Grilled chicken with tomatillo sauce-- recipe for baby led weaning

I bought some tomatillos at the farmer's market last weekend. I've never actually managed* to make anything with fresh tomatillos before-- I'd only had green salsa sorts of things at Tex-Mex places.  Let me tell you, the fresh ones are so different! They have a natural sweetness to them that I hadn't expected based on my prior limitd experience.  I will be buying more next week, and we will be broiling us up a mess of this sauce to freeze for later.

Anyway, this recipe is adapted from one I found on epicurious. We blackened the tomatillos and peppers on the grill, used non-spicy peppers, and grilled the chicken breasts too while we were at it. I also left the salt out until the sauce was done and I could set some aside for Mae.  I put aside a couple of tablespoons for her, to go with her own little piece of non-salted chicken we had grilled and cut up for her. It wasn't enough. I mean, there was enough chicken, but she wanted to eat the sauce by the spoonful.  Mae knows good stuff when she tastes it.

Grilled Chicken with Tomatillo Sauce

1 lb husked tomatillos
2 small sweet peppers (we used half a pimento and a little red one of unidentified variety that I thought was going to be hot but really wasn't. Probably a quarter cup of peppers altogether, and we agreed that a bit more would be even better)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbs olive oil
1 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
salt to taste

Grill the tomatillos and peppers on a hot grill until soft and skins are beginning to blacken a bit. Under the broiler works, too. When they're done, let them cool, remove the stems, and toss them in a blender to puree them.  Get the chicken breasts on the grill-- cook till brown and mostly done.

Saute the onions and garlic. I caramelized mine-- not strictly necessary, but I do recommend it. Add the blended tomatillo mixture to the pan and simmer briefly. Stir in the cilantro. At this point, set aside some sauce for the baby and then add salt to the rest if you want. Then add the chicken breasts to the pan and simmer until they're cooked through.

* I say 'managed', because I have bought them before, but then waffled about what to make out of them until they went bad. I am ashamed.  Stop yelling at me!

Recipe for Chicken Bites with curried yogurt dipping sauce-- finger food for babies

Ok, this is what I'm talking about. These are yummy, not too difficult to make from stuff you might already have sitting around waiting to be used, and fun. I have to introduce my new messiness rating scale for them, though, as they're not the tidiest lunch you can give a kid. But that's part of the joy of it-- they're initially pick-uppable, yet mush easily (no choking or gagging on these!)

Messiness rating: 3 (Get out the hose).

I thought it might be different if I had not given her the little bowl full of curry sauce (which, as you can see, she enjoyed in its own right), but the next day when I served her the leftovers, I drizzled the sauce on instead, and you know what? It wasn't any less messy that way. It was equally tasty, however.

Chicken bites
1 c. mashed potato
¾ c. finely chopped cooked shredded chicken
Black pepper to taste
½ tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Olive oil for frying
Flour for dredging

A note about the potatoes-- I mashed mine with skin on, and then just pulled off the large sections of skin that had accumulated on my masher. Left the other skin bits in, because I'm lazy and potato skin is healthy anyway. But go ahead and peel them if you want. I won't stop you.
Then in a small bowl, mix together potato, chicken, and spices. Roll them into little balls (about 1 1/2 inches across), flatten them a little, and dredge them in flour. Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in your skillet-- when hot, fry the balls until golden, flipping halfway through.

Curried Yogurt Dipping Sauce
½ c. plain yogurt
Squeeze of lime juice
1 tsp curry powder
½ tsp hot curry powder

Mix it all up together in a little bowl. Yep, that's it.