit over the pot or a collapsible steamer insert that fits inside works just as well. A Chinese bamboo steamer with a tight-fitting lid is also amazing for steaming tender vegetables. They are really cheap and they last a really long time. I've had mine for years. So take your pick. And that's it. Pretty simple, right?

FOR ROASTING

Roasting is even easier than steaming. All you'll need are a few baking sheets and your oven. Don't cook on flimsy cookie sheets; go for sturdy rimmed baking sheets. You can pick them up at most kitchen stores or, if you want to go on a field trip, check out a local restaurant supply store. (Look it up online; every town has one.) They will have rimmed baking sheets, which are called sheet pans. Ask for a half-sheet pan, which measures 18 x 13 inches; most home ovens cannot accommodate a full-sheet pan, which is 18 x 26 inches. They will also have everything that makes a restaurant tick. I can spend hours in a restaurant supply shop.

FOR PUREEING

To make supersmooth purees for very young babies starting on solid food for the first time, I prefer a blender to a food processor because it produces a much smoother puree. (If you want to splurge, a high-speed blender does the job best and most quickly of all.) While a food processor can chop foods finely, it doesn't truly puree the way a blender does. Once your baby is ready for purees with a little texture, around when they start getting teeth, you can switch to a food processor and pulse or grind the food to the texture you and your baby prefer, from coarse to fine.

STORING AND REHEATING BABY FOOD SAFELY

Most of the recipes in this book make 6 to 8 child-size servings, which allows you to put several portions in the bank for future meals each time you cook for your baby. Fortunately most purees reheat very well as long as they are stored properly. So how do you keep and reheat food safely? The best way to store baby food in the fridge or freezer is in BPA-free plastic storage containers. Place pureed or fork-mashed foods in a storage container just large enough to hold it and cover tightly; the food can then be refrigerated for one or two days. If you haven't used all the leftovers within about 48 hours, you can freeze anything that remains. Spoon the puree into ice cube trays and freeze until solid, then transfer to freezer- weight plastic bags to store and defrost as needed. (Each cube is equal to about 2 tablespoons.) Be sure to press as much air out of the bag as possible and label the bag with the date and contents. Frozen foods should be used within one month.

To reheat, allow frozen food to defrost overnight in the refrigerator or transfer directly from the freezer to the microwave; never defrost at room temperature, as this can allow harmful bacteria to develop. No plastic containers of any kind should be used when reheating baby food in the microwave; transfer the food to a container made of lead-free porcelain, a glass bowl, or lead-free table china.

Reheat at 50 percent power in 60-second increments, stirring each time to eliminate any hot spots. You can also reheat it in a saucepan over low heat, stirring often to prevent scorching or sticking. In either case, reheat just until warm, not hot, and always test for temperature before offering to your baby.

A note on BPA and something to think about . . .

In the last year or two, a lot of very valuable information about storing food and water in plastics and, most importantly, reheating in plastics has come to light.

Bisphenol A (also called BPA) and phthalates are chemical softeners that make hard plastic soft and moldable. These softening agents are found in everything from plastic wrap and plastic food storage bags to plastic food containers, baby bottles, children's toys, and sippy cups.

Bisphenol A has been used in industrial plastic production since the 1930s and is known as an environmental estrogen, which, once ingested, acts as a hormone disrupter. It has been linked to breast cancer, fetal brain developmental issues, obesity, disruption of thyroid function, early puberty (in girls), and increased risk of cancer. In short, nothing you want anywhere near your child's food.

In 2008, a team of scientists from the University of Cincinnati found that when both new and used polycarbonate sport bottles were exposed to boiling water, BPA was released into the water inside the bottle at a level 55 times higher than when the same plastic bottles were exposed to room- temperature water. These findings sent justifiable waves of concern throughout the world, with Canada and the European Union quickly banning the use of BPA in baby bottle production. In 2010, Canada banned all BPA plastic production and classified the chemical as toxic.

Although the United States has not yet taken sweeping steps to ban the chemical, in March of 2009, bills were introduced in both houses of Congress to ban the use of BPA in all food and beverage containers.

Introduced in the House by Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts and in the Senate by Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, the proposed legislation would ban the sale of any reusable consumer beverage products and containers like baby bottles and sippy cups that contain BPA and prohibit other food and beverage containers, including those for canned foods and formula, that contain the chemical from entering the market.

On BPA plastics, Senator Feinstein writes:

I have been working hard to get BPA out of our food products, but have been blocked by chemical company lobbyists. We have made some progress with some major manufacturers and retailers who have begun to phase out their BPA products.

I'm not going to give up and am currently working to pass legislation that will get this chemical out of our children's products. Moms, dads, grandparents, and other consumers and voters all over the country have written to me asking for BPA to b e removed from their products. We should not use our kids as guinea pigs with a chemical that can seriously harm their immediate and long-term health. I encourage everyone to write to their members of Congress about this issue and continue to look for those companies that are already using BPA alternatives.

At the time of writing Start Fresh in January of 2011, the BPA-Free Kids Act has been reintroduced into Congress by Representative Markey and Senator Feinstein. Let's hope this time it sticks. In the meantime, legislation has been introduced in 30 states across the country to ban BPA plastics locally. Lawmakers are getting pressure from constituents coast to coast to get this chemical out of the marketplace.

But without the protection of US federal laws banning chemicals like BPA, and with international trade bringing products in from all over the world (including areas where environmental laws are lax), we are on our own. You have to read labels carefully. If a plastic food storage container or sippy cup doesn't say BPA-free, it's not. And it's not worth exposing your child to the possible risks.

In the meantime, to reduce the risk of liability, most major baby bottle manufacturers in the United States have implemented self-imposed withdrawals of children's products containing BPA--a solid step in the right direction.

BEFORE THE 12-MONTH MARK IT'S BEST TO KEEP THESE FOODS OFF THE MENU:

. Honey . All cow's milk, pasteurized, unpasteurized, or raw . Unpasteurized juices, such as fresh apple cider . Soft rind, unpasteurized cheeses . Raw eggs (both yolks and whites) . Raw sprouts . Raw or very rare meats . Raw fish . Raw or cooked shellfish (cooked shellfish is OK after 6 months) . Luncheon meats

A FEW QUICK FEEDING RULES

What you don't feed your newborn is just as important as what you do feed him. Most pediatricians agree there are a number of seemingly wholesome foods that should be avoided until a child has reached 12 months, as these foods may contain bacteria or spores that his digestive tract is not yet equipped to handle and could result in some pretty nasty stuff. After the age of 12 months pediatricians generally consider all foods safe, as a child's immune system has developed enough to protect him from harmful bacteria by this stage.

I've been consulting with Dr. Alan Greene, author of many great books for parents, about when it's appropriate to start children on certain foods, and I strongly recommend that you use this book as a guide in conjunction with your own pediatrician or family doctor, too. That said, few pediatricians still subscribe to the rule of "One new food per week." Food allergies, though present in only 6 percent of children, do occur. However, it is becoming increasingly clear that early introduction of new foods is actually less likely to cause allergic reactions than waiting until your child is older, and sampling many new foods will help her learn to appreciate a broader range of flavors.

After that, it all comes down to taste trials, and this part is a lot of fun--and maybe a little messy. Most pediatricians consider 4 to 6 months the perfect time to start introducing solid food into your child's diet. (Formula-fed babies may be ready as early as 4 months while breast-fed babies, who are getting more complete nutrition, may be happy with breast milk alone even beyond 6 months.) This is when she's starting to mimic your moves, and thinks peek-a-boo is the greatest game ever invented. She can hold her head up by herself, can sit in a high chair, is able to close her mouth around a spoon, and can move food from the front of her mouth to the back. Also you'll start to notice that formula or breast milk alone doesn't really cut it anymore, as children put on weight rapidly at this stage and constantly need to be satiated. When it's time to move to solid food, it's time.

Breast milk, formula, and iron-rich cereals such as rice, barley, and oats should be an important part of their diet during this period, as weight gain helps in the development of the child's immune system. At this point you should just consider solid food a supplemental form of nutrients (after all, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" is not just an old adage). Remember, eating solids will be very new territory. Babies naturally curl their tongues in a suckle motion as they try to suck from a spoon; getting your child to lay his tongue flat as he eats from a spoon will be the first point of business. After a week, he'll get the hang of it and his tongue will start to adapt to this new way of taking in sustenance, allowing him to get more food into his mouth and stomach.

ONE STEP AT A TIME

While there is no limit on how many new foods you can introduce to your baby in a given week or day, offering simple single-ingredient purees at first makes it easier to keep track of what he does or doesn't like.

Don't give up if his first reaction to a new flavor is not entirely enthusiastic. You may have to offer certain foods a few times, with varying degrees of success, to get a sense of which foods can go on the menu permanently--and which are simply nonstarters. Babies have a hyperacute sense of taste, which functions as a defense mechanism against ingesting potentially harmful foods. They naturally reject bitter flavors, because in nature most things that are poisonous are bitter. (Funny how that works.) Sweet is their favorite flavor, as it suggests the pleasing taste of breast milk, the food most likely to ensure their survival. (Again, funny how that works.) I say start with carrots--they're sweet, but deeply nutritious. And always go with organic if possible.

Tracking Your Child's Success

When starting on solid food, you'll want a way to track your child's progress. You can photocopy the worksheet on the next page, but a wall calendar or datebook, for you tiger moms out there, will do just fine, too. Just choose something you can take notes on. These notes are very important to share with your pediatrician as you both track the successes and the few inevitable failures of any new foods that are introduced.

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