There are countless ways to search for a name for your baby. There are endless websites promising you the most popular, least popular, most loved, most hated, and most unusual names you could possibly imagine. It’s a daunting task to find one word to embody the character of the little human you made. They will be labelled this title for the rest of their lives and they don’t even get any say in it at all…it’s all you…no pressure. Baby could be at the mercy of whatever soap opera, song or blockbuster movie their parents are enamoured with at the moment. No matter what name is chosen ultimately it becomes more than just a name...it takes on the power to bring to mind every wonderful and not so wonderful thing about that person. Have you ever wanted to call your baby Billy but then remember you had a Billy in your class a million years ago that pulled your hair and called you nasty names? That catapults “Billy” as a name choice right out of the running.
There are also those fun websites where you can find the meaning of your name and what type of person you are based on your name.
Shannon – Meaning – small and wise. You wear your heart on your sleeve – lucky since you have a strong instinct about matters of the heart. You express yourself clearly and are also witty – a life of the party sort. Also very outspoken and upbeat.
I beg to differ on about 90% of the points above. Maybe it’s my parents, the ones who bestowed the name upon me, who are all of the above? Hmmm…something to think about.
Today I made a quinoa dish that baby and adults alike will love. This is an easy recipe using the infamous “ancient grain” quinoa; kicked up with the flavours of cranberry and orange. I don’t think babies care that the quinoa grain is “ancient” but for lots of great nutritive reasons, everyone else does so let’s roll with it.
Ready…Set…Evolve…
Cranberry Sunshine Quinoa
Age – 12 months +
Ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 ½ cups homemade or store bought low sodium chicken stock
- ½ cup diced leeks
- ½ cup diced zucchini
- ½ cup shredded carrot
- 2 tbsps. coconut oil
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- ½ cup orange juice (squeezed from 2 fresh oranges if you like)
- 1 tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar
Baby Steps
- Rinse quinoa in a fine sieve under cool water until water runs clear.
- Add quinoa and chicken stock to pot over high heat and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for approx. 12 minutes until all the liquid has evaporated and quinoa is cooked.
- Clean and peel first couple of layers off of leek and chop white area only into small diced pieces.
- Clean, peel and shred carrot.
- Clean, peel and dice zucchini.
- Melt coconut oil in pan over medium heat and add in veggies. Sauté until soft and cooked through, approx. 4 minutes.
- Add cranberries to pan, stir and continue to cook for 1 more minute.
- Pour cooked quinoa into a large bowl and add in the veggie/cranberry mixture.
- Stir in orange juice and rice vinegar and mix together well.
- Let cool and keep in the fridge to eat cold or you can warm it up a little bit before serving.
Makes – Approx. 4 cups
Note: Will keep well in the fridge for a few days to use for baby’s lunch or dinner and is a great family side dish. Feel free to add salt and pepper to taste if using as a side dish.
Whether your baby is named Alice, Elise or Barbara or Billy, Aiden or Nigel, or any name at all…I bet they will love this dish along with their parents who labelled them.