Funny how so many factors influence what we eat and how we eat. One of the factors that put me in a mentality of eating “whole” foods was when I started making my own baby food for Justin. Making baby food seemed completely impossible, complicated, difficult and intimidating to me when I had my first son. And yet by the time I had my second son, making baby food actually opened my world in terms of eating healthy. It just made sense to me. It became easy and uncomplicated and fun even!

And here we are again…. I just started making baby food for my baby boy and I am revisiting the simplicity of whole foods all over again.

On that note, I bought a whole organic chicken to make my very own chicken stock (which I use for most of my baby food purees). I’ve even become confident enough to slice the whole chicken into pieces…this was something I couldn’t do when I started a couple of years ago. Anyway, we don’t eat chicken at home very often mainly because we eat mostly fish, vegetables, and sometimes ground turkey. And the truth is Orlando doesn’t really like handling raw chicken and even finds it somewhat boring. So chicken rarely makes it to the weekly menu. But since I had these nice pieces of organic chicken breast defrosted in the fridge, it motivated Orlando to take advantage of it.

We both love chicken marsala but most chicken marsala recipes entail breading the chicken and pan frying the chicken which includes a considerable amount of oil.

Orlando opted to take a lighter approach and the result was phenomenal!!!!

Our meal consisted of:

• white asparagus
• cauliflower/parsnip mash
• chicken marsala with onions and mushrooms

Directions:

Onions and Mushrooms

1. Chop 1 red onion. Spray a little olive oil and  sauté in pan with a little salt and pepper until caramelized.
2. add 1 box of sliced mushrooms to the pan with the onions. When the mixture is cooked through and starts to dry up add a little bit of marsala wine to deglaze the pan.

Chicken– (we had a little under 1lb of chicken from the whole chicken I sliced up. Orlando pounded it to make the breasts thin pieces – not too thin but definitely not thick.)

1. season the chicken with salt and pepper
2. spray some olive oil on the pan. Sear the chicken for about 4 minutes or until it gets a nice color, then flip to the other side and repeat. Add a shot of marsala wine just to deglaze.
3. add the mushrooms and onions back into the pan to warm through and mix in with the chicken.
4. Cover the pan and take off heat.

Parsnip/Cauliflower Mash

1. peel and chop 4 medium parsnips (make sure to slice off the tops and bottoms)
2. chop 1 head of cauliflower.
3. Boil cauliflower and parsnips for 12 minutes. Strain water out (save water for blending)
4. Place cauliflower and parsnips in blender – you can either add 3/4 of a cup of  boiled water or grassed/organic milk and 2 tbsps of organic/unsalted butter and blend. NOTE: the amount of water/milk depends on the blender and your texture preferences. It is better to add less and add as you go along then add too much and get a soupy consistency. As you blend you will see if you need a little more liquid until you reach your desired consistency.
5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

White Asparagus

1. Toss in olive oil and salt and pepper.
2. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

The meal was delicious because the marsala wine had a nice sweetness to it without the heaviness of the breading or frying. The sauce with the mushrooms and onions acted like a gravy for the mash. The whole meal was a success. Enjoy!