Hobbit's Rabbit-less Stew (or, Jordy Homemade Stew with Any-Kind-of-Vegetable)

Happy 1st of March! In this spirit of new-ness, I think I'm going to start a little archive of baby food recipes I'm concocting and testing out on Jordy. This is what he had for lunch today, and thoroughly enjoyed (although I over-estimated how much he'd eat and ended up only using half the portion).

For some reason, in my cooking, I seem to also be rather inspired by the Shire, and what I imagine little Hobbit-y children would feast on in Middle Earth. I might even start taking some food photos if I have the time, but for now, you'll just have to rely on ye olde imagination.

Hobbit's Rabbit-less Stew (or, Jordy's Homemade Stew with Any-Kind-of-Vegetable)

3 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 Japanese sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large white onion, diced
3 potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Chicken stock, enough to cover vegetables*
Liberal sprinkle of your choice of dried herbs (I used what I had, which was basil)

1. Put all vegetables in slow cooker.
2. Cover with chicken stock.
3. Add in dried herbs.
4. Cook on 'low' for 10-12 hours.
5. When done, give it a good stir and let the stew cool for a while.
6. While warm, puree with blender.
7. Serve warm, or chill then freeze accordingly for future use.

This recipe makes enough for at least 6 to 7 meals. To serve, you can thin it out with a bit of stock or hot water.

*Homemade Chicken Stock
(this is adapted from the book First Foods)

Lean chicken thighs
Chicken carcass
Chinese mushrooms
Water

1. Soak Chinese mushrooms in warm water for a few minutes. Drain.
2. Place chicken thighs and chicken carcass in slow cooker.
3. Add water until meat is just covered.
4. Add in Chinese mushrooms.
5. Cook on 'low' for 8-10 hours.
6. Drain, and put chicken thighs aside.
7. Remove meat from chicken thighs and puree as needed.
8. Freeze stock in ice cube trays for convenient meal preparations down the track!

This recipe passed the Jordy taste test today! More to come.

ps: Slumdog Millionaire was AWESOME. More on that soon, but boy, did we pick the best movie to end our six-month movie drought with!