Japanese Yam, Brown Rice and Coconut Milk

So the other day I was shopping at Whole Foods looking for sweet potatoes.  I didn't find them but I did see some Japanese Yams.  They looked just like regular Yams to me so I bought them.  Little did I know that when you peel them, the inside is white!

This frightened me at first because I have never cooked these before and I worried that my little one would not like them.  I steamed them anyway and did a quick google search on the Japanese Yam.  

Simultaneously I steamed some organic brown Basmati rice in coconut milk, I use the unsweetened kind for my cooking.

When they were all done I tasted the yam and to my surprise it was sweeter than a the sweet potato I was used to.  I mixed the rice and yams together in the food processor and added more coconut milk to make a nice thick puree for my baby.  She loves it, and I like it too.

My work flow for home made babyfood

Although my little one is a year now and most times she eats what we as a family eat, I still prepare separate food for her for several reasons.  One, unfortunately we still eat on the run a lot and I don't want to give my precious baby fast food at such a young age.  Also sometimes I cook with a lot of spices and/or I'm frying something is too much grease.  I posted earlier how when I started making babyfood, I used a specific babyfood maker.  Well once that had to be returned I used a different work flow and I wanted to share it here.

First I steam 3 foods at a time using a double decker steamer.

I usually put rice in the nice little grain basket I had from the Baby Brezza accessories.

The rice and some vegetable can sit on one level and I usually do yams on the bottom level.   After they steam for about 30 minutes I put the yams and veggies receptively in the food processor for blending.  I sometimes add a little water if it's too thick.

Then I add it to her little food containers and freeze!  I can usually make about a months worth of food or more at a time so it's not too much work at all.  I use a few different food containers, like the ones from Babies R Us.

I also use this time to make little popsicles for my little one.  She loves pears, apples and I even use yams to make little frozen treats.  These are great for teething, self feeding and just a nice fruit treat.  No added sugar or preservatives!

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Breastmilk Ice Cream

We made it! 1 year of nursing, pumping, hand expressing, bottle feeding breastmilk, teaching family how to thaw out and handle breastmilk, figuring out how to nurse in public, learning how to nurse in public without a cover, dealing questions, comments, weird looks, etc. We made it! And honey, we ain't dont yet!

To celebrate, I wanted to do something special, so I decided to use some pumped breastmilk and make some ice cream!


I used 100% organic ingredients

7oz of organic breastmilk :-)
1 tablespoon of raw sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

I added the sugar and vanilla to a bottle of cold breastmilk and shook it up to mix the ingredients, then I added it to the frozen bowl of the ice cream maker.

I then tured the ice cream maker on and let it churn for about 10 minutes, and well it didn't quite look like "ice cream"  so I put it in the freezer and later on gave a little to my little one.  Of course she loved it!  The consistency was just that of frozen breastmilk. I would like to get better at making ice cream, so if any breastfeeding mamas out there have had success and want to share tips please do :-) Either way my little one enjoyed this treat as a celebration of a year of breastfeeding!

Star Jones and the Today Show crew

"We understand that breastfeeding is natural and feeding a child is the most natural thing." Star Jones

So over a month after the incident with Afrykayn Moon and the Detroit Smart Bus driver   the Today Show decided to adress the topic with Donny Deutsch, Dr. Nancy Snyderman and Star Jones.  

Summary: Dr. Snyderman starts off defending nursing in public, the host, Savannah Guthrie quickly turns the conversation around comparing breastfeeding to using the restroom!  Then come Star Jones with her "Happy Meal" comment, and we end with Deutsch closing the conversation because he wasn't breastfed.

Our society is not geard to embrace what's "natural."  Jones stated that breastfeeding is natural, but condemns a mom for breastfeeding if her child can ask for a Happy Meal (a very un-natural meal).  Um excuse me, I'd rather have my child ask for breastmilk than for a Happy Meal.  But that is what our society has come to, we would rather have kids ask for junk with a toy, than for immune boosting, vitamin rich milk.  


Deutsch also expresses his discomfort with his 8 year old daughter seeing breastfeeding because he may have to explain to her the "natural" use for breasts.  I hope he also blocks her from watching TV shows like Glee and anything MTV, because those shows are far worse for a little girl to be exposed to than a breastfeeding mother.


I  do not understand why some people are so bothered by the act of breastfeeding.  I think we as a nation have a lot of soul searching to do.  We are very uncomfortable with what is natural, but find normalcy in distortion of food, bodies and life.