Baby Led Weaning Recipes

[weaningrecipes]

Golden breadcrumbs Sometimes you have a grandiose plan that you just have to follow through... I was recently given a Kenwood Chef as a birthday present, and it came with a complimentary meat grinder. Our little girl seems to have an issue with chewy meat at the moment, so something like chicken nuggets would probably go down well, but in UK you can't find minced chicken (why?). That's where the idea came from... I've just made a batch of golden breadcrumbs from a batch of sweet potato muffins from the Baby Led Feeding cookbook, baked on a flat baking tray, peeled into two halves, dried on 50c in the oven until dry and then put the pieces through my meat grinder... Grand plan is to make chicken nuggets and fish fingers with it. Although what I don't recommend is to mince chicken thighs, that definitely needs more research from me as I must have done it wrong... The recipe for the muffins has been used for beetroot and goats cheese ones, spinach and ricotta ones with hidden paneer cubes, greengages, vanilla and cinnamon ones... It's my go to recipe! For this batch I roasted the sweet potato and garlic in the oven together for even more intense flavours.

[weaningrecipes]

Porridge

1 part oats, to 2 parts liquid (milk/water). The more milk you use, the higher chance of it bubbling over if using a microwave/hob. We use an Instant Pot pressure cooker using a Pyrex bowl as a bain marie. At the moment we're using Tesco Scottish oats, and sometimes Readybrek (since it isn't sugary, and it's fortified). Scott's oats are nice too, but Aldi's has quite a lot of husks, so we're avoiding that one now. The consistency we go for is a 'light stodge'. If we load a spoon (or lately, she started doing it herself) it doesn't fall off too easily when flung about a little bit, and she can grab it with her hands and not get overly gooey, but not so solid that it's to tough for her to chew. For favouring, we've blended berries and other fruits, then frozen them in IKEA fish shaped ice cube moulds, which seem to be a good portion size to make the porridge taste nice. It also helps cool the porridge down, which is helpful when she gets impatient. Other flavours we all enjoy are bananas, cooked apple/pear, cinnamon, and even some of an Ella's Kitchen pouch (apple/pear/prune). She also enjoyed a carrot, orange juice add passion fruit blend that mummy concocted.

[weaningrecipes]

~250-400g of broccoli, chopped into florets (can use the stem too, diced!) ~250g of fried beef mince, chopped meatballs or diced cooked chicken ~200g uncooked pasta - fusilli or penne usually works the best ~100g grated emmental cheese - check which brand has the lowest salt content! Babysafe stock, homemade or from cube/powder Black pepper, oil Oil a baking dish and layer broccoli, black pepper seasoned meat and uncooked pasta as a mixture or separate layers sprinkling cheese in between, leaving cheese as the top layer. Pour stock over to cover and cover the dish with a lid or foil. Cook in 200c oven for 40-50 minutes depending on the dish. Freezes beautifully. For a vegetarian option, omit the meat - equally delicious!

[weaningrecipes]

Precooked pearl barley portions Rice cultivation requires a lot of water, and it can accumulate a lot of heavy metals into the grain (this is why some countries recommend not to give children under the age of five any rice milk). If you live in Europe, an option you might not have considered for your side starch is pearl barley. It is often quite local, so requires less fuel to be transported to you; more fibrous, so good for your digestion; whole grain, so contains more nutrients than polished rice; and plumps up considerably more when cooked, so it can be picked up grain by grain by little fingers. We cook ours in bigger batches with our Instant pot and freeze it either in freezer bags (a bit like this https://goo.gl/images/uZjfDp) or in muffin moulds as pictured. When adults have rice, the baby can have barley!

[weaningrecipes]

BLW stir fry - yields one adult and one baby portion Sesame oil Asparagus, broccoli, sweet corn, petit pois, julienned/coarsely grated carrot, spring onion or a mixture of any of above Grated garlic clove 1 pack 'ready to wok' udon or egg noodles Ready cooked protein (one chicken/duck breast, handful of leftover roast meat, or tofu), chopped Smooth peanut butter (Meridian, Morrison's, Amona) Chinese five spice (Tesco, Morrison's) For adults, reduced salt light soy sauce at the table, chilli sauces optional Chop vegetables into chopstick (and finger food) friendly pieces. Add sesame oil on the wok, and heat it. Add the vegetables and garlic, quickly fry and if using a bit on the woody side veg, steam under a lid for a few minutes. Mix a tablespoon of peanut butter, more sesame oil and quarter to half a teaspoon of five spice in a ramekin to a runny sauce. Add the noodles and protein, and pour the sauce on top. Fry for another 3-5 minutes (stir it continuously, peanut butter will stick!), portion out for the baby and add the soy and chilli sauces either in the pan or on the adult plates.

[weaningrecipes]

Baby's first Indian takeaway, saag paneer without salt. Served with pearl barley.

[weaningrecipes]

As most of you know, paneer doesn't have any salt in it, making it the perfect cheese to cook with for the baby. If you however struggle baking/cooking with the whole block for whatever reason, grate it into a freezer bag with a tablespoon of cornflour, shake well, and freeze. Commercially grated cheese has cornflour in it to stop caking into a big clump. Here's some minced beef pizza I just made under the grill using grated paneer.

[weaningrecipes]

Mild curry chicken in microwave

This used to be one of my favourite meals as a child and it’s so easy and quick to make in the microwave!

1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, OR, 4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks, 50ml of water, ½ (baby safe) stockcube, Black pepper(, salt) Sauce 50ml of cream or creme fraiche (suitable for your baby), 50ml of cold water, 1 ½ tsp curry powder, 1 ½ - 2 tbsp of flour Juice of ½ - 1 lemon, Parsley, chopped

Cut the chicken into roughly even pieces, season them, and lay them in a microwave proof bowl with thicker parts towards the edges. Crumble the half stock cube on top and pour water on everything. Cover and microwave on full blast for 10 minutes, stirring at half way (important!).

Mix the sauce ingredients in a small bowl until no lumps are visible. When the chicken is precooked, pour the mixture on top, stir, and microwave for further 5 minutes.

Stir in the lemon juice, and chop some parsley on top. Serve with rice, pearl barley, or chips.

We had cucumber and mango as a dessert.

[weaningrecipes]

Chili con carne with creme fraiche, pearl barley and cucumber We've recently continued our nearly daily usage of Hairy Dieters cookbooks. Lily has her portion with added oil, creme fraiche and starch to offset the lean mince in the recipe.

[weaningrecipes]

Baby’s full English breakfast

Food Doctor pitta bread has only 0.3g/100g salt, so it’s usually my store bought bread of choice for the baby. Eggs on her plate are scrambled few moments longer than adults’ as they’re easier for her to eat a bit firmer.

Aside from avocado and beans (which we won’t buy again as we adults didn’t like them, I’ll probably cook my own in the future) the main star of the show is the sausage meat.

500g of pork mince About 5-10cm of clean leek, chopped finely A grated apple About 50ml or 20g (3 heaped tbsp) of rolled porridge oats Tablespoon of dried sage Black pepper 2 tbsp Vegetable oil

Mix the grated apple, oil, sage, pepper with the oats and let it stand. Mix in the mince and leek, and form into sticks/sausages on a baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes in 200c, or wrap into foil (to keep the moisture in and them soft on the surface, and to prevent charring) and cook on the barbeque. Freezes nicely.

[weaningrecipes]

Lily pizza. Minitortilla, homemade tomato sauce with courgette and garlic, basil leaves, black pepper, some chilli powder and grated paneer. Under the grill for 4 minutes, done.

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Monkey picnic - Apinaeväs x 3 before baking Simppeli sormiruokakeittiö recipies slightly modified.

Basic recipe 1 banana, 50g of rolled grain, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil.

Top row 1 banana, 50g of rolled oats, 1 tablespoon of oil, 1 tablespoon of peanut butter, 1ml of ground green cardamom, 1ml ground Ceylon cinnamon.

Bottom row 1 banana, 50g of rolled rye, 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon of chopped [dried] blueberries (or cranberries).

Centre 1 banana, 50g of rolled rice, 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, 1 tablespoon of desiccated coconut.

Mix and let stand for 10-30 minutes. Form into bars into a lined baking tray, bake for 10 minutes in 200C.

Ideal for babies, but excellent snacks for adults too.

#blw #blwideas #porridge #apinaeväs #sormiruokailu #vauvantahtiin

[weaningrecipes]

Babies aren’t supposed to have diet food, but this Hairy Dieters chicken pot pie had everything L likes so I made two little ramekins for her without salty smoked bacon we adults had. Chicken, mushrooms, peas, broccoli, leeks, filo … Mmmmm. Recipe here. I fried the bacon separately, used a baby stock cube and didn't add salt. Lily's pies were portioned into little glass ramekins and the bacon was then added to the rest of the mix. 🍄🐔🌳 ☮ #food #foodporn #blw #blwideas #vauvantahtiin

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This is how some of the silicone suction plates can be dried and even stored; stuck onto the kitchen cabinet doors. #nuby #easymat #blw #blwideas

[weaningrecipes]

#IKEA #Antilop x #Frakta hack reimagined with another #Swedish brand: #Babybjorn #highchair and IKEA #Brattby - handy for keeping the bibs and muslins close by #blw #blwideas #weaning

[weaningrecipes]

Chopped some leek, courgette and tomato and put them into the boiling basket together with some mince patties from the freezer and boiled with some fusilli. When the pasta was done, took the patties aside, blitzed the veg into a sauce, added some spice mix and served. #blw #blwideas #babyledweaning #baby #lazyhealthy #vauvantahtiin #pasta