Ok "nursing strike" is probably overstating things but my little son decided for the first time in months that he didn't want much milk before bed. I surprised myself after months of feeling tied down and having had a difficult relationship with breastfeeding just how unready I was to give up. He had a 6 minute feed before bed. His normal night feed time of around 2:30am came and went and I suddenly realised just how much I would miss feeding him, it is my thing I do for him, even on days when I find him really hard work, it's the thing I know I'm doing right.
Fortunately by 4am he'd decided that he wanted milk after all and then at 5:30am, 8am, 10am... Well he had some ground to make up and he'd got a nasty cold which I think was the source of the issue.
Anyway, continuing in the cream cheese and pasta with everything topic, I gave him some home made tomato pasta for lunch as I knew he was feeling bad and I'd made some the previous evening (admittedly blending the sauce in tears because I was so upset about his feeding).
Tomato sauce - suitable for kiddies and adults, freezes well
3 tins of tomatoes (the cheapest plum tomatoes are fine for this recipe as the oven cooking concentrates the flavour)
1 pack of passata
1-2 onions (depending on size), peel and cut into wedges
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
1-2 carrots (depending on size), peel or wash and cut into thin slices
2 peppers (red, yellow or orange) cut into wedges
Herbs of your choice if desired, rosemary, thyme and oregano are good
Chilli chopped (only if not giving to babies!)
Method
Bung all of the ingredients into an ovenproof dish and put in the oven ideally when you're already using it for something else to save on fuel. Give a stir now and again. Ideally cook for an hour and a half although if I've only got the oven on for an hour I often put it in as the oven is heating and leave it in for 10 more mins or so as it's cooling.
When cool enough, blend in a blender (crying optional) and use for a simple pasta sauce on its own or with some salami, shellfish or as the sauce for meatballs. For babies over 7 months it's great with some cream cheese and cheddar and mixed with small pasta shapes.
Update: I've also tried this in our slow cooker, it's a much longer process but putting on an oven for a sauce is a bit daft and wasteful. Worked a treat. Cook it for 6 hours or so (apparently the power a slow cooker uses is similar to a lightbulb so even cooking that long is no biggie.) I think I'll do it this way every time in future unless I happen to have the oven on already.
I forgot to say, the peppers can be frozen so if you have some in the fridge but don't have time, chop them up and freeze.
ReplyDeleteThe joy of this sauce is it's cheap, healthy and doesn't need you to stand over it as it cooks, vital when you have a wee one.