"Emma's AlphaTots Recipe"- AKA -How to Sneak Vegetables into Your Toddler

As many of you probably know, my youngest, Emma is Wheat, Milk and Soy intolerant. I suspected the milk protein allergy from the time she was 3 or 4 months old, but we did not find out until she was over one that the wheat and especially soy bothered her so much. These ingredients caused reflux and a host of intestinal woes. As a result she has some food aversions and would be happy to live off of fruits, Ian's Alphatot potatoes and rice cakes. Fruits are great, but without much other bulk, tend to have a certain affect. But she loves, loves, loves her Ian's Alphatots (basically, potato fries shaped as alphabet letters and cooked and processed on equipment that prevents the cross contamination of allergens such as wheat, soy, dairy and eggs). Potatoes are a great food, they have carbohydrates and starch and more potassium than a banana and almost have the RDA of Vitamin C. However in the hopes of diversifying her diet and salvaging my grogery bill, I came up with an easy recipe to make them myself. (Besides it kills me to have her eat so much processed foods, especially since all they are, are potatoes!)

I have an cast iron alphabet cookie pan made (for shortbread cookies), but if you don't have one, you could use a mini muffin tin and fill them half-way.

Note: The goal is to make a thick puree, one that would stick to the back of a spoon without dripping. The thickness you are aiming for is that of mashed potatoes, which is what they are. Using the food processor makes them velvety smooth and adding other vegetables add color and nutrition. If your child loves mashed potatoes, you could stop here. I often put carrots or squash in my mashed potatoes, especially now that we can't use milk since they add flavor.

Preparation:

Pre-heat your oven to 350

oil/ grease your mini muffin tin or alphabet cookie pan.

Ingredients:

2-3 potatoes, chopped

1 cup of any vegetable, chopped. I used a butternut squash that I had roasted in the oven to make soup the day before.... but you could use any vegetable cooked or raw.

1. Boil the potatoes and the vegetable (if not yet cooked)

2. Once the potatoes are cooked, remove them from the water and place them in a food processor, along with the vegetable.

3. Add just enough of the water from the cooking process to help make it smooth, about 1/4 cup, maybe even less. It depends on the kind of potatoes and vegetable you use - so add a little at a time.

4. Spoon the smooth puree of vegetables, (it should be rather thick, like mashed potatoes) into the mini muffin tin or other pan. Fill the mini muffin pan only halfway.

5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes or until brown.

6. Let them cool 5 minutes in the pan and them place them on a cookie rack.

Voila!

If you want one of those alphabet cookie pans, you can get them for about $25 on Amazon.com.